Tag Archive for: SEO

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How Whistler Businesses Prepare for Winter Guests

As the first snowfall approaches, Whistler’s tourism industry kicks into high gear, and behind the scenes, businesses are busy fine-tuning their marketing strategies to get ready for the bustling winter season. While many visitors are daydreaming about powder-filled runs and cozy lodge stays, local businesses are focused on making sure they’ll be top of mind when those dreams turn into bookings.

So, what does it really take to prepare a Whistler business for winter guests from a marketing perspective? Let’s pull back the curtain and take a look.

Refreshing Marketing Materials

Switch out the summer colours for the crisp coolness of winter.

Winter tourism is big business in Whistler. To attract new and returning guests, companies refresh their marketing strategies and materials. From booking ski lessons to promoting cozy winter accommodations, the right digital strategy can make or break a season.

From stunning shots of freshly groomed trails to festive vibes in the village, winter marketing is all about showcasing Whistler’s magic in a way that resonates with potential visitors. But this process isn’t just about slapping on some snowflakes—it’s about telling a story that compels people to choose Whistler as their ultimate winter destination.

Whether it’s updating their website with seasonal imagery, launching a winter-themed social media campaign, or tweaking ad creatives to capture the snowy excitement, marketing teams work around the clock to refresh their visuals and messaging. 

Enhancing your Digital Presence

Use marketing language that inspires urgency and excitement.

Businesses take this time to push early-bird deals, set up seasonal campaigns, and optimize SEO for winter vacation keywords. Ensuring high visibility during this peak season is crucial, as competition is fierce.

With the bulk of travelers planning their trips online, having a strong digital presence is crucial. Businesses in Whistler often take this time to perform an audit of their website and social channels, ensuring they’re optimized for search engines and ready to convert browsers into bookers. From boosting SEO with winter-specific keywords to ensuring seamless mobile navigation, these businesses are making sure their digital storefront is just as polished as their real one.

At Cloud9 Marketing, we help businesses revamp their websites, social media campaigns, and PPC ads to highlight winter-specific services and offers.

Social Media Strategy Overhaul

Find opportunities everywhere to engage with your audience.

Winter in Whistler brings endless opportunities for content creation, and businesses are eager to harness the power of social media to engage their audience. Whether it’s planning out an Instagram feed full of snowy landscapes or curating user-generated content that showcases real guests’ winter adventures, every detail of the social media strategy is thoughtfully planned.

Influencer partnerships, live videos, and interactive content like polls or countdowns keep potential guests excited and engaged in the lead-up to their visit. This is where the magic happens—businesses work hard to craft stories that connect with their audience and get them dreaming about their winter getaway.

Collaborations & Partnerships

Create a sense of community and convenience for your guests.

Winter in Whistler isn’t just about individual businesses; it’s about the community coming together to provide a complete experience. Many tourism companies collaborate with local businesses to create unique winter packages, combining accommodation, ski rentals, and dining experiences.

Cloud9 Marketing often steps in to help facilitate these partnerships, ensuring businesses have the marketing support they need to cross-promote services and maximize their visibility.

Precautions for the Unexpected 

The base of Whistler Mountain with thin snow

Be prepared to shift attention towards other aspects of the winter holidays.

If there’s one thing Whistler businesses know, it’s that winter can be unpredictable. A late winter resulting in no new snow, a lack of reservations due to uncertain weather, or sudden surges in bookings due to a surprise snowstorm are just a few of the potential challenges. That’s why businesses should always have a Plan B (and C).

Whistler businesses rely heavily on the snow during winter to attract guests, but sometimes Jack Frost doesn’t deliver on time. That’s where a flexible marketing strategy comes into play. Activity companies like Canadian Wilderness Adventures prepare for changing conditions by constantly monitoring weather and trail conditions to adjust their offerings accordingly. By monitoring weather patterns closely, businesses can adapt their messaging to focus on alternative winter activities or promote early-bird deals for when the snow finally arrives.

At Cloud9 Marketing, we help our clients pivot quickly, shifting campaigns to highlight off-slope experiences like cozy dining, spa getaways, or scenic winter hikes, ensuring guest interest stays high, even when the snow is running a little late. Adaptability is key, and we make sure your marketing doesn’t miss a beat, no matter the weather.

Impactful Internal Marketing

Emphasize care and commitment to your staff and seek those who value memorable guest experiences.

With winter bringing an influx of tourists, businesses need to scale up their workforce. Hiring seasonal staff is essential for the busy months ahead, and training these new hires takes careful planning. Local restaurants, hotels, and activity companies onboard temporary workers, giving them thorough training in guest service, safety protocols, and winter activity operations.

Internal marketing plays a huge role in getting the whole team aligned and ready for the season ahead. Staff need to be just as informed and excited about the winter campaigns as the customers they’ll be serving. Businesses hold internal briefings, share brand updates, and make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to delivering the perfect guest experience.

For some, it means team-building exercises or sneak previews of upcoming promotions. For others, it’s in-depth training on new digital tools or platforms that will help streamline marketing efforts and boost guest satisfaction.

At Cloud9 Marketing, we’ve noticed many businesses using social media to promote job openings, leveraging targeted ads to attract talent from across the region, even internationally. Ensuring a smooth hiring process now translates to a better guest experience once winter hits.

Preparing for Guest Feedback

Be open-minded and willing to evolve.

In a competitive market like Whistler’s, the guest experience can be the deciding factor for repeat business. Companies take time to ensure every touchpoint—from booking to check-out—is seamless and personalized. Special touches, like holiday-themed welcome packages, hot chocolate stations, or ski concierge services, go a long way in creating memorable winter experiences.

While many people think marketing stops at the point of sale, that’s far from true. Smart businesses understand that feedback from guests is gold when it comes to future marketing efforts. Leading into the winter season, Whistler businesses gear up their online review strategies, ensuring they’re ready to respond to feedback quickly and authentically. It’s about staying agile and being proactive, so they can turn positive experiences into glowing reviews that will help drive future bookings.

At Cloud9 Marketing, we work with businesses to refine their customer journey through digital channels, ensuring that their online presence mirrors the level of service they provide in person.

As winter approaches, Whistler businesses are busy behind the scenes, perfecting every aspect of their marketing strategies. They’re refreshing seasonal content, aligning internal teams, boosting their digital presence, and preparing for engaging social media takeovers—all to create an experience that captivates and converts. With a focus on impactful marketing and attention to guest feedback, they’re set to welcome the winter crowds when the snow arrives. If you’re aiming to elevate your winter marketing, Cloud9 Marketing is here to help your business stand out. From crafting a dynamic social media strategy to optimizing your website for winter traffic and building impactful internal campaigns, our expertise ensures your business is ready for the season. Let’s work together to make sure your business tops everyone’s winter getaway list!

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person holding phone - local SEO

Understanding Local SEO

Most business owners that have a website have heard about Search Engine Optimization or SEO. But what about local SEO? 

What is Local SEO?

SEO is the process of optimizing your website in order to maximize the amount of organic traffic directed from the search engine results. 

Local SEO goes one step further and is the process of optimizing your website for a local audience. This process will help ensure that people in your area will be able to find your business online, and in turn in person. This is especially important for businesses that offer regional services or have a brick and mortar location. 

Statistics show that over 46% of all searches on Google are seeking local information so optimization for local SEO is essential for any business owner.

The Google 3-Pack

Being in the Google 3-Pack is an important goal for any business. Google uses the searcher’s location and displays the top three ranked businesses in a prominent location near the top of the search results page. The Google 3-Pack also displays relevant information to the user that they may need immediately, including address, phone number, store hours and more. 

Local SEO is not the only factor that determines which businesses are displayed in the 3-Pack, however, it does play a significant role.

How to Optimize Your Website for Local SEO

Here are a few tips and strategies you can follow in order to optimize your website for local SEO.

Google My Business

Claiming your Google My Business (GMB) listing is the first step to improving your local SEO ranking. If you have not claimed your listing yet, you are not alone — approximately 56% of businesses have not claimed their GMB listing. 

Completing your GMB listing will enable your business to be listed on Google Maps and in local search results. Your listing will show location, business hours, a link to your website, reviews and more.

Claim your Google My Business listing here.

Location Pages 

Adding location pages to your website will also help increase your website’s local SEO ranking. This could be in the form of adding your location address to a “Contact Us” page, or by creating separate pages for each location if your business has multiple locations. 

It’s also important to ensure that your full and accurate address is listed on your website in at least one location. We recommend adding it to the footer of your website so that it appears on every page of your website.

Business Reviews

Reviews from customers can play a role in your website’s ranking and inclusion in the 3-Pack. Positive reviews also encourage search engine users to click on your listing. Encourage your customers to leave positive reviews through email newsletters, signage in your store or just simply by asking them. 

Local-based Content

Consistently adding local-based content will help boost your local SEO. Consider writing a monthly blog post about a local event or highlight and be sure to include keywords that are relevant to your local area. For example, if you are a Whistler-based business, you could write about the World Ski and Snowboard Festival and include keywords such as World Ski and Snowboard Festival and WSSF.

Mobile Optimization

Most business searches are done on a mobile device so ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is extremely important. Mobile-friendliness impacts SEO overall so it is an important aspect for any website in general.

Although these are just some of the ways to optimize your website for local SEO, following these steps will surely improve your ranking and increase your chances of being featured in the Google 3-Pack. 

Need help with your website SEO? Not sure where to start? We can help! Read more about our Search Engine Optimization Services here.

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Search engine optimization

Simple SEO Tactics To Improve Your Site

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, we all know it can be very time-consuming. But it doesn’t all have to be hard work. Here are some simple SEO wins to help you get ahead of the game.

Remove outdated and low-quality content

 You may be reluctant to remove low-quality or out of date content but it can negatively effect your ranking. You should start by first identifying the pages you want to prune. Using software like Screaming Frog will help you with this by crawling your site and identifying a list of URLs with their position on Google and impressions. You don’t just have to delete pages, however. Most of the content you’re removing can be redirected to a stronger higher quality page. Although if you can’t find a relevant page, you should let the pages go to a 404 – page not found.

Tip: utilize your 404 (Page Not Found) page by adding a search option.

Improve content

You don’t have to get rid of every low scoring page. Building upon what’s already there is an easy way to improve ranking. You can use your previous Google history and develop it. Review your Screaming Frog results and use the pages that rank anywhere from position 5 to 30. You can improve content by ensuring pages have 300+ words, are useful and well written. Using a plugin like Yoast will give you a readability score which you can use to improve content. Make sure you answer frequently asked questions and include long-tail keywords you want to rank for. Adding media to your page will encourage viewers to stay on the page longer, thus improving ranking.

Update internal links

You should review and identify your internal links from time to time to ensure they are still relevant. Using a site like Screaming Frog will help identify any redirect chains.

Page load speed

You may have heard the words ‘page load speed’ but not be sure what they mean in terms of SEO. Simply put, if your webpage takes too long to load, potential customers will likely leave your site. Though these improvements require an element of technical skills, the results will cause a significant improvement.

You can help by upgrading from a budget web hosting site. Cheaper web hosts can be overwhelmed with traffic. By investing in a higher quality web host, you’ll be surprised what it does for your site speed.

Optimize

Optimizing images and media files will increase the swiftness of your site. You can reduce the file size by resizing, making sure the image is saved in the correct format (JPEGs are best for photos whilst PNG files are best for images with solid areas of colour) and compressing the file. WordPress has some great plugins for compressing images.

Don’t worry you can leave the JavaScript/ CSS weird complicated stuff to us.

We know that SEO can seem a bit daunting. You don’t have to worry as we’re here at Cloud9 Marketing to help with all your SEO needs. Want to see how your site’s performing? Book a free consultation or a site audit!

 

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Google-analytics
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Why You Should Be Using Analytics

Google Analytics is a very valuable tool for business owners. More than just numbers, here are some ways you can enhance your campaigns by using analytics.

Get to know your web visitors

Enhance user experience by understanding who is visiting your website. By monitoring who your customers are, you can adapt your site to match their needs. If you find that most of your web visitors are visiting on mobile devices, then you can make sure your site is more mobile friendly, so these visitors are more likely to convert. You can also view reports for age and interest categories, a useful tool as you can use this data to adapt your site to make the content more relevant to these users.

Understand your best content

Viewing metrics such as bounce rate which shows how many people left your site after viewing only one page, page sessions and seeing which individual pages have been popular can really benefit the overall usability of your site. If you are finding that certain pages are less popular, you can adjust the content so they mirror the more popular pages and therefore generate a better response. Understanding how your content works will really help to improve site engagement.

Helps with SEO

Google Analytics can help you to understand where your audience is coming from. You can link your account to Google Search Console which will show you what your audience is searching to get to your site. This data will allow you to adapt your content to include these terms.

To Check you are achieving goals

Goals are something that every business owner wants to establish in order to know they are making progress. Without data, you cannot tell if you meeting those goals. You can set goals directly in Google Analytics and measure how you are performing against them. It is also possible to track conversions so you can see how many newsletter signups you have as well as the results from your e-commerce store. If you have linked your Analytics account to your Google AdWords account, you can directly measure the return on investment you are getting from your ads by comparing your ad spend to your conversions.

It’s Free

You don’t have to pay anything to use this service. Collect all kind of data which will make your business more profitable and it’s totally free to use.

Want to monitor your Google Analytics data but don’t know how? Fear not, here at Cloud9 we have experts who can help you analyze data and meet your goals. Contact us for more info.

 

 

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SSL Certificates Are Simply a Must for 2018

If you have a website, you’ve probably heard of SSL certificates, but are you actually aware of what they are and why they are important?

If not, keep reading…

SSL is an acronym for secure sockets layer. SSL certificates are the backbone of website security, and are vital for any business with an online presence, especially in 2018. SSL certificates allow someone’s browser to bridge a secure connection to your server, ensuring that the information is securely transferred.

You can tell if a website is SSL secure by looking at the URL structure. If a website’s URL starts out with “http,” it is not SSL secure. If it starts with “https,” then it is secure. Some browsers will also display a small lock icon to indicate you are browsing a secure website.

Here are a few reasons why all of this is important.

1. Stops Information Theft

When information is submitted on a website, it usually goes through a channel of computers before it reaches the intended party. So the chances of that information being stolen along the way are higher if SSL is not applied. SSL encrypts the information so that it’s readable only to the party it is intended for. It does this by adding random characters to the submitted information, which can only be accessed with an encryption key. The information is useless to anyone who doesn’t have that key.

With identity theft on the rise, information security is more important than ever. SSL ensures you keep everyone’s information safe, which builds confidence in people who are visiting your site.

2. Provides a Sense of Security to People Visiting Your Website

With identity theft on the rise, information security is more important than ever. SSL ensures you keep everyone’s information safe, which builds confidence in people who are visiting your site.

3. A Necessity for Online Payments

An SSL certificate is a requirement for any website that accepts payments with an encryption of at least 128-bit. So, if you have an ecommerce site, you have to have an SSL certificate installed if you plan on taking credit card payments.

4. It’s Mandatory in 2018

To ensure safer browsing in 2018, Google flagged any website that doesn’t have SSL certification by the end of 2017. It’s important to note that this change will affect all websites and not just ecommerce sites. So, if you’re a restaurant owner, lawyer, dentist, realtor or consultant, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that this change doesn’t apply to you. It does.

Now that January 1st has passed, when people try to access a website without a SSL certification, a ‘Not Secure’ message will appear, which will more often times than not prompt them to leave.

Maintaining an online presence can be tough, so don’t make it any harder for yourself than it already is. If you don’t already have an SSL certificate on your website, NOW is the time to do so. If you would like to speak with a Cloud9 hosting specialist about making your website secure, contact us today.

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Whistler Lifestyle PhotographyCloud9 Marketing
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Local SEO for your Whistler Business Guide

Whistler offers an amazing array of top-quality services and companies. While this is what makes us such an incredible community, it also means that there is a lot of competition for local businesses. Your website allows you to speak to the entire online world, but if you’re offering local services you need to be predominantly targeting potential customers in Whistler. Optimizing your website for your geographical area is essential for boosting your SEO, and for showing customers exactly where they can find you. Here are our top tips on how you can improve your local SEO and generate better traffic through location-based searching.

#1 Get on Google My Business

Registering your business with Google My Business is the first step to optimizing your local SEO. It’s completely free to do, and allows you to manage your online presence across Google’s search pages, including Maps. It asks you to fill in a mini summary of your business that gets displayed at the top of Google’s results pages. This means it is essentially the first impression potential clients will get of your business, before even clicking on your website. It’s also important to update this on a regular basis with new photos, information, hours, etc. As well, encourage your customers and clients to review your business on Google – even a few reviews looks good.

Local SEO Map Pack

What people see when they Google Cloud9 Marketing

#2 Keep your contact information consistent

It’s crucial that all your information is the same across online platforms. Not only does this make it easy for customers to find you, but also it shows you uphold a reliable business. NAP (your company’s name, address and phone number) is your digital thumbprint, and if this information fails to align across the different online profiles of your business, Google will recognise these inconsistent listings. The more times Google ‘sees’ your thumbprint on reputable websites, the more confident it becomes that it is displaying a trustworthy business in its search results.

#3 Build your online credibility

Even though this one takes time, having a solid catalogue of good reviews on your page is going to elevate your local credibility and improve your SEO ranking. A recent survey found that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Don’t be afraid to sincerely ask customers for reviews, and make it easy for them to do so by offering a multitude of potential review sites to use, such as Google+, Facebook and Yelp.

#4 Connect with other local Whistler businesses

If the Internet didn’t exist, you’d probably have to promote your business through regular networking, or by joining a Whistler business group, right? The truth is, you should still be doing the equivalent of this online. Start liaising with other local businesses and linking them on your site, and this will hopefully encourage them to return the favour. By engaging with respected companies you will show search engines that you are a trusted, reliable source.

#5 Write great content

If you keep producing quality, locally orientated content, then results will naturally follow. Keep your customers interested and engaged to increase their affinity with your brand. This can be via content promotions, polls, or just some interesting posts about what’s going on in Whistler next weekend. Maintaining steady blog posts and social media posts demonstrates your involvement in the local community, and can be a super effective way to increase your SEO.

Check out our tips on blogging to improve your SEO!

If you’re looking to get your Whistler business out there and feature on local search results, we can help. Cloud9 Marketing offers free SEO audits at no obligation.

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seo-questions

WTF is SEO? The Top 5 Questions We Get from Small Businesses

Out of all of the services we offer at Cloud9 Marketing, SEO certainly has the most confusion surrounding it. Not only do many of our clients not completely understand what it encompasses, but they often have unrealistic expectations on how quickly it works. Properly implemented SEO will help a website rank well on search engines, with everybody’s goal being that coveted first page spot. Results for SEO aren’t overnight, and it’s important for businesses to realize that its an ongoing process. Here are the top questions we get from small businesses about SEO.

#1 What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. In short, it’s how websites get found online with the common number one goal; to be displayed on the first page of the search engine results page. Keyword research, content marketing, back-linking and user experience are all aspects of SEO, but none will be completely effective without the other facets.

SEO is probably the most complicated aspect of online marketing. Involving so many layers and disciplines, some of which can only be properly employed by techy types with knowledge of web design and HTML.  With every business wanting more organic traffic, SEO is the way to get it. Of course you can pay to get traffic to your site, but organic Google rankings convey authority and trust, and SEO is how businesses get there.

#2 Should we pay for SEO in our business?

Although every online business could use SEO, not every business should allocate marketing budget to this area. In some cases, small businesses simply do not have the budget to compete with competitors for the top spots on search engines.

Businesses looking for immediate results will not benefit from SEO as SEO strategies take time (three months minimum for any impact). For small businesses operating in a competitive online space, who don’t have the budget to compete with online titans or who are seeking immediate results should opt for paid advertising, or other online marketing methods instead.

#3 What services does an SEO company provide?

Some SEO companies provide the gamut of SEO services while others focus on specific areas such as content creation, on-page optimization or link building. Having an audit done of your website is the first step to establishing your SEO needs.

Once you know what you’re dealing with, and understand the market in which you are competing, you can decide if and which SEO company can help you reach your goals. You may need someone who can cover every aspect of SEO from the technical to the content, to the links and authority; or you may simply need someone who can make some changes to the back-end of your website so it’s more search engine and user friendly.

#4 Can we do SEO ourselves?

There are some things businesses can do themselves to help optimize their website. Installing an SEO plugin such as Yoast can help ensure pages and posts are properly optimized for search engines using meta descriptions, title tags and focus key words. Blogging is an excellent way to increase organic page rank and can be done internally. By using popular key words for your business and industry you can generate more rankings for specific search terms. There are also a handful of free and cheap tools online that allow businesses to check their SEO status; MOZ.com, Ahrefs and Google Keyword planner are some excellent places to start.

#5 Why aren’t we getting instant results?

As a marketing agency that provides SEO services we are constantly abating client concerns about the lack of overnight results. It takes a minimum of three months for SEO results to flow in, and this can be even longer for websites that have had particularly poor performance or in ultra competitive market places. Patience with SEO is key. Understanding that SEO is a long game not an overnight miracle worker will help set realistic expectations when trying to improve your businesses SEO.

If you’re looking to rank on the first page of google and up your organic game on search engines, we can help. Cloud9 Marketing offers free SEO audits at no obligation.

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blogging-cloud9
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Is Blogging Just a Big Waste of Time?

When I mention blogging to clients, it’s usually met with eye rolls. I often hear statements like, “Blogging is just a big waste of time” and “how does Blogging actually translate to ROI?”. I can totally understand why people don’t like blogging. If you’re not a writer, and you’re busy with other aspects of the business, making time to blog is simply not a priority. That being said, according to many experts it’s the cheapest and most effective way to increase the search engine optimization (SEO) of your site and get found online by potential customers. If you aren’t convinced about blogging, read on…

Blogging helps with search engine results

Search engine algorithms determine where your website ranks on the search engine results page (SERP), and SEO is the process of optimizing your website for better placement. One of the key factors search engines look for when ranking a website is fresh updated content. There is no better way to add new and relevant content to your site then in a Blog. And if you don’t like the word Blog feel free to change it to Latest News, What’s On My Mind, or some other original description. The purpose of a Blog (or whatever you call it) is to bring that fresh and unique content to your site so it gets indexed by search engines and your page ranks better organically.

Blogging drives traffic to your website

I’m pretty sure you would agree that you’d like more traffic coming to your website. Producing regular blog posts is kind of like fishing; you put the information out there on the web, and wait for somebody to bite. Every time you post a blog and share it on social media, you’re casting your content into a sea of potential customers. The more content you generate the more likely people will find it and visit your site, or link to your content from a relevant website. Companies that Blog receive 97% more links to their website than companies who don’t according to Hubspot. Inbound links are one of the key signals search engines look for when ranking a website.

Blogging generates leads

Correctly curated blog posts can be excellent lead generators. Adding a call to action to every Blog post in the way of a link, form or pop-up will encourage people to take action on your site. According to Huffington Post businesses that use blogs receive 67% more leads than ones that don’t. If you want leads and you don’t want to pay for them, blogging is an affordable and effective way to convert leads into customers.

Blogging establishes credibility

No matter what your industry is, you likely want customers and clients to think you have more credibility, experience or know-how than your competitors. Blogging is a great way to establish this credibility in the online domain. By publishing blogs on your social media, and key industry sites you’re showing potential customers that you know what you’re talking about. As you build authority in your industry or niche through blogging, your brand recognition and trust sky-rockets in the minds of potential clients and customers.

The most important thing to remember about blogging is that results don’t happen overnight. Blogging is a long term plan that must be implemented consistently and strategically for desired results. Many companies who understand the value of blogging, from small family-run business to Fortune 500 companies, choose to outsource their content creation. Blogging is one of the most affordable ways to get people to your website, but it needs to be done right and it does take time. At Cloud9 Marketing we have a team of writers who are experienced at crafting content that drives traffic and brings results. Contact us today and find out how we can help your business with blogging.

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build-a-website
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So You Want To Build a Website? Part Two.

Previous So You Want To Build A Website? Part One.

If you’ve bought a domain and have registered for web hosting the next step is to decide how your site will be built. Do you want to build it yourself with a simple drag and drop site? Would you prefer great customization with a theme? Or would you rather have the entire site coded from scratch? Web design is the most costly part of creating a website so it’s important to understand your options and be realistic with your skill level and time constraints. Having a set of goals and a budget on hand can determine which direction to go. Below are the different methods of building a website, theirs costs, and their advantages and disadvantages.

Building a Website

DIY

You don’t need any technical aptitude or coding experience to build a website these days. Web design platforms like Wix and Squarespace make web design accessible to even the most computer illiterate souls. These websites are essentially free to build and have some customizability enabling you to realize your creative vision with little or no expenditure. They are considered closed source platforms so don’t allow a lot in the way of flexibility and customization. The ease of use and affordability make sites like Wix and Squarespace great for Blogs and basic websites, but poor for sites that require customization.

Use a Theme

This is a relatively affordable way to build a website and offers great customization and support. WordPress is an example of a platform which features thousands of pre-coded themes ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. WordPress is an open-sourced platform allowing customization and flexibility. This is where it’s handy to know some html and css, or have a web designer on board that does.

Relatively web savvy people can create a website with WordPress, however the learning curve is steep and you’ll need to weigh up the cost of your time building the site versus hiring someone to do it for you. Hiring a web designer to build a WordPress site or similar is common. This can cost you between $500- $10,000 depending on the complexity of your site (pages, functions, additional coding/CSS).

It is worth mentioning that many people struggle with the decision to find someone local our out-source overseas (this can cost only a few hundred dollars). While it’s true you can get a website made relatively cheaply in countries like India, I think most people would agree if something were to go wrong, a local face and name to support you is invaluable. I’ve heard numerous stories of people getting their websites designed off-shore who live to regret it!

Develop from Scratch

The third option is to hire a web developer to create you a website from scratch. Unless you are a Fortune 500 company or require complicated functionality not supported by pre-existing themes, this is probably not required. Web developers are professionals who build the bones of the website using coding and PHP to create a site from scratch. This can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the site.

Get Noticed

There is no point having a website sitting on a slice of cyber real estate unless people can find it. Many would agree, getting noticed is the most important part of being online (you’ve worked so hard to hang the streamers, blow up the balloons, and bake the cake- now you need people to actually come to the party!).

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the art of getting found online and Search Engine Optimization is the science behind it. The complexity of SEM and SEO is far beyond the scope of this article but essentially involves building links, creating and optimizing content and installing proper codes into the back end of the site. This is just the start of what it takes to have your website get noticed online.

Building a website may be one of the biggest decisions your business will make and is the most pivotal aspect of your online strategy. There are over 3 billion internet users around the world. If you want a share of the online market place, a well built and optimized site that is in alignment with your online goals should not be overlooked.

Need more information on building a website? Contact Cloud9 Marketing and let’s discuss your brand’s online strategy and web design goals.

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mobile friendly digital marketing
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Is Mobilegeddon Upon Us?

 

If you haven’t made a priority of making your website mobile friendly, you might want to start thinking about changing that.

It could cost you your ranking on Google. (Cue the horror film screams.)

What Happened

In mid-April, Google announced that they were developing a new mobile-friendly ranking algorithm. The idea was that mobile-friendly sites would, in theory, appear higher in search engine results when users were conducting their searches on a mobile phone.

To a lot of people, this wasn’t just some small change: this was “Mobilegeddon”. Businesses began to panic about the mobile-friendliness of their websites (what took you so long?), with many opting to expedite the process before the algorithm change took effect.

On April 21st, the world of SEO held its collective breath as it waited to see Mobilegeddon unfold. It wasn’t unlike the moment the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999. And just as our wild fears of the Y2K bug were all for nothing, it turns out that the fuss behind Mobilegeddon may have been a little bit excessive.

For now, at least.

What Could Happen

It turned out that the change in the algorithm didn’t have as severe an impact as many had expected. It took a week to fully roll out, but even after that week, the changes weren’t as drastic as anticipated.

This is thought to be generally attributable to a few factors.

First, and perhaps most importantly, the update was implemented, but not all websites have been reindexed. As these websites’ scores become updated, it could potentially affect the rankings in mobile search. (Read more here.)

Second, the fact that many companies decided to take action on making their website mobile friendly prior to the launch of the update could have lessened the impact of the update. In theory, the update is supposed to make mobile friendly sites appear higher than non-mobile friendly sites in mobile searches; if the site is, indeed, mobile friendly, then it should remain roughly where it is in desktop searches, assuming competing sites have taken similar action.

Third, many note that the update was said to be one factor that affects search engine results. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the only factor, or the “be all or end all” factor. Other factors could take priority in the ranking, making the effects not as noticeable as people expected.

Time will tell how much impact this change has really caused, but for now, it’s safe to say that the so called “Mobilegeddon” was an overreaction.

What Should I Do?

Algorithm update or not, you really should have a mobile friendly website. If your site looks bad on mobile devices, you’re going to lose out on the audience that is visiting you from those sources—and you probably know that more and more people are using mobile devices to do their internet searches.

To find out whether Google considers your website to be mobile-friendly or not, just enter the web address into this site.

You want it to say “Awesome! This page is mobile friendly” after you complete your analysis. If it doesn’t say that, you have some work to do.

Cloud9 Marketing can help you bring your website up to mobile-friendly standards, preventing you from losing out on potential business and on your mobile search engine results ranking. Contact us, and we’ll set up a plan for

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