Posts By: Chris Wielinski

The Basics Of Backlinking (Part 1)

Posted by & filed under Search Engine Optimization.

If you’re trying to improve your business’s online marketing, getting to know all the lingo and jargon associated with search engine optimization (SEO) can feel overwhelming. One of the most confusing aspects of digital marketing is backlinking.

But what is backlinking? Here’s some of the information you should know about backlinks before you implement this strategy in your online marketing strategy.

A basic definition

Backlinks are links on an outside website that link back to your webpage. This is an organic form of SEO marketing designed to boost your ranking on Google and other search engines without using shady, blackhat tactics. This is important since most internet users typically click on the first couple of websites that pop up on the results page.

Backlinks typically referred to as incoming links on a webpage, but they’re also known as inbound links, inlinks, or inward links as well. If a link is made on your website that redirects your reader to another website, this is known as an outgoing link.

What does it do?

You want to partner with or utilize outside websites that link back to your page. In theory, this allows you to reach a broader audience when people read the outside website. When they do, they will be linked to your website if they follow the link.

But backlinking also promotes a number of other SEO tactics.

Backlinks help promote link juice, a ridiculously funny phrase that’s essential to boosting your page ranking and improving your website’s domain authority. When you have strong backlinks, search engines are better able to find your website and perform necessary crawls which helps to index your site.

Essentially, the more great websites link back to your page, the higher your website will rank in turn. Avoid shady websites, however. Spam sites and other low-quality sites can make your website look even worse. You should also ensure your backlinks are relevant. Poorly placed backlinks is a poor SEO strategy, akin to keyword stuffing.

Keep in mind that nearly 75% of SEO occurs off-page, meaning that this is a strategy to use in conjunction with building your onsite SEO. Look out for Part Two of The Basics Of Backlinking!

Are You Losing Money On Outdated Marketing Tactics?

Posted by & filed under Inbound Marketing.

Your digital marketing plan needs a touch-up. The inherently dynamic nature of the Internet means this is relevant whether you’ve improved it in the last six months or the last five years.

This can involve going through your website and figuring out if you need more offsite SEO to bring in customers or determining the best-scheduled approach to your business blog. A social media marketing plan can even make or break your first impression. Yes, there’s a lot that goes into these digital campaigns, but every little effort goes a long way in making sure you always have a first impression to fall back on. No matter where you fall on the scale, a refresher course is just what the doctor ordered.

Take advantage of marketing services now so you don’t have to work quite as hard later.

SEO Is An Inbound Lead With A High Success Rate

You’ve been hearing about search engine optimization left and right. Now to hammer down why, exactly, it’s a staple of digital marketing. SEO leads have a 14% close rate, making them much more reliable than classic outbound leads like direct mail and print advertising. The Google search engine alone receives over 100 billion searches every month, meaning you need to be a little more clever if you want to stand out in the pack. Choosing an SEO firm is as easy as figuring out if you want to promote locally or reach out internationally.

Social Media Is Convoluted, But Far From Obsolete

It seems like everyone has a social media account these days. Actually generating business with yours can feel like an uphill battle at the best of times. That’s where a solid social media marketing plan comes into play. This means adhering to a regular schedule, cross-posting with your blog and taking advantage of hashtags to narrow down prospective customers. According to a study published by the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, nearly two-thirds of marketers today cite Facebook as their biggest gamechanger.

A Regular Blog Presence Will Keep Customers Coming Back

Customers want to know how far their dollar is going. They also want to know they’re getting the absolute most, even when they’re not actively purchasing. This means investing in businesses that are constantly giving them content. A recent study revealed nearly 55% of marketers cite blog content creation as their number one inbound lead by a landslide. Companies that publish 15 or more blog posts per month will receive over three times as much web traffic as companies that only publish a handful.

Good E-Mail Marketing Is Far From Dead

Your social media marketing plan should also incorporate a solid e-mail marketing venture. Contrary to popular belief, e-mail marketing is not a dead tactic. Customers generally prefer more specific sources of information, particularly if they come with the added convenience of showing up in their inbox daily or weekly. This saves them time and keeps businesses cultivating repeat customers. This can include long-form content, microcontent, special deals, newsletters, and forums, among other things. An interesting 2015 study by Moz and BuzzSumo found long-form content consistently receives more shares and likes than shorter content.

Your Digital Marketing Strategy Should Be Updated Regularly

No digital marketing strategy is good enough. You need to be constantly updating with new tactics and double-checking your retention rates to keep pace with a lightning-fast Internet. While this can all sound incredibly daunting, the function of your social media marketing plan and search engine marketing is to keep you from casting too wide of a net. Around 70% of the links search users click on today are organic and customers much prefer to have a more relaxed relationship with businesses, according to a report by SalesForce Marketing Cloud.

Make things easy for you and your customers. Let a marketing company help you build a strategy that’s flexible enough to keep pace.

How To Use SEO To Change Your Company’s Name

Posted by & filed under Branding, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design.

There are countless reasons a company may require a name change. Did your business change and grow into something new and the old name doesn’t apply anymore? Maybe the name is hard for your customers to remember.

Here are some important considerations if you want to update your business’ name.

Keep it relevant

Utilizing a strong keyword in your business’ new name is vital to your online marketing. Businesses with a strong keyword in their name rank an average of 1.5 times higher than those without keywords in the name.

For example, if you run a lawn care business, naming your company “Jack Attacks” has a nice ring to it, but it’s unlikely your potential customers will know what you sell, even if you’ve utilized the best web design services for your business. Instead, choosing a name like “Jack’s Lawn Care” will give your customers a better idea of what you do and you’ll rank higher on search results.

Make it unique

Be careful with your name, however; a keyword is great, but it’s going to have to compete with countless other businesses with similar names. Let’s look back at Jack’s Lawn Care. There are hundreds of other lawn care services that utilize that phrase in the title. While “Jack” does a good job differentiating your business from the white noise, the “lawn care” keyword is still likely to bring up thousands of other search results.

Highly searched phrases just don’t bring in the bacon like they used to. Fun homophones or spelling your business the way it sounds might be a fun option. For example, Reddit was derived from Read It. By changing the spelling, the company got name-brand recognition with minimal effort. For Jack’s Lawn Care, a marketing company might recommend something like Green Thumb Lawn Care or Unbeleafable Lawn Care.

Don’t change everything

You need to be aware that your company is still the same enterprise; as such, you need to inform your current clients of the change as you try to get new ones. For example, your business might want to update your email, but keep your number the same.

While updating your website with reliable web design services will help transform your image, you might want to include a note with your old name somewhere on your homepage. The first few months during your transition will be difficult, but keeping your customers informed should be your first priority.

When you want to change your business’ name, rely on the best digital marketing company to help lead you through your SEO optimization. With Think Cre8tive, you’ll have the best in SEO marketing and web design services at your disposal. Visit them online today for more information.

How To Improve Your Local SEO Marketing Strategy

Posted by & filed under Search Engine Optimization.

Many businesses that want to improve their SEO marketing strategy forget to focus on localized SEO. While it’s important to grow your online business, it’s even more important to cater to your local consumer.

Luckily, social media marketing benefits your in-store business as well. Your consumer will enjoy you taking a special interest in your local community. Without further ado, here are some ways to improve your local onsite marketing.

Target geography in your keywords

Geographic keywords are a great way to narrow your search results within your local community. If your small business is located in Florida, you’re not going to want to highlight Nevada or California.

When you build your geographic SEO content, use keywords like “marketing company Miami” or “SEO company Florida.” While you won’t be able to reach people looking to utilize your services across the country, you’ll be able to target local individuals who need your in-store options.

Build links locally

Building local links within the area keeps it concentrated in one location. It’ll also make it more likely for fans of other local websites to find your page through backlinks. Including statistics from local sources not only makes your business seem more authentic, it’s a marketing strategy that has proven to work time and time again.

This form of organic link building can help reach more and more people in your area. In fact, 70% of the links users click on are organic. So, get link building if you want to make an impact.

Hire a professional

Digital marketing can be hard to wrap your head around, but your business won’t flourish without help. If your business doesn’t have an online marketing strategy or wants to improve their current strategy, sometimes it’s best to leave it in the hands of the professional.

A good marketing company will work with your business to ensure your strategy suits your needs. They’ll also offer a slew of other perks including web design, advertising, and maybe even pay per click options through social media. They will be able to help you craft a social media marketing plan and help your business drum up local foot traffic.

If you haven’t contacted Think Cre8tive online, there’s always time to improve your SEO marketing with a professional. Visit their site today when you want to get serious about managing your local SEO content.

Here’s How To Make Keywords Work For Your Onsite SEO Blog

Posted by & filed under Search Engine Optimization.

If your online presence needs some help, there’s no better way of promoting your company than by utilizing keywords in your content. If you don’t understand keywords, have no fear: keywords are easy to use if you understand them. Over 53% of online marketing companies utilize blog content as a top priority among their marketing services.

Here’s how to make keywords work for your company.

Understanding keywords

Keywords, or phrases, are the commonly used phrases that people type into search bars. “Restaurants near me,” “HVAC repair,” and “How to use Keywords” are all examples of information people might type into a search engine. To get your online blog more hits on Google, or Yahoo, or Bing, incorporating keywords into your digital marketing strategy is key.

Types of keywords

There are a few different types of keywords available for your onsite SEO strategy: broad match, exact match, and phrase match.

Broad match keywords are keywords that focus on broad topics. They don’t get very specific and that will enable it to reach a wider, more randomized audience. This is because more people will commonly search for broad terms than specific, location-based keywords. This type of keyword will also yield more results.

Exact match keywords are the hyper-specific keywords that are designed to reach your niche audience. This is a word-for-word search of your keyword, putting you higher than your competitors on Google searches or Yahoo searches. This will yield in less traffic than broad matches, but it will help your main audience reach your site.

Phrase match keywords are a blend between the two. It might rely on geographic locations, but it might not have your specific business name. For this type of match, it’s best to use it in conjunction with the other two.

All these types of keywords should be utilized in your blog for the best results in your internet traffic. Tailor it to your business and product but don’t get so hyper-focused that no one will search for your keyword.

How to implement them

There are many factors that go into your onsite SEO but keywords are some of the best. For your blog, you should try to use the targeted keyword in your title and scatter it a couple times throughout the piece, supporting it with other keywords that your audience might look for. Using keywords around links or within links is also a great way to connect to a wider audience.

Onsite SEO strategies offer a plethora of options for the digital marketer. When you want to create a blog, you need the best SEO services to back you up. Talk to Think Cre8tive for more information today.

What Is Offsite SEO and How Do I Use it for My Business?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Offsite SEO is one of the most important tools you can use to grow your business’ online presence. Before you invest in a digital marketing company to do the brunt of your marketing services, here are the ins and outs of offsite SEO to help you gain your footing.

What is offsite SEO?

Think of offsite SEO as a way to maintain the reputation of your business and build relationships among other websites; offsite SEO relies on link building between organizations and websites to increase the rate of internet traffic moving toward your website. By providing your link on someone else’s site, this establishes you as a reputable company and will boost your popularity.

It essentially serves as a method of digital optimization meant to direct internet searches and crawl bots back to your domain.

Why do I need offsite SEO

While your company should have already made a dent in improving its onsite SEO content, utilizing offsite SEO is an important next step that contributes to backlinking. This connects your publishing partner to onsite articles that you have created on your website. Few people want to be redirected to a home page, but a useful onsite article can help promote your business’ trustworthiness during offsite application.

What does offsite SEO do for me?

When Google receives well over 100 billion searches across the globe each month, the necessity of offsite SEO cannot be understated. Through this form of digital marketing, you’re establishing positive information flow between your brand and other websites. You’re also linking your content to positive reviews, brand mentions, and reaching an audience that might not have thought about your product beforehand.

Your offsite SEO is also a great opportunity to boost your online social media presence. Forming relatable, meaningful interactions with consumers that need your help will improve your image and keep customers coming back for more.

If you’re looking for an SEO company that can help boost your offsite SEO, call Think Cre8tive today. Whether you have questions about link building or want to hire an advertising agency Think Cre8tive is the best resource for digital marketing Fort Worth has to offer.

You Don’t Have to Propose to Engage Customers: Social Media Outreach 101

Posted by & filed under Social Media, Website Design.

website designWhile having a great website design is key to creating an accessible platform for your customers, utilizing online marketing tools through social media is the best way to reach new clients across the globe. Here are the pillars of social media outreach and how social media use can benefit your business.

You get the customers engaged

Starting a Facebook page or a Twitter page for your business is key to making the consumer feel like they matter. And they do: without the customer, your business would assuredly flounder. It’s important to give back to those customers through social media engagement. According to studies by SalesForce Marketing Cloud, 83% of consumers like — or even love — when a business replies to their posts on social media.

Interacting with customers not only makes the consumer feel heard, it also projects a strong image to other clientele. If you get a good reputation for responding to your consumers through social media, you might even get a share or two when you solve a problem or offer helpful information. Take it from Wendy’s: their Twitter posts are shared across the globe.

Make sure your data is correct

There’s nothing worse than posting incorrect information on your social media. If your company is holding a promotion event, you want to triple-check those facts and ensure you’re not lying to the consumer. Try creating a fun event page. Including prizes or customer recognition is a great way to drum up excitement about your business.

Know when to post

Posting at 4 a.m. won’t be effective unless you’re trying to reach customers in Australia. Most businesses target local clientele, so analyzing high volumes of internet traffic on certain websites in your hometown will work in your favor.

Knowing your brand is another key facet of knowing when to post. Most food blogs will post on Fridays since people are looking for good eats over the weekend. For business news, posting on a Monday or Wednesday will work better than a Friday.

Understanding the ins and outs of social media marketing is an important factor in gaining higher volumes of internet traffic. If you want to improve your online presence, consider hiring a website design service that can help you form a social media marketing plan. Your followers will thank you.

Got a Mind for Marketing? Not Without These 3 Summer Social Media Techniques

Posted by & filed under Social Media.

seoEach season seems to bring new trends that leave your digital marketing company gasping for breath. The digital marketing world is constantly changing, and it can be hard to keep up with the times. If you have already mastered the world of SEO, here are some of the latest social media techniques you can use to market your brand this summer.

What do you meme?
The new generation is obsessed with memes, and summer is the perfect time to employ this lighthearted marketing asset. By blending your company’s ideas and events with memes everyone recognizes, you’re bound to reach a larger audience that wants to have fun in the summer sun.

Of course, memes are nothing new in the marketing world. However, two things have changed: Internet speeds are getting faster, and more and more consumers access the web through their smartphones. To speak directly to these users…

Seal it with a GIF
Millennials and Gen Z consumers use a lot of GIFs and emojis whenever they text or email. Even niche companies have adopted different ways to allow their users to express themselves through GIFs. Standing for “Graphic Interchange Format,” GIFs are basically looping videos, often without sound.

By speaking fluent GIF, you’re able to appeal to a larger, younger demographic. While including these on your webpage might not be the right move, utilizing them in your digital marketing on social media is a great way to trigger interest and get your post noticed. When nearly 72% of adults on the Internet use Facebook, this approach can reach a highly connected audience.

Local events and trends
Take pride in where you come from! When your consumers see you taking an interest in the wellbeing of the community, they’re bound to flock to your business. Summer is the perfect time to host outdoor events and take advantage of the festivals, parties, and holidays the season has to offer. Even though major trends come and go throughout the country, tapping into your community’s current events and trends will get the local public engaged. If your city or town hosts an annual festival, see if you can partner with any local businesses or host a booth.

Advertising your events on social media is key. Use link building and SEO content marketing to cover current events and drum up excitement for future ventures. As the even approaches, don’t hesitate to respond to consumers over social media — people love it when you answer their questions.

Follow these trends this summer to create an SEO marketing campaign that works for you. If you ever have trouble, contacting your local marketing agency can help put you on the right path.

Social Media Marketing 101: Tackling Facebook

Posted by & filed under Social Media.

social media marketing benefitsFacebook has continued to dominate other social media platforms, and marketers have taken note: practically two-thirds of marketers believe that Facebook is the most beneficial social platform to boost your business. Of course, Facebook marketing has undergone some major changes in recent years, which can be confusing for newcomers to the platform’s business side. Here are some quick and easy tips to improve your online presence on Facebook.

Market on your page

Social media marketing benefits begin as soon as you create a Facebook page for your business. Not only is this a great way to keep your fans up to date with reminders, you can use your cover photo and profile photo or video to advertise new features or events for your business. Often, your business’s Facebook page is one of the top search results when people search for your business. Schedule regularly posts so that your page stays fresh for new visitors. If you don’t have an in-house marketing branch for your business, choosing a digital marketing firm that fits your business is a must.

Unfortunately, you may notice that your business’s Facebook page doesn’t get much interaction from followers. Recently, Facebook updated their news feed so that business posts no longer appear in their followers’ feeds. Unless you pay to boost a post, people won’t see them unless they specifically choose to visit your page. As a result, most companies have scaled back the amount of content they post.

Keep up with the new features

Over the last couple of years, Facebook has released new features to give their users more ways to share their lives online. Facebook stories, profile videos, temporary profile pictures, you name it: Facebook adds it. Whether you like it or not, staying on top of Facebook’s new updates is the best way to reign in the most users. If you’re not interested in keeping up with the new features Facebook has to offer, try choosing an advertising agency for your social media marketing.

Paid Facebook Advertising

With over one billion active users, Facebook is the world’s largest social media outlet, and thus a powerful platform for advertising. And because your page’s posts are all but invisible to most users, many businesses instead opt for paid Facebook advertising. Fortunately, Facebook is generally cheaper than other advertising platforms, and there are two ways to reach users through paid ads. You can either “Boost” content from your page, or you can create visual ads that appear in the news feed. As an added bonus, you can even serve these ads on Instagram, Facebook’s sister social media outlet.

Hold giveaways and events

By encouraging your followers to talk about your business, you’re amplifying your presence to more people across the web. Holding simple giveaways through “sharing” contests and selfie contests will cost you next to nothing and will get a wide range of people involved. Make your contestants tag you in a post to reach a whole new audience for peak levels of social media marketing benefits.

Hire a digital marketing company

Let’s be honest: social media marketing isn’t easy. If you don’t have the funds, energy, or time to do it yourself, relying on a professional SEO company or advertising agency is the best way to boost your online presence. They’re trained to navigate the ins and outs of Facebook and they’re prepared to research the new trends, updates, and events that you can utilize for your business.

Social media marketing can offer an extremely high ROI, and Facebook is the best way to reach a massive audience. Consider these tips before you venture on your new social media marketing plan.

6 Clutch Mobile Website Design Techniques Pros are Using in 2018

Posted by & filed under Website Design.

website design companyWeb design services are among the most important aspects of a successful digital marketing campaign. In this blossoming field, mobile website design is the most important niche. According to Statista, mobile internet penetration is poised to grow 62.3% globally in 2018. That means your company will need a website design company well versed in designing mobile-friendly pages. Here are some of the features a top-notch website design company will be able to provide.

  1. Automatic Formatting
    Everyone has a vaguely different smartphone these days. Whether your customer uses an iOs or Android device, and whether the screen is large or small, the website absolutely must fit the display perfectly. If it doesn’t, you run the risk of losing leads.

  2. Interactive Graphic Menu Functionality
    Your menu tab should be easy to find and even easier to use. A new industry standard logo is emerging to represent the site’s menu in an aesthetic way. Three parallel and horizontal lines are nearly universally recognized as the menu button. Of course, your business is free to use any type of decoration or flair that you want, just make sure people know where to find your drop-down menu. Just as importantly, make the menu as simple as possible.

  3. Two-Click Navigation
    Speaking of menus and navigation, here’s an excellent rule of thumb: users should be able to get to the page they are looking for in two clicks. If someone has to click more than two or three times to find the product or info they need, they’re going to end up clicking away.

  4. Accurate Touch Screen Inputs
    There’s nothing more frustrating than touching a link on your smartphone and having it not respond. If you have a link or a button on your web page, make sure it is responsive. This is true across all web design, but it is especially important for mobile users.

  5. Load Time
    Another thing that is universally important amongst all websites is that your landing page doesn’t take a long time to load. If it does, people will become impatient and ‘bounce’ elsewhere. If your site is bogged down with slow loading times, trim away excess graphics, animations, complicated menus, and other forms of digital distraction.

  6. Simplicity
    Simplicity is important when presenting anything. You want people to be able to use your site without any problems. Intuitive, simple navigation and clean design should be a top priority for mobile websites.

When hiring a website design company, ask to see some of the sites in their portfolio. This will give you a feel for what to expect when your site is completed. If they can check all of the boxes listed above, you are in good hands.