Posts By: Chris Wielinski

5 SEO Trends Every Small Business Owner Should Know in 2017

Posted by & filed under Search Engine Optimization.

seo servicesWhen it comes to marketing your small business, search engine optimization should be at the center of your digital strategy. Google receives up to 100 billion searches each month, but an SEO strategy allows you to hone in on the searchers looking for businesses like yours.

So how do you reach them?

With the right SEO services and techniques, the right searchers will come to you, hopefully becoming customers in the process. Of course, SEO techniques and trends change all the time. To stay up to date, the following are just some of this year’s top SEO trends that favor small business marketing.

  1. Mobile First
    Marketing is all about meeting potential customers where they already are. And today, they are on their smartphones. Google now crawls your site to make sure it’s accessible on both desktop PCs and phones. This means that your website design must be optimized for a mobile audience.

  2. Quality Content
    Users are no longer satisfied with clickbait blog posts with clear promotional motives, and neither is Google. Visitors to your site want high quality content with useful information. This goes for your social media posts as well. Keep everything relevant and on brand while giving your audience a reason to read.

  3. Localized Keywords
    This may be good news for lower budget startups. Less-competitive, localized keywords are often more effective for small businesses. So, if you have been targeting broader, more competitive search terms, try to think more narrow. Perhaps that will give you the traffic boost you need without stretching your digital marketing budget too far.

  4. User Experience Optimization
    Meet UEO, SEO’s cool new cousin. User experience optimization is all about making your website as user-friendly and enjoyable as possible. This includes faster load times and simple, interactive, and visual content that breathes life into your site. The perfect UEO formula will take some trial and error to pin down, so keep a close eye on analytics metrics like the average time spent on page and bounce rate.

  5. Social Sharing
    Remember that SEO does not stop on your website. By sharing posts from your website’s blog on social media, you increase your chances of receiving more backlinks from around the web. Guest posting and blogging are also great ways to up your social media engagement.

 
Remember: Crafting your best online marketing strategy all starts with finding the right SEO services. Once you select an SEO company to work with, collaborate with them closely and listen to their advice. Together you can create a strategy that is perfectly tailored to your small business. And if all goes as planned, this will boost your lead generation and revenue.

The Fastest and Easiest Way To Help Your Small Business Succeed Online

Posted by & filed under Display Advertising.

digital marketingRunning a business can be extremely difficult if you don’t have access to all the various resources that your competitors have. If you’re one of the only people in a position of authority at your company, you’re likely in charge of day-to-day operations, big picture stuff, financials and logistics, keeping your employees happy, and, somehow, everything else.

Clearly, this job is designed for five to 10 people, but it all falls onto your shoulders.

Rather than letting the stress pile up, however, you need to find the resources you need to succeed. And because most small business owners don’t have the time to personally manage a digital marketing strategy, you need to find someone else to take on this important task.

Fortunately, there’s one simple way to help your small business thrive online:

Seek assistance from a professional digital marketing company

Yes, it’s really that simple.

It’s nearly impossible to succeed as a business in 2017 without a high quality website and digital marketing strategy. If you’re trying to run your own business and handle all the aspects of digital advertising yourself, you’re going to undoubtedly burn yourself out. Rather than causing potentially brand-altering issues online, consult with a team of online marketing professionals.

These companies can help you with your overall marketing campaign as well as your social media engagement and search engine optimization (SEO). According to SalesForce Marketing Cloud, 83% of customers “like” or “love” when a company responds to them via social media, and that’s just one way digital marketing can improve your brand.

Here are just some of the services a digital marketing company can offer:

  • Local Search Engine Optimization: If your website just isn’t getting traffic and leads, then you need a new SEO strategy. SEO experts can help get your website the crucial rankings needed to bring in customers online.

  • Social Media Marketing: Social media isn’t just a marketing tool, it’s also becoming a powerful new form of customer service. Enhance your brand and connect with customers in entirely new ways using social media platforms.

  • Branding: Unfortunately, some companies struggle online because they don’t really know what their brand is. Branding isn’t just about sleek design and fancy logos, it’s about forging an identity that defines your company’s mission and values.

  • Web Design and Development: A great website is the foundation that any digital marketing campaign is built upon. Create a powerful first impression and transform it into new business with a bold new web design.

 
Your small business may not require all of these marketing services, but ignoring digital marketing in 2017 is like leaving money on the table. By working with a digital ad agency, you’ll enjoy much greater success in the online realm, which will subsequently transfer into real life revenue.

If you’re ready to take your company to the next level in the digital domain, contact Think Cre8tive today.

Client Site Launch: Keep It In Keller

Posted by & filed under Website Design.

This week we launched the new Keep It In Keller website for the City of Keller’s Economic Development Department. You can now visit the new website at www.keepitinkeller.com.

Keep It In Keller houses listings for all of the city’s restaurants, retailers, businesses, and service providers.  You can also learn more about the city’s Economic Development initiatives as well as the Keller community.

The city first approached us in early 2016 in preparation for their new fiscal year budget.  Part of that budget was earmarked for the new website.  We were so excited to submit a proposal and be able to showcase our work to the city we call home. Our proposal was selected and we got started on the project. After months of hard work, we have finally launched the website and everyone loves it!

Visit their website to see our most recent launch.

Think Cre8tive Receives 2017 Best of Keller Award & Enters Hall of Fame

Posted by & filed under Branding, Development, Display Advertising, Inbound Marketing, Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Traditional Advertising, Website Design.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Think Cre8tive Receives 2017 Best of Keller Award

Keller Award Program Honors the Achievement

KELLER March 2, 2017 — Think Cre8tive has been selected for the 2017 Best of Keller Award in the Advertising Agency category by the Keller Award Program.

Each year, the Keller Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Keller area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2017 Keller Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Keller Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Keller Award Program

The Keller Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Keller area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Keller Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Keller Award Program

CONTACT:
Keller Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@onlineawarded.org
URL: httpss://www.onlineawarded.org

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Copied from original release: httpss://keller.keller.onlineawarded.org/PressReleaseub.aspx?cc=DJF7-TBF7-S755

Think Cre8tive Receives 2016 Best of Keller Award

Posted by & filed under Branding, Development, Display Advertising, Inbound Marketing, Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Traditional Advertising, Website Design.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Think Cre8tive Receives 2016 Best of Keller Award

Keller Award Program Honors the Achievement

KELLER November 15, 2016 — Think Cre8tive has been selected for the 2016 Best of Keller Award in the Advertising Agency category by the Keller Award Program.

Each year, the Keller Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Keller area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2016 Keller Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Keller Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Keller Award Program

The Keller Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Keller area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Keller Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Keller Award Program

CONTACT:
Keller Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@localawardscenter.org
URL: httpss://www.localawardscenter.org

Original Post: httpss://keller.keller.localawardscenter.org/PressReleaseub.aspx?cc=DG8T-SBF7-S755

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Keller Selects Think Cre8tive

Posted by & filed under Website Design.

We are very excited that the City of Keller (Keller, Texas) has selected Think Cre8tive to redesign their Keep It In Keller (www.keepitinkeller.com) website.

What is Keep It In Keller?

Keep It In Keller is a directory focused on highlighting the businesses located within the city of Keller. It is a great way for users to find local, reliable businesses in the area. From plumbers to digital marketing agencies such as ours, Keep It In Keller has it all.

City of Keller logo
We Keep It In Keller

Even though we work with clients across the globe and have resources across the country, our digital marketing agency is based in Keller and our Founder & CEO is a Keller resident. So we are very honored to work with the city to redesign the website.  The redesign will launch a new brand image for Keep It In Keller. It will update the colors, fonts, and other style elements to offer a more eye-catching experience. It will also boast an optimized user experience for users that are searching the database and also for businesses that have listings on the website.

Watch for the new website to launch within the next few months!

For more information

If you need any help with your website design project or marketing your website, reach out to us by visiting our Contact or Request a Consultation pages.

Why SEO is important for your online presence

Posted by & filed under Search Engine Optimization.

The most important spect of your SEO is your website and making sure it is easy to navigate for both search engine robots and end users. Even with the advanced technology utilized by search engines, they still need help understanding your website. SEO is what helps guide search engines on your website so that they know what each page is about and why users would want to look at it.

We frequently hear this argument…

“Why would someone or a company build such a network that requires constant updating in order to be found online?  Any website, framework, or code should be able to be indexed by all search engines…I shouldn’t need special services to make it happen.”

But…here’s a scenario for all of you…

Let’s say you post a picture on your website.  As a human, you know it’s a picture of a black dog playing fetch in a park.  However, to a search engine it’s just a picture with a title.  By using SEO, you can tell the search engine exactly what is in the picture so that users can find it when searching online.  Understanding this process allows you to build, format, and annotate your content so that search engines can index it.  Without proper SEO, your website is essentially invisible to search engines. 

Search Engine Technology

All of the major search engines use the same parameters.  The search engine bots (automated) crawl the Internet, follow links, and read content before storing the indexed information in databases.  Artificial intelligence is the basis for the crawling, but it is not all-powerful.  There are numerous limitations that can cause problems if proper SEO is not performed on your content.

Content Indexing Problems

  • Forms: Search engines aren’t good at completing online forms (such as a login), and thus any content contained behind them may remain hidden.
  • Original content: Creating duplicate pages hurts your rankings because search engines want original content.
  • Robots.txt blocks: Errors in a crawling directives (robots.txt) may lead to a page ranking of zero.
  • Poor link structures: If a website’s link structure isn’t setup properly, search engine can deem the content as unimportant for users.
  • Images, audio & video: Proper tagging and descriptions are needed for search engines to properly read these types of content.
  • Matching content to searches: having proper SEO allows for the right content to be displayed for the corresponding searches.

 

Make sure your content eventually gets seen

Marketing your content properly and effectively is another aspect of SEO. Search engines themselves don’t have formulas to gauge the quality of content on the Internet.  However, they rely on relevance and importance when displaying search results.  Those metrics are measured by what people do with the content.  In other words, you have to get the content shared and talked about to make it effective.

There are an average of ten positions on any given search results page.  The results are ordered by rank…the higher your website ranks, the better you attract users.  Websites in positions 1, 2, and 3 receive substantially more traffic than results down the page.  Once you move off of page 1, the traffic goes down considerably again.  No matter how search engine marketing and technology may change in the future, websites and business will always compete to be in the top position so their brand is visible to as many users as possible.

SEO Parameters & Standards Are Constantly Changing

Since the mid-1990s when search marketing began, everything has changed.  Back then you focused on manual submission, keyword stuffing, and other tactics that are now against search engine guidelines.  The changing landscape of SEO not only requires constant monitoring, but it also requires businesses to update their websites on a more consistent basis and an evolving SEO strategy.  While some things are uncertain, one thing that is certain is the change for the search world is always constant.  For this reason, search engine marketing should be the number one priority for your business’s website.

Don’t let tactics from earlier years hurt your SEO today.

 

12 Tips for a Successful Facebook Page

Posted by & filed under Social Media.

So you’ve decided to join the bandwagon and use Facebook for your company…smart move! With over 1.44 billion users, your company’s page will get the exposure you want and need…only if you use it correctly and make the necessary updates. You can’t just slap together a Facebook Page and expect it to start producing leads and customers right away. You have to generate the potential and get noticed. Here are some tips to help you do so.

12 Tips for a Successful Facebook Page

1) Don’t create a personal account for your company.

Don’t create a personal account for your company. That is against Facebook’s rules and it will hurt your potential. Make sure you setup your business page properly so that you can unlock the potential of the network.

2) Add an easily recognizable profile picture such as your logo.

The profile picture on your page should be easily recognizable. Most companies use some form of their logo so that way users know exactly who you are when they see the profile picture across the network  Make sure you follow the sizing guidelines that Facebook has in place.

3) Choose an relevant and engaging cover photo.

An engaging cover photo will help your page look good. You want the cover photo to be relevant to your company and the content that you are posting on the page. Make sure you stay within Facebook’s guidelines in terms of the content and size of the photo.

4) Add a call-to-action (CTA) button to your cover photo.

Back in December of 2014, Facebook added a feature that allows you to place a call to action (CTA) button to your cover photo in the bottom right corner. This button can be directly linked to your website, a landing page, contact form, etc. to generate direct leads. Add a CTA button to your cover page today to start driving direct leads from Facebook.

Another option is to integrate the design of your cover photo with the CTA button.  This will draw more attention to the button and ultimately generate more clicks.

5) Fill out your company’s basic information.

One of the most important aspects of your page is the information it contains about your company. Make sure you fill out every detail with up-to-date information so that users can find it and it searches properly within the network.

6) Post photos and videos.

Photos and videos are the most popular content on social media. Users would rather look at a picture or watch a video instead of reach content. By formatting your company’s message into photos and quick videos, your content will be engaged at a higher rate than standard text-based content. Engagement is the key to Facebook, so making sure your users are interested in your content is a huge part of the process.

7) Post other types of content too.

Your Facebook page should be filled with dynamic content. You want to make the page a news source for anything related to what your company does. This will keep your followers engaged and keep your follower base growing instead of shrinking due to boring, redundant content.

8) Post content at effective times.

Use the Facebook page insights to determine when followers are on your page. It’s more effective to post content during that timeframe so that your content is in front of them.

9) Highlight important posts.

Facebook allows your to “pin” important pieces of information to the top of your page. If you have a change in your operating hours, service offerings, or even products, make sure you “pin” it to the top for awhile so your followers see it right away.  However, we recommend not using this for lead generation material.

10) Customer service.

Respond to comments and messages!! This is very important for customer service. On social media, it’s acceptable to respond within 24 hours to all comments and messages. Remember comments are public!

11) Promote your page to generate more followers.

Use Facebook’s Advertising platform to generate more followers.

12) Measure the success of your Facebook efforts.

Remember to always watch the page insights. You can gain valuable insights on your followers by reviewing this information on a regular basis. This will help you optimize your Facebook page content so that your efforts of more efficient and productive.

Feeling lost? Give us a call and we can help you!

 

What to look for in a PPC agency

Posted by & filed under Pay Per Click.

Pay per click advertising management (paid search management) is a great addition to your current marketing strategies that is most effective when outsourced to an agency.  Keeping up with the changing landscape of PPC is though on it’s own.  The technology and market is constantly changing, which makes it even more important to outsource the service.  Here are some things to help you determine which agency will benefit your company the most.

What are your goals for your business?  Where is your business going? Is PPC the right service to get you there?

The main reason you’re looking at running a PPC campaign in the first place is because you want to achieve certain results and goals for your company.  It’s important to have realistic expectations.  For example, if you’re trying to make a big break into a competitive market, you’re going to need deep pockets across six to twelve months.  The results driven from a PPC campaign are mostly dependent on the budget if the search quantity and quality are there.  Make sure the agency your hire informs you of every aspect of the campaign before getting started.

What kind of relationship do you want?

It’s very important to find an agency that you can work well with.  Even if the agency has a great track record and the deal looks great on paper, if you’re not able to work with them and be on the same page, you’re not going to be happy.  You and the agency have to be excited about your PPC campaign.

What do you need to be ready for?

PPC doesn’t drive results overnight.  It takes time and input on both your side and the agency’s side.  It’s important to make sure you are realistic otherwise your expectations will cause the campaign to suffer.

Look for the full scope of success

Success in pay per click advertising is about much more than tweaking ad copy.  Some campaigns require a cohesive and functional user experience, and that means some serious work on landing pages, advertisements, optimization, campaign analytics, and conversions.  Before getting started, make sure you ask these questions:

  • How long will it take to get new ad copy written?
  • What kind of information and content will you be getting on your landing pages?
  • What kind of communication will be necessary on my end?

Don’t forget about your SEO!  That is in the same field as PPC, so it’s important to make sure they’re working together smoothly.  Consolidating your SEO and PPC into a single agency will lead to higher performing campaigns.

 

Which content management system is right for your website?

Posted by & filed under Development, Website Design.

 

Finding the right content management system, otherwise known as the CMS, for your website is one of the most important steps of the website design process.

There are multiple content management systems on the market today that you can utilize for your website.  This article will review each of them so that you can select the best one for your website.

WordPress

This is the most popular and best content management system on the market today.  Wordpress provides a system that allows for theme-based (template) or custom designed websites.  Wordpress has excellent search engine benefits through the use of plugins and custom code.  The system also has multiple plugins that allow for easy E-Commerce management.

This system is perfect for: any business.

Built-Out Solutions: Squarespace, Wix & Weebly

There are multiple systems that only require little coding to build a full website.  Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly are the three most popular of these platforms.  They all provide responsive, modern, and search engine savvy templates to base your website off of.  Squarespace takes it a few steps further with their integrated E-Commerce and Product management capabilities.

These systems are perfect for: small businesses, small retail stores, small online stores, and startup businesses.

Joomla!

This is an older content management system.  It is very popular with intense UI/UX website development, but other than that it is not recommended for new website designs.  Wordpress is a much more powerful option compared to Joomla!.

Are you ready to get started on your new website? Or maybe you’re looking to convert your existing website to WordPress? Give us a call or fill out our contact form to get a quote.