Digital Marketing Explained By Mawazo Marketing

Four Local SEO Levers Every Field Service Company Needs to Pull

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:52:27 GMT

For multi-location field service companies, local rankings are earned location by location

Here is the system that makes every branch competitive

Imagine your Burlington location gets calls every morning and your technicians are booked a week out. Meanwhile, your Hamilton branch does the same quality work, and barely gets enough calls to fill the day.

Google does not evaluate your brand as a whole. It evaluates each location as its own local business, weighing three factors: relevance, proximity, and prominence. A location that is weak on any of these will lose to a competitor that treats local SEO as a system.

Local SEO has two sides. One side lives on your website — the pages, keywords, and technical signals you build on the one platform you fully own. The other side lives off your website, on platforms and directories you do not control. This article covers the off-site side: four levers that determine how each of your locations shows up across Google, directories, and the wider web.

Pull all four consistently, and you start building a system that strengthens the online presence of every location you operate.

Lever 1 — Google Business Profile: your digital front door

For most customers, your Google Business Profile is the first and only thing they see before deciding to call. Businesses that show next to the Google Map see average increases of 300 to 500 percent in direction requests, phone calls, and website visits compared to those outside it.

Our client A1 Security Systems shows up as the first entry in the local map pack on the Google search results page for “home security services burlington”

Every location needs its own fully built-out GBP with:

the exact business name,
the right primary category for the trade,
secondary categories for sub-services, and a completely filled-out Services section.
accurate hours,
a matching phone number, and
the correct website URL

Google treats GBP activity as a popularity signal. Posting weekly keeps a profile classified as active. Real job-site photos, technician and truck images, and short videos of completed work all strengthen a profile.

Lever 2 — NAP Citations: proving every location is real

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. Google's search engine cross-references this information across the web on local directories such as Yelp, YellowPages, BBB and the Chamber of Commerce, to verify that each location is real and reliably located. Even minor inconsistencies erode trust and suppress rankings, so make sure the address is always formatted the same, and you use the same phone number everywhere.

226 Live Citations for A1 Security Systems, 92% of available citations

For multi-location operators, NAP inconsistency is often the biggest hidden drag on local performance. Most companies do not find it until they run a proper audit. Old addresses, different phone number formats, and duplicate listings quietly push your locations further from the nearby customers who are actively searching for your services. Keeping your local listings clean and consistent across every directory is one of the highest-leverage actions you can take before anything else.

Lever 3 — Customer Reviews: the fuel for rankings and revenue

Reviews are one of the top local ranking factors in 2026. Google weighs:

quantity,
star rating,
recency,
keyword content, and
owner response rate

The competitive benchmark is a 4.8-star average or higher. Volume matters as much as rating. A location with 150 reviews at 4.8 stars will typically outrank a competitor at 5.0 with only 30 reviews. Google reads volume as social proof of consistent service delivery to local customers in that market.

Every completed job is a review opportunity. Ask within two to four hours of completion while the experience is still fresh. Send a direct Google review link by SMS or email. Train technicians to close with a simple one-liner: "If you were happy with today's service, a quick Google review really helps this location show up for neighbours like you." Do not underestimate the service area reach of a well-reviewed branch — reviews signal to Google which locations are actively serving real people in specific cities.

Respond to every review within 24 to 48 hours. For positive reviews, weave in natural local keywords: "Thanks for trusting us with your AC repair in Burlington." For negative reviews, acknowledge professionally, avoid defensiveness, and move the resolution offline. Every potential customer reading your reviews is evaluating not just your star rating but how you handle problems.

Lever 4 — Local Link Building: scaling community authority

Links from locally authoritative sources strengthen your presence, and the strongest links come from real community relationships. Businesses that build these relationships consistently are the ones that dominate local search results over time — not through a single tactic, but through compounding community authority that competitors cannot easily replicate.

A directory listing with the local Chamber of Commerce puts your location in front of community members and generates a trusted local link. Supplier and manufacturer directories — equipment brands often maintain "find a contractor" pages — are free to get listed on and carry genuine authority. Local media coverage, complementary business partnerships, community sponsorships, and trade association memberships all build local links that compound over time.

These relationships also generate referral traffic and community visibility that goes beyond the SEO value of the link itself. Every new location you open has the same checklist available to it.

Your multi-location Local SEO checklist

Getting every location performing in local search is a systems problem, not a content problem. It requires the same five elements, executed consistently, at every branch.

For each location:

GBP is complete, accurate, photo-rich, and posting weekly.
NAP is clean and consistent across all major directories.
Reviews sit at 4.8 stars or better, with steady new volume and every review answered within 48 hours.
Local links include meaningful connections from community organizations, trade partners, and suppliers.

When every location follows this playbook, the online visibility of your locations dramatically improves, and you stop having "lucky branches" and "problem markets." You have a predictable system for showing up first, in every city where you operate.

We provide local SEO optimization and local search engine optimization services to field service companies within our Marketing Operating System. As a local SEO company serving growth-focused operators, we treat each of your locations as its own local entity — because that is exactly how Google evaluates them. If you are looking for an affordable local SEO service that is built around your business systems and not just your keyword rankings, we can walk through a local SEO audit of your top three markets together. You will have a clear picture of what to fix first.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Content Does Your Website Need to Be Found Online?

thomasghess@gmail.com (Thomas Hess) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:38:59 GMT

Originally posted May 27, 2024 | Updated April 14, 2026

Imagine your website as a needle in the vast haystack of the internet. How would someone using Google or Bing find your website amongst the billions of other websites? It's the content on your website that will get you found, not a great design. To be discovered, you need the right type of content on your website, and you'll need to have enough of it.

So how much is enough?

That's exactly the question most marketing advice dodges. Every business owner I talk to has heard 'you need more content' but almost nobody gives them a number, a page type, or a sequence to follow. This article does.

The Job the Content of your B2B Service Website Is Hired to Do

Think of every page on your site as a worker hired to do a specific job. That job is to be found by the right buyer at the right moment and move them toward a decision. For a B2B service company that means these three core jobs:

The page needs to rank for the services you offer in the geographies you serve.
It needs to educate the visitor who is evaluating your service.
It needs to convert that visitor into a lead for your business.

A website that doesn't rank is like a skilled technician who never gets dispatched. The capacity is there, but no one finds it when they need it. Content is the dispatch system that changes that.

The Core Pages Every B2B Service Website Needs

Many field service websites are structurally underbuilt. A homepage, a combined "services" page, and a contact form. That's a brochure, not a competitive website. Before you think about blogging, you need to put a foundation in place.

Word count isn't a direct ranking signal, Google has said so explicitly. But length correlates strongly with how completely a page covers its topic, and how likely it is to get referenced by other websites. The average top-10 Google result is approximately 1,450 words. Pages in the top three positions average closer to 2,400 words.

Here are the page types every field service site needs and the practical word count targets for each:

Homepage

Your positioning statement with a clear next step. Target 400 to 600 words of focused content.

Individual Service Pages

One page per service, not all services on a single page. When a buyer searches for "commercial HVAC maintenance contracts", then they need to land on a page dedicated exactly to that. Combining services onto one page confuses search engines about what the page is about.

Target 600 to 1,200 words per service page. Thin service pages are one of the most common reasons field service websites don't rank.

Location and Service Area Pages

Each city or region you serve needs its own page. Your location page should mirror your Google Business Profile and include locally relevant details. Your service area pages cover surrounding towns and communities. These are what wins "near me" searches.

Target 400 to 800 words per page.

About and Credentials Page

For a B2B buyer evaluating a multi-year service contract, this page does real work in the buying decision. It should include certifications, number of years in business, key team members, and real proof points. It is also a direct signal for what Google evaluates under E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

Target 300 to 600 words.

FAQ and Contact

Frequently Asked Questions capture long-tail search queries and answer buyer objections before they become reasons to say no. People Also Ask boxes now appear in nearly 65% of all Google searches, and well-structured FAQ content is how you earn that real estate.

Target 300 to 600 words. Your contact page needs to be frictionless with a clear call to action.

Blog Posts and Pillar Pages

Standard blog posts and guides are generally 1,200 to 2,500 words. Research consistently shows that articles in the 2,100 to 3,000 word range generate the strongest engagement and ranking results.

Pillar Pages are the cornerstone content that compete for your highest-value search terms. They generally are 2,000 to 4,000 words long.

A field service company with all of these pages built properly is starting to look competitive.

How Many Pages Is "Enough"? Realistic Benchmarks for Field Service Websites

A small local service business needs a minimum of 25 to 30 pages to begin competing in search. To rank reliably and generate consistent leads, you're looking at 50 to 60 pages. To dominate your region, you're building toward 80 to 100 pages or more.

Page count matters because Google doesn't rank websites but individual pages. Each page is a separate opportunity to be found for a distinct keyword or search term. A five-page website competes for at most five to 10 search terms.

Think about what your business actually offers: providing multiple services from multiple locations, for different types of clients. Each of those combinations deserves its own page. When you map that out, the right page count feels much less like a stretch and more like an obvious plan.

Hub Pages: Why Structure Matters as Much as Volume

Publishing blog posts without a strategy is one of the most common mistakes I see. Articles that don't link together and don't reinforce each other don't build authority on any topic.

The approach that works is creating Hub Pages that cover a broad subject comprehensively. They divide a broad topic into sub-topics and list individual blogs for detailed content. Together they signal to Google that your site is the authoritative source on that topic. Niche expertise now accounts for 13% of Google's ranking algorithm, making it the 4th most important ranking factor.

Hub pages also improve navigation for your website visitors. All relevant articles on a topic they're interested in are logically grouped together, making it easier for them to go deeper without hunting across your site.

For most field service companies, three to five hub pages provides a strong foundation. Here is a detailed blog on how to build Hub Pages

Quality, Consistency, and Information Gain: Why Volume Alone Is Not Enough

Hitting page count and word count targets is necessary. It is not sufficient on its own.

Information Gain

Google's systems evaluate what researchers describe as "information gain." The core question is: does this page add something new to the conversation, or does it restate what the top ten results already say? A 2,000-word article that covers the same ground as every competitor has essentially zero information gain. It is unlikely to rank well regardless of how polished it looks. For a field service company, this is a real advantage. You have first-hand operational knowledge that generic content marketers don't have. Original observations and specific examples consistently outperform generic summaries.

A Word of Caution on AI-Generated Content

Tools like ChatGPT are useful for research and ideation, but AI tends to produce generic output that restates what already exists. For your content to build authority, it needs to be grounded in your company's actual knowledge and experience — the kind of institutional insight that no AI tool can replicate.

E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness

Google evaluates content quality through a framework called E-E-A-T. This means your content should reflect real operational experience, demonstrate subject matter expertise, and include proof points that establish credibility, such as certifications, years in business, case studies, and named team members. In an era where AI-generated content is flooding the web, Google's systems are placing increasing scrutiny on who created the content and whether they demonstrate genuine first-hand knowledge. Your About page is the anchor for E-E-A-T signals, but they should run through every page on your site.

Consistency and Freshness

Consistent publication of satisfying content is now the single most important Google ranking factor, weighted at 23% of the algorithm. A steady cadence of one to two quality posts per month outperforms sporadic high-volume campaigns every time. Freshness matters too — pages updated at least once per year gain an average of 4.6 positions in search results compared to content that hasn't been touched. Refreshing your top-performing pages is as strategically important as publishing new ones.

A Simple 12 to 18 Month Content Plan for B2B Field Service Leaders

Here is how a realistic content roadmap looks for most field service companies:

In months one through three, stabilize your core site. Build or repair every foundational page: homepage, individual service pages, location and service area pages, about us, FAQ, and contact.

In months four through nine, begin your first Hub Page. Identify your highest-priority service and the questions your buyers ask most often. Write pillar pages and normal blogs for this Hub Page. Your search rankings will start to move noticeably when you publish your first Hub Page.

From month ten onward, maintain a consistent publishing cadence of one to two posts per month. Start working on your second Hub Page, add new service area pages as you grow, and refresh top-performing content regularly.

The word count milestone to aim for is 100,000 words across your site. At two posts per month averaging 2,000 words each, you can reach that in about two years. That threshold is where we consistently see content marketing begin to generate more traffic, resulting in more leads, and less dependence on paid advertising to sustain your lead flow.

How Mawazo Helps You Hit Critical Mass Without Wasting Content Budget

At Mawazo, we work mainly with B2B field service companies. We've built the benchmarks mentioned in this post into every content engagement. We know which page types move the needle in your industry and how to measure results in terms that connect to your P&L.

Content is one of the most important components of the Marketing Operating System we design and run for our clients. It works because it's connected to your data and your growth targets right from the start.

If you want to know exactly where your site stands and what it needs, the right first step is a content audit. We'll map what you have, identify what's missing, and give you a prioritized plan you can execute with confidence.

Let's talk about what your field service website needs to go further – faster.

Frequently Asked Questions

Organizing Your Content With a Hub Page: A Smarter SEO Content Strategy

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:46:37 GMT

Content Matters

If you're running field service operations across multiple locations, content management has never been your first priority. Between coordinating teams, tracking jobs across regions, and keeping customers happy, writing blog posts feels like the last thing you have time for.

Some companies we talk to have almost no content at all, maybe a basic website and that's it. Others have a handful of blogs, a news post from a few years ago, or a "resources" section that never went anywhere.

In both cases, the feeling is the same:

"We don't have time for content."

"We tried it once or twice and nothing happened."

"Even if we did write more, how would we actually use it to win work?"

The issue usually isn't that you can't do content. It's that whatever existing content you have isn't organized in a way that helps buyers find what they need and move toward working with you. That's a structure problem, and a Hub Page is the solution.

Here's why content matters: a HubSpot review of 1400 websites showed that companies with blogs gathered 68% more leads than customers without blogs. Content creation starts to impact lead growth once 20+ articles become available.

(HubSpot - Lead Generation Tips From 1400 Websites)

What a Hub Page Actually Is

A well-executed content strategy doesn't require publishing constantly. It requires organizing what you know around the questions your target audience is asking.

That's where a content hub comes in. It is a single, comprehensive guide on a broad topic your ideal customer cares about. Think of it as the home base for that topic on your website. Instead of sending people to a random blog post, you send them to one page that explains the big picture, breaks the topic into clear sections, and links to all the deeper resources you already have or will build over time.

A Hub Page is like a content library your audience can return to. It consists of:

A compelling title to the main topic, such as “The Ultimate Guide to ….”
A description of 100-200 words of the main theme
4 to 8 sub-topics, each covering a specific angle with a compelling title
A description for each sub-topic of at 50 -100 words
Links to 5 or more pieces of content relevant for the sub-topic such as blogs, videos, checklists, and even resources on other websites.

A well-built content hub also anchors a lead magnet: a blueprint, checklist, or brief that a prospect can request in exchange for their contact information. The hub generates interest, and the lead magnet turns that engagement into leads.

For field service companies, this means your sales team finally has one link to send. When a prospect asks about your approach to multi-site maintenance contracts, you have a complete, organized answer ready.

Why Organizing Content Around a Hub Works Better for Busy Buyers

Your target audience is not searching for a single blog post. They're trying to understand a problem, evaluate their options, and figure out who they can trust. When they land on a scattered website they will leave. When they land on a content hub that answers their questions, then they stay and read more. They can see at a glance that you understand the full landscape of their problem. They can follow their own path based on what matters most to them right now.

We see this in our client work consistently. When prospects arrive at a well-structured content hub, they read more, click deeper, and arrive at sales conversations better prepared. It shortens the sales cycle and changes the quality of the conversation from "explain your services to me" to "here's what we're trying to solve."

For your sales team, the user experience is equally practical. Instead of sending three PDFs and four separate URLs, they share one page which does the educating. The salesperson can focus on listening and advising.

How Content Hubs Boost Search and AI Visibility

Search engines are trying to answer questions, not just match keywords. When someone types "IT Security for law firm," Google is looking for pages that show a clear, complete understanding of that topic. A hub page does exactly that.

Topical depth and authority

Because a hub page covers the big picture and links to detailed articles, it signals that you've gone deep on the subject, not just written one quick post. That breadth and depth are the same qualities that separated top-performing industrial sites in the audit above.

Clear internal links

When your hub links out to related content and those pages link back, it creates a tight content cluster around one topic. Search engines use these connections to understand what you're an authority on. This also gives you a natural structure for working relevant keywords across multiple pieces of quality content, without forcing them into a single page.

Better experience, stronger engagement signals

People stay longer, click into more pages, and are more likely to return when everything they need on a topic is easy to find. Those engagement signals reinforce your organic visibility over time.

AI search and overviews

As AI-driven summaries become more common in search, well-organized and comprehensive pages are significantly more likely to be surfaced and cited than isolated, stand-alone posts. A hub is built exactly the way AI tools like to retrieve content: organized, comprehensive, clearly structured around a topic.

What Content Hubs Do for Your Overall Marketing and Sales Engine

A content hub isn't just a nicer way to present your blogs. It quietly upgrades how your whole marketing strategy works.

For content marketing , it becomes the anchor for a core topic. Instead of guessing what to write next, you have a clear structure: fill the gaps under each subtopic, improve the main page over time, and know that every piece of relevant content has a home. Existing content that was buried on your site now has a clear role inside a bigger story. It’s one of the fastest ways to improve your seo efforts without starting from scratch.

For sales teams , it becomes a practical tool. One link to send a prospect who is early in their thinking. One page that walks through the big picture and lets the buyer choose what to dig into.

Real-World Examples

It helps to see what this looks like in practice. Here are three hub pages we've built in different B2B service contexts. The industries are different; the structure and outcome are the same.

Example 1: Automatic Doors Service & Maintenance

Door Services Corporation offers installation, maintenance and repair services for automatic doors across 20+ locations in the USA and Canada. The hub page gives facility managers one destination to return to when they're planning maintenance, troubleshooting a breakdown, or preparing for an inspection.

https://doorservicescorporation.com/resources/commercial-door-servicing-guide

Example 2: IT Security

Digital Fire is an Oakville-based managed IT services provider that helps small and mid-sized businesses improve operational efficiency with the latest technology. This hub is for small and mid-sized business owners who know they should be taking IT security more seriously but aren't sure where to start.

https://www.digitalfire.ca/resources/navigating-it-security/navigating-it-security-a-comprehensive-guide-for-businesses

Example 3: B2B Loyalty Programs

Lift & Shift helps its clients increase profits and customer loyalty with a behavior-based, data-driven, full-service B2B reward and incentive programs. The hub page is built for B2B sales and marketing leaders exploring whether a loyalty or incentive program is right for their business, and offers case studies with specific results including a 179% sales lift, giving skeptical buyers the proof points they need to move forward.

https://www.lift-and-shift.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-b2b-loyalty-programs

First Steps: Mapping Your Own Content Hub

You need one well-organized starting point on a topic your best customers care about, and you need to build it with a clear understanding of your target audience and what actually matters to them. At Mawazo, we start every content hub the same way we start every engagement: with strategy.

Here's the process we use:

Clarify your Ideal Client and map their main problems and concerns.
Pick one broad, high-value topic: a problem or goal your ideal client is actively searching for.
List the real questions your clients ask about that topic. Group those into four to eight subtopics.
Take stock of the existing content you already have that fits underneath each subtopic.

You don't need dozens of new blog posts to make progress. In most cases, companies already have more relevant material than they realize. It may be buried in past proposals or service descriptions, and in the blogs and case studies you already have. You may have recorded a video of a training, which can be converted into blogs. The content hub gives all of it a home, a structure, and a place in your overall digital marketing strategy.

Ready to Map Your First Hub Page?

If you'd like help mapping your first content hub, we can review your current site, identify your highest-value topic, and sketch the complete structure together in a short working session. You'll leave with a clear map of what you have, what's missing, and what to build next — further, faster.

This is paragraph text. Click it or hit the Manage Text button to change the font, color, size, format, and more. To set up site-wide paragraph and title styles, go to Site Theme.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Cost of Digital Marketing

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:13:28 GMT

What Does Digital Marketing Actually Cost?

Most field service firms are either spending too little to gain traction or too much on tactics that aren't connected to a system. Here's how to find the number that's right for your business.

We hear this question more than almost any other: How much should we be spending on digital marketing?

Marketing spend decisions are complex, and go well beyond the generic advice of spending a certain percentage of revenue. There are many more things to consider, such as your growth targets, your current gross and net margin profile, and whether you're trying to build long-term equity or fill the calendar next quarter.

We've watched firms waste money in two predictable ways. The first is under-investing: keeping spend so thin that no channel gets real traction. The second is mis-investing: spending real money on tactics without strategy. In both cases, the problem isn't the dollar amount. It's the absence of a system.

The Baseline: What B2B Field Service Firms Actually Spend

The CMO Survey by Duke's Fuqua School of Business found that B2B service companies spend about 9% of total revenue on marketing (see “ The CMO Survey - Leading Marketing in a Complex World ).

Within the average, there's a wide spread. High-growth firms may allocate up to 15% of total revenue to marketing, while stagnant firms typically sit closer to 5%. That 10-point gap reflects a deliberate choice to treat marketing as a capital investment rather than a discretionary line item.

We find that Canadian B2B service companies generally spend less on marketing. Many of our clients spend 2% to 5% of their revenue on digital marketing.

The Financial Architecture of a Smart Marketing Budget

Most operators think about marketing spend as a single number, but we know it works better if you think of your budget as four investments working together:

People who set direction: up to 30% goes to internal personnel doing creative and sales alignment.
Programs that generate activity: 30-40% of your budget goes to advertising, events, and campaigns.
Technology that connects the data: Up to 25% goes to technology, depending on how much you’re investing in (AI) platforms
Specialists who bring expertise: if you outsource marketing strategy and/or execution, then you’ll spend 25-50% of total program spend.

This breakdown matters because it helps you diagnose your budget before you resize it. We often see firms over-weighted in agency spend and under-invested in internal capability. Or they're running campaigns without the technology layer to plan it well or track what's working. Those imbalances cost money regardless of budget size.

How Much Goes to Digital, and Where It Actually Flows

Generally about 40% of your total marketing budget will flow to digital. Of that digital spend, you’ll want to allocate budget to all the relevant areas, such as content production, paid search, social media, Search and Answer Engine Optimization (SEO and AEO), outreach, and analytics.

Balancing that spend is important, especially where it comes to digital advertising. Many of the companies we speak to spend the majority of their budget on Google Ads. The main reason is that Google Ads can work well and deliver leads quickly. The disadvantage of this approach is that the money you spend in one month doesn’t do anything for you in the next month. Other digital marketing tactics compound in the background: the content you create in one month will keep its value in the months ahead, and

your investments are compounding over time.

A healthy digital budget balances short-term acquisition with long-term equity. Paid media fills the calendar now, which content and SEO build the assets that keep on delivering leads to your business over time.

Beyond "% of Revenue" — Using Growth Delta to Back into Your Number

The percentage-of-revenue model is a useful starting point. But it breaks down when your growth targets are aggressive.

You can call this alternative approach the Growth Delta. Take your current annual revenue. Subtract it from your target revenue. That gap is your Growth Delta. B2B companies should expect to invest approximately 40% of that desired growth into marketing and sales.

A concrete example: if your firm is at $12M today and your three-year target is $18M, your Growth Delta is $6M. Forty percent of that is $2.4M. That's your total marketing and sales investment envelope over the planning period.

This approach connects your budget to a business outcome, not an industry average. It forces a conversation about what growth actually costs rather than treating marketing as a percentage that floats alongside revenue.

When we work with clients on their Marketing Operating System blueprints, Growth Delta is one of the first numbers we put on the whiteboard. It changes the conversation from "is this too much to spend?" to "is this enough to hit the target?"

Guardrails — CAC, LTV, and the Point of Diminishing Returns

Budgets without guardrails are just spending plans. Three metrics keep your investment honest.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

This is total marketing and sales spend divided by new customers acquired. For field service companies, CAC ranges from around $280 for commercial HVAC through organic channels, to over $900 for industrial manufacturing through paid media. If you don't know your number, you can't evaluate whether a campaign is working.

Lifetime Value (LTV)

Lifetime Value is the total gross revenue a customer generates over their relationship with you. It is calculated as follows:

ARPU = Average Revenue Per User. This is average monthly (or annual) revenue generated per customer. If you have 500 clients paying an average of $1,500/month, your monthly ARPU is $1,500.

Gross Margin % = The percentage of revenue left after direct cost of delivery (labour and materials). If your ARPU is $1,500 and it costs $450 in labour/tools to deliver the service, your gross margin is 70% (or 0.70). This converts revenue into actual profit contribution.

Churn Rate: The percentage of customers who cancel or leave per period (usually monthly). A 2% monthly churn rate means you lose 2% of your customer base each month. Including the Churn Rate corrects for the average lifespan of a customer. A 2% churn rate means the average lifespan of a customer is 1 / 2% = 50 months.

LTV:CAC ratio

The benchmark ratio for a healthy B2B service business is 3:1 or higher, meaning for every $1 spent acquiring a customer, you generate $3+ in Lifetime Value. A ratio below 1:1 means you're losing money on every customer acquired. The optimal zone is 4:1 to 7:1, and if you’re above 8:1, then you're likely under-investing in Customer Acquisition, i.e. you can safely increase your marketing budget and grow further.

Where AI Changes the Math

AI does not eliminate marketing budgets. It reshapes them. What AI does well is lower the unit cost of production and increase the precision of targeting. Content production time is down 30–50%. Better audience segmentation is improving lead quality by 15–20%.

AI tools represented 16–20% of total marketing budgets in 2025 at companies actively adopting them, up from 11% in 2024. In 2026 that number will surely grow further.

But the key constraint is this: AI amplifies a system, it doesn't replace the need for one. We've seen firms spend on AI tools and see no return because the underlying strategy and content system was absent. AI belongs in your budget as a category, not as a replacement for strategy, content, or channel investment.

Putting It Together — A Simple Budget Recipe for Field Service Operators

Start with the revenue anchor.

Apply 3% of projected revenue to total marketing. Allocate 40% to digital. That's your starting number. For a company making $10M of revenue, that boils down to a marketing budget of $300,000, of which $120,000 goes to digital marketing. That makes for an easy calculation: for every $1M per year in revenue, you allocate $1,000 per month on digital marketing.

Pressure-test with Growth Delta.

If the 40%-of-growth-gap figure is materially higher, your targets may require more than the percentage rule suggests. Plan for that now.

Validate with LTV:CAC.

If your ratio is below 3:1, fix the issue before scaling marketing spend. You’ll want to look at increasing the revenue per client, reduce your cost of service delivery, and increase the time your clients stay with you. If it's above 8:1, then you have headroom to invest more in customer acquisition. In other words, you can increase your marketing budget.

If you want to stress-test this framework against your actual numbers, or if you're building a Marketing Operating System from scratch, that's exactly what our Strategy and Architecture work is designed for. We'd rather you start with a clear blueprint than spend six months discovering what doesn't fit together.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes a Good Website

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:04:30 GMT

How to Turn Your Underperforming Website into a Lead‑Generating, Cost‑Saving Business Asset

Many B2B websites look fine but perform poorly. Here’s how to tell the difference, and what to fix first.

Your website is one of the most important assets in your business. For many field service companies it is also the most underused one. It sits there, looking fine on the surface, while quietly costing money and losing deals in the background.

In this guide, we walk through what actually makes a good website for a B2B field service company. Not just how it looks or whether it shows nicely on a phone, but whether it does the work it is supposed to do: creating efficiency for your business, attracting the right leads, and moving them toward a conversation with you.

Ninety percent of B2B purchasing decisions involve an online search at some point. That means your website is almost always part of the process, whether you realize it or not. The question is whether it has a clear purpose and is actively helping, or quietly getting in the way.

In this guide, you’ll audit nine areas:

Technical foundations,
Website structure,
Web design and user interface,
Content quality,
Trust, proof, and authority,
Conversion paths and clear calls to action,
Search Engine Optimization
Integration with your business systems and marketing channels,
Measurement and analytics.

For each section you'll find quick 5–15 minute checks you can run without a developer to see whether your site is actually pulling its weight.

The Two Jobs of a B2B Website

Before we get into the specifics, we need to address a framing issue. Most business owners think of their website as a brochure with a domain name: it describes what they do, shows a few photos, and lists a phone number.

A good website has two jobs of equal importance:

Reduce cost and increase efficiency by integrating with your business systems.
Generate demand by attracting the right target audience and guiding them toward becoming leads.

We see companies invest heavily in one and ignore the other entirely. Both matter, and both need to be built in from the start, not bolted on later.

Using Your Website to Reduce Operational Cost and Increase Efficiency

This is the job that gets skipped most often. When we start working with a field service company, one of the first things we look at is how much manual effort is happening around business processes. Some of them are customer-facing, such as order taking, inquiry management, and answering basic questions. Other processes are internal, such as order processing, warehousing, and fulfillment.

There is an opportunity for saving cost and reducing human error whenever a piece of information exists on more than one system, or whenever your team needs to download information from one platform and upload it somewhere else, or manually enter information. In a surprising number of cases, a well-designed web platform could be handling much of this.

When your website connects to your field service management system, your ERP, or your CRM, something changes. Requests that used to take three steps now take one. Customer information flows directly into the right system without anyone typing it twice. Errors go down and efficiency goes up.

We worked with a client who was processing service inquiries manually, routing them by hand into their operations platform. After integrating their web forms directly with their FSM system, they recovered nearly a full day of admin time per week. The website change did not just look better, it improved how the business ran.

This is what we mean when we talk about a Marketing Operating System . Your website is not a standalone asset. It is one part of a connected set of systems that, when properly integrated, help your business run further and faster with the same team.

Attracting the Right Visitors and Turning Them into Leads

The second job is what most people think of when they think about good websites: getting found, engaging visitors, and converting them into leads.

In a B2B field service context, this is rarely a single-click transaction. A purchasing decision typically takes five to twelve touchpoints before a buyer is ready to talk. Many of those touchpoints can happen on your website and online presence, but only if it is built for that reality.

Getting found starts with search. The vast majority of B2B purchasing decisions begin with a generic search engine query. Your website needs to show up when a potential customer is looking for what you do.
Engaging visitors means giving them the content and the confidence to stay. A buyer who arrives at your site is not just looking for information. They are quietly evaluating whether you understand their world and whether you are worth trusting with their business.
Converting visitors means having clear, low-friction paths that invite the right next step. Not just a phone number in the header. Structured offers with clear CTAs that match where a website visitor is in their journey.

We’ll cover each of these in more detail below.

Technical Foundations: Speed, Security, and Mobile Readiness

When the technical foundations are broken, nothing else works well. This is the baseline every successful website must meet. And it is worth checking, because we regularly see established companies with significant technical issues they are simply not aware of.

Your Site Needs to Load Fast

Web visitors are impatient. If a page takes more than three seconds to load, a significant portion of visitors will leave before they see anything. Page speed also directly affects your search engine ranking. A slow site is penalized in Google search results.

Your Site Needs Website Security

An SSL certificate is the minimum standard for website security. Your website address should start with “https,” not “http.” If it does not, modern browsers will flag your site as unsecured. That is not a good first impression for a B2B buyer evaluating whether to trust you with their operations.

Your Site Needs to Work on Mobile Devices

More than sixty percent of web traffic now comes from mobile devices. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its search results. If your site is difficult to read or navigate on a smartphone, you are losing both visitors and search visibility.

Quick Check: Technical Foundations Check (5 minutes)

Check your website page speed with Google Page Insights
Click the icon next to your web address in your browser. If it does not say "Connection is secure," this is a priority fix.
Check the mobile-friendliness of your website with https://www.rankwatch.com/tools/mobile-friendly-check.html

Website Structure: Building Around Your Client, Not Yourself

One of the most common problems we see in B2B service websites is that they are organized around the company rather than the target audience: the homepage leads with “About Us,” the menu is structured around internal departments, and the language describes what the company does rather than what the client needs.

A good website is structured around the problems your ideal clients are trying to solve. They are not searching online for your company, they are searching for a solution to their problem. Are you making it clear that you can solve their problem, and that you are better at that than your competitors? An effective website answers those questions quickly and clearly.

Every page should have a clear purpose. Your homepage should quickly orient a website visitor: who you serve, what problems you solve, and why you are worth considering. Service pages should go deep on specific offerings, with enough relevant information that a buyer can self-qualify. Supporting pages should answer common questions and build confidence.

Quick Check: Structure (5 minutes)

Spend 5 minutes looking at your website through the eyes of your ideal client:

Menu & Orientation (2 minutes): What is the first option in your website menu — “About Us” or “Services”? Would a first‑time visitor immediately see how you help them solve a specific pain or need?
Service Coverage (2 minutes): Is there a page for every main product and service, not just a line in a list?
Contact Paths (1 minute): Is there a clear and easy way to get in touch from every key page?

Web Design and UX: Making It Easy to Use

Good web design for a B2B service website is not about being impressive. It is about being clear.

Every user interface design decision should serve the visitor’s ability to understand and navigate. That means a consistent color palette that matches your brand identity. It means readable fonts at appropriate sizes. It means enough white space so that the eye is not overwhelmed and important information gets the attention it deserves.

Responsive design is essential. Your site must adapt its layout to whatever device is being used. A page that looks polished on a desktop and broken on a mobile device is a problem that costs you visitors and credibility.

Intuitive navigation matters just as much as visual appeal. A website visitor should never have to search for the information they need. If your site carries a large volume of content, a well-organized mega menu can help. The goal is that anyone can find what they are looking for in as few clicks as possible.

We also recommend thinking about accessibility . About 20% of your visitors have visual impairments or other needs. A site that is designed with accessibility in mind serves a wider audience and tends to score better on technical audits.

Watch out for red flags: cluttered pages, multiple competing fonts, menus that are hard to find on mobile, or pages where it is unclear what the visitor is supposed to do next. These friction points drive people away quietly and invisibly. Good website design eliminates all of them.

Quick Check: Mobile Site (5 minutes)

Visit your website on your mobile phone and check:

Does it look good and feel uncluttered?
Can you read the content without having to scroll horizontally?
Is the font size comfortable to read?
Can you fill in forms easily?
Can you tap the phone number and call directly?

Content Quality: Saying the Right Things in the Right Places

Content is where most B2B service websites fall short. Not because there is too little website content. Often because what is there does not do the right job.

Quality content for a field service website does several things at once. It helps the right visitors self-identify. It builds trust by demonstrating competence. It educates buyers who are not yet ready to talk. And it gives search engines enough relevant material to understand what the site is about.

What Your Homepage Must Do

Your homepage is doing the most important work on your site. A website visitor should be able to look at it for thirty seconds and know who you serve, what problem you solve for them, how you are different from your competitors, and what to do next.

Here are the essentials that should be visible without much scrolling:

Your ideal client and their core challenge
Your core services
At least one strong trust element
A clear call to action

Service and Product Pages

Every service you offer should have its own dedicated page. Not a line item in a list. A full page with enough detail that a buyer can understand what the service involves, who it is for, and what outcome they can expect.

This matters for search engine optimization. It also matters for buyers who are doing their homework before they call. Thin, generic pages do not rank well and do not convert well either.

Ongoing Website Content

A blog or resource section serves two roles. It gives search engines fresh, structured data to index. And it gives buyers a reason to come back and engage before they are ready to talk.

The biggest mistake we see is neglected content. Blog posts from three years ago. Service descriptions that no longer match what the company actually does. Outdated information doesn’t just miss an opportunity, it actively damages trust and hurts your search engine ranking over time.

Quick Check: Content (15 minutes)

Set a timer for 15 minutes and review your site as if you were a new prospect:

Homepage (5 minutes): In 30 seconds, can you answer: who you serve, what problem you solve, why you are credible, and what to do next? If not, highlight what is missing and add it above the fold or in the first scroll.
Service Pages (5 minutes): List your top 3–5 services. Does each ne have its own page? On each page, check for: who it is for, what is included, and what outcome it delivers. If any service is just a paragraph in a bulleted list, mark it as needing a full page.
Content Freshness (5 minutes): Sort your blog/resources by date. Are your last 3–5 posts less than 6–12 months old and still accurate? Flag any obviously outdated posts or service descriptions for update or removal.

If your website content cannot pass this quick audit, you have a prioritized punch list to improve content quality without needing an SEO tool or a redesign.

Trust, Proof, and Authority: Showing You Are a Solid Partner

B2B buyers are risk-averse. Before they call you, they are quietly building a case in their head for whether you are worth the risk. Your website either helps them build that case or leaves them uncertain.

Trust signals reduce perceived risk. The most effective ones include client testimonials with real names and companies, logos of current clients or recognizable partners, case studies that show a specific result for a specific type of client, and certifications or association memberships that signal professional standards. Together, these elements are what we call social proof. They show potential customers that others like them have trusted you and been glad they did.

Social proof does not all need to live on the homepage. But your homepage should carry at least one or two strong trust signals. A buyer who does not see any evidence that others have trusted you will not be the first to take the leap.

Think about what a skeptical buyer is asking when they arrive at your site. Has this company done this for someone like me before? Did it work? Can I verify that? Your proof elements answer those questions. Place your most compelling social proof where it is most visible. Deeper case studies and detailed testimonials can live on interior pages. But do not hide all of your credibility two clicks down from the homepage.

Quick Check: Trust & Proof (10 minutes)

Walk through your site like a skeptical buyer and check:

Homepage (3 minutes): Do you see at least one testimonial with a real name/company or a recognizable client logo on your homepage? If not, pick your strongest proof element and add it there.
Service / Industry Pages (4 minutes): For your top 3 services or target industries, is there at least one specific proof point tied to each? For example, “Helped [Client] cut dispatch time by 30%”. If a page has zero proof, add a testimonial or mini case study.
Depth of Proof (3 minutes): Do you have 2–3 case studies on your website that show a clear before/after for “someone like me”? Are they easy to find from the main navigation (one click from the homepage)?

If you can’t answer “yes” to most of these, your next step is not more traffic. It is upgrading the proof your best prospects can see in their first 30–60 seconds on the site.

Conversion Paths and Clear CTAs: Guiding the Next Step

A well-built website does not just inform visitors. It guides them.

This is where a lot of B2B service sites leave money on the table. The information and the credibility are there. But there is no clear call to action (CTA) and no low-friction path for a visitor to take the next step.

For early-stage B2B buyers, a “Call us now” button is often too high-commitment. They are still in research mode and not ready to take the next step. A good website offers options that match different stages of readiness.

A free guide or diagnostic t hat addresses a common pain point is a good top-of-funnel offer.
A short self-assessment or checklist can help a mid-funnel visitor get clarity and move forward.

Every page should have a clear, logical next step. Not multiple competing CTAs pulling in different directions. One primary action that makes sense given what the page is about. We often find that adding one well-placed, well-worded CTA to a service page produces an immediate increase in inquiries. The visitor was interested, but they just did not know what to do next.

Quick CTA & Conversion Path Audit (10 minutes)

Spend 10 minutes checking whether visitors always know what to do next:

Homepage (3 minutes): Is there one primary CTA above the fold that suits an early‑stage visitor (for example, “See how it works,” “Download the guide”) rather than only “Call us now”? If you have multiple competing buttons, choose one to be primary and simplify the rest.
Service Pages (5 minutes): For each key service page, is there a single, logical next step that fits the page (for example, a short guide, checklist, or “Schedule a conversation”)? If a page has no clear CTA or only a generic “Contact us”, then note it for an upgraded service‑specific action.
Path Check (2 minutes): Start on your homepage and click through as a new visitor. Can you reach a relevant next step (guide, assessment, or conversation) in two clicks or fewer? If not, your quickest win is tightening those paths.

Search Engine Optimization: Getting Found by the Right People

Getting to the top of Google search results takes consistent effort over time. It is not a one-time fix. But there are three things that drive essentially all of it. They are worth understanding even if you are not doing the work yourself.

Website Structure and Technical Health

Search engines reward sites that are well-organized, fast, secure, and easy to navigate. This overlaps directly with the technical and structural foundations we have already covered. Good web design and strong search engine optimization are not separate disciplines. They reinforce each other.

Content Depth and Page-Level Focus

Each page on your site should focus on a specific topic or service. The website content should be deep enough to genuinely answer the questions a buyer is asking. Using relevant keywords naturally throughout your pages helps search engines understand what each page is about.

Backlinks and External Credibility

When other credible websites link to yours, it signals to search engines that your content is worth referencing. Examples of such “backlinks” are references from a business association or local newspaper website. They are earned over time through quality content, industry associations, and press mentions. It is one of the most important factors in organic traffic growth.

Understanding these three levers helps you ask better questions of your web agency or SEO vendor. You do not need to do the work yourself. But you should be able to evaluate whether the work is being done properly.

Quick SEO Health Check (10 minutes)

Set a timer for 10 minutes and review three basics:

Technical Basics (3 minutes): Open your homepage and one key service page on mobile and desktop. Do they load quickly, use HTTPS, and feel easy to navigate? If they feel slow or clunky to you, flag them for your developer.
Page Focus & Depth (4 minutes): Do your top product and service pages have enough detail to answer common questions? If a service is just a short paragraph then implement more detailed information.
External Credibility (3 minutes): List a few partners, associations, or suppliers you work with. Do any of them link to your site from theirs? If not, pick 2–3 realistic places where you could request a directory listing, partner profile, or case-study link to start building backlinks.

Integrating Your Website with Your Systems and Marketing Channels

A website that is not connected to your other systems is an island. It can generate inquiries, but what happens next depends entirely on whether someone manually checks the inbox and routes the lead correctly.

A well-integrated website connects to your CRM so that every form submission is automatically captured, tagged, and assigned. It connects to your email platform so that follow-up sequences trigger without manual effort. It connects to your analytics so that you can see which pages are driving results and which are not. Social media channels should also be connected, so that content and campaigns reinforce each other rather than operating in silos.

This integration is what transforms a website from a static brochure into a functioning part of your Marketing Operating System. Leads get followed up faster. Nothing falls through the cracks. The data from your website feeds into your broader picture of how your marketing is performing.

For field service companies that already operate FSM or ERP platforms, the same logic applies. When your website is connected to your operational systems, it reduces the double-handling of data and removes the human error that comes with manual input.

Quick Integration Check (5 minutes)

Spend 5 minutes checking whether your website is working as part of a real system:

Lead Capture (2 minutes): Fill out a contact or quote form yourself. Does the lead show up automatically in your CRM (with tags/owner), and does an email follow‑up go out without anyone touching it? If not, note the gaps.
Ops Connection (3 minutes): For companies using FSM/ERP, check one recent web lead. Did their details make it into the operational system without manual re‑typing? If everything still relies on copy‑and‑paste, integration is your next efficiency win.

Measuring What Matters: Turning Your Site into a Continuous Improvement Engine

The last piece is measurement. And this is where most operators stop engaging entirely, because it can feel overwhelming. You do not need to track everything. You need to track the right things.

The core metrics we recommend for a B2B service website are:

Total website traffic and where it is coming from
Which pages are getting the most visits
Time on page as indicators of content quality
Conversion rate for key actions such as form submissions or phone calls

Google Analytics 4 is free and gives you access to these metrics and more. Make sure it is set up, review it once a month, and look for patterns. The goal is a steady habit of noticing what is working and making small, informed improvements over time. A website that is measured and improved incrementally will consistently outperform one that was built once and left alone. This is what separates a successful website from one that just takes up space.

Quick Analytics Check (10 minutes)

Take 10 minutes to make sure you are tracking the basics and using them:

Setup (3 minutes): Confirm that Google Analytics 4 (or similar) is installed and receiving data. If you do not have a dynamic dashboard with traffic information, then flag this for implementation by your web team.
Key Pages (4 minutes): Look at your top pages by traffic. Are visitors actually reaching your key service pages, or mostly landing on and leaving the homepage? Note any important pages with low views or high bounce rates.
Conversions (3 minutes): Check how many form fills or phone calls your site generated in the last 30 days and from which traffic sources. If you cannot see this at all, your next step is to set up basic goals/events so you can track real results, not just visits.

What to Do Next: A Short Self-Diagnostic

If you have read this far, you probably have a clearer picture of where your current website is falling short. To make that concrete, here are five questions worth sitting with this month.

Does your homepage immediately communicate who you serve and what problem you solve for them? If a first-time visitor could not answer that in thirty seconds, the homepage needs work.
Is your website technically sound? Run a quick check on speed, security, and mobile display. These are table stakes and they are often overlooked.
Does every major service have its own dedicated page with real website content? Not a line item in a list. A full page that helps a buyer understand and self-qualify.
Is there visible social proof that you have done this work before and that it delivered results? Testimonials, case studies, and client logos all matter.
Does every page have clear CTAs and a logical next step for the visitor? If the answer is just “call us,” that is probably not enough for an early-stage buyer.

If you find that your website needs more than cosmetic changes, that is a sign you may benefit from a more structured approach. We work with field service companies that want their website to function as part of a broader Marketing Operating System, connected to their CRM, their operations platform, and their marketing channels.

The goal is a website that works harder than the one you have now, without adding more manual effort on your end. If that sounds like the kind of system your business needs, we are happy to review where you are starting from and show you what a connected Marketing Operating System could look like for your company.

Frequently Asked Questions

From Quiet Profile to Call Magnet: A Google Business Profile Success Story

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:42:25 GMT

Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the most powerful tools for local businesses. It connects you directly with customers searching for help “near me,” letting them call, message, or visit your site straight from the search results. Even more importantly, it showcases your reputation through reviews, photos, and recent activity, making it a key driver of trust and action.

For service-based businesses like The Built Group, optimizing GBP can mean the difference between being discovered or overlooked.

About the Company

The Built Group is a renovation and restoration company serving homeowners who need both planned upgrades and urgent help after events like floods or fire damage. Their work ranges from full-level renovations to more complex insurance-related repairs.

They operate in a defined geographic area and depend heavily on people searching online for help “near me.” For these customers, Google Business Profile (GBP) has become the main way they discover and contact the company. Today, more people find and call The Built Group from GBP than from their website.

Missing in Maps: The Problem with No GBP

Before working with Mawazo, The Built Group did not have a Google Business Profile. Their presence in local search was limited to their website and word of mouth, which meant homeowners looking for help “near me” often discovered other providers first.

They relied on:

A traditional website that did not show up consistently in local map results.
Referrals and existing relationships, which were valuable but not predictable.

Without a GBP, they were missing three critical pieces:

A prominent position in Google Maps for local searches related to restoration and renovation.
An easy way for customers to call them directly from search results.
A public record of recent, authentic reviews that could build trust at a glance.

In practical terms, The Built Group was doing strong work on the ground, but that experience and reputation were not visible where it mattered most: on Google, in the moment someone needed help. Creating and optimizing a Google Business Profile and then using reviews to strengthen it became a core element of the strategy Mawazo developed with them.

What This Actually Changed

Mawazo partnered with The Built Group to turn satisfied customers into consistent, high-quality Google reviews and, in doing so, improve local SEO performance.

We introduced their leadership team to our “Power of Google Business Profile Reviews” framework. They designed an internal program that aligned staff behavior, customer experience, and review quality.

The incentive structure rewarded team members when customers mentioned their name in a review, when reviews included photos, and when they led the company in total reviews for the month. This turned reviews into a friendly internal competition and gave staff a clear reason to ask for feedback on every completed job.

Throughout, we reframed reviews as a core local SEO asset, not just a source of feedback. Frequent, recent, detailed reviews help a business appear more often in local search results and map packs, while authentic stories build trust at a glance. Reviews that describe real scenarios - such as a basement restored after a flood - also help Google associate the profile with relevant services, even when “insurance work” is not named directly.

A 4.8-Star Profile That Drives Calls

Over a five‑month period, with the new process and incentives in place, The Built Group:

Collected 34 new Google reviews
Reached an overall 4.8‑star rating
Built a library of detailed reviews that often name project managers, describe specific work, and include a photo of the finished project

The commercial impact has been clear: the majority of their phone calls now originate from their Google Business Profile, not their website. More people find them on Google and use the profile as their first point of contact for both insurance-related and renovation inquiries.

Not every call is for a large custom build or full-scale renovation, but The Built Group now has stronger local visibility, a higher volume of inbound opportunities, and an online reputation that accurately reflects the quality of their work.

Their experience illustrates what we see across many local businesses: for most, GBP is one of the most important - if not the most important - sources of leads. When you combine that profile with a simple, team-driven review strategy backed by clear incentives and an easy path for customers, you turn a basic listing into a dependable local lead engine.

Digital Marketing Is a System

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:32:13 GMT

If you are a business leader in a field service company, you have probably felt the disconnect between marketing activity and real business results.

You have invested in a new website, maybe engaged an agency for SEO, and another agency is doing your social media. None of them are talking to each other, and none of them are accountable for revenue. The activity reports look busy, but there is no connection to business results. Now AI tools are flooding your feed, each one claiming to "10x" your marketing.

Instead of getting clarity on ROI, you are left with more questions: Is social media actually worth it for a B2B company like ours? Will people find us through ChatGPT instead of Google? And most importantly: which of these things actually leads to better customers and more profitable jobs?

From Random Acts of Marketing to a Digital Marketing System

Here is the hard truth: digital marketing should not be a collection of marketing tactics or AI shortcuts. It should be a system that works predictably.

For a field service executive responsible for technicians, trucks, branches, and service contracts, disconnected marketing is not just inefficient, it’s expensive and leads to lost opportunities.

Here is the difference at a glance:

Random Acts of Marketing

Website redesign every few years with no measurable change in sales

Separate vendors for SEO, ads, and social, no-one talking to each other

Activity reports full of clicks and impressions with no clear link to revenue

A Digital Marketing System

Website integrated with CRM and service tools, turning traffic into structured leads automatically

One strategy connecting all channels, with content, outreach, and ads working together

Analytics tied to real outcomes: leads, quotes, jobs, and dollars by channel

Sales and marketing aligned on the same data, working the same pipeline

This article will show you how to build a digital marketing system that actually works: a 360-degree approach where every element works together. It creates efficiency and reduces costs, and it generates leads and converts them into clients.

Strategy sits at the heart of the system. From there, all elements work together:

Your website converts visitors into leads, integrated with your CRM and business systems.
Content answers the questions your ideal clients are already asking.
SEO and search optimization ensure your answers get found.
Social media shows the human side of your business.
Reputation builds trust through reviews and testimonials.
Outreach nurtures leads through email, SMS, and sales automation.
Advertising captures demand from people ready to engage.
Analytics ties it all together, showing what is working and what to adjust.

By the end of this article, you will know exactly which components your digital marketing needs, how they connect, and where to start.

Start with Strategy

Every strong system starts with a blueprint. In digital marketing, that blueprint is your strategy.

Before you touch your website or ads, you need clarity on at least these three things: who your ideal clients are, what problems they are trying to solve, and how you solve those problems better than your competitors.

Understand your ideal client

Read more: How to define your Ideal Client

For a field service business, your ideal clients are rarely "everyone who needs what we do." More often, they fall into clear profiles: facility managers responsible for multiple sites, operations leaders under pressure to reduce downtime, or procurement teams tasked with consolidating vendors.

Each has different pressures. They worry about downtime and compliance. They need predictable response times. They want fewer vendors they can actually trust.

Your strategy needs to spell out how you solve these problems: faster response across locations, well-trained technicians who get it right the first time, and documentation that makes audits easier.

Differentiate your company from the competition

Then comes differentiation. Maybe it is your guaranteed response times. Maybe it is your local presence. Whatever it is, your strategy should capture it in simple language that you can use in both marketing and sales.

Create a core message

When you have defined your ideal client and your differentiator, then it's time to articulate this in your core message. Think of it as your elevator pitch: a clear, concise statement that targets the problems your ideal customers want to solve and clearly identifies how you are different from your competitors.

A quick sanity check:

Who are our ideal clients, and what problems matter most to them?
How do we solve those problems better than our competitors?
What is your core message that speaks to their problems and sets you apart?

If you cannot answer these clearly, no AI tool or ad platform will fix it.

A website that generates leads & reduces cost

Once your strategy is clear, the next piece is your website. For a field service business, this is not an online brochure. It is a business tool, open 24/7, doing real work for your team.

Engage leads and convert them into leads

Your website should do more than look professional, it should turn anonymous visitors into leads for your business. To achieve this:

Focus on your client's problem s : Your website should address the challenges your ideal clients face. It is not about your company; it is about them and how you solve their issues.
Differentiate : Explain what makes your approach unique and why clients should trust you over competitors.
Show the process : What are the main steps you guide clients through? Help them see the path from problem to solution.
Call to action : Make the next step obvious. Whether it is requesting a quote, booking a service call, or downloading a guide, guide visitors toward engagement.

For multi-location companies, that also means clear navigation by service line and region, so prospects can quickly find what they need.

Save cost by integrating with your business system

The real power comes when your website integrates with the rest of your business:

Forms that push leads directly into your CRM, instead of landing in a shared inbox.
Service requests that trigger workflows for dispatch or scheduling.
Lead capture that tags which campaign the inquiry came from.

This is where a digital marketing system starts to drive profit, not just revenue. If your website and systems save your team $100K in manual admin work over a year, that is $100K of profit. No materials, no technician hours. Compare that to $100K in new revenue, which might translate to a much smaller margin after labour and overhead.

Once forms and workflows are integrated, office staff stop re-keying information. Fewer errors slip through. Technicians show up with better information. Jobs close out faster. When you treat your website as a business tool, not a design project, you create a foundation that supports every other part of your system.

Case study: warehouse and inventory system

Dramatically improved efficiency of operations with a custom warehousing and inventory system, integrated with an eCommerce website and Quickbooks Online.

Content That Answers Your Clients' Questions

With your strategy and website in place, the next part is content. Not content for its own sake, but content that answers the questions your ideal clients already have.

If you listen to your technicians and sales team, you will notice the same questions

repeating: How often should we service this equipment? What does a good maintenance contract include? What is the risk if we delay this repair? Those questions are the roadmap for your content marketing.

For a field service company, great content does not have to be flashy. It needs to be useful and grounded in your real work: maintenance guides for key equipment, checklists facility managers can use with their own teams, case studies that show how you solved real problems, and explainers on compliance and inspection requirements.

From Random Content to a Content System

The difference between random content and a content system is simple. Random means someone writes a blog post when they have time, about whatever seems interesting that day. A content system is intentional:

Every piece is tied to a specific ideal client, problem, and stage in the buying journey.
Content is repurposed across channels—social media, email newsletters, Google Business Profile, advertising, and press releases.
Over time, related pieces form hub pages: central resources on key topics that anchor your SEO and double as sales tools.

Building this system starts with mapping the issues and questions relevant to your clients, organizing them into topics, and creating a content calendar to execute consistently.

AI tools can help you repurpose content faster. But they cannot decide which questions matter most. That direction has to come from your strategy and your clients.

Case study: Lift & Shift hub page

For our client Lift & Shift we created a comprehensive hub page titled " The Ultimate Guide to B2B Loyalty Programs "

This page links to all relevant blog posts, forming a rich resource hub. Such an approach enhances user experience and confirms your authority on the topic to search engines like Google.

Getting Found: SEO and Local Search

Once you are creating useful content, the next question is: how do people find it?

That is where SEO comes in. Search Engine Optimization helps your pages show up when potential clients search Google. For a field service company, those searches often sound like: "automatic door repair near me," "commercial HVAC emergency service," or "security system maintenance checklist."

As AI tools become part of how people search, these fundamentals do not change. The companies that rank well or get recommended by AI are the ones that consistently publish clear, useful answers.

SEO is not a one-time setup; it is an ongoing effort. At its core, it comes down to three things:

Website structure : Is your site secure, mobile-friendly, and fast to load?
Content : Does each service have its own page? Is there enough useful content to answer your clients' questions?
Backlinks : Are other reputable websites linking to yours? These act as votes of confidence that signal your content is valuable.

Your system ties this together: strategy tells you which questions to target, content provides the answers, and SEO makes sure those answers get found.

Local SEO: a game-changer for field service companies

For businesses with physical locations serving local customers, local SEO is critical. Many of our clients generate 25% or more of their leads from Google Business Profile alone.

Local SEO focuses on three areas:

Google Business Profile: Your GBP lets you list services, post updates, collect reviews, and appear in map searches. For multi-location companies, each location needs its own complete and accurate profile.
Business directories: Your details should be consistently listed across directories like Yelp, YellowPages, and the Better Business Bureau. Inconsistent information hurts your rankings.
Location pages on your website: Each location should have its own page with address, contact information, services offered, and service area.

When someone searches "near me," Google weighs your GBP completeness, your reviews, and your local relevance. Getting this right means showing up when it matters most—right when a prospect is ready to act.

Case study: SEO Horton Automatics

Since 2017, we have optimized the web presence of Horton Automatics of Ontario for search engine ranking. In 2022, our Digital Marketing System delivered 20% annual growth and $1.5M in sales, with 15x Return on Investment. Based on this success, the ten sister companies of Door Services Corporation have now merged into a new web presence that competes well with its nationwide competitors.

Social Media – Building Trust Before the First Call

Many field service leaders are skeptical about social media. "Our buyers are serious people. Do they really care what we post on LinkedIn?". The answer is yes—but not in the way most agencies would have you believe.

Your buyers are people making decisions that affect their operations, their teams, and their reputations. Before they take a meeting or respond to an RFP, they want to know: Who will show up at my site? Do they take safety seriously? What kind of company am I dealing with?

Social media, used correctly, answers these questions long before a formal conversation begins.

Social Media as part of your digital marketing system

In isolation, social media is just another platform demanding content and becoming a distraction. But as part of your integrated digital marketing system, it serves three clear purposes:

Amplifying content you're already creating : every article, case study, and guide you publish can be repurposed into multiple social posts spread throughout the year.
Showcasing reviews and proof : your Google reviews, client wins, and project completions become social proof that builds trust with prospects who aren't ready to buy yet.
Revealing the human side of your business : the people, safety culture, and real work behind your brand differentiate you from competitors who stay anonymous.

What actually works in social media for field service companies

Your audience doesn't want corporate fluff. They respond to real moments: a technician who solved a tricky problem, before and after photos showing quality work, safety milestones and training that proves you take their concerns seriously, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the people they'll actually work with.

These posts build familiarity. When someone has followed your updates for months, you're no longer just another name on a vendor list. You're a known, proven option.

The bottom line

Social media works when it serves your business goals, not when you serve the platform. As part of your 360° marketing system, it amplifies your content and builds trust with future clients, without requiring you to become a full-time content creator.

Reputation: Digital Word-of-Mouth That Works Around the Clock

In field service, word-of-mouth has always mattered. Today, a big part of that trust lives in online reviews and testimonials.

Before they invite your technicians onto their site, prospects will search your company name plus "reviews," check your Google Business Profile, and scan your website for proof. They're asking: "Can I trust this company to show up and handle problems correctly?"

The answer to that question is now visible to everyone: when you search for field service companies in your area, notice which ones appear first and which ones get ignored. A c ompany with 50+ Google reviews and a 4.8-star rating stands out. A company with three reviews looks inactive. Prospects make immediate judgments based on what they see.

Your reputation is being built whether you manage it or not. The question is whether you're steering the conversation or letting it happen to you.

Reviews as part of your system

A digital marketing system treats reputation as a deliberate process, not a happy accident.

Your system should generate a steady flow of authentic reviews by sending review requests automatically after job completion while the experience is fresh. We typically see 2-5% of customers leave a review when asked properly. That might sound low, but it compounds. Five reviews per month becomes 60 per year, which puts you ahead of most competitors within 18 months.

Replying to reviews should be part of your system as well. Reply to every review within 48 hours, especially negative ones. Thank people for their time. Address concerns professionally and publicly.

Then put those reviews to work. Feature the best ones prominently on your website. Include relevant testimonials in proposals and email signatures. Share them on social media. Use them in sales conversations when handling objections.

Over time, your reviews become a living proof library that works for you even when your team is offline.

Outreach: Turning Interest Into Revenue

So far, we have focused on how people find you and why they trust you. Outreach is about what happens next: how you stay in touch and turn interest into profitable work.

For field service companies, outreach works on two fronts: automated systems that nurture prospects, and proactive sales conversations that uncover opportunities your competitors never see.

Automated nurture

Picture this: a facility manager downloads a maintenance checklist from your website. Over the next few weeks, they receive emails with practical tips, a relevant case study, and a clear invitation to discuss a service plan. When they're ready to move, they already know who you are and what to expect.

That's a simple sales funnel. A valuable download captures contact information. An automated email sequence delivers relevant content over 3-6 weeks. Each message provides value and includes a clear next step. When someone engages, your sales team receives a notification with full context.

Proactive sales outreach

But here's what separates growing companies from stagnant ones: your sales team also picks up the phone. Not to take orders or handle problems, but to build relationships. Calling existing clients to introduce a service they didn't know you offered. Checking in after a project to discuss preventive maintenance. Reaching out to prospects who visited your website but haven't taken the next step.

Most field service companies wait for the phone to ring. Your competitors hope for RFPs to land in their inbox. Meanwhile, your team is having conversations and uncovering projects that never make it to a formal bid process.

When we coach clients on systematic sales outreach—combining smart targeting, valuable conversations, and consistent follow-

through—we typically see 15-30% annual revenue growth.

Bridging marketing and sales

The real power comes when these work together. Marketing provides context: which pages prospects visited, which content they downloaded, which services they researched. That turns a cold call into a warm conversation. Sales has ammunition: case studies, guides, and checklists that answer objections and demonstrate expertise.

When automated outreach, proactive sales calls, and coaching work together, your team isn't waiting for problems. They're leading conversations and uncovering opportunities that would never show up as an RFP.

Advertising: Capturing Demand Now and Creating It for Later

When most leaders think about digital advertising, they think about people already searching: "automatic door repair near me" or "elevator service Toronto." That's where Google Search Ads shine—capturing someone the moment they're looking for help.

But not everyone searches at the moment they start thinking about a problem. There's a whole group of ideal clients who match your profile and feel the pain of downtime or inconsistent vendors, but aren't yet typing those problems into Google.

That's where LinkedIn and Facebook ads come in. In a digital marketing system, advertising plays two distinct roles:

Capture existing demand (Google and Bing Ads)

When someone searches for your service, your ad appears at the top of results. These are high-intent leads—people ready to buy, compare quotes, or schedule service. Google advertising works because it catches people at the decision point. The challenge is competition and cost. Popular search terms can be expensive, and you're fighting for attention with every other company in your market.

Shape future demand (LinkedIn and Facebook Ads)

On LinkedIn, you can target facility managers, operations directors, and procurement leads before they have an urgent problem. On Facebook, you can build awareness in specific geographies and demographics. These platforms let you stay visible to ideal clients during the months before they search, so when they do need help, you're already a familiar name.

Making it work

To keep advertising practical and profitable:

Focus on a small number of services where you deliver exceptional value
Send traffic to landing pages that connect into your CRM and track conversions
Use call tracking so you see which campaigns turn into real jobs, not just clicks

Make sure your ads are connected to your CRM, measured against actual revenue, and supported by strong content. That’s when you're not just buying clicks but working your complete digital marketing system. You're putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time, whether they're searching today or will search six months from now.

Analytics – The Control System for Your Marketing Engine

By now, you have seen the main components: strategy, website, content, search, social, reputation, outreach, and ads. Analytics is not one more component on that list—it's the control system for the entire engine.

Without it, you're flying blind. You can't see whether your marketing investment is actually working. One of the main advantages of digital marketing is the ability to measure results in real time and adjust strategies accordingly.

Start with clear goals

Before diving into dashboards, decide what you're trying to achieve. What are your business goals? How many qualified leads do you need each month? What's an acceptable cost per lead? When these goals are defined, you can select the right metrics to measure progress and make informed decisions.

What strong analytics looks like

A complete analytics system gives you visibility into:

What's happening right now : Content being published, campaigns running, technical improvements being made, outreach activities in progress. You see exactly what work is being done for you without chasing status updates.

What those activities produce: Phone calls tied to specific campaigns, form submissions from qualified prospects, search rankings for key terms, website traffic and conversions, lead value by source and channel. You see the business results of each initiative.

This dual view means you're never left wondering "What are they actually doing?" while also seeing clear evidence of what's working.

Bringing it all together

Your analytics come from multiple sources such as website tracking, advertising platforms, social media, and CRM data, but they should all be visible in one dashboard. This gives you a complete picture without logging into different systems.

Call tracking is particularly important for field service companies. By assigning different phone numbers to each marketing effort (e.g. your Google Business Profile, your website, your vehicles), you see exactly which campaigns generate calls and can trace inquiries back to specific tactics.

Connecting marketing revenue

The most powerful analytics tie leads directly to revenue. Together, we define a Lead Value model based on your average deal size, gross margin, and conversion rates.

For example, implementing this approach for Horton Automatics lets us know precisely how much revenue their digital marketing system generates. In 2022, we delivered 20% annual growth and $1.5M in sales in 2022, with 15x Return on Investment.

Read more: Case Study Horton Automatics

When analytics functions as your control system, your marketing stops being a guessing game. It becomes continuous improvement—where every month the engine gets more efficient and more profitable.

What a Digital Marketing System Delivers

When you start with strategy and build a digital marketing system where all components work together, then the impact compounds over time. Here's what a true digital marketing system delivers for field service companies:

Measurable ROI and cost savings . A long-term client in a complex service industry achieved roughly 15x ROI on their digital investment. Beyond lead generation, they integrated their website, CRM, and internal tools, eliminating over $100K in manual admin work—pure profit, year after year.
Predictable growth engines . Another client transformed their digital marketing from occasional experiments into a reliable growth driver. With clear strategy, an integrated website, consistent content, and targeted outreach, they expanded services and locations with confidence, finally understanding which levers drove profitable demand.
Accelerated revenue growth . Clients who combine the full system with Sales Coaching often see 15–30% annual revenue growth. Not by burning out teams, but by attracting the right opportunities, equipping sales for better conversations, and using data to focus on high-value accounts.

None of these results came from a single campaign, platform, or clever ad. They came from systems that work, because businesses committed to working the system.

The Cost of Staying Tactical

Most field service businesses stay in tactical mode: approving a website redesign, testing some ads, posting on social media when someone has time. On the surface, it feels like progress. Underneath, the costs stack up:

Sales and marketing stay misaligned . Sales complains about lead quality. Marketing blames sales for not converting leads. Executives lack clear numbers to resolve it.
Manual work never ends . Admin teams re-enter data from website forms, emails, and PDFs into spreadsheets, CRMs, and dispatch tools. Errors creep in and jobs get delayed.
You don’t know what works . Reports show clicks and impressions, but not which campaigns turn into the right contracts, at the right margins, in the right regions.
Your team is firefighting instead of improving . Every quarter brings another random marketing act instead of a deliberate, compounding plan.

Individually, these issues are manageable. Together they add up to lost market share, lower profitability, and a business that feels harder to run than it should.

The real cost isn't wasted marketing spend, it's the opportunity cost of not having an engine you can trust to steadily bring in the right work, at the right price, with far less effort.

Where to Start

If your marketing feels more tactical than systematic, then don't try to fix everything at once. Start by mapping what you already have against the components of the digital marketing system:

Strategy
Website and integrations
Content
SEO and local search
Social media
Reputation
Outreach
Advertising
Analytics

From there, focus on three steps:

First, strengthen the blueprint. Clarify your ideal clients, their problems, and how you solve them better. Ensure your core message appears consistently in your website, proposals, and sales conversations.
Second, fix the foundation . Treat your website as a digital branch office, not a brochure. Connect forms and key actions to your CRM and service tools. Implement basic analytics and call tracking to see what's working.
Third, layer in growth drivers . Build content around real client questions. Systematize reviews and social proof. Add outreach, Sales Coaching, and targeted ads once the basics are solid.

Ready to move faster?

You can build this system yourself, or you can work with experts who've done it dozens of times. If you'd like a structured walkthrough of your current marketing, sales, and operations—and a clear view of how a system could work for your business—start with a focused Digital Marketing System Assessment for your field service company.

How Online Price Estimators Help Business Owners Get Better Leads

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:18:25 GMT

When someone needs a new roof, an HVAC system, or a home renovation, they almost always start the same way: they search, skim a few websites, check reviews. and then try to figure out what the whole thing is going to cost.

Here's the problem. Most business websites don't answer that question. They say "Contact us for a quote" and ask visitors to fill out a form. For many buyers, that's where the journey ends. They don't want to talk to anyone yet. They want to understand the ballpark first, on their own terms.

This gap between what buyers want and what most websites offer is exactly where online price estimators come in.

What an Online Price Estimator Actually Does

An online price estimator is a tool on your website that helps visitors answer a simple question: "What would this cost for someone like me?"

It walks them through a few practical questions and returns a price range or starting estimate. Along the way, it explains what affects the cost: materials, complexity, optional add-ons etc. The buyer ends up with a clearer sense of budget and trade-offs, without feeling like they've been pulled into a sales conversation.

Along the way, you have opportunities to educate buyers without overwhelming them. Notice the "Learn More" option in the example above—it lets curious visitors dig deeper into why a kitchen island might affect their budget, while others can simply make their selection and move on. You can use these moments to explain trade-offs, highlight what's included at each level, or share examples of past work. The buyer stays in control of how much information they take in, but you're shaping how they think about the project before you ever speak to them.

When the estimate is ready, the online price estimator captures contact details and project information while filtering out visitors who were never serious buyers in the first place. It's essentially a pre-sales rep that works around the clock: educating prospects, setting expectations, and handing your team qualified leads when they're ready to talk.

A quick note on data: make sure you're clear about how you'll use the information people provide, and that your follow-up respects privacy rules. A simple line near the estimator explaining that details are used only to refine the estimate and respond to their enquiry goes a long way.

Where Price Estimators Fit in the Buyer Journey

To understand why estimators work, it helps to think about where buyers actually are when they land on your site.

Early stage: "What does this kind of thing usually cost?"

At this point, someone knows they have an issue—an aging roof, a security gap, a facility that needs attention—but they're still exploring. They're typing searches like "how much does roof replacement cost" or "HVAC installation price near me."

If your site offers a clear path to get a price range, that becomes the natural place to land. The estimator doesn't just spit out a number; it teaches them how pricing works in your industry and what decisions they'll need to make. You've moved them from vague curiosity to being genuinely informed about their options.

Middle stage: "Who should I work with? "

Late stage: "I'm ready to talk"

By the time someone submits their details through an estimator, you already have context: project type, scale, preferences, timeline. When your team follows up, they're not starting from scratch with "So, tell me about your project." They're confirming details, refining scope, and talking about value. That's a very different conversation.

Google's "Online Estimates" Feature: Why This Matters Right Now

Google has started rolling out a search feature in parts of the US called "Online estimates." When someone searches for services like roofing or other local trades, they can now filter results to show businesses that offer instant online pricing.

This isn't a small interface tweak. It's Google putting a spotlight on exactly what buyers have been asking for: clear, self-serve price guidance before they talk to anyone.

For years, the goal of most service business websites has been "get the form fill." Google is now nudging the market toward something different: answering the pricing question upfront. When Google introduces a filter called "Online estimates," they're signalling what they value. And most contractors have no idea this is happening.

That creates an opportunity. If you build a dedicated page with language that matches what Google is looking for, such as "online estimates" or "instant price range", then you're aligning with both how buyers search and how Google wants to organise results. Early movers here won't just look better to prospects; they'll likely show up more prominently in search.

The Impact: Better Leads, Not Just More Leads

The first thing many businesses notice after adding an estimator is that lead volume goes up. That's been a consistent pattern across different industries.

But the more important shift is in lead quality.

Someone who completes an estimator has already invested time. They've shared details about their situation and seen a realistic budget range. They're not just clicking a button; they're engaging with your process. That tends to filter out the "just browsing" visitors and surface people who are genuinely evaluating their options.

On your end, every submission comes with context. When your team reaches out, they already know what the prospect wants done, where, roughly when, and at what level of finish. That changes the nature of the conversation entirely. Shorter sales cycles. Fewer surprises when you quote. Higher close rates—without asking your team to work longer hours.

Addressing the Natural Concern s

If you're reading this and thinking "that sounds great in theory, but..."—you're not alone. A few concerns come up consistently.

"Our work is genuinely custom. A calculator can't capture that."

This is probably the most common hesitation, and it's understandable. No two projects are identical, especially in trades that involve complex variables like site conditions, materials, and client preferences.

But a good estimator doesn't pretend every job is the same. It asks the same initial questions your team already uses to shape a quote: approximate size, complexity, access, materials, add-ons. Then it gives a range—not a fixed number—and explains what moves that range up or down.

You're not replacing your quoting process. You're letting buyers see how it works before they ever talk to you. That actually helps them understand why detailed quotes require a site visit or consultation.

"Won't showing prices scare people away?"

What actually scares people is walking in blind. Buyers dislike uncertainty—the feeling that they could be massively overcharged and wouldn't even know it. When you offer a clear range with honest explanations of what affects cost, they feel more informed and more confident.

Yes, some visitors will see your range and realise they can't afford it. That's not a loss. Those people were never going to become customers, and now neither you nor they have wasted time on calls that go nowhere.

"I don't want competitors to see my prices."

In most markets, competitors already have a rough sense of what you charge, and you know roughly where they sit too. You don't win by hiding. You win by being the business that helps buyers understand value when they're trying to figure out who to trust.

Making This Work: Practical Steps

You don't need to rebuild your website to benefit from this shift. Here's a straightforward approach:

Create a dedicated page for estimates: Use language that matches what buyers (and Google) are looking for. Something like "Online Estimates" or "Get an Instant Price Range" as your page title. Include a line like: "Use our online estimator to get an instant price range in under two minutes."

Make the estimator prominent and simple: Place it high on the page with a brief explanation: what questions you'll ask, what they'll get back (a range, not a binding quote), and what happens after they submit. Keep the experience fast—it should feel helpful, not like a chore.

Connect it to your broader marketing: Add "Get an instant estimate" calls to action on your homepage, service pages, email signatures, and ads. You can include a QR code on print materials that takes people straight to the estimator. If you do site visits, ask prospects to complete the estimator beforehand so expectations are aligned and your team arrives prepared.

Start small if you're cautious: Roll it out for one service line or one region first. Measure what happens to lead volume and close rates. Expand once you can see the numbers for yourself.

What This Actually Change s

When you step back, an online price estimator isn't just another widget on your website. It changes how buyers experience your business.

Instead of forcing people to call for basic information, you give them a way to explore budget questions on their own terms. Instead of hiding pricing and hoping for form fills, you meet them where they already are: researching, comparing, and trying to avoid an expensive mistake.

The result is a pipeline filled with people who already understand your pricing and are serious about moving forward. Your team spends less time qualifying tyre-kickers and more time closing deals that were half-won before the first conversation.

If you're interested in seeing how this could work for your business, get in touch and we'll give you a demo and explore options for implementing a price guide on your website.

The AI Race, and What It Means for Your Business

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 16:51:37 GMT

From ChatGPT's breakout moment to a full-blown AI race

When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, it changed the way people explored the internet. Instead of typing keywords into a search bar, people could ask questions in plain language and get detailed answers. The same conversational interface also allowed for completely different things such as drafting documents or planning a vacation.

The AI race was on, and other players moved quickly. New companies like Anthropic and Perplexity launched their own models and large established players like Meta, Microsoft and Google committed billions to AI infrastructure. Sitting on the sidelines was simply not an option.

Of all the established companies, it seemed Google might be most disrupted by AI, since it made about 75% of its revenue from advertising. When users moved their questions to AI assistants, then that threatened their ad revenue. However, AI models have changed fast, and with Google’s Gemini 3 now outperforming GPT-5 on key benchmarks, Google has shifted from catch-up mode to being a serious contender.

For business owners, the AI models offered are only part of the story. The structure around those models is just as important: the hardware they run on, the cloud platforms that host them, and the business software that brings them into your daily work. AI capability is being pushed into your full digital ecosystem. As this happens, AI stops being a separate tool you try on the side. It becomes part of the core environment where your team communicates, stores information, and manages operations.

The five layers of the AI stack

To understand why these shifts matter, it helps to see how AI products actually work. There are five lawyers to the how AI is built and delivered to your team:

Layer 1 – Chip Design

At the bottom are processors built to handle AI workloads. Companies like NVIDIA design general-purpose chips; others, including Google, design their own. This layer sets limits on speed, capacity, and cost.

Layer 2 – Data Centres and Cloud

Above the chips are facilities housing thousands of servers. Providers like Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure rent this capacity to businesses. For most organisations, this is where AI becomes accessible.

Layer 3 – Foundational Models

These are the large language models such as GPT-5, Gemini 3 and Claude. They provide core capabilities like understanding questions and generating text.

Layer 4 – Products and Applications

On top of the models sit the tools your teams use: chatbots, writing assistants, meeting note-takers, and copilots built into existing software. AI shows up as features such as suggested replies, draft proposals, or automatic meeting summaries.

Layer 5 – Hardware and Devices

Phones and laptops have AI-enabled features, and there are new device categories such as AI-enabled glasses.

Some companies focus on one layer alone, such as NVIDIA. Others operate across multiple layers. Google is carving out a real competitive advantage by vertically integrating all five layers: it designs chips, runs its own cloud, builds models, ships products like Workspace and Android, and sells Pixel phones. This vertical integration allows it to tune each layer to work efficiently with the others, lowering costs and speeding up rollouts.

What this means for the tools you already use

AI is becoming invisible

The first change is that AI is moving into tools your team already knows. Email, calendars, documents, and spreadsheets now come with built-in assistance such as suggested replies, automatic summaries and draft text. The same pattern is appearing in line-of-business systems such as your task management, CRM and customer support tools. You might not buy "an AI product" directly. Instead, you upgrade a platform you already have, and AI arrives as part of the package. This changes how new AI capabilities enter your organisation, not as a separate tool but as part of the core environment where your team spends most of its time.

Consolidation is accelerating

As AI becomes tied to deeper layers of the stack, it reinforces the pull toward a small set of core platforms. Most mid-market organisations won't run five office suites, three clouds, and a dozen collaboration tools. They'll pick a primary environment and build around it.

Those platform choices have real consequences:

They shape which AI features are available to your team.
They define how well those features can access your existing data and workflows.
They decide where your data lives, and under which security and compliance rules.

Making smart platform choices is important, because switching platforms will become harder over time. There is always a technical cost to switching, but more importantly, AI tools learn from your history: how your teams write, the documents you create, the patterns in your operations.

Practical questions to ask now

You don't need to track every model release. You do need a clearer view of how your current tools will evolve. Start with these questions:

1. Which platforms are we treating as long-term systems of record?

Think about email, documents, CRM, job management, and data storage. These are where AI will have the most impact.

2. How easily can AI features plug into our existing workflows and data?

Are your key systems integrated, or still siloed? If tools can't talk to each other, AI has less to work with.

3. Are we comfortable with where our data lives and how it powers AI?

This includes security and compliance, but also simple questions like who can access what.

4. Do we have a clear owner for AI-related decisions?

Someone who can connect technology, operations, and risk—rather than letting each department experiment in isolation.

Taking time to answer these questions now will make it easier to evaluate new features as they appear, and help you avoid a patchwork of disconnected tools that create more noise than value.

If you are rethinking your systems in light of AI, or simply want a clearer view of how these shifts may affect the tools you rely on, we are here to help. A short conversation can often surface the key decisions in front of you and give you a more confident path through the noise.

AI for B2B Service Companies: Why It’s Time to Build Your Own Brand Bot

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 19:54:17 GMT

From AI Experiments to Strategic Advantage

AI in B2B marketing is rapidly moving from trend to necessity. For most B2B service companies, artificial intelligence is still at best a background tool: individual employees use ChatGPT to help with emails, proposal outlines, or content drafts. Your staff may see improved productivity from these new AI tools, but there rarely is a broader strategy on their use.

When team members experiment independently, valuable insight don’t make it back to the marketing team or sales team. Best practices are lost in private notes, and one-off wins don’t become standard processes. Over the course of a year, that adds up: organizations hoping for a cost reduction find themselves reinventing approaches from scratch.

With these patterns emerging across the industry, it becomes clear that leaders need more than small AI wins to compete in today’s market with true efficiency and personalization. They need a unified approach that secures data, supports marketers and sales teams, and empowers users to share what works and build better workflows.

Why Casual AI Adoption Fails to Deliver Consistent Results

It’s tempting to allow teams to pick their favorite AI tools and see what sticks. But when AI adoption stays casual and uncoordinated, the process can actually slow innovation and diminish results for marketers, salespeople, and the entire organization.

Inconsistent Brand Voice and Fragmented Messaging

Without oversight, marketers and other users create content and campaigns in silos. Emails and assets diverge, making it difficult for prospects to trust your promise or for the sales team to qualify leads with confidence. True personalization—essential in modern marketing—is almost impossible to maintain this way.

Lost Know-How and Missed Opportunities

Even when the marketing team or b2b marketers hit on a winning approach, it often vanishes with role changes or employee turnover. A smart use case for automating a nurture sequence or delivering personalized sales proposals gets buried; the next marketer or sales leader must start from zero.

Security, Compliance, and Data Risks

Public ai tools or generic genai output mean that data, including customer information and market research, may end up stored outside your platform. Analytics, compliance, and security lose accuracy and control, putting hard-won trust at risk.

No Way to Measure, Improve, or Scale What’s Working

Individual improvements don’t scale because there’s no company-wide system for monitoring analytics, lead quality, conversions, or effective marketing activities. Leadership can’t gauge which activities are producing results or make investment decisions with clear, predictive analytics.

The Cost of Friction and Waste

Marketers waste time re-learning or duplicating content creation. Sales teams can’t access the latest successful messaging, so quality and efficiency decline. Activities that might free people for valuable innovation instead end up draining the organization’s productivity.

For B2B marketing to truly mature, the focus must shift from isolated tools to company-wide strategies and automation that drive efficiency, reliable data, and higher revenue.

Brand Bots Explained—AI That Speaks Your Business’s Language

A Brand Bot is the evolution of AI in B2B marketing: a solution trained on your exact business, not on the "average" of what's available on the internet. This isn’t an algorithm that occasionally drafts a blog post; it’s a platform for marketers, marketing teams, and b2b marketers to activate all your best playbooks — from content creation to sales enablement.

What Makes a Brand Bot Different?

Built for your business model: From the first activity to the second onboarding conversation, the bot draws on your Idea Client Personas, Brand language, and marketing assets.

Business-specific algorithms: Rather than basic personalization based on broad industry statistics, the Brand Bot leverages the data, patterns, and sales tactics that have converted real prospects and kept customers loyal.

Smarter workflows, visible insight: Each interaction—each piece of content or lead touch—feeds predictive analytics capabilities, building deeper efficiency with each cycle.

Core Use Cases

Instant, brand-approved answers: Whether for a marketer building a campaign, a sales leader supporting a new product, or a field tech prepping for a meeting, the bot supports your team.

Content creation at scale: Blogs, emails, analytics summaries, and case study drafts are generated in minutes, not days—all matching your standards.

Sales enablement: Responses to common objections, lead qualification criteria, and high-converting scripts are always up to date for the sales team.

Data security and compliance: The platform keeps customer data, product launches, and campaign results within your secure environment.

Continuous learning: Every user, every campaign, and every win refines the system, making your analytics, conversion rates, and innovation more robust over time.

A Practical AI Roadmap: Turning AI Experiments into Lasting Results

Transforming your AI strategy from scattered productivity gains to a true business engine requires deliberate investment, clear goals, and actionable steps. Here’s how B2B marketers and marketing teams can build repeatable success:

1. Assess Your Current AI Landscape

Map out every place AI is in use—whether for prospect research, content creation, sales reports, or predictive analytics. Identify gaps, risks, and the workflows that could benefit most.

2. Clarify Goals and Success Metrics

Set targets like reduced sales cycle time, improved lead quality, or better marketing attribution. Predictive analytics models can help uncover the real drivers for growth and innovation.

3. Implement Company-Wide Policy and Governance

Establish clear guidelines: Who reviews content? Where does data reside? What is the process for updating core assets? This step will protect your brand and foster responsible technology adoption.

4. Build and Prioritize Your Internal Knowledge Bank

Catalog existing assets: ICPs, product/service guides, compliance documentation, and client success stories. These are the foundation for effective personalization, content, and automation.

5. Select Technology and Partners

Evaluate providers to ensure your platform of choice fits your need for analytics, data security, and integration with marketing and sales systems. Consider year-over-year support and ongoing user feedback.

6. Run Focused Pilots and Track Progress

Choose an example use case—such as onboarding new marketing team members or quick-turn proposal writing—and track improvements in efficiency, conversions, or lead volume.

7. Roll Out, Expand, and Communicate Wins

Iterate based on feedback, use analytics to uncover patterns, and keep the team involved. As automation and content creation become routine, marketers and sales leaders will see higher productivity and more consistent results.

8. Review, Refine, and Optimize

Ongoing oversight, platform updates, and transparent data sharing keep your AI systems aligned with business goals and industry changes.

Transform AI from a Quick Fix into a Lasting Advantage

Experimenting with AI tools can show the value of artificial intelligence for marketers and sales teams, but sustainable competitive advantage comes from building an AI-powered brand bot fit for your unique business.

When you move beyond one-at-a-time activities and into systems that unify your workflows and analytics, efficiency goes up, people have more time for high-value work, and innovation becomes the norm. Investments in automation and content consistency deepens loyalty, both with customers and with the teams who drive your business forward.

If you’re ready to see how AI in B2B marketing can deliver measurable results, then now is the time to make your move. Book a Brand Bot demo, access our tailored guide for marketing teams and b2b marketers, or speak with our team about how a platform built on sound data, automation, and proven marketing strategies can transform your results.

Lessons from Elevate Festival 2025 Toronto: AI, UX, and the Human Edge

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 21:16:32 GMT

Last week, I spent three days at the Elevate Festival in Toronto — an annual celebration of innovation and bold ideas across technology, business, and culture. The event hosted over 250 speakers across eight themed tracks, and the energy was unmistakably centered around one topic: Artificial Intelligence.

From business applications to policy debates to creative potential, AI took center stage. And while much of the discourse echoed things we’ve all been hearing for months — the good, the bad, and the urgent — the nuance, personal stories, and new concepts presented gave me a lot to think about.

Here are some of the key insights that stuck with me:

AI Is Here — But It’s What You Do With It That Matters

In nearly every session I attended, a version of the same question surfaced: Will AI replace human jobs? The responses weren’t necessarily new, but they were thoughtfully reframed:

I don’t want AI writing poetry while I’m cooking and doing laundry. I want AI to cook while I paint.
AI isn’t replacing people directly — but people who use AI well might replace those who don’t.
AI can assist with strategy and creativity, but it doesn’t own those things. Human input still drives depth, relevance, and context.

That theme — AI as collaborator, not competitor — was consistent throughout the event. The technology is moving fast. But how we choose to integrate it, especially in ways that amplify rather than flatten our work, is where the real leverage lies.

Data as a Natural Resource

A thought-provoking session was led by Chris Lehane, Chief Global Affairs Officer at OpenAI. He introduced a concept that reframed my thinking: data as a “natural resource.”

Lahane argued that just like water or energy, data is valuable and foundational to modern life, and even as an anonymous aggregate it doesn’t belong to any individual. It fuels the AI systems we’re increasingly relying on — and should be protected and regulated with the same care. That includes how it’s sourced, how it’s stored, and how it’s used.

It’s a compelling frame. Thinking of data as a resource invites us to ask better questions: Who controls it? Who benefits? And how do we ensure its ethical use?

OpenAI’s Sora and the Energy Footprint of Innovation

While OpenAI urges regulation, it’s also advancing aggressively on the innovation front. Sora, their new video-generation model, came up frequently across sessions.

The model’s ability to create photorealistic video from text prompts is impressive and potentially transformative for film, marketing, and education. But it also surfaces important questions around energy usage.

According to recent analysis from Sintef Energy Research, generating a single 60-second video with Sora consumes roughly the same electricity as charging 1,800 mobile phones from zero to full, or as much as running twenty 1,000-watt panel heaters for an hour. Multiply that by millions of users and you start to see the problem.

Progress is essential — but it shouldn’t come at the cost of sustainability.

Moving from Backend Tools to Front-End Experiences

Many businesses are exploring AI for internal efficiencies — automating back-office processes, summarizing meetings, supporting decision-making. But what captured my interest most at Elevate was how AI is transforming customer experience.

A few presentations and panels dove into how website interactions are evolving. The traditional search-based structure — “type, scroll, filter” — is giving way to conversational interfaces. Imagine arriving at a site and simply asking, “What’s the best plan for me?” and getting a contextual, accurate, personalized response.

Accenture Song shared that 70% of consumers now base purchase decisions on user experience. That figure alone is staggering and reinforces something we’ve long believed at Mawazo: technology enables, but design differentiates.

AI can create efficiency. But it can’t replicate trust. Or inspiration. Or meaning. That still comes from people — from strategy, storytelling, and smart design.

The Problem of Sameness — and the Case for Excellence

A few speakers touched on something I’ve been thinking about for a while: if AI levels the playing field, what stands out?

If everyone uses the same tools, automates the same processes, and writes in the same AI-generated tone, then everything starts to sound the same.

What happens when everything is “good enough”?

The takeaway? We need to raise the bar, not lower it. Yes, AI can speed things up. But the best ideas still come from deep thinking, lived experience, and clear intention. That’s the “human factor”, and it becomes even more valuable in an AI-rich world.

Simu Liu on Technology and Value

One of the standout keynotes came from Simu Liu, actor, entrepreneur, and new Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

Liu didn’t pretend to be a tech expert. But he spoke with real humility and curiosity about how AI and digital tools are reshaping industries, including media and investing.

What I appreciated most was his approach to investing: less about hype, more about value and purpose.

He spoke of backing ideas that solve real problems and create connection. And in a festival full of future-looking ideas, that grounded outlook was refreshing.

Shifting Consumer Behaviour: What Moneris Data Suggests

Elevate wasn’t just about the big picture — it also offered insight into real-time consumer shifts. Moneris, a leading payment processor, presented data that shows a noticeable trend: Canadians are reducing their cost per transaction.

It seems people are making more intentional purchases — buying what they came for, and resisting impulse spending. This change could have ripple effects across retail, UX, and marketing strategy.

Brands will need to be clearer, quicker, and more intentional in how they show up — especially in digital spaces.

SEO Isn’t Dead — But AEO Is Also Here to Stay

In a world where AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s SGE are answering users directly, the old rules of SEO are

evolving. These LLMs, or Large Language Models, are providing not only providing answers, but are citing website links as sources.

We’re not just optimizing for search engines anymore — we’re optimizing for LLMs.

That means websites need to be optimized for AI searches as well, which is AEO — Answer Engine Optimization . Here are some basic approaches needed:

Structure your content in clear, answerable formats
Make context and authority visible to machines
Think about how AI might cite or summarize your content

That doesn’t mean abandoning SEO, but instead layering in AEO as an extension of how you ensure your digital assets stay findable and usable in this new paradigm.

More to come on this from Mawazo — it’s a topic that deserves its own deep dive — but for now, the message is clear: brands need to embrace AEO without abandoning SEO. Both will matter in the hybrid search landscape ahead.

Final Thoughts: The Human Edge

Elevate reminded me of something simple but powerful: AI is a tool. Not a strategy. Not a voice. Not a vision. Those still need to come from you.

The world doesn’t need more automation for its own sake. It needs intentionality.

So yes, learn AI. Explore its potential. Use it to get better, faster, more efficient.

But more importantly: Use it to free up space for the things only humans can do — to think more deeply, design more beautifully, and connect more authentically.

GACTA: New Association Website to Manage Membership and Online Learning

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 14:15:01 GMT

How we supported a global association with a centralized website to facilitate membership, training, and communication

About the Company

The Global Assertive Community Treatment Association (GACTA) is a newly established international association of clinicians and researchers working in Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Flexible Assertive Community Treatment (FACT).

With over 30 experts participating from more than 35 countries, GACTA was formed to promote evidence-based practices, support professional development, and facilitate the sharing of knowledge across borders.

GACTA's mission includes the development and dissemination of international standards, fostering access to quality educational materials, and building a network of professionals committed to improving mental health care delivery.

The Problem

Over a two-year period, GACTA operated informally, with members collaborating through meetings and shared documents. While effective to a point, this approach limited their ability to scale. Key challenges included:

No centralized communication hub
Difficulty managing engagement across time zones
Lack of infrastructure for sharing training and resources
No system to manage membership or offer structured learning
No efficient means to generate income, other than an annual global in-person conference, to generate funds

With a growing network and clear goals, GACTA required a professional website to act as a virtual meeting point and operational foundation. The organization needed support from a web development company that could guide the project from start to finish and provide ongoing expertise in business analysis, UX strategy and design, website development services, web design, and digital infrastructure.

Engagement Details

We worked closely with GACTA to plan, design, and launch their new platform. We advised on using the Umbraco Content Management System, as it accommodated all of their needs and was cost-effective.

The engagement included a complete set of deliverables:

Conducted interviews with GACTA members to understand communication needs, user types, and time zone barriers
Designed a user experience focused on easy access to shared resources, discussion forums, and community updates
Facilitated feedback loops to ensure the platform reflected member priorities across regions
Created a simple logo and visual identity for the newly formed organization
Designed and developed the website in Umbraco CMS, including tools for:
Purchasing courses, secure and tracked access to courses, testing, grading and generating digital certificates to students
A resource library for shared materials
A bulletin board for asynchronous communication
A membership directory to support connection and management
Revenue generation from membership fees and the purchase of courses, collected via the website
Supported content gathering and copywriting to clearly express the organization’s global mission
Integrated digital platforms for email marketing (Mailchimp) and payment (Paypal)

The resulting website includes functionality for member registration, access to paid training courses, quizzes with automated grading, and certificate delivery. This web app demonstrates the value of web development services that prioritize clarity, structure, and scalability.

Our team focused on creating a user-friendly experience supported by thoughtful website development strategy. The process included front-end design, back-end development, and content workflows tailored to the client’s unique needs. Attention was given to performance, responsive web design, accessibility, and future-proof planning.

www.gacta.net

The Result

Since its recent “soft launch” in August 2025, the GACTA platform has begun to meet its goal of connecting clinicians and researchers worldwide:

Members from 12 countries joined within the first few months
The site provides a scalable framework for online learning, certification, and event promotion
GACTA now has a central platform to support its mission and continued growth

The website provides a strong foundation for expanding functionality and future web design improvements. Future website development phases may include multilingual support, various approaches for presenting course material, deeper facilitation of in-person conferences, and more.

From discovery to launch, our team built a secure, scalable platform that combines thoughtful UX design with modern web development best practices. Powered by Umbraco CMS, it delivers a flexible, maintainable framework that can grow alongside GACTA’s evolving needs. More importantly, it provides an accessible, reliable space for clinicians and researchers around the world to connect, share expertise, and strengthen mental health care through global collaboration.

Looking to launch a new platform for your association or training organization? Mawazo is a web development company that provides expert website development services , digital experiences, and strategic web design service for a wide range of clients. Whether your project involves a custom web app, scalable CMS, or improving your online presence, our team delivers high-quality development from discovery to deployment.

Our websites are built to perform, support growth, and reflect your goals. If you need support with website development, redesign, optimization, or new design features, we can help. From concept to completion, our team delivers custom web development solutions that align with your goals and elevate your digital experience.

Book a call or request a free quote today to get started.

Testimonial

I’ve been working with the team at Mawazo since 2022, and it’s always felt like a true partnership. Liza led the UX design for GACTA, and her expertise showed right away—she really understood how to create something clear, accessible, and user-friendly. Sarah managed the development side and made the whole process feel smooth and well-organized. We’ve now built two new Umbraco sites together, including GACTA’s, which was a brand new platform. Users can register, take courses, complete quizzes, get certified, and manage memberships—all in one place. My team and I are really happy with the result. Working with Mawazo has been great—they’re smart, kind, and great to work with.

— Dr. John Maher

President, Governing Council

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

With our 25 years of experience in web development and digital marketing we have developed a unique system to address the challenges of B2B service companies. Our approach generates predictable results and we offer a unique performance guarantee.

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 2 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

From Heuristics to Conversations: How UX Needs to Evolve for the AI Era

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:52:31 GMT

From Heuristics to Conversations: How UX Needs to Evolve for the AI Era

For years, we’ve relied on tried-and-true heuristic principles to guide how we build digital experiences. Things like “keep it consistent,” “help users recover from errors,” and “make important stuff obvious.” They’ve helped UX designers make websites that are simple, helpful, and human.

You see this in everyday design—think of a shopping cart that lets you remove an item with one click, or a form that highlights which fields you forgot to fill in. These aren’t just good habits—they’re rooted in UX heuristics that have stood the test of time.

But how people use the internet is changing fast. And that changes everything.

People Aren’t Visiting Websites Like They Used To

Today, AI tools often step in before a user ever sees your site.

Whether it’s a chatbot, voice assistant, or AI-powered search engine, more people are getting what they need without ever clicking through. Google shows summaries. Siri reads answers aloud. ChatGPT might quote your content without the user knowing your brand at all and present it in a conversational AI interface.

The homepage isn’t always the beginning. Sometimes, it doesn’t even show up in the journey.

This shift forces a rethink: If users never reach your website, what kind of experience are you actually designing for? This is where AI in UX takes center stage. Good UX design now means building for both humans and the AI systems that present your information.

What All These Optimization Acronyms Actually Mean (and Why They Matter)

Let’s break it down:

User Experience Now Begins Before They Even See Your Site

Because user experience isn’t just what happens on your site anymore. It’s what happens in search results, AI summaries, smart assistants, and chatbots. UX now includes how people find your content, interact with it outside your site, and maybe—just maybe—click through to learn more.

Designing for this broader journey means:

Clarity matters more than cleverness
Content needs to stand alone and still make sense
You’re designing for people and machines

These are new kinds of design questions. And answering them takes a shift in mindset.

Practical Moves to Adapt Your Website UX

Let’s talk about some smart, simple ways to build for this new era:

Treat every page like page one
Because it probably is. Thanks to search and AI, users land in strange inner pages. Make every page welcoming.
Write like you talk—but smarter
This isn’t about dumbing things down. It's about clarity. If you can’t explain it simply, AI won’t get it either.
Structure like a librarian
Organized content = AI-friendly content. Use headings. Break things up. Make it skimmable and scrapable.
Tag, mark up, and map it out
Schema markup isn’t glamorous, but it makes your content machine-readable. That’s SEO and AIO rolled into one.
Think in blocks, not blobs
Modular content adapts better. A quote, a stat, a how-to—each should stand on its own and still make sense.
Add a layer of personality
AI can mimic tone, but it can’t fake yours. Bring in voice, nuance, and small surprises that sound unmistakably you .
Design with conversation in mind
Whether it's chatbots or voice search, you’re not just designing screens—you’re scripting interactions. AI UX design is about shaping conversational flows that feel natural for users.

The Human Side of This Shift

Here’s the twist: as AI tools get more “human,” we need to get better at being human too.

Writing, tone, language—these are becoming core UX tools. And yet, in a world of skims, swipes, and scrolls, communication is becoming a lost art.

To design great experiences today, you need to be part strategist, part storyteller, part UX researcher —always guided by user feedback and real-world insight .

So What Happens to Websites?

It’s not dying. It’s diversifying.

Your site is:

The content library for AI-powered tools
The credibility layer when users dig deeper
The experience hub when they want to connect

It won’t always be where the journey starts—but it better be ready when someone arrives.

That also means moving away from traditional, rigid structures—like siloed sections and static pages—and thinking in terms of fluid, modular experiences. For years, websites were built around a "drill-down" model: start at the homepage, choose a section, then a sub-page, then maybe a PDF or contact form. But that linear path no longer reflects how people find or consume information.

Today’s users expect immediacy. They don’t want to search —they want to ask . They expect websites to behave more like assistants than brochures.

To meet that expectation, websites must start offering AI-enhanced pathways: smart search that interprets intent, dynamic FAQs that evolve with user behavior, voice-enabled support, and chatbot-driven flows that mirror how people naturally seek answers. Content must be structured not just for browsing, but for responding—context-aware, conversational, and available instantly.

We’re entering an “ask and receive” era of UX. Your site shouldn’t just contain information—it should use AI to understand context and deliver what users need: fast, focused, and frictionless.

Where Mawazo Fits In

At Mawazo, we’ve always cared about the "why" behind digital design. Not just what it looks like, but what it does.

We combine UX design with real-world insight, helping your site adapt to changing user habits—whether that means conversational flows, semantic content, or rethinking what a landing page is for.

If you’re wondering how to keep up with it all, start by asking better questions. We’ll help you find the answers—and design the experience that goes with them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing Between WordPress and Umbraco: A Practical Guide for Business Owners

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 11:34:07 GMT

Looking for a New Website? Let’s Talk Strategy First.

If you're thinking about building or rebuilding your website—whether it's B2B, B2C, or a mix of both—chances are you’re being asked to choose a content management system (CMS)—probably by a designer, a developer, or a digital marketing team. It’s a choice that seems technical on the surface but has deep implications for how your website works, how your team manages it, and how well it grows with your business.

The two platforms we’re focusing on here— WordPress and Umbraco CMS —both have their strengths. But like most tools, their usefulness depends on the job you're trying to get done and the content you’re working with.

So instead of asking “which CMS is better,” ask: what does your business need today—and what will it need three years from now?

WordPress: Familiar, Flexible, and Fast to Launch

WordPress began as a blogging platform in 2003. Today, it powers nearly half the websites on the internet. Its appeal is simple: it’s open source, free, flexible, and widely supported. Whether you're running a small business, a professional blog, or an online store, WordPress offers themes and plugins to get you up and running with little technical expertise.

For many businesses, WordPress is the first CMS they try. It offers fast setup, a friendly interface, and a wide developer network. It can also grow to handle more complex needs—though often by stacking plugins or relying on custom code.

That’s where the cracks can show. As the number of plugins and features increases, so does the risk of slowdowns, conflicts, and security issues. And because WordPress wasn’t originally designed as a full-scale enterprise solution, some of the add-ons feel like workarounds rather than robust features.

If you're in an early stage or need something lightweight, WordPress is a sensible option. If your business model is evolving or becoming more complex, your current setup may struggle to keep pace. When your website becomes central to operations, investing in a more structured digital platform can be crucial for long-term stability and scalability.

Umbraco: Built for Customization, Designed to Scale

Umbraco is open source, like WordPress, but it’s architected very differently. Launched in 2005, it’s built on the Microsoft .NET framework and is designed for digital platforms that need a scalable, structured, and secure environment to support evolving business strategies.

What sets Umbraco apart is its balance between flexibility and performance. It offers more control and flexibility at the architecture level, allowing the site to be structured precisely around your business processes, operational needs, and long-term growth strategy.

It supports multiple content editors, multilingual sites, and complex workflows right out of the box. It doesn’t rely on plugins to add core functionality—those capabilities are integrated into the system itself to support content management.

And while it typically involves more upfront development time, the long-term benefits are clear: fewer maintenance issues, stronger security, faster performance, and a structure that grows with you and your specific needs.

Comparing the Two: What Really Matters

When Umbraco Makes Sense

We often recommend Umbraco to clients who are expanding their business and need a web platform that reflects their operational complexity—not just a nice-looking digital brochure. It’s particularly well-suited to companies that:

Operate in multiple regions or serve multilingual audiences
Need a website that integrates deeply with internal systems or CRMs
Have non-technical staff managing content, and need a structured editing experience
Want predictable performance, functionality, and stability, not plugin workarounds
Value security and compliance

Umbraco isn’t about flashy design trends or gimmicks. It’s about building something that lasts, supports your team, and gives you room to grow.

How We Help at Mawazo

At Mawazo, we’re not tied to one platform. Our work is grounded in strategy first—because a website should support your business goals, not just exist online.

If you’re not sure which CMS is right for you, we’ll help you figure it out. We start with a clear, honest audit of your current setup and goals. Then we design a path forward that’s aligned with your team, your budget, your specific needs, and your long-term plans.

We’ve built with both WordPress and Umbraco . We’ve seen where each one thrives, and where it doesn’t. Our goal is simple: build a system that performs well and makes your life easier.

If that sounds like what you’re looking for, we’d be happy to talk.

Frequently Asked Questions

How AI is Augmenting Web and Mobile Application Development

liza@mawazo.ca (Liza Rodrigues) — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:09:01 GMT

Let’s Get Honest About AI

AI isn’t a magic wand. It’s not going to read your mind, build your app, and launch your campaign while we sip tea and wait. But that’s not a bad thing. The truth is better: AI is giving us space to think more clearly, move more quickly, and focus on the work that actually matters.

As someone who moves between dev and marketing daily, I don’t see AI replacing anything important. I see it sharpening our tools. It’s freeing us up to deliver more value—not less.

But like any powerful tool, it’s also being misused—by those looking to replace expertise instead of enhance it, or to prioritize speed over substance.

AI isn’t a shortcut—it’s a force multiplier. And for teams like ours, it means we get to spend more time doing the work that actually makes a difference.

Tools Have Always Helped Us Work Smarter—But AI Is the Most Transformative One Yet

If you’ve been around long enough to remember building websites using tables, you’ve seen more than a few game-changing tools come and go.

Remember Dreamweaver? It gave developers a visual way to code before browsers caught up.

Drag-and-drop Content Management Systems made content management accessible to non-technical teams.

Frameworks like React Native brought mobile development into reach without maintaining separate codebases.

Each one helped us work smarter, faster, and more collaboratively.

AI is part of that same story—but it’s a leap, not a step.

It can help scaffold code—essentially laying down the first layer of structure for an app or website, like setting up login functionality or navigation components—so we’re not starting from a blank page every time. It scans for vulnerabilities, predicts where users might get stuck, and even suggests layout improvements based on behavioral patterns. It generates test cases, translates content, and saves us from rewriting the same logic for the hundredth time.

But here’s what it can’t do: understand your business model, navigate conflicting priorities, or choose when to break the rules for the sake of a better user experience. That still takes experience, context, and human judgment—and that’s never going away.

User Behaviour Is Changing—And Development Needs to Keep Up

The way people interact with digital experiences is evolving fast. Tapping and swiping are second nature now, but we’re moving into a space where asking—via voice commands, chatbots, and conversational UI—is becoming more common. That shift changes everything, from how we design to how we build.

AI is helping us adapt to that change without overwhelming timelines or budgets. It gives us the ability to make development more iterative, more exploratory—without breaking the bank or throwing off the schedule. Want to test a voice interaction in your app? We can do that now with far less overhead than ever before.

Some of the AI We’re Using—and What It Actually Does

You don’t need to be deep in the tech world to appreciate how AI is reshaping development work. Across the industry, developers are integrating AI tools to speed up routine tasks, reduce errors, and explore new ideas with less friction. These tools aren’t about replacing people—they’re about removing bottlenecks so teams can focus on the work that really matters.

Here are a few tools being used widely in modern dev workflows—and what they actually do:

GitHub Copilot: Like predictive text, but for code. It offers suggestions as developers type, especially helpful for repetitive patterns or common functions. It speeds things up, but the human still drives the logic.
UXCam / Hotjar AI Insights: These tools observe real user behavior—like clicks, taps, and scrolls—and use AI to surface meaningful patterns. That helps teams improve design based on what users are actually doing. ( G2 , Capterra )
Builder.io: Assists with layout and design decisions using smart visual suggestions. It accelerates the creative process without boxing anyone in. ( G2 )
Cloud AI APIs (from platforms like Google and Microsoft): Offer advanced capabilities—like text translation, speech recognition, or image analysis—that used to require months of custom development. ( CIO )

Used well, these tools allow for more experimentation, faster delivery, and smarter decisions—all while keeping people at the center of the process.

We Talk About AI Because We’re Proud to Use It

Some agencies keep their tech stack a secret. Not us.

We’re transparent about how we use AI because it shows we care about leading technologies, efficiency and results. It means we’re not charging clients to reinvent the wheel—we’re charging to design a better car.

When we use AI to take care of the stuff that doesn’t require deep thinking, we can spend more time on strategy, testing, refinement, and collaboration. The parts that actually move the dial.

Here’s What Clients Are Actually Getting

So, what does all this look like in practice? AI isn’t just speeding up the backend or helping developers behind the curtain—it’s changing the day-to-day experience for clients, too. It’s reshaping how quickly ideas move from concept to execution, how easily teams can adapt, and how confidently decisions are made.

If you’re wondering how this all translates into value, here’s what it looks like:

Faster turnaround: Projects move faster from kickoff to launch. That means you start seeing results sooner.
More flexibility: Need to pivot mid-project? AI tools make it feasible—without torpedoing timelines or budgets.
Smarter decisions: We test more, tweak more, and learn faster.
Better value: Your budget goes toward strategy and innovation—not busywork.
Real iteration: We can try out new ideas more frequently and confidently—thanks to faster feedback loops and AI-assisted development workflows.

You’re not paying for hours. You’re paying for outcomes.

This Isn’t Optional Anymore

Expectations are changing. If your agency or dev partner isn’t using AI, they’re already behind. The work will take longer. The insights will be shallower. The cost will creep up.

We’ve built AI into our process not because it’s trendy—but because it’s responsible. It helps us deliver better work, without burning out our team or bloating client invoice.

And just as importantly—it lets us stay in sync with client customers. As their behaviors evolve, so must our ability to respond, experiment, and refine. We know that the interactions with applications have gone from “click”, “tap” and “swipe” to “click”, “tap”, “swipe” and “ask”.

The Tools Have Evolved. The Thinking Still Matters.

AI has changed how we work—but not why we work. Strategy, insight, and empathy still guide every decision. What’s different now is how quickly we can move from idea to execution, and how much more room we have for refinement and exploration. The tools are sharper, but the thinking still matters most. That’s where the real value lives—and always will.

Curious how this might work for your next project? Let’s talk. We’ll show you exactly how AI fits into the process—and why it means more value, not less.

What Is a Link in Bio on Instagram—and Why It Matters for Your Business

liza@mawazo.ca (Liza Rodrigues) — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 19:19:36 GMT

Instagram has become one of the most effective platforms for storytelling, community-building, and customer engagement. Whether you're a local coffee shop showcasing your daily specials, a consultant sharing insights through reels, or a lifestyle brand partnering with creators—social media marketing helps businesses connect in ways that feel personal and immediate. But while the platform is excellent for visibility, discovery, and interaction, it limits you to just one clickable link in your bio.

That’s where the “link in bio” strategy comes in. It transforms that single link into a flexible, multi-functional hub—helping you guide followers from inspiration to action. Let’s break down what it means for your instagram marketing strategy, how it works, and how you can use it to turn social media engagement into real-world results.

What’s a “Link in Bio” on Instagram?

Instagram’s minimalist design is great for scrolling—but a bit stingy when it comes to links. You can’t add clickable URLs (links) in Instagram post captions, comments, or even stories (unless you meet follower thresholds). So the one clickable link in your profile bio becomes the hub for all off-platform activity.

“Link in bio” is the phrase you’ll often see in captions or videos: “Read more—link in bio” or “Shop now via the link in our bio.” It’s a signal. A call-to-action. A way of saying to Instagram users, “Want to do something about what you just saw? Head to our profile.”

Why Is This Useful For Digital Marketing?

The power of the “link in bio” is its ability to bypass Instagram’s one-link limit. If you only have one spot for a link, how do you share a product page and your blog and your contact form?

By using a "link in bio" tool, you can turn that one link into a smart landing page containing multiple destinations. That might include:

Your main website
A limited-time promotion
Your most recent article or podcast
Email signup or lead magnet
Booking or contact forms
Affiliate product links

Instead of constantly changing your bio link (which confuses repeat visitors and breaks old post references), you update your landing page content dynamically. It becomes a living directory that allows your social media platform and marketing to evolve alongside your off-platform marketing priorities.

How Does It Work?

The process is straightforward:

Choose a tool that lets you build a custom landing page—one specifically designed for social media bios. ( You will find some suggested tools below.)
Create your micro page. Add buttons, links, embedded videos, or images, depending on the platform.
Copy your unique link (provided by the tool) and paste it into your Instagram bio.
Promote that link in your Instagram stories and posts with language like “Link in bio.”

Every time someone taps that link, they’re met with a streamlined page that reflects your goals—without them having to dig around.

You can update the links as often as you like, without changing the bio link itself. That’s the beauty of it—you get flexibility without making your followers chase you around.

How Do People Actually Use It?

Perhaps you are running a business and you post about a new service. Instead of including “click here” in your caption (which doesn’t work on Instagram), you include “link in bio” in your Instagram content.

Your followers tap to your profile, tap the link in your bio, and find exactly what you are referring to—right there.

It turns interest into action without making people work for it.

Why a “Link in Bio” Good for Business

This strategy isn’t just about convenience. It’s about connection—and conversion.

Businesses can use "link in bio" tools to convert social media engagement into various meaningful outcomes:

1. Lead Generation

Want to grow your email list? Offer a downloadable resource—like a guide, checklist, or template—right from your bio. Collect emails directly through the "link in bio" tool or link to your own form.

2. Ecommerce and Sales

Highlight multiple products, bundle offers, or sale pages. You can even connect your Instagram feed to actual product links, making posts shoppable without a formal Instagram Shop.

3. Content Promotion

If you're a content-driven brand—think blogs, podcasts, webinars—you can drive traffic directly to your latest content. No need to wait for someone to visit your homepage and find the latest post.

4. Service Booking and Contact

Consultants, coaches, and service businesses can offer booking forms, inquiry buttons, or intake questionnaires—all accessible via that single tap.

It’s an elegant way to reduce friction, remove guesswork, and meet people where they are.

Top "Link in Bio" Tools Worth Considering

There are dozens of options out there—but some rise above in terms of usability, analytics, and customization. The best option for you will depend on the business you are promoting and your marketing strategy. Here are three worth checking out:

1. Linktree

Website: https://linktr.ee

One of the first tools to popularize the “link in bio” concept for instagram marketing, Linktree has become nearly synonymous with the strategy itself.

Features:

Drag-and-drop link manager
Custom themes and color palettes
Integrates with tools like Mailchimp, Shopify, and TikTok
Analytics dashboard to track clicks and conversions
Option to embed videos, music, and other rich content

Best for: Solopreneurs, creators, and small businesses who want something clean, fast, and reliable.

2. Later’s Linkin.bio

Website: https://later.com/linkinbio

Built by the scheduling platform Later, Linkin.bio integrates directly with your Instagram content strategy.

Features:

Turns your Instagram feed into a clickable version of your grid
Attach links to individual posts
Great for driving traffic from evergreen and archived content
Syncs with Shopify and Google Analytics

Best for: Ecommerce brands and content teams who want visual consistency between posts and destination links.

3. Campsite

Website: https://campsite.bio

Campsite offers a blend of beautiful design and powerful features—without being overwhelming.

Features:

Advanced customization for fonts, colors, and branding
Add YouTube, Spotify, or Instagram embeds
Scheduling for links (ideal for timed campaigns)
Integrates with Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics

Best for: Brands looking to maintain brand identity while keeping analytics in view.

This Isn’t a Hack. It’s a System.

Instagram’s design choices don’t need to limit you. With the right "link in bio" setup, you can connect the dots between discovery and conversion.

And when it’s done well, your audience doesn’t feel pushed—they feel guided.

It’s not about shouting louder. It’s about building a better path for your Instagram followers.

If You Want to Use Instagram as a Social Media Marketing Tool, “Link in Bio” Is Your Key Strategy

If you’re investing time into your Instagram presence—creating content, engaging followers, showing up—then don’t leave your audience hanging.

A well-crafted “link in bio” helps turn attention into action. It gives your followers a next step. Whether that’s reading your article, booking a demo, or buying a product—it all starts with that one little link.

Make that link count.

Whether you’re looking to grow your audience, collect leads, increase brand awareness, or just make it easier for people to find what they need, a smart "link in bio" setup puts you back in control.

It’s a small shift that makes a big difference. And in digital marketing, that’s exactly the kind of move that builds momentum.

Frequently Asked Questions

Fairway Divorce Services: Creating a New Brand Experience and Consolidating Digital Properties

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 11:35:19 GMT

Refined visual branding, consolidated complicated digital websites and streamlined content management.

About the Company

Fairway Divorce Solutions provides an alternative way to separate or divorce, with a unique and fair approach that protects the children, saves the assets, and supports an amicable separation. Fairway Divorce has expert Divorce Mediators across Canada.

The Problem

Over the years, Fairway has created multiple digital properties in the back end of their website, all of which was over complicated. This made the website expensive to maintain and difficult to update. The complex content structure also made the website tricky to navigate and not targeted for search engine optimization (SEO).

Engagement Details

After a deep dive into understanding the clients of Fairway and the market as a whole, we defined a strategy that was highly targeted in the audience and in messaging.

With that in mind, we worked with the Fairway team to define a website content structure that would be optimized to capture this target audience in search engines.

Pages are then designed to engage traffic from search engines (or other sources) to learn more about Fairway’s breadth of services, and to contact them for a free consultation.

The website now offers features for potential clients, current clients and franchise partners.

www.fairwaydivorce.com

As always we followed our tried-and-tested process for development:

The Result

We launched the new Fairway Divorce website with a creative approach that has already been successfully carried through to other media. We have also seen higher engagement rates on the website, with visitors spending more time per session, and viewing more pages per session.

We are continuing to monitor and evaluate the traffic and conversions, which we have defined as:

Calls
Form submissions
Downloads via form submission

"I think this looks incredible, Liza and team. Job well done, Mawazo."

Christie Moser, Principal Partner

At Mawazo, we believe every great project starts with trust, collaboration, and transformation. Karen Stewart reflects on our journey together — the process and the results reflect the satisfaction, confidence, and true partnership behind the work.

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 2 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Digital Marketing is a System

thomasghess@gmail.com (Thomas Hess) — Wed, 22 May 2024 11:57:10 GMT

Are you overwhelmed by all the different options available in digital marketing nowadays? Many business owners feel they are wasting their money on marketing and are tired of not seeing measurable results.

This article will show you how to streamline your marketing efforts and create a cohesive system that works for your business. It describes a comprehensive digital marketing system that covers all the elements you need for your B2B business. It's a 360-degree system where all elements work together to generate leads for your business and convert them to clients.

Elements of a digital marketing system for B2B companies

Here is an overview of the Digital Marketing System we’ll discuss:

It’s a comprehensive platform of tactics working together to bring prospects to your business and convert them into clients.

Strategy sits at the heart of your online marketing. We implement the strategy by:

updating and optimizing your website is essential for a competitive online presence,
publishing content that answers the needs of your ideal client,
optimizing website and content for search engine ranking,
creating awareness and engagement on social media ,
raising your online reputation with reviews and links from other sites,
engaging leads and clients with email / SMS outreach and sales automation,
and using online advertising to capture demand from people ready to engage.

Finally we’ll look at the analytics you need to measure the effectiveness of your digital marketing.

Let's look at each of these in more detail:

Strategy is the foundation of effective marketing

The philosophy of "strategy before tactics" is at the heart of the system, and the core of the strategy is pretty straightforward: know who your ideal client is and how you stand out from your competitors.

Understand your ideal client

Business owners often don’t have a clear idea of who their clients are. When a business is growing, you may be eager to take on any business that comes your way. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, "I can help anyone and everyone," but not every client is an ideal client.

Ideal clients are easy to work with, they pay their bills on time, are profitable for your business, and introduce you to their network. The key to success is creating a crystal clear picture of your ideal client and the problems and frustrations they are dealing with.

Differentiate your company from the competition

Competing on price is a race to the bottom: there's always a competitor ready to go lower. The key is to make your business unique in the eyes of your ideal clients by showing how you solve the problem of your ideal client better than your competitors.

Create a core message

Case Study: Resolution Inplant Services

How our digital marketing strategy identified ideal prospects and differentiated Resolution Inplant Services from the competition, so they could attract highly profitable clients at scale.

A website to save cost and generate leads

In the digital age, a website is not just an online brochure; it's a dynamic tool that serves two critical functions for your B2B field service business:

Save cost by integrating with your business system

Your website isn’t just a glorified billboard and shouldn’t be a marketing cost. By integrating with your business systems, your website can eliminate inefficient, manual processes and save costs. Larger companies that have been around for many years often have very well-established processes, but they may have become inefficient over time as systems and technology have evolved.

By digitizing and automating these processes, such as moving from manual order-taking to an integrated online system, you significantly reduce overhead costs and improve customer experience.

Increase profit and improve customer experience by integrating digital technologies into all aspects of your business, and by making your website an integral part of your business systems.

Engage leads and convert them into customers

The second, equally important role of your website is to be found by potential leads for your business and turn visitors into customers. This goes beyond a nice design; it's about making your website a solution-oriented platform for your clients. To achieve this:

Focus on your client's problems: Your website should immediately address the problems your clients face. It's not about you; it's about them and how you can solve their issues.
Differentiation: Explain how you solve these problems, what makes your approach unique, and why clients should trust you over competitors.
Process: What are the main steps you guide your clients through to get them from where they are to where they want to be?
Call to action: Make it clear what the next step is for the visitor. Whether it's contacting you, downloading a guide, or scheduling a consultation, guide them to the next phase of engagement.

Case study: warehouse and inventory system

Dramatically improved efficiency of operations with a custom warehousing and inventory system, integrated with an eCommerce website and Quickbooks Online.

Your website is an essential component of your digital marketing strategy. Integrate it with your business systems to save cost and eliminate inefficiency, and optimize it to efficiently engage visitors and convert them into loyal customers.

Content marketing is the voice of your strategy

Clients often come to us for a “website refresh”. They ask for a new design and tell us to copy over the content from the old website. With the new design, they hope to attract more visitors and generate more leads.

Well, that won’t work.

Design is important, but it is the content that will attract visitors to your website, and it’s the content and functionality that will convert an anonymous visitor from a self-identified lead.

In digital marketing, content is the voice of your strategy. It speaks directly to your customers' needs educates your clients, and positions you as a thought leader in your field.

When you take a strategic approach to content creation, then it’s not confined to your website but extends to emails, social media, press releases, ebooks, and more. The key is consistency and relevance across all platforms.

The timeless essence of marketing

Marketing, at its core, hasn’t changed. It’s still about building a relationship where customers get to know, like, and trust you. This journey leads them to try your service, buy your product, return for more, and refer you to their network. Content plays a pivotal role in this journey by providing value and building trust.

Mapping out your content strategy

At its core, the content that you generate should answer all questions and concerns your clients may have, and establish your company as an authority in your industry.

Creating a comprehensive content strategy involves the following steps:

Identify all relevant topics: outline all the topics relevant to your business and your customers' needs.
Create a content directory: Choose a main broad topic relevant in your industry, and and create a directory of subtopics and individual articles that cover this topic. This will become the roadmap for your content creation.
Create hub pages: once you have a substantial amount of content on a particular topic, consider creating a hub page on your website. This page links all related content into a comprehensive treatment of the topic, showcasing your authority and making your website more findable in Google search results.

Case study: Lift & Shift hub page

For our client Lift & Shift we created a comprehensive hub page titled " The Ultimate Guide to B2B Loyalty Programs " This page links to all relevant blog posts, forming a rich resource hub. Such an approach enhances user experience and confirms your authority on the topic to search engines like Google.

By aligning your content with your strategy and the customer journey, you inform and educate your audience and build a lasting relationship. Content marketing is not just about producing articles; it's about addressing your customer’s nee ds and establishing your business as the expert in your field.

Search Engine Optimization makes your website findable

Having a website that can’t be found on Google is like printing a brochure and locking it away in a cabinet. The holy grail in digital marketing is to rank number 1 spot on the Google search engine results pages.

Getting to number 1 takes a lot of consistent effort over a period of time. It’s the domain of the SEO specialists who will work on optimizing your website and its content for Google ranking. If you ask them what they to make that happen, then they’ll make it sound very complicated, but essentially it’s about three things:

Website structure - Is your website well-structured? Is it safe and secure? Is it easy to navigate on a mobile phone? Does it load fast?
The content on your website - Does each product or service have its own page? Is there sufficient content on your website to answer the questions of your clients? Is the content organized so that search engines can easily understand it?
The attention your website gets from other websites - Which other websites are linking to your website? Are these authoritative websites? These “backlinks” act like votes of confidence, signalling to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant.

Search Engine Optimization is not a one-time setup; it's an ongoing strategy to ensure your business is easily found by potential clients.

Local SEO is a game-changer for local businesses

Google is very good at identifying the intent of a search. For example, if you search for “how to fix toilet”, then you will find YouTube videos with instructions. If you search for “plumber near me” then you’ll find a list of plumbing companies in your area.

Getting found for locally relevant searches is important if your business has one or more physical locations that target local customers. That’s where local SEO comes in:

Optimized Google Business Profile: This allows you to list your services and contact information, post articles, and even let people book appointments.
Presence in business directories - Your business details should be consistently listed across directories such as Yelp, YellowPages, and the Better Business Bureau.
Location pages on your website - Do you have a page on your website dedicated to each location, with relevant information such as opening hours, contact information and services provided?

Case study: SEO Horton Automatics

Search Engine Optimization makes your website findable on the web. It means having a well-structured website with relevant content that answers the needs of your target audience and working on improving how your website is perceived and talked about across the internet.

Social media marketing builds awareness

Social media has had a massive impact on the way we communicate. Just one example says it all: Facebook has 3 billion monthly active users, and they spend an average of half an hour per day on the platform! For businesses, social media is a powerful platform to create awareness of their products and services, connect with their target audience, and showcase the human side of their business.

However, many businesses don’t have a clear plan on how they can use social media to connect and engage with their customers. They often worry about the time and effort required to produce content for social media, and they find it difficult to measure the return on their investment.

When you implement a comprehensive Digital Marketing System, those concerns are no longer relevant. Social media is essentially a free publishing platform for your business. And when you have a clear strategy and produce relevant content for your website, most of the work of creating social media posts is already done.

A publishing platform for your content

In your strategy you have defined your ideal client. Which social media platforms does your target audience use, and which online communities do they engage with? Establish a presence wherever your ideal clients are, and engage them by repurposing the rich content you have created for your website.

Simply turn every article and blog post into a series of engaging social media posts and spread them out over the year. This approach not only saves time but also ensures consistency across all your digital platforms.

There is another important role social media can play for your business:

Showcasing your human side

Social media excels in showing the personal, human aspect of your company. It's not just about business updates; it's about connecting with your audience on a more personal level.

Personal stories and glimpses into your company culture often see far more engagement than standard ‘business’ posts. For instance, a remodelling company we worked with shared a post featuring the owner's baby in a company polo. This post got a lot more engagement than any of the others, showcasing the power of personal touch in social media.

The key to successful social media marketing is authenticity. It's about capturing and sharing moments that resonate with your audience. This isn't something that can be outsourced or faked. It's about taking those genuine moments from your business – be it a team event, a behind-the-scenes look, or customer stories – and sharing them with your audience.

By using social media within a comprehensive Digital Marketing System, you repurpose the content you create to answer the needs of your audience into bite-sized engaging posts and spread them out over the year. By sharing genuine personal stories from your business you engage with your customers and build a community.

Manage your online reputation

Online ratings and reviews are your digital word-of-mouth. Here is a great statistic: according to research by Brightlocal, 91% of people read online reviews, and 84% trust them as much as personal recommendations.

Good online reviews are important for every business, but particularly for those companies that have a local presence. Many of our clients are B2B field service companies. Their technicians will service clients from local offices within a certain geographic region. Their potential customers will often look for help with the a “near me” question:

Which supplier would you choose? Likely the one with the most reviews and the highest rating, even though they are in 3rd position! That’s why it’s important that your digital marketing system consistently generates positive reviews for your business.

Getting good ratings and reviews online involves the following steps:

Customer service
The first step, of course, is to provide excellent service to your customers. Your digital marketing strategy has made that possible by focusing on your ideal client and identifying your differentiator.
Asking for reviews
Many of your customers will agree to publish a review online if you actively reach out and ask. We use the Net Promoter Score approach and generally get a 2% to 5% response rate with our review request process. That may not seem high, but it will lead to a consistent stream of positive reviews over time.
Reply to reviews
Replying to reviews is important. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that hotels that respond to customer reviews increase their occupancy rates if they respond to at least 50% of the reviews they receive.
Showcase your reviews
Publishing your best reviews on your website helps to build trust and credibility with visitors. A less obvious advantage is that relevant reviews on a web page help with Search Engine Optimization.

Case study: online reviews for Door Services

Net Promoter Score

Customers are hesitant to engage with businesses that have low ratings. Start by delivering great service to your ideal clients and then actively ask them for an online review. Think of reputation management as a digital megaphone that amplifies the voice of your satisfied customers and grows the credibility of your business.

Outreach engages and grows your audience

When your online presence is compelling, then it’s time to entice more people to engage with it. That’s where outreach comes in. It includes all efforts to reach out to your leads and clients and to automate lead generation.

For a B2B company the most compelling outreach methods generally are email, SMS and LinkedIn. Email is the most widely used and easiest way to start an outreach campaign, so let’s focus on email marketing.

Email marketing

Email marketing continues to offer the best return on investment in digital marketing. Sending a regular email newsletter is a tried-and-tested method for a company to nurture leads and maintain relationships with your existing clients.

It may seem like a massive effort to create a bi-weekly or monthly newsletter, but by including it in a comprehensive digital marketing system, you have already done the heavy lifting. The content you generate and publish on your website is excellent material for an email newsletter.

Grow your email database with a sales funnel

After the introduction of CASL in 2014, it is not allowed to send emails with commercial messages to Canadian businesses and individuals without their consent. So as a Canadian B2B company, you’ll have to find a different way to grow your email database.

Creating a sales funnel on your website is a great way to do that:

It starts with having downloadable content on your website such as a free checklist or ebook to grab attention and gather contact details.
Next, an email drip campaign nurtures these leads by providing valuable information and maintaining interest.
Finally, you direct these warmed-up leads to a landing page that encourages them to take action, such as scheduling a demo or consultation.
When it’s all working well, then you can send additional traffic to that web page with advertising

This is a how the above simple sales funnel looks like:

Keep your clients engaged with a regular email newsletter based on the content you generate for your website. Grow your email database by building a sales funnel with a content upgrade and by reaching out to our target audience with a LinkedIn outreach campaign.

Online advertising captures existing demand

Advertising is the last element of the digital marketing system for B2B companies. When everything is set up properly your website will start to generate leads already. Using online advertising allows you to increase the lead flow when you need it.

It’s like opening a tap to increase the water pressure…

There are many ways to advertise online, and they broadly fit into two categories:

Advertising to people who are looking for your service;
Advertising to your target audience.

For B2B companies we generally recommend Google Ads and Bing Ads when advertising for potential clients who are searching for your product or service. Facebook and LinkedIn Ads are ideal for bringing your message to your ideal client.

Google Ads and Bing Ads are powerful tools for capturing “high-intent” leads. When someone searches on Google for a specific service or product, your ad will be at the top of the page (see Google Search Engine Results Page Explained). When your ad is formulated correctly, you will capture those leads who are ready to make a purchase and bring them to your website.

Does it work? Absolutely! Advertising income is currently almost 80% of Google’s income (Statista). All those companies wouldn’t advertise on Google if it didn’t work!

The nice thing about online advertising is that you can precisely measure the return on your advertising spend, so you will know whether your advertising is profitable or not.

Online advertising can also be used to leverage the name of a strong competitor. You can target people who are searching for your competitor's brand name and entice them to visit your website instead!

Facebook and LinkedIn Ads - reach your target audience

In the B2B market space, people buy from people, not from companies. Facebook and LinkedIn are great for reaching out to your ideal clients because these platforms know so much about you! You can target your ads to individuals based on their demographics, interests, and behaviours to make sure you reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service.

Advantages and disadvantages of online advertising

The advantage of online advertising is that you can get results quickly at a measurable return. The disadvantage is that in the long run, it’s more expensive than attracting leads to your web presence organically.

Online advertising is a great tool in your digital marketing system to attract leads quickly and at a measurable return on investment. Use Google Ads and Bing Ads to capture demand from people who are already looking for your product or service. Facebook and LinkedIn Ads are great to reach reach out to your target audience.

This completes the digital marketing system for B2B companies. However, this overview wouldn’t be complete without a quick review of analytics.

Analytics - measuring success and refining strategy

One of the main advantages of digital marketing is the ability to measure results in real-time. This allows businesses to see what's working and what's not and adjust strategies accordingly.

It’s important to decide upfront which results you are trying to achieve with digital marketing. What are your business goals, and what results do you expect from digital marketing to achieve those goals. When the goals are defined, then you can select the metrics to measure progress towards these goals.

At its most basic you will want to implement Google Analytics as well as a call-tracking system.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool that helps you understand who visits your website and how they interact with it. It tracks data like the number of visitors, where they come from, and which pages they spend the most time on. It allows you to define the metrics you want to track as conversion events and track them over time. This allows you to make informed decisions about your digital marketing.

Call Tracking

Call tracking lets you see how potential customers find your business phone number. It works by assigning different phone numbers to each of your marketing efforts. For example, you can have a dedicated phone number on your Google Business Profile, another number on your website, and even dedicated numbers on your vehicles. When someone calls a number the tool records which campaign they responded to. With call tracking, you can better understand what attracts your clients.

Implementing Google Analytics and call tracking allowed us to know precisely how much revenue we generate for our client Horton Automatics. Our Digital Marketing Systems delivered 20% annual growth and $1.5M in sales in 2022, with 15x Return on Investment.

Ensuring Delivery of Email to Google and Yahoo Mailboxes

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 01:33:42 GMT

Hardly a day seems to go by without hearing about a new email scam. Even worse, bad actors are using generative AI tools to create ever more convincing emails to trick us into revealing some personal information. Fortunately, technology is also being used to preserve the integrity of email as a means of business communication. New standards and techniques are constantly being developed and implemented to combat the vulnerabilities most often used by hackers.

The latest counterattack on undesirable emails comes from two of the industry’s largest email service providers: Google and Yahoo. Both have announced that they will start rejecting delivery of emails to their users unless those emails conform to best practices. Given their prominence in the field, other vendors are likely to follow suit. Since their requirements simply reflect best practices that have been around for some time, now is the time to ensure that your emails comply with these standards. Otherwise, you could find that your emails are no longer getting to their intended recipients!

Here is what Google and Yahoo now require of incoming emails. Starting in April 2024, a small percentage of non-compliant emails will be rejected, with that percentage increasing over time.

SPF and DKIM, the two foundational forms of email authentication, are now required. Together, they prevent unauthorised parties from sending emails on behalf of a domain they do not own. Sender Policy Framework (SPF) specifies a public list of all the servers that you legitimately send emails from. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) automatically “signs" your emails to prove they are from your organisation.
DNS pointer records (aka PTR or reverse DNS records) are also required. They allow mailbox providers to verify the sender by checking that the sending server’s address matches the email’s “from” address.
Senders must maintain a spam complaint rate below 0.3% in Google Postmaster. You can create a Postmaster account to monitor your email reputation with Google mailboxes. Similar tools exist for other large email providers.

The following two measures are only required for high-volume senders (i.e., more than 5000 emails a day), but they might become mandatory for everyone in the future.

Building on SPF and DKIM, Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) tells a receiving email server what to do when a SPF or DKIM check fails. Your DMARC policy can instruct mail servers to quarantine such emails, to reject them, or to deliver them. The policy can also request reports about which emails are passing and failing these checks so your email administrators can adjust the policies in the future.
Enable one-click unsubscribe. This feature causes the recipient’s email client to insert an “unsubscribe” button next to the “from” address at the top of the email. You must also include a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the message body.

Taking these steps will not only ensure that your emails will continue to be delivered to recipients at GMail and Yahoo Mail. but they will also avoid having your organisation added to a spam blacklist - which can be a real headache to resolve. In short, implementing these email measures will make the Internet a little better for everyone.

What Is Domain Authority and Why Is It Important for My Website?

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:36:16 GMT

Domain authority measures the credibility and trustworthiness of your website, indicating how likely it is to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). It is important for a website's SEO performance because it indicates its overall ranking strength.

Domain authority is mainly based on backlinks, which is a link from another website to your website. It takes not only the number of backlinks into consideration, but also the quality of those backlinks. As you can imagine, if the New York Times refers to your website, then that holds more weight than a backlink from the Burlington Post.

Why is Domain Authority important?

Websites with a higher number of high-quality backlinks are likely to have a higher domain authority, which increases their chances of ranking well in SERPs. Understanding the significance of domain authority can greatly benefit your online presence. A high domain authority means your site is more likely to be seen by users and enjoyed by search engines.

Limitations of Domain Authority

It is important not to look at domain authority only, when you are looking at the strength of your online presence. Other SEO factors like content quality, relevance, and user experience are also very important. Websites with high domain authority but poor content may still struggle to maintain a good online presence. A comprehensive understanding of a website's online presence requires a holistic approach, considering various factors to ensure long-term success in search engine rankings.

How do I find my Domain Authority?

To find your domain authority, you can use free online tools like the Moz Domain Authority Checker . Simply input your website's URL and the tool will calculate your domain authority score.

What should my Domain Authority be?

A good domain authority score largely depends on your industry's competitive landscape. The score itself is less important than the relative score compared to your competitors. Having a higher DA than your competitors will increase your chances of ranking higher in search results and improve your overall visibility online.

Domain Authority (DA) is scored on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a greater ability to rank.

Here are some indicators you can use for your website:

A new website will start at 1
Established websites will have a domain authority of 20 or higher
Large national website will have a DA of 40 or higher
Website like the New York Times, Facebook and Wikipedia have a DA of 90 or higher

How long does it take to build a Domain Authority?

It typically takes at least a few months of consistent, high-quality content creation and link building to see any significant improvement in domain authority. However, to reach a high domain authority score, it can take years of dedicated effort.

Patience and perseverance are key to building domain authority. Focus on creating valuable and relevant content, earning high-quality backlinks from reputable websites, and providing a positive user experience. Over time, these efforts will help improve domain authority and ultimately lead to better search engine rankings and increased visibility.

How to Increase Your Domain Authority

To influence your Domain Authority (DA) score you need to know that it is not directly manipulable because you can't immediately influence the number of links to your website. So changing your DA is making strategy enhancements over time. Here are the most important tactics to improve your website's Domain Authority and ultimately drive more organic traffic to your site.

Create valuable content

Search engines prioritize websites that provide valuable, relevant, and well-organized content. Consistently produce relevant and high-quality content that establishes your website as a trustworthy source in your industry. This helps in attracting organic links and enhancing user engagement.

Create high-quality backlinks

Once you have created shareable and authoritative content, the next step is to reach out to industry influencers and reputable websites in your industry to refer to it. This requires engaging in outreach and relationship building with industry leaders.

Promote your content on other platforms

Promoting your content on other platforms is a great way to increase your domain authority. To do this, identify relevant platforms where your target audience is active, such as social media, forums, or industry-specific websites. Then, share your content on these platforms with a brief but compelling description and a link back to your website.

Optimize your website structure and user experience

Domain Authority can also be improved by optimizing your website structure and user experience:

Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly, as more than 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices.
Streamline your website's navigation to make it easy for users to find the information they are seeking. This can be achieved through clear menu structures and internal linking.
Optimize your website speed by compressing images, using browser caching, and minimizing server response time.

Improve on-page SEO

On-page SEO is crucial for improving your website's visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. Here are some tips to improve your on-page SEO:

Optimize your page titles and meta descriptions with relevant keywords to accurately describe your content.
Use descriptive and SEO-friendly URLs that include target keywords.
Use internal linking to connect related content within your website.
Use descriptive file names and alt tags with relevant keywords for your images.
Use structured schema to provide search engines with additional information about your content.

Email Marketing Strategies for a More Successful Outreach Campaign

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 03:06:26 GMT

Email marketing is one of the most effective promotional methods that can be used to successfully connect and communicate information with new and existing clients.

This form of digital marketing involves sending emails such as newsletters, product or business announcements, promotional sales, useful or educational information and other content you wish to share with your customers.

However, before you decide to send out emails, here are the different types of eCommerce email marketing there is as well as some tips to consider to help you create engaging emails.

Email Marketing Types

Emails are still one of the best channels to use for your business. Here are the different types of marketing emails you can send, along with the pros and cons of each email strategy.

Welcome Email

The welcome email is your first initial contact with a potential customer. This email is meant to introduce your business and get off on a good first impression. You want to show your industry knowledge and expertise and don’t want to get too salesy right off the bat.

Welcome emails are the first steps toward creating a relationship with a potential customer. They create a positive experience, so they will be more receptive to future emails. They also boost metrics. Welcome emails often have much higher open and click-through rates than traditional emails.

Email Newsletter

An email newsletter is often the foundation of a good email marketing strategy. It allows you to nurture your existing contacts while improving customer loyalty and increasing sharing to attract new people. When creating an email newsletter, consider what you are trying to achieve. For example, do you want to drive website traffic to a specific page? Then include the right links and then closely monitor your click-through rates.

A big advantage of an email newsletter is to build brand awareness and customer loyalty and also allows you to repurpose content. However, some newsletters become jumbled with too many CTAs, and the attention of your subscriber might be directed to several places with no real focus. To counter this, consider the layout of your newsletter and make sure you prioritize the right information.

Transactional Newsletter

Transactional emails are triggered by an action your contact has taken. This email helps them complete that intended action. Transactional emails are those that may confirm an order that was just made or provide shipping information for a recent purchase.

Email Marketing Strategies

When coming up with a successful email marketing strategy, you must start by identifying your target audience, building your subscriber list, segmenting that list, creating emails that align with your brand, and then figuring out your goals and how to measure the success of each email marketing strategy you employ.

Here are our tips for more successful email marketing strategies overall.

1. Make Your Email Mobile-Friendly

Everyone has a smartphone, and they are likelier to open their email on their phone rather than on their computer. Before sending out your emails, it is essential to make them mobile-friendly . Ensuring that an email is mobile-friendly will improve its clarity on all devices.

2. Limit the Overuse of Graphics

Consider using larger fonts, smaller images, and a simple one-column layout to make your email mobile-friendly. Avoid overusing graphics and pictures because these can create a confusing design that can make your email appear too cluttered and unclear.

3. Craft Attractive Headers

Aside from the actual content or body of the email, it is essential to create an attractive header. This component of the email holds a very important position, as it indicates where the email is coming from and signifies the email's topic.

Attention grabbing headers have the potential to persuade your readers to click on your email, read its entire contents, and click on your call to action. The result can be a sale or anything that leads the consumer to your website.

4. Avoid Abusing Subject Lines and Optimize Them

Though an email header plays a significant role, so does the subject line. Place relevant words at the beginning but keep it simple, precise, and to the point. Avoid abusing it and overloading it with unnecessary information.

The subject line should be between 50 and 60 characters. Only use actionable and powerful words and set the expectations for the body of the email. It is also a good idea to use subscriber names in the subject line to add more personalization to your email content.

5. Segment Your Email List

The purpose of email marketing is to send emails. However, it is the quality of the emails as well as the frequency that can affect your email list. To avoid seeing a decline in subscribers, which can impact your email marketing campaign, segment your email list.

Performing this action will allow you to send targeted emails to new customers or loyal customers. In addition, segmentation will help to limit the number of emails individuals on your list receive.

Use a sign up form to gather the information you need. Find out what industry or position your subscribers work in, how often they want to receive emails, where they are located, and what of your products or services interest them the most.

6. Reduce the Frequency of Emails

You will likely see fewer "unsubscribe" notifications if you segment your list. People want to feel understood, and so they want the emails they receive to be relevant. They don’t want their inbox overloaded with messages they don’t want to read or aren’t interested in. Sending fewer, well-crafted emails will increase your chances of not only staying out of the “Trash” folder but also being read.

7. Find the Right Time to Send Emails

Considering all the time, effort, and resources spent creating emails, you definitely want it to perform as it should. To achieve a successful email campaign, it is pivotal that you identify the right times for sending emails. By identifying this, you will be able to receive more opens, peruses, and clicks with your email.

According to studies, some of the best times to send emails are between 10 am and 11 am in the morning. However, it depends on your audience and the content you offer.

8. Test Your Emails Before Sending

Additionally, if you are anticipating more clicks or shares with your emails, be sure to test it before you send it. This trial period will allow you to view it before distribution, isolate any issues with links or wording, and correct these errors promptly. Properly functioning emails increase engagement and improve your chances of captivating clients.

A few elements you want to test include your email subject lines, email copy, CTAs, links you include within each email, actually sending the emails, and the type of content you feature. Check each element one at a time and switch things up every once in a while. This means sending a blog post one day and a video series the next.

9. Personalize Like a Friend

When you are writing an email, make it personable. Keep it light and friendly. Greet your readers, and entice them with an inviting subject line and well-written content. Readers love to be welcomed but also intrigued. This stage is where segmenting your email list and sending messages to the right recipients becomes crucial. Friendly yet targeted content will keep readers interested and willing to open and share your emails consistently. Click-to-Tweet.

Again, use subscriber names in the subject line and promote content based on the subscriber’s behaviour. You can also look at their previous purchases and recommend products based on that information. Additionally, abandoned cart notifications can be used to lock in sales and personalized and automated emails can streamline your sales funnel.

10. Don’t Forget the Unsubscribe Button

Although creating warm and friendly emails is important, it is also critical to include an unsubscribe button. This link gives your subscribers the option to remove themselves from the list and gives them a sense of authority, allowing them to choose to continue receiving your emails.

11. Regularly Clean Your Email List

A big issue many digital marketers face has to do with email deliverability and an inactive subscriber. To avoid these issues, you must regularly clean your email subscriber list. Remove email addresses from your contact list that are no longer engaged or who have unsubscribed.

Remember, it is the quality of your email list rather than the quantity. Those who aren’t interested and aren’t removed may end up marking your content as spam.

12. Make Sure to Provide Value

Every email must provide value to your subscribers. This makes it more likely that they will click on, open, and read the emails you send. Think about what your target audience needs and then build your email marketing strategy around those needs or pain points.

To ensure you provide value each time, you can allow new subscribers to select the kind of content they receive when signing up for your email list. You can also survey your customers to see what they are looking for and invite subscribers to respond to your emails with any opinions they may have.

13. Optimize Your Call to Action

The call to action is what really affects your email click-through rates as well as your conversion rates. Weak CTAs result in fewer visitors and less action. Try experimenting with different buttons and text CTAs and see if your writing is compelling enough for people to click on. Start with a strong command or action like purchase or download .

You also want to try to evoke some kind of emotion and give them an incentive to click. For example, offer some kind of short-term promotion or offer they can’t resist. When crafting a CTA, you also need to use specific language. This means giving your readers an idea of what you are sending them.

14. Share User Generated Content

Another powerful tactic when it comes to developing a more than successful email marketing campaign is word-of-mouth marketing. User generated content consists of customer photos, reviews, videos, and personal stories. Adding this user generated content to your emails can enhance your click-through rate significantly.

15. Connect via Social Media

Social media is another powerful and effective email marketing tool. There are various digital marketing channels you can use to interact with your target audience and extend your brand's reach.

When using social media, be sure to include your CTA on your channels, email newsletters, and other email campaigns. You can also share that same content on your social media platforms via a shareable link.

Create your sign up form and then share it on social media. This can grow your target audience across multiple channels. Links in social media welcome emails to your new subscribers are also a good way to engage.

16. Encourage Inactive Subscribers to Engage

It isn’t uncommon for subscribers to disengage from time to time. It may be to your benefit to try to get them engaged once again. Remember, it is more cost-effective to try to keep your existing customer rather than having to find new customers. When trying to re-engage your subscribers, offer something new and exciting.

Use language and offers that are sure to grab their attention. Remind them of your business's value, highlight new content, invite your audience to engage and answer questions, or use a special occasion or holiday to reconnect.

17. Run a Trigger Based Campaign

A trigger-based campaign is simply sending a series of marketing emails based on customers' actions. This is a good way to maintain communication with your subscribers and can be used as an alternative to an email newsletter or new promotional offer. Some triggers to focus on when using this digital marketing tactic are behaviour, demographic, and time-based triggers.

18. Track Your Metrics

Finally, no email marketing campaign will be successful unless you track your metrics and rate your performance. This information helps you improve on future campaigns and can help with your unsubscribe rate, bounce rate, and cart abandonment issues.

What Is a B2B Email Marketing Strategy?

With a B2B email marketing strategy, you send email campaigns to a business rather than an individual buyer. You are essentially engaging sales prospects or B2B buyers through email. This gives you the opportunity to tell them about your products and turn them into qualified leads.

Developing a B2B email marketing strategy is similar to regular email campaigns for your business. You still use email targeting to reach people more effectively, and you also use email segmentation in much the same way.

When targeting customers for a B2B email marketing strategy, however, you are looking at the company’s buying center. This buying center includes initiators, users, buyers, deciders, gatekeepers, and influencers. B2B targets are groups rather than individuals, and each group has a different role you need to target with your marketing email.

Should You Use an Email Template in Marketing?

An email template can prove beneficial as it helps reduce the risk of sending a wrong message or failing to include important information. An email template also means you don’t have to think about the components of each email, like the colour scheme and social media.

Each email is more consistent. Email templates and automation can also help achieve higher email engagement, better conversions, and more revenue.

*If you are uncertain about how to approach eCommerce email marketing, find yourself a team of digital marketing experts. These experienced agencies can help you design and implement an email marketing campaign , and they will ensure it's been carefully crafted and tested to be effective.

Google Search Engine Results Page Explained

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 01:00:00 GMT

The Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) has different sections produced from different data. When users enter a search query into Google, the search engine shows them a SERP. Here is a more detailed look at what these Google search engine results are.

What is a SERP?

SERPs are the pages that a search engine returns after someone submits a search query. SERPs display organic search results and paid searches also known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

Paid results are those you see from the advertisers on Google. These advertisers bid on Google keywords through Google Ads. Google does consider the relevancy of each ad, but the placement of these ads often goes to the advertiser that pays the most.

Organic results, on the other hand, are earned and not paid for. Google’s algorithm decides which results are the best and the most relevant for the search topic.

Google has a ton of other SERP features that appear on the first page of results. Some of the more important ones are described in more detail below.

Breakdown of Google SERPs

The results on the SERPs are based on different ranking signals that determine where the website actually appears.

Paid Search Engine results

Google has an online advertising program known as Google Ads. Advertisers bid to display their shopping ads, service offerings, product listings, images, and video content to online users. Google ads can be placed in the search engine results of Google Search.

The red area is for Google Ads. Paid search results and ads will instantly get you on the first page of Google and drive traffic to your website.

Since advertisers pay for these results, they appear at the top of the search engine results page and are marked with “Ad” in the top left corner of the snippet. A Google ad used to be text-based, but now images can also be incorporated into these Google snippets and are considered a SERP feature.

If the search term is a competitive term that is also high value, Google will also put ads at the bottom of the SERPs as well. When this happens, the organic search results can sometimes get crowded out.

for more information: SEO vs PPC: what is better for your business?

Local Search Engine Results

If the user types in a query that is location based, then the results are based on the user’s geographical location. For example, “car detailers near me.” Local SERPs will pull up the businesses closest to your location that match the search query.

To optimize for local results you want to use Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business. Google Business Profile allows you to create an accurate and updated business listing to support your local search ranking, and it shows users how to visit your business.

To show up here, companies also need to ensure their name, address and phone number are listed correctly in as many relevant directories as possible, for example Yelp and YellowPages.

For more information: Local SEO with Google Business Profile

Organic Search Engine results

The blue area is for the organic search result. Google shows these web pages based on the relevance and quality of the content for the search query typed in by the searcher. An organic Google snippet features the page title or title tag, page URL, and meta description.

To show up in this area on the first Google Search Results Page, companies need to optimize their website for search engine ranking (search engine optimization or SEO).

The ranking signals include backlinks, the keywords used on the page, site loading speed, brand presence, and trust signals.

Being on the first search engine result page of Google takes a consistent and ongoing effort. It typically takes at least 6 to 12 months or even more.

For more information: Search Engine Optimization

What Are SERP Features?

SERP features are not organic. Some SERP features include rich snippets or interactive infographics, featured snippets or direct answers to the query.

Featured Snippet

According to a study by Ahrefs , approximately 12% of SERPs will have a featured snippet. This can include a FAQ, a bulleted or numbered list, or a table that presents valuable data. Other snippets just include text, and Google has also started to add the Video Featured snippets to the search results.

A featured snippet will almost always appear at the top of search results, pushing the organic results further down on the page. Featured snippets, however, provide you with the opportunity for your content to wind up there.

Here is what pulls up on Google SERPs when you use the search term how to write good content .

Rich Snippet

Rich snippets are page listings enriched with more visual and interactive elements that allow them to stand out more. They also have a high click-through-rate because when searching, people tend to click on the snippet that offers them more information. Once the click-through-rate of a rich snippet increases, you will see more traffic.

Knowledge Graph and Knowledge Panel

A knowledge graph or knowledge panel is a Google SERP feature that will show up in the organic results on the right side. This small box usually lists stats or important information about a company or person. A lot of this information comes directly from sources like Wikipedia.

See an example of the knowledge panel that pops up on the SERP when you search what is digital marketing ?

Google Image Results

Google images were first introduced in July of 2001 because of a demand for pictures of the green Versace dress Jennifer Lopez wore in February of 2000. This was when the reverse image search function was also added.

Now, Google will display relevant images related to the search query when they make sense. For example, if you search for green trees , Google will pull up images of green trees for the user to view, as shown in our example below.

How to Increase Google SERP Rank

To increase your Google SERP rank and optimize for visibility, you need to amp up your SEO strategies. We have a few suggestions below for increasing your rank in the search results pages to rise to the ranks you want.

Create High-Quality Content

Content is king . One of the primary ways to drive your search engine rankings is by having a relevant, authoritative, and high-quality content marketing strategy, which is especially true for SEO marketing. Good content can increase site traffic, ultimately improving your site’s relevance, and making it an authority. This is where keyword research takes center stage.

Targeting specific keywords and keyword phrases is the next step toward creating the content you need to rank highly on a results page. Think about how a user will search for different things, and that will help you understand the type of phrases they are using in their search queries. For example, how to apply for scholarships, how to build a shed, or best filter for an aquarium .

When writing the content, repeat the keyword phrase while being authoritative on the subject. The keyword phrase should appear one to two times in the opening and closing paragraphs and two to four more times throughout the rest of the content.

Use site links within the content, linking to relevant sources where the user can find additional information on the subject.

Additionally, use heading tags to highlight keyword phrases. Remember, the page you write is for the user, not the search engine. It needs to be readable and valuable.

Use Google Search Console Tools

Google Search Console tools help you measure the traffic and performance of your website so you can fix any issues there may be and make your site rank higher in Google search results. With Google Search Console, you can check indexing status, search queries, and crawling errors.

Local SEO with Google Business Profile

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

If you want your business to stand out, even if you don’t have a website running yet, and you want more traffic to your business through online leads, then it is important to learn two things: What is Local SEO , and What is Google My Business ?

With these answers, you can see how they can help your business achieve a higher conversion rate from people specifically searching for products or services the business offers.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the process you use to optimize your online presence, find local keywords, and create locally relevant content. If your business has a physical location or serves a specific geographical area, then you can benefit from the best SEO practices and local SEO.

Did you know that more than 30% of Google searches are actually related to a specific location? That comes down to billions of searches daily. So, the best way to get your business seen and at the forefront of these searches is by utilizing local SEO.

How Does Local SEO Work?

To learn how best to use local SEO in your favour, you must first learn how it works. The local search algorithm on Google uses different local SEO ranking factors to find the best match for the search query: Relevance, Distance, and Prominence.

It then uses these local SEO ranking factors to display the local search results. A local pack is a search result that includes Google Maps and Google Business Profiles. These are considered organic results. You will know these results as they are those in the blue links you typically see after a Google search.

It also shows a Google Map at the top showing the business listing and its location on the map pack. Underneath the local pack, you will find the typical Google search results or regular organic search results. However, these results do not include the keyword phrase near me .

Google Local or Google+Local was developed from Google Places. It is a Google service that allows a company to be present in a Google Map search. The entries are usually automated by Google but can also be created and then managed by the company through the Google Places Business Center.

Local SEO Ranking Factors

Google’s algorithm typically uses over 200 ranking factors, making it difficult for businesses to know exactly where their marketing efforts and local SEO services should be focused. Here are a few things you should know regarding local SEO ranking factors.

Local Pack vs Local Organic Results

A local pack result is the Google Map result at the top of search terms with local intent. They usually have the words near me in the keyword phrase. Local organic search results pop up under the Google map result. Google weighs these ranking factors based on the search query.

7 Most Important Local Pack Ranking Factors

Google Business Profile
Reviews
Website
Backlinks
Behavioral
Citations
Personalization

7 Most Important Local Organic Ranking Factors

Website
Backlinks
Behavioral
Citations
Personalization
Google Business Profile
Reviews

Let’s break each of these down and then will go into even more detail further down in our article.

Google Business Profile

This is one of the primary components of SEO success for any business that uses local SEO. The biggest factors affecting your ranking on your Google Business Profile are your business title, categories, website URL, proximity to the searcher, and listing completeness.

Reviews

Google uses online reviews to weigh the trust of a business. More reviews will naturally lead to more rankings and website traffic. Google will also look for specific keywords written in online reviews and use these as a ranking factor. Additionally, a text-based review will carry much more weight than a star-based review with no text.

Website SEO

Regarding website SEO, there are many ranking factors to consider, including domain and business page authority, NAP (name, address, and phone number) presence, and technical and on-page optimization.

Backlinks

Google uses backlinks to vote on different pages. If you have more votes or links, you will have higher rankings in Google. Google uses these factors to assess the value of a backlink: editorial placement, the number of inbound links, the authority of the linking domain or page, bad sites that could harm your site, anchor text, link diversity, and link relevance.

Local Citation

A local citation is a mention of your local business online on other websites that include your name, address, and phone number. Google will check each local citation reference for accuracy.

Personalization

Finally, personalization is something Google is placing more emphasis on these days. As a whole, though, this ranks lower in local SEO strategy. However, to take advantage of what it offers, just make sure your website runs well on a variety of different browsers. Personalization is really limited to the location and device the user has.

User Behavior

When it comes to behavioural factors and local SEO marketing efforts, it all comes down to how people searching are interacting with your business listing.

So, you want to work on improving dwell time (the amount of time a user spends on your listing or page), clicks-to-call (how many are clicking on your call button), clicks for directions (how many times people hit directions on your business listing to find you), and clicks to site (how many people visit your website.) All of these user behaviours can increase your local results and SEO rankings.

Finding Keywords for Local SEO

When conducting keyword research for local search engine optimization, you are on the hunt for phrases that people use when searching for products or services locally. Ranking for these specific keywords in your local area helps drive highly-targeted traffic to the website, increasing your potential customer base.

Research Competitors

It is always beneficial to see what your competitors are up to. If you see that your competitors are targeting certain keyword phrases, they will probably prove relevant to your business. When researching competitors, see how their websites are structured and if the content is high-quality.

Consider Using Google Autocomplete

Google Autocomplete is a feature within Google Search. It can save an internet user time by predicting what the search query is going to be. Google Autocomplete is also an opportunity to find long tail keywords that will prove to be valuable for local SEO.

Use Google Keyword Planner

Google then suggests various keywords you should use based on the terms that appear on the page. You can do this for each competitor site you can find. It provides search volume data for local SEO.

What Is a Google My Business Profile?

Google My Business , now known as Google Business Profile, is a free service offered by Google that allows you to present business information on the Google Search Engine Results Pages.

A Google My Business account allows you to manage your business name, address and phone number, set opening hours, add photos and manage customer reviews that are left behind. You can even publish a link on your Google My Business page to book appointments.

It is particularly important for businesses that provide products or services in their local community. In fact, according to Moz Local Search Ranking Factors Survey , Google My Business is the biggest driver of local SEO success.

You can find the Google Business Profile information by searching for the name of your company and the city or town you’re located in.

How to Set up a Google Business Profile

If you’re just getting started with your business, then setting up a Google Business Profile is easy. You do it from the Google Business Profile page. Follow the instructions to set up an account and claim your business.

Google will send a postcard to verify that the address is correct. After verification, you can manage the information in your account and get regular statistics sent from Google to show how many people searched your company, clicked for directions etc.

Claim an Existing Google Business Profile

For most companies, however, a Google Business Profile will already exist. It may have been set up in one of the predecessors of Google, such as Google Places. Also, Google is constantly looking for information on the internet to present to its users, so chances are that your business already has an account.

Just search for the business name and the city or town you’re located in, and you’ll find the business information next to the search results.

If your company has already claimed the account, you may be able to log into the account. If someone else has claimed the account, then you’ll need to take steps to claim it back. Google has provided extensive help pages for that. You can find the relevant information under “fix issue.” Alternatively, you can use Google’s phone support to quickly solve the problem.

In many cases, the account will not have been claimed yet. You will see the message “Own this business?” Simply click on the link and follow the steps to claim the account for your business.

Duplicate Listings

Sometimes you’ll find that your business has duplicate listings. It’s important to remove duplicate listings and ensure that there is just one with the correct information about your company. Here is Google’s help page for duplicate listings .

Editing Your Google Business Profile Listing

You can change the information when you have established access to your listing. The best way to do this is to open Chrome, sign in to your Google Account using your Gmail address and password, then click on the Google Apps square.

Then scroll down to “My Business” (you may need to click “More” if it’s not in the list)

You’ll now see a dashboard allowing you to edit all listing elements. Below you see the example for Mawazo Marketing in Burlington:

Name, Address, and Phone Number

Getting your company's name, address, and phone number correctly represented on Google is the most important step you can take to establish a local online presence for your company.

Make sure this information is 100% correct and spelled exactly the same as on your website and anywhere else on the internet (e.g. on your Facebook profile, directories such as YellowPages and Yelp, etc.).

Optimizing Your Google Business Profile

The next step is to optimize your listing. Your company must be correctly represented on Google, and Google offers a lot of functionality to do just that:

Make sure you complete every section in your Google Business Profile account. Write a complete description, be more meticulous about the contact information you include, and answer any questions.

Make sure the business category you are listed under is as specific as possible. For example, should your business be listed as “accountant,” “accounting firm,” “auditor,” or “chartered accountant”? You can list a primary business category and several additional categories.

Add relevant images of your company, products and services, events etc.

Check your opening hours and make sure they are correct. Add special opening hours, e.g. during vacation periods or public holidays.

Create posts on your listing, e.g. to announce new products, events, workshops etc. This feature gives you a good opportunity for additional free marketing for your company!

Messaging allows you to publish a mobile phone number that can receive an SMS to communicate with your clients

The appointment URL allows your visitors to book an appointment in your system.

Online Reviews

The online Reviews menu allows you to reply to reviews that your customers have put on Google for your business. It also lets you flag individual online reviews as ‘inappropriate,’ but make sure you do this according to guidelines for inappropriate reviews.

Insights

Insights give you statistics and useful information on how your visitors engage with your listing content and how that compares to your competition.

As you can see, optimizing your Google My Business profile listing isn’t very complex, but it can be time-consuming. It may simply not be the best use of your time. Let us know if you’re interested in having your listing set up for you.

Why You Need to Optimize Your Google Business Profile

To get ahead of your competitors and achieve more effective local marketing strategies, you want to follow our steps above to optimize your Google Business Profile.

Engagement: Zero-click searches are becoming more common because people visiting Google find the information they need within the search results pages without clicking on anything. So, more people are interacting with a Google Business Profile than the website, so you want to ensure everything is optimized for better engagement and conversions.

Boost Local Ranking: The algorithm Google uses considers location as well as the quality of the information. When you optimize your profile, you are sending signals to Google that will rank you higher in local search results. This means improved engagement as well as visibility.

More Conversions: A Google Business Profile alone isn’t enough for acquiring new customers. When people search, they want to see reviews and where your business is located. When the account is optimized, you can be discovered using keyword searches. You can then use Google Analytics to track website clicks, appointments, and more.

Is a Google Business Profile Worth the Effort for Local SEO?

Creating a listing with Google is a good way to help you show up in more local searches. It boosts local SEO efforts and earns more traffic, phone calls, and website visits. Local SEO services can grow your online presence.

Who can benefit from local SEO? a small business with just one physical location can benefit just as much from local SEO services as a larger company does. Just make sure you create online authority and maintain all the local SEO techniques we have discussed.

At Mawazo Marketing are happy to help small and medium-sized businesses in Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, and surrounding towns optimize their web presence. Just email thomas@mawazo.ca or call us at +1 (888) 612 4356.

How to Drive Digital Transformation in Your B2B Business

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 17:04:32 GMT

Digital transformation is not just a buzzword. It's a necessity for B2B businesses to stay competitive in today's digital age. But how do you drive digital transformation in your B2B business? This blog post will explore strategies and tips to help you successfully navigate the complex digital transformation process.

Gone are the days when digital transformation was a choice. For B2B companies looking to excel, it's become a must-do. It's about integrating technology to streamline your processes and enhance your services. This article will walk you through essential strategies to help your business survive and thrive.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation refers to integrating digital technologies into all aspects of a business, fundamentally changing how it operates and delivers value to its customers. It involves leveraging technology to improve efficiency, productivity, customer experience, and overall business performance.

Digital transformation involves reimagining the business and adopting digital technologies to enhance efficiency and provide greater customer value. It is an ongoing process that requires constant attention to keep pace with the ever-changing digital landscape.

Why is digital transformation necessary for B2B field service companies?

Digital transformation can significantly impact B2B field service companies. Here are some key reasons why digital transformation is essential in this industry:

1. Increased productivity is one of the main benefits of utilizing digital tools and technologies. For example, automating the scheduling and dispatching of field service technicians will reduce errors, improve response times, and boost productivity.

Web Platform and App to Manage Crossing Guards

For our client ASP Security we developed a web platform and app to manage crossing guards in the Toronto school district which dramatically improved efficiency and reduced operational cost.

2. Enhanced customer experience : Digital transformation helps B2B field service companies to provide better customer service. By offering real-time updates and self-service portals you can empower customers to request service, track progress, and provide feedback quickly.

3. Cost savings : Digital transformation can help B2B field service companies optimize operations and reduce costs. By optimizing technician routes and resource allocation, for example, you can reduce lower fuel and maintenance costs and reduce travel times. Another example is the integration of your web presence with your internal business systems, which results in substantial improvements in efficiency and reduction of cost.

Warehouse Management, eCommerce & Bookkeeping

For our client Das Parts we developed a warehouse management system and eCommerce website and integrated it with their bookkeeping system. This dramatically improved efficiency of operations.

4. Better decision-making : Digital transformation enables B2B field service companies to collect and analyze data from various sources, such as customer feedback, equipment sensors, and historical service records. This data can inform decisions on predictive maintenance and improving operational efficiency.

Digital transformation is important for B2B field service companies to remain competitive, enhance operational efficiency, and offer a superior customer experience. Adopting digital tools and technologies can improve productivity, save cost and help companies to adapt and grow in a rapidly changing digital environment.

Digital transformation changes how companies create value

Digital transformation is more than just adopting new technologies or implementing digital tools. It is about fundamentally changing how companies create value and deliver it to their customers.

Another essential aspect of digital transformation is process optimization. Businesses can improve efficiency and reduce costs by automating manual and repetitive tasks, freeing up time to focus on more strategic initiatives and innovation.

Furthermore, digital transformation enables businesses to expand their reach and tap into new markets. Businesses can reach a global audience and increase their customer base by leveraging digital channels such as social media, e-commerce platforms, and online marketplaces.

The essential components of digital transformation

Digital transformation is a comprehensive process that involves various components. Here are some essential components to consider when driving digital transformation in your B2B business:

Technology adoption: Embracing technology is crucial for digital transformation. Assess your current digital technology infrastructure and identify areas where new tools and systems can improve efficiency, productivity, and customer experience. This may include adopting cloud computing, implementing customer relationship management (CRM) software, or utilizing data analytics tools.

Business Process Optimization: By automating and refining your processes, you can cut down on tedious tasks and focus on what truly matters. This can involve implementing digital workflows, eliminating paper-based processes, and using software solutions to automate repetitive tasks.

Customer-centric approach: Digital transformation should revolve around delivering exceptional customer experiences. Understand your customers' needs and preferences, and tailor your products, services, and communication strategies accordingly. Use technology to personalize customer interactions, provide self-service options, and offer seamless omnichannel experiences.

Data-driven decision-making: Leveraging data and analytics is essential for making informed decisions in the digital age. Collect and analyze data from various sources to gain insights into customer behaviour, market trends, and business performance. Use these insights to drive strategic decision-making and improve business outcomes.

Organizational culture and talent development: Digital transformation requires a shift in mindset and a culture of innovation and agility. Encourage a culture that embraces change, encourages experimentation, and values continuous learning. Invest in training and upskilling your workforce to ensure they have digital skills and knowledge to drive transformation.

Remember, digital transformation is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Continuously monitor and adapt your digital transformation initiative to stay ahead of changing market dynamics and customer expectations. Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation to drive long-term success in the digital era.

How do I start with a digital business transformation for my company?

Digital transformation can seem daunting, especially for traditional B2B businesses. However, with the right approach and strategy, you can successfully navigate the process. Here are some steps to get started:

1. Define your vision and goals: Before embarking on a digital transformation journey, it's crucial to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and set specific goals. It will help guide your strategy and ensure everyone in your organization is aligned.

2. Assess your current state: Closely examine your existing systems, processes, and technologies. Identify areas that need improvement and determine how digital solutions can address these challenges. This assessment will serve as a baseline for measuring progress throughout the transformation process.

3. Develop a roadmap: Create a detailed roadmap that outlines the steps and milestones needed to achieve your digital transformation goals. Break down the transformation into manageable phases, prioritizing initiatives based on their impact and feasibility.

4. Build a digital culture: Digital transformation is not just about implementing new technologies; it's also about fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration. Encourage employees to embrace change, provide training and support, and create an environment that values experimentation and learning.

5. Invest in the right technologies: Identify the technologies and tools for digital transformation. This may include cloud computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence, or automation solutions. Evaluate different vendors and choose the ones that align with your goals and budget.

6. Implement and integrate: Once you've selected the technologies, it's time to implement them. Start with small pilot projects to test the waters before scaling up. Ensure proper integration with existing systems and processes to maximize efficiency and avoid disruptions.

7. Monitor and measure results: Continuously monitor the progress of your digital transformation initiatives and measure their impact on key performance indicators (KPIs). Use data and analytics to gain insights and make data-driven decisions. Adjust your strategy as needed based on the results.

8. Foster innovation and continuous improvement: Digital transformation is an ongoing process, not a one-time project. Encourage innovation and continuous improvement by fostering a culture of experimentation and learning. Stay updated on emerging technologies and industry trends to stay ahead of the competition.

By following these steps and staying committed to the journey, you can successfully drive digital transformation in your B2B business and stay competitive in the digital age.

Challenges and Solutions

Driving digital transformation in a B2B business comes with its fair share of challenges. Here are some common obstacles you may encounter and strategies to overcome them:

1. Resistance to Change: One of the biggest challenges in implementing digital transformation is resistance from employees and stakeholders. Many people are comfortable with traditional processes and may hesitate to embrace new technologies.

Solution: To address resistance, it's crucial to communicate the benefits and value of digital transformation. Show how it can improve efficiency, productivity, and customer experience. Provide training and support to ensure employees have the necessary skills to adapt to digital tools and processes.

2. Legacy Systems and Infrastructure: B2B businesses often have outdated systems and infrastructure that may not be compatible with new digital solutions. Integrating these legacy systems with modern technologies can be complex and time-consuming.

Solution: Conduct a thorough assessment of your existing systems and identify areas that need upgrading or replacing. Develop a roadmap for gradually integrating new technologies while minimizing disruption to daily operations. Consider working with experienced IT consultants or vendors to ensure a smooth transition.

3. Data Security and Privacy: Data security and privacy become paramount concerns with the increasing use of digital tools. B2B businesses handle sensitive customer and company information, and any data breaches can have severe consequences.

Solution: Implement robust cybersecurity measures to protect your data and systems. This includes encryption, strong access controls, regular security audits, and employee training on best practices for data protection. Comply with relevant data protection regulations, such as GDPR, to maintain customer trust and avoid legal penalties.

4. Lack of Digital Skills: Digital transformation requires a workforce with the necessary skills to leverage digital technology. However, many B2B businesses lack data analytics, artificial intelligence, or digital marketing expertise.

Solution: Invest in training and upskilling programs to build a digitally competent workforce. Offer opportunities for employees to learn new skills through workshops, online courses, or certifications. Consider hiring external experts or partnering with digital agencies to fill skill gaps and accelerate the transformation process.

5. Change Management: Successfully implementing digital transformation requires effective change management practices. Employees may resist or struggle to adapt to the new digital initiatives without proper planning and communication.

Solution: Develop a comprehensive change management strategy with clear goals, milestones, and timelines. Communicate the purpose and benefits of digital transformation to employees at all levels. Involve them in decision-making and provide ongoing support and feedback channels to address concerns and make necessary adjustments.

Driving digital transformation in a B2B business is a complex and ongoing process. By recognizing and addressing these challenges head-on, you can pave the way for a successful digital transformation journey and position your business for long-term growth and success in the digital age.

How to get your team involved in the process

Digital transformation is not a one-person job; it requires the involvement and commitment of your entire team. Here are some strategies to get your team on board and actively engaged in the digital transformation process:

1. Communicate the vision: Create a digital transformation strategy and communicate the benefits of digital transformation to your team. Help them understand how it can improve their work and customer experience, and help grow the business. Paint a compelling picture of the future and inspire them to be a part of it.

2. Provide training and resources: Equip your team with the necessary skills and knowledge to embrace digital technologies and tools. Offer training programs, workshops, and resources to help them build their digital capabilities. This will empower them to contribute effectively to the digital transformation journey.

3. Foster a culture of innovation: Create an environment that encourages innovation and experimentation. Encourage your team to think outside the box, challenge the status quo, and develop creative solutions to business challenges. Recognize and reward innovative ideas and initiatives to motivate your team members.

4. Collaborate across departments: Break down silos and encourage collaboration between different departments and teams. Digital transformation often requires cross-functional efforts, impacting various aspects of the business. Foster a culture of collaboration, where teams work together towards common goals and share knowledge and resources.

5. Lead by example: As a leader, it's crucial to walk the talk and set an example for your team. Embrace digital technologies yourself and showcase how they can be integrated into daily work routines. Demonstrate your commitment to digital transformation by actively participating in relevant projects and initiatives.

6. Seek feedback and involve your team in decision-making. This will make them feel valued and engaged, and their perspectives can bring valuable insights. Encourage open and transparent communication, where everyone's opinions are respected and considered.

Getting your team involved and invested in the digital transformation process will drive better results and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Remember, digital transformation is a journey, and a supportive and engaged team is crucial for success.

Metrics for Success

When driving digital transformation in your B2B business, it's essential to have metrics in place to measure your progress and evaluate the success of your efforts. Here are a few key metrics to consider:

1. Revenue growth: One of the primary goals of digital transformation is to drive revenue growth. Monitor your revenue numbers and track how they change over time as you implement digital strategies. This metric will help you assess the impact of your digital transformation efforts on your bottom line.

2. Cost savings: Digital transformation can lead to cost savings by streamlining processes, reducing manual work, and optimizing resource allocation. Track your cost savings over time to determine the financial impact of your digital initiatives.

3. Customer satisfaction: In the digital age, customer expectations are higher than ever. Measure customer satisfaction through surveys, feedback forms, and online reviews. By focusing on improving customer satisfaction, you can enhance the overall customer experience and build stronger relationships with your clients.

4. Employee engagement: Digital transformation often involves changes in workflows, processes, and technologies, which can impact employee morale and engagement. Regularly measure employee satisfaction and engagement levels to ensure your digital transformation initiatives positively impact your workforce.

5. Digital presence: Assess your online presence and visibility by monitoring metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and search engine rankings. A strong digital presence is crucial for attracting new customers and staying ahead of the competition.

By tracking these metrics and regularly evaluating your progress, you can identify areas for improvement and continuously drive digital transformation in your B2B business. Remember, digital transformation is an ongoing process, and adapting and evolving as technology and customer expectations change is essential.

Conclusion

In conclusion, driving digital transformation in your B2B business is essential for staying competitive in today's digital age. You can successfully navigate the digital transformation journey by embracing new technologies, adopting a customer-centric approach, and investing in employee training. Remember, it's about implementing new tools and systems and creating a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. So, start small, set clear goals, and measure your progress. With the right strategy and mindset, you can drive digital transformation and position your B2B business for long-term success.

Are you ready to start your digital transformation journey? Contact us today for a free consultation.

Door Services Corporation: Multiple Brand Experiences in a Single Website

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 20:20:47 GMT

Website branding and content is presented based on the visitor’s location.

About Door Services Corporation

Door Services Corporation is a Horton Automatics company, which has become an industry leader in automated door service and installation. Over 50 years in the business, they have expanded throughout Eastern USA and Southern Ontario, Canada.

The Challenge

Door Services expanded its market through acquisitions, which led to 12 local brands with their own strong local brand recognition. For several years, Mawazo worked with Door Services to maintain the websites and digital assets of these brands, with great success (see Case Study for the digital marketing of Horton Automatics of Ontario ).

Moving to a single brand, however, had the potential of strengthening the Door Services Corporation online presence, and at the same time reduce cost. The same investments made to a single brand would have generated even better results.

www.doorservicescorporation.com

Engagement Details

Mawazo engaged with the leadership of Door Services to agree on an approach that would cater to the needs of local brands, while strengthening the Door Services brand, generate qualified leads from the website, and improve efficiency and effectiveness of the online presence.

Location-Based Experiences

Website visitors who are new to the site are asked for their location. Based on a calculation between the visitor’s location coordinates and all Door Services locations, we show the website in the branding of the closest location. If Door Services does not service the area, we direct them to the website of the parent company to find another service provider.

Multiple Paths for “Consideration”

Within the marketing funnel, the website user experience has been designed to keep visitors engaged with content that encourages consideration. Visitors can enter the path to action by learning about Door Services in their industry or by browsing product categories. All pages lead to a Call-to-Action, which is to either provide their contact details to download helpful information or fill in a form to contact a sales or service representative.

Integration with Business CRM

All website forms are integrated with the internal CRM for seamless lead interaction from website to email marketing. Website form submissions include details on the brand the visitor viewed and the page from which they filled out the form. This informs the Door Services sales team of the interest of the prospective customer.

Search Engine Optimization

To ensure that Google does not consider multiple brand experiences of identical content as duplicates, the website is optimized for the parent brand only. Therefore ongoing SEO efforts are not diluted across multiple brands, but rather all brands are benefiting from focussed optimization of a single brand.

The Result

The successful launch of the new website for Door Services Corporation stands as a testament to the preparation and strategic execution used during the transition. We established a comprehensive approach to seamlessly migrate the content and historical SEO efforts of the previous websites to create a smooth and efficient transfer of their online presence. By following our process, we not only retained the value of past SEO activities but even improved our position on the competitive landscape.

This can be well illustrated by comparing our competitive position on the date of launch, to our position just over one month later. To begin we were ranking for a small number of keywords with a low average position, and in a short period of time we have been able to surpass other national brands for the number of keywords and our significantly higher average position.

Competitive position on 10 October

Competitive position on 16 November:

Within a remarkably short timeframe of 30 days post-launch, the new website demonstrated remarkable performance by securing page-one rankings for 21 keywords. The quick results achieved are a testament to the successful synergy between planning, execution, and a forward-thinking SEO approach, helping drive the Door Services Corporation towards their long-term online success.

Keyword ranking on 16 November vs 10 October:

Testimonial

I am very pleased with the new website and appreciate all of the hard work that Mawazo has put into this project. I would recommend the Mawazo group to companies considering building a new website. They are a pleasure to work with and are extremely knowledgeable in effective web design and SEO strategies.

Krista Rivers

Associate Brand Manager

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 3 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Lift & Shift Inc: Outsmarting a Much Larger Competitor Online

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 22:21:52 GMT

Our Digital Marketing System delivers 1,900 goal completion per year and helps our client outpace competitors

About Lift & Shift

Lift & Shift Inc is a B2B Reward Program specialist that works with large and medium-sized B2B companies who want to grow. They help their clients with custom-built performance-based reward programs which incrementally increase revenue and profit margin at a cost of less than 4% of revenue.

Unlike traditional rebate programs, Lift & Shift offers a measurable increase in sales and profit without any effort from the sales team, and only get paid based on the results delivered.

The Problem

Lift & Shift competes with companies which are substantially bigger. As a relative newcomer in the industry of B2B loyalty programs they needed a website and digital marketing strategy to quickly establish and grow their online presence.

www.lift-and-shift.com

Engagement Details

Together with the team at Lift & Shift we created a Digital Marketing Strategy. We identified and clearly defined the Ideal Client and their needs. Unique Selling Propositions were defined based on competitive research and client interviews. A brand narrative was created, and used to create the core website content.

We then created a website on the Duda platform and a Digital Marketing System to continuously optimize and enhance the web presence of Lift & Shift. It includes:

Content marketing
Search engine optimization
Social media
Online advertising

ROI Calculator

A custom Return on Investment Calculator assists potential clients assessing the ROI of a custom B2B Loyalty Programme by Lift & Shift. We created the algorithm behind the calculator based on the experience the company has gained from their clients over the years.

Sales Intelligence

Our Sales Intelligence platform provides the Lift & Shift sales team with the following functionality:

Call tracking and recording of phone calls to the various platforms (website, Google Business Profile, Bing Ads etc.)
Tracking of anonymous visitors to the website generating information based on their IP address
Connecting website activity with CRM and email marketing platform for visibility on lead activity
“Who’s Shopping” functionality: creating lead lists of people looking for a loyalty programme based on their online activity
Contact lookup functionality to generate lists for cold outreach based on industry, company size, location and job function.

The Result

Over a period of 3 years, from October 2019 to October 2022, we grew traffic to the website by more than 650%:

Google ranking for selected search terms improved dramatically both in the USA and in Canada:

USA

Canada

Lift & Shift has bypassed its main (and much larger) competitor Incentive Solutions:

Over the past 12 months, the competitive position of the Lift & Shift web presence has resulted in almost 1,900 goal completions:

Testimonial from Graham Farrell, CEO, Lift and Shift

We began working with Mawazo in February in an effort to beef up our online presence; we were very impressed with how they approached our digital marketing strategy, starting with a competitive review of our industry, an exhaustive key word search, then the development of buyer personas to help focus our efforts. We saw immediate results. Would highly recommend.

Graham Farrell, CEO

Lift and Shift

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 3 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Canada Takes on Tech Giants in a Battle For Content Revenue

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 20:10:39 GMT

The battle over who financially benefits from news content that is available on Google and Facebook affects us all. Do we want tech giants to decide which news we are provided based on their business objectives rather than what is currently happening in the world?

Let's start with why this issue exists:

Google Provides Answers to our Searches Directly Within Search Results

Have you noticed that when you are doing a quick search on Google for a name, a definition, or a flight, you don’t leave Google at all because you already have what you need? Google has become so good at compiling data from website content creators that the content that appears within the search result is often enough.

Well, this content belongs to other content creators , which could include you.

For example, when you are watching a show or a movie, doing a quick look-up of the actor is answered right in Google:

Or checking on when a flight comes in so you can time your trip to the airport well:

Google Optimizes Search Results Based on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Efforts

Google uses more than 200 factors that decide the ranking of content in their search results. It “scrapes the internet” for this content by sending out web crawlers. These crawlers hit a single webpage in varying frequency, ranging from a few days to a few weeks.

In addition, Google has specific requirements of websites that will help them rank higher in search results (SEO). Digital marketing agencies like Mawazo Marketing constantly optimize websites for ongoing improvement to search ranking. Part of this effort includes focusing content on specific keyword phrases and providing details to Google on the context and structure of content in order for this content to appear in a specific format.

For example, many questions asked in Google searches are answered within the “People also ask” section of the Google search results page. Google understands this content to be FAQs on your website because Structured Data codes are used in the backend:

Why Does it Matter as Long as Your Content is Found?

The main goal for having your content found on Google is to drive traffic to your website to meet your business goals. These goals could be selling products, adding contacts to a mailing list, generating traffic for advertising revenue, etc.

New Paragraph

This is of the utmost importance for news agencies, as their entire business is their content.

News is Consumed as "Tiny Bites"

News is now consumed in “tiny bites”, where we scroll through headlines and subtexts to get our fill of current events. These tiny bites are readily available on Google and social media feeds, which means that people are not clicking through from search results or social feeds to the full article. News content creators do not benefit in gaining traffic to their website from this content, and in turn are unable to generate an income from website visitors, whether from advertising, subscription or other revenue models.

For the example below, for many people it is enough to learn about current events by simply scanning the headlines and subtexts:

Canada’s Battle with Google is Important

The world is watching — Though Canada is not the first to go up against Google on compensation for content ( Google Is Suddenly Paying for News in Australia. What About Everywhere Else? NY Times | Nov 16, 2021 ), the new law, Online News Act (Bill C-18), could become a model for other countries around the world.

“The Online News Act requires both companies [Google and Facebook] to enter into agreements with news publishers to pay them for news content that appears on their sites if it helps them generate money.” - CTV News

Negotiations between Google and the Canadian government continue, and it is expected that an agreement will be in place before the law takes effect at the end of this year. If not, Canadian news links will no longer appear in Google search results. News about Canada would only appear if coming from international news agencies.

Some Canadians are Already Banned from Canadian News Content on Google

Until an agreement is reached, there are currently 4-5% of Canadians that are already experiencing this ban on Canadian news content, and may not even know it. Google has indicated that they are testing their approach to banning the links. One would question whether this is a test or a method of intimidation…

Meta Is Taking a Stronger Stance Against the Canadian Law

Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and their recently launched Twitter-like platform "Threads". The Canadian government is in a similar battle with Meta over financially compensating Canadian news organizations for their content, however Meta is currently refusing to negotiate at all.

In retaliation, the government has halted all advertising on Meta platforms, which would normally be a budget of approximately $10 million per year. Some news agencies have also halted advertising, such as Quebecor and Cogeco.

Avoid Passive Consumption of Online Content

Tech giants are attempting to take control over what we see and when. This means that we only know what they want us to know, unless we take control over how we inform ourselves. Passive consumption of information is dangerous - actively pursue credible sources of information.

Best Practices for LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook for B2B Service Companies

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:50:04 GMT

When utilizing sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, be sure to keep things professional, informative, fact-based , and unique.

Are you a B2B business owner looking for an affordable way to build your list of customers and increase your sales? If the answer is yes, you should consider using social media marketing to reach out to potential customers.

Platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are excellent ways to build your brand awareness and drive traffic to your company website if you do it the right way.

Let’s look at some of the best practices to try when utilizing social media for your B2B content marketing strategy.

B2B Social Media Content Marketing

B2B businesses are always looking for great ways to market their products to reach a broader audience and increase sales. One of the best ways to promote your products and services today is through social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

When done right, the use of social media platforms offer an efficient and affordable way to generate leads and increase traffic to their websites.

“Some of the key B2B marketing strategies that companies use today are creating social media content (95%), creating blog posts or short articles (89%), sending email newsletters (81%), organizing in-person events (73%), publishing videos (71%).”

(Content Marketing Institute, 2020)

The Best Practices for B2B Services Companies on Social Media

There are many ways B2B services companies can utilize social media to better their businesses. The best approach to generate leads, increase B2B sales, and build an audience is to start with a social media strategy, and answers to the following questions:

1. Choose the Right Platform

Many people believe that the more platforms you market on, the better. However, that isn’t necessarily true, especially where it comes to B2B business. The question is which social media platform your target audience tends to visit the most. For our clients we generally use:

LinkedIn : One of the most useful social media pages for B2B services is LinkedIn. This platform offers companies a library of target-based parameters to explore when creating a B2B marketing strategy.
Facebook : Facebook is a valuable resource for many. It’s the original social media platform and has the largest number of subscribers, with many of your potential customers scrolling through their newsfeeds.
Twitter: You will see many B2B companies marketing on Twitter. This popular microblogging space allows companies to filter through potential customers while making their presence known for free.

These three platforms could be all you need to increase revenue and potential collaborations with other companies. For many companies just one or two of them would be sufficient.

2. Share Relevant Content Selected for Your Targeted Audience

Once you know which platforms you want to use, it is time to create content. However, even the most professional, well-thought-out, and creative posts won’t gain any traction if they aren’t attractive to your audience.

To develop a connection with your target audience, build trust, and bring brand awareness, you’ll need to create content which is relevant to their business.

Know your audience : Who are they? What questions are they asking? What solutions are they looking for?
Be detail oriented: Choose your targeted audience wisely. Research who would benefit most from your services and base your campaign on their needs.
Organic or paid: Decide whether your content will be organic or paid for, then decide how to customize it for the audience you are seeking.
Stay relevant : Stay relevant in your niche and keep up with your audience and what they like or dislike. Changes happen often, and you don’t want to fall behind the latest trends.

3. Post at the Perfect Time

When you put up a post, everyone can see it, right? Technically, yes, if they wanted to scroll through your page or travel back in time in their feed. But your content is only helpful if your consumers can see it. If you aren’t posting at peak times, you are losing many possible customers.

Statistics show that the best times to post for B2B business are:

LinkedIn : Wednesday from 8–10 am, Thursday at 9 am and 1–2 pm, and Friday at 9 am (Check LinkedIn analytics for your exact peak time frame)
Facebook : Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 3-4 pm
Twitter: 9 am-4 pm Monday through Thursday (peak time 11 am-1 pm)

One of the best times to post your content is when consumers are on lunch or before and after work. These windows of time are typically when people scroll through their phones and check their social media news feeds.

4. Be Creative and Unique

While you want to be professional and informative, you should also take the time to decide what will help you stand out from your competitors. Although the cookie-cutter approach might seem safe and effective, strategizing a marketing plan that goes above and beyond will ensure you stand center stage.

Choose a relevant theme and stick with it consistently throughout all your content and social media pages.

Unify your content and design with your website : Don’t mix and match your style and branding theme. That can confuse customers and won’t be helpful when connecting them to your service page.
Stay current on relevant and popular trends in your industry : The world is ever-changing, and people’s interests follow. Stay current on all the relevant trends so your company is sought out, not passed over.
Use detail-oriented photos : Photos are a great way to market your services. Looking at a photo of what a company offers is quicker than reading text and encourages viewers to explore deeper.
Utilize videos as guides or offer helpful information : Videos are a fabulous way to help consumers understand your services better. You can also use video testimonials to increase your reputation.
Use appropriate business jargon: Business talk is great on B2B social media sites. However, you must use the appropriate words and amount when doing so. This form of communication makes potential customers feel comfortable, welcomed, and understood.

You can customize your marketing on social media sites in many ways to make your company look more impressive than your competitors and draw in a broader range of audiences that would otherwise go elsewhere.

5. Engage Your Audience (Be Present)

Posting frequently is not enough. Although great content is always beneficial, you can maximize your effect on consumers through engagement.

People want answers instantly after asking the question, so ensuring you can communicate with your guests quickly and appropriately is the best way to keep them coming back.

There are a few different tactics to try out when keeping in contact with your targeted audience, including:

Chat boxes
Email links
Quickly replying to comments
Starting conversations and engaging with the thread

6. Be Professional

B2C companies tend to take a more relaxed approach when using social media for marketing. However, B2B businesses could harm their potential clientele pool by doing this.

When businesses seek services offered through other companies, they need reassurance that it is reliable and comes from knowledgeable and educated brands.

While you’re strategizing a B2B marketing campaign, it is critical to include tactics that appeal to the intellect of those you are targeting. People spend a lot of time and money on their businesses, from learning their trade to building their success. Communicating with these people on their level is going to make you more relatable while also showing respect.

You can speak to professionals through data, statistics, and other similar details to show them you are on the same level.

7. Track Progress

The only way to know whether something is working is by tracking your progress and checking the data. You can track the success of your marketing campaign with various software programs and tools to help you determine if your social media strategy is driving more traffic to your site.

You can also track the progress of your posts on each site. Check your “likes,” comments, followers, etc. You may have to rethink your techniques if your posts aren’t reaching a large audience.

8. Use Case Studies to Your Advantage

You can quickly put together case studies to prove the success of your services with other businesses. These studies are great ways to provide potential clients with quick sip-its of how and why they should come to you for their needs, with data and proof backing up your services.

Case studies are relatively easy to conduct and can provide businesses with examples of how other companies like them utilize your services and benefit from them.

9. Get to the Point

Don’t waste time with nonsense. Most companies are not looking for funny pics or inspirational quotes; they want cold hard facts and data to back them up.

There are a few ways to showcase your company’s success and potential:

Graphs
Customer reviews
Testimonials
Timelines
Future outlook of the industry

When you provide customers with irrefutable facts, they can’t argue with your company’s capabilities.

10. Be Honest

While this tip might be the last on our list, it is one of the most important. Never falsify information or tweak the truth. There is nothing more detrimental to a business than being caught in a lie.

When creating content on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, always be honest and upfront about all the information you are putting out. Dishonest practices might get you more customers initially, but it will cost you once your brand is defamed when the truth gets out.

Other Social Media Platforms to Use for B2B Marketing

Social media is taking the internet by storm and making it easier than ever for businesses to market their products and services with ease. While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all fantastic resources for B2B marketing, others can also be quite beneficial.

Instagram : The site influences 75% of Instagram users on which brands to buy.
TikTok : There are over 1.2 billion TikTok users, meaning your brand has a good chance of getting noticed.
YouTube : 87% of marketers say YouTube is a beneficial site for advertisement and leads.

Final Thoughts

With social media being so prevalent today, it would be crazy not to use it in the professional world. These platforms offer B2B businesses the chance to reach a much broader audience more efficiently than ever.

How to Engage with Your Audience on Social Media

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:46:53 GMT

Engage with your audience on social media for a successful following. Here’s how.

If you are on any social media platform to sell a product or service, you already know how demanding this task can be. You have to compete against a massive group of other influencers and businesses for the attention of a select group of users.

One of the best ways to be the most widespread presence on social media platforms is by offering customers your time and energy.

Increasing engagement with your audience doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, but it does require effort and a set of guidelines to be successful.

What Is Social Media Engagement, and Why Is it Important?

Traditional marketing campaigns using radio, TV and print can get costly and take a lot of time and energy to put together. Digital marketing tactics like SEO and digital advertising work well, but can take a long time and a lot of money.

Social Media allows to reach out to a specific target audience directly. It has made targeting, reaching out to, and engaging with potential customers much easier.

Using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn lets companies and influencers communicate and react to the outside world, making them more present and available. Consistently and professionally engaging with your audience is the best way to keep them coming back.

The Best Ways to Engage with Your Audience on Social Media

It might sound pretty straightforward to engage with your audience, but it’s important to do it the right way if you want to get the best possible results. Creating posts or responding to comments here and there won’t give you the results you are looking for when it comes to leads.

Know Who You Are Engaging With

Before entertaining and engaging with your audience on social media , you must know who your target audience is. Do a little research to learn what group of people will benefit from your social media content the most, then take the time to create engaging content that appeals directly to them.

You can use software and social listening tools to help identify a specific audience based on keywords you choose to help identify people on social media platforms already discussing the information you provide.

When you know who to interact with, you can create quality content for better results.

A tool you can try: Hootsuite monitors the web for keywords you select.

Be Present and Responsive

Being present doesn’t just mean making sure you post something everyday. To be present with the audience, you must make yourself available as much as possible when your viewer needs you.

We live in an instant gratification society. While waiting one business day for your response might have been acceptable in the past, it will frustrate your audience today and could risk you losing a potential customer.

Be available as much as possible and provide answers in a short time frame.

A tool you can try: Agorapulse lets you track comments and response time.

Be Respectful to Everyone

One of the easiest things you can do to keep your viewers returning is to be respectful to everyone, no matter the situation. Creating amazing content is only half the battle when trying to encourage potential followers to stick with you.

Be Knowledgeable and Show You Know Your Stuff

When people come to your social media sites, it is for information or entertainment in a specific field. Typically, these viewers already know a little about what you are selling and expect to learn more.

If you can’t provide useful tips, tools, or questions to common answers, viewers will keep scrolling until they find someone who can.

A tool you can use: Hashtag Expert uses hashtags to provide proof of expertise.

Use Attractive and Useful Visuals

Visuals are one of the most (if not the most) important parts of a successful social media presence.

Did you know:

90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual.
Infographics are 30 times more likely to be read in their entirety than a blog post or news article.
Web content that includes images gets 650% more customer engagement than content that only includes text.
Tweets that include visuals are 150% more likely to be retweeted.

Visuals can come in many different forms, from interesting pictures to relevant graphs, timelines, or guides.

A tool you can use: Canva lets you easily create fabulous visuals and infographics.

Add Your Own Videos

Videos are another way to get your information across to the customer quickly and conveniently. Many people would rather see video content than take the time to read lengthy text.

The best way to utilize this type of engagement is by creating a short clip that offers just enough information without dragging on and boring the viewer. Get right to the point.

Another helpful tip is to set up the video content to play as people scroll past rather than adding a link to open it independently. An attention-grabbing video that starts on its own will get more views.

Encourage Users to Share Your Posts

One way you get help growing your social media audience without actually doing anything is by asking others to share.

Believe it or not, people are much more likely to share your information when you tell them to than when you don’t.

This can include:

Re-tweeting
Sharing Facebook posts
Offering ways for viewers to “share” valuable content on your site in real-time
Hashtags

A tool you can use: Livecube lets consumers easily navigate and share live events.

Stay Relevant

Interests, information, and content constantly change, and attention spans move just as quickly. It is essential to stay relevant and update photos, videos, and other engaging content frequently so your information is never outdated.

Keep an eye on your cover photo, profile pictures, etc., and ensure those are inviting and up to date.

Staying on top of the latest trends and keeping your customers “in the loop” is a great way to show them you are engaging and available and that their presence is important.

A tool you can use: Google Trends helps users follow trending topics all across the internet.

Final Thoughts

When you want to increase your following on social media, there is nothing more helpful than engaging with your targeted audience. You have to be present, prepared, and promote your product in a personal and professional way.

Using the tips and tools above can give you a great start to communicating and engaging with your audience for a successful social presence.

Boost Your Local SEO with Local Backlinks

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 23:28:13 GMT

Is your local SEO strategy not yielding results? Boosting your rankings on Google is always a challenging task, but an excellent local backlink strategy can help you get to the coveted "3-pack" of local search results faster. Find out how you can get your website onto Google map!

Local SEO is crucial for businesses that want to be found by customers in their area. More and more customers search online for information about local products and services! One of the most critical elements of local SEO is building local backlinks. In this article, we'll look at how these links work and walk you through finding and creating them.

What are local backlinks?

Local backlinks are links from other websites in the same area as your business. They tell search engines that your website is well-known locally and is a trusted resource for local customers.

In the past, links provided by directories such as Yelp and YellowPages were considered the most critical source for local link building. But today, you can use many more sources to build inbound links, such as blogs in your region, positive online reviews, content published by local media outlets, and more.

Local backlinks can provide several benefits to your website's SEO efforts. First, they will help boost your website's rankings in local search results on Google and other search engines. It makes it easier for customers in the area to find you online and purchase from you. Additionally, the number of quality backlinks of a website influences its overall domain authority, which is another essential factor for ranking well in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Why are local backlinks important for local SEO?

Local backlinks are critical for local SEO because it shows search engines that your business is trusted and relevant to people in a specific geographic area. Local backlinks can also help your website stand out from the competition by giving it more authority over other local businesses in your area.

Google will use these links to measure how popular, reliable, and trustworthy your website is in that particular location. That's why having many of these types of backlinks will dramatically improve local search rankings.

Local backlinks also indicate to Google that you're actively promoting your business and engaging with people in the area. It helps Google understand that you are relevant to people nearby and provide the products or services they are searching. These signals will help boost your rankings in local SEO results.

How to Get Local Backlinks

To boost your local SEO with relevant backlinks, you'll need to know how to find and create them. Here are some tips to help you do just that:

Reach Out to Local Businesses and Organizations

One of the best ways to get high-quality backlinks is to reach out to other local businesses and organizations in your area. These local websites may be willing to link to your website if they see value in it for their customers. For example, if you are a restaurant, you could ask local hotels to add a link to your website on their "Things to Do" page. Or, if you are a landscaping company, you could reach out to local garden centers and ask them to add a link to your website on their "Resources" page.

A link to your website in a local newspaper is another excellent way of getting a local backlink. Any local publication is always ready to publish local content, so make sure you reach out to local newspapers whenever there is anything newsworthy. For example, this could be a jubilee of an employee, the launch of a new product, or a local event you are participating in.

When reaching out to other businesses and organizations, it is vital to make your request personal and specific. For example, explain how linking to your website benefits their customers and aligns with their business goals. You can also offer to link back to their website in return, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

Get Listed in Local Business Directories

Another great way to build local backlinks is to get listed in local business directories. Local business directories are websites that list businesses in a specific area, for example, the membership list of your local chamber of commerce. These directories often have a high domain authority, which means they are considered trustworthy and authoritative by search engines. By getting a local citation in these directories, you can gain quality links to your website that will help boost your local SEO.

To get listed in local business directories, you must create a profile for your business. This profile should include your business name, address, phone number, website URL, and a brief description of your products or services. You should also have photos and videos if possible. Once your profile is complete, you can submit it to local business directories. Some popular directories include Yelp, Yellow Pages, and CanPages.

Optimize your Google Business Profile

With any local SEO strategy, the foundation should always be a well-optimized Google My Business profile. Many people forget that potential customers can find businesses through Google Maps and in the search results, and a completed Google Business Profile is essential for both.

When creating or optimizing your GMB profile, some of the aspects to consider are:

Ensuring your contact information is up to date.
Choosing relevant categories and keywords.
Editing business hours correctly.
Uploading photos, including a logo and pictures of the premises or products.
Replying to customer reviews on time and in an appropriate manner.

By optimizing your GMB profile, you can make sure that more of your target audience can easily find you!

Attend Local Networking Events

Attending networking events in your local area is another excellent way to build local backlinks. Networking events are a great opportunity to meet other local business owners and entrepreneurs. You can share information about your business and learn more about their businesses. You can also exchange business cards and connect on social media, which can lead to backlinks.

Networking events can be a great way to meet other business owners in your area. You can share information about your business, learn more about their companies, and exchange business cards and social media connections. These connections can lead to backlinks in the future, as well as potential partnerships and collaborations.

Partner with Local Influencers

Local influencers are people that have a significant following in your local market. It could be an Instagram celebrity, a well-known business owner, or someone with much influence in the local community.

Reach out to local influencers and ask them if they'd be willing to link to your website. You can offer them something in return, like a free product or service, or try to build a relationship with them and get them interested in your brand.

Conclusion

Building high quality backlinks is an essential part of local SEO. Reaching out to local businesses and organizations, getting listed in local business directories, attending local networking events and partnering with local influencers are all effective strategies for building local backlinks. By implementing these strategies, you can boost your local SEO and attract more customers to your business. Always make your requests specific and personal, and seek mutually beneficial relationships.

How to Use Retargeting For Maximum ROI

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 16:06:01 GMT

Suppose you are looking to get more bang for your buck on your digital advertising campaigns. In that case, consider adding retargeting to your advertising strategy. It allows you to focus on your target audience and increase the return on investment of your campaigns.

In this article, we will discuss what retargeting is, and why it is essential for digital marketers striving for maximum return on their investments (ROI). You'll learn why the technique is powerful in driving conversions and reducing cart abandonment on eCommerce websites.

What is retargeting?

Retargeting is a digital ad campaign with targeted ads focusing on a previous website visitor. People who have already viewed the content on your website are the perfect audience for a marketing campaign. This is because they have already engaged with your brand, and with a remarketing campaign, you can entice them to revisit your website.

Retargeting is a sophisticated technique that tracks user behaviour on your website or web pages. You can then use collected data to personalize and optimize your ads for this particular audience. Retargeting ads are published on search engines (Google ads and Bing ads), and on social media platforms like Facebook.

To start planning an effective retargeting strategy, you should consider the following steps:

1. Determine your target audience.

To identify who will be targeted in your campaigns, analyze user data from past campaigns and develop buyer personas if needed. Consider demographics, interests, location, behaviour traits and purchase history.

There are several ways to build effective audiences for retargeting. You can create "lookalike" audiences that represent people who have already interacted with your brand or website in some way.

You can also create custom audiences based on web visitors' past activities on your site. For example, people who have added items to their shopping carts but never completed the checkout process (this is called cart abandonment).

2. Choose goals and objectives.

For any campaign, you'll need to decide how you want to measure success, e.g. ROI or increase in website visits. It will help you determine what types of ads should be used (display vs native) or whether you'd benefit from using a combination of both.

3. Create retargeting Ads.

Here's how to create retargeting ads with Google and Facebook:

Google:

Set up a Google Ads account if you don't already have one.
Create a remarketing list by going to the Audiences tab in the Shared Library.
Choose the website or app visitors you want to target and set the parameters for your list.
Create a new campaign and select "Remarketing" as the targeting option.
Design your Google ad and choose the remarketing list you created as the target audience.
Set your budget and launch the campaign.

Facebook:

Set up a Facebook Business Manager account if you don't already have one.
Go to the Audiences section in the Ads Manager.
Create a Custom Audience by uploading a list of customer email addresses or by using the Facebook pixel to track website visitors.
Create a new Facebook ad campaign and select the Custom Audience you created as the target audience.
Design your ad and choose the ad placement options.
Set your budget and launch the campaign.

Both Google and Facebook have their own set of audience targeting options. Test and experiment with different targeting options to find what works best for your business.

4. Set budgets and constraints.

It's important to set sensible budgets for each retargeting campaign and set your spending limits upfront. Also, consider any restrictions when selecting platforms. This may be based on your industry (e.g. medical advertising) or the ad formats you want to use. Think about this before you launch your campaign to avoid wasting energy and money on unsuitable channels.

5. Launch the campaign and track results.

Once you have set up the campaigns and established your budgets, you are ready to launch the campaigns.

Now it's time to measure the performance of your retargeting campaigns. You want to ensure a positive return on investment (ROI) from each campaign. Some metrics to consider when evaluating success include:

Number of impressions served
Number of clicks received
Click-through rate (CTR)
Conversion rate
Cost per click (CPC)
Cost per conversion (CPA)

Pay attention to how your campaigns perform to make any necessary adjustments or cancel them altogether if they aren't meeting expectations. Think about it this way, every dollar spent should be an investment that yields more leads/conversions and, ultimately, profits.

Combining Retargeting with Other Strategies for Maximum ROI

Retargeting is an effective tool in your digital marketing strategy. However, it can be even more effective with other marketing tactics. Here are a few ways to use retargeting to increase ROI:

1. Leverage AI and machine learning.

You can gain deeper insights into your customers' behaviour using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. You can use this to fine-tune your retargeting campaigns for maximum impact.

2. Use a personalization algorithm.

Personalization algorithms allow you to segment audiences to better target them with customized content that resonates with their needs and interests. As a result, it increases the likelihood of driving conversions when consumers see ads relevant to them.

3. Utilize predictive analytics

Predictive analytics helps marketers better understand customer needs by considering a vast range of data sources such as demographics, location and past purchases. This enables them to personalize campaigns much more accurately.

By combining retargeting with these tactics, companies can reap an even greater return on their investment while optimizing their overall performance.

Tips for Optimizing Your Retargeting Campaigns

Retargeting is a cost-effective technique for recapturing web traffic and boosting conversions. Here are some tips to ensure you optimize your campaign:

Segment Your Audience:

If you want to get the most out of your campaigns, segment your audience into groups based on buying behaviour, interests, or demographic data. This way, you can tailor messaging and targeted offers to each group's needs.

Focus On Your Top Traffic Generators:

Focus on targeting people who have interacted with you before, such as website visits and email opens. These are typically more likely to convert into customers than cold traffic sources.

Differentiate between new and returning visitors:

Make sure you create different campaigns for new and returning visitors; you want to make a more significant impression with the latter by pushing more personalized ads.

Send out Frequency Capped Ads:

Frequency capping helps ensure that potential customers don't get annoyed from seeing too many of the same ads. Ensure that your retargeting campaigns are serving fresh content.

Set a Goal:

Before launching any retargeting campaign, set a goal you would like to achieve from the effort. For example: increasing sales conversions by 10% or capturing more leads.

Test Different Ads:

Test different ads to identify which ad variations will drive the best results for your campaign goals. Try changing up messaging, visuals/images and offers to determine which resonates most with viewers.

Track Performance Metrics:

Tracking key performance metrics is essential for getting accurate data about your campaign's success rate and ROI. Monitor critical KPIs regularly, such as clickthrough rates (CTR), impressions, conversion rates and CPC (cost per click). This allows you to make informed decisions about optimizing each advert or campaign further if necessary.

Following these tips can optimize your retargeting campaign for maximum ROI.

Conclusion

These are the basics of how to use retargeting for maximum ROI. It's an incredibly versatile tool and can be used to significant effect, regardless of your target audience or where you are marketing your business. If you can keep their attention with valuable content, then hopefully, when the time comes, they'll convert!

How to Write Excellent Content for Your Website

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 16:00:30 GMT

The competition is real when it comes to fighting for search engine results and traffic online. Unfortunately, readers typically only spend seconds glancing at the web content before deciding whether to stay or move on, which is why writing excellent text is crucial.

Following the advice we’ve laid out will help you develop interesting, well-thought-out, and quality content and website copy. We will help you engage with your readers and leave them wanting more.

Tips for Writing Website Content

There are numerous things to consider when writing content for a website. While many of the most common rules of writing still apply (i.e., grammar, spelling, etc.), there are other web-writing rules to consider before hitting those keys. Here are some web content writing tips to follow for your web page.

Start by Telling a Story

Telling a story through your writing will help engage visitors and keep them interested in your content. Take readers on an adventure with structured quality content curated to their interests and needs.

Using tools like Storybrand , you can reach online customers through clear messages and successful marketing skills.

Be Confident

Always speak with confidence and authority in your writing. There is no shame in knowing your stuff and using your expertise to prove it.

To convince your readers you know what you are talking about, you should steer clear of words like just, maybe, possibly, think, etc. These words will make you sound unsure of yourself and the information you are offering.

Be Interesting

If readers wanted to be bored, they would head to an encyclopedia for answers to their questions. So keep your content creation interesting and informative.

Offer visitors good content that will answer all their questions while engaging and entertaining them so they keep coming back. You can make your site interesting by adding fun facts, quotes, graphs, etc.

Use “We,” Not “Me”

Only talk about yourself when creating website or blog content if you are explicitly talking about a personal experience.

Saying “I like” or “I can” sounds selfish and makes the information about you. If you say “We like” or “We can,” it includes the website visitor in the conversation and keeps them interested in what you have to say.

Keep Things Short and Sweet (Answer Questions Directly and Honestly)

Keep your information short and get straight to the point. Most people prefer to scan data to locate answers to their questions quickly. No one is looking to read a book in their search results.

No matter what the question is, answer it straight away and answer it honestly. This approach is the core of the “They ask, you answer” business framework.

You will also benefit from keeping your words easy to understand; visitors to your site will appreciate not needing a dictionary.

Avoid Fluff

In the writing world, the word “fluff” describes useless filler words added to short sentences to help reach the intended word count.

All of your sentences should contain natural, helpful, and informational content. Filler words make articles boring and can be confusing to the reader.

Link to Reputable Sources

Linking to other websites can benefit your writing. Not only does it help keep traffic flowing throughout the web, but it is a great way to create SEO content.

However, just because you read it online doesn’t mean it is always true. Be careful where you get your information; only link to reputable and reliable sources.

Internal hyperlinks are another helpful tool when writing content for a website. This can help readers view more of your content quickly and easily.

Although we recommend using external and internal links, be careful not to overdo it. Three to four quality sources are a good amount without overwhelming the reader.

The Best Structure for Writing Website Content

The structure will make your website more appealing to your target audience. Having the proper setup when writing content will help visitors find what they are looking for with the ability to skim over the rest.

Listed below are a few of the best tips for writing website content with beneficial structuring.

Create a Catchy Headline or Title

The old saying goes, “Never judge a book by its cover.” However, in this fast-paced day and age, we all do it. People will decide whether they want to read your web content simply based on your chosen title.

Every title you pick needs to be catchy and exciting. The titles also have to provide relevant keywords and a quick glimpse into what the article is about.

“ How to Sew.” Boring.
“Step-by-Step Guide to Sewing With Style.” Gives information regarding what is in the article and makes readers want to dive in.

Another tip to impressive titles is offering a specific number to focus on.

“Great Cookie Recipes.” Boring.
“5 Delicious Cookie Recipes You Have to Try.” This lets the reader know they have options to choose from and sounds exciting.

Make that First Paragraph Count (Follow the Pyramid Structure)

The first paragraph of your fresh content has to get right to the point. The reader wants an answer to their questions immediately; no one wants to search for it.

It is always best to offer direct answers and pertinent information in the first paragraph, then add essential details as you continue.

If your content answers a direct question, “Can Pet Hedgehogs Eat Fruit?”, your first paragraph needs to answer the question.

“Your pet hedgehog can eat fruit. Apples, blueberries, and bananas are some of the best options. However, too much fruit can lead to health issues and shouldn’t be given frequently.”

Here you answered the questions and grabbed the reader's attention, encouraging them to keep reading to get more in-depth answers.

Use Built-in Headings and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings help structure content writing and organize your thoughts and information.

The titles to subheadings should continue the same theme throughout your content while providing their own information.

Now that we answered the direct question in the first paragraph, we can move on to explain it in greater detail.

Subheading 2: Can You Feed a Pet Hedgehog Fruit?
Subheading 3: What Fruits Are Safe for Pet Hedgehogs?
Subheading 3: What Fruits Are Not Safe for Pet Hedgehogs?
Subheading 2: How Much Fruit Can You Feed Your Pet Hedgehog?
Subhea ding 3: How to Tell Your Feeding Your Hedgehog too Much Fruit

Keep Paragraphs Short

Always keep your paragraphs short, at most three to four sentences long. This will help the reader browse your fresh content quickly.

Short paragraphs also benefit people who look at your website from their phones. Long paragraphs create large blocks of text on mobile devices; no one will want to scroll through it all to find what they’re looking for.

Avoid Run-On Sentences

Run-on sentences (for those of you who don’t know) are sentences that combine multiple sentences without the correct punctuation.

When writing website content, commas, semi-colons, or conjunctions are your best friend. These punctuations will help separate thoughts in a single sentence without running together.

Examples:

“We like rain we don’t like thunderstorms.”- Incorrect. This is a run-on sentence.
“We like rain, but we don’t like thunderstorms.” The correct way to write this sentence.
“We like rain; we don’t like thunderstorms.” Another correct way to write this sentence.

Online writing tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway can ensure your sentences are clear and correct.

Keep Your Thoughts Organized

Before writing content for your website, take a few minutes to organize your thoughts and create a plan.

It is easier to create great content when you know which direction you are going in and the proper steps to take to get there.

Developing an outline depicting the most important information and where it should go on your website can be beneficial.

If you are writing a blog post, creating a structure by preplanning your headings and subheadings can make all the difference in the world.

Only Use Half the Normal Amount of Text

If browsers wanted to read a book, they would head to the library. People come to your website for helpful information and hope to get it instantly.

Website content is where the 50% rule comes in. Only write 50% of the text you usually would when writing. This will help keep your audience engaged and assist in getting your point across and well-received.

Delegate One Thought to Each Paragraph

Every single word used in your content writing has to offer value to the reader. You can easily accomplish this by delegating your thoughts to separate paragraphs.

Remember, we are all scanners these days, meaning we skip over long paragraphs to try to locate information quickly.

If you notice some of your content is running on too long, simply split the sentences into two separate paragraphs.

Make Important Information Stand Out

Why should we highlight important information? You guessed it! Because readers want answers fast.

Offer your visitors the ability to quickly scan through text to get straight to the point by using:

Highlighting
Bullet points
Bold keywords or phrases
Graphs and charts

Example 1:

“To make chicken noodle soup, you need chicken broth, egg noodles, cooked chicken breast, fresh vegetables, salt, and pepper.”

Example 2:

Chicken noodle soup ingredients:

Chicken broth
Egg noodles
Cooked chicken breast
Fresh vegetables
Salt and pepper

In the two examples above, which one grabs your attention first? Example two is easier to find, read, and understand.

Know Your Audience

While we all want to reach the largest audience possible, knowing who visits your site the most or will benefit from your content is vital.

Take a moment to identify who your primary and secondary audience is and the best way to reach them.

If your website is all about mindfulness, affirmations, and meditation, it isn’t going to look the same as an online portfolio .

The website on self-care will bring in others interested in this specific topic and looking to learn from your content.

The people tuning in to see your portfolio are looking for a professional website with services they can benefit from.

Both sites need to be informative, well-written, and organized, but you should present the content in entirely different ways.

Check in with Social Media

There are so many social media platforms available today; it would be a shame not to utilize them for your own gain.

You can use social media sites to get some insight into what your target audience is looking for and the trending topics in that niche.

Social media sites are also ideal for content marketing and bringing new traffic to your website. Word of mouth spreads fast!

You can also team up with social media platforms, providing content and snip-its on Facebook, Instagram, etc., then referring them to your site for more information.

Use a Tracker

Before diving into your content, use tracking software to see what current visitors are doing on your website.

These programs can help you see what content is beneficial and should be rewritten or tossed entirely.

Information is constantly updated, and you have to stay on top of trends, updated data, statistics, etc.

Organize Your Page

Typing text is only half the battle when writing content for a website; the other half is organizing your page so visitors are likely to crave more.

Use the White Space

The empty space between blocks of text, photos, and other content in your website design is called white space. Many people try to fill this space as much as possible, but that isn’t necessary.

White space is easy on the eyes and helps readers scan through text more quickly. Sometimes less is more when writing content or blog posts for a website.

Infuse Your Text with Multimedia Content

Many people obtain information visually through pictures and charts more quickly than through text. Knowing this, you should offer multimedia content to reach your audience.

Detailed charts and graphs can help readers digest more complicated topics. They can also assist in breaking up text, making it easier to get through.

Most expert content writers suggest using at least one photo for each page and multiple photos for longer blogs, articles, and information.

Call to Action

Remember to add your call to action in your content writing. This step is crucial no matter what niche you are in.

A call to action encourages the reader to “act now.” You typically want to add your call to action at the end of the content, and make it exciting and urgent.

Examples of a CTA:

“Call now for a free consultation; operators are standing by.”
“Limited time offer. Call XXX for 15% off.”
“If you struggle to fall asleep at night, you must try one of the bedtime meditation techniques listed above.”

Final Thoughts

You don’t have to be an expert content writer to create high quality content for your website. Using the tips provided above can help you grab the attention of readers and help increase traffic to your website.

How To Use Social Media For Your B2B Company

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 14:44:38 GMT

What if there were a way to use social media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more - to attract qualified leads for your B2B company and convert them into customers? You can do it – you just need to get the strategy right and make a consistent effort.

Consumer brands have long adopted social media to engage with their audience. However, B2B businesses can also benefit from social media in many ways, from building brand awareness and engaging with potential customers to increasing website traffic and creating relationships with key influencers. Therefore, it's an important part of B2B digital marketing, and marketers will want to make it part of their marketing strategy. In this article, you'll read about strategies that help you understand how to use social media correctly for your B2B company by targeting your audience effectively and creating meaningful content that drives conversions.

How important is social media?

Social media started in the early 2000s, and social media use has grown tremendously in the last 20 years. Consider this: the number of Facebook users is approaching 2.9Bn out of a population of about 7.9Bn people. So almost 40% of the world's population is on Facebook!

Here is an interesting overview of social media usage from Our World in Data:

A more recent article on Smart Insights states that almost 60% of the world's population are active social media users, and social media usage has gone up to an average daily time of nearly two-and-a-half hours per day.

Needless to say, social media has taken a very important place in our societies, and companies would therefore do well to have a clear social media marketing strategy.

What is B2B Social Media?

B2B social media is the practice of leveraging networks and platforms, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, to build relationships between businesses and customers online. It's a powerful way to engage with customers in a much more direct and personal way than is possible with traditional marketing.

To get started on your strategy, you need to clearly define who your target audience is and what they care about. Once you clearly understand who your customer base is, you can create content specifically tailored to them and publish it on relevant social networks. From there, you can create a social media campaign designed specifically for each of your goals. Social media statistics platforms such as Sprout Social help you assess how campaigns perform over time and allow you to optimize future efforts to turn leads into loyal followers (and hopefully paying customers!).

Understanding Your Buyers' Needs

The first step to using social media for your B2B company is understanding their ideal customers. It means knowing their challenges, how they consume information and how they might use social media in the first place. Most B2B buyers are looking for help with a problem, so it's important to focus on providing them with targeted content that answers their needs.

For example, you could create blog posts, videos, or webinars that offer helpful tips and advice or answer customers' questions about your industry. By providing content that solves their problems, they will recognize you as a knowledgeable authority — and find value in your product or service. Additionally, you can use social media to nurture relationships with key influencers who can lend credibility to your business.

Finally, monitoring conversations related to your industry on various social media channels will allow you to understand trends in customer interests and provide relevant resources instead of disruptive ads.

Create a social media presence on the right platforms

Choosing the right platforms is vital to leveraging social media for your B2B company. Consider the types of content you'll be posting, and research potential platform options to decide which will be the best fit for your business.

3 Main reasons why b2b companies should use LinkedIn

Networking: LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that allows B2B companies to connect with potential clients, partners, industry experts, and thought leaders. This can help businesses expand their reach and build relationships with key players in their industry.

Lead Generation: LinkedIn's advanced targeting options and powerful analytics make it an effective tool for B2B companies to generate leads and reach potential customers. It also allows creating of business pages and the posting of job opportunities, which can attract potential customers or employees.

Branding: LinkedIn allows businesses to establish their brand and showcase their products, services, and company culture to a professional audience. Businesses can also use LinkedIn to publish articles and thought leadership pieces, which can help establish them as experts in their field

3 main reasons why b2b companies should use Instagram

Increased Visibility: Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users, making it a powerful tool for B2B companies to reach a wider audience and increase their visibility.

Targeted Advertising: Instagram allows businesses to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviours, making it easier to reach the right audience for their products or services.

Authenticity and Storytelling: Instagram's visual-first approach and features like Instagram Stories, IGTV, and Reels can help B2B companies showcase their products, services, culture and behind-the-scenes footage in an authentic and relatable way. This can create a sense of trust and connection with their target audience.

3 main reasons why b2b companies should use Facebook

Advertising: Facebook has a massive user base and advanced targeting options, making it an effective tool for B2B companies to reach potential customers and generate leads.

Community Building: Facebook allows businesses to create and manage groups and pages, which you can use to build and engage with a community of customers, partners, and industry experts.

Branding: Facebook allows businesses to establish their brand and showcase their products, services, and company culture to a broad audience. Businesses can also use Facebook to publish articles, thought leadership pieces, and other content to help establish them as experts in their field.

3 main reasons why b2b companies should use YouTube

Education and Thought Leadership: YouTube is a powerful platform for B2B companies to share educational and informative content such as tutorials, webinars, and industry insights. This can help establish a company as a thought leader in their industry and attract potential customers.

Visibility and Reach: With over 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube provides a large audience for B2B companies to reach and increase their visibility.

Engagement and Branding: YouTube allows businesses to engage with their audience through comments, subscriptions, and other interactive features, which can help build relationships with potential customers. It also allows companies to create a channel that showcases their brand and visual content, which can help to establish a strong brand image.

3 main reasons why b2b companies should use Twitter

Real-time engagement: Twitter is a fast-paced, real-time social media platform that allows B2B companies to engage with customers, partners, and industry experts quickly. It's an excellent way of providing customer service and making it searchable for the next customer with the same question.

Thought leadership: Twitter is an excellent platform for B2B companies to share industry insights, thought leadership pieces and case studies.

Networking: Twitter allows B2B companies to connect with potential clients, partners, and industry experts, which can help businesses expand their reach and build relationships with key players in their industry. Twitter's hashtags and advanced search options make it easy to discover and join relevant conversations and communities.

Once you've found the best fit for your business from these four major platforms, create profiles that accurately represent your company and its purpose. Ensure that all posts have consistent branding across all channels to give off a professional appearance that creates trust with your customers.

Create Valuable Content

Creating valuable content is crucial. B2B companies should publish quality content that is relevant, informative, and engaging. This will drive interest in your brand and help you connect with potential customers.

When creating content, make sure to focus on topics related to your industry and incorporate current trends. Valuable content can come in many forms, including blog posts, videos, infographics, presentations, podcasts, and more.

Make sure to also engage your followers by asking questions or inviting them to join a conversation related to the content you post. This helps create relationships beyond just a simple broadcast of their message – you're taking an active role in the conversation.

By positioning yourself (or your company) as a thought leader in your industry and creating valuable content on social media platforms, you're giving potential customers a great reason to follow you.

Engage With Your Audience

Engaging with your audience is vital in B2B social media marketing. The direct and immediate communication allows you to answer their questions and help them along the customer journey.

When engaging with potential customers, try to be as helpful as possible. Show them that you understand their needs and give them helpful advice about how you can solve their problems. Ask questions about their current challenges to identify opportunities for improvement and offer insights into how your product or service can help them succeed.

Building relationships through engagement also gives prospects a better understanding of who you are and what you stand for as a business. This builds trust in your brand and customer loyalty and ultimately increases conversions.

Social Listening

Before doing anything else, it's critical to use social listening tools to monitor what people say about your company, solutions, and industry. This will help you identify relevant conversations and topics of interest and uncover insights into customer needs and pain points. You can set up alerts within many different platforms so that any time someone mentions the relevant words for your business, you can join the conversation.

Being involved in online conversations about your company and its products is essential. By tracking what people have to say about your brand, you'll get a better understanding of customer pain points and insights into what's working for them and what isn't. You can use this knowledge to improve your marketing strategy and create more engaging content. Additionally, social listening gives you real-time information on how people perceive your brand outside of regular analytics. Try setting up keyword alerts across platforms to experience all conversations around your company or industry.

By monitoring and analyzing your accounts, competitor accounts, and conversations related to relevant search terms, you better understand what matters most on social media for B2B companies. This helps you prioritize whom you need to engage with and which strategies will yield the best results in terms of lead generation.

Here is a step-by-step guide to set up social listening on a social media platform

Define your goals : are you looking to track mentions of your brand, monitor competitors, or identify industry trends?
Choose a social listening tool : Many social listening tools are available, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Brand24. Choose a tool that best fits your needs and budget.
Create a list of keywords : Once you have chosen a social listening tool, create a list of keywords relevant to your goals. These keywords can include your brand name, industry-specific terms, and competitors' names.
Set up alerts : Most social listening tools allow you to set alerts for specific keywords. You will be notified whenever these keywords are used.
Monitor the data : Once your social listening is set up, monitor the collected data. Look for patterns and insights that can help you achieve your goals.
Take action : Based on the insights you gather, take action to improve your strategy and achieve your goals. This could include responding to customer complaints, addressing negative sentiment, or identifying opportunities to engage with influencers in your industry.
Measure performance : Monitor your performance by tracking your social listening metrics such as reach, engagement, sentiment, and conversion rate.
Optimize your strategy : Based on your performance, optimize your system by adjusting your social listening goals, keywords, and tactics.

Analyze Your Results

Once you've implemented your social media strategy, it's crucial to get in the habit of analyzing your results. Monitoring and tracking the performance of campaigns will help you understand what content resonates with your audience and identify potential areas of improvement that can lead to better engagement.

Some key metrics you should track include follower growth, impressions, reach, engagement rate, website traffic, and conversions. With this data, you can start gaining insights on what works, what doesn't, and where you should focus your resources (both time and money) moving forward.

You can use these insights to continuously refine your approach and ensure your message reaches the right people interested in learning more about you.

Leverage Automation and Scheduling Apps

You need to be active on social media to get the most out of it, but dedicating time to constantly checking in can take up much of your day. This is why scheduling apps are essential for any B2B company that wants to use social media for business growth.

Scheduling apps allow you to pre-build posts and schedule them for optimal performance. Apps such as Buffer will enable you to set up a publishing schedule, so your content is uploaded in bulk and released at specific times throughout the week.

Another great app is Hootsuite which automates engagement with followers and sends notifications when someone has interacted with your brand so that you can respond immediately.

Finally, remember automation tools like IFTTT (If This Then That) that let you automate tasks across various platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest). By leveraging these automation tools, you can spend more time focusing on creating meaningful content and less time manually checking in on different networks.

Stay Up To Date On New Trends

Social media is ever-evolving, and to stay ahead of the competition, your team needs to identify the latest trends and capitalize on them. You can use industry-leading publications and websites like Social Media Today or Social Media Examiner for regular updates on the current best practices around effective social media marketing for B2B businesses. Also, monitor what your competitors are doing – what works for them? What kind of reactions do their posts get? Finally, take notes so you can apply these tactics in your own way.

In addition, attend industry events as much as possible to understand better what companies in your sector are doing on social media. Finally, always keep an eye out for new tools to improve how you measure many of these key performance indicators (KPIs). Once you understand the available metrics, it opens up a whole new world of optimization opportunities!

Conclusion

The key to success with social media is providing consistent, engaging content while staying ahead of trends in the industry. Define a clear strategy, engage with customers and peers frequently and create content that resonates with your target audience.

Are you ready to start creating an impactful Social Media Strategy? Click here to request a free consultation with one of our team members!

What Are The Benefits Of Local SEO?

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 19:15:27 GMT

What is local SEO? Simply put, local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice that helps Google identify exactly what your business is and where it is located. This optimization strategy helps your business be more visible for local searches made by nearby customers that are looking for your products or services.

Think of Local SEO as signage to a shop or business. The more signs or billboards you have for your business the easier it is for customers to find you. Local SEO does the same thing, just on a digital level.

If you are a small business owner interested in understanding the benefits of localized SEO you have landed at the right place. Read on to find out just how vital and beneficial local SEO is for sustained business growth!

The Importance Of Local SEO

There are plenty of reasons why local businesses are constantly striving to be amongst the top links for localized searches on select keywords. In fact, it is thanks to local SEO that many small businesses have been able to survive the marketing might of large-scale retailers, big businesses, and national brands.

If you own a local brick-and-mortar business, having local SEO is simply a must. In fact, if you don’t have a localized organic presence on Google for your business you are likely losing out on potentially hundreds if not thousands of new customers.

According to Hubspot , more than 40% of all searches made on phones are location related. Nearly 80% of these searches result in a customer visiting a business (within a five-mile radius) on the same day!

If these numbers aren’t enough, how about the fact that 92% of customers that do a local search pick a business that is on the first page of Google listings? Not having local SEO is not only leaving money on the table but enabling your competitors to get ahead.

The Benefits Of Local SEO For Your Business

Here are eight incredible benefits that local SEO can provide for your business.

Increased Local Traffic

Any brick-and-mortar commercial location is likely to rely on foot traffic but would also want to attract customers from nearby areas. Optimizing your business for localized searches based on the products and services offered can lead to increased traffic which leads to more sales and more profit!

No Advertising Costs

Unlike Google Ads , SEO is an organic form of marketing that doesn’t involve any ongoing advertising costs. You don’t have to constantly pay for ads to appear on the top of Google rankings or do up posts like you would on social media.

Targets A Local Audience

Local SEO simply focuses on optimizing your business for your local target audience. This way, anyone looking for your service or product, nearby, comes across your business first.

The higher you are to the top of the listings the better chance you have of closing the deal and attracting customers to your website or storefront.

Improved Conversion Rates

Customers are always a lot more likely to buy locally. As such, when they do a local search for something there is a 28% chance that their search will result in a sale for a business near them.

By targeting only a local audience and being the authority in your given niche there is a fair chance that the conversion rates on your local SEO efforts will far surpass that of any other type of online or offline marketing strategy.

Easier To Maintain Rankings

When done right, local SEO can provide long-lasting results with minimal effort and upkeep on your part. If keyword searches relating to your business are resulting in customer queries and interest you will automatically maintain your top ranking without having to put in additional money or time to constantly generate more leads.

This is why organically ranking your business is so important. It leads to long-lasting rankings and a steady trickle of leads and conversions that don’t require constant advertising spending or extensive marketing efforts on your part.

Allows customer To Leave Reviews

A recent statistic by Bright Local claims that nearly 87% of all online users read customer reviews of local businesses before contacting them. If you are providing honest and trusted service, you are likely going to get a lot more positive reviews, which can automatically help you rank better and lead to even more customers.

Asking happy customers to leave a review on your local listing can greatly benefit your business and give you a competitive edge over your competition. This is only possible with local SEO.

Being In Google’s 3 Pack

The goal of any local SEO effort is to get into Google’s 3 pack. This means showing up in the top three searches on the first page on select keywords.

As customers are most likely to choose a business from the top three results, being in Google’s 3 pack is the main goal of any local business as it greatly helps increase visibility and conversions.

A case study for getting into Google’s 3 Pack

The following images show the improvement in local results between the 1st of March and the 1st of September in 2021. Within a mere 6 months we brought the website of Horton Automatics to position 1 in the "3-pack" of local search results. The numbers in the circles represent the ranking in Google search results in that precise location.

Mobile Searches Are The Future

Mobile searches have been on the rise for the past decade and this trend isn't showing any signs of slowing down. As more people use their phones to make purchases it has become essential for local businesses to ensure that their website is compatible and optimized for mobile and tablet use.

This is a part of local SEO that is essential for improving online business visibility.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have a thorough understanding of 'what is local SEO?’ and the benefits it can provide, wait no more! If you don’t think you have the time or expertise to manage this by yourself, get in touch with marketing firms that specialize in doing just that!

If you are seeking a trusted and reputable online marketing company that has an exceptional track record and a friendly and knowledgeable staff look no further than Mawazo Marketing . We are local SEO specialists that have helped many local businesses achieve and surpass their online marketing goals.

What are you waiting for? Get in touch with one of our experts today!

Read more about our local SEO results for A1 Security Systems and Horton Automatics of Ontario

SEO vs PPC: what is better for your business?

thomas@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 18:12:50 GMT

Search Engine Marketing is all about getting traffic from your presence in the search engines, in particular Google. Search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC or pay-per-click) are the main ways to get website traffic from search engines. Both work well to get leads to your company website, but which one should you choose?

Let's first look at the results of a search on Google:

On a desktop, Google shows up to 4 ads on the top of the search results page. In the image that is the area in red. Typically 20% to 30% of web users may click on a Google Ad, while 70% to 80% of users ignore the ads and rarely or never click on a Google Ads.

See HigherVisibility: Organic vs. Paid Search: (66 Astonishing) Statistics for 2022

If your search has a local relevance, then Google will show a map with 3 local search results. This is the yellow area on the image. It will have search results that are relevant to your location, and is very important for "near me" searches. Optimizing your website for these local search results is called local SEO.

Then the organic search results are shown in the green area. Every page on Google has 10 of these organic search results. Here are the click-through-rates (CTR) for the entries on the first page of Google:

About 28% of the people will click on the number 1 on the organic ranking!
Position 2 and 3 get about 27% of the SEO traffic
About 32% of the traffic will go to the search results on position 4 - 10.
The remaining 13% goes to the search results on page 2 and further.

So 55% of the traffic is generated from the positions 1, 2 and 3 on the organic listing! That's why being on the top of the google search results is considered to be the “holy grail” in search engine marketing!

See Backlinko: Here's what we learned about organic click through rate

Let's look at the pros and cons of SEO and PPC.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

SEO is the process of making sure your website shows up in the search results for relevant keywords. The goal is to make a web page rank on page 1 for a specific search term, and generate organic traffic to the website

SEO agencies often make SEO sound complicated and are secretive about their SEO services. However, in its essence it really isn't very complicated. You just need to keep in mind that Google wants to provide the best possible information to users when they search. As the owner of a website you can achieve that by creating authoritative content, getting other websites to link to your website, and by making sure your site meets the technical requirements of search engines.

So essentially SEO is about 3 things:

Your website
This means making sure you have a well-structured website that is fast, safe and mobile-friendly. This is referred to as technical SEO.
The stuff on your website
This means making sure you have good content on your website, enriched with images, videos etc. This is called content marketing.
Links from other websites to your website
Links from other websites to your website are called backlinks. They are like "votes" from other websites. Backlinks are one of Google's main ranking factors.

See SearchEngineLand: Google's Top Three Search Ranking Factors .

Advantages of SEO

The benefits of SEO are numerous. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by SearchEngineLand, over half of marketers surveyed believe that organic SEO is among the most important strategies for driving revenue growth. While there are many advantages to SEO, here are three reasons why it's likely to become one of your most important marketing investments

SEO is profitable

According to a report published by Forrester Consulting, "Search Marketing Optimization Leads To Higher Customer Lifetime Value." This means that every dollar spent on organic SEO leads to higher profits.

SEO provides long-term returns

When you invest in organic SEO, it doesn't always pay off immediately. In fact, for most websites it will take months before you start ranking well for search terms that are relevant to your business. But once your content starts ranking well and your website gains authority, the SEO efforts provide long-lasting results.

With SEO you can target different phases in the customer journey

Your potential customers will engage with you at different stages in the customer journey. SEO allows you to target customers in each phase in the customer journey with specific content.

For example, some customers are just getting to know your company, others may be ready to make a purchase, and existing customers might have purchased your product and are now trying to figure out how to use it. By focusing on these different customers, you can create tailored content that addresses their needs at specific points in the customer journey.

Drawbacks of SEO

SEO takes time

More than 80% of organic traffic is generated from page 1 of Google. However, for any search term you will find hundreds of thousands of search results! Getting to page 1 of Google simply takes time. According to SEMrush, it takes between 6 to 12 months to start getting SEO results.

See SEMrush: How long does SEO take?

The Google Algorithms change

Google makes thousands of updates to its search algorithm each year! These algorithms rank webpages based on relevancy. Whenever the algorithms change, the resulting ranking for a particular search term may also change.

See BrightEdge: A Timeline of Google Algorithm Updates

SEO requires high-quality content

Google will likely produce hundreds of thousands of results for any given search term. The only way to stand out is to create unique, good quality content that answers the needs of your audience. But writing good content takes time!

Let's move on to PPC.

What is PPC advertising?

PPC advertising means placing advertising on search engines to improve the visibility of your website. Costs are usually incurred each time an ad gets clicked (cost-per-click or CPC) or by the number of impressions (cost-per-million or CPM). Search engines like Bing, Yahoo! and Google offer different ways to advertise, and social media like LinkedIn and Facebook also offer advertising platforms. In this article we will limit ourselves to Google Ads, since they compete directly with the organic search results on the Google search engine results page, and Google holds more than 90% of the market share.

See Statista: Worldwide market share of search engines

Advantages of PPC

PPC gives instant results

Google Ads allows businesses to quickly test different keywords, landing pages, ads, and bids to find what works best for them. In addition to being able to easily manage campaigns, it provides near-instantaneous results. You don't have to wait weeks or months to see results. With Google Ads, you can start seeing immediate results within minutes. This makes it easy to determine whether a keyword phrase is worth pursuing. If it doesn't perform well, you can change your bid price and try again.

PPC allows you to target your ideal client

With PPC marketing, you can pinpoint your ideal customer. You can find out what keywords are being used to find products or services like yours, where those customers live, how old they are, whether they're married or single, and much more. All of this information helps you narrow down exactly who you want to reach with your ads.

Paid Ads are above organic results of the search engine results pages

Paid advertising appears on the prime real estate at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). It will always be the very first item a visitor will see. It takes up to the first four positions on desktop and three on mobile phones.

There are 10 organic results on each Google page, but sometimes the ads dominate the search engine results so much that you have to scroll down the page to start seeing the organic search results.

PPC provides straightforward data

PPC ad campaigns provide you with real-time metrics. This includes everything from impressions and clicks to conversions and cost per acquisition. All of this information helps you optimize your campaigns quickly and effectively.

Google is also more open with its paid advertising information than with its organic search results. So when you create a Google Adwords account, you'll have a clear insight on the effectiveness of each search term and landing page.

Drawbacks of PPC

It's a big financial investment

The average CPC across all different industries is between US$1 and US$2. However, the cost can go up to about US$50 for competitive industries for example in insurance, mortgages and law. Mind you, this is just to generate PPC traffic to your website, it doesn't mean that you have gained a new customer!

See Wordstream: How much does adwords cost

PPC ads stop working if you stop advertising

Any dollar spent in January only has an impact on that month, and not on subsequent months. So Google advertising only produces results if you keep on making advertising budget available.

What is better for my business: SEO or PPC?

The debate over whether SEO or PPC is better for your business has been going on for a long time. There are pros and cons to each strategy. What is best for your business depends on many factors, such as the type of business you run, the competition in your industry, the available financial budget and in-house resources, and the objective you want to achieve.

Let's compare SEO vs PPC for different objectives:

Objective: return on investment

Winner in the short term: PPC
Winner in the long term: SEO

Paid Ads typically will use a substantially larger budget than SEO. Advertising campaigns can be quite expensive to run, and they are only getting more expensive. On the other hand, when you start an advertising campaign, then you get results very quickly, and you can improve them over time. So there is an immediate ROI to paid ads campaigns.

With SEO the situation is completely different. Just ask your self how often you have clicked on a search results on page 3 or 4 of Google! About 83% of traffic goes to the entries on page 1 of Google, and about 50% goes to positions 1, 2 and 3! It can take a long time before a web page is ranking on page 1 of Google, and therefore it generally takes a long time before there is any ROI from SEO. However, once a web page is shown on page 1 of Google, then it will likely generate substantial conversion rates!

Also, efforts on SEO will continue to benefit your business, whereas any advertising budget will only work for the period in which it is used, and the moment you stop paying for Google Ads, the leads stop coming immediately.

According to Quicksprout.com, here is what you can expect from an SEO and PPC strategy: SEO doesn’t produce great results in the first months, but they will pick up after about six months and the ROI will continue even after the campaign ends.

See Quicksprout.com: SEO vs. PPC: Which Should You Focus on First?

Objective: grow leads to your website fast

Winner: PPC

If you want to generate immediate sales, then Google Ads will deliver results. This is particularly true when you are trying to reach people with "purchase intent". If you want to reach people who are ready to buy at that very moment, then PPC is the way to go. When someone types one of your targeted search terms into Google, then they've already expressed an interest in your product or service. It makes them an ideal target for your advertising campaign.

Objective: brand awareness and exposure

Winner: SEO

There is a reason why 80% of web users ignore paid ads. They have more trust in the websites that are listed on page 1 of Google because they have achieved that position based on merit. A paid ad on page 1 of Google, on the other hand, is bought. As a result, users tend to trust paid search ads less. So if you want to build brand awareness, trust and authority, then it's best to stick with SEO.

Objective: targeting your ideal client

Winner: PPC

Knowing your ideal client and effectively targeting them is the basis of every digital marketing strategy. With paid ads, you have a lot of options to target your ad to a specific target audience. On the other hand, with SEO the possibilities are limited to targeting specific search terms.

Objective: having a predictable outcome from your marketing

Winner: PPC

Ultimately the Google search engine algorithms define how a website ranks for a particular search term, so it's difficult if not impossible to predict the results of an SEO campaign. With Google Ads, however, it is much easier to control the budget and fine-tune the campaign.

SEO or PPC? or SEO and PPC?

SEO and PPC can both be very effective online marketing tactics, and depending on the situation you may want to turn to one or the other. However, if you're really serious about the competitive position of your business, then you'll probably want to use them both.

See Search Engine Journal: How to Combine SEO & PPC Data for More Powerful Results

Here are some of the ways in which SEO and PPC, used together, will produce much better results than when you use just one of them.

Use PPC for keyword research

With Google Ads you can get feedback on the effectiveness of selected search terms very quickly. This information is very useful to select the target keywords for SEO. Essentially you would use the search terms with the highest click-through-rates in your Google Ads account, and use them on your web pages to optimize your website.

Get more conversions with remarketing

With SEO you can get more leads to find their way to your website. Then you can use Google Ads to create a audience from your website visitors and target them with a remarketing campaign. That way you can keep your business top-of-mind after a visitor has found your website through an organic search.

Use PPC to generate traffic while you build up your SEO

One of the main advantages of a PPC campaign is that the results are so much quicker to generate. You can set up your campaign and you will appear on the top of the search engine results pages almost instantly. So while you put in place a long-term SEO strategy you can use Google Ads to drive traffic to your website.

Use SEO and PPC at different stages of the customer journey

Paid search is great when someone has a clear intent to buy a product or service, while SEO is much better at creating trust and authority for potential buyers who are researching. Take advantage of this buy using SEO and PPC at different stages in the the customer journey.

A well-optimized website makes PPC cheaper and more effective

The factors that Google uses to determine the ranking of a web page for a particular search term are essentially the same factors that define the "Quality Score" in Google Ads, and the quality score is very important in determining how much you will pay for a click. So when you optimize your web page for search engine ranking you are actually reducing the cost-per-click of Google Ads!

Conclusion on SEO vs PPC: it's best to use both SEO and Paid Search!

So, which is better: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay Per Click (PPC)? They're both great digital marketing tactics, and they're both essential parts of your overall digital marketing strategy. However, there are times when one might be better suited for certain types of campaigns.

There are many reasons why SEO and PPC work together very well. They complement each other and can work hand in hand to achieve your desired outcomes.

So the bottom line is that businesses would do best to leverage both SEO and PPC in their digital marketing strategy.

How to Make Your Website Accessible

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 21:56:58 GMT

In Ontario, about 2.6 million people live with disabilities, which breaks down to roughly 25% of the total population . The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) protects people with disabilities. The law also covers accessibility of websites and mobile apps.

During COVID-19 the need for accessibility of websites and apps became all the more important, since so many people became dependent on web technology e.g. for food delivery, doctor visits and school. It is very likely that more and more websites will be scrutinized for accessibility.

What is the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)?

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is an accessibility law for public and private sectors in Ontario. It was written into the AODA in 2005 and has been updated since then. The current version of the legislation requires companies with more than 50 employees to provide access to their websites for people who use assistive technology. The Ontario provincial goal is to be fully accessible by 2025.

The AODA requires that public-facing websites meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A and AA criteria. T he guidelines include measures for many different disabilities. For instance, there are specific guidelines for video captions for people with hearing impairments, high contrast colours for those with visual impairment, and descriptive sound for people who cannot read or hear text .

How can I check the accessibility of my website?

Checking the accessibility of your website is easy.

Go to https://www.accessibilitychecker.org , type the URL of your website, and click “check website”. You will get a detailed overview of any issues your website is experiencing where it comes to accessibility.

It is important to note that the AODA is not a stagnant piece of legislation. Accessibility guidelines are updated regularly as the internet continues to grow and evolve.

How to make your website AODA compliant

Of course you can hire a company or a web accessibility expert to make the necessary changes to the website. Depending on the accessibility issues, this may cost a few hundred dollars or many thousands. In some cases it’s more expensive than simply creating a new website.

There are web accessibility plugins that can be installed on the website, but they typically don’t achieve full compliance, and often only achieve about 20% of the WCAG recommendations.

At Mawazo we offer the accessibility solution developed by accessiBe . This is an Artificial Intelligence solution that is implemented on the website and achieves full AODA compliance within 48 hours. The platform provides a full audit, and assists its clients when they are faced with a legal challenge of their website accessibility. The annual fee for this solution is $490 (~C$660) for websites under 1,000 pages, and $1,490 (~C$2,020) for websites under 10,000 pages.

What Will Happen If I Don’t Comply with the AODA?

In the USA, people with disabilities and their attorneys have filed lawsuits against companies for not making websites accessible to people with disabilities. This has affected large companies such as Dominos and Five Guys, but also smaller companies and shops that ended up with penalties of $10-$20K.

In Canada, there aren't many accessibility lawsuits yet, but this number is likely to increase over the next few years.

AODA non-compliance can cost your business significantly in time and resources. The AODA’s penalties are steep and can include a fine of up to $100,000 per day for corporations. Fines typically are much lower, but for a small company even a $10,000 fine can be a very heavy burden.

Making your website compliant is much less expensive than the cost of a fine, so there really isn't any good excuse for leaving your site open to the risk of a lawsuit.

Would you like to know more?

Why you should implement Google Analytics 4

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 22:16:03 GMT

If you get any data of your website usage, such as maybe the number of visitors it receives, then it’s likely that Google Analytics is installed on your website.

As of September 2022 your website probably still uses Universal Analytics (UA). However, there is a new version, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and UA will be discontinued in June 2023, so if you want to continue having information on the use of your website, then you’ll need to take action!

What changed in Google Analytics 4?

GA4 was developed to comply with new customer privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

In the process, Google redeveloped it’s analytics platform from the ground up.

Here are some of the main differences:

GA4 emphasizes what users actually do on your site. These are called ‘events’. This makes it easier to track the customer journey.
The new version of Google Analytics allows for customization, and it’s much easier to get the information that you need to make business decisions.
GA4 allows you to track data from your apps (iOS Android) and your website, and also makes it easier to track user data across different domains (i.e. different websites). This allows you to see unified customer journeys across different platforms.

Customizing Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 captures every interaction on your website or app as an event. By default, GA4 will be tracking common user interactions like page views, clicks and scrolling to the bottom of a page.

However, this data is not useful without context. For example, you are not interested in tracking every single click on your website, but you’ll want to know how many people clicked on the “sign me up” or the “download now” button.

Key Performance Indicators

As a business owner you’ll want to identify the Key Performance Indicators for your website, set yourself a target for these KPIs, and then set up GA4 to give you the data to measure results.

At Mawazo we like to use a simple model for these KPIs, based on the phase in the customer journey:

Attract > Engage > Convert > Retain

Attract: metrics on the potential clients you manage to bring to your website, for example through Google search, online advertising or social media

Engage: metrics on the process of engaging and nurturing leads, for example through newsletter signups, document downloads or enticing them to read blog posts

Convert: metrics on the times anonymous visitors choose to become leads for your business, such as the number of form fills and calls you get from your website

Retain: these are metrics mostly relevant for membership websites, course portals and eCommerce platforms, and indicate how successful you are to upsell existing customers or get referrals

Talk to a Professional about setting up Google Analytics 4

You can find many resources online about how to set up GA4. If you like that kind of stuff, then this can give you many evenings of entertainment.

For most of our clients, however, the learning curve would be too steep. We recommend to have GA4 set up by a professional, and customized to your needs. That way you don’t just get data on the use of your websites and apps, but actionable information.

Add something about the certification.

The Importance of Website Policies

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 20:15:57 GMT

It’s a federal requirement for Canadian businesses to have a Privacy Policy on the website. A Terms Of Service agreement is strongly recommended, and most companies would benefit from having a clear Disclaimer on their website.

Brown Laywers are specialists in preventative law . They can create Website Policies for your business. The alternative is to find a template online and publish it on your website. However, how can you have confidence that your Website Policies are legally sound, without paying your lawyer to write them for you?

Mawazo now offers an affordable solution: Termageddon is a comprehensive website policies generator that will update your website policies when privacy laws change or new laws go into effect, helping you stay compliant and avoid privacy related fines and lawsuits, and they do it at a fraction of the cost of a lawyer.

Interested? In this article we describe what a Privacy Policy and a Terms Of Service agreement is, and how we use Termageddon to make sure our clients are compliant with the law.

What is a Privacy Policy

A Privacy Policy helps website owners comply with privacy laws by providing specific disclosure requirements such as how their website collects, uses, and discloses personal information.

A comprehensive Privacy Policy is required to comply with privacy laws

Today’s modern websites are built to provide a great user experience and motivate prospective customers to reach out and inquire about what you have to offer. This is done through the use of tools such as contact forms, website analytics, and more.

Contact forms ask users to submit their ‘name’ and ‘email’, which are examples of personal information. When a website uses analytics, it collects each visitor’s IP address and shares that personal information with third party data analytics providers. These are just a few examples of the many ways websites collect and share personal information.

The collection of personal information is regulated under multiple privacy laws. For example, Canada’s privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) requires businesses to disclose a comprehensive Privacy Policy if their website is collecting the personal information of Canadians. Penalties for non-compliance can be substantial and can apply to businesses of any size.

In addition, Canada has recently proposed a new privacy bill, The Consumer Privacy Protection Act. If passed, this law will require companies to update their Privacy Policy with new disclosures. This law will also enable Canadians to sue any business for collecting their personal information without displaying a Privacy Policy that includes the newly required disclosures. This is a good example of the ever-changing nature of privacy laws and we recommend that you not only have a comprehensive Privacy Policy in place but that you also develop a strategy to keep your policies up to date when these laws are amended or when new laws are implemented.

Google requires your website to have a Privacy Policy

A website utilizing Google Analytics is required by Google to have a Privacy Policy. You can find this requirement within section 7 of Google’s Terms of Service: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/

What is a Terms of Service Agreement

A Terms of Service Agreement limits the liability of businesses by stating the rules to using the website.

Example disclosures

When a website offers links to third party websites, a Terms of Service can help explain to users that the business is not responsible if a user clicks those links. So, if a third party link brings a user to a hacked website, the Terms of Service disclosure can help prevent you from being sued.

A Terms of Service agreement can also provide a disclosure where people can contact you if they believe that you have infringed on their intellectual property. For example, if you accidentally use an image that you do not have the permission to use, this disclosure can help reduce the likelihood of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

There are many additional disclosures that a Terms of Service can make, but these two are the most popular and are easy ways to protect your website and your business.

What is a Cookie Policy and cookie consent banner?

Cookies are little snippets of code that get inserted into the user’s browser and device when visiting a website. They can help ensure a website properly functions (aka essential and functional cookies). They can also track website visitors for analytics and advertising purposes (aka marketing cookies). Several privacy laws, including Canada’s privacy law PIPEDA, require users to provide consent prior to implementing non-essential cookies on their browsers. This is commonly done through a cookie consent banner, which will ask your website visitors to choose their consent settings. It is important to identify what privacy laws apply to you, and determine if you are required to provide a cookie consent solution on your website along with a Cookie Policy further describing the purpose of each cookie.

How to get a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for your website

If you have the budget, we recommend hiring a lawyer that focuses on privacy law to write your website policies, monitor privacy laws, and update your policies when the laws change or when new laws go into effect.

If you do not have the budget to hire a privacy lawyer for your website policies, we recommend using Termageddon. This is a comprehensive website policies generator and will update your website policies when privacy laws change or new laws go into effect. Although Termageddon is a technology company (not a legal services provider), it was founded by a privacy and contracts lawyer and the tool has been recognized as a trusted tech vendor by the largest international privacy organization in the world (iapp.org).

If Termageddon sounds like a good solution for your business, the license cost is US$99 per year (~C$140). At Mawazo we will charge a one-time setup fee of C$150 to create the policy pages, insert/test the code and ensure your policies stay up to date with changes to the law.

You will have full access to your policies with your own Termageddon account, and you will be notified via email when new laws go into effect and when your policies are being updated or when new disclosures require additional questions that need to be answered.

How to get more positive Google Reviews

support@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 15:16:43 GMT

When your potential customers are searching for a local service, they’ll find three Google My Business Profiles on the first page of Google search results:

Most people will call one of these 3 companies for more information, and only very few companies will click on “More businesses” to find other suppliers. So being on this list of 3 companies on the first page of Google has an immediate impact on your business!

So what does that have to do with Google Reviews? Read on...

Why are Google Reviews important?

Business owners often get most of their business from word-of-mouth referrals by their clients. They realize that what their customers say about their business is very important to their success.

A review on your Google My Business profile is simply the online equivalent of a word-of-mouth referral, and getting customer feedback onto your Google Maps account is very important for your online reputation.

Here are some statistics from the annual BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey :

98% of consumers read customer reviews for local businesses.
81% of consumers read Google Reviews
77% 'always' or 'regularly' read them when browsing for local businesses

Source: BrightLocal

Google has made customer reviews one of the most important factors in its local rankings algorithm . The quality and quantity of your online reviews has a major impact on the search result. It is one of the main services we provide to our clients in local SEO (search engine optimization) services.

In fact, the importance of optimizing your Google My Business profile (now Google Business Profile) and getting positive Google Reviews have grown every year:

Source: Whitespark

In conclusion, if you want a potential customer to find your Google account, then you should get as many positive Google Reviews

In the remainder of this article explain how you can get customer feedback onto your company's Google Place account.

Tips on how to get more good Google Reviews

Let me start with assuming that you deliver a good product and provide good customer service. Only a happy customer will be willing to provide a 5-star online review, so an excellent customer experience is the starting point.

With that in place, getting more Google Reviews actually is a lot easier than you might think. It’s all about asking your customers for the positive review, and to make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Here are some practical tips to make it happen:

Ask your customer for a good review on Google Maps!

Stating the obvious here...

There is a saying in The Netherlands where I grew up, that goes like this: “You already have No”. It means that f you don’t ask, then then answer will always be “no”, regardless. So the only way to get to a possible “Yes” is to ASK!

Of course some ways of asking are more successful than others. Let me give you a few tips that make the asking more successful.

If your business has a lot of customers, then you’ll want to put a system in place to ask them for the review as soon as possible after the product or service is delivered, when the experience is still fresh in their minds. To some extent you can automate the process, for example by asking for a good review when you send out the final invoice.

Many businesses, however, don’t have many customers. That is true for our business as well. I’m finding that if I ask a client personally and individually and at the right time, then it’s very likely that I will get a the positive review I am looking for. I’ve had the most success when I asked clients at the time of an interaction I had with them, and when I used the words of the exchange in my ask.

Let me give you an example.

Just today I asked someone to give me a review. It was a potential client, and had spent some time to get to know his needs, the issues he was having with his web platform, and the options he had available to create a website for his business.

I had come to the realization that we’re not the best partner for his needs, and advised him to go with a different solution and a different provider. He was very thankful for my advice.

This was an excellent opportunity for a GMB review! This is what I wrote him:

“Hi, would you mind posting a GMB review? It would really help if you could write that I spent time finding out about your specific needs and advised you to go with a different solution that better fits those needs. If that's OK with you, then please head over here: https://bit.ly/Mawazo_review ”.

That brings me to the search terms to use in your ask...

Use important search terms and location names

When you engage with your clients and ask them to provide a review on your Google Business Profile, then you have an excellent opportunity to introduce three important elements to include in the review request:

the search terms you want to be found for, for example the services you provide;
your business name, and;
the location where your business is located.

So for example if we have created a website for a client in Burlington, then in my review request to my customer I will use the search term “web development company”, the business name "Mawazo Marketing" and the location name "Burlington",

Create a shortcut to your Google Reviews

Creating a Google Review for your business will take your customers a number of steps. Why not make it easy for them by providing a link that goes straight to the window where they can submit it!

Here is how you do it. Go to your Google My Business account on a desktop, click the Home tab, and find the “Get more reviews” card. Click the “Share review form”:

You’ll get a link that you can share with your customers to review your business on Google:

You can do this on your mobile device as well. Just open the Google My Business app , then tap “Customers” and “Reviews”. In the the top right, tap the “Share” icon . From there you can copy your short URL to share with customers.

Create a QR code for the Google Review page

Many people are comfortable scanning a QR code with their phone, so why not use that to make it easy for them to submit a review for your business? Use the Bitly QR code generator or the Cloutly Google review QR code to generate a branded QR code that takes your clients straight to the Google Review page.

Here is an example we created for our client A1 Security Systems :

Shorten the Google Review link

You can use the Google Review link in a button, or as a hyperlink, but sometimes you’ll want to use it offline, and in that case you’ll want to make the link as short and easy as possible. You can use a link shortener like bitly.com to shorten and even customize your Google review link.

For example, the review link for A1 Security is also accessible with https://bit.ly/A1_review . It’s much easier on the eye! Let me know if you need assistance customizing your link.

Make it easy for your customers

Now that you have a nice shortcut to your Google Reviews you can make it available to your customers so it’s as easy as possible for them. Here are some of the places where you can implement it:

On your website
In your email footer
In email newsletters
In client questionnaires
On door stickers
On flyers and other marketing materials
In social media posts
Etc. etc.

Google will actually help you with a free media kit which helps you promote Google business reviews. Click here for details

Follow Up

It's likely that most clients won't immediately post a Google review for you. They may have the best intention but things happen and there are many tasks for a business owner on any give day!

If your client hasn't posted the review after a week, then I suggest you follow up with a gently reminder, and continue to do so for three weeks. Getting customer reviews is important to get a good Google rating and attract future customers, so it's worth spending the time to establish a solid process and even make the effort to create a system of automated email or SMS reminders.

So far for some easy tips on how to get more good Google Reviews. In the remainder I'll give some quick answers to questions we often get on from our clients:

Should I pay for Google reviews?

Some companies pay for reviews, for example by giving a discount or incentive in exchange for it. This is against Google’s terms of service, and it’s best to stay away from that practice.

Here is an article that mentions some of the risks:

paid-for reviews be removed by Google when they are found
Google’s algorithm will penalize your SEO traffic
you run the risk of a customer mentioning the incentive in the review which would defeat the purpose altogether.

Should I embed Google reviews on my website?

Yes! Embedding Google reviews on local business website establishes trust and authority, and gives future customers peace of mind.

The best way to embed a Google review is to pull it directly from the Google account, rather than to copy the content and paste it on your website. There are many tools that can handle this functionality easily. We use Repuso to show selected reviews on each page.

This approach has the following advantages:

It's more trustworthy, since there is a direct link to the Google Business Profile
You can select which customer reviews appear where, so you can match the words used in the review with the topic of the web page.
When a new review is submitted you can very easily assign it to a particular web page, without having to manage the content on your website.

You can implement this functionality on your WordPress website using a plugin, or on any other website platform with simple code that is easily implemented without having to touch the website code.

Here is an example of how we implemented Repuso for our client Digital Fire , an outsourced IT company in Oakville:

How should I handle negative reviews?

Some businesses manage to get only 5-star reviews from their customers, but most will get a negative review once in a while. And that's OK. You can turn a bad review into an opportunity to make a positive impression.

Here are some ideas on replying to negative Google reviews from the support article How to reply to both positive and negative reviews :

When you get a bad review, then respond as fast as possible;
Don't take the review personally, remain friendly and polite;
Find out what the situation is before you reply, and make sure you provide details on what happened and how it will be fixed;
Show empathy for the issue, and apologize when appropriate;
However, don't apologize for problems that your company hasn't caused but use the opportunity to clarify the issue;
Invite the customer to get in touch for a discussion and offer to make your best effort to solve the problem;
Be authentic and personal. If you're the business owner of a small business, then handle the situation personally and sign off with your name or initials to show that you’re taking the matter seriously.

How can I remove fake reviews?

Sometimes people post reviews on the wrong Google account, either intentionally or by accident. Unfortunately as the business owner you will not be able to remove a fake review. This can only be done by the person who posted the review, or by Google.

So the first step would be to immediately reply to the review and inform the poster that you can't trace the incident and ask for more information. Again, you should show empathy and understanding for the problem described, but don't apologize for something your company didn't cause, and suggest that this is likely posted on the wrong Google account.

If the review is not removed by the poster, then the next step is to inform Google. They will check the post against its content policy and will remove fake Google reviews and inappropriate reviews from your account. Here is the Google support page on How to remove reviews from your Business Profile on Google .

So there you have it. I trust that these practical steps will help you generate more Google Reviews for your business. It will definitely help you grow your online reputation and improve your ranking on Google Maps!

Need help generating more reviews? Creating a steady pipeline of reviews isn’t easy. Book a call with me with this calendar link and we’ll talk about your needs and how we can help you.

Google Search Engine Results Page Explained gives more information on Google search results/
Local SEO With Google My Business describes essential steps to claim your Google Business Profile and optimize it.

Mawazo: Efficient Recruitment in a Highly Competitive Job Market

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:33:52 GMT

Attracting ideal candidates and efficiently evaluating, communicating and selecting the right candidate

The Problem

The Recruitment Marketing service was born out of necessity. At Mawazo we needed to hire applicants fast in a difficult labour market where many companies were vying for the same jobseekers.

Engagement Details

We established a marketing approach to announce vacancies, as shown on this page on our website . It's a long form sales letter with videos which was advertised for one week on all relevant recruitment platforms and attracted more than 100 applicants between 23 and 26 December 2021.

Applicants were asked to complete ten questions, which included open and multiple-choice questions, audio and video recording, spreadsheet manipulation etc.

There is even a simple DISC personality test which we use to review if a candidate’s personality matches the needs of the position and the team.

The Result

Our AI-supported recruitment platform (a software partnerships) allowed us to screen these applicants efficiently and qualified ten applicants which we invited for an interview.

We were able to hire Kristelle within 2 weeks of her application from a pool of more than 100 applicants, over the Christmas and New Year period in 2021!

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phase 4 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

How Google’s update may impact your revenue

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 17:10:14 GMT

In November 2021 Google launched one of the largest updates to its search algorithm, which may have affected your local search results. In this short article I’ll give an overview of the changes we have seen, and how they may affect your web search results.

What are local search results?

Say you want to find a local bakery. If you search for “bread” on Google then you’ll get generic search results such as bread recipes or the history of bread:

However, if you search for “bread near me”, then Google will show the top 3 bakeries in your proximity:

Most of the traffic generated from this search will go to the companies in this “3-pack” of local search results. Do you see the “More places” button at the bottom of the image? Few people click on it to find more search results!

Why should you care?

Local search results are important if you offer a local service either from your location, or by technicians going out to install or repair something, such as an automatic door or security system.

Here is an article that shows you how you can optimize your Google Business Profile and get discovered by new customers, stand out from competitors, and generate more business.

Often, clients will contact you directly from the information on Google Business Profile (GBP) without ever visiting your website. We know that, because we install a call tracking number on their GBP. It’s very common that more than half the phone calls come directly from that number!

That’s right, more than 50% of the phone calls our customers get are generated from their Google Business Profile, not from their website!

That is, if their company is shown in the local search results… That’s why much of our effort goes to getting our customers into the “3-pack” and keeping them there. We track local search results with a diagram that shows the ranking in a grid around the office location, like this one for our client Horton Automatics of Ontario for the search term “automatic door repair”:

The Google “Vicinity” update

In the last 5 years some companies have been able to rank much further from their location than others. They have been able to overcome the ‘proximity factor’.

The latest update by Google is called the “Vicinity Update”, because it puts a much higher value on proximity, and makes it more difficult for a company to rank high in a large area. Many businesses that were dominating local search results in a wide region have seen a decline in their Google ranking.

This is especially true for companies that have used keyword-rich company names, e.g. a lawyer with "Injury law" in the business name. This dental office photographed by my friend Dan Gershonson of High Caliber Branding have probably seen a substantial drop in their local search results:

The latest Google update is an opportunity for your business

Many companies are still not using their Google Business Profile for lead generation. This is especially true for large and well-established B2B field service companies. They often have a well-established name in the industry and locations throughout the country. However, they often don’t take advantage of the opportunities to rank their local offices well in a Google search.

The good news is that the recent Google update presents these companies with a timely opportunity to establish a local search position for their locations. The Vicinity update has somewhat levelled the playing field by removing the possibility to easily rank outside of your local area.

Are you interested to find how you can generate more revenue by improving your local search results? Book a meeting with me now and I’ll show you how you can improve the local ranking of your business.

In the meantime you can get your free local search report with the link in the top of this page, under the heading “GET YOUR FREE SEO REPORT”. Just type in your business name and click on “Get your report”.

Customer Journey: use content to engage leads

thomasghess@gmail.com (Thomas Hess) — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 11:39:19 GMT

The customer journey is the sum of all customer experiences when interacting with your business. Every touchpoint adds up to a total customer journey from their first Google search to their most recent customer service experience. And in today's digital world, there are countless touchpoints to consider. Therefore, taking charge of your customer's path with your business is critical to creating a smooth journey that builds loyalty and encourages return business and many referrals.

Where the Sales Funnel fails

Marketers have long held to the idea of the sales funnel. It suggests that you start with a large target group and squeeze a few clients down through the small end of the funnel.

Many marketers use this model, but there are a few critical issues with it:

Buyer behaviour has changed a lot. Customers make about 60% of their B2B purchase decisions before they even talk to a supplier. If they decide they have a problem, they'll go out and proactively try to find a solution.
The sales funnel suggests that the buyer's journey is straight and predictable. However, in today's digital landscape, this is rarely the case. Much of the buyer's journey today happens without our knowledge and participation.
It neglects to address what happens after a buyer has made a purchase. What about repeat business? What about referrals? What about making a client a promoter of your brand?

Here's the main thing that the marketing funnel neglects to address – when it comes to lead and referral generation, a happy customer is your best tool. After all, most companies, especially in B2B, list referrals as their main source of new business!

The Marketing Hourglass

At Mawazo Marketing, we use a more holistic and practical approach to guide the customer journey from beginning to end. It's called the Marketing Hourglass, and is proprietary to Duct Tape Marketing. At Mawazo Marketing we are a certified Duct Tape Master Consultant.

The Marketing Hourglass is a way of thinking about the customer journey. It starts with a prospect getting to know your company and goes all the way to when they've become a happy repeat customer, ready to refer friends and family to your business. It covers the dozens of different points of interaction that your (potential) client may have with you, such as the initial purchase, getting support, or paying your bills.

The Hourglass will allow you to map the progress the customer takes from discovering your business to liking and trusting it, then to trying your product or service and making an initial purchase, and finally making a repeat purchase and referring your company to their network. Breaking it down into small parts allows you to successfully build systems that deliver value and create positive interaction with your audience:

Know – The first step is for a potential customer to get to know your business. In this phase, we use articles that get found in search engine results. In this phase, we also use digital advertising and referrals from existing customers.
Like – Once you attract visitors to your website, you have to give them a reason to come back and an opportunity to relate to your business.
Trust – With continued engagement with your audience, you develop a relationship, trust and authority. In this stage, sharing Google reviews, success stories, and client testimonials is essential.
Try – For many companies, it is possible to offer a trial version or evaluation product. That allows your audience to try your solution at low risk. Other elements in this phase include in-depth information such as eBooks, Webinars and detailed how-to information.
Buy – In this phase, you want your audience to pay for your solution. It is vital to give your customers the best possible user experience. This phase's activities and content is about creating customer delight and exceeding their expectations.
Repeat – Once you have established a commercial relationship with your clients, you want to motivate them to continue to do business with you, e.g. with repeat purchases, service contracts and opportunities to upsell and cross sell.
Refer – The Marketing Hourglass journey is about turning happy clients into referral partners and brand ambassadors. You do this by creating a great customer experience and by providing opportunities for your clients to refer you to their network.

By taking the marketing hourglass approach, you set your business up to create momentum from an end-to-end customer journey.

Start with auditing customer touchpoints

The first step is taking stock of how your business engages prospects and customers. It describes the baseline of how your business currently interacts with prospects and clients and helps you understand how your prospective customers make a buying decision.

It affects all departments in your business that are in touch with customers, mainly Marketing, Sales and Service.

We use a simple but effective model to map out all customer interactions which you can download here :

The idea is to list all interactions you have with prospects and customers. Some touch points may be planned and scripted, and others may happen accidentally. Some necessary interactions may not happen, and you will recognize them because that square on the sheet will remain empty.

Here are some widespread gaps we have seen in the B2B businesses we work with:

A gap from transaction to implementation: marketing and sales got the order, but what happens next?
A common mistake is to believe that all you have to do is run ads and respond to requests when, in fact, many potential buyers want hand-holding and nurturing to know you'll deliver on your promises.
Referrals are the most important source of new business for most of our clients, but only some companies have a process to get referrals from their clients.

Map the customer journey and construct your marketing hourglass

At each of the stages, your clients will have questions they need to have answered. If you answer them objectively and in detail, you establish your company as the authority in your industry!

So, to effectively build your Marketing Hourglass you must fully understand the questions of your prospects and clients at every step, even before they know that you or your solutions exist.

The next step is to identify how you can answer these questions. It involves creating content in the form of web pages, articles, emails, brochures etc. In other words, you need content for every phase of the customer journey!

We will now go deeper into the Marketing Hourglass stages and give you ideas for the type of content you need for each step.

Know

The Know stage is where people first become aware of your business and solutions. Here are the most common ways to reach your target audience:

Create content that gets found in Google search results when people type in a relevant search. It includes writing articles that answer the most common questions your target audience is asking. Your sales team is an excellent source of information for this content. After all, they are always answering questions that prospective customers ask them!
Digital advertising, such as Google Ads, and social media ads, leads potential customers to useful content such as eBooks and webinars.
Give presentations at industry events such as conferences or Chamber of Commerce meetings.
Provide relevant information on your social media platforms, informing your audience about what's happening in your industry.
Creating a process that makes it easy for current customers to refer your business to their network is also a great way to generate awareness with new prospects.

Like

In this stage, you want to give website visitors a reason to convert from anonymous visitors to consumers of your information and engage with your company. In addition, you'll want to provide reasons for your audience to receive more information and permit you to engage with them. It can include:

eNewsletters to nurture leads and demonstrate your expertise and experience;
a sequence of articles and other resources covering a specific topic in the form of an eBook or email series;
white papers and in-depth reports on the topics your audience is interested in;
webinars that offer your audience the information they need to make an informed decision.

Trust

In this phase, you give your audience all the reasons to trust your company and your solutions. It is the most time-consuming phase and also the most important. The more a potential customer authorizes your company and the more you establish yourself as an authority in your field, the more your prospects are likely to buy from you.

Examples of activities and content include:

Inviting existing customers to post Google reviews on your Google Business Profile.
Getting other websites to link to your content is an excellent way to establish credibility and authority.
Case studies that show how you have helped a customer solve a problem.
Publish client testimonials, quotes and customer-generated videos on your website.
Webinars that provide helpful content and demonstrate your expertise.
Publishing deep and detailed content such as eBooks.
Having a solid proposal creation process that answers the needs of your clients.

Try

Many companies skip this phase. Still, it is often the easiest way to move your target audience toward purchasing your solution, especially in industries that are very competitive and highly-priced.

Here are some of the activities and content you can use:

Offering a trial version or evaluation product, or a free trial period
Providing in-depth information such as eBooks, webinars and detailed how-to information.
Publishing content that compares your solution to your competitors' offering as objectively as possible.
Organizing workshops that give potential customers a taste of your products and services
Offering ready-to-use material such as checklists and cheat sheets.
Offering a low-cost audit or review with recommendations for improvement.

Buy

Once your clients pay for one of your core solutions, you will want to give them the best possible user experience and show actual positive results. If you exceed your client's expectations, you will set yourself up for success in the subsequent two phases.

Here are some of the activities and content in this phase:

Creating a smooth and fast onboarding process
Providing your customers with quick start guides and robust user manuals
Establishing an excellent support team to help your customers solve problems, and with a customer support community
Customer success stories show how other clients have successfully used your solution.

Repeat

It is much easier and cheaper to get repeat business or upsell to an existing client than to start the sales process at the first "Know" phase. In this phase, your activities and content are all about cementing the customer relationship and growing the commercial relationship with your client:

Keep your customers informed of all other products and services your company offers and how they integrate with the solution they are already using.
Offer service and maintenance contracts to avoid break-downs and make the overall cost of ownership more predictable.
Keep your customers informed about what's happening in your industry with email newsletters.
Offer education in the form of workshops and seminars.
Provide feedback on reporting so your clients can see a measurable impact of working with you.
Organize customer events to your customers can get advanced information and engage with your team and with other customers. It is also a great way to get your customers to create and share content about your solutions.
Stay in touch regularly, with an occasional phone call or sending a handwritten note.

Refer

Referrals are the primary source of new leads for many businesses. However, most companies don't have a structured process to get referrals from their existing clients! In this last phase of the Marketing Hourglass you will want to establish campaigns and content to turn your clients into referral partners and brand ambassadors. It's a very reliable method of bringing new leads to your business.

Here are some of the things you can do to make that happen:

Create a transparent referral process and execute it diligently. Inform your clients up-front, at which point you will be asking them for a referral, and make it as easy as possible.
Entice your team and your clients to introduce your company to their network, e.g. a gift certificate.
Establish a network of referral partners with the same target audience and possibly a complimentary product or service.
Create eBooks, videos and teaching events and offer them to your strategic partners to cobrand and present to their clients.
Create a results review process where you help your client measure their results by working with your firm and use the information to reach out to other companies in a similar position.
Create a list of ideal prospects you would like to be introduced to, and ask your clients and your network for these specific introductions.

How content shortens the sales cycle

Each stage of the customer journey requires specific content relevant to your audience at that time. For most companies, this means they need to create a large amount of content to answer the needs of their clients.

This seems daunting, and companies often wait to start the process altogether. But, unfortunately, that is a costly mistake. Companies that fail to help their customers along the way on every step of the customer journey will depend on accidental referrals and cold outreach by their sales team.

On the other hand, companies that actively guide their customers along the customer journey with relevant content, find that it shortens the sales cycle and makes it much easier for their sales team to seal a deal.

Here are some of the reasons:

Company websites will start ranking for relevant search terms so that the company website will attract many more leads.
Prospects are much better informed when they engage.
Sales managers spend much less effort when they can send relevant content to individual leads.

Over time, creating relevant content for the Marketing Hourglass will lead to more business and sales.

How much content do you need?

So, how can a company cover all clients' needs at every stage of the customer journey without becoming a task that takes over the operations?

First, many companies have much content available within a company in the form of manuals and training. You can easily repurpose this material to enrich your web presence with content to educate potential clients. For example, you can convert videos of training seminars to educational videos, which you can transcribe to written blog posts. Each blog post can be repurposed into bite-sized chunks and posted on your social media platforms and Google Business Profile.

Partners and suppliers can be part of the content creation process. Often, they have specific knowledge and expertise that you can tap into to get engaging content.

Most importantly, however, it is crucial to get your whole team engaged in the content generation process, especially a company's sales team. After all, sales managers answer most of your client's questions in the sales process. They likely get the same questions asked over and over again. It's easy to create relevant content by getting a content writer to interview each sales manager and create blog posts based on the material collected.

Conclusion

It's essential to guide your customers along the individual stages of the customer journey. The Marketing Hourglass is an excellent method to cover all the steps. It helps you guide your prospects from getting to know, like and trust your company to trying and eventually buying your solution, becoming a repeat customer, and eventually referring new leads to your sales team.

For each step of the Marketing Hourglass you need to create excellent content in different forms, such as articles, videos and social posts, and use it in your digital marketing.

Helping your customers along the customer journey requires that you publish relevant content that answers any questions they may have. In addition, it establishes your company as an authority in your industry, makes you visible in Google search engine results, generates leads for your business and shortens your sales cycle.

It's essential to include all relevant departments in your company to generate the campaigns and content necessary. It should consist of all departments participating in client interaction, mainly the Marketing, Sales and Service departments.

A Marketing Hourglass is never really done. Instead, you will discover where people need to move to the next step more quickly. That's where you want to develop actions and content to help them along in the customer journey.

You can use this framework whenever you enter a new market or develop a new solution. It helps you create an end-to-end customer journey for every offer.

Das Parts: Warehouse Management, eCommerce & Bookkeeping

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 14:52:44 GMT

Dramatically improved efficiency of operations with a custom warehousing and inventory system, integrated with an eCommerce website and Quickbooks Online

About the Company

Das Parts is a one -stop-shop for all things Volkswagen and Audi, with certified Volkswagen mechanics and almost 5,000 SQFT of new and used parts.

In 8 years they have dismantled more than 300 cars so that the parts could be reused and recycled. VW owners travel from far to their Cambridge, Ontario location to buy quality used car parts.

www.dasparts.ca

The Problem

The business grew quickly, and they were not able to update their operations to meet the growth. The operations of Das Parts became inefficient, with a lot of time spent on finding parts in their enormous warehouse and managing information.

There was no inventory system to track car parts, and sales, warehousing and invoicing were all handled separately.

The cost of operations was high, and the sales process was dependent on what was in the head of the business owner.

Engagement Details

Das Parts turned to Mawazo Marketing to create a warehousing and inventory system which would work seamlessly with an eCommerce website, all integrated with their Quickbooks Online (QBO) bookkeeping.

Prototype Development

We created a prototype to capture the client requirements in detail, and ensure seamless connectivity with their QBO account.

eCommerce Website

The eCommerce website provides customers easy ways to find parts such as entering their car details to find compatible parts, browsing through categories, or starting from the specific car the team of Das Parts dismantled to find the parts that came from it.

Warehouse and Inventory Management Backoffice

We developed a barcode system for the warehouse to manage storage locations, and to label new parts. Staff can now scan a part to find the location in the warehouse. Sales of parts are automatically removed from inventory, whether purchased online or in the shop. This also automatically updates inventory within QBO.

Integration with QuickBooks Online

We worked with Das Parts to improve their QBO setup:

Automatic creation of invoices from in-store and online orders.
Detailed reporting on revenue and profit.
Synchronization of inventory.

The Result

The result for the business is dramatically improved efficiency of operations and inventory management, and reduction of cost. With improved insight into revenue and costs the leadership can make more informed strategic decisions for ongoing growth.

Testimonial from Anita Stefanovic, Co-Owner of Das Parts

The Mawazo team designed and built our e-commerce website, with a fully integrated inventory management system. The whole process of working with Liza and her development team was a great experience, with the highest level of professionalism, knowledge, understanding and patience. Beside all the great advantages of having a fully digitalized online presence, with the web "application" of our company’s internal structures, we are now also able to greatly benefit from the following:

streamlining and significant time savings on general operational tasks required for our product preparation, involving such processes as vehicle dismantling, parts testing, cleaning, cataloging and getting inventory online and on the warehouse shelves,
providing and storing all the necessary inventory information on one place, with instant access, what gives us up to date overview and understanding of our current stock and orders, enabling us to make more informed business decisions,
increasing sales revenues, as a direct result of reaching a much wider range of customers through our online store.

The launch of our new website was a long anticipated big moment for us, and represents a significant growth for our small business. Thanks Mawazo

Anita Stefanovic, Co-Owner

Das Parts

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 2 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Evaluate your Online Presence

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 03:05:03 GMT

Let me share a phone call with you that I got from a business owner recently: “Hi there, our website doesn’t generate any leads. Can you please freshen it up with a new design? You can just use the content of the old website”.

Can you relate to this? It happens all the time. Many business owners still see their website as a “brochure on the web” to describe their products and services.

It’s important to understand that a website is found on Google when it has relevant content and will generate leads when it solves the pain of a potential client. A ‘fresh’ version of the website with the same structure, content and functionality will not move the needle!

So let me give you a simple framework to evaluate your online presence. First I’ll show you how to check if your ideal clients can find your website when they do a Google search, and then we’ll look at what your website needs to attract leads for your business.

Does your website get found in search engines?

The objective of Google is to offer the most relevant results for the searches of its users, and the best possible user experience. Google’s search engine performs almost 6 billion searches per day, so they’ve had a lot of experience in fine-tuning the algorithms!

Below are some quick and easy checks to see if your website is set up to be found online.

Check the pages on your website. Is there a separate page for every product and service, and does it have at least 400 words of relevant information? A nice design and pictures don’t help to get found on Google!
More than 50% of internet traffic is on mobile phones, so mobile friendliness is an important signal for Google ranking. Check here if your website is mobile friendly.
A safe browsing experience is in everybody’s interest. See if your website URL begins with “https,” which indicates it has an SSL certificate. Then click on the padlock icon in the address bar to view the certificate information.
On the internet people have a short attention span, so your website needs to be fast. Check the performance of your website here . Does your website get an “A”?

Like a book, every web page has a title that helps Google identify what it is about. It’s the most important real estate on every web page, but you won’t see it on the page! The Title Tag is easy to identify by hovering your mouse over the tab in your browser. Does your page title simply state “home” or does it have a carefully formulated unique sentence of about 65 characters to show what the web page is about?
Have you ever wondered how Google knows that the numbers on your website indicate a phone number? A file on your website contains metadata that shows the name of your company, your address, products and services etc. Here is where you find your structured data schema information .

This is by no means a complete list, but if you score well on the below points, then chances are that your web developer has done what is needed. If your website fails even one of these tests, then chances are that your website can be improved to do a better job at generating leads for your business!

Does your website appeal to your Ideal Client?

Many people never take any action on your website. They remain anonymous visitors instead of self-identifying as a lead by filling in a form or calling your number.

It’s important for business owners to realize that their web visitors are not there to read about their products and services, but rather to find a solution to their problem or desire. The message is that your website is not for you, it’s for your ideal clients. Having an online brochure for your company really is just navel-gazing…

So, how do you create an online presence that generates leads for your business and converts them to clients? Here are the main ingredients:

Does your website tell a story from the perspective of your client? Successful websites clearly identify the target audience and their pain points, and then set up to address the need and explain how they solve the problem. Here is the acid test: if your website focuses on who you are and what you do, then there is an opportunity to improve!
Does your website give a clear plan to solve your client’s problem? Clients don’t want to know all the details of what you will do for them, they simply want to see a process of 3 or 4 steps that gets them from where they are now, to where they want to be.
Do you provide a bold Call To Action? Potential clients usually do not take action unless you challenge them to do so. Make it easy for them by clearly laying out how they can contact you.

Are you making the decision easy for your clients? People tend to be afraid to choose the wrong solution. Is there a warranty you can give them to make the choice easier? This could be a trial period, or a clear return policy.
Are you showing your authority? Visitors to your website want to be comforted that you are the right partner for them. Give them trust and show them your authority and reputation with testimonials from your clients, certificates, achievements, case studies etc.
Does your website include video content? Currently about 80% of online traffic is video content. Viewers will retain your message much better when they watch it in a video, and often don’t even read all the content on your page.

Again, this is not a complete list, but if you keep these main points in mind then your website is set to appeal to your ideal client, and will perform much better in generating new leads for your business.

Platform to Manage Thousands of Pages on Two Websites

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 13:35:12 GMT

Taxonomy and Intuitive Web Platform to manage more than 7,000 pages of content on two separate websites

About Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is the national association of evangelical Christians in Canada. Since 1964 the EFC has provided a national forum for Evangelicals, fostered ministry partnerships, conducted research on religious and social trends and provided a constructive voice for biblical principles in life and society.

The Problem

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada needed a new presence to give their audience access to the thousands of pages of content they have generated for denominations, ministry organizations, post-secondary educational institutions and individual congregations. The information needed to be made accessible in an intuitive manner. They also wanted to integrate their publication Faith today and manage both web presences from the same platform.

Engagement Details

We assisted EFC with the creation of a solid taxonomy for their vast content library. Five individual Themes were created to structure the content with 29 individual Topics relevant to one or more of these themes. The content structure was translated into a prototype showing the website architecture .

Based on the prototype we built the websites for EFC and for Faith Today, making all information accessible on an intuitive web platform with a visually appealing user interface. The website also integrates with a third party solution for non-profits to facilitate donations and donor engagement.

www.faithtoday.ca

The Result

The EFC website was launched in January 2017 with about 5,000 pages of content. Over the years we have seen massive improvements in traffic and engagement. The number of users has grown more than ten-fold from about 9,000 in 2016 to about 120,000 in 2021, generating almost 300,000 pageviews per year.

EFC currently manages more than 7,000 pages of content on both websites with an efficient content management platform. Their team of web editors work from different locations throughout Canada, and content is published using a sophisticated content staging and approval process.

Testimonial from Joel Gordon, Creative Director, EFC

We had the challenge of making a vast content library available to different types of stakeholders, in a user-friendly way. Mawazo helped us create a solid taxonomy, clear site architecture and a visually appealing and intuitive website.

The backend allows content creators and editors across the country to put their content online. Each phase of development was completed in a timely way while still allowing opportunities for us to provide feedback. Mawazo’s technical proficiency, attention to detail and excellent project management skills allowed us to build a custom website that will serve us for years to come. We continue to have a great working relationship with Mawazo, and I’m happy to give them a reference.

Joel Gordon, Creative Director

Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 2 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Check Core Web Vitals Now if You Want to Rank on Page 1 of Google

thomasghess@gmail.com (Thomas Hess) — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 19:05:28 GMT

In June 2021 Google will be rolling out the biggest change to its search ranking algorithm in recent years. It’s called Core Web Vitals and is part of the Page Experience metrics Google uses to track the user experience of your web pages.

It will have a large impact on the results on Google’s search engine results pages, so website owners should take notice and prepare. If your website offers its visitors a great experience already, then the introduction of Core Web Vitals will likely mean that your results in Google search rankings will improve. If not, then your rankings may drop.

This post gives you as a business owner the tools to check your own website and instruct your marketing team or web developer. You don’t need any technical expertise or web development skills.

We’ll give you a practical overview of:

Core Web Vitals and the role they play in Google’s update
The benchmarks you need to hit to keep your website competitive
A free tool you can use to detect any problems on your website
Practical tips to test your website for specific issues without needing any knowledge in web development

How does Page Experience Influence Google Search Results?

Google’s objective is to deliver the best possible results for any search term of its users. The content of your web page is the most important component: if the web page answers the question of the web user, then Google will show it in its search results pages.

However, with millions of web pages with relevant content on every conceivable topic, how does Google decide which page shows on the first position and which page is relegated to page 3 and onwards and never found?

The answer is in the page experience. If a web page delivers not only relevant content, but also a good user experience, then it will rank well in Google search results.

What are Core Web Vitals and how do they define Page Experience?

Core Web Vitals is a page experience metric that Google will use to determine the experience a web visitor will get when they land on a web page. The objective is to make that experience as pleasant as possible with a web page that loads quickly and focuses on elements of interactivity and visual stability.

Over the years Google has introduced a number of updates with that objective, such as mobile friendliness, security and page loading speed. The Core Web Vitals initiative adds new measurements to the mix and helps website owners to continue to focus on delivering a great customer experience.

Here is an overview of the metrics that Google considers important for user experience:

First a quick review of the existing metrics:

Mobile-friendliness : does your website show well on a mobile phone? You can test this with Google’s mobile friendly test .
Safe Browsing : this basically means that there is no malware on your website. You can test this with VirusTotal which uses over antivirus scanners and blacklisting services to see if your website has been flagged for malware.
HTTPS : has an SSL certificate been implemented on your website? Here is a blog on everything you need to know about SSL certificates
No intrusive interstitials : these are difficult to close popups that cover the content on your page and forces the users to close the pop-up just to continue reading.

Core Web Vitals will be added to the Page Experience signals. It refers to three different metrics on page speed and user experience:

Largest Contentful Paint : how fast does the page load, how quickly do you see the content?
Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how long does it take for the web page to become interactive and respond to user activity?
Cumulative Layout Shift : how long does it take for the web page to be visually stable and for page elements to stop shifting around while the page loads?

Largest Contentful Paint

The first metric is Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and refers to the loading speed of the page. The page speed matters a lot because pages that load slowly provide a poor user experience, and results in people leaving your website without reading the content. The effects of a longer page load are quite immediate:

If page load time increases from 1 second to 3 seconds, bounce rate increases 32%
If page load time increases from 1 second to 6 seconds, bounce rate increases 106%
(Source: support.google.com)

LCP measures how long it takes for the largest bit of useful content to be displayed so you can start viewing it. It generally looks at the largest block of text on the page.

Benchmark :

Good: below 2.5 seconds.
Needs Improvement: 2.5 to 4 seconds
Poor: more than 4 seconds

You can check your LCP score with Google PageSpeed Insights (and a bunch of other tools I am about to show you).

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) - (formerly First Input Delay)

If the content of a page is loaded, but the user can’t interact with it e.g. by scrolling the page, clicking a button or filling in a field, then it’s a frustrating experience. Interaction to Next Paint (INP) refers to interactivity on the web page and measures how long it takes before you can interact with it.

This metric really depends on when a user interacts with a page and how long it takes for that interaction to take effect.

Benchmark :

Good: 200 ms or less
Needs Improvement: 201-300 ms
Poor: more than 500 milliseconds

Cumulative Layout Shift

While a page is loading, the elements on the page may shift around before the page becomes stable. This can lead to unexpected consequences, such as pressing a button just when a shift happens, and you end up tapping on a different button.

Layout shifts are normal to some extent, but the quicker the page stabilizes, the better. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how many elements have shifted on the screen before the page becomes stable.

Benchmark :

Good: 0.1 or less.
Needs Improvement: 0.1 and 0.25
Poor: more than 0.25

How to measure Core Web Vitals for a website

Google will measure Core Web Vitals on the basis of real anonymized user data from Chrome users. This information is available in Google Search Console, which is a free tool that we set up for each of our clients’ websites.

The problem is that this information builds up over time, so depending on the traffic to your website the Core Web Vitals information may not yet be available in their Google Search Console account.

Fortunately you can get a good approximation of Core Web Vitals with “lab-based” web performance tools such as www.GTmetrix.com . This free tool allows website owners to check the core web vital metrics.

GTmetrix does a great job at tracking Largest Contentful Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift, but it can’t replace the actual users to measure Interactive to Next Paint.

Instead, it approximates NIP with the metric Total Blocking Time (TBT), which tracks how much time is blocked by scripts during your page loading process.

So head over to GTmetrix and test your website!

How to Interpret the Core Web Vitals data from GTmetrix

Getting the Core Web Vitals for your website is as easy as heading over to www.gtmetrix.com and typing in your website address.

Note that the results are for an individual web page, and not for your entire website. You can use this test for a few different web pages on your website to get an idea on how well your website is doing.

Below are the results for two pages on the website of our client A1 Security Systems in Oakville to illustrate the results:

And here are the results for the business security systems page:

Here are the scores:

As you can see the results for this website are pretty good, with only the CLS score needing some improvement.

Tips on Improving Core Web Vitals on your website

If your website scores well on the three metrics, then you’ll probably see an improvement in your search engine ranking scores from June onwards!

Alternatively, if you are not scoring well on one or more of the metrics, then you’ll find some straightforward checks you can do below, and tips on how to get your team to improve the Page Experience of your visitors and raise your Core Web Vitals score.

Tip 1: Check your web pages for ‘heavy’ content

“Below the fold” refers to the time of newspapers on the stand, where editors would make sure that the most impactful content was placed on the top half of the front page. The “above the fold” content on a web page is the content that you see on your mobile or computer screen before you start scrolling.

How to do it

Right click on the image and select “Save image as..”:

Then save it on your computer and check the file size by right-clicking it and selecting “Properties”. Large images may be up to a few hundred KB, while small images don’t need to be more than 40KB. If your images have a larger file size, then let your team optimize and compress the images.

We use tools like Photoshop and Irfanview to optimize the images for our clients’ websites. Irfanview is a free image editing software that is very powerful and relatively easy to use. Here is a link to our client user manual for image editing in Irfanview .

It will show you in simple steps how to improve a pretty poor image, crop and size it, and compress the file size:

If you’re looking for a quick solution without editing your images, then the websites tinyJPG and tinyPNG will do a great job at compressing images. Just drop your image on the site and download the compressed version!

Tip 3: Check Server Response Time

If your server is slow, then it takes longer for your web visitors to receive the content.

How to do it

Check the Time to First Byte (TTFB) score with GTmetrix. It identifies the time it takes for your visitors to receive the first information from your website. Google suggests having a server's response time lower than 600 milliseconds.

If your server is slow, then ask your team to do one or more of the following:

Change your hosting provider
Optimize your server
Implement a content delivery network (CDN)
Implement server caching

Tip 4: Check for unused code on your website

Your web page is generated by computer code like JavaScript. Your web page may contain code that is not used, which can delay the loading of the web page. It’s very easy to check, just follow these steps:

How to do it

Right-click and choose 'Inspect'. A new window will appear.
Select the 3 dots at the bottom of the screen and choose “Coverage”

Then click the “reload” button. The web page will reload and show you how much code is unused:

In this example two-thirds of the code is unused, and the download speed of the website can be improved by your web developer.

Tip 5: Check if your web page specifies the height and width of images

When a web page is being built up, then the web browser can reserve space for any image even before it has loaded, as long as the height and width of the image are identified. If the image size is not specified, then a “layout shift” will likely occur once the page is fully loaded.

How to do it

Right-click an image on your website and click “Inspect”. A new window will open which shows you the code of your web page, with the code for the image highlighted. Check if the code shows the height and width of the image:

If it doesn’t show the height and width, then that may cause a “layout shift” when the page is loading. Your web developer will be able to make that improvement.

Shopping Website integrated with Spire Business Management Software

Tue, 11 May 2021 13:37:31 GMT

Drastically improved overall efficiency by integrating the AutoValet shopping Website with Accounting, Sales and Inventory.

About the Company

Leysons Products is a leading manufacturer of car detailing products for owners of car dealerships. These end customers of Leysons are often frustrated with shrinking margins in the industry, and are looking to increase profit by finding alternative revenue streams.

Auto Valet is a Leysons line of car detailing products that help them with a complete Car Detailing Profit System with the right products, tools and training to grow profitability from their detailing operations and sell used cars quicker and at higher margin.

The Problem

Auto Valet needed to increase awareness of their brands to their product end users, so that these customers would know to request the Auto Valet products from their local distributors. The incentive for choosing Auto Valet products over competitive products, was the unique “detailing system” crafted by Leysons Products. Using this system, with specific Auto Valet for each step, guarantees successful results.

Leysons Products needed to provide product details on the website, but without adding work for their team.

Engagement Details

Mawazo completed a streamlined technical assessment of the internal business systems and operations within the company. We then provided recommendations on how to increase the quality of information available on the website, while decreasing the efforts needed by their team.

The Technical Assessment Recommendations included:

feedback on the current ERP solution in place
details on how to improve the way in which the data was organized within their existing ERP (data model)
a plan on how to enable communication between the ERP and the new planned website
a defined separation of information to be managed within the ERP versus the website CMS (Content Management System), as the most efficient approach

With cooperation from Leyson Product’s ERP team, a system was created to schedule a daily synchronization of the product information to the website.

Another objective of the website was to promote the Auto Valet Detailing System, which was achieved by providing the customer various methods of understanding the relationship between products and detailing steps on the website.

www.autovalet.ca

The Result

The AutoValet website showcases products in an easy, user-friendly way and allows customers to obtain the correct information for each product.

It showcases interactive features connecting back to products.

The website connects the brand with distributors and provides customers with an easy way to access products in their area.

Testimonial from Mary Copley, Marketing Coordinator, Leysons Products

We have successfully launched a customized brand website with Mawazo. Working through Mawazo’s web development process we effectively:

outlined the UX design using wireframes;
graphicly designed the website using our brand features (including design recommendations for the best online experience), and;
developed the website based on the determined wireframe and graphic pieces.

Thank you, Mawazo team, for your dedication, professionalism, and care in the successful completion of the website!

Mary Copley, Marketing Coordinator

Leysons Products

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 2 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Heuristic Evaluation can unclog an App or Website

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 15:54:05 GMT

Great user experience and design is vital to ensuring that your digital environments run smoothly.

In fact, the all-encompassing concept of User Experience (UX) and Design touches every aspect of your business, from product design and manufacturing to data management methods. That’s because nearly all tasks we undertake in a day can be reduced to negotiating systems of operational steps - systems that require usability and user interfaces; all of which are merged to create specific and various design intentions. Apps, Websites, In-store Kiosks, Automotive Heads Up Display (HUD), Smart TVs and Consumer Electronics are all expected to meet usability standards.

How users navigate, interact with, and, ultimately, feel while using or visiting your digital environments is integral to company performance. Will the digital environment change the user’s daily habits, will users answer a call to action, choose to read more, successfully change volume levels at night, submit forms without error, complete purchases, or even share content? As with any system in life, be it playing a board game, changing radio stations in a car, or removing water from a kitchen sink, effective and streamlined UX & Design from the ground-up is key to success when it comes to all that is digital, including your website .

What if your existing website has sprung a leak?

Say you’re receiving customer feedback - user complaints about your site not working properly, that it’s confusing, frustrating, or the illusive “counter-intuitive”. Users might be inundated with poorly organized information and the cognitive load can leave them overwhelmed.

In UX-talk, these grievances (and other issues the user may not even be aware of) fall under the catch-all term “friction”. Friction happens, and the subsequent dissatisfaction often results in users bailing on the process. Worse, for every complaint you receive there are likely other users whose boredom outpaces their irritation and who will abandon ship without taking the time to provide the critical feedback you need to locate and address the leak or blockage in your pipes.

This is where a Heuristic Evaluation comes into play.

Heuristic evaluations can vary greatly in scope, and there’s no singular silver bullet when it comes to fixing usability issues. However, in a digital environment, Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design continue to command and influence UX design in all digital environments for the better. The “Heuristics” are widely used by designers worldwide to gauge and evaluate the usability of online destinations and solutions.

A Heuristic evaluation is an exhaustive process by which a skilled UX professional goes through your digital solution with a fine-toothed comb and systematically roots out every snag or inconsistency that is jamming up the works. In doing so, they will consider ten “Heuristic” usability principles to steer the procedure. These principles that are integrated in UI and UX design are convoluted and complex, though they may seem straightforward, and can overlap with each other in a plethora of ways. Though a UX design expert knows it’s all in the details, it’s worth learning the broad strokes when planning your digital strategy, experiences and the best ways to diagnose problems. A good way of familiarizing yourself with these concepts is by considering them while actively engaging with any digital solution from the perspective of a user.

The Big 10 Usability Principles

1. Visibility of system status

Most UX issues can be traced back to this principle, which is essentially keeping the user informed of what’s happening. What steps of a process have been completed, how many remain? Is the process really complete? How would they know? Is there a need to enforce or reinforce active or inactive elements? Where can shoppers attain their receipts? Are push notifications part of the solution? Are notifications read, unread or new information? The failure to understand the interaction states of your solution could annoy users and cause less desirable outcomes like ditching a shopping cart and losing a sale; simply due to a lack of transparency of delivery dates. Even large platforms that display data can lead to unfavorable outcomes when the reported data lags and said delay is not indicated or acknowledged. This leaves the actual status of the process unknown, while the user-given status is assumed to be current - though it might be 10 minutes old.

2. Connection between system and the real world

Designing intuitive tools for a digital environment means anticipating the user’s “mental model” of how they engage with their tangible surroundings - what habits are embedded in their memory and muscle memory? This can be as simple as traffic light concepts or on-off concepts which are derived from electrical states, or something as sophisticated as swipes, drags and pinch gesturing functions in a mobile app. Ignoring the principle creates a counter-intuitive way of interacting with your digital environment and unexpected outcomes for your user, which may lead to frustration and loss of interest.

3. User control and freedom

It is important that a user feels free to navigate easily while using your solution or product. This means that the user should not be led down a path from which there is no way to escape, cancel, or return to an earlier page without losing information. It can also mean providing tools that suit the needs of various users, such as keyboard shortcuts for more advanced users.

4. Consistency and standards

Your digital environment should have a consistent set of patterns. Interaction patterns and visual design patterns (aka. Design System) ensure that the user knows what to expect and, more importantly, knows how to behave within the provided product or solution. The interaction method and presentation layouts should be part of a design system that is comfortable to use and easy to understand at every point. This is most apparent in social platforms where interaction patterns like a double tap are pushed forward and re-written to create a new meaning,therefore forming new trends and or shifting the previous meaning. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat have their own set of interaction and design patterns that work for their business. If you borrow a page from the “social app” business, establishing your own set of “UX patterns” or following existing patterns in a consistent manner is likely to have a positive outcome and create a better understanding of how your digital environment is used.

5. Error prevention

Look for potential errors before they happen! Eliminate dead ends and other forms of friction that could confuse, frustrate, or lead the user astray. This is similar to create safety protocols for a construction zone. Marking areas to inform or reinforce expectations is necessary to prevent accidents from occurring. A digital solution without the consideration of this principle has debilitating outcomes.

6. Recognition rather than recall

Reinforce and confirm what the user has achieved by making states and options visible. Re-inforce what occurred and where users are in the process instead of assuming ‘they’ will remember.

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

Like principle three, this principle is concerned with how a variety of users interact with your digital product. Ensuring flexibility and efficiency for the user can mean providing a selection of ways for a user to engage, such as shortcuts or customization options for a product or service that are easy to understand and use. In short, the design should consider both inexperienced and experienced users.

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

Contrary to how it sounds, this isn’t necessarily about keeping your UI style sparse and white, but rather considering the most efficient and streamlined way for your digital environment to function.The goal is to guide your user through your product without any unnecessary embellishments, movement or distractions. Sometimes a dynamic design may contribute to such complications With less competing elements, information can stay relevant and easy to access.

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Not all doors are equal. Entrances and emergency exits have a specific purpose, and so do the functions within your digital environment. Understanding the boundaries of a function or digital product should not happen through trial and error. However, if such an error occurs, this principle is meant to enforce its recognition and subsequent recovery. To recover means to provide a solution. This can be achieved with visuals or through language. As an example, providing the option to undo an action allows users to adapt without frustration. A good example of this is providing an “undo” action in case an item was archived by accident. Providing the ability to recover something that was not meant to be archived best showcases this heuristic principle.

10. Help and documentation

It is fair to assume users will simply “get” what was built; but that is never the case. This principle, when applied correctly, involves additional UX and Design attention for areas of concern that could lead to problems in understanding. The principle also helps to inject concrete steps that add clarity and remove doubt. It is important to provide the user with help in situations where they may feel lost or stuck. A common approach to provide any additional explanations is to provide friendly FAQs and support contact options; however, it is most important to present the information in context and at the moment that the user requires it.

Great UX is comprehensive, and the prospect of deconstructing your digital environment, mobile app or website, to overcome existing obstacles can be daunting - but we’re here to help.

In performing a Heuristic Evaluation service, our UX Design professionals will not only diagnose and address current issues that are keeping your digital investment from performing correctly, but will be there to guide and support you through the process. You’ll feel confident in recognizing potential “clogs” and in a better position to remove friction, making for a better and user friendly solution that will benefit current and future business.

Create Backlinks for your Website to rank on Google

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 21:21:24 GMT

There are many ways to create more traffic to your website. Creating relevant content that is geared to the needs of your ideal audience has to be the starting point. In most cases that will propel your website onto the first page or two of Google search results.

However, climbing the search rankings further and eventually reaching position number one will be hard with just good content. That’s when building backlinks to your website becomes important. It’s one of the oldest methods in search engine optimization, and still one of the most important.

What are Backlinks to your Website?

A backlink or inbound link to your website is when another web page links to your site. They are like ‘votes’ for the popularity of your website. They are the most important ranking factors in the algorithm of Google, and very important to how well you rank for a specific search term. Basically, the more other websites link to your website, and the better the reputation of those linking websites, the better your website will rank in Google and other major search engines.

Here is a quick overview of different types of backlinks:

Internal and External Backlink

External backlinks are links from other websites to your website, whereas an internal link points to other pages on the same site. Internal links are easy to create, since you have full control over your own website. They do contribute to search engine ranking, but as you can imagine are far less important than external backlinks.

Follow and Nofollow Backlink

Backlink checkers will also indicate if a backlink is a “nofollow” link. A standard backlink will give value to your website, much like the popularity vote described above.

A nofollow link tells Google's algorithm not to pass on any value to your website. These nofollow links are used when websites have no control over the links that appear on their pages. Examples are directories such as YellowPages or Yelp, or social media platforms like Facebook and Linkedin. Whenever you are able to create a link to your website yourself it is quite likely that it will be a nofollow link.

These nofollow links will benefit your website, but it’s much less beneficial than a standard backlink. So in your link building strategy you will want to concentrate on getting followed links!

Different Types of Anchor Text

The anchor text of a link is the clickable text that the visitor sees on the web page. Here are the different types of anchor text and examples:

URL : The link shown is simply the URL of your web page, e.g. “www.mawazo.ca”.
Exact Match : The link contains the relevant keyword phrases, e.g. “website development”.
Brand : the link is the name of your company or brand, e.g. “Mawazo Marketing”.
Compound : the link is contains keyword phrases as well as other words, for example “Search Engine Optimisation by Mawazo Marketing” or “best methods for search engine optimization”.
Natural : where the anchor text is words like “Click here”, or “homepage”.

For best results it’s important to have a backlink profile with a variety of anchor texts, but only few Compound and even fewer Exact Match links. If your link profile has too many Exact Match phrases then it is a signal that the backlinks may have been purchased and not natural link obtained by publishing quality content, and Google may end up penalizing your website.

What Backlinks do you have, and how many do you need?

The first step is to do a backlink audit: find out which websites are currently linking to your website.

There are many free backlink checkers available. Ubersuggest is a great SEO tool and free to use for up to 3 backlink reviews per day. It will give you an overview of the backlinks to your website, the authority of those websites, the type of links used etc. You can export all links and create a spreadsheet to track them. This will give you the starting point for your link building strategy.

With the same approach you can also get insight into the backlink profile of your closest competitors. This will help you understand how many links you need to add to your profile to improve your ranking in the Google search results. Choose the backlink profile of your most important competitors as a benchmark and set out to beat them!

A few words about Domain Authority

I’ve already mentioned that getting quality backlinks is just as important as having a sufficient quantity. The better the reputation of the linking websites, the higher the impact on your search engine ranking.

An important measure of the reputation of a website is its “Domain Authority”. This is a number between 1 and 100. The higher the score the better the website’s reputation and the higher the value of a backlink from that website.

Ubersuggest will show the Domain Authority of any website:

How to get Backlinks to your Website

Over time pretty much every website will get backlinks from other websites, but it’s a slow process. To get your website to rank on page one of Google will almost certainly mean that you need to actively reach out to the admin or webmaster of another website and ask for a link to be placed. If your content benefits their users, then they may place that link.

In the remainder of this article I’ll give an overview of the steps to generate backlinks:

Create great content
Create a list of backlink Opportunities
Link Building Outreach Campaign

Create great Content

If you don’t have meaningful content, then it will be very hard if not completely impossible to get a quality link from other websites. So creating relevant content is the starting point in your link building strategy.

It’s important to note that your content will have to be unique. Google has become very good at spotting plagiarism, and will flag your blog post or article if it is not at least 70% unique. You can check your content with plagiarism tools such as offered by Grammarly and SmallSEOTools .

There are different ways to create content and use it to generate backlinks. Here are some examples:

Skyscraper Technique

One of the most effective ways to create backlinks is to write a better and more exhaustive piece of content on a particular topic than what is available on the web. When your content is published you can reach out to the owners of the websites that link to your competitor’s article and ask them to replace the backlink with a link to your, better, content.

Guest Posting

Many websites will allow you to create a page of relevant and unique content, typically about 800 to 1,500 words, and submit it to the owner of another website as a “guest post”. The owner of the blog or website may allow you to put one or more links in the text body, or in the “About the Author” section.

Interviews

You can interview someone who is important in your industry. The interviewee will likely link back to your content and share the interview with their followers.

Press Releases

Creating a press release is a great way to create a backlink to your website. It involves writing newsworthy information and distributing it on PR platforms where you can submit paid or free info on your services.

Once you have a good website with great content in place, and you have optimized the pages for search engine ranking, then you are ready to establish backlinks from other websites.

Create a list of Backlink Opportunities

The next step is to create a list of websites that you would like to get a backlink from. Here are some ways to find opportunities:

Opportunities in your Network

This is an often overlooked strategy. If you're a business owner involved in the community then you may be able to get links from an article in the local newspaper, your membership in a local business network, or a charity you sponsor.

Mentions of your Business without a Backlink

Sometimes other websites will mention the name of your company without actually linking to your website. A great way to find these opportunities is to set up Google Alerts . Whenever your brand is mentioned you will get an alert. Don’t forget to add the quotes to get relevant search results:

Once you find an unlinked mention then you can reach out to the webmasters of these websites and ask them for a backlink.

Competitor Backlinks

In the same way you used the backlink checker to find the backlinks to your website, it can also help you find backlinks to the sites of your competitor. These great opportunities for building links to your website, and when you’re successful it also reduces the number of unique links your competitors may have!

Topical Research

When the above easy backlink opportunities have been exhausted then the next step is to find websites that may be interested in linking to your website based on the topic.

Guest Posting

You can find opportunities for guest blogging with a Google search. For example if you wish to publish content on a manufacturing blog, then you can search for “manufacturing guest post” or “manufacturing write for us”:

Broken Links

When a website links to a page that doesn’t exist any more, then it’s called a “broken link”. When visitors click on the link they will get an error message. It can also negatively affect the search engine ranking of the linking web page.

Website owners therefore don’t like to have such broken backlinks on their website. As a result, broken links are a great opportunity to build a quality backlink to your website: find a broken backlink and reach out to the website owner to warn them of the problem and suggest replacing it with a link to a valuable resource on your website instead.

A great free tool is Ahrefs broken link checker :

These are some of the ways to create a list of backlink opportunities. Ideally you create a spreadsheet with all the information necessary to reach out to the webmaster such as the URL of the page, the relevant page on your own website, the type of backlink, and any contact information you can find to open up communication.

Once you have completed your list it is time to start your outreach campaign:

Link Building Outreach Campaign

When you reach out to website admins it’s important to understand what the benefit is for them to link to your website. After all, if there is no benefit, then you don’t have a chance of achieving your goal!

As Neil Patel points out in his blog “ how to build backlinks ”: most webmasters will be interested to place a link to your website only if:

The content is relevant to their site
The content is detailed and deep
The content is well written
The site is legitimate

Keep that in mind when you start your outreach campaign. Give the webmaster a good reason to link back to your content by creating detailed and relevant content and show how it will add value to their visitors!

The next step is to decide which link building opportunities to focus on. This will depend on a number of factors:

The domain authority of the website.
The cost, in time or money, to pursue a link.
Whether you have been able to find the contact information of the webmaster.
Whether you have good content already, or will need to create content for the campaign.

Once you have created a shortlist of links it is time to start your outreach campaign. You’ll contact each webmaster individually, probably by email. If they are like you, they’re probably getting 50 to 100 emails per day, if not more. So simply using templated emails will likely not do the trick...

Be genuine and personal in your email, and make sure you clearly communicate the value you’re offering to their users. If you offer value, then it’s a win-win situation and they’ll be more likely to give you the backlink you’re after.

The process can take some efforts. Sometimes the person you’re communicating with will not be very conversant with managing their website, so you may have to spend some time explaining what you’re proposing.

Sometimes you’ll need to follow up a few times before the backlink is created. This is likely not going to be a priority for the person you speak to, so a gentle reminder may be necessary. Keep track of your communication so you don’t lose the opportunity...

In Conclusion

Link building is an important activity to get your website ranking well in Google search results and a main focus in SEO. With a consistent and systematic approach it will generate great results. If you prefer to spend your time growing your business, then please reach out for a no-obligation strategy session to discuss your digital marketing needs!

Digital Transformation Starts with Digital Strategy

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 21:46:31 GMT

We are often asked why we are so involved in the world of data modelling, digital transformation and digital automation.

The answer is quite simple: As a Digital Agency, everything we do revolves around data. We start with crafting a strategy based on business data and market research. The strategy leads to the goals that must be delivered by digital marketing leading prospects to a website that converts them into engaged customers.

Web Development

Our focus in web development is to design a content structure and functionality that will engage visitors and lead them to interact with your business. Their interaction can have various forms, such as newsletter subscriptions, product purchases, product or service enquiries, contact form submissions, and more.

The information displayed on webpages and captured by a website must be in a format that is usable by all areas of the business.

We can use an ecommerce website as an example, which is a website that is selling products:

For greatest efficiency, you will want the inventory of the products to be managed in a central database. This could be the website database itself, but it could also be an existing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning software), or it could be your financial software. The inventory management, invoicing, pricing, and more, is related information to the products. The relationships between this data should be automatically created by actions taken and presented in a way to ensure the integrity of the data and be efficient in its management

This means when a customer is shopping on your website, they will see products that are available in inventory at their current price. When they purchase a product, the inventory is reduced and their account is charged and added to their profile with your business. If they purchased the last product in stock, the product is automatically removed from the website as available for purchase.

The product inventory may be managed in a separate application within the business, such as an ERP. The website will synchronize the sale of that product with the ERP data automatically, so that all applications show the same information, in real time.

Our approach to Website Architectural Design takes all of this into consideration.

When your customers buy your products online, you will want to know if they are existing customers or new customers. If they are existing customers, all of their transactions should be related so that you can see the full history of each customer. This is important in the backend design of your website so that this full history includes online purchases as well as offline purchases. You want a holistic view of your customers’ behaviours so that you understand them well and can design new ways in which to engage them.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing encompasses a wide range of channels, including content marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing, social media marketing, and online advertising. A digital marketing strategy defines the goals for marketing efforts which are measurable .

In order to understand the return on investment for digital marketing we help you define the value of leads generated. This calculation is done based on various data that should be available by the business, such as how leads have been generated in the past, how many have become customers, how much these customers spend, if the customers are repetitive customers, etc. This dollar value per lead allows you to evaluate a reasonable budget to invest for marketing, and what should be expected as results to make the return on investment reasonable.

In order to capture the path of a customer from a lead to a customer, the website and any other related applications must enable the tracking of this customer through the sales cycle and invoicing. This data capture should be as automated as possible so that reporting and analysis of marketing performance can be ongoing for continued improvement.

The measurement of digital marketing success, and insights on how to improve campaigns, is completely dependent on the ability to capture relevant data.

How to Get Started

The review of your business processes and current software ecosystem is referred to as a “Technical Discovery”. If you are interested in finding out where your business has opportunities to reduce operational costs or increase efficiencies, find out more about starting your Technical Discovery.

Start focusing on your business strategies rather than spending your time in your business.

How to improve your business processes

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 00:02:39 GMT

Are you still using Excel spreadsheets to manage your information? If your answer is “yes”, you are not alone.

Many businesses are struggling with how to tackle the never-ending challenge of increasing efficiency in the way that they do things, and therefore reducing costs. Whether it is capturing customer information, scheduling resources, or passing data from one business department to another, businesses are stuck in a rut doing things the way they have always been doing them.

Though we are living in a digital age, many businesses have not yet taken action to plan their “digital transformation”. Many business owners may even wonder why it is necessary, since Excel has been working for them for decades.

What are the possible benefits of a digital transformation?

The digital transformation of your business processes could offer a great detail of benefits, particularly in increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.

Here are some examples:

Improved Customer Relationship Management

Capturing the data about your customer is vital to all touchpoints you have with that customer. This is not just about their contact details but also their engagement with your business. Knowing how a customer engages with you provides insight into what is important to this customer so that you can use that knowledge in your outreach to encourage ongoing engagement.

Increased Productivity

Data management is vital to all businesses, small and large. Whether you use Google Apps or SAP to manage the storage and sharing of your information, the approach must be well thought out and maintained. Having a good data model and digital tools (custom web applications or softwares) in place ensures that your team has what they need to do their work at any given time. Their jobs are made easier and they are able to do more with their time.

Reduced Costs

The time spent on operational processes and the costs that result from human errors are greatly reduced by the automation of tasks and the appropriate management of information. Your business can run on cruise control, saving costs on unnecessary resources or redundant tools. You can now divert your investments from day-to-day tasks and putting out fires, to strategies to grow your business further.

Increased Customer Loyalty

Maintaining digitized information makes it possible for clients to have real-time information available to them. Whether it is via your customer-facing team, or whether it is direct access online, this is a valuable advantage you offer your clients. With this clear differentiator in your market, you promote loyalty from your customers.

Why Digital Transformation is Important

“Digital transformation” is the trending term to describe the upgrading of your business processes to use technology to increase efficiency and reduce longer-term costs. This means that you would no longer capture information about your customers or resources in an Excel spreadsheet, and then send it to various other business departments to use for their operations or payroll. All departments will rather have access to a centralized database of this information, presented to them in a manner that is useful for their specific needs.

The investment needed for your digital transformation is an investment for immediate return in efficiency, and longer term return in cost reduction.

Where to Start in Assessing Your Processes

This may seem like a daunting task, but it does not need to be. In most cases, there are simple, practical and logical steps that can be identified and digitized.

Start by asking yourself and your team a few questions:

How do you capture information?

How is information currently captured? Do you have a lot of paper forms that are used?
If paper is used, is that information then made digital somehow, by entering it into a spreadsheet or software?
Do you have multiple spreadsheets or softwares that store information?
If so, does any of the information overlap? Should some of the information be combined to give you a better understanding of what it means from a higher business level?

If you have answered “yes” to any of the questions above, it is time for you to review your processes and design the best approach for your digital transformation.

How many people need access to that information?

Do you have information captured by one department for a purpose and then transferred to one or more other departments for other purposes?
How is this information passed on? Are there separate files, physical or digital, that are passed on?
Do you find that there are mistakes or gaps in information as it is shared amongst the departments?
Is time wasted on information being passed back and forth between departments?

If in asking these questions you discover that there is time wasted or mistakes occurring, it is time for you to review your processes and design the best approach for your digital transformation.

How do you manage which people see/access which information?

Do you have information that should be shared with departments or particular team members?
Do you have information that is available to team members but you prefer that it would not be?
How do you manage what is shared and what is not?
How do you manage what is editable and what is not?

If answers to the above do not come easily, it is time for you to review your processes and design the best approach for your digital transformation.

Find Out Why Your Data Model Is Important to a Digital Agency

How to Get Started

The review of your business processes and current technological ecosystem is referred to as a “Technical Discovery”. If you are interested in finding out where your business has opportunities to reduce operational costs or increase efficiencies, find out more about starting your Technical Discovery.

Start focusing on your business strategies rather than spending your time in your business.

Create a Core Message that Attracts Clients

thomasghess@gmail.com (Thomas Hess) — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 17:35:52 GMT

When someone asks you what you do, what do you say?

People buy products or services because they heard or read words that make them buy. Often this means they don’t buy the best product, but the product they understand the fastest. If your prospects don’t immediately see what’s in it for them, then their brains simply turn off and you have lost an opportunity.

That’s where many business owners struggle. They can’t clearly explain what they do. They may start with a history of their company, or with a listing of their products or services. This will almost certainly lead to their audience losing interest very quickly!

Are you struggling to explain what your company does?

What you need is a good story to inspire your audience and motivate them to take action. It should capture the essence of what you do, how you do it and why. Once you have a good story, then you’ll find that writing marketing copy becomes easy. It will help you connect with your ideal customers whether you use it to write the homepage for your website or create your elevator pitch.

So how do you develop this core story and core message?

First I’ll briefly describe the effective story framework by Donald Miller in his book “Building a Storybrand”. If you follow the process, then you will end up with a single sheet of paper that has all the elements of your story.

In the second part of this post, I’ll give you the step-by-step process to create a story for your company using this framework, and a oneliner that explains who you are and what you do and appeals to your ideal client.

Let’s dive into story-telling first!

The Storybrand Framework

In every story there is a Hero , and the hero has a need she wants to fulfill. There wouldn’t be a story if the hero could easily fulfill that need! Fortunately for our story, there is a Villain who creates a Problem that the hero must overcome. The problem causes the hero to experience a frustrating situation and the audience sides with the hero. If Luke Skywalker is the hero, then Darth Vader is the villain.

At a time of despair, a Guide will come into the picture. With empathy and authority, he will guide the hero by providing a simple Plan and by removing fear. In the early Star Wars movies, Yoda fulfills the role of the guide. Nothing happens unless the hero takes action . The guide gives a clear and immediate Call to Action to help the hero avoid Failure , and guides her to Success . The End!

An example: “Hunger Games”

Here is how this storyline plays out in the movie “Hunger Games”:

Katniss wants to protect her family and survive. The Villain is an evil government that puts her in a tournament. She faces the problem that she must kill or be killed. She is overwhelmed by that thought and it’s just not right for kids to have to kill for the amusement of an audience.

Along comes Haymitch, the winner of a previous tournament. He becomes her mentor and comes up with a plan to win over the public. This gives Katniss more sponsors and increases her chance of winning.

He convinces her that she must fight to prevent her from dying. Ultimately she achieves success: she survives and district 12 rejoices.

Here is a quick video that explains Storybrand in 3 minutes.

Read on to find out how this applies to your business!

Creating the Story for Your Business

How can you use this framework for your business?

Define Your Ideal Client

It starts with realizing that the story is not about you, but about your client. By placing your client at the center of your core story, you will create a message that resonates with them.

So writing a great core message starts with knowing who your ideal clients are:

Which of your clients are the most profitable?
Which clients have the values and attributes that you appreciate most?
Who do you enjoy working with?
Who refers you to other prospects?

Those are the clients you will want to focus on. Find out what matters most to them. Ask them why they chose your company, and why they stay with you. Then use this information to build a clear Buyer Persona. This is described in detail in How to Define your Ideal Client .

What’s the Problem and who causes it?

Your Ideal Client has a need they are trying to fulfill, a problem they are trying to solve. If the problem isn’t significant, or if they could solve their problem themselves, then they would not become your client and there wouldn’t be a story!

So your challenge is to find out what frustrates your ideal client. What would trigger your ideal client to start looking for a solution to that problem?

It’s important to look beyond the surface. What really frustrates your client will not be a practical issue, but rather emotional. For a landscaping business for example, the problem of the ideal client will not be that his grass is too long, but that mowing the lawn will take away from the time he can play with his kids, or that his yard will look worse than his neighbour’s.

Become the Guide in helping your Clients

Your first impulse may be to place yourself at the center of the story. In fact, many websites do exactly that. Does your homepage have a picture of your company or your team, and a menu starting with “about us” and “our services”? Then your website is about you. However, based on the above you know that your Ideal Client should be at the center of the story.

So where do you come in?

You are the Guide, helping your clients to fulfill their needs and solve their problems.

You establish a position of authority based on your expertise,
You help your clients by providing a clear and simple plan to reach success,
You offer them a guarantee or warranty to make the decision easy,
You give them a reason to like and trust you by providing testimonials, case studies et

Define a Differentiator to set yourself apart from the competition

To be successful in the marketplace, your business will need to have an approach that differentiates you from your competitors. If you create a very clear niche for yourself, then you become unique in the eyes of your prospects and customers, and there is no competitor. In your story you want to have a clearly defined Differentiator and set yourself apart from the competition.

The best way to find your Differentiator is to ask your clients! In a 10-minute interview you’ll find out what they appreciate most in working with you. Google My Business and social media are also excellent sources of information. Read the reviews your clients are giving you and find the common denominators. They give you valuable insight and often show you exactly how you are different from your competitors.

You can find a complete review on creating a Differentiator in the post How to Define Your “Differentiator” .

Provide a clear Call to Action

Your prospects won’t take action unless you show them what the stakes are. Give them a clear picture of the cost of failure, and offer a clear vision of success: what will your client’s life look like if he succeeds? In your story, you need to explain the loss your prospect will experience for not doing business with you and offer a vision on how your product or service will positively affect their lives.

A step-by-step formula for creating your Core Message

Now let’s put this knowledge to use and create our Core Message. In the following steps we collect all information we need and then narrow it down step-by-step to formulate your elevator pitch.

Create Buyer Personas of your Ideal Clients

Your Ideal Clients are profitable and refer you to their network. Here is a simple method to find out who your Ideal Clients are:

Create a spreadsheet with your customers in one column. Then create the following columns:
Revenue (in dollars)
Profitability, ranked from 1 (best) to 5 (least)
Joy to work with, ranked from 1 to 5
Likelihood to refer, ranked from 1 to 5
Choose the clients who are profitable and nice to work with, and refer you to their network.
Create a list of “must-have” attributes and eliminate clients who don’t have these.
Create Buyer Personas of your Ideal Clients. Focus on their needs and frustrations, their aspirational identity and the transformation you can achieve for them.

This is described in detail in How to Define your Ideal Client .

Formulate your Differentiator

Set yourself apart from your competitors by defining a clear Differentiator:

Analyze your competitors and identify how you are different
Interview your Ideal Clients and ask them what they appreciate about your product or service
Check reviews on Google My Business and Facebook and find the common denominators.

These steps will give you the ingredients to define your Differentiator or Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Check out the blog How to Define Your “Differentiator” for more detail on this step

Create your Brand Story using the Storybrand Framework

Between the Buyer Persona of your Ideal Client and the General Statement, you now have all the elements you need to create your Brand Story with the Storybrand Framework.

Head over to MyStorybrand and create an account. Then create the Story using the pointers in each of the sections:

Boil it down to your Core Message

You now have all the elements you need to create your Core Message.
Here is the template I use to fill in the information collected in Buyer Persona and Storybrand Framework:

IDEAL CLIENTS want to WANT / TRANSFORMATION TO .

You need a PHILOSOPHICAL (SHORT).

The problem is that EXTERNAL, INTERNAL, PHILOSOPHICAL.

That’s why we AUTHORITY, DIFFERENTIATOR

Here is how it works:
PROCESS: a simple plan of 3 or 4 steps

So, DIRECT CALL TO ACTION! And in the meantime, TRANSITIONAL CALL TO ACTION.
You can stop TRANSFORMATION FROM and instead TRANSFORMATION TO

Narrow it down further to create your Elevator Pitch

Now it’s time to narrow it down further and create your elevator pitch.

Often companies try hard to come up with a clever one-liner. These often don't work well, because they are confusing and not easily understood. A successful elevator pitch should clearly states what you do and how you service your clients. Your prospects and clients should immediately understand what you do! As a result, your elevator pitch may be a little longer than a few words, and can even be a couple of sentences.

Here are 3 fill-in templates you can use with the elements above to create your one-liner:

For ( ideal client ) who ( need or desire ),
( Company ) is a ( category ) that ( key benefit )
Unlike ( competitor ) (main differentiator )

We are a ( category ) that works with ( ideal client )
They often feel ( need / frustration )
We help them with ( service ) so they can ( aspiration )

Problem: What is the main pain point you solve for your customers?

Product: What product or service you offer that solves that problem?

Result: What positive result will your customer experience if they buy your product or service?

For more insight on how to create a one-liner you can watch this YouTube video .

LinkedIn Leads in 10 minutes per day

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 21:54:15 GMT

Imagine that you would know every time someone is asking for a referral for your service. Imagine that you could check out the person that is asking for the referral to see if that's a good fit for your business. And then imagine that you could message them right away and start a conversation. All of that is possible within LinkedIn quickly and easily.

This quick article show how you can create a "LinkedIn Listening Station" on your free LinkedIn account, without Sales Navigator. It allows you to reach out to people who are ready to buy your product or service directly, simply by listening when they're asking for help.

Basically, you create a search for posts people have put on LinkedIn in the past 24 hours, asking for recommendations or professionals. The idea if from Isaac Anderson of Zeeko.io, a LinkedIn Expert. You can view his video here. The steps below will take you less than 5 minutes to set up, and you can start mining leads on LinkedIn with 10 minutes of effort per day!

Step 1: create a relevant search

Here is the formula for the search:
(looking for) AND (recommendations OR professionals) AND (your service 1 OR your service 2 OR your service 3)

For example, if you provide online strategy and digital marketing services then your formula might look like this:

(looking for) AND (recommendations OR professionals) AND (marketing strategy OR digital marketing)

(Note that on a free LinkedIn account you can use a maximum of 5 Boolean operators, so a total of 5 "AND" and "OR")

Step 2: Implement the search on LinkedIn and optimize

Now it's time to set up the Listening Station:

Open your LinkedIn account
Copy the search from step 1, paste it into the "Search" field and press Enter
Click "People" under the LinkedIn logo, and then select "Content"
Click on "Date Posted" and select "Past 24 hours"
Bookmark the search. In Chrome: press ctrl-D and give it a name like "LinkedIn Listening Station"

Here is a quick video illustrating the steps:

That's it, you're all set!

Step 3: Listen every morning

Every day just click on the bookmark and LinkedIn will execute the search. You can then reach out to the people who are ready to buy your product or service!

If you really want to step it up a notch then you can get Sales Navigator which allows you to fine-tune your search.

If you'd like some tips on how to reach out to potential leads on LinkedIn, then just book a complimentary call with me here .

Good luck with the process! Let me know how you are doing.

Web Design Versus User Experience Design

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 19:37:19 GMT

The difference between “web design” and “user experience design” has been an ongoing discussion for many years now. In the world of digital properties, such as websites, apps, landing pages, micro-sites, and more, there are many terms that are used interchangeably but should not. We are going to focus on design and what the visitor is seeing and using.

Here are the questions we often hear:

What is Web Design?

This is the graphic design of web pages or app pages, with more focus on how it looks and how content and features are laid out on the page. In its truest definition it is more concerned with colours, fonts and the general aesthetics of the design. This is the visual design.

Engineered Assemblies

What is UI Design?

UI stands for User Interface. User Interface Design is similar to website design, focusing on how the screen or page looks. However, this would be a more “functional” page, including how interactive features look and how they are laid out on the page. This could include buttons, interactive forms, etc.

This term is used more in the industry by interaction designers rather than by website owners and stakeholders.

What is User Experience (UX) Design?

UX stands for User Experience. User experience design is the design of how the elements of the page work, and is based on user research. UX designers ask themselves how “successful” is their design in enabling the visitor to do what they came there to do. Is it easy? Does it make sense?

Which is More Important: Web Design or User Experience Design?

This is always an interesting question and does not have a single answer. Many will argue that User Experience Design includes Web Design, but I disagree.

In the world of web development , when the objectives of a website are clear (from a strategic plan ), User Experience Design is done to ensure that the website visitors do what the website wants them to do. This could be purchasing a product, downloading a brochure, signing up for a newsletter, and more. This is not done with how the pages look, though it plays an important role, but it rather takes into account the following factors:

Content Structure

This includes the navigation options and how content is laid out on the homepage. This content needs to draw the visitor in to keep them on the site and then lead them to the action you want them to take. Information architecture is a key component to a successful website.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

Calls to Action (CTAs)

These are elements on the page that offer the visitor the ability to interact with the website. This could include buttons that link to other pages, interactive forms to fill in, view product details, etc. CTAs should be strategically intertwined within the content, so that the interaction with these CTAs are a natural action within the page. Finding a balance of how many CTAs should be on the page and where is the skill of a User Experience Designer.

Advanced Door Service

Data Interaction

Websites with a lot of “data” such as product information, customer account details, industry details, blog articles, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), need to make sure this data is displayed in a way that is not “information overload” for the visitor. This can be done by displaying only related content on pages, but not just listing everything as long lists. This can be easily done by web technology if data is organized properly and these requirements are considered when developing the website backend (or Content Management System).

Zesta

Personalization

There are many opportunities for personalizing the user experience for websites. Personalization could be based on their location, the category of products or services in which they are interested, their industry, their demographics, and much more. The use of data enables the website to personalize the information on the pages visited.

User-Friendliness

Ultimately, your design needs to be user-friendly. It is a user centered design to make sure it is easy for your visitors to find what they need and contact you. UX research tells us what visitors find easy to understand and how they respond to content and triggers for interaction.

Do All Websites Require User Experience Design?

Yes, all websites benefit from User Experience Design. Regardless of whether you are creating a website, a landing page or an app, your design process should ensure resolve around objectives being met. That takes strategic user experience design.

How To Differentiate Yourself From Your Competitors

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 02:38:06 GMT

The competitive exclusion principle in biology tells us that two species can't have exactly the same niche in a habitat and stably coexist. They will compete for exactly the same resources, so one will drive the other to extinction.

In business it’s much the same. If your customers think that you’re like any other company, then the only thing you can compete on is price. Unfortunately there will always be a company willing to do the work for less, even if it means they’ll go out of business.

Differentiate yourself from the competition

Your “Differentiator” is how you set yourself apart from the competition.

Every business that has success in the marketplace does so because they bring value to their customers, because they solve a problem that their customers have. Often businesses don’t even know what problem they solve. Likely it’s not the products or services that they sell, but how they do it.

Every accountant is trained to review your books and submit your financial statements to the tax office, but your customers may appreciate that you always call them back within the hour, or that you provide your service based on a fixed monthly rate, or that you handle the bookkeeping for your customers.

Every painter is trained to paint your walls, but your customers may appreciate that you use the most environmentally friendly materials, or that you clean up extremely well every single day of the project, or that you bring a team large enough to get the job done in one day.

Ask your clients

A great way to find out what problem you solve for your customers is to simply ask them. Interview 5 to 8 of your Ideal Clients and ask them these five questions:

What made you decide to hire us?
What’s one thing we do better than others like us?
What’s one thing we could do better?
What could we do that would thrill you?
Would you refer us or do you refer us?
If you would refer us, what would you say?

If your customer simply tells you that you provide great service, then push a bit further to find out what that really means:

What does good service look like?
Tell me a story when we provided good service.

Satisfied customers will quickly point you to your core differences. Just look at the common threads you find in your conversations, and then list up to 3 main differentiators from the competition.

Check your social media and online reviews

A second way of finding out how you differentiate yourself from the competition is to check your Google My Business and Facebook reviews and see if there is a common thread. Google reviews really are a message goldmine.

Remember the example of the tree service company mentioned above? Here are quotes from some reviews of Jackson Tree Service:

They came and worked as scheduled and cleaned up nicely after it was done.
They showed up when they said they would and cleaned up all the debris from the bushes and trees.
In the past we have dealt with people who don’t show up or do a professional job. Everything was cleaned up very well.

Many of their customers appreciate their timeliness, and the fact that they clean up after the job. Based on the feedback of its customers, the company formulated their differentiator as: “We’ll show up when we say we will, and we’ll clean up before we leave”.

What your customers appreciate most about your company will likely sound very different from what your competitors list on their website, and that is great news. It is often not a unique product or service that they appreciate, but your company’s way of delivering an experience and solving the problem your customers have.

(See our ebook “ 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success ” for more information on Digital Marketing Strategy and online marketing tactics)

How to Define Your Ideal Client

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 04:17:57 GMT

If someone asked you who your target customer is, would you be able to give a clear description?

In most companies, a small percentage of clients generate most of the revenue. Wouldn’t it be great to only attract these clients?

Business owners often don’t have a clear idea on who their clients are. When a business is growing you may be eager to take any business that comes your way. In the end, however, you will likely do your best work for a certain type of client.

When you can clearly communicate who you work with best, then you can start prospecting for those ideal clients. Over time you’ll build up a base of clients who are thrilled with your service and happy to refer you to their family and friends.

In this blog we’ll discuss the practical steps that will help you make a clear definition of your Ideal Clients, with a focus on B2B companies.

1. Ideal Clients Generate Profit

In the end, we want our business to be profitable, so the first requirement for our Ideal Clients is that they pay their bills on time, and that the work we do for them is profitable. No matter how awesome a client is personally, if they are not paying your bills, then they should not be your main focus.

The first step in defining your Ideal Client is to make a list of all your existing customers and simply rank them by profitability. At the top of the list are the most profitable clients. This is your starting point.

2. Ideal Clients Refer You

It’s great if a client gives you a lot of business, but it’s much better if they are also referring you to their family and friends.

Out of the list of profitable clients that you have created, find those that are also referring you to others. It’s important to look at the quality as well as the quantity of the referrals. How often do they refer you, how often do these referrals result in new business, and how profitable is that new business?

This is not about making yourself feel good about the fact that someone is appreciating your service so much that they are telling others about it. In fact, it is much more than that. People who are willing to make a referral are doing that because the service you provide is solving their problem or need so well, that they are willing to promote your service. If the referrals they give become clients, then you know that you’re onto something. You are now serving a specific market segment that has a common need or problem and loves the way you solve it.

3. Find the Common Denominators

From the list of most profitable clients you have identified the clients that refer you to their network. Now it’s time to find the common denominators in this group. These can be grouped as follows:

Geographic

Some businesses can serve any customer anywhere in the world, but most businesses have a preferred geographic location for their customers based on e.g. travel time, time-zone or delivery process. Be specific where your ideal client should be located.

Demographic

These attributes would include age-group, gender, income, socio-economic grouping etc. These may not be as important as they are for B2C businesses, but still important enough to take into consideration.

Behavioural

In a B2B environment this would include the rate of usage of your service, the readiness the purchase a product or service, and the problem your client is trying to solve. It’s also important to review the main motivator your client has in decision making: time, money or quality.

Psychographic

This includes personality, attitudes, leadership style etc. We use a simplified version of DiSC-profiling in our practice, to help our customers understand whether their ideal clients are mainly introverted or extroverted, and mainly task-oriented or people-oriented.

After you have made a list of the common denominators it is time to get clear on what qualities make for dealbreakers vs. truly ideal clients. When it comes to your clients, what are the must-haves, what’s nice to have, and what are ideal qualities?

Grouping the qualities into these 3 buckets allows you to very quickly evaluate each prospective client:

If they’re missing a must-have trait, then you shouldn’t do business with them.
Nice-to-have traits are negotiable.
Businesses that have the Ideal traits are the ones you pursue aggressively

At Mawazo, our list of traits includes

That we will not work for clients that promote unhealthy life choices (must-have)
We like to work with clients that have an internal marketing person, because it is much easier to execute on the strategic vision we outline for their business (nice-to-have)
An ideal client shares the same core beliefs and values we do, which may mean they give back to the community or improve their processes to reduce environmental impact (ideal)

4. Needs, Problems and Frustrations

By now you are having a clearer picture on the type of client you want to attract, and you already have an idea what problem your client wants to solve. The next step is to dig a little deeper into what makes those clients stay awake at night.

Your ideal client needs to find you, and that typically only happens when they have a problem. Put differently, if your prospect didn’t have a need or problem, then they would never become your client.

The next step in clearly describing your ideal client is to have a clear understanding of:

What are their needs and wants,
What are the problems they are having to fulfill those needs,
What are their deeper frustrations with the situation
What is causing the problem, and why is that "just plain wrong"

From the above, you can formulate what transformation you intend to generate for them from the current frustration / pain / anger / annoyance to an aspirational identity of success / happiness / confidence.

Our client Lift & Shift targets Sales Directors of large B2B companies. They want to increase sales and are often frustrated with expensive rebate programs that don't improve the bottom line. Lift & Shift transforms them from feeling frustrated with the cost and inefficiency of traditional discount programs to measurably increasing sales and improving customer retention with a turn-key, performance-based B2B reward program .

5. Create Buyer Personas

Now it’s time to put all this information into a one-page document called a Buyer Persona. This is a fictional, generalized representation of your Ideal Client which helps you to decide on all marketing questions such as the functionality of a website, the tone of voice of content, and the choice of social media platforms.

Depending on the size of your business you could have one personas, or many more. Most of our clients start with one or two, and develop more personas later as needed. Each new lead can be evaluated against the Buyer Persona. To be a good prospect for your business, a lead should fit one of the profiles well, otherwise it’s not a lead worth pursuing.

Sometimes business owners are hesitant to be very detailed in formulating their Buyer Personas because they fear by being so specific they might lose an opportunity and not engage with a prospect. The reality, however, is that the more specific you are in defining your ideal client, the more likely it is to attract the right leads to your business.

We help our clients create very vivid, realistic images which helps them tremendously in understanding their Ideal Clients better. This helps to clearly instruct the sales team, and offers direction for digital marketing campaigns, content marketing, social media marketing and other marketing activities.

Our Buyer Personas include:

A name, a function and a ‘headshot’.
Facts & Demographics, such as age, position, education, location.
The Story: professional roles and responsibilities, how long have they been with the company, what’s the size of the company, what official and unofficial roles do they have, what are common tasks and what is a typical day at work.
Personality and Characteristics, which includes a brief DiSC profile and information on lifestyle., family & friends, hobbies, interests and personality traits.
Media usage and communication preferences: what sources of Information do they use offline and online, what sources do they trust most? What social networks do they use? Who are the people they listen to?
Motivation: to what extent are they motivated by price, quality and time.
What are Goals they're trying to achieve as it refers to your industry or your business.
Needs & Wants: What are their needs and desires? Have they tried this before? Is it the first time? What motivated them to look for your product/service?
Problems & Frustrations: what are the difficulties your persona faces when trying to achieve their goals? What causes delays in the purchasing decision? How does that make them feel?
Transformation:
From: How was the customer feeling before using your product or service.
To: Who will the customer become after using your service: what is the aspirational identity.

It’s a long list, but it all fits on one page as the below example shows. This is a Buyer Persona we use for our own company.

Word of Caution

Let me end with a word of caution. A quick search online will lead you to buyer persona templates and examples which you can use to create your own. Many of these are colourful documents with visual effects and irrelevant or “made up” information.

It’s best to keep the Buyer Personas very functional, especially in a B2B environment. Focus on the essentials and don’t go overboard with stock photography, fonts and colours.

Only use relevant demographic information. Whether a prospect is married or not, and how much he/she earns is often quite irrelevant in a B2B environment. The main focus should be on the needs, wants, frustrations and fears of your target audience, so that you can position yourself to solve their problems.

In Summary

I strongly believe that as a business owner you should have a clear vision of what your Ideal Clients look like. They should be profitable and refer you to their network, and they should have the required characteristics and traits. If you understand their problems and frustrations where it comes to your industry, then you will be in the best position to attract them to your business and beat your competitors.

Generating Business Leads for a Security Company

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 10:40:48 GMT

Our digital marketing system consistently delivers leads at more than 5x ROI

About the Company

A1 Security is a security solutions provider that works with business owners who want to protect their property and their people. They help clients by providing innovative security solutions and a dedicated professional team, and ensure their security 24/7.

Unlike competitors they don’t force our clients into long term contracts, and can handle complex security requirements throughout Canada.

The Problem

There was no clear marketing strategy to appeal to customers and grow the business. The sales team relied on word of mouth referrals and networking to bring in new customers. The company websites did not generate any leads, and could not be found easily in web searches by potential customers.

www.a1securitysystems.ca

Engagement Details

A Web Presence Audit clearly showed why the online presence of A1 Security was not effective at generating leads.

Together with the client we established a clear online marketing strategy, identifying the ideal target audience of the company, and how it differentiates itself from competitors.

This core message was clearly presented on a new website launched in December 2018.

On a monthly basis we generate content for the website and the Google Business Profile, and optimize the website for search engine ranking and local findability

The Result

Results are tracked on the basis of Lead Value. This is captured by recording every phone call from the website and Google My Business, as well as all form fills on the website. A value is assigned to each interaction based on client value and conversion rate of the business. These values are agreed-upon with our clients, and regularly reviewed.

In the period May 2021 to April 2022 the web presence of A1 Security generated 430 goal completions with a total lead value of almost $190,000, a 30% year-over-year growth, representing more than 6x Return on Investment.

Lead Value py

$190K

YOY Growth

30%

ROI

In the process, A1 Security has substantially bypassed its competition in online visibility…

… and local ranking on the Google Map has improved dramatically:

… with a major shift in the local presence for “business security systems” within one year:

Do you want immediate results from your website? If so, you need to reach out to the Mawazo Marketing Team. Thomas, Liza and the team took the time to understand our goals. Their vast wealth of knowledge and experience produced a solution that produced immediate results. Thanks Mawazo Marketing!

Craig Robertson, CEO

A1 Security Systems

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 3 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Use Duda templates for a professional website

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 17:12:30 GMT

If your business does not have an online presence, then it is very difficult for your potential customers to take you seriously. In addition, it is not only your audience that you need to consider, but you also need search engines to take you seriously - with particular attention to Google.

There is no excuse today for your business to not be online, and with a website that looks professional and is optimized for search engines. One of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to create a website is to use online website-building solutions, such as Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and our preferred choice, Duda.

What is Duda?

Duda is not a well-known website-builder amongst novice users, but it is a preferred solution for digital marketers and developers. It is preferred because it not only offers great interactive features, but it also allows for custom development.

Website-builders platforms are web applications that make it easy for those that do not know anything about web design and development to create and manage a website. With the use of “drag-and-drop’ functionality, almost anyone can create pages and edit content.

What are Templates?

What Type of Customization is Possible with Duda Templates?

When starting with a Duda template, you are able to customize your branding. This includes your logo, website colours and fonts. Though Duda comes with a long list of fonts to choose from, you are also able to upload custom fonts .

To set up your website, you are able to select page layouts that match your content and then customize content blocks as you desire. This makes it easy to create a site structure that best suits your content. The Duda Content Management System (CMS) will automatically update the main menu, or site navigation, to the pages that you create.

The Duda CMS also provides easy ways to create forms and popups, so that you can create pages, landing pages and lead generation campaigns.

More advanced features include:

Content display based on day or time, or user location
3rd party solution integration, such as email platforms, CRMs and more
Tag management, such as Google Tag Manager, OpenGraph, and more
Script management, such as Structured Data Scheme
Ecommerce, with product categorization, automatic shipping calculations, order management, coupons, and more
And the list goes on.

How Long Does it Take to Get a Duda Template Website Launched?

Many small businesses need a simple website with 5-6 pages. These usually consist of pages such as Homepage, Products, Services, About Us, and Contact Us. These are simple pages to create, manage and launch with Duda templates.

If you were to create this yourself, and do simple customization such as images, colours, fonts and content, then you could have your website live within a couple of days. However, if you would like to have your website done with some customization and use a Duda developer , your website could be launched within a week.

If your website requires a custom design, and therefore not with existing Duda templates, your website could still be developed within 2-3 weeks. This is much faster than developing in Wordpress or other similar Content Management Systems.

A Few Examples of Duda Websites Created by Mawazo

What Does a Digital Marketing Consultant Do?

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:01:11 GMT

Digital marketing gets more complicated as more tools and platforms enter the market offering different ways in which you can reach your audience.

In the 1990s, “digital marketing” didn’t exist at all. We were just building static websites, with big buttons so that everyone knew where to click.

It was in the early 2010s when digital marketing was no longer an afterthought of an existing marketing strategy, but rather a fundamental part of the strategy.

Now, digital marketing includes various activities such as search website design, engine optimization (SEO), local SEO, content marketing, email marketing, Google My Business (GMB), online ads, social media marketing (SMM), marketing automation, and much more. Marketing agencies and marketing managers have a hard time adapting to constant new realities and the fast changes.

This is where the digital marketing consultant becomes a resource to understand what to do, when to do it, and which activities to use.

Understand the Brand, Long-Term Business Requirements and Marketing Objectives

A good marketing consultant will not start by talking about campaigns and marketing tactics, but rather start with understanding your brand, your business, your market, your potential market, and your overall marketing goals.

Brand

A marketing consultant will review your existing brand identity to ensure it is updated to the current market and market opportunities. If any updates or enhancements are needed, the right resources will be brought in for that purpose. Your end results should be a thorough brand guide or brand book that defines the “hard traits” (colours, fonts) and “soft traits” (tone of voice, differentiators) of your brand identity.

Business

Surprisingly, there are many businesses within which the business leaders are not able to unanimously agree on what they business actually sells. It sometimes seems to be a simple disagreement that the products are the primary key offering, while services are supporting offerings, or the other way around. The definition of the business’ key offerings is essential to delivering consistent messaging and achieving brand recognition. It is also important to understand what the business does well and what the challenges are.

Market

Defining your audience is essential for successful messaging. The most effective approach is to build ideal customer personas . This is the definition of a fictitious personality that best describes your ideal customer: one that loves what you offer, is easy to work with, and brings repetitive business. These personas should then be used by all client-facing staff and external resources to define their tone of voice, creative approach, and overall messaging.

Potential Market

It is often the case that business owners miss out on potential customers by alienating them from the way they communicate, or where they communicate. Defining potential target customers, via personas, makes it easy to create marketing assets that speak to them.

Marketing Goals

No business should invest in marketing without first defining what their marketing goals are. These can consist of contact emails, phone calls, additions to a mailing list, sales of goods online or offline, or even traffic to a website for increased brand awareness.

Create the Marketing Strategy

A marketing consultant will create a marketing strategy that reviews all of the above, and ensures it caters to the current market. An analysis of competitors online and offline will be done, with a breakdown geographically.

Understanding what your competitors are doing online and offline is vital to your strategy.

Define the Best Marketing Plan Within a Specific Budget

There are endless opportunities for digital marketing for lead generation, but not all of them will deliver the leads that will convert into paying customers. Understanding how various demographics behave online and their preferred messaging is vital for a successful campaign.

The job of a marketing consultant is to understand the landscape and audience of each digital marketing activity, such as web design and development, social media networks (Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc.), Google Ads (SEM), Email Marketing (mailing lists), websites (search engine optimization) and much more.

However, putting together the perfect online marketing plan with amazing marketing campaigns is pretty useless if the budget does not cover it. Most small- to medium-sized businesses have not thought about what their marketing budget should be, and therefore cannot judge what to spend.

A marketing consultant assists in providing the data to show what are proven returns on investment, so that your business can feel confident with defining a digital marketing budget. The consultant then provides the expertise to put together the right marketing plan that makes the most out of a specified budget, i.e best ROI.

Create the Team for Perfect Execution

Digital marketing is not simple, and requires resources that understand each tool and platform. This usually requires a combination of individual freelancers and specific agencies. Leveraging the network of a digital marketing consultant can save you a lot of time and energy.

Deliver Analytics for Ongoing Optimization

The biggest advantage of digital marketing over mass marketing (TV, radio, print) is the real data that can be collected. The challenge, however, is always how to collect data on campaign results from several platforms and combine them so that you can get a holistic view of the results.

A digital marketing consultant will advise on the type of reports that make sense and give a true picture of how your marketing is performing, and what can be done to improve results.

How to Choose a Content Management System

Tue, 19 May 2020 18:54:59 GMT

A critical decision when starting to think about a new website is the platform on which it is developed. This can be an overwhelming task, as platforms vary greatly in their capabilities, in the availability of developers for each platform, and the cost. And of course, every web developer or digital agency has a different recommendation.

The perfect Content Management System (CMS), or platform, is unique to your business requirements, your goals, and your budget.

(I have touched on this subject in my article “ Why Wordpress is the Orange Juice of Content Management Systems ”.)

What is a CMS?

“Content Management System” refers to the technical platform used to develop a website, which also provides a backoffice to manage the content, users, links, etc. Features of the CMS depend on the platform.

Why do you need a CMS?

A website is the primary online identity of a business. It needs to include fresh content, updated on a regular basis. This gives your website visitors confidence that the website is indeed yours, it makes your website relevant for Google search results, and it ultimately ensures your website is findable by your prospective customers. More on this can be found in the following articles:

With Content Management Systems (CMS’s), it is possible for you to manage your own content, rather than needing to get updates done by a developer. This saves on cost and time, and also usually gets your updates online faster.

How to evaluate a CMS?

There are too many Content Management Systems to mention, all of which have their own unique combination of features. Evaluating a CMS starts with understanding the requirements for your websites.

Business Requirement

What do you want your website to do for your business? Identify the goals , which could include generating leads via contact forms and request for quote forms. It could also be softer goals such as downloading documents or ebooks, or signing up for a mailing list.

Content Structure

Many businesses have more content then they expect, and much of this content complements each other. Take for an example our client S.L. Hunter Speechworks , a team of speech pathologists. Their list of therapies can help a wide range of symptoms, some of which we would never have guessed. This means that there is a target audience for S.L. Hunter Speechworks that know they need help, but don’t know that they need a speech pathologist. There is also a target that knows exactly what they need, and they know the names of therapies and conditions. In order to attract each of these targets, the content needs to be created and organized so that therapies are explained, and conditions are also described in non-medical terms. To keep the website visitor engaged on the website, links to related content should be included on each page.

For S.L. Hunter Speechworks, that means that there is a list of therapies that link to related conditions, and a list of conditions that link to related therapies. We included related FAQs and Blog Articles on each page, to completely immerse the website visitor in the content.

This cross-links between content is also well-liked by Google in scoring websites for search results ranking.

Requirements For Analytics

Site traffic is simple to establish with Google Analytics integration. However, it is important to understand what other related data you would like to capture. This could include measuring visitors to the website from online or offline advertising, email marketing, social media efforts, etc.

Integrations of Other Solutions

It is paramount to centralize the data about your customers as much as possible. Therefore, if your business uses platforms for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Media Platform and/or Email Marketing Platform, you need a CMS that will manage those integrations seamlessly.

Content Editors

Businesses vary in the number of content contributors and the roles of each of them. You might have a simple website and there is a single content editor, or it could be a similar situation to our client, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, where there are several content editors that can access their CMS from across Canada, with varying permissions to what they can edit. Some CMS’s handle this functionality better than others.

Requirements for Scalability

In some instances, businesses are developing a website that can grow with their company. This means a website and CMS that can manage a lot of content, a lot of traffic, a lot of content editors, enhancements of features, etc.

Some website platforms do not enable this type of scalability well, and require a full redevelopment.

Budget

The best case scenario is always to define the optimal website and build it. We all know this is not always possible. Budget can vary dramatically for different CMS platforms, for possible license fees, developer rates, time for development, hosting requirements, and more.

Timeline

Many CMS’s provide design templates as a starting point for the development of your website which can reduce development time substantially. Factors that most impact timelines are design (template or custom), feature requirements (widgets or custom development), content creation.

Simple Tips to Choose Your CMS

To simplify your decision, we will define 3 tiers of Content Management Systems, which are the 3 that Mawazo Marketing uses for levels of website requirements:

Simple Websites

We use Duda as a platform to develop simple websites for small businesses that offer a few pages of content that do not change very often. The site could include a simple ecommerce storefront and interactive forms, all with basic functionality. These sites look professional, offer modern interactive pages, and provide easy content editing for the business.

Moderate Websites

Though Wordpress is often promoted as a CMS for any website – we do not agree. Wordpress is perfect for websites that may have several pages of content, but not “data”. This CMS was first developed as a blogging platform and therefore handles “pages” very well. Wordpress is also good for websites that do not have a lot of interactive features that require additional software (“plugins”), as this may affect the performance of the website, such as ongoing compatibility of softwares, security, and page speeds.

Robust Websites

Kentico CMS is an enterprise platform that provides functionality for simple data management, cross linking of content, multiple languages, etc. This CMS enables custom feature development which is built on out-of-the-box functionality, and is easily scalable for a growing business.

Choose a strategic development partner that will analyze all factors that address the requirements above, so that you are not getting a platform that is most convenient for developers but rather the CMS that is best for your business goals.

Wordpress is the Orange Juice of Content Management Systems

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 19:50:03 GMT

What does the most common Content Management System (CMS) have to do with the most common breakfast beverage? Let me explain…

Did You Ever Wonder Why Orange Juice is the Breakfast Drink?

I heard a great podcast from ad-man Terry O’Reilly some time ago that stuck with me. It was all about how North America’s favourite breakfast drink became our favourite breakfast drink, all because of an ad campaign.

The largest advertising company in North America in 1908 was Lord & Thomas, who had a client California Fruit Growers Exchange. They had a large surplus of oranges which was causing prices to plummet. They needed to sell oranges, quickly, and to a much larger market than they had.

At the time oranges were only eaten as a fruit, by peeling and enjoying it in segments. It was not a fruit with which you could bake, which was how other fruits were marketed. So what other options were there? Well, Lord & Thomas put their best creative minds together and came up with a revolutionary campaign, with the headline “Drink an Orange”. This gave the market a brand new beverage, which was ideal for breakfast. The messaging for the campaign convinced the audience that not only was the juice delicious but it was recommended by physicians for its health benefits.

“ As an added incentive, [Lord & Thomas] actually hired a man to invent a juice extractor, and the print ads offered those glass juice extractors for just 10 cents a piece. It was an ingenious marketing idea. [Lord & Thomas] sold 3 million of them almost overnight.” - CBC.ca

What Does This Have To Do With Wordpress?

Wordpress is one of many Content Management Systems. It is not the most secure. It is not the most scalable. It is not the cheapest. It is not the fastest. It is not the most intuitive to use. It is not the most flexible.

So why is Wordpress the CMS of choice for more that 35% of all websites in the world?

In 2020, over 455 million websites use WordPress.com. That means that the WordPress market share is 35% of all websites in the world! This is an increase of 2% compared to 2019 and a 4% rise from the previous year. Also, over 20% of all self-hosted websites are currently using WordPress. - Creative Minds

(update 3 November 2021: WordPress now powers almost 43% of the web, with a total of 708 million websites. Source: Manaferra )

Because Wordpress was the first to offer tools to create websites with little to no programming knowledge, and for free, it exploded into the market. It soon became the CMS of choice because everyone’s friend’s brother’s child could “develop” a website for a few hundred dollars.

Here comes the orange juice…

Wordpress ambassadors (1) have marketed the platform as the best CMS with the following messaging:

It is relatively inexpensive to get developed
Wordpress developers (2) are readily available
It has a large online support community
Any feature or functionality is possible (3)
It is easy to manage content (4)
It is inexpensive to host a Wordpress Website

So, if you were asked: Which beverage is the best for breakfast?

Your likely response: Orange Juice.

Why?: That’s just how it is.

So, if you were asked: Which CMS is the best for your website?

Your likely response: Wordpress.

Why? That’s just how it is.

Is it though?

A CMS is a vital decision for your business and online presence. Each business is unique - in the way that you engage your customers, in your brand identity and messaging, in their culture, etc. This means that your technical and functional needs will also be unique.

In our experience, we have had many clients requesting a quote for a Wordpress website. After assessing their needs, we used a platform that was less expensive to develop and much easier for them to manage their own content and pages. We have also had situations where after assessing the client’s needs, it was clear that their business would outgrow a well-performing Wordpress website in a year or two, and would have had to reinvest in a more robust platform . And then of course there were clients that were perfectly suited for a Wordpress website.

My only conclusion here is: Don’t drink orange juice with your breakfast out of habit - find out what other options are available to you so that you can get the best out of your meal!

Annotations:

I use the term “ambassadors” for the many digital agencies, web development companies, and developers that have not really looked beyond Wordpress as CMS options. It is a choice often based on the development skills available to them rather than what is best for the requirements.
Wordpress offers tools to develop websites without programming knowledge. Therefore, it is an important step to vet a developer as an actual programmer or coder before hiring them to develop your Wordpress website.
Wordpress was initially created as a blogging platform. Therefore its core functionality includes “pages” and “posts”. Anything beyond that, including sliding banners, is an additional piece of software that is added to the Wordpress core software, known as “plugins”. This creates some risk to the website, as plugins are developed by different developers, and have version updates that are not coordinated. In addition, having many plugins can negatively impact the performance of the website.
This is a misconception. After having vetted many CMS platforms, I can confidently say that Wordpress is not near the top of the list when we sort based on ease-of-use. Wordpress is for those that are already familiar with it. Additionally, developers have different approaches to how they make content editable within Wordpress, so that can also make it challenging for editors.

What is Digital Transformation and How Do I Start?

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 19:09:16 GMT

It is a new world… As we all stay home and do our part in this public health crisis, we are adapting to a new way of working.

There are so many questions that remain unanswered, such as how long this will last, what will be the cost in the tragic loss of life, and what toll will it take on our economy?

The one thing we do know is that there will be a new normal when this all over. All we can do is prepare for that reality, with the understanding that the world markets have adapted to a digital way of life.

Of course, we are all eager to get back to going out and doing the things we love to do, with the people we love to do them with, however, the way we work will not be what it was pre-COVID 19. That’s an unavoidable reality.

Is your business getting prepared for a new way of engaging with your market?

What is Digital Transformation?

Let’s start with understanding what we mean by digital transformation. Digital transformation is the use of digital technology in all areas of a business. It fundamentally changes how you operate and how you engage with your customers to deliver value. It usually results in a cultural change to an organization.

What is the Goal of Digital Transformation?

Before the lockdown, digital transformation was a smart move for businesses because it improved customer experiences and increased scale:

Greater efficiency to execute tasks and share information
More informed interactions between customers and teams, as well as amongst team members since information is readily available via digital tools
Improved service for the customer as interactions are available 24/7 and communication is made easy for them

What are the 6 Main Elements of Digital Transformation?

1. Customer Touch points

Customers are now forced to engage virtually, whether this is their preferred method or not. Therefore for those that have been adverse to digital communication, will now become accustomed to it, and likely see the benefits of it. Creating efficient and effective customer touch points is essential to capturing data and leveraging it for other purposes.

Example:

2. Customer understanding

Understand your customers better with improved data capturing and analysis using digital technologies. This does not need to include a massive investment in technologies, but rather a strategic approach to define the types of analysis you would like to do, and to build up the amount of data you capture over time to enable that analysis. Digital solutions for capturing data can be easily accessible for smaller businesses, again if planned well from the beginning.

3. Enhanced sales pitches

It doesn’t matter whether your sales pitch is delivered via a sales call, webpage, online ad, or eblast - the most effective sales pitch is one that is most relevant to your prospect. Identifying your ideal prospect comes from understanding who your ideal existing customers are and knowing their interests and triggers. Study the data about your existing customers to identify how to engage prospective customers.

4. Automation

Automation of operations enables you to more quickly and reliably service your customers, while allowing your team to focus on the customer relationship and overall strategy. Automated operations lead to informed decision-making and increased profit margins by reducing errors and increasing insights.

5. Virtualizing individual work

Digital automation paints a clear picture of the tasks involved in processes. With this comes the ability to enable your team to work more independently and in a virtual environment. In today’s lockdown, this has been forced upon businesses around the world. Remote teams are learning how to work via online project and collaboration tools, and video conferencing. It is fair to expect that many businesses may see the benefits in continuing with this approach.

6. Performance management

As tasks are more clearly defined, so will be the way in which tasks are carried out. Performance management will become easier as the monitoring of tasks and operations are digitized.

What Does Digital Transformation Cost?

There are so many factors involved in the cost for taking a business from where they are now to where they need to be. Every business is unique and requires a leadership team that is willing to critically evaluate the way in which they are operating now, and what they need to do to get to a point to successfully grow their business in the new more digital normal after this lockdown.

This does not always need huge investments in complex technologies, but it often does require a change in mindset for the leadership, in culture for the team, and an overhaul in how things are being done.

Updates to Google My Business That Could Impact Your Local SEO

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 01:37:26 GMT

In the midst of a public health emergency throughout the globe, small businesses are also facing financial hardship. For those that have invested in efforts in local SEO, it is important to stay on top of updates made by Google that could affect your results.

Last Friday, Google published a post announcing the suspension or limitation of a number of its Google My Business features, including new reviews and Q&As. As in all business, big or small, the well-being and safety of employees has become paramount. This is not different for the giant Google. They announced that since this new way of working would likely cause delays, they will be prioritizing their critical services.

Suspended Features

New Reviews

No new reviews will be published for this period of time, with the exception of “reviews for edits critical to health-related businesses”. Google will also prioritize the reviews for open and closed states, special hours, temporary closures, business descriptions, and business attributes edits for other verified businesses. Business attributes are the details that customers are able to submit about businesses.

Review Replies

Businesses will not be able to respond to existing reviews. This is obviously less of an issue since no new reviews will be coming in.

Questions and Answers

A very significant update will be the unavailability of Q&As, existing and new. No new questions can be added to your profile.

What You Can Do

Update your profile to inform customers of your current status. There may be a delay in their publication to your profile, but get the updates in the queue.

This includes:

Update Your Business Hours

If you have updated your business hours, update the time in your profile.

Here’s how to change business hours.

Manage Your Profile Description

Inform you customers with how your business has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps you have slower services, or your team is working remotely, or perhaps you have restricted the way you take orders. Whatever your particular situation, your customers will appreciate being informed.

How to change business description.

Create a Post on Your Website

Create regular content on your website to keep you customers informed. Our daily lives are currently completely dependent on what our government has outlined for us. Therefore, your business will adapt to the daily changes. Write regular content, or blog posts, to outline these updates.

Actively Inform Your Customers of New Updates

Now that you have the content on our website, send out regular emails with updates that link to more details on your website. Your paying customers will want to be the first to know of any changes they can expect from you.

How to inform your clients.

Example of content included in your Google My Business block:

Email Marketing: Once Nice to Have, Now A Business Necessity

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 20:19:54 GMT

Are you still thinking Email Marketing is not something you need for your company? Email marketing is a vibrant, very personal and powerful way to connect with people, especially your target customers.

Did you know that Email Marketing drives customer acquisition and retention for 80% of professionals ( 1 )? Email grows your business…If you’re not growing, you’re vanishing.

Here are 10 Reasons Email Marketing is a channel you should NOT be ignoring.

Further Faster Fact #1 – Yes, PER DAY!

269 billion business and consumer emails were sent and received per day in 2017 reaching 319.6 billion by the end of 2021 ( 2 ).

Further Faster Fact #2 – Email and The Developed World

Doing business in the developed world? Your customers are actively using email…make sure you are as well. Worldwide, email will be used by 3 billion people by 2020 ( 3 ).

Further Faster Fact #3 – Let’s Talk About Return on Investment

Email ROI is 38% , email generates the highest ROI for marketers, more than ALL other social media platforms COMBINED ( 4 ).

Further Faster Fact #4 – What About Social Media?

Email is 40X more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter ( 5 ). In a room of 10 people, 7.2 of them prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to 1.7 who prefer social media ( 6 ). Those 7.2 email subscribers are 3X more likely to share your content via social media than visitors from other sources ( 7).

Further Faster Fact #5 – Food Spam or Email Spam

Will people on my list get ticked for getting too many emails? Stop agonizing that customers will get turned off. Consumers WANT to hear from you. 61% of consumers enjoy receiving promotional emails weekly with 38% preferring emails to come even more often ( 8 ).

Spam is defined as a food according to Wikipedia. While the food spam is questionable as nourishment for your body, the majority of emails are not spam and definitively good nourishment for your business.

Here is a great step-by-step video on how to use GSuite to increase cold email open rates and

help you prevent your emails from landing in the spam folder.

Further Faster Fact #6 – The Mobile Identity

Worldwide, there will be more than 2.2 billion mobile email users by the end of 2018 ( 9 ). Of that, 64% of decision-makers read their email via mobile ( 10 ).

Further Faster Fact #7 – The Mobile Supremacy

About 53% of emails are opened on mobile devices ( 11 ); 88% of smartphone users actively check email on their phones ( 12 ); 23% of readers who open an email on a mobile device open it again later ( 13 ).

Further Faster Fact #8 – The Mobile Ultimatum

80.3% of users delete emails if they are not optimized for mobile devices. 3 out of 10 users unsubscribe from the list if the emails are not mobile optimized ( 14 ).

Further Faster Fact #9 – The Millennial Falcon

In 2017, it is estimated that millennials in the U.S. alone will be spending $200 billion . By 2018, they will have the most spending power of any generation ( 15 ).

Further Faster Fact #10 – The Millennial Facts of Life

Millennials love email, it’s a part of their everyday life. 73% prefer to contact brands by email ( 16 ). Immediately after turning off the alarm clock in the morning, 44% of Millennials reach for their smartphones to check messages ( 17 ).

Further Faster Take Away

Do you even know anyone who doesn’t have an email address? Email is such a huge part of all our lives as professionals, individuals, and even consumers. Are you getting the most from your email-marketing program? Do you even have an email-marketing program? Or do you need to refresh your email marketing strategy?

Remember, audiences and how they receive information is constantly changing. To keep up, your strategy needs to change as well.

Whether you’re an email novice or expert email ninja, we will work with you to achieve measurable results. If you're interested in learning how you can implement or enhance an email marketing program as part of your business, Mawazo Marketing can help your business Further Faster. Contact us and let’s get started today!

Your Website May Have Been Deindexed By Google – Here’s What to Do

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 17:39:39 GMT

What happened?

On April 5th, 2019 Google released a formal issue that a bug had been indexing web pages, causing pages to fall out and in of organic rankings. For website owners and digital marketers alike, this was a serious cause for alarm, and truth be told, your website may have been affected. A report from Moz estimated that as many as 4% of Google's indexed websites were affected.

What is indexing, and how would I be affected?

If you own a website, Google performs indexing to make sure that your website and its respective pages appear within a search engine. Whether or not you get indexed can ultimately affect your source of organic traffic, depending on how many visitors find out about your website through Google.

How can I find out if I'm affected?

Finding out whether or not you were deindexed is pretty simple.

Simply use a browser of your choice (ensure that the URL bar is linked to a search engine), and type "site:yourwebsite.com".

Doing so shows the results of your site's pages that are indexed. If your web pages appear, then you probably weren’t affected. If your website or any of its pages don't appear, then you may have been deindexed.

If I was deindexed, what should I do?

Google has indicated that the problem has been resolved, but a few are still complaining that their websites have been deindexed. If you were in fact deindexed, or if you haven't indexed your website already, the easiest remedy would be to use Google's Search Console URL Inspection Tool to submit a request to have your URL indexed.

How do I protect my website from future deindexing?

Google deindexing bugs aren’t the only things that cause websites to be deindexed. In fact, much of what you choose to put into or exclude from your website informs Google whether or not to index your pages. To make sure that you don’t get deindexed, it’s important to follow these practices:

1. Make Sure Your Website Communicates the Same Message to a Search Engine as Its Users

If your meta content tells Google about your content, but your IP address redirects the user to completely different content unrelated to the search query, you’ll be flagged.

2. Keep Your Footer Free from External links

Google’s panda algorithm makes sure that website owners aren’t abusing the space of a footer to promote external websites. Make sure your footer only links to other pages within your website, and if you absolutely need to link to an external site, make sure you use the noindex metatag.

3. Follow Google’s Structured Data Guidelines

Google likes websites that it can understand. The way that google understands a web page is through its structured data. To make sure you are implementing structured data on your web page, you can use Google’s Structured Data Testing tool. If your website doesn’t seem to have any structured data, consider reading their guidelines.

4. Don’t Post Spam Your Site in Other People’s Comment Section

To improve their ranking, many website owners use the comment section of blogs with high traffic to reference and bring greater traffic to their own website. Google often marks these links included in these comments as spam, but it can also flag the very website itself. If others are doing so within your own blog, moderate your comments and delete any content that seems like spam or unnatural.

5. Don’t Overuse Keywords

There’s nothing wrong with using keywords in your content, but if you do too much, Google will flag you. Hiding your keywords by either making font too small or colouring it with a font that’s the same as the background is what many call ‘Black hat SEO’, and Google will flag you for it. Do your appropriate keyword research and use it tastefully on relevant pages.

Reference Links

https://moz.com/blog/how-bad-was-googles-deindexing-bug

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-fixed-google-de-indexing-bug-27397.html

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/334406/googles-deindexing-bug-random-or-systematic.html

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/deindexed-by-google-how-to-recover/257921/#close

https://www.bizwisdom.com.au/blog/google-randomly-deindexing-pages-whats-the-impact-and-how-to-fix-it/

https://gainlocal.net/blog/technical-seo/google-is-deindexing-websites-without-any-known-reason-heres-how-to-fix-it/

Protect Your Business From the Covid-19 Economic Downturn

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 01:38:07 GMT

We are in Uncharted Territory

Worried About Our Business

As business owners or executives, we are worried about the impact Cononavirus Covid-19 will have. Putting aside the fact that we must all do our part to help flatten the curve , which is to minimize the spread of the virus, we must also continue to pay salaries and put food on the table.

The chaos of volatile stock markets, continuous closures of events and community facilities, and schools is keeping us from being able to wrap our heads around a plan to ensure our businesses are still okay.

Flatten the Curve

As good citizens, we (most of us) have accepted the fact that isolation and avoidance of social physical contact must be avoided. It is our civic duty to do our part in keeping our community safe, and helping to flatten the curve .

We started by awkwardly looking for alternatives to greet each other, whether it was our colleagues, partners, or clients.

But we have moved on now to avoiding meetings altogether. The safest approach is to avoid any physical social encounters, which means that shopping, business meetings, and trade shows have stopped almost completely.

Consequences for Your Business

The economic experts have agreed that a recession is inevitable. What does this mean for your business? How can you minimize the impact?

If you are a B2B (business-to-business) business, your clients are evaluating their position as well. They are monitoring their market’s behaviour, and evaluating their costs. You may also be experiencing supply chain disruptions which prevents you from delivering on existing business.

If you are a B2C (business-to-consumer) business, your customers are not coming to your bricks-and-mortar shop anymore, and we do not yet know whey they will return. They too are anxious about spending - those who are paid hourly are unsure of their income, and others are weary of the inevitable recession.

Uncertainty of How Long this Uncertainty Will Last

How Can I Minimize Negative Impact?

Here are a few tips on how to minimize the impact to your business, focussing on maintaining our relationships.

1. It is all about Communication

Make use of digital media to inform your clients of how you are managing the impact of the virus and what this means for them. Send regular emails, or possibly text messages depending on your business, that are informative and straight to the point.

2. Nurture Your Relationship

This is not the time to “hard sell” but rather to nurture the relationship with your clients. They need to know you care, and understand their concerns. Wherever possible, offer an olive branch to provide some ease to their concerns with you as their vendor. This could be in the form of financial relief, an offer of updates to procedures to consider less physical contact, and the choice of various methods of communication that do enable everyone to continue social distancing.

3. Stay Personal and Sincere

Our inboxes are flooded with “policy” emails, from services, vendors, partners, and or course government agencies. A personalized and authentic email is a welcome relief from this, and stands out - but get straight to the point.

Your Messaging Checklist

Here is your messaging checklist:

List the concerns that you know your clients are facing
Mention any measures you may be taking to make business with you easier for them
Outline what your company is doing to do your part in minimizing the spread, and in keeping your staff and those in contact with your staff safe - flatten the curve
Provide details on how you will continue communication

Establish Client Loyalty

With this approach, your clients have you in mind amongst the flood of information being broadcast daily during this pandemic. Your personal and honest voice will break through the noise to further build on your existing relationship.

Authenticity always wins.

Time to Innovate

We are in uncharted times, with a global epidemic which is inevitably leading us into a global recession. But out of this uncertainty can come innovation. It is time for you to think about new ways to communicate and engage your customers, digitally.

What Are UTM Links and Why Are They Vital to Email Marketing?

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 19:46:39 GMT

If you are using email marketing to increase traffic to your website, or to push your list of contacts to a particular landing page, you need to use UTM links to fully understand how effective your email marketing campaigns are.

Generating Traffic with Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to increase traffic to your website or to campaign landing pages.

Start with a clean mailing list. Build your list with contacts that are interested in what you have to say, not by buying lists. Your efforts will be much more effective when you have a list that has already shown interest in your brand, product and/or industry. In addition, as anti-spam and privacy laws continue to become more strict, you are better off with a compliant and qualified list. ( Learn more about CASL .)

Once you have this list, keep it nurtured by sending out regular emails with relevant content. Emails should offer enough information to provide an idea of what the content is about, with a link to a webpage or landing page that will continue the story. This increases traffic on your webpage.

What are UTM Links

A UTM link is a hyperlink that includes additional meta data (code) to provide specific information that you need to track the performance of the link within that marketing tactic or campaign. UTM stands for “Urchin Tracking Module”, and are also know as UTM parameters, or tracking tags, because they help you "track" website traffic from its origin.

A typical UTM code looks like this:

Google Analytics recognizes the additional information provided in the link and provides a few reports showing website traffic originating from these links. (See below on how to find the reports.)

How to Create UTM Links

The easiest way to create the UTM links to use Google’s Campaign URL Builder , a free online tool.

Build the details of your links based on how you want to track the source of traffic to your website, getting as granular as you can to get the best insights for improving your ongoing email marketing efforts.

Here is an example of a content block within a newsletter:

If we refer back to the example mentioned above, it is the button link that we are tracking:

This link needs to be added to the button in the newsletter, rather than the direct link which in this case would be:

How UTM Links Are Tracked in Google Analytics

To view the traffic to the website that used your UTM links, you need to log into your Google Analytics account. You will see a few different reports. Go to:

Create a custom report under "Customization" > "Custom Reports". Add Medium, Campaign, or Source as a dimension and the metrics you want to view.
Go to Acquisition -> Overview -> All Traffic -> Source/Medium to view traffic
Go to Acquisition -> Campaigns -> All Campaigns to view traffic based on your custom campaign names.

Monitor, Evaluate and Improve

As in any marketing campaign, you need to start with a strategy which includes defined objectives. Strengthen your Email Marketing efforts by monitoring the performance of campaigns , understanding where clicks are occurring and leveraging these insights to plan your next campaign.

ASP Security Services: Web Platform and App to Manage Crossing Guards

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 13:39:13 GMT

A comprehensive digital system to manage crossing guards and a mobile app for direct communication which dramatically improved efficiency and reduced operational cost

ASP Security Services needed a system to manage crossing guards more effectively. Mawazo created one that far exceeded their expectations. The XGuard mobile App, provides intuitive features to assist crossing guards with managing their shifts and checking in and out for easy tracking. In addition, the XGuard Admin System provides the administrative staff critical management and monitoring features. A few months after implementing the system, ASP was able to reduce weekly operations by 50 hours and could deliver instant reports to their clients for increased value.

About the Company

ASP Security Services provides strategic security services and solutions. They serve clients across the educational, transportation, aviation, and public facility industries. The brand's parent company, ICTS Europe, is the second-largest aviation security employer after the US Transportation Security Administration. ICTS employs 17,000 workers.

One of ASP's subdivisions manages crossing guards for school children. The division's client is the City of Toronto. ASP is transparent with clients and strives to be responsive and accessible at all times. Maintaining healthy relationships with employees and the community is another driving force behind ASP's mission.

The Problem

Cliff Sampogna, Director of Operations at ASP Security Services knew that they would require expert assistance to develop a crossing guard admin app to support his Crossing Guard Operations Team. Without the technical expertise in-house, the ASP team was looking for a vendor to advise on the system design and architecture. It was the first time that this division of ASP developed a technical system like this. After many discussions, ASP outsourced the project to a software company that convinced them that they would be their partner in this project. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The vendor did build the admin system and a mobile app for the crossing guards, however they did not take the time to understand what was needed, they took very long to develop, and often delivered software that did not fully function. ASP leadership tried everything to rectify the situation, however the technical company was not very responsive. The breaking point came after a conversation with the vendor’s vice president. It became obvious ASP was just another number, and not a valued relationship.

The XGuard system should have been a valuable tool for ASP and its client. Instead, it became a highly stressful situation and a public relations nightmare. Since it did not work correctly, it prevented the division from progressing for a full year.

The situation frustrated both ASP and its clients, as the vendor continued to claim that issues were being resolved. Continuing to wait could have impacted ASP's school contracts, which was a substantial percentage of the division's business, and would have negatively impacted ASP’s reputation.

Why Mawazo?

Cliff began looking for alternatives. The CEO of ASP put him in contact with Alex de Paz and Liza Rodrigues of Mawazo. Cliff explained his situation, and Mawazo started working on it right away, even before they met or had an agreement in place. They started with quick fixes that would help the guards to use the App and enable the ASP Admin staff to get complete fundamental tasks on the Admin System.

This type of solution-focused attitude really impressed Cliff. He said Mawazo over-delivered from the start. ASP experienced more results in a few months than they did after a year with their former vendor. The switch was seamless, and Mawazo supported their ASP every step of the way.

The Project

Crossing guards provide an essential service—keeping kids safe. Making sure these guards arrive on time and perform their jobs gives parents peace of mind. This role is invaluable to the community.

Crossing guards don't have a typical schedule. They work a few hours each day, broken into 2-3 shifts. Verify that hundreds of crossing guards across the City of Toronto are at their location, within a short shift period is not possible to do physically. However it is crucial that ASP can do so.

Mawazo developed XGuard, a system to manage hundreds of crossing guards on hundreds of crosswalks and for hundreds of shifts. An accompanying mobile app was part of this system, so that each guard was able to view their shifts, and automatically inform ASP’s Admin team of the real-time location of each guard using mapping technology.

These tools let ASP:

Communicate shifts and shift updates to guards in real-time
Remotely track the geo-location of crossing guards during assigned shifts
Improve communications with crossing guards in case of issues with their attendance, incidents at their locations, or any request for assistance
Generate instant reports, for the business as well as for the City of Toronto

Mawazo was also able to advise on how to improve other operational procedures that required a lot of manual work. They had several parallel systems that required sharing of information. Cliff estimates senior management spent a minimum of 10 hours a week processing spreadsheets. Administrative staff allocated up to 40 hours each week to the same tasks.

The Outcome

The new XGuard system had a profound effect on this division of ASP, with the reduction of daily operational hours by an estimated 50 hours per week. It also strengthened the relationship with their client, by providing a dashboard for the client to generate their own reports.

Mawazo created and implemented effective tools to help ASP scale. The client can now identify whether a crossing guard is at their designated location on time without leaving the office. It even lets the company view whether that person is safe and doing their job correctly. Crossing guards also benefit from the platform. They can communicate via the app, phone, or text. And if they have a problem, they can reach out to someone through the app to get an immediate response.

The service Mawazo provided left a lasting impact on Cliff. They accommodated everything he requested without hesitation. The Mawazo team was also extremely responsive. Mawazo takes the time to listen to their clients. They understood the problems ASP Security Services faced. When no one else could help, Mawazo took action to find a solution.

Based on the success of XGuard, ASP referred the Mawazo team to other divisions within the company. Mawazo has completed a full assessment of ASP’s “tech stack” and is advising on opportunities to improve other operations and reduce overall costs. In addition, Mawazo continues to develop custom applications to meet our business needs, and in improve the services we offer to our clients.

Working with Mawazo helped ASP Security Services raise its standards and keep promises to its staff and clients.

Testimonial from Cliff Sampogna, Director of Operations, ASP Security

I have worked with Mawazo on a very unique project over the last several months and I am completely dumbfounded by the immense professionalism and work they do. We had a need for some major improvement to a part of our technology and they stepped in and right off the bat made a huge difference. I worked directly with Liza, who has been an absolute star. I had high expectations and I can honestly say that they have exceeded them by far. I want to say a huge thank you for everything they have done for us.

Cliff Sampogna, Director of Operations

ASP Security

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phases 1 and 2 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

Website UX Design - Let’s Simplify

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 17:33:21 GMT

UX, or User Experience, has taken on a life of its own. But does it need to be that complicated?

No one is questioning the importance of UX strategy, especially not me! However, it is now almost dominating other disciplines such as design and functionality.

I could not have summed it up better than Michal Malewicz in his article “UX has bad UX” , but here is my take on it. I am considering UX in my world of web design.

Shed the Overhead

In my time with one of the large network advertising agencies in Toronto, I had to go through our UX Director to book a UX expert to move a button on a wireframe. This usually takes 2-3 days.

I was not allowed to put any wireframing software on my computer, and I was not allowed to use my own software to make the update myself. This is because as “Senior Project Manager” for this large account it was not within my role.

I was working on a multi-million dollar project for 3 international sister brands, but I had to wait 2-3 days to move a button on the wireframe, which of course held up production. I sent several emails, had a few calls, and probably a meeting or two about such minor updates - Really?

I would find myself sitting in such meetings counting the talking heads and multiplying the time by the exorbitant hourly rates.

That became one very expensive button!

"If all that research and meetings has led to a mediocre product, then something is definitely wrong with the process."

Do Not Compromise Results

With all of these highly qualified expert opinions, and inevitably inflated egos, decisions made were based more on how to keep everyone happy, rather than achieving the best result.

We are all talking about “customer-centric user experiences”, but there is rarely anyone truly representing the customer in the discussion. It is time to take a step back, and look at whether our UX designs make sense.

Here are just a few questions to ask yourself:

Do the CTAs (Calls to Action) make sense to the context of the page?
Are the CTAs overwhelming to the user, and therefore annoying?
Have we overused the brand colours to the point that no one sees their significance anymore?
Are the popup forms getting in the way of the brand experience?

The end result should cater to the needs and wants of the customer, not the brand.

My mantra is “The resultant design needs to delicately balance the branding, usability and search engine optimization.”

Streamline Website UX Design

Over-inflated budgets and timelines are not necessary. There does not always need to be 10 people in the call or meeting. UX strategy and design does not need to take over the life of the project. It is absolutely a fundamental starting point, but it is not the entire journey.

We need to go back to combining disciplines, where a Designer can design for UX and a Project Manager can research and define target personas. It is possible, and it is what small- and medium-sized businesses need.

The ideal streamlined approach for creating a website that looks good, that meets the business needs, and converts visitors to customers is as follows:

Define the website objectives (or business requirements ), including clear measurable goals (KPIs)
Build target personas , also known as buyer personas
Do strategic keyword research to understand how your audience is searching online
Design the website structure, and define the types of content (focus on content that attracts the target personas) and interactive features
Create a content calendar to focus on keywords that present opportunities
Create the wireframes to outline the webpage templates and functionality
Define the functional specifications, detailing use cases for the website’s interactive features, as well as the backoffice features:

how content will be managed
how form data will be monitored
how website activities will be collected and analyzed
etc.

The advantage of this approach, which Mawazo has refined over the years, is that our clients end up with an “ architectural blueprint ” for their website. This documentation can be used by any designer and development team, and for development on almost any technical platform.

"It should be the smaller guys that do remarkable things for humans because they are driven by quality. Corporations are driven by something else entirely."

Google Updates Its Search Results Page

Wed, 22 May 2019 20:15:47 GMT

Google continues to update their search engine results pages (SERPs) in order to provide the best experience for their users. This is their goal, and our goal as marketers is to keep up so our client sites can be found.

Over the years, Google has made the life of marketers very challenging by constantly changing the goal posts. However, when we think about it from the perspective of a person doing a search, their updates make sense. As searchers, we want to get the results that we want which are most relevant to our keywords. More than that, we want Google to read our minds and provide us for search results that we need, which may be even more refined than the keywords that we have entered.

This latest update promotes the starts with promoting the brand for the website first in the results listing, showing the logo and URL before the name of the site. This will make it easier for searchers to browse through results to find a familiar brand. This also enables business owners to promote their brand and increase awareness.

As with all Google updates, website owners will soon scramble to make sure they have set their logo properly for their website. However, this logo icon, known as "favicon", was important for SEO (search engine optimization) much before this latest change. Your logo icon already appears in various locations, including the tab of the web browser.

Watch this Google update roll out in the next few days, on mobile first. Make sure your website is set up to show your logo!

More blogs on SEO and SEO tips:

10 Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Agency

Fri, 03 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Entrepreneurs who want to stand out in a diverse business landscape hire marketing consulting professionals to create an online marketing strategy . This strategy enables them to gain and retain customers through a combination of paid traffic from online advertising and search engine marketing, as well as organic traffic from search engine optimization.

Today, we will discuss 10 reasons why hiring a marketing agency is the best way to engage today’s increasingly competitive e-landscape and will take a closer look at what a marketing agency really is.

What Is a Marketing Agency?

A marketing agency helps its clients implement and manage their marketing efforts, operations, and strategies so they can achieve their business goals. Here are a few of the more important roles of a marketing agency:

Work to identify valuable marketing strategies:

As a business owner, you want to maximize the return on your investment (ROI) and achieve the best business results. A marketing agency helps find the best strategies to use for just that.

Implement the right marketing solutions:

The marketing agency implements the right marketing solutions for the business and manages them as they progress.

Evaluates the results:

Not only do they implement marketing strategies, but they also evaluate the results of each marketing strategy. They collect data that is then used to improve future marketing campaign results.

Increases Brand Awareness:

A marketing manager can help increase brand awareness and positively boost all marketing activity and efforts. Brand awareness allows you to cast a much wider net across your target audience to attract more prospective clients.

Types of Marketing Agencies

There are different types of marketing agencies offering various marketing services.

Full Service Marketing Agency

A full service digital marketing agency offers you a ton of valuable services, including search engine optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC), social media management, social media advertising, web design, web development, website maintenance, content creation and marketing, email marketing, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and review management.

Specialized Marketing Agency

A specialized marketing agency can provide some of the same services and marketing initiatives a full service digital marketing agency provides but also provides access to services more targeted to your business needs.

For example, a specialized marketing agency can manage search engine optimization campaigns, or you can find a marketing professional specializing in graphic design.

Traditional Marketing Agency

A traditional marketing agency focuses on traditional marketing services unrelated to digital marketing, like public relations, brand management, print marketing, and broadcast marketing on television and radio.

Choosing the right marketing agency for your business will come down to your marketing budget, needs, and business goals.

Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Agency

If you are still on the fence about hiring a marketing agency, it might help to take a closer look at the benefits.

Marketing Expertise

A marketing agency has the expertise to create a strong online presence for your company. Digital marketing changes very quickly. To be competitive, you must stay updated on changes in user behaviour, advertising possibilities, search engine optimization (SEO) updates and much more.

For example, if you want to be found at the top of Google’s Search Results Pages (SERPs), you need to stay on top of the ever-changing Google search algorithms . Google is constantly updating how its searches work so that they are improving its service as a search engine.

That means that those of us who want to be in the search results for our target audience need to understand these updates to improve our SEO efforts. This requires knowledge in keyword research, how to use these keywords on your website, how to engage when users come to our website based on these keywords, how to get other websites to link to you, and much more.

Unless you or someone on your team is an expert in search engine optimization, website building, mobile technology, and search engine marketing, you will not be able to keep up with your competitors online. When you hire marketing consulting firms, you are leveraging their experience and ongoing training, which will provide you with a positive ROI.

Are you considering hiring a marketing team member with these skills? This is a common argument against hiring an agency; however, it would be very difficult to find a single person with knowledge in the necessary digital marketing areas.

Consider the cost of hiring a full-time marketing team member, providing them with ongoing training, and/or outsourcing in areas in which your new hire does not have the expertise to execute the marketing. The math always clearly points to a better investment return in hiring a capable digital marketing agency.

Access to the Latest Technology

A lot of digital marketing requires tools. These can include tools for:

Keyword research, such as SEMRush, Keyword Planner
Email marketing, such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign
Social media marketing (tools for specific objectives), such as OptinMonster, Tailwind, Buffer
Search engine marketing (tools for specific objectives), such as Wordstream, SEMRush, RavenTools
Reporting, such as RavenTools, Cyfe, Supermetrics

For agencies, subscribing to robust tools and marketing technology makes sense, as they can spread the costs over multiple clients. For a company to subscribe to tools for themselves does not make financial sense.

More Time to Focus on Other Business Needs

Most entrepreneurs lack the time and expertise to focus on marketing. Their time is better spent on delivering the products and services they offer, which is their own area of expertise. In our experience, marketing is usually an afterthought when done in-house and is, therefore, not strategic. This compromises quality and results.

You Do Not Need to Train Agencies

A professional marketing agency is self-contained. Apart from discussing your vision and goals, the agency is fully educated, skilled and efficient from the get-go. They also stay abreast of the latest digital marketing and search engine marketing strategies on your behalf.

Scale Your Marketing Efforts

A huge draw of having a consultant create your online marketing strategy is that they do far more than just search engine optimization and content generation. They also measure the effectiveness of your unique keywords and track what is working online. The marketing agency has a fluid plan that evolves based on the online demands of your target audience.

Avoid Learning Curves by Staying on Top of the Latest Trends

It is important to stay updated on what is happening online to stay competitive. As an example, many entrepreneurs lost valuable market share when Google started ranking websites with poor mobile capability lower in search engine results.

Though there were many online warnings, this is not the type of information business owners are consuming, and therefore simply didn’t realize that they needed to have mobile-friendly sites. Hire marketing consulting professionals because they stay on top of the ever-changing trends.

Niche Specialization

When you hire a marketing agency, you can find someone with expertise and experience in your niche. They understand your industry and can tailor all marketing efforts to reach your target audience and benefit your business. The marketing expert knows what path to take early on and follows current marketing trends, preventing you from spending money and effort on a marketing campaign that isn’t producing favourable results.

More Flexibility and Less Risk

When hiring a marketing agency, you will find tons of information online about the agency, including reviews from other businesses that have used their services. You also have the opportunity to compare different agencies to find the right marketing agency for your needs, which results in less risk on your part. It also offers flexibility because it is not as permanent a situation as when you hire a new employee.

Increased Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness

Hiring a full time marketing executive for the marketing department in-house can prove to be a costly investment. However, hiring a marketing agency can prove to be a more cost-effective option. The agency is efficient and will take on the responsibility of tracking the performance of each digital marketing strategy, preparing reports, and holding meetings to keep everyone on the same page, improving operations and increasing efficiency.

Offers a Fresh Perspective

Finally, digital marketing agencies can offer you a fresh perspective and a new way to look at things. The marketing agency is outside your business and can have a more objective outlook on what needs to be done. They are also much more likely to hear about other successful marketing campaigns outside the industry that could work.

Social media marketing, for example, is where an outsider's fresh perspective can prove to make a big difference. Getting stuck in a rut and finding yourself doing the same things repeatedly is easy. A good marketing agency can completely overhaul how things are done and move your business in the right direction with a fresh perspective so you can meet your business goals.

The Bottom Line

Why are you in business? To make money. If your customers can’t find you, you won’t make money. Seventy-four percent of Canadians spend up to four hours online daily, and mobile purchasing has increased 40 percent since 2014 . Your customers are online. If you are not, you are missing out. The benefits of hiring a marketing agency are clear.

Unless, in addition to your daily duties, you are a marketing, search engine optimization, and content generating expert, you need to hire marketing consulting professionals for an online marketing strategy that works.

What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Marketing Agency

Thu, 02 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Before you choose a digital marketing agency, ask yourself these questions.

Will They Work with Us to Achieve Our Company Goals?

Your marketing agency should start your relationship with an in-depth consultation. Each business is unique, so it needs a unique online marketing strategy . Outsourced marketing comes at a cost, therefore you must ensure you are getting the value you need by choosing a marketing agency that respects and works with your long-term goals.

How Do They Measure Success?

Measuring the success of an online marketing strategy goes beyond how many likes or clicks your posts receive. The true measure of success is whether or not your company is achieving its goals. Promoting a post can give you extra likes, but they do not have the same value as five actual web-to-customer conversions. The agency’s success should be measured by how successful the online marketing strategy has been for your bottom line.

What Are Their Service Offerings and Capabilities?

Is your digital marketing agency offering search engine optimization ? SEO services are a vital part of every online marketing strategy. Organic searches are the primary driver of web traffic. Without SEO, people looking for your products and services will not find you online.

What Communication Tools Do They Use and How Effective Are They?

If your marketing agency specializes in outsourced marketing, they do not have to be located in your city. Does your digital marketing agency engage online communication tools, or do they insist on only face-to-face meetings? It’s easier to trust a company’s ability to make you shine online when they know how to leverage Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, text, VoIP, and all the other technologies that make remote communication easy and affordable.

How Can I Set Expectations for My Involvement and Availability?

Decide how much involvement you want with your online marketing strategy. Do you want weekly updates or a month-end report on your online target market engagement? Do you want to reply to likes, posts, queries, and shares? Will you perform your own reputation management ?

Decide exactly what you want from your marketing agency, and ask if those tasks are part of their services. Be clear about your involvement up front so you and the agency can know if a good partnership is possible.

Will I Get Along with Their Team?

The biggest indicator of being able to work with an outsourced marketing team is communication. If you feel unheard during the consultation or feel that a lot of jargon was thrown your way without explanation, you will probably not get along with the team. Marketing agencies with good communication skills excel at making you feel confident in their abilities and the online marketing strategy they create for you.

Do they have experience building brands?

Outsourced marketing is a smart decision. Marketing agencies must have the tools and collective expertise to deliver a robust online marketing strategy that is customized to your brand. They must be able to leverage brand intelligence to turn campaigns into results and impressions into relationships.

Will Mawazo Bring My Business to the Next Level?

How does Mawazo stack up as an outsourced marketing agency? Your goals are our goals. Mawazo measures success by the success of our clients, so we offer a full suite of SEO services in your online marketing strategy. We expertly engage locally and remotely with clients across the globe, and we are flexible to accommodate your desired level of involvement. Our team cares passionately about your success, which is why Mawazo will take your business to levels you only dreamed possible.

Growing Roots CRM with a 50% Conversion Rate

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 13:40:22 GMT

Converting 51,602 Anonymous Consumers to Rich Consenting Customer Profiles

About Roots

Founded in Toronto, Canada in 1973, and inspired by the nearby wilderness of Algonquin Provincial Park, we inspire the world to experience everyday adventures with comfort and style.

The Problem

After the introduction of CASL, Roots had to remove hundreds of thousands of email addresses from their marketing databases and only had about 400K email addresses left. Roots turned to Mawazo for a campaign to quickly their email marketing database in a CASL-compliant way.

Engagement Details

Mawazo organized a conversion campaign for Roots to activate in-store customers to submit their email address and create rich consenting customer profiles. Physical scratch cards were printed and delivered handed out in-store with every purchase.

Each scratch card revealed a unique code which participants entered into an online campaign platform. The customer profile was enriched with a sequence of questions on a responsive campaign site, establishing their demographic details and areas of interest.

A real-time connection with the Roots CRM allowed for the enriching of existing customer profiles and the creation of new relationships. A real-time dashboard for conversion tracking allowed Roots management to monitor the results in each individual store.

The Result

In two months, over Christmas 2015, we acquired more than 51K email addresses from 103K participants, and generated 47K website visits to Roots.com:

Number of Cards

961,000

In 107 branches

Unique Participants

102,842

10.7% conversions

New Registrations

51,602

50.2% conversion

Traffic Roots.com

47,399

46.1% conversion

Addressing the challenges of B2B field service companies

Below is a decription of our 4-step process. This case study is relevant for phase 3 of our programme:

Create Actionable
Growth Blueprint

Find Hidden Profits In Your Business Systems

Generate 5x ROI
On Digital Marketing

Open New Markets Profitably

We create a digital marketing strategy to differentiate you from the competition and attract profitable clients

Digital Transformation with custom automations removes costly inefficiencies and
saves overhead cost

Your Digital Marketing System delivers warm leads to sales, growing your revenue with our 5x ROI guarantee

With technicians and leads in new markets you can grow and expand to new locations
without additional overhead

What You Need to Know About Website SSL Certificates

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 20:11:22 GMT

What Are Website SSL Certificates by Mawazo Marketing

What Is an SSL Certificate and How Does It Work?

When a visitor comes to your website and submit information, then they want to make sure that it is safe secure. SSL, also known as Secure Sockets Layer, provides this reassurance. It is a security protocol intended to safeguard data and maintain privacy. It increases your visitor’s confidence knowing that their personal and financial details are safe and encrypted.

For sites that request personal data such as credit card information and other sensitive information, it is imperative to have an SSL certificate (TWEET IT) . This online credential tells shoppers or users of your website that their personal and financial details are safe and encrypted . It gives them more confidence to trust your website and provide personal information when it is required.

You can easily see whether your company's website is secured by SSL. If it is, then a padlock will appear next to the URL, and the URL will be preceded by "https" instead of "http":

Unfortunately, many websites still are not secured:

How Can I Obtain an SSL Certificate and What Do I Look for?

SSL can be difficult for website administrators to set up. Configuring SSL requires going to a Certificate Authority (CA) to verify your identity and authenticity of your website, installing the certificate on your server, and constantly keeping it up-to-date.

If your website does not have an SSL Certificate installed, then the easiest way to get this done is to contact your hosting company and get one installed for you. Most hosting companies will offer a variety of SSL certificates from different vendors, with differing levels of security and insurance. They can cost anywhere from a few dollars per year, to hundreds of dollars. This depends on:

is the SSL for one domain or multiple domains, and does it include subdomains?
do you need insurance, and how much?
the type of SSL certificate, with "standard" being the most common. "Extended" certificates show the company's legally incorporated name and turn the address bar green.

For most companies, however, the free SSL certificate offered by Let's Encrypt or CloudFlare will be sufficient.

Let's Encrypt is offered by many hosting companies. It provides a 3-month certificate which automatically renews
CloudFlare offers a number of excellent services, many of them free, which improve the speed and safety of your website.

Do SSL Certificates Help with SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a primary component of digital marketing that fuels traffic to a website. It ensures that your website can be found on Google and other search engines. Without SEO, getting the right audience to your site is almost impossible.

Websites with an SSL certificate are likely to rank higher and be considered trustworthy by individuals perusing the internet. So, having an SSL certificate improves your chances of being discovered online.

In Conclusion

Every website should be protected by an SSL Certificate, since it gives your visitors confidence and helps in improving your Google ranking.

If your website doesn't have an SSL Certificate installed, then we recommend getting this done as soon as possible. For most websites a standard certificate will be sufficient, and depending on your hosting company you may be able to get it for free, e.g. through Let's Encrypt.

You can also establish a free account on CloudFlare and activate an SSL certificate there. This will improve the speed of your website, and improve the security of your website overall.

If you have a website with some type of eCommerce functionality, or if you are an organization that attracts donations, then you may need a more extensive SSL Certificate which covers subdomains, certifies your organization, and possibly even includes an insurance.

Do you have any questions on SSL Certificates or the security of your website? Please reach out to us on our website or by writing to ideas@mawazo.ca.

What is a Title Tag and Why Is It Important?

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 03:44:43 GMT

Getting your title tags right is probably the most important thing you can do to get your website ranking well on Google. However, about half of the websites we review for our clients have very poor or even completely missing Title tags.

This article explains what a title tag is and why it is so important. Then we’ll show you how you can review the title tags of your website. Finally, we’ll help you create a great title tag to help you climb the rank on the Google search engine results pages.

What Is a Title Tag?

The SEO title tag is the most important piece of content on a web page. It explains what that page is all about. Its job is to tell your visitors (and Google) what information they can expect to find on your web page.

Ideally, it addresses the need of the person who is using Google. They are typically there to find something to address their needs. Let’s say your company provides personal home care service for elderly residents in Burlington, then you may want to be found by someone looking for “personal care service Burlington.”

You would want those words to appear in the title tag so that the person looking for that service can find your website.

Title Tag HTML

The title tag HTML is what defines the title of the document. This should be text only and shows up in the title bar of the browser or on the page’s tab. The HTML title tag is required for all HTML documents, and the page contents are important for search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO Title Tag

An SEO title tag is just one element of a website that denotes the web page's title. An SEO title tag is shown in a few primary locations, including the search result pages. When you search on Google, the SEO title tag is what you see in blue text.

The SEO title tag should include relevant keywords, shouldn’t be too repetitive, and should be detailed and specific. Avoid making it too long.

We will cover how to create the best title tags for an effective SEO strategy in more detail below.

How to see the Title Tag of a web page

The Title Tag appears when place your mouse on the tab in your web browser. In the screenshot below you will see that the Title Tag for the Mawazo Marketing homepage is “Digital Marketing Agency Burlington for Online Marketing Business”.

Go ahead, open up your website and check what the title tag is. It will often say something like “Home - [your company name].” If that’s the case, then this article is perfect for you.

The Title Tag “Home - [your company name]” is great if someone looks for exactly these words in Google. However, it's not a great title tag if you want someone who looks for “personal care service Burlington” to actually find you. Makes sense?

Let’s move on to some tips on creating good Title Tags. We’ll give you an overview of the most important elements to help you on your way. A little bit of effort will make an enormous difference!

How to create good Title Tags

Every page on your website should have a unique Title Tag which clearly describes the topic of that page to your readers and to the search engines. (Tweet it)

Start with writing down the keywords: the most important words that describe the web page's content. In the example above, it could be “personal care service Burlington.” Remember that every page on your website will have different keywords since every web page will address a different topic.

The best keyword phrases are those that are used most often by people searching for your service, and are not used by your competitors. There are many tools that help you find the best possible keywords for your content. They are mostly used by online marketers and online marketing companies.

Here is a DIY solution.

When you start typing words into Google, it will indicate what other users are searching for. It “autocompletes” your phrase. And if you use the free Chrome plugin Keywords Everywhere, then you’ll see approximate numbers of searches for that keyword phrase:

Now you can try different variations of relevant keywords and see what might work better. In the example below, you see that more people are looking for “home care services” than for “personal care services,” so it would make sense to rather use that phrase:

Now use these words to create a sentence of up to 65 characters (including spaces) that describes the topic of the web page. You can capitalize the first letter of the first word to make a sentence or the first letter of most words. If there is space for your company's name, then include that too. And if you’re a local business, it makes sense to indicate where you deliver your services.

In our example, you could end up with a keyword phrase like “Home Care Services Burlington - [company name].”

You can easily find the length of the keyword phrase using formulas in Excel or Google Sheets or using Microsoft Word by selecting Review > Word Count:

Now let’s see how we can make this Title Tag even better.

How to create even better Title Tags to rank well in Google

Up until now we have simply put the chosen keyword phrase together with the company name. If the keyword phrase is well chosen, then that’s already a good Title Tag. However, we can further improve the Title Tag to increase the chance of getting the web page listed on page one in Google:

Level of Detail

The highest-ranking web pages on any given keyword phrase are most often long and thorough articles. If your web page is an in-depth resource, then improve your title tag by adding words like: “complete,” “in-depth,” or “ultimate.” In our example, the title tag could be “The Ultimate Guide to Home Care Services in Burlington.”

Brevity

On the other hand, if your content is short and to the point, then you can turn that into a strength by adding words like “quick,” “simple,” and “short” to your title tag. For our example company, the Title Tag could be: “A Quick Review of Home Care Services in Burlington.”

Lists

List-style articles are popular on the web. People are drawn to structured information that gives a clear overview of a particular topic. Our personal care company could have a web page or blog with a title tag such as “5 Questions to ask your Home Care Services provider in Burlington”.

Price

If price is a differentiator for your company, then including this in the title tag can make sense. Personally, I try to help my clients define an online marketing strategy with a unique selling proposition or differentiator to avoid competing on price.

Then again, if you are the cheapest in your industry and want to keep it that way, then you should include that in your title tag: “Cheapest Home Care Services in Burlington - [company name].”

Timeliness

Nobody likes to read old news. When you publish content on your website, then you can use this to your advantage by including words that show that the content is fresh, e.g. including words like “latest,” “in 2018,” or “updated Nov 2018”.

Intention

Keep the intention of the web visitor in mind. Why are they looking for information, and what is the emotion they feel when searching? In our example, someone may be searching for a home care service for an ailing parent. The emotion they are feeling will be a concern for the safety of the parent. In that case, a good title tag might be: “Reliable and Safe Home Care Services in Burlington.”

Curiosity

Yet another improvement you can make to your title tag is to spark curiosity in the reader and entices them to click on the search result and read your page. For our example company, that may be a title tag like: “What Nobody Will Tell You about Home Care Services in Burlington.”

Here are the improved title tags for the company providing home care services in Burlington. The screenshot below also shows the formula you can use to calculate the length of a title tag in Microsoft Excel:

How to Implement Title Tags in a Content Management System

Implementing a title tag on your website should be very straightforward if your website has an intuitive content management system. At Mawazo Marketing, we work with a number of different content management systems depending on the particular needs of our clients.

Most of our websites are built on one of the following three platforms:

The example below shows how to implement a title tag on the Duda platform. For each individual page, you simply select “SEO” in the page settings and then implement it in “Page Title.”

What Is Title Tag Optimization?

Title tag optimization will be one of the easiest ways to improve Google search engine rankings for your website. Here are a few things you need to consider when you optimize your SEO title tags for search engines.

The Content Within the Website

Before writing an optimized title tag, you need to clearly understand what the page is about and how it fits into the website overall. Each page title tag will be different because each page focuses on something. So, your title tag for a blog post may contain some of the same relevant keywords as category pages, but ultimately, the titles will be different and specific for that particular page.

Intent Keyword Use

When creating or optimizing a title tag, you also need to know what your target audience is searching for and determine how they are searching. Keyword research is an important element for an optimized title tag because you want to use as much wording as you can that is being searched, as long as the intent is what the page focuses on.

Evaluate the Page’s Content

The title tag introduces the page topic with the keywords used in the content, meta description, URL, and other page elements. Google will ignore tags that don’t add value or are not tied to the page's focus.

Avoid Duplicating Tags

Google Search Console will show if there are duplicate tags and may choose to ignore the title tag and the content if this is the case. Multiple pages with duplicate tags are useless and don’t help the search engine rank the content. Use data collected from Google Search Console to see where your issues are, and this information can help with title tag optimization.

Intent Keyword Use

When optimizing your title tags, make sure it is something a searcher wants to click on. If not, they will move to the next site they see on the search results page. Answer the question, desire, or need of the searcher. Your call to action (CTA) should be clear and focused. You can even use more actionable language and prioritize the most important words in the tag.

SEO Title Tag Length

Your SEO title tag length should be between 30 and 60 characters. This shorter title length is what Google shows in the SERPs. Research has shown that page titles kept within this SEO title tag length display fully and is not cut off.

How to Change Page Title Tag in WordPress

To change a WordPress title tag, log into the WordPress admin area and navigate to settings. From there, you will click on General. This takes you to a page where you can edit the site title field. Once done, make sure to save the changes.

WordPress doesn’t let you have a custom title for each page or blog post on your site. It only allows you to customize your title for the homepage.

You can also use Yoast SEO . This is a popular plugin for WordPress users. It allows you to create and edit posts. WordPress's default formula has a title, page, separator, and site name. You can keep the entire formula, add custom text, or write a new title from scratch.

As you change or modify, you will see how the title will be displayed in search engines along with the meta description. If you have a WordPress account, you can purchase Yoast SEO Premium and activate it without leaving your WordPress site.

How to Add Title Tag in WordPress

As a default, WordPress sets the title tag to be the same as your page or blog post title in the WordPress Editor. However, you can install a plugin like Yoast SEO to set a custom title tag separate from your page or blog post. Refer to the instructions we included above on how to change page title tag in WordPress.

Having a different title tag to the H1 tag can help your click through rate or the percentage of people who saw the page listing in Google search results and decided to click on it. Writing an optimized title tag can result in a much higher click through rate.

Does the Effort of Creating Unique Title Tags Pay Off in Google Ranking?

Good title tags aren’t very difficult to create, but they strongly impact your search engine ranking. It’s possibly the most important single improvement you can make on your website. Here is one example. ATC Truck Refrigeration in Burlington didn't have a presence in search engines. For all relevant search phrases, they couldn't be found in the first 10 pages of Google.

At Mawazo Marketing, we started by creating unique title tags for each of their web pages. Together with other efforts, this resulted in the following improvement in rankings over a period of three months:

The Bottom Line

Overall, title tags are a huge factor when it comes to search engines understanding what each page is about. They help people understand page content so they can choose the most appropriate result for their specific search query. If you are new to HTML, title tags can be a bit confusing, but it is definitely something you want to learn more about so you can determine how the search engines will rank your page.

How To Create Content

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

How to Create Content for your website

Does this sound familiar?

You know that your business needs a sound content strategy in place in order to compete online, but you have no idea where to begin. Creating high-quality content can be a challenge, and many business owners get stuck when it comes to writing content for their website.

Luckily, we have created some tips for content creation that will enable you to produce content that your customers and prospects will love and will make you look like a superstar in your industry.

Create a Solid Content Strategy

You can’t create great content without a great content strategy for digital marketing. Once your strategy is in place, the content will practically write itself. Here are some tips to get started: (CLICK HERE TO TWEET IT)

1. Define Your Goals

Once you know your content marketing goals, you’ll have a better understanding of what kind of content you should be producing. Do you want to make online sales? Drive people to a website? Grow your social media channels? Sign up subscribers? All of the above? Then, you must get clear on your goals and the process will be much easier.

2. Keyword Research

In most cases, keywords will be at the core of each piece of written content you create, so it makes sense to take time and do some brainstorming. Keep in mind that you should focus on keywords that people are likely to use when searching for what you have to offer. Also, longer keyword phrases like "content writing tips for beginners" will have less competition than generic terms like "content writing."

3. Create Detailed Personas

Determining who you are speaking to is an essential factor in your content creation strategy. Take the time to create detailed personas of your ideal customers before you get started, complete with gender, age, income, occupation, hobbies, and so on.

4. Set Up Your Blog

If you don't already have one, you'll need to set up a blog, so you can start producing content. There are a handful of viable options, including WordPress, Wix, and Blogger, or you could have a custom blog created as part of your website design.

5. Keep It Useful and Relevant

When you do get down to writing or creating your videos, make sure that the content is useful and relevant to the personas you created. If they are engaged and are willing to spend their time consuming what you produce, the odds of them converting and returning in the future are much higher.

Important Factors to Consider

Whether you are writing blogs, running PPC campaigns , adding web pages or creating specific landing pages, you should follow a few rules. Some important factors to consider when you are learning how to create content for your website include:

Creating headlines that draw the reader in (how-to, numbered lists, and questions work well)
Write in the 2nd person, as if you’re having a conversation with one person (your ideal customer)
Make sure your content is written to the title
Create content that is search engine friendly
Create content that solves a problem

Creating effective content for your business doesn't have to be as complicated as it seems. Follow the steps listed above, and feel free to get in touch with us at Mawazo Marketing if you like to learn more and take your content marketing to the next level.

Benefits of Content Marketing | Why Content Is King

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

What Is Content Marketing?

With so many new tools, platforms, and tactics that claim to be the "next big thing" in the world of online marketing, it's easy to lose sight of what got us all here in the first place. Once the shady SEO practices of years past were dealt with and put to rest, it was content marketing that stood alone as the absolute best way to get found online and drive conversions.

The Seven Steps of Content Marketing

When developing a stellar content marketing strategy, you should follow seven key steps. This applies whether you are just starting out with content marketing or have been working on content approaches for a while.

1. Determine Your Audience

The first step is determining who your target audience is so you can create valuable content. Remember that you can accommodate more than one user by using different content types and channels to deliver the best and most tailored content to each persona.

2. Address Pain Points

A pain point is a specific problem a person has. Most customer pain points are diverse, but it helps to narrow them down when creating an effective content strategy. The content you share on your site is meant to reinforce the solutions you are offering customers. This helps you build credibility and authority with your target audience.

3. Set Yourself Apart

Since competitors have similar offerings, you must find a way to set yourself apart. Use high-quality content to show why you are an authority within your niche and relay that message in the content you create and share.

4. Determine the Right Content Formats

To determine which content formats to use, you must consider your target audience and how they take in information. You may want to try out a podcast because it has been growing in popularity over the years, but if your target audience would rather read a blog post, you have to consider this. You want the content format you choose to resonate with your audience.

5. Find the Right Channels

Now that you have the content and format, you need to find the right social media platforms to share it on. If you have a younger audience that prefers quick bits of information, then TikTok or Instagram may be the best avenues. However, if your target audience prefers long form content, you may want to post blogs on your website and then share them across all your social media platforms for engagement.

6. Content Management

You should have a clear-cut content strategy and publication schedule to prevent chaos. An editorial calendar, for example, is a good way to plan out your content and can be adapted as you grow. Content management strategies are useful for making sure blog articles and other digital content are shared regularly with existing customers while also reaching a new audience.

7. Brainstorm Ideas

Finally, your creators and digital marketing team should always be brainstorming new content ideas. Always stay a step or two ahead when it comes to outlining your next amazing content project.

To help with this, many online tools and resources are available for content providers. Feedly tracks trendy topics in your industry and helps you find relevant and high quality content ideas.

BuzzSumo is another popular option. They offer many different marketing research tools, including one that uses social media shares to determine how popular and liked a piece of content will be.

Content Marketing Example

Newsletters, podcasts, social media posts, blog articles, and video content are a few examples of content marketing. Content marketing is valuable for several areas of your business and adds value in the form of different content strategies that include interactive content marketing, video content marketing, B2B content marketing, B2C content marketing, creative content marketing, and blogging content marketing.

MailChimp, for example, is a popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for medium and small businesses. It helps a company build subscriber lists and generate new leads. They launched a unique content series called All in a Day’s Work that discusses the pitfalls and highlights faced by smaller businesses.

Content Is King: The Importance of Content Marketing

With so many new tools, platforms, and tactics that claim to be the "next big thing" in the world of online marketing, it's easy to lose sight of what got us all here in the first place. Once the shady SEO practices of years past were dealt with and put to rest, content marketing stood alone as the absolute best way to get found online and drive conversions.

And even today, as things seem to be changing at lightning speed, content creation is still king and content marketing is as important as ever.

Benefits of Content Marketing

Now that you see why content is king and always will be, let’s explore some of the biggest benefits of having a high quality content marketing strategy in place.

Retain Your Audience

Amazing content will prove to be an important asset. It has the power to create a more positive experience for potential customers and will compel them to return for more in the future. Good content will attract your audience and reinforce and promote brand awareness.

Find Better Traction on Social Media Platforms

Trending content helps increase social media followers and gives your business more traction. High quality content can drive website traffic, increase conversions, and spread brand awareness. You can also share user generated content to interact with your target audience more consistently.

Generate More Leads

Content marketing also generates more leads. People who view your content are likelier to purchase from you later. Calls to action can also be used in your content to help generate these new leads.

Improve Conversions

Good content improves conversions and helps the audience connect with your brand. You are giving them the information they need to make a more educated purchasing decision. Avoid posting irrelevant content that does not provide your audience with any value.

Improve SEO Efforts

Become an Authority in Your Niche

Relevant content helps position your company as an authority within your niche. You are providing your audience with a credible place to visit for relevant and valuable content. Make sure your content answers your audience's questions, and you will quickly improve your ranking.

Build Brand Awareness

Content creators should develop content that the audience is interested in. They will then begin associating your brand and product with your great content. This puts your brand at the forefront.

Save Money

Finally, a good content marketing strategy can help you save money. Compared to paid advertisements and marketing efforts, as you would see with traditional marketing, digital marketing is a good investment.

Content Speaks Directly to Customers

One of the main benefits of content marketing is that it speaks directly to your customers at a time when they want to hear what you have to say. Whether it is an educational piece or something more persuasive, aligning with your customer's thoughts and needs makes them feel as if the message is just for them.

It Encourages Brand Loyalty and Trust

When you create a scenario where your customers feel like you are speaking directly to them, it increases their level of trust and encourages loyalty. Content marketing in social media is especially effective at creating trust with your prospects and customers.

It Establishes Thought Leadership

Thought leadership is a content marketing benefit that refers to you being perceived as an authority in your niche or industry, which is a massive benefit of content marketing. When you have established thought leadership, every piece of content you produce within your content marketing campaign will be considered valuable, and other businesses and websites will link to it.

Reputation Management

The reality of the online world is that anyone can say anything about your business, whether it is true or not. One valuable service as part of a quality content marketing service is reputation management. With a proven reputation management service in your corner, you won’t have to worry about negative reviews or false rumours affecting your business.

High-quality and useful content marketing creates the perception of value around your business, and at the end of the day, it is value that people look for when they decide to do business with anyone. From being found online to connecting with your customers to becoming an authority in your industry to building trust, the importance of content marketing has never been more evident than it is right now.

Ingredients That Make a Great Content Marketing Campaign

Great content can be created in a variety of different ways and on different platforms. A content creator can use current trends as well as video content to stand out. However, a handful of ingredients must be present if you want to get positive results and see more content marketing success overall.

Compelling Headlines

Your content must be relevant and useful to your target audience, be presented in a simple, straightforward manner, and speak to the title or headline you’ve created. This means you need a strong headline that provides specific information regarding what they are about to read, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

A good headline length is around 65 characters or about 11 words. If you are looking for social media engagement, your headline should include an instructional phrase like “you need to know.”

Interesting Intros

After the headline, the intro should continue to hook readers and compel them to click on your content. If the content doesn’t immediately grab their attention, research has shown that they will click away and go elsewhere. Get right into the information that was promised by the headline. Acknowledge the problem they are faced with and show them you have the solution.

Actionable Content

Since your content aims to teach readers something valuable and send them through the marketing funnel on their customer journey, use actionable content.

Provide specific and actionable steps they can follow and show why you are an expert in your industry when creating content. Visual content is another way you can catch your audience’s attention and makes it more likely they will share the information with others through a social media post. Visual content is especially helpful for how-to guides and step-by-step instructions.

Unique Brand Voice

Your brand voice is the opportunity to stand out as a content marketer and is the personality attached to your brand image. Your brand voice should clearly state your core values and mission statement. You don’t want to use conflicting tones.

Backlinks and Keywords

There is no question that content is king in SEO. Backlinks are still valuable, as are other elements, but without great content, no one will ever backlink to your website.

By following some basic tips for content marketing in SEO , you can get your content to the first page of search results for your desired keywords and get found when people are looking for what you have to offer.

Overall, a successful content marketing campaign is the creation of valuable and useful content that increases audience engagement, adds to your search engine optimization efforts, and can be used across social media to increase brand awareness and recognition.

To learn more about content marketing and to find out how Mawazo Marketing can help improve your online results, get in touch with us today!

PODCAST: Is Content Still King?

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

I was interviewed by Inbound Back Office to talk about the growing importance of content for marketing businesses online.

Why You Should Outsource Your Digital Marketing

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 16:47:14 GMT

Business owners are not necessarily marketers, and therefore digital marketing can be intimidating. Many business people are uncertain of how to venture into the online world because they view it as an abstract or difficult concept. Digital marketing agencies are capable of simplifying the digital world by offering knowledge and strategies that generate results in this area. Consider the benefits below if you want to realize the leads and profits you've been wishing for.

You Will Benefit from Years of Knowledge & Experience

Digital marketing agencies are composed of a team of individuals who have vast industry experience. Collectively, this group of experts will come together to focus on improving your business by developing, building and mastering your online presence, for the overall effect of increasing your return on investment (ROI).

Each aspect of digital marketing requires relevant education and practical experience, such as web development, search engine optimization, online advertising, content marketing, user interface design (which is much more effective than simple “graphic web design”), email marketing, etc. The strategists are the ones that make sure all of these moving parts are working together so that the sum of your email marketing efforts and content marketing efforts, for example, are better than if you were to use those tactics individually. In simple terms, a digital marketer wants 2 + 2 to equal 6.

Marketing groups are not necessarily centred on sales support but rather on the marketing mechanisms that lead to the generation of sales.

You Can Limit Company Costs & Risks

By outsourcing your marketing efforts, you are expanding the capabilities of your business to reach prospective clients. You are receiving external insight which can provide innovative and fresh ideas for attracting targeted individuals to your company.

Digital marketing agencies understand the online audience. There are no hiccups. Your investments for digital marketing will go farther and reduce risks for unnecessary spending. Your money is being appropriately allocated and leveraged on a team of experts who are dedicated to particular aspects of your online presence, whether that is search engine optimization to generate organic traffic to your website, or perhaps online advertising to promote specific products or services. The advantage of digital marketing is that in most cases, results are easily measured. There is no guess-work involved.

Have you ever done a direct mail-out, which is to send flyers to houses in specific geographic locations? If you have, do you know how many people read your flyers?

The answer is no. You can only know how many people have contacted you because of the flyers, and that is IF your team asks sales leads how they found out about you.

However, if you were to do an email campaign, you would know exactly how many emails were delivered and to which email addresses. You would also know who opened your emails, and who clicked on any links contained in the email. This data enables you to identify what can be improved to continue to increase your return on investment.

You Receive Access to the Latest Technology & Information

All businesses struggle to stay on top of the latest developments in order to service their clients or customers with the newest trends. This is also true for digital marketing agencies. Each area of expertise requires attention to new technologies, tools, strategies, and methodologies in order to provide the best results for their clients.

With the use of the latest technology and trends, an experienced marketing agency can successfully launch your online presence and build your brand's authority. By implementing new initiatives and remaining in sync with digital changes, your efforts are sure to attract prospective clients and keep them engaged.

How Do You Select a Digital Marketing Agency

Now that you've decided to outsource some or all of your marketing efforts to a digital agency, you need to know what qualifies a good partner. Here are some suggestions on how to define the perfect partner for you:

Ensure that measurable goals are set before any marketing is executed.
Understand how ROI is actually calculated. Campaign performances should be individually evaluated.
Partnerships and outsourcing for specific expertise is becoming standard in the marketing world, however you should always be aware of how your agency partner operates so that you know what to expect.
Ensure that any services or assets that are bought on your behalf are owned by you and not by the agency.
If the agency is doing web development, find out what happens to your website if you were to change agencies.
Ensure you have administrative access to all of your digital properties, such as your website, social pages, online tools, etc.

Overall, you're looking for new customers. So choose a digital marketing company that has a proven record of acquiring leads, converting them into customers, and using strategic practices that continue to stimulate your audience's interest in your company. For businesses that are struggling to get noticed on the internet, your digital marketing agency must provide solid tactics to boost your online presence, ultimately positioning yours as an authentic and authoritative brand.

Whether it is for web development, social media, email marketing or any other digital campaign, take your time searching for a partner so you can choose one that is dedicated to the success of your company and ready to deliver well-defined, measurable results.

5 Common Myths about Digital Marketing

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:51:58 GMT

Digital marketing refers to the implementation of electronic media to bring awareness to brands and products. It uses the internet primarily to connect with potential customers. Marketers operate within outlets such as websites , social media, digital display advertising , email, and search engines to reach their prospective clients. And since communication is widely sent and received on smartphones and tablets, digital advertising is designed to reach prospects who are habitually accessing the internet on their mobile devices.

Some people have an idea of what digital marketing means, but they are not fully aware of its scope and even doubt its relevance to their business. To give you get a clearer understanding of the tactics, we're going to debunk five common myths about digital marketing.

Myth #1 – Digital Marketing is Highly Technical and Difficult to Measure or Track

For people dabbling in the digital marketing realm, they often assume that measuring its results is difficult. However, that is not the case. Evaluating the success of digital advertising can be done by measuring analytics progressively, as well as whole data sets about a specific campaign.

The evaluation of analytics concerning ongoing interaction refers to, for example, the number of social media followers, the number of clicks on your links or ads, shares or likes for each post, and forwards of emails, as well as the level of website traffic that results from online engagement. You can gain insights using popular metrics tools, like Google Analytics, or the systems that are built into social media platforms. Judge the success of each effort based on campaign objectives and anticipated results.

Myth #2 – Social Networking is Digital Marketing

Another misconception many people have is that digital marketing is exclusively characterized by social networking initiatives. This belief is not at all accurate. Social networking is only a portion of digital advertising.

As mentioned before, digital marketing is comprised of various elements such as email marketing , search engine optimization for websites, paid and organic ads, and many other constituents. Social networking is just one stage, where you find people who may be interested in your product or service. From there, you implement the many other tactics to capture their attention and business. Overall, the premise of digital marketing is centred around all internet channels and their users.

Myth #3 – Digital Marketing is Only for Large Businesses

For many businesses considering digital marketing, it can be very intimidating. Many are often lead to believe that it is a strategy designed only for large companies. This idea is incorrect. Countless individuals are searching for your products or services online. However, the key is placing your ads before the right people. Digital marketing provides businesses with the opportunity to strategically present their business at the right time and in the right way to people who have demonstrated an interest in their industry, product, or service.

Although larger businesses may have departments dedicated to this task, smaller companies can still plan campaigns with big impact, or you can outsource your needs to experienced contractors. Participating in digital marketing brings benefits regardless of the size of your business.

Myth # 4 – Higher Time Consumption Versus Fewer Results

You will need a certain degree of involvement to receive the results that you anticipate from digital marketing. But that fact is true for any goal. Your time commitment may be higher as you start out and are learning the ropes, but if you practice the right techniques, you'll see proportionate results.

Along with being committed you need to be consistent. Successfully planning your strategies, and sticking to your goals will enable you to receive the returns you want. Overall, it is not time that is a factor but instead determining the ideal digital platform for your use and producing appropriate content to continually attract the right prospects.

Myth #5 – My Target Audience Does Not Use Social Media

Social media is a major force in digital marketing. Individuals of all ages are present on these platforms. To target your audience, however, you have to find the platform they utilize most frequently. For example, if your ideal clients are individuals ranging between the ages of 25-34, Instagram would be a great platform to focus on. Most individuals on this site range from approximately 18-35 years of age. Thus, with the implementation of the right tools and strategies, you can attract this demographic to your brand.

Even if your target demographic is not scrolling on social media 24/7, they do consume digital media on some level. And you can get creative on social media to position your brand by targeting the people adjacent to your audience. If you want the business of generations less active on social, you can present your product or service to their loved ones as the perfect gift.

Mawazo Can Provide Digital Marketing Solutions

Mawazo Marketing is an agency specializing in digital marketing efforts such as web development and its many related initiatives. We assist business owners in finding their ideal clients through online engagement and the implementation of measurable marketing strategies. If you're interested in digital marketing but aren't sure how to get started, we can assist you with planning, developing and managing digital marketing campaigns. Feel free to contact us about our digital advertising solutions!

What Is PPC and Is It Worth It? Six Things to Know About Pay Per Click Advertising Campaigns

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 22:38:46 GMT

When it first emerged, pay per click (PPC) advertising was one of the most exciting new digital marketing tactics. If you are like most small business owners, you have probably debated the value of conducting pay per click advertising campaigns to grow your revenue and increase your brand awareness. However, when executed by an expert, PPC advertising can be extremely lucrative. Here is what you need to know before you start investing in PPC ads.

What Is PPC?

PPC is a digital advertising model where the advertiser pays a fee every time their ads are clicked. It means paying for targeted visits to your site, landing page, or app. A successful PPC campaign can result in good profits and ultimately can prove to be more valuable to your campaign than what you pay for it.

A PPC ad takes on many forms and can be text, image, or video-based, or it can be a combination of all of these. PPC ads appear on social media platforms, websites, and search engines.

Pay Per Click Advertising Terms You Should Know

Here are a few terms you may come across when you enter the world of paid advertising.

Search engine marketing (SEM):

Any digital ad campaign aims to rank for a specific target keyword. SEM includes paid or unpaid ways to do this on a search engine. PPC isn’t limited to search engines like a Google ad or Bing ad; PPC marketing services can also be used on social media.

Quality Score:

The quality score is given to an ad based on its click through rate. This is then measured against other ads in that same position or ad placement. Many factors come into play when determining the quality score, including keyword relevance, landing page quality, and past SERP performance.

Cost-Per-Click:

Also known as CPC, this is how much an advertiser pays for each ad click. It is similar to an auction; the highest bid will get the best ad placement.

Ad Rank:

The Ad rank value determines where the ad is positioned on the search engine results page.

Ad Groups:

An ad group is a series of ads you create within your ad campaign. These ads are created using related and targeted keywords. There is a CPC for each ad group.

Types of PPC Advertising

Several types of PPC advertising are available to those who want to utilize this kind of campaign. Let’s dive into some of the details of each below.

Search Ads

A search ad is one of the more common types of PPC advertising. A search ad is good for digital marketers just starting with PPC advertising. When you follow through with a search ad campaign, you choose the keywords you want the ad to show up on. Google Ads is then told what ad copy the advertiser wants to use.

You bid on the keywords and get your ad to appear on the SERPs. PPC search ads appear above and below the organic listings. You will know which are paid search ads because you will see the word “Ad” appear next to them in the search results. See our example below.

Many advertisers choose to use paid search advertising for their campaigns. Google Ads advertises the business on the search engine. Another way to use paid search ads is through Microsoft Advertising and the Bing search engine.

Display Ads

Display ads are another form of paid advertising that differs from search advertising. With this form of advertising, your ad may appear in front of users currently searching for your products. The ads appear to those who have shown a previous interest in your products or services. Display ads have a lower conversion rate and come at much lower click prices compared to search advertising.

Video Ads

Video ads are another important component of digital marketing. Paid video advertising allows you to get your videos to people unaware of your business, and you do not have to first build an audience. YouTube has over 2 billion monthly active users and is a good place to start your video ad campaign. You can also use Google Ads to show your paid videos on YouTube.

Google Shopping Ads

Google shopping ads have an image of the item you are selling, its price, description, and title. You can create a shopping ad campaign for your eCommerce business if you have products to sell rather than services. This PPC advertising campaign can also prove to be one of the more profitable options, and the conversion rate will be higher than that of a search campaign.

Paid Social Ads

Paid social ads show advertisements to users while browsing social media websites. Several paid social media platforms allow PPC advertising, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok.

Facebook PPC advertising is one of the easiest ways to get into this ad campaign. Facebook owns Instagram, and the ads on one social media platform will extend to the other. So when you use Facebook ads, adding Instagram to your advertising campaign is easy.

Display Ads

Display ads combine text, images, and a URL linking to a website where a potential customer can learn more about your products in the search results. Display ads can be created in many different formats and can be rich media ads with multiple images, changing text, and video elements. Banner ads are common to advertise products on social media, websites, and apps.

What Are the Best PPC Platforms?

Several platforms offer PPC ads to help you grow your business. Originally, search engines like Google were the only platforms that offered pay per click. However, now there is pay per click options on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

YouTube, which Google also owns, allows you to get more exposure through pay per click. The truth is that platforms are constantly evolving, so the best way to figure out which is right for you depends on the following factors:

Who are your customers?
How do your customers search for your products or services online?
What are your customers interested in?
Which platform currently offers the highest ROI for time and money spent?

Once you can answer these questions – and perhaps review them with a PPC expert– you’ll be able to hone in on the best platform for your PPC campaigns.

Google Ads

Google Ads is formally known as AdWords. Google can process thousands of search queries each second, allowing you to find relevant keywords that will reach your target audience. However, the keywords in Google Ads will be highly competitive, so you will need to have a higher ad spend for this platform.

Bing Ads

Compared to Google Ads, Bing Ads has a lower CPC and a smaller audience. When it comes to how this platform functions, it is very similar to Google Ads. You bid on the keywords based on traffic volume, and your ad is displayed when the keyword is searched. You will pay Bing each time a visitor clicks on your ad.

Facebook Ads

Facebooks Ads is another popular choice for paid ads because you can target users based on their behaviours, demographic, interests, and locations. Facebook also lets you use native ads that blend into the social feed.

What Social Media Platforms Are Best for Using PPC Ads?

There is a lot of debate about the best social media platforms to use for PPC ads. Again, since social media is constantly changing, you need to pay attention to where your customers are spending their time online and measure it against the ROI of each platform.

Whatever you do, don't underestimate the potential of up-and-coming platforms – cost per click averages are often lower in the initial post-launch phases of newer platforms.

Benefits of PPC

Is pay per click advertising worth it? PPC advertising falls under the umbrella of search engine marketing. With this kind of campaign, the advertiser only pays when there are impressions or clicks. Here are some of the more notable benefits of PPC ads.

Cost-effective
Produces fast results
You can target your ideal audience
You can test and control the PPC ads you use
All of the algorithm changes have little to no effect on PPC ads
You can rank with PPC ads even if you have lower domain ratings
PPC data helps improve your overall search engine optimization (SEO) strategy

Pay Per Click Ads Offer the Potential for Immediate Returns

If you need new customers and sales now, pay per click is one of the best ways to achieve those goals. One of the hallmarks of PPC ads is the delivery of a steady stream of quick and predictable traffic for a fixed cost. If executed correctly – by somebody with the knowledge and experience to deliver results – you could potentially start getting sales soon after launching a campaign.

PPC Data Improves SEO Strategies

PPC advertising allows you to rank for keywords your target audience is searching for. The paid advertising campaign you use should be complementary to your SEO strategies. It should never be a replacement. You need to understand the user’s search intent for more clicks and greater conversions. PPC data can help, so you only display the most relevant ad for your intended audience.

What Businesses Benefit the Most From PPC Ads?

All businesses can benefit from PPC ads; however, you will need a minimum budget to ensure your ads gain online traction for the best results. You will also need to have an appropriate keyword strategy for your ads.

In general, PPC ads are most effective when targeting potential customers who are in the purchase phase of the buying funnel. Click-to-call ads are a great way to simplify the contact process, and ads that lead directly to forms or purchase pages can be extremely efficient when targeted correctly.

Overall, businesses that use a strategy and lean on the knowledge and experience of PPC experts will generate a great return on investment (ROI) on their campaign budget.

How to Build a PPC Campaign

Here are the steps and other helpful information you should know when building a successful PPC campaign for your business.

Get to Know the Basics of PPC Ads

Pay-per-click advertising is a model of online advertising in which the advertiser pays a fee to a publisher each time their ad is clicked. PPC campaigns enable you to “buy” traffic for your website, which gives quicker results than efforts to “earn” traffic organically. The advantage of PPC advertising is that advertisers only pay when their ads are clicked, but they also gain brand awareness by displaying their ads for free when not clicked.

Remain Patient About Results When First Starting Out

Like anything, it’s important to be patient about the results of your PPC ads. A boost in traffic is essentially a guarantee, but the conversion rates of your ads may require a few tests and tweaks before they reach optimal performance. But as is the case with all marketing tactics, measurement, analysis and constant iteration are vital to the success of your campaigns.

Set Your Parameters

Without parameters in place, you may find that your ads are not as targeted as they could be. Consider who you want to target, the campaign’s theme, how you will measure your success and the type of campaign you want to run.

Create Goals and Track Metrics

Brand awareness is a goal that you will use to display ads. You can measure your brand awareness through social engagement and direct traffic. Another PPC goal is lead generation. You should create a separate landing page for each ad group and track your lead conversions.

If you’re looking to grow your business’ revenue through PPC ads but don’t know where to start, we can help! Contact us to learn more about our digital marketing strategies that can benefit your business and take it further, faster!

9 Marketing Tips For The Most Effective Website Pop-Ups

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 19:48:45 GMT

Whether you find website pop-ups annoying or not there’s no arguing at the fact that they are extremely useful when it comes to lead capturing and lead generating. Pop-ups on sites are a great way to engage with your website visitors by offering them a reason to convert. At the same time, many websites are scaring their visitors away with their pop-ups with various mistakes. Here are some useful marketing tips when it comes to website popups.

1. Colour Pallet

Colour might seem like such a novel thing, however, it is the most important factor to consider. A good rule of thumb would be to use 1-2 colours maximum, 1 for your message and one for your call to action button.

2. Off Center Elements

Make sure all of your elements are aligned properly and that everything is symmetrical to create a cohesive design.

3. Clever Headline

You may think you’re being witty with that clever headline but some of your visitors might not share the same humor as you. Make your headline straightforward and the offer clearly stated.

4. Description Doesn’t Describe Offer

Your pop-up should have the three key components: what you want them to do, why they should give you the information you want, and what they will get for it.

5. You’re Asking Too Much

Make sure to only ask what is absolutely necessary, think less is more. Most people will only be willing to give their email address or first name for a general pop-up offer.

6. Your Call to Action Doesn’t Match Your Offer

Your call to action button should clearly match what you want the visitor to do, for example, “subscribe to our newsletter.”

7. Your Offer Isn’t Good Enough

This is the biggest mistake we see when it comes to pop-ups. You should offer something of value to your visitor such as a coupon code or free demo.

8. Your Offer is For the Wrong Audience

Your pop-up should display an offer that matches where your customer is on the buyer’s journey. If they’re on the checkout page don’t have a popup asking them to sign up for your blog and if they’re just browsing your blog don’t have a popup offering them a coupon code.

9. Your Pop-up Displays Immediately

Give them time to digest what is on the page before displaying your popup. Typically 10-15 seconds is a good time frame before displaying your website popup.

For more information on website design and online marketing strategy , contact us and we can act as your marketing consultants or as your in house marketing team.

How To Create A Marketing Strategy

Sun, 18 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Marketing, branding, sales, they are all integral parts of your business development strategy and they all need to be handled with care, precision, and forethought. However, marketing seems to be one of the most challenging components of business development for the majority of companies in this day and age when technology and consumer attention are constantly evolving. The key to being successful with your company’s marketing is to develop a Targeted Marketing Strategy .

What is Targeted Marketing?

Targeted marketing requires that you identify a target market, or markets, defined by age, geography, family status, cultural background, etc. Once you have identified your target market, you develop a strategy for getting this tailored message in front of the eyes and ears of this audience. The more relatable your communications are, the more successful they will be.

The Importance of a Targeted Marketing Strategy

Studies show that targeted marketing yields a much higher return on investment because each message has been customized and tailored to a specific audience, therefore, the messaging resonates much better. An analogy that we often use with our clients is the sport of fishing. If you are trying to catch a particular fish, you would not simply go out to any open water and cast an enormous fishing net. If you really want that particular type of fish, you would go to the area in which you know that fish can be found, and use the appropriate fishing tools for catching that fish. Your marketing strategy is created to not just catch any customer, but your ideal customer.

In order for any Targeted Marketed Strategy to be successful however, it requires you to gain a very intimate understanding of your target audience, or ideal customer. The best way to do this is to create a “buyer persona” or “profile” for each of your targets.

It is okay to have more than one ideal customer, so long as you understand the differences between each and what makes them unique. Be sure when you are developing the profiles or personas for your ideal clients that you make note about their biggest pain points and motivations so that you can find a way to position yourself as the solution provider. The more time and effort you put into getting to know your targets, the better your messaging will be, and the more successful your Targeted Marketing Strategy will be.

3 Steps to Creating Your Marketing Strategy

Here are some guidelines on how to create your Marketing Strategy:

Define Your Ideal Customer(s): Create an actual profile of an imaginary person that best fits the traits of your ideal customer. Describe what they look like, what their personal interests are, their profession/job, their marital status, their ethnic background, and what you believe motivates their buying decisions.
Define Your Key DIfferentiators: Write a list of what makes you different from your competitors. Be honest. Why would a customer purchase from you rather than a competitor down the street, or one that is online and just one click away.
Establish Your Core Message: Formulate a short but clear message of who you are, WHY you do what you do, and what makes you unique – all of this should be with the understanding of your key differentiator(s) and your buyer personas. This Core Message is not your mission statement, it is a message that informs your marketing communications. The Core Message must always be consistent, though the actual communications can be unique to the objective and creative approach of each marketing campaign.

Get the most out of your marketing investments with a well informed marketing strategy, and watch your business grow.

If you would like some assistance in creating your Marketing Strategy, contact us now.

Website Optimization: Categories Vs. Tags

Wed, 13 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations, you’ve been posting consistent blog content to your website to give your users expert information about your products and services. However, you may have numerous posts around the same topic so your pages may be competing against each other in search engines. This means search engines get confused as to which post they should be showing a user as there are multiple blogs with similar topics and/or keywords on your website. So, how do you avoid having your blogs competing against each other in search engines? You can do this by properly using categories and tags to organize the content on your website. This is very important for website optimization. Categories and tags act as a web page for your archived content which in turn prevents individual pages from competing for the same topic or keyword.

It is not only beneficial for search engines to use categories and tags, it’s also helpful for your potential readers. By organizing your content into specific categories and tags, your user can easily navigate your website to find information they are looking for.

How to Use Categories

Categories are used to create groups of content that fit the primary topics of your site. It may help to think of your blog content like a book and the categories on your website act as the chapters. All blogs relating to a specific topic should be under one category or chapter title. You should only assign one category to each blog post.

Here is an example of how to best use categories to organize your blog content. Let’s say you have multiple blogs about digital marketing services. In this case, all those pages will compete for the same “digital marketing services” keyword phrase. To avoid this issue, you should instead optimize them with a more specific keyword that relates to the topic discussed in the blog, and use digital marketing services as the category. This way the category page can rank for “digital marketing services”, while the individual blog page will rank for the more specific keywords such as search engine optimization, email marketing, social media, etc.

How to Use Tags

While categories are intended to create logical groups of content, tags are used to create groups of specific content that can apply to multiple categories. So since categories act as chapters, then tags will act as the indexes of the book. If a topic is in the index, it’s most likely covered in more than one area of the book, the same applies to your blogs. For example, if you have a blog about search engine optimization, the category could be digital marketing services and the tags could be search engine optimization and website optimization. It’s common practice to identify two to three tags per blog post. Tags are important to use because they give users the ability to easily navigate through your site and quickly find the exact information they’re looking for.

Now that you know how to use tags and categories, try looking at your current blog posts and identify the categories and tags to better organize your web content. As a result, search engines will be able to show the potential reader the correct page on your website based on their search, which in turn will help with your search engine ranking, and users will be able to easily navigate your website to find relevant information.

Mawazo Marketing approaches website optimization by conducting relevant keyword research, content planning, adding meta data and constant evaluation for improved results. Contact us for an evaluation of your current website and how we can help optimize your web content.

Know Your Marketing Objectives

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Marketing requires investment. You need to know if your investment is paying off for you. How can you do that unless you have outlined ways in which you can measure success? You need to identify the marketing objectives, and yes, they can be measureable.

In many cases for small and medium-sized businesses, marketing can be an after-thought. You are so busy managing the day-to-day, or in the business, that it is hard to find time to spend on the business. The result is that marketing budgets can be very small or non-existent, and growth seems out of reach.

Business owners and managers often feel as though they are already busy. Others don’t feel as though they have the time to donate towards marketing their company. More believe that their marketing is done for them via word of mouth. However, the truth is that thinking about the growth of your business requires planning and investment.

When crafting your marketing strategy, you need to establish your objectives so that you can measure your results accurately. Examples of metrics for your marketing success could be:

Additional website traffic
Number of email sign-ups
Number of participants for a content
Number of Facebook likes
Coupon redemption

Set your budget and your marketing goals, keeping them realistic. It is important that your marketing objectives are measured against your budget in order to clearly understand your return on investment (ROI). Starting a marketing campaign without setting a budget can lead to wasted investment.

4 Ways to Measure Your Marketing ROI

Here are a few examples on how to measure your success with your marketing efforts:

Contests – Contests are a great way to measure encourage customer engagement. Measure the number of participants, newsletter signups, and/or transactions that result from contests as ROI indicators.
Email Marketing Campaigns – Any purchases, click-throughs, or email opens that result from an email campaign are usual ways to measure the results for each campaign.
Social Posts – The level of engagement and number of shares are your best indicators for the ROI on your social media posts.
Blogging – Blogging is one of the most effective ways to build your SEO and the number of visitors generated to your site from promoting the post is a good marketing objective. This content development will also position you as an expert in your field.

For larger businesses that have a larger budget, the marketing strategy for brand awareness is necessary to earn “top of mind” status. Budgets need to be distributed for awareness and for other more measurable marketing objectives.

For small- to medium-sized businesses, you need to see a more tangible return on your investment. Start with defining your business needs, map out your marketing objectives to meet these specific needs, and measure on these objectives for each campaign. With a strategic approach, and clear marketing objectives, you will enjoy the benefits of successful marketing.

Mawazo starts all marketing efforts with a clear strategy. Our clients are taken through a series of workshops that result with a clearly defined marketing strategy, and with a marketing plan. Our plan includes clear objectives and tactics to deliver measurable success. Contact us today to find out how we can help your business grow with successful marketing.

What Is Website Optimization And 8 Steps To Achieve It

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Website Optimization And 8 Steps To Achieve It

We all know the term Search Engine Optimization (or SEO), but what is Website Optimization ? It has the same objectives but with a different approach. For website optimization, we focus on optimizing your website for specific subject matter to make it highly relevant to an audience interested in that subject matter. This requires a different approach than what is required for SEO, which is to optimize your website for search engines.

We recommend website optimization versus search engine optimization for constant and long-term search engine results. Since Google’s sole objective is to provide the best results for their users’ searches. This means that if your site is highly relevant to search terms for which you want to be found, you will be ranked well, no matter how often Google changes its algorithms.

What Are SEO Keywords?

SEO keywords are the words and phrases a person puts into a search engine. It is also known as a search query. To find SEO keywords for website optimization, there are a few things you should do.

Start by Studying Your Niche

Before learning what keywords can be used for site optimization, you need to learn everything you can about your niche. Get to know existing customers and try to see things from their perspective. You can also get involved with online communities within your niche, including forums and social media platforms. This helps find pain points that may be mentioned regarding your specific niche.

Define Your Goals

Next, you must define your goals and decide on a brand mission. This will help direct any SEO strategy you implement. Your SEO and keyword strategy should be segmented into different content marketing funnels to align with your goals. It will be the framework for your online marketing strategy and help you optimize your website.

List Relevant Topics

It is time to find the topics best related to your business and buyer personas. Think about what topics your target audience will search for. You can then take these topics and break them down into keywords you can use. For example, if your brand specializes in baby products, some topics closely related to your brand may include baby shampoo and diaper rash treatment.

Develop Seed Words

Create your seed words now that you have a list of subtopics based on your niche. A seed keyword or primary keyword lays the foundation for your keyword research. It helps identify your competitors while also defining your niche.

Use Keyword Research Tools

When conducting your keyword research, there are several tools you can use that will provide you with a good advantage. Google Keyword Planner is one option. It is a free tool you can use to find keywords related to your business. It also allows you to see search estimates and the cost of targeting them. When doing SEO keyword research, you want to find the best short tail keyword and long term keyword options.

What is a short tail keyword compared to a long tail keyword? A short term keyword is a more generalized search query with only one or two words. Long tail keywords have three to five words. A long tail keyword has a lower search volume and are less popular search terms. However, compared to short tail, they are more specific, provide greater detail, and clearly signal search intent.

There are also semantic keywords. These are keywords more closely related to your original keyword and provide search engines with greater insight into a topic. This helps rank the web page more accurately.

The Importance of SEO Keywords for Website Optimization

To rank on search engines, you want to drive organic traffic to your site from the search engine results pages (SERPs). The keywords you choose to target determine the kind of website traffic you get for your web page.

Keywords are about your audience as well as the content you use on your webpage. For content to rank well organically while driving more visitors to the site, you need to use the language they use and understand the kind of content they are searching for.

How to Optimize Your Content for SEO

With that in mind, here are 8 important steps to ensure your website has been optimized to its full potential.

Research Keywords

Keywords, or keyword phrases, are the search terms that people enter into the search engines in order to find information. In order to help potential customers find you online, you will need to feature the appropriate keywords in important areas throughout your website. The most important factors about keywords are:

“Search volume” – this number indicates how many times this exact keyword phrase was searched in a period of time
“Competition” – this percentage shows how many other sites are optimizing their websites for the same keyword phrase

The best opportunities for you are to select keyword phrases with high search volume and low competition. It is important to be a bit creative with the types of keywords that you use. This could include keywords that potential customers who don’t know they need your products or services might be using.

An example of this is optimizing for a keyword phrase of “party decoration tips” for a florist, “how to unclog a toilet” for a hardware store, or even “gifts for mother’s day” for a spa.

Assign Keywords to Your Webpages

Selecting keywords per page of the site enables you to target your website to your specific audience with keywords that span their interests or speak to their pain points.

Optimize Webpage Content

For best results, select a keyword phrase for each page of your website, and be sure to use it in the content of the page at least 1-2 times. A general measurement could be 1.5-3% of the content should be the keyword, no more than that.

Selecting keywords per page of the site enables you to target your website to your specific audience with keywords that span their interests or speak to their pain points.

Create Meta Tags & Descriptions

Use the keyword in the meta title and meta description of each page.

A meta-title is the text that appears on the tab of your browser when you are hovering over the page.

A meta description is the text that appears in the description on the Google Search Results Page when listed. (This text should, therefore, be written to encourage the searcher to click on your link!)

Optimize Images and Video Content

Google bots cannot read images and video content, but this is valuable content that further shows your depth of knowledge about your subject matter. Therefore, use ALT texts for this content to describe the image for Google.

This text is also used for those who are hearing impaired and may have software to read pages for them, so the more descriptive you are, the better.

Enable Social Sharing from Web Pages

Social sharing buttons are incredibly useful for helping more people find your business online. Consider it powerful free advertising every time someone tweets your website or shares it on Facebook.

Make social sharing easy by providing share buttons on pages that have informative content.

Add Structured Data Schema to Webpages

Structured data schema is a standard set of HTML tags added to your web pages which tells Google what type of content is included on the page and in what format you would like it displayed on the SERPs. Google likes it when you make it easy for them to understand what your website is about, so you will be rewarded for these efforts in your ranking.

Frequently Add Content, Such as a Blog Post Articles

Getting ranked well on Google SERPs requires very specific efforts, as you have read from our previous tips. But you can’t stop there. To maintain your ranking and improve it, ongoing content creation is required.

Content optimization allows the search engine and site visitor to easily understand your SEO content. Content optimization leads to search engine friendly and high quality content that is easy to find and easy to navigate.

What to Avoid During Website Optimization

Now that you know what to do to optimize your website, you must look at a few things you should avoid. These common SEO mistakes can hurt your site rather than help.

Targeting the Wrong Keywords

Every SEO strategy starts with keyword research. Stay away from highly competitive keywords when first starting out. There are tons of websites out there already trying to rank for the same keywords. Instead, target long tail keywords that include a location and other relevant keywords that boost your ranking factor.

Local SEO is important because Google processes more than 8 billion daily searches. Almost half of these searches are made by people searching for local services and products. You can gain valuable online traffic with the right local SEO strategy and keywords.

Keyword Stuffing

Another common SEO mistake is keyword stuffing. This is when you add a ton of keywords to a webpage in hopes it ranks well. However, when Google sees this, it will demote the page. Avoid adding lists of phone numbers that will not add value to your page, blocks of text with lists of words you are trying to rank for and repeating the same keywords and phrases. When you do this, the content begins to sound unnatural and does nothing positive for its rank.

Irrelevant Title Tag

A title tag and meta description are parts of HTML code that tell a search engine how to display them in SERPs. A title tag and meta must be relevant to the topic and accurate. It shouldn’t be vague or too long. You want it to appeal to people, so they click on your page.

Publishing Low Quality Content

Content is king, which becomes apparent when you learn more about SEO. Only invest in good content that is valuable to your target audience and meets their needs. If you post low quality content that doesn’t resonate with your audience, it won’t do much good. Image quality should also be considered.

Not Using Quality Backlinks

Search engines look at backlinks as a sign of authority and an important ranking factor. Avoid using low quality backlinks like those that don’t link to high-quality and credible sites. The backlinks should be to relevant and authoritative sites. You can use a domain authority checker tool to ensure your backlinks are good for search engine ranking.

Slow Loading Time and Site Speed

Slow site speed and a slow loading time can wreak havoc on a website. If your site speed is slow, your page won’t rank well, and you can miss out on valuable website traffic. To increase website speed, optimize the images you use and enable browser caching and compression. You can also use a tool like PageSpeed Insights. It provides suggestions on what you can do to improve page speed.

Lack of Mobile Compatibility

For better website performance and improved user experience, you want to ensure mobile compatibility. People are using their phones and mobile devices more than ever, so you want to be sure you are in the ranking algorithm sights when it comes to your mobile compatibility. So, don’t just optimize your website for desktop use. Make sure you also have a mobile friendly design that loads quickly for mobile website visitors.

Too Many Internal Links

As a website owner, avoiding using too many internal links on your landing pages, service pages, blog posts, etc., is best. While internal links can help Google understand how all the pages are related, too many can be overwhelming and negatively impact your SEO. Use simple URL structured data that helps Google Index rank your site more easily.

Not Using Web Analytics

Web analytics are an important part of any SEO optimization strategy. If you don’t use web analytics, it can be hard to determine if your SEO efforts are working and improving website performance. Web analytics can be used to compare to competitor sites and shows you what works and doesn’t. Since the world of SEO optimization is always changing, it helps to use website optimization tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

Google Analytics helps evaluate and measure how your marketing and content perform and encourage user behaviour and engagement. This SEO tool collects important data and sorts it into useful information a website owner can use to improve.

Google Search Console is an SEO tool that allows you to monitor and sometimes resolve errors related to your web page, including site loading issues and security problems. It ensures your page runs at an optimal performance level and has a good search performance overall.

Web optimization requires that your website has the appropriate on-site efforts and ongoing content development to ensure that Google still finds your site relevant to desired keyword searches. This is not a “build it, and they will come” strategy.

Mawazo Marketing focuses on long-term findability for businesses. With a focus on strategic keyword planning and content development , our clients see improvement in search ranking regularly.

6 Tips On How To Improve The Success Of Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Improve The Success Of Your Email Marketing Campaigns

In spite of all many predictions that email is dead, email marketing is still one of the effective marketing channels out there. However, your target audience is getting flooded everyday. In order to have an impact, your email must be able to stand out to encourage an “open” much less a “click”. Use these 6 tips below to strengthen your email marketing campaigns and get your list to click.

1. Segment your lists

Sending the same email to everyone on your list will most likely get your message deleted. Studies show people respond to emails better if they seem personalized and not the same generic message blasted out to everyone. Your list includes different people who are interested in different things. When you split your list you can then tailor the wording and format of your email to better resonate with the interests of the specific groups, or “segments”.

There are a number of different ways to segment your list:

location
age
gender
industry
persona
relationship to your business

You can also send specific promotions to specific contacts greatly improving your open rates and decreasing your unsubscribes.

2. Have a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

The main goal of sending an email to your contacts is to get them to respond to your offer, or to “convert”. Your call to action will tell your reader what the next step is, whether it is to sign up to a newsletter, purchase a product or service, or simply visit a specific website page. If a recipient of your marketing email cannot figure out what they should do within 5 seconds of opening your email they will quickly close it. Be sure to be very clear with your CTAs.

Hint: Before sending out your email make sure to test all of your links to ensure they are redirecting people to where you want them to go.

3. Personalize

Take your segmentation even further with personalization. This makes your messages appear as if they were written specifically for the individual person receiving it. When you use an email marketing service program you can use automated personalization tools that will drop in your contact’s name, their company, city, and many more personalization aspects. You may also use programs to see where your visitors are in the buyer’s journey and what pages of your website they have visited. Then use this information to send emails about the specific products they viewed making it seem as if you were just sending a personal email checking in.

4. Compelling subject lines

A subject line is your email’s first impression and must be compelling enough to get your recipient to open the email. Subject lines must be short and simple, less than 50 characters is best. Another way to get your emails opened is to convey urgency in the subject lines such as “last chance”, “act now”, or “ends today”. People respond well when they fear they are missing out, so conveying a need to respond quickly will get your emails opened.

5. Send from a real person

Your email should clearly state who it’s from, with an actual person as the sender. Emails from noreply@company.com or sales@company.com will quickly get deleted, and in some countries this is required by law. In Canada, CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Laws) require that emails are sent from an actual person. Your audience will feel reassured when they see that they are not receiving automated emails from no one in particular.

6. Optimize for mobile

Now more than ever people are viewing their emails on their mobile devices so optimizing for mobile should be a part of your email marketing strategy. Sometimes pictures and text can get cut off when viewed on smaller screens so be sure to test everything before sending. Your CTAs should also be big enough for big thumbs and fingers to click on them easily.

Mawazo Marketing creates strategies for email marketing and executing them on behalf of our clients. We have, in almost all cases, exceeded industry averages for open rates and click rates. Contact us to find out how email marketing can increase your bottom line.

The Best SEO Tips: Why Keywords Are So Important To Being Found Online

Wed, 17 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Why Keywords Are So Important to Being Found Online

If you want search engines to know about the content found on your web page, you need to learn the value of SEO keywords. The right keywords help you target the right audience and increase your site's traffic.

What Are SEO Keywords?

When it comes to search engine optimization , commonly known as “SEO, “a keyword is a word or phrase used by someone to find more information about their problem or topic in which they are interested. For a user to find your company, search engines rely on these SEO keywords in your content.

They help people and search engines determine what your website is about and what benefits you have to offer them. This is why keyword research is the foundation of the success of your site, from the written content on your web pages to your blog posts.

Keyword research is one of the most important SEO tips we can suggest. You can find the keywords you want to rank through some research.

What Determines a Good Keyword?

Let’s back up a few steps – you will need to understand what makes a good keyword. These are the things you should look for:

Look at the monthly search volume of the keyword phrase. This tells you the number of people searching for that keyword in Google and other search engines.
Look at the competition level of the keyword. The competition level refers to how many sites are also optimizing on that same keyword and how much effort you will need to put into being found based on this keyword. High competition would mean you would have to create more content optimized for this keyword to compete on ranking higher when people search for it.

Types of Keywords

There are two basic types of keywords, which are broad keywords and long tail keywords. Broad keywords, as the name implies, are short phrases that cast a wide net. Some examples of broad matches are:

Coffee
Shoes
Plumbing
SEO Tips

A long tail keyword is a longer search term consisting of a few different words that narrow down a broad topic. Some more specific long tail keyword examples include:

Coffee shops in Denver
Blue women’s shoes
Plumbing services in Los Angeles
SEO Tips for beauty salons

Long tail keywords are much easier to rank because they narrow down the competition. They also bring in more relevant traffic, which could result in a conversion, i.e. a phone call, email, or purchase.

In addition to these SEO keyword examples, there are a few more terms we should mention to give you a better answer to the question of— what are SEO keywords .

Semantic Keyword

Semantic keywords are closely related to the original keyword. So, these terms give the spiders on the search engines more insight regarding the topic and information it provides. The search engine algorithm uses semantic keywords to accurately rank the page. In easier terms, semantic keywords set out to mimic natural language. These keywords allow you to build more meaning and help Google crawlers understand your content better.

Short Tail Keyword

A short tail keyword is also commonly known as a head keyword or a head term. It is usually one to three words that cover a broad topic. A short tail keyword has a higher search volume compared to a long tail keyword. This means a head keyword can attract even more visitors to your website.

Informational Keyword

An informational keyword is one that a user enters into a search query for more information about something like a service, product, or guide. The search intent is to find more information about the topic they are interested in.

Where to Find the Right Keywords

Now that you’ve mastered one of the most important SEO tips, you will need to know where to go to research keywords. Luckily there are a number of tools that will help you find the right keywords to target.

You can use Google Keyword Planner to type in terms relevant to your business, and it will provide you with not only the search volume and competition but a list of relevant terms that will help you expand into more long tail phrases. Here are some tips on finding the best keywords for SEO.

Before using a keyword research tool or other SEO tools to find keywords, you need to learn about your customers. Gain an understanding of their pain points and what products or services they need.
Build your seed keyword list. Now that you know the different types of keywords and what they do, you can start building your keyword list. Make sure they describe what you have to offer.
Gather keyword data. You can use keyword ranking tools like Google Search Console to generate a list of keywords that can drive website traffic.
Expand further with other keyword research tools like Keywords Everywhere on Google.
Group your terms by search intent, categorizing your keywords by audience type, funnel, or topic.

Why Are SEO Keywords Important?

Since keywords tell search engines about the content of your web pages, they prove to be important for SEO. Google uses this information to determine what content is relevant to a search query and how the web page should rank in searches for a particular term.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Keywords

Now for the tricky part. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as plugging in the keywords over and over. Keyword placement is an art mastered through continuously creating fresh and relevant content.

When you’re writing a blog post or any other form of content, remember you are writing for humans first. As long as you provide your audience with quality information that they will enjoy, Google will push your page to the top of the search engine results page (SERP).

SEO keyword research is an essential component of your content marketing strategy. You can greatly increase the visibility of your business with the right keyword and, in turn, grow your customer base and revenue.

Long Tail vs Head Keyword

Long tail keywords have a low search volume, low ranking competition, high converting traffic, many words, and are best for lower-level pages and singular search intent. A head keyword, on the other hand, is the opposite of this. A head keyword has a higher search volume and ranking competition, lower converting traffic, fewer words, and are best for top-level pages and multiple search intents.

Secondary vs Primary Keyword

A primary keyword is the target or focus used in the context of your site or web page. Secondary keywords are supporting and are used loosely when optimizing and are not considered a high priority.

More of the Best SEO Tips

Here are a few more of the best SEO tips to keep in mind as you build a more effective content marketing strategy to increase the keyword ranking for your site.

Target a Primary Keyword

Again, keyword research will prove to be the foundation of any SEO strategy. You can attract more traffic to your site when you use the right keyword effectively. The first step is identifying your primary keyword and then finding secondary keywords that go with it.

The primary keyword will be the main focus of the content. Each page only needs to have one primary keyword. Make sure this keyword aligns with your brand identity, the products you offer, the focus of the page, and your services.

Simply enter a seed keyword that aligns with your focus and has a lower keyword difficulty. Look at the Questions and Related Keywords sections the keyword research tool provides so you can build a solid list of supporting keywords you can potentially use.

Write Unique Content

The next best SEO tip to improve your content marketing strategy is to write quality, unique content for your site. The content should be original, detailed, comprehensive, and evergreen so it covers the search intent of the user on the hunt for more information.

Original content allows the audience to begin building a relationship with you, and you offer the answers they are looking for. Having more comprehensive pages filled with relevant and valuable content also shows search engines that you are an authority on that particular topic.

Evergreen content provides more long term value for the site and will continue to remain relevant and attract website traffic for an extended period. You can build on evergreen content without having to make huge updates to the content like you would with time-sensitive information or seasonal information you include on a web page.

Content Formatting for Search Engines

For any content to rank well, it needs to answer the user's questions. You can do this with a featured snippet. This appears at the top of the page results on Google and answers the audience's question without making them leave the search engine results page. A featured snippet is highly visible and can attract more organic traffic because it is above the numbered results on the page.

Link Building

Backlinks or external links that lead to your web page are another factor that plays a role in ranking the content. Include links from reputable sources to increase the authority your site has. It will also improve your SEO over time.

For the best link building strategy, you need to find where your competitors are getting their backlinks from and use this information to find new opportunities for your web page. The Backlink Gap tool is another SEO tool you can use to help find quality backlinks.

In addition to backlinks when link building, you also want to use internal links. Internal links help Google understand and rank the quality content you have. Internal links with descriptive anchor text show Google which web pages of the site are important and tell Google what they are about.

Create a Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business, is a free feature Google offers that can help optimize the online presence of a business and helps with local search results.

To further optimize your Google Business Profile account and improve local rankings , verify the business, fill out the Google business profile completely, and ensure all information is up to date and accurate.

Optimize Meta Description and Page Title

The meta description and page title are important because it is the first search result the audience sees. The meta description and page title will entice the user to click on your page or skip and go to the next on the search result page.

If you use WordPress SEO, you will see two boxes: SEO Title and meta description. This makes it easy to edit the page title and meta description.

When creating or editing the meta description or title, keep the page title between 30 and 60 characters and the meta description under 160 characters. You also want to include your target keyword phrase and make sure you tell the audience what the web page is about. The title and meta for each web page should be unique.

Use Google Analytics to Track Performance

Google Analytics for SEO can help improve the overall performance of your website and helps you spot potential problems early on so they can be addressed. Google Analytics helps you find low-hanging opportunities to boost your website traffic.

The Performance Report you can find in Google Search Console is a good way to use Google Analytics. They provide conversion data and show the connection between your SEO efforts and business metrics.

This information also helps improve landing pages that contribute to conversions, find keyword opportunities by tracking internal site searches, set alerts for 404 errors, and automate organic traffic dips and spikes so you can adjust accordingly.

Are you ready to improve your digital marketing strategy and find other ways SEO can help you rank? We can help you save costs, attract new leads, and grow your business more effectively.

Mawazo Marketing approaches all content strategies with relevant keyword research, content planning and constant evaluation for improved results.

Build Your Company’s Online Presence With A Clear Digital Marketing Strategy

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

We now live in a time when technology has taken over. Almost everyone has a laptop, tablet and/or a mobile phone to help them plan their day, take pictures and communicate with others. Another thing people use their devices for is for researching. Whether you’re searching for restaurants nearby, looking at reviews for a new product or looking up specific services, you’re searching online for the best option that meets your needs.

This is why it is critical for businesses to build an online presence through a clear digital marketing strategy . If you don’t have a website, online listings or social media accounts for people to find you online, no one will even know you exist. So how can you build your online presence? Start off simple with these 3 tips.

Website

Make sure your website is mobile friendly ! 60% of web traffic comes from a smartphone or tablet so it is critical that you have a website that is mobile friendly.

Next, it is important to optimize your web pages. Start by thinking of 5 main keywords that people would search for in order to find your company online. From there identify which keywords will be used on each web page and ensure the keyword is consistently used within the content.

Now onto metatags , your meta title and meta description will inform search engines what your web pages are about so make sure to insert your keywords where possible. This is a very important part of your digital marketing strategy because if someone is searching for a keyword you are optimizing for on your website, the search engine will show your web page to the user.

Consistent Content

It is important to post consistent content on your website to inform your audience and gain credibility in your industry. Over time this will help in getting your website rank higher in search engines for the topics you have chosen.

Content can be anything from keyword rich blogs to videos and podcasts. Start off simple with a blog. Choose a topic that is relevant to your business and begin with a pain point your customer may have and write about how your product or service is the solution to their pain point. Once you’ve posted it on your website, with your meta title and description, it is time to share the content on your social media pages.

Be sure to share it on your social profiles. By providing consistent content to your website you are gaining credibility in your industry which will also help with your online growth.

Social Media

Using social media is a crucial part of your digital marketing strategy. It’s a quick way to get your business online and share relevant information about your products and services. After you’ve begun posting consistent content on your website, it is important to post about it on your social media pages. This will inform a wider audience about your website and content. Start off with the 4 main social platforms:

Facebook

Create a Facebook business page, this is where you’ll be able to add your company information and post relevant content about your business. You can also draft and manage Facebook ads within your Facebook business manager account.

Twitter

Twitter is an excellent social platform because it targets a wide demographic and your tweets are now searchable by Google making your Twitter profile visible when someone is Googling something you’ve tweeting about.

LinkedIn is great for B2B (business to business) interaction so be sure to create a company page and include your company website and any information about your brand and services that you want to share with your peers.

Google +

A Google + page is also important for your online digital marketing strategy. Start by registering Google My Business which is an online listing within Google where you can manage your business information such as your location and hours of operation. Then create your Google+ page where you can join groups that are relevant to your brand and post information about your company.

When it comes to posting on your social media platforms, it’s best to work with the 80/20 rule. Share general information and other users content 80% of the time and post about your business 20% of the time. This is so you don’t stifle your followers by constantly selling your products to them, instead share information that you think your followers would find interesting.

Through posting consistent keyword rich content on your website, optimizing your content with metadata and posting on your social media platforms to drive traffic to your website, you are building your online presence and making it easier for potential customers to find you online. If you want to learn more about building your online presence we can help you with your digital marketing strategy. Contact us for more details.

Storming The CASL: How To Deal With The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

This big scary document full of legalese only really prohibits blind message spam and its requirements are very easy to implement. The government hasn’t killed your digital or direct marketing.

I’m going to go over what CASL actually is, in practice, and how you can make your digital marketing strategy CASL-safe.

From now on I’m going to refer to the emails, text messages and whatever else you’re sending as CEMs, or commercial electronic messages. Got it? Good. Let’s get started.

Every time you send a CEM, you have to meet three criteria.

1. Identification

You have to clearly identify your business who sent it and anybody else who stands to benefit from the message–business partners and so on. This one’s easy, just be transparent. If you want to be successful with direct marketing, you’ll want people to know your business anyway. Also, many digital marketing services identify the client by default.

2. Offer to Un-subscribe

You have to include an obvious option for whoever received the CEM to back out and never receive another message from your campaign. For example:

“To unsubscribe, click this link” / “To unsubscribe, text 123-321-1234 with the subject ‘unsubscribe’”

Once you receive an unsubscribe request, you simply remove the customer from your campaign’s mailing/texting list. Not only is this required by law, it also tells the end user “I respect that you don’t want to receive my marketing messages”, which can go a long way towards whether or not they pay attention to any future CEMs.

3. Consent

Here’s the big one, the main part of CASL. You can only send a CEM to someone if you have express or implied consent to do so. There are two forms of consent: express and implied. I’ll go over each in detail in a moment but there’s something very important I need to mention first.

If an issue arises, who has to prove consent? You do, because your business is claiming to have consent.

Express Consent means that they wrote or said that they want to receive a CEM from you before you sent it. Signing up for a service, whether through a physical form, a landing page or another means, is an example of express consent. Once you have express consent it lasts until the individual withdraws it, usually by un-subscribing.

A few noteworthy points on this type of consent:

What if you want to install a program onto someone’s computer, like a smartphone app for your business? You’ll need express consent for that too. How do you get it? By having a Download button they can choose to press.

Can you send a CEM asking for consent to receive another, different CEM? Only if you have consent to send the first.

How can you keep track of express consent? A customer database. It can detail the who, what, where, when, why and how of the customer giving consent along with whether or not they remain subscribed and any other important data.

What about events establishing express consent before CASL’s implementation? Anything up to 3 years before CASL (July 1, 2011 at the earliest) is valid.

How do I prove express consent? Just have a record of the consent being given–a copy of a written agreement, for example, or a database on who signed up for your service.

Express consent is very easy and straightforward to obtain. It’s the other form of consent that’s a little trickier…

Implied consent means that they have a pre-existing relationship with your business, an association that implies they’d be interested in receiving CEMs from you. There are a number of ways you can obtain implied consent, which include but aren’t limited to:

If they previously purchased something or asked about a product from your business.
If they publically published their email address on a website.
If they gave you their business card.

Unlike express consent, implied consent lasts a set time depending on what they did to give consent. For example, if somebody purchases something from your business, their implied consent lasts 2 years from the transaction date. If somebody only asks about something your business sells, their implied consent lasts 6 months from the date they asked.

A couple of noteworthy points on this type of consent:

How can I keep track of implied consent? With the same database I recommended, you could include entries for instances of implied consent. To make this a little easier on yourself, every now and then you should ask for express consent from customers who’ve given implied consent–asking if they want to keep receiving messages and so on.

How do I prove implied consent? You have to demonstrate that your company had a prior business relationship with the customer.

CASL may seem like a lot, particularly the matters of consent, but it’s all very simple when you get down to it. Make sure you’re only sending CEMs to people you know want to receive them, be transparent about who is sending the messages and give people an option to be left alone if they wish.

If you’re looking for more information on CASL and how to adjust your digital or direct marketing to it, here are some helpful links. The CRTC has issued advisories explaining how best to keep consent records and how CASL defines consent . Here’s also the full CASL text if you’re interested.

How has your business adjusted its digital and direct marketing in a post-CASL world? Have you been able to adapt with ease? Had some trouble? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you.

Why You Need To Have A Mobile Responsive Website

thomas@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

The cell phone is now in the hands of the general population, and approximately 2 million people have and rely on smartphones. These super-phones are used for more than just phone communication. The smartphone has recently become so inexpensive to maintain that many people are making the switch. Mobile browsing is extremely prominent and will only increase over time.

What this means for any business, no matter the size, is that if you don’t have a mobile friendly website, you’re likely losing business every day.

We live in a digitally mobile age, so not having a mobile friendly website harms your brand. It’s no longer an option to be optimized for mobile users; it is now more of a necessity. Here are more reasons to get up to speed with mobile responsiveness.

What Is a Mobile Responsive Website?

The pages of a mobile responsive website are those that have been reformatted to reproduce what visitors would see if they visited the site as desktop users. A good example of a responsive site is Dropbox. Its web page has a responsive UX design that alters mobile visitor behaviour when utilized on different screen sizes. It displays the website based on your device, taking the responsive design concept to the next level.

Why You Need a Mobile Responsive Website

Now that you know what responsive sites are, let’s take a closer look at why you should have one for your business.

Improved SEO

Google can provide the best search results for their users by tracking and penalizing websites and pages for certain things. One of the things they will penalize for is not being mobile friendly. This means if you’re not optimized for mobile, you can be pushed down the page of Google searches as your competitors rise to the top.

Google also tracks bounce rates and click backs. If you are getting a high bounce rate, this means that your users are leaving your webpage quickly after arriving there. If you are getting a low click back time, your users are quickly clicking back to the search results to find a different website that will satisfy their inquiry.

Both will negatively affect your SEO score and make your business more difficult to find in Google searches. Your users are very likely to either click back or bounce to a different site if they are searching your business on mobile and your site is not mobile friendly.

Improved User Experience

Simply put, a poor mobile website will reflect poorly on your brand. Give your customers and searchers a good experience , and they will remember that positively. Distorted images, text that is too small and pages that don’t fit the screen are all results of a website that is not mobile friendly. Any visitor attempting to navigate that will find it frustrating, and they will likely leave your site with a poor impression of your brand as a whole.

Give them a great mobile experience, and they will appreciate it! Whether they consciously realize it or not, they will enjoy spending time on a mobile site that works, and they will definitely notice a poor mobile site, which will leave a bad impression on your brand.

More On-the-Go Abilities

Those browsing on a handheld device are typically on the go and looking for something geographically relevant to where they are at the time of the search.

Whatever a mobile user searches for in the moment (for example, “coffee shop”), Google will automatically list the nearest coffee shops to where the search is made, using GPS. This list is the very first list of results on mobile.

No matter your business, you’ll want to be listed under this search result, and if you do not have a mobile friendly site, you will not be listed here. Being listed in the geographically relevant results list is an easy opportunity to drive customers to your business. If you’re currently not mobile friendly, you are easily missing out on this geographically relevant opportunity for local customers looking for you.

Stay Ahead of the Competition

So many businesses are up to speed and already have mobile responsive versions of their websites. If your website is not mobile friendly, your potential customer will quickly find a competitor of yours that is compatible with their handheld device and gravitate toward them.

Don’t give your competitors that advantage (or your customers the impression that you’re not up with the times), and make sure to optimize your website for mobile! You will notice results immediately as the internet has easy search and buying potential from anywhere at any time.

Designing a Mobile Website

Mobile devices vary in screen size and resolution, so you need to make sure you are designing a mobile website that is responsive and compatible with each screen size.

Choose a Responsive Web Design

To start designing a mobile website, you need to choose a template for your website that is compatible with mobile viewing. Many website builder platforms have templates you can choose from, like WordPress , Squarespace, Wix, and ThemeForest.

Increase Website Speed

The on-the-go mobile user also needs your website to load and respond quickly. Stats show that mobile users leave a page if it does not load in 3 seconds or less on average. Make sure your website is fast to keep your mobile users on it and prevent them from jumping to the next relevant search!

Design an Easy to Use Interface and Mobile Navigation

Easy mobile navigation is critical for mobile responsive websites. The website structure should be easily understood, and visitors should be able to follow through with their desired actions without any frustration.

When designing a mobile friendly website, the colours, themes, and backgrounds must be smoother and softer for a better user experience. And visitors should be met with a simple buying process with few distractions.

Boost Performance

Minimize the menu to boost the overall performance of a mobile friendly website. Hide the options in a menu bar and arrange everything, making it easily accessible without hurting the website's loading speed.

Include a Search Function

Adding a search function in any mobile responsive website is also a great idea and improves the mobile site's functionality. More than 30% of website visitors will utilize the search function on a website. It enhances the user experience, makes navigation easier, and increases conversion rates.

Consider an Appropriate Font and Size

The font you use, as well as its size, also play important roles in a mobile website design. The fonts should be small, attractive, and appropriate for the screen size. This enhances visibility and makes the site more user-friendly on different devices.

Mobile Friendly vs Mobile First Indexing

Did you know that Google uses the mobile version of a site’s content and crawls with the smartphone agent for indexing and ranking in the search engines? This is referred to as mobile first indexing .

With a mobile first design approach, the desktop site is designed starting with the mobile version of the site and is then changed to fit a larger screen size. This is the opposite approach of more traditional web design because developers usually start with the desktop version and then adapt to the mobile friendly design.

Is Your Website Mobile Friendly and Responsive?

To see if your website is mobile friendly, you can use Google PageSpeed Insights. This tool provides important data you can use. To check for the responsiveness of a locally hosted website, you can use the Toggle device toolbar option you will find in the developer tools area of the browser.

F12 is a shortcut you can use in Chrome and Firefox. Or you can open the site you want to test the responsiveness of in your Google Chrome tab and then right click on the landing page to open the menu. Click Inspect and then click on the toggle device toolbar.

5 Basic SEO Tips For Your Business

thomas@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

SEO Tips For Your Business

SEO is an essential component to any online business. Without SEO your website will be lost under a heap of search results which will bring you low conversion rates. Start your SEO strategy with these 5 simple tips to help build your online presence.

But first, let’s answer the question you’re all thinking, what is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization . In executing SEO, you are ensuring your website will be found in a search engine’s results page (SERP) when someone is searching a word or phrase that is relevant to the content found on your website.

Now let’s look at 5 simple SEO tips that will benefit your online presence.

1. Optimize your social media profiles

It’s important to have social media pages for your business. You’ll want to make sure your social media profile is SEO friendly by making it as descriptive as possible. You can do this by filling out the ‘About’ or ‘Description’ sections of your social profiles. Be sure to use words or phrases that best describe your business. Try to include words that individuals are likely to use when searching for your business.

2. Create a Google+ Local listing

According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. By creating a Google+ Local listing profile, you are making it easier for your potential customer to find your business. Include your business details – address, phone number and hours of operation so Google can pin your business on their map.

3. Start Blogging

Search engines are continually looking for fresh content on websites. Consistently posting blogs on your site will give you the opportunity to update content on your website. By including certain keywords relevant to your business, you can increase your business’ SERP. Start off simple, choose a topic that interests you and touches on what your business is about.

4. Add social share buttons to your blog pages

Social share buttons give your readers the opportunity to easily share your blog on their social profiles. This is an important feature on your website because when your blog is shared on social media, your content is being exposed to a wider audience.

5. Share and promote your content on social media

The wonderful thing about social media is that its reach is global! When you post your blog on your website, be sure to ‘tweet’ or ‘post’ about your new blog on your social profiles. In doing this, you are showing your followers that new content has been added to your site which can increase web traffic.

Through using these SEO tips, you can build an effective online presence and attract more traffic to your site.

To learn more about SEO strategies for your business contact us now !

How Personal Should Your Branding Be? Here Are 4 Tips To Help With Branding Your Growing Business

Tue, 17 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

As entrepreneurs our small businesses are our “babies”. We have conceived of the business, survived its entry to the world, nurtured it, carefully let it grow, ached to give up (some) control to other caregivers, and struggle each time a new phase of life is entered.

Does this all sound familiar?

I have been lucky to have had a diverse experience in my career: small companies, big companies, client-side, agency-side, employee, owner. In all of these situations, branding is a challenge. The brand must speak to those within the company as well as to its audience.

For this article, I am focusing on small businesses. We have now had several occasions where a branding exercise has come to a stand-still or has gone full circle, mainly because the business owners are not able to reconcile the difference between personal branding and the branding of their business. (Note: I am also using the term of “branding” very loosely, as branding includes far more than a logo.)

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is the branding of an individual and their expertise. This is important in a world where the digital impression you make to your market is usually the cause for failure or success. You personal brand needs to make you stand out amongst the crowd, where competition is one click away. A personal brand should not only leverage your personal traits, but your experience, knowledge and skills.

What is corporate branding?

A corporate brand is the definition, evolution and representation of a business’ identity. The brand identity must cover the essence of the company (or product, or service), its offerings, its values, and its culture, but most of all its audience.

Corporate branding must speak to the intended audience. It must make sense to them, attract them, and then relay the traits that represent the company. If you do not attract your audience with your brand, then the rest does not matter.

The challenges in branding growing small business

Many entrepreneurs start up their businesses as solopreneurs, or with a very small team of like-minded individuals. Therefore the brand starts off being closer to “personal branding” than to “corporate branding”. But once the business owners want to stop being the identity of their business and hand off responsibilities to their team and actually take some time off, the branding needs to be adapted to a larger entity. The realization occurs that the brand must transition from one that represents themselves to one that is more clearly defined for their market, and then the separation anxiety begins…

Our instinct is to maintain our personal values and messages within our identity, as this is what got the business to the point of growth in the first place, right? Right! But now it is time to let go of the control and let the brand evolve. It needs to evolve to meet the opportunities of its new position in the marketplace. Give your business the opportunity to grow without the brand contradicting where you might take your business.

4 tips for re-branding a growing business

We have some tips for you if you are in this growth stage and considering re-branding, or “updating” your brand (which usually ends up in “re-branding”).

1. Find a marketing partner that you trust

Look for a partner that has experience in branding and with whom you feel comfortable. You will need to trust your marketing partner to understand your business, your growth plans, and your market.

2. Trust your partner

Once you have found a partner that you trust, you will need to trust in their ability to translate your input into a brand that meets your business objectives, not your personal preferences. This new brand is not about the colours that you like, the words that you prefer, nor the icon that represents you the best. This is about a combination of visual elements that will attract your audience. And your audience is not you.

3. Reign in your expectations

As a small, but growing, business, your budget for the branding exercise will undoubtedly be moderate. In that case, do not expect a branding exercise that includes a strategy team, creative team, and a bunch of graphic designers. You will not get hundreds of unique designs, with unlimited revisions.

Even the largest organizations have extreme ranges in what they have invested in their logo design. Here are some examples ( Reference ):

Pepsi spent $8 million for their 2008 logo redesign

Twitter spent $15 (no typo) to purchase the rights to an istockphoto image of a bird

Nike co-founder bought the famous swoosh image from a graphic design student for $35 in 1971

BBC switched from slanted fonts and splashes of colour to blocks with letters for $1.8 million in 1997

BP spent $211 million (yup, no typo here either) for its logo design in 2008

I’m not suggesting that you should accept a logo even if you don’t like it, but the priority is that the logo meets the business needs and that will likely require some compromises for the business owners.

4. Focus on the marketing strategy and key performance indicators (KPIs)

In the end, the overall objective of all of your marketing efforts is to increase your bottom line. Whether the strategy includes engaging existing customers for increased sales, acquiring new customers, increasing awareness for keep you top of mind, or all of the above, your logo and brand needs to work well. Focus on the strategies and identifying quantifiable goals (KPIs). Only this will give you the return on your investment and ultimately achieve the growth in your business that you were looking for.

Branding is not an exercise of “design”. It is a strategic task that requires a marketing partner that starts with understanding your business.

The Mawazo team has been assisting clients of various sizes with defining the needs for growing their business, creating tailored digital marketing strategies and executing on these strategies for over 20 years.

Is Email Marketing Right For My Business?

thomas@mawazo.ca (Mawazo Marketing) — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Creating an email marketing campaign is a very practical strategy for many businesses – it’s simple, inexpensive and effective. Email marketing is 40% more effective than Facebook or Twitter at acquiring new customers and leads. To get the best results, there are a number of components to consider.

Here are five important components to think about before launching your email marketing campaign.

1. Reach your audience

If you are considering email marketing as a strategy to reach your audience, be sure you are capturing a relevant audience, so it isn’t a wasted effort. Email marketing delivers the highest ROI, even in comparison to social media, paid searches and affiliates, mainly because of the direct communication that is possible to reach your target audience.

Reach your most valuable audience by communicating to past and prospecting customers.

Use relevant photos, images, colours and wording in your campaigns in a way that speaks to your targeted audience.

What not to do:

Make sure your email list is not only within your targeted demographic, but that it also is a group of people that are likely to have and use the Internet and email.

2. Create an effective mailing list

Statistics show that for every $1 spent on email marketing, there is $38 generated. To get these kinds of results, you have to first build up your email list.

Getting your target market to your website or into your store is half the battle, now all you have to do is have them sign up for your newsletter.

You can curate your email list in a number of different ways:

Invite your customers and potential customers to opt-in to your mailing list.
Include a pop-up window on your website inviting visitors of your website to sign up for the newsletter.
If you have a storefront, ask your customers for their email address at the checkout.
For a better chance of your customer leaving their email address, offer them something special for leaving their email address! This could include a discount for their current purchase, free shipping or a small, free product.
Enable online contact or enrolment forms in order to collect email addresses from web based browsers.

What not to do:

Purchasing or renting an email list is typically a bad idea. The contacts on these lists will not be expecting your emails and will less likely be interested in hearing from you, and may potentially even go out of their way to tarnish your brand. In a case like email marketing, the element of surprise is not a valuable thing.

Once you have your email list curated, it’s important that you can provide this list with content.

3. Create valuable content

Email marketing is for you if you have enough content to make each newsletter different and exciting. There are several characteristics that make content valuable:

Exclusive content

Subscribers to a newsletter will find value in reading your emails if they know that by being a subscriber, they are the only ones receiving that particular content. This could include being the first to know about news, getting exclusive invitations to events or offers, and even being the only group of people to have access to a certain promotion.

News

Your newsletter is a great communication tool to share exciting developments to your business, upcoming events and new products.

Deals

Your newsletters are a great way to promote special offers, coupons or deals that your customers or potential customers should know about.

What not to do:

It is not enough to pump out purely transactional sales messages. You’ll want your newsletters to inform your readers, make them feel valued and to create a respectable relationship with them. A good way to avoid this is to also include some “on brand” material that is in no way promotional, but is helpful to your reader. For example, a real estate agent might include content that informs their readers with tips on how to spruce up their kitchen with hottest trends for the season.

4. Consistency

It’s important to maintain a consistent schedule – one that your readers will be able to expect, count on and look forward to receiving.

Once your readers sign up for your newsletter, it’s likely because they want to learn more about what you have to offer. Don’t disappoint! Give them consistent enough content to be able to grasp the offers, voice and values of your business.

Track the success of your campaign

By having consistent emails sent out to your subscribers, you will be able to accurately gauge what is working and what isn’t.
By being able to analyze the results of your campaign (by number of opens, click through rates and engagement), we will be able to adjust certain elements to improve the engagement of the emails.

What not to do:

There’s a happy medium! It is important to not bombard your mailing list with too frequent of emails, as it is likely that your readers will eventually treat your emails as spam and throw them right in the trash without opening them.
If you don’t put out enough, your subscriber may forget who you are and why they signed up for your newsletter and choose to unsubscribe.

5. Personalization

Use *|MERGETAGS|* to personalize your emails

Newsletters can be easily personalized with merge tags, so your emails are specifically addressed to each subscriber. Seeing “Hi [First Name]”, will give your reader the impression that you are speaking directly to them.
This makes it personal, and will reassure them that you aren’t spam email in their inbox.

Use your emails as a tool to start a dialogue with your customers

Newsletters are a great way to ask for feedback and engage by responding to your customer base.
This will allow you to better serve them (and others) in the future.

What not to do:

Don’t send an email to your list with a wrong name or incorrect the merge tag code visible. To avoid this from happening, send yourself a test email first!

Or, to avoid any pitfalls, let us take care of it!

If you can envision all of these things with your business, then an email marketing campaign is likely a very good move for your business. Let us show you how we can help you gain subscribers, while increasing your customer reach, engagement and satisfaction through email marketing . Contact us here .

Google Makes Important Update To Their Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

Mon, 07 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Google is constantly making updates to their search algorithms, which is the criteria used in gathering and prioritizing search results for given keyword phrases. It is up to us Digital Marketers to stay on top of these changes to help our clients stay on the first page, and wherever possible first on the list.

Well now Google has made a few major changes to their SERP (Search Engine Results Page), which has advantages and disadvantages for website owners and Google AdWords advertisers.

Here’s what the changes are and what they could mean for you:

1. Removal of AdWords from SERPs side panel

This will bring the user experience from desktop users closer to that of mobile users, which is the majority of current internet traffic anyway.

Google is testing the performance of Product Listing Ads (PLAs) within the main listing against its usual placement in the right panel, so you will now find both displays in your searches, as seen below.

2. Testing Product Listing Ads (PLAs) placement

3. Updates to Main Listing

What this means for you:

What has not changed

Cost-per-click (CPC) rates have not changed, though advertisers were holding their breath waiting to see them skyrocket. Increases in CPC rates were expected due to having less ad spots on the SERP, as well as having an additional ad spot at the top of the organic list. However, data so far has shown that CPC rates have generally stayed consistent.

Positive Outcomes

For those with eCommerce websites, Product Listing Ads (PLAs) have seen an increase in CTRs (Click Through Rates). This makes sense based on the positioning of the ads in the current SERPs.
Ad 3 spot has seen significantly higher CTRs. Advertisers are not sure why yet, but we will be watching the data that comes in over the next few weeks to see if this trend continues.

Negative Outcomes

Ad Spots 5-7 are obviously not performing well in their new position, below the organic results list, but they didn’t really perform well in their previous position.
Ad Spots 8-11, which are no longer on the first SERP has obviously suffered significantly, but again these positions did not perform very well anyway.

Biggest Negative Outcome

Organic results will be hit the hardest, as they are now pushed even lower on the page. The additional ad spot may result in your website being pushed below the fold, requiring a user to scroll in order to see it.

Mawazo Recommendations to deal with these Google SERPs updates

It is more important than ever for businesses to combine efforts of advertising and SEO in order to ensure that your websites are found.

To learn how you can optimize your business’ Google search engine results so your brand remains optimal, contact us now .

5 Easy Ways To Manage Your Online Reputation

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Word of mouth travels faster than it ever did. With the help of digital media customer feedback, opinions, and recommendations are now reaching global audiences, and instantly.

Canadians spend the most time online – TorontoSun

With this extensive reach, the reputation of brands are at risk of being unknowingly diminished with a few loud unhappy customers. (Unfortunately, it is usually the unhappy customers that shout the most and the loudest….)

It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it. – Benjamin Franklin

We have had a few clients shy away from digital media because of the fear of negative feedback spreading its way through the digi-sphere. However, avoiding setting up your own brand presences on social networks doesn’t mean you won’t be there. Consumers are still voicing opinions, giving recommendations, and sharing experiences. This content could easily include the mention of you brand. If you want to be a part of that conversation, and steer it for positive outcomes, you need to be present.

Manage your brand’s online reputation by being proactive, listening well, and reacting accordingly. Here are a few easy ways on how to do that:

1. Research the status of your online reputation to fully understand your starting point

Research what is already being said online about your brand, products, services, staff, etc. Get the full and honest picture so that you know where you need to focus on improving your online reputation .

2. Establish your brand as a thought-leader with relevant and quality content

Create content, on a regular basis, that promotes your brand as leaders in your industry. This content is not meant to boast about how great your products and services are, but rather to show your depth of knowledge and skill. Editorial pieces, or blogs, that are helpful to those that would be interested in what you have to sell will encourage repetitive engagement and ultimately keep you “top of mind”.

Create these blogs with Search Engine Optimization in mind, so that this content is not only establishing your brand as thought-leaders but also improves your SEO.

3. Share your content to increase your exposure and strengthen credibility

Now that you have this great content, be sure to share it! Share it on all of your social media pages and relevant web directories – not just once, but repetitively.

Continually reuse this content by tweeting bits and bytes to your Twitter followers, posting to your Facebook fans and to your LinkedIn followers. Use each blog post as much as possible to maximize on your content creation efforts.

4. Encourage your customers to provide reviews and testimonials for your products and services

Reviews are becoming an integral part of your cunsumer’s purchase path, regardless of whether the actual purchase is made online or offline.

60% of shoppers consult reviews before buying – MarketingProfs

Tools such as that of our partner, Reputation.com provide simple platforms that help you manage the sharing of good reviews. It also facilitates the follow-up of bad reviews so that you have the opportunity to change that customer’s opinion and possibly turn the review around to a good one. [ FIND OUT MORE ABOUT REPUTATION.COM ]

5. Share positive reviews to online directories and industry-specific sites

What better way to list your company in directory, where your competitors are likely to simply show address and phone number? Showing reviews gives potential customers confidence in contacting you.

What Is “Dark Traffic” And What Can You Do To Shed Some Light On It?

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Have you noticed that there is an inexplicably large ratio of view on your website that appear to be Direct Traffic ? This is traffic for which Google Analytics cannot decipher its origin. However, this data could include traffic from social media links or mobile app links.

How can you work around this Google Analytics glitch?

It is clear that not all of the users grouped into “direct traffic” have typed in your URL directly into their browser’s location bar. So, in order to identify their sources you will need a bit of analytics knowledge.

Start by segmenting the “direct traffic” users in Google Analytics to identify those that did not start at “landing pages” such as the homepage or landing pages of important sections of your website. This makes the assumption that users would not have typed in the direct URL of inner pages of your site, thus assuming that they were not “direct traffic”.

Create specific parameters for your campaign so that you can track the performance of each one independently. This is made easy with email marketing solutions like Constant Contact, and social media tools such as Hootsuite.

Why do we want to shed light on Google Analytics dark traffic?

To truly understand the return on your investments in digital marketing, you need to understand the “big data”. If done correctly, all of your digital marketing efforts can be monitored with actual performance measurements. With the analysis of this data, you will be able to identify which efforts are cost-effective, which require some tweaking, and which should simply be discontinued.

Get a digital marketing agency or consultant to help.

You are busy running your business and managing your day-to-day responsibilities. This is where Mawazo comes in. We will act as your marketing partner to provide insights on where digital marketing can help you generate more leads and ultimately increase your sales. As a Certified WSI Agency, we are able to leverage our global team to ensure you get the team you need to achieve the best results. We are also partners with some of the most effective digital solutions available today, such as Constant Contact and Hootsuite.

Everybody Is Talking About “List Building”. Here Are 6 Reasons Why You Should Build Your List

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

In a digital marketplace, our greatest asset as business-owners and marketers is a our contact list. These are our existing and potential consumers, clients, customers and patients. To grow our business, we need to build up the number of contacts in our list, as well as build up the information about each contact in our list.

List building is therefore essential. Here are 6 reasons that should get you started on focusing on building your lists if you haven’t already:

1. Millennials are an important market now and for the future., and they are more likely to respond to your messages and engage with your brand if the message is relevant to them. You will need to know who they are and what their interests are.

64% of millennials in a study said that they respond more positively to brand messages that are tailored to their cultural interests (music, movies, sports, entertainment. – Entrepreneur.com

2. It is much easier to up-sell an existing customer than to acquire a new one.

It costs 7x more to attract a new customer than retain an existing customer. – Invesp

3. With the majority of website traffic and online brand engagement now by mobile device rather than desktop, knowing your customer and delivering relevant information and offers while they are on the move encourages impulse-purchases.

44% of consumers say that they would like brands to deliver deals and coupons to their mobile devices. – Hubspot

4. Segmentation improves conversion of any list campaign dramatically. The more you know about your consumer, the more you are able to create segments and create more highly targeted content, offers, etc.

39% of marketers who segmented their email lists experienced higher open rates – Lyris

5. Email marketing, as archaic as it may seem today, is still of the most effective method to engage your customer. You will obviously need their email address for this, but if you have additional data on your customer such as their gender, their location, their interests, their family size, etc., you are able to tailor the email to trigger action more effectively.

…the rate at which e-mails prompt purchases is not only estimated to be at least 3x that of social media, but the average order value is also 17% higher – McKinsey & Company

6. Automated email marketing, also known as drip campaigns, are a cost-effective tactic to achieve loyalty to your business. Send out consistent, relevant and personal messages to your customers based on milestones or events during their journey with your business.

Automated emails get 119% higher CTR (click-through rate) than broadcast emails – Epsilon
B2C marketers who connect with customers through automated emails see conversion rates as high as 50% – eMarketer

10 Easy Marketing Tips To Boost Sales During The Holiday Season

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Many small businesses and entrepreneurs have a busy period in the last two months of the year. Much of sales for retailers happens between Black Friday and Christmas. For many B2B service providers it is not much different!

We have written a resource guide which offers simple tactics to help you take advantage of the opportunities of this important time of year to generate leads, engage them, convert them to customers and ultimately increase your profit!

Here is an overview of what you can expect:

4 Ways to Generate Leads

Contest with a Prize Draw
A Landing Page with a Compelling Offer
Online Advertising – Simplified
12 Gifts of Christmas

3 Ways to Engage your Leads with personalized communication

Send a personalized printed Postcard in minutes
Send an Email Newsletter to your List
Manage your Referrals effectively

2 ways to convert your leads to loyal customers

Create a Mobile Store with Promotions and Loyalty Cards
Send Coupons to your Customers by Email

For each tactic in this guide there is a short description on which tools to use, and how to implement. Let us know if you found it helpful!

Roots And Expedia Basebuilder Campaign

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

We’re proud to work with Roots and Expedia! On 17 November Mawazo launched a joint marketing campaign to convert anonymous consumers of Roots into rich online profiles. The campaign was created by Basebuilder, a proven solution for conversion campaigns based in The Netherlands. Mawazo is working with Basebuilder to introduce it to North American customers.

You can participate in the campaign! Go to www.roots.com/win and use the code X5VTZRW.
It’s worth it: the main prize is a ski-vacation for 4 people to Banff / Lake Louise, with flight tickets, hotel and skipasses!

With the data generated in the campaign, Roots and Expedia will be able to engage with their customers with personalized communication and establish meaningful 1-to-1 relationships.

We’re looking forward to organize similar Basebuilder campaigns for North American retailers, FMCG brands and restaurant chains. In Europe, Basebuilder has run campaigns for brands such as We Fashion, Nivea, Hunkemoller, V&D and Douwe Egberts.

What Is A Good Website?

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

When I started in digital media 20 years ago, we started our sales meetings explaining what the internet was and what opportunities it presented to businesses. These were not small businesses. They included Nabisco Foods, Canadian Tire, MacLean Hunter and even Massey Hall/Roy Thomson Hall. Again, this was 20 years ago. Those brands all have their own sophisticated digital teams and ever-evolving digital properties (maybe not all, but some).

What about small businesses? What were they doing online 20 years ago? Nothing. Why would they? We were still asking the question of how long would this “internet” thing last?

Today we have seen the shift for small- and medium-sized businesses in realizing that a website is a fundamental marketing asset. The challenge, however, is that the development of a website has become a simple checkbox on the marketing to-do list, and the strategy that should go into the website is lost. It usually goes like this:

Website – check
Email newsletters – check
Facebook page – check
Twitter account – maybe later
Linked In company page – what for?
PPC/display ad campaign – would love to but…
Automated marketing emails – what’s that?
And of course the central CRM – huh?

Let’s go back to “what makes a good website?”:

A website is a living entity. It should change over time, growing, becoming more wise and sophisticated, and adapting to changing objectives as the business itself evolves. So, start small. Define your initial objectives and create a website to meet those objectives.

This is our “good website” checklist:

Defined customer journey, with clear calls-to-action (CTAs)
Professional design, which is mobile friendly
Basic SEO (this does not need to be expensive!)
Social links and sharing options
Constantly updated content
CRM- enabled

This checklist does not require a big budget, nor does it require all of the bells and whistles. Start with the basics, but make sure it is professional and engaging. Find a partner that understands marketing, as well as technology, to get you the marketing results you want and the reliability that you need.

Once the basics are in place, be sure not to put a permanent check on the checklist for “website”. In order to continually bring in new customers, and engage existing ones, enhance the content and features of your site as frequently as possible.

To find out more about what your website objectives should be, and how to develop it, contact us .

Digital Marketing Explained By Mawazo Marketing

Four Local SEO Levers Every Field Service Company Needs to Pull

For multi-location field service companies, local rankings are earned location by location

Here is the system that makes every branch competitive

Lever 1 — Google Business Profile: your digital front door

Lever 2 — NAP Citations: proving every location is real

Lever 3 — Customer Reviews: the fuel for rankings and revenue

Lever 4 — Local Link Building: scaling community authority

Your multi-location Local SEO checklist

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Content Does Your Website Need to Be Found Online?

The Job the Content of your B2B Service Website Is Hired to Do

The Core Pages Every B2B Service Website Needs

Homepage

Individual Service Pages

Location and Service Area Pages

About and Credentials Page

FAQ and Contact

Blog Posts and Pillar Pages

How Many Pages Is "Enough"? Realistic Benchmarks for Field Service Websites

Hub Pages: Why Structure Matters as Much as Volume

Quality, Consistency, and Information Gain: Why Volume Alone Is Not Enough

Information Gain

A Word of Caution on AI-Generated Content

E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness

Consistency and Freshness

A Simple 12 to 18 Month Content Plan for B2B Field Service Leaders

How Mawazo Helps You Hit Critical Mass Without Wasting Content Budget

Frequently Asked Questions

Organizing Your Content With a Hub Page: A Smarter SEO Content Strategy

Content Matters

What a Hub Page Actually Is

Why Organizing Content Around a Hub Works Better for Busy Buyers

How Content Hubs Boost Search and AI Visibility

Topical depth and authority

Clear internal links

Better experience, stronger engagement signals

AI search and overviews

What Content Hubs Do for Your Overall Marketing and Sales Engine

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Automatic Doors Service & Maintenance

Example 2: IT Security

Example 3: B2B Loyalty Programs

First Steps: Mapping Your Own Content Hub

Ready to Map Your First Hub Page?

Frequently Asked Questions

The Cost of Digital Marketing

What Does Digital Marketing Actually Cost?

Most field service firms are either spending too little to gain traction or too much on tactics that aren't connected to a system. Here's how to find the number that's right for your business.

The Baseline: What B2B Field Service Firms Actually Spend ﻿

The Financial Architecture of a Smart Marketing Budget

How Much Goes to Digital, and Where It Actually Flows

Beyond "% of Revenue" — Using Growth Delta to Back into Your Number

Guardrails — CAC, LTV, and the Point of Diminishing Returns

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Lifetime Value (LTV)

Where AI Changes the Math

Putting It Together — A Simple Budget Recipe for Field Service Operators

Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes a Good Website

How to Turn Your Underperforming Website into a Lead‑Generating, Cost‑Saving Business Asset

Many B2B websites look fine but perform poorly. Here’s how to tell the difference, and what to fix first.

The Two Jobs of a B2B Website

Using Your Website to Reduce Operational Cost and Increase Efficiency

Attracting the Right Visitors and Turning Them into Leads

Technical Foundations: Speed, Security, and Mobile Readiness

Your Site Needs to Load Fast

Your Site Needs Website Security

Your Site Needs to Work on Mobile Devices

Quick Check: Technical Foundations Check (5 minutes)

Website Structure: Building Around Your Client, Not Yourself

Quick Check: Structure (5 minutes)

Web Design and UX: Making It Easy to Use

Quick Check: Mobile Site (5 minutes) ﻿

Content Quality: Saying the Right Things in the Right Places

What Your Homepage Must Do

Service and Product Pages

Ongoing Website Content

Quick Check: Content (15 minutes)

Trust, Proof, and Authority: Showing You Are a Solid Partner

The Baseline: What B2B Field Service Firms Actually Spend

Quick Check: Mobile Site (5 minutes)

Missing in Maps: The Problem with No GBP

Start with Strategy