It’s not hard to figure out why e-mail marketing (which can take the form of newsletter or a flyer) is interpreted as spam by a lot of people. It takes up valuable space in your inbox, making it difficult and frustrating to manage your email, and it doesn’t help that some companies make it impossible to figure out how to unsubscribe from their newsletter. On the other hand, lead nurturing with e-mail marketing can be incredibly effective if done correctly.

What is Lead Nurturing?

This strategy, also known as drip marketing or marketing automation, is a term used to describe how we share relevant content with potential or new customers, even if they aren’t interested in purchasing a product or service right away. The point is to let them know that you are present, available, and ready to serve. Positioning your company as the solution to your customer’s needs ensures customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Unlike an e-mail blast, the content isn’t completely irrelevant to what your customer wants, but takes their purchase history and interactions with your business into account to compile and create information they might be interested in. Even though these messages are automated, it uses data acquired from the customer (through store surveys, website interaction, purchase history etc.) to figure out what they want and even predict what they might be interested in buying in the future.

But the downside of this marketing strategy is that not a lot of companies know how to do it correctly. While social media channels like Twitter and Instagram make it so easy for us to establish connections at a click of a button, e-mail might seem like an old-fashion, even sluggish way to connect with others, but it’s still the most personal medium available. Unlike a social media platform like Twitter which generates tweets–bite-sized pieces of information–at a high velocity, those under 140 character posts don’t create a lasting impression the way a well crafted e-mail can.

How to Utilize Lead Nurturing With E-mail Marketing for Long-Term Engagement

So how do you make your e-mail message more engaging to potential customers and seem helpful rather than distracting? Here are some ways to help you implement a better e-mail marketing strategy:

Be Upfront

If potential customers are going to receive weekly or monthly updates from your company, let them know before they sign up for your newsletter (by the way, warnings in teeny, tiny type doesn’t count) otherwise you might find your message left unread, deleted, or worse allocated to the junk folder on a permanent basis. Even if your message targets your audience specifically, it won’t matter if you are seen as an aggressor. Customers will get turned off.

Make Sure Your Customers or Audience Can Actually View the E-Mail Message

More often than you think, customers literally can’t see your e-mail message (either they don’t have the right software installed to view your content or there’s an error on your part.)  Make sure you do regular testing, maintenance checks and software updates as technology continues to change and progress. Having a phone number or e-mail address at the top of your email can help direct any complaints and save you from sending out “blank” or invisible messages without being aware of what’s happening.

Personalize Your Message

It never hurts to call your customer by their name (you want them to think of you as friend rather than an automated message) and offer helpful advice by tracking customer activity. Incorporating info you know about your customer makes it look like you’re attentive to their needs and took the time to know them. Just don’t overdo it.

Get Socially Active

Even though we spend more time online now than ever, connections are still strengthened in person. Nothing can replace face-to-face interaction (no, not even the wonders of Face Time!). So make sure your customers get involved in promotional store events or launch parties. Making your company more present in a customer’s social calendar means you’ve penetrated the most important aspect of a customer’s life: their personal schedule. This approach allows customers to think of you as more of a friend than a business trying to push a particular product. Send invitations to upcoming events and parties and remember to thank them for coming.

(Note: It also helps that you are making customers feel like they have VIP access by receiving insider deals and information.)

Limit Advertisements

It’s fine to promote a new product or offer a free trial every now and then, but make sure your company is also curating and creating informative content your customers will want to read. You want to offer great deals, but also offer opportunities where customers don’t have to invest any money since you are still working on building trust and not making them suspicious about your actual intentions. Positioning yourself as an expert in your field will help gain customer interest and make them reliant on you for information.

But regardless, every message should contain a Call to Action, a line which motivates them to either further engage with your site or get customers to think about a potential purchase.

Work With Different Mediums

Your e-mail messages should target your audience specifically, but that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate a variety of mediums into your messages. Instead of just directing the reader to an article or blog post, try to make your content more visually engaging (everyone loves a good infographic) and link to relevant and interesting video clips or webinars so you are also seen as an educator.

When done correctly, lead nurturing with e-mail marketing can be extremely successful. By personalizing your messages, they won’t be interpreted as spam, and it’s definitely a more sophisticated marketing strategy than sending out an e-mail blast every now and then which doesn’t utilize what you know about your audience to send them targeted content. Implementing this tactic will help your company target fresh leads and create a strong audience base for the long-term.

By establishing a sense of trust early on, lead nurturing can be very effective in converting leads into sales. You want your company to establish loyalty from the beginning so you’ll have relationships with your audience long-term. To get a better idea of how lead nurturing works and how to implement this marketing method with your own company, contact Mill St. SEO, for a free consultation.

Chances are if you are reading this, you are the proud owner of one of the many smartphones that are available in today’s marketplace. Be it an iPhone, Samsung, or Blackberry, your smartphone is probably utilized for more purposes than just a phone. Smartphones these days have cameras, apps, and web browser capabilities that are all designed to help you live and function in the demanding, busy, and on-the-go world we live and work in today. With these devices being so multifunctional, the importance of having your website “mobile-friendly” for mobile marketing has never been more vital to your business’ survival in the competitive online marketplace. Mobile marketing presents a growing opportunity for businesses to develop and thrive. Even the smallest of players can have a huge impact in the mobile marketplace if they “go mobile” with their company’s website. Think about the number of smartphones currently being sold in stores. In 2011, smartphones actually outsold the number of PCs for the very first time! This opens up a huge potential for businesses to increase their customer reach and sales by interacting with them via mobile platforms. So even if you have a fully-optimized desktop company website, the growing smartphone craze means that this is no longer sufficient if you aim to connect with your existing and potential customers.

If you’re still unconvinced of the many advantages of going mobile for your business, read on for some reasons why mobile marketing, or “going mobile”, is important to your business.

Reason #1 To Go Mobile: Your Customers Already Have!

It has been said that by next year (2013), more people will be using their mobile phones to access the internet than their PCs. By 2015, there will be one mobile device for every person on the planet. With the growing popularity of mobile searches (which have quadrupled since 2010), your customers have already gone mobile. This means that if your company has not already done so, you are missing out on a huge business opportunity. Companies worldwide are already taking advantage of the mobile platform to engage and interact with their customers. Therefore, if you want to remain a competitive player in the online marketplace, your company should have a fully functional mobile site.

Reason #2 To Go Mobile: The Convenience Factor

Smartphones and tablets are all the rage nowadays. While of course desktop and laptop computers are still being sold in stores and utilized daily by persons worldwide, mobile access to your company’s website makes it easy and convenient for those who are “on-the-go”. For instance, smartphones are highly utilized as a shopping and/or purchasing tool, with 79% of smartphones owners using their device to get more information about a product or service they’re interested in while on-the-go (and not at their computers). Smartphones are quickly becoming a very convenient means of not only accessing information, but also purchasing necessary products and/or services. Therefore, if your company’s website is optimized for mobile usage, it will not only make it easier for users to navigate your site and find what they’re looking for, but it will also make them more likely to purchase products and/or services from your company. Keep in mind that successful mobile websites are designed for the small screen. For this reason, you’ll want to ensure that your customers’ mobile experience is a positive one, as it has been found that a bad mobile experience can actually drive your customers to your competition.

Reason #3 To Go Mobile: It Expands Your Customer Base Through Increasing Your Visibility

By utilizing the mobile platform and optimizing your company’s website for mobile usage, you are expanding your customer base through increasing your online visibility. This is the essence of mobile marketing, and means that the more people who are able to find you, the better your chances are of receiving and retaining customers. The notion of location-based searches on mobile devices displaying relevant company information (i.e. company information, reviews, maps, etc.) will also help to attract more local consumers.

Reason #4 To Go Mobile: It Drives Leads, Purchases, and Overall Business to Your Company

Did you know that more than 50% of mobile searches actually lead to purchases? And this number is only going to grow in the coming years as consumers continue to use and trust mobile sites. With 70% of mobile users making use of their phones to access product and service prices along with other related information, this is a bandwagon that you’re going to want to jump on if you want to drive leads, purchases, and overall business to your company in order to retain that competitive edge in mobile commerce.

For the aforementioned reasons (and many more!), your business should consider mobile marketing in order to take full advantage of the seemingly endless opportunities mobile has to offer. In order to succeed in business today, you have to evolve with the times. And right now, that means not only having a fully functional desktop company website, but also having a mobile site that is both easily accessible and easy to navigate. Doing so will allow your company to better reach its existing customers as well as potential customers, instantaneously.

For more information on how you make your company’s website mobile-friendly, contact Mill St. SEO and ask about our SEO and mobile marketing services.

Did you know that Pinterest has been named the fastest site to ever reach 10 million unique visitors on a monthly basis? With such rapidly growing popularity in a relatively short period of time, Pinterest is trending worldwide for individual users and businesses alike. However, there still exist many companies who are not making use of this social media site for business purposes, giving those businesses who do use Pinterest a competitive advantage in the world of online marketing. Using Pinterest for your business can help you to engage users and followers, as well as increase your website’s overall visibility through the strategic targeting of your desired audience or demographic.

But what exactly is Pinterest? And how can joining Pinterest be beneficial for your online business? Read on to learn more about the latest social networking site that is attracting millions of visitors each day, and how you can make Pinterest work for your business.

How Pinterest Works

As previously mentioned, Pinterest is a rapidly growing social media website that is gaining popularity worldwide, particularly amongst the female demographic. This is not to say that males don’t use Pinterest, or that businesses who do not market products to females will not succeed by using Pinterest, but it just so happens that many of the popular ‘pins’ on the site are related to things like home décor, crafts, and recipes. However, there is a vast marketing potential for online businesses – even if they don’t sell handmade crafts. Think of Pinterest like a digital corkboard. Individual users and businesses can ‘pin’ images (either of their own or ones they find) to virtual ‘boards’ for others to see. When other users or businesses come across these images, they can ‘re-pin’ them to their own boards, similar to the ‘liking’ and ‘sharing’ features on Facebook. This aggregates several images, tips, or ideas into one easy-to-access, organized board which is what makes Pinterest so appealing to its users in the first place. Pinterest is fool-proof, simple, and straightforward. You see an image or idea you like, you pin it to your own organized board, and voila! All of your favourite things are now in one easily accessed virtual bulletin board of your very own. But how does this relate to business, you ask? Pinterest is actually a major driver of e-commerce traffic. In fact, approximately 33% of North American customers purchased a product or service after they had seen it on Pinterest or another similar social media website. Still not convinced? Keep reading to discover more ways that you can use Pinterest to boost your online business.

Ways You Can Use Pinterest to Increase Your Online Business

Pinterest for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Yes, it’s true. Pinterest can be used for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes too. Although the site is primarily an image-based social networking platform, you can strategically link back to your company’s website by inserting your keywords into the images that you are pinning. Furthermore, by using relevant keywords in the titles of your Pinterest boards, you are providing the search engines with even more information about the content of your company’s website. Therefore, by integrating SEO techniques into your company’s Pinterest board (through the utilization of keywords in the images you post and the boards you create), you are further optimizing your company’s website for search engines, which should ultimately drive more relevant traffic to your website.

Pinterest for Link-Building

Closely related to the above point on Pinterest for SEO, Pinterest is also a great way to create quality link-backs to your company’s website. Since link-building is just one component of off-page optimization, it can be viewed as a fundamental method of giving your company’s website credibility and authority. How? Try looking at it like this: search engines like Google have already granted Pinterest a strong domain authority, or in other words have ranked Pinterest highly and as a credible source. So if you have images pinned on Pinterest with your website’s link embedded within them, search engines will likely rank your site as a relevant and credible source as well. The greater the number of quality inbound links you have coming from external websites, like Pinterest, the more likely the search engines are to view your website as credible and relevant too. This ultimately means more relevant traffic being driven to your company’s website. And that can only be good for business, right? So don’t forget to add the ‘Pin It’ button to your company’s website or business blog. This also makes the sharing of your site’s content easier and helps your company to become more visible by establishing this type of online presence.

Pinterest for Brand Building

Pinterest offers a visual platform for you to express, define, and advertise your brand. They say “a picture is worth a thousand words”, and this statement could not be any more accurate when it comes to Pinterest for business. When you think about brand building, think about the many brands you are aware of and can easily identify by just looking at the company’s logo for instance. The visual representation of messages has proven itself worthy time and time again. After all, when we see those famous “golden arches”, we don’t have to think twice before cognitively associating them with McDonald’s. Images have the power to compel consumers to share and to purchase. So take advantage of this visual social media platform, and start sharing and pinning not only your company’s images, but also other relevant images. Potential consumers will quite easily be able to remember and identify your brand after they’ve seen a visual representation that clearly defines it.

Overall, we can see the value of visually representing your company using one of the latest social media sites, Pinterest. By learning about Pinterest and how it works, you will be better equipped to utilize this platform to maximize your company’s online success. Always remember that because Pinterest is a form of social media, you should not solely focus on pinning and sharing your own images. Try to interact within the online community by conversing with other users and sharing the images of others. This not only promotes the notion of reciprocal business, but also shows that you are not a “pushy” salesperson who only wants to talk about their own products and services. Pinterest provides a plethora of opportunities for your business, but only if utilized correctly. For more information on how you can take advantage of the latest social media platform that is taking the online marketing world by storm, contact our Toronto full service digital marketing agency, Mill St. SEO. We would be happy to provide you with a free consultation and discuss your Pinterest business potentials!

I’ll be honest. When I was first introduced to Google+ I thought to myself “Here’s Google trying to imitate and compete with Facebook to win over users”. Everything from the ‘cover photo’ and the similar ‘timeline’ layout on Google+ reminded me of Facebook. While at first I was a little reluctant to sign up for yet another social media account, I now see the value in having a Google+ account. That’s not to say that your company can’t or shouldn’t have more than one social media or social networking profile. In fact, having a Facebook page as well as a Google+ page for your business is known to be particularly beneficial to your company’s overall success online. There are over 90 million users on Google+ today, with the number of new users steadily growing each day as people are beginning to understand the many benefits it has to offer.

Are you still skeptical? Or does the idea of adding yet another social media website to your collection of accounts to manage and update regularly deter you from joining Google+? Read on to learn more about the many unique internet marketing advantages to having your business on Google+.

How Google+ Differs from Facebook

As previously mentioned, there are some striking similarities between Facebook and Google+. So how does Google+ differ from Facebook, you ask? Let’s start with those fun and easily created status updates. With Facebook, you can update your status and talk about what you’re doing or where you are as many times as you want each day. However, once you’ve posted your status update on Facebook, or even commented on a wall post of another user’s page, it gets lost in the virtual world and is intermixed with everyone else’s status updates and comments, with no tangible or straightforward way to look back and retrieve that information for future use or reference. But because of Google’s algorithms, what you post on your business’ Google+ page has the potential to evolve into highly ranked search engine results. What does this mean for your business? By providing Google with some of the keywords you’re trying to target and through the regular production of relevant and interesting content, Google as a search engine will be more likely to frequently index and rank your page highly due to the visibility you’re establishing within the search engines.

Again, I’m not saying to only go with Google+ and ditch Facebook, because after all, not every Google+ user has Facebook, and not every Facebook user has Google+. However, by having both, you’re establishing your company’s online presence and maximizing your audience reach!

Why Your Business Needs a Google+ Page

We witness it every day: Google is taking the world by storm and quite easily becoming (if it’s not already) the world’s primary source for information retrieval, infiltrating various other realms of online existence (i.e. Google+, Google Images, Google Maps, Google Places, etc.). This is not surprising, since Google Search is in fact the most commonly used search engine on the World Wide Web. With Google+ being one of Google’s most recent developments that attempts to occupy the social networking scene, the advantages for businesses to have a Google+ page are viewed as more of a fundamental component contributing to a business’ online success. Unlike Facebook, Google+ takes things to the “next level” by integrating both the search and the social aspects of internet territory into one easy-to-use online platform. Beyond some of the obvious benefits, such as increased social integration and user interaction, Google+ goes the extra mile and actually helps to enhance your company’s online presence by boosting your overall rankings. How do we know this? Here are a few reasons that support the claims that Google+ can really help to improve your company overall.

Google+ Helps to Secure Your Brand

For just about any company, large or small, brand building is essential. Having a Google+ account for your business is just one more way you can help to secure your brand online. What does this mean exactly? In the online world, there is always the chance that a competitor (or just another random company or individual) will take your company’s name and do with it what they like. Consistency and uniformity across all platforms (be it online or offline) is important, so it always looks better if you have social media pages that match and correspond with one another. This means that if you’ve already set up a Facebook page for your business using your company’s name and logo, you should try to use the same name and logo when setting up your Google+ page. Even if you feel like you don’t have enough time to manage both a Facebook page and a Google+ page for example, it is still worth having both in order to secure your brand by occupying that spot.

Google+ Integrates Well with Search Engines

Since Google+ integrates well with the major search engines (Google of course being just one of them), having a Google+ account for your business is a great Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tool. If you already have a Google+ account, you’ll know that because of the many different algorithms Google uses, your Search Engine Page Results (SERPs) are usually quite specific and targeted to a) what you were searching for, and b) geographically close in proximity to the location where you conducted the search from. Additionally, if you already have a Google+ account you’ll also know that upon searching for something, you will be able to see other relevant results that persons in your “Circles” have created or “+1’d” (also known as ‘Search Plus Your World’, or SPYW). In a nutshell, this really boils down to the fact that Google+ very easily integrates itself into several aspects of your online presence, which is particularly advantageous to a company that aims to become more visible in the online marketplace.

Google+ Builds Authority

By having a Google+ account for your company, you will not only be found more easily by users, but you will also be able to continuously build your online authority and position your company as an expert in your field or industry. Going back to Google’s many complex algorithms, having a Google+ account helps to identify connections between different users’ accounts and websites, which ultimately leads to more link-backs from others to your company’s page or website (which is what helps to give it authority in the first place!). How, you ask? Search engines use the information you provide them with to help index your site and essentially “figure out” what you’re all about. So the more information you’re providing them with (i.e. company website, business blog, Facebook page, Google+ account, etc.), the more relevant you then become to these search engines. And of course the more relevant you are, the more easily you are found, which is the ultimate goal after all, right? Therefore, having a Google+ profile helps search engines to identify and understand your purpose and presence on the internet overall.

Google+ Helps with Targeting and User Engagement

Like most social media platforms, Google + helps you to connect with your users or target audience. You are able to converse and interact with your followers instantly, and even organize them into “Circles” (Google +’s term for ‘groups’) so that you can better target your audience by managing who gets to see what.

Overall, it should be clear to you by now that a Google + profile for your business is a definite asset in the competitive online marketplace that exists today. Since Google + is a relatively “new” concept, meaning not all business owners are making use of it, it gives you a great opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and gain that competitive edge before the rush ensues! Like most Google innovations, it appears as though Google + is here to stay. While it might seem like a waste of time for you right now, or be viewed as just another thing to have to upkeep and manage, the potential advantages of increasing your online presence and helping to establish and grow your business overall appear to outweigh the nuisance of having another social networking page. Google + is rapidly evolving into a fundamental component for any successful marketing campaign. So what are you waiting for? Get your business on Google + today!

If you would like more information on how having a Google + account can help your business overall, feel free to contact us at Mill St. SEO for a free consultation! We are a full service digital marketing agency in Toronto with the knowledge and experience to help you plan, grow, and succeed!

What is Brand Building?

Since we’ve established that brands and their logos have the ability to not only convey information, but also invoke any strong feelings (positive or negative) that we have toward the companies and products they represent, we should probably start by defining “brand awareness” in order to help us better understand the greater concept of “brand building”. Brand awareness is basically the number of consumers who know of or recognize the brand. For example, when you see the golden arches, you immediately think of McDonald’s (you are aware of the brand). Whether you like McDonald’s or not is irrelevant, because you can easily recognize and identify the brand that this logo represents. Let’s say you are an Apple fan, and an advertisement for the new iPhone or iPod is presented to you. Chances are that you will 1) immediately recognize that this is a product of Apple without the advertisement directly stating this, because you recognize the logo (an image of a glass-like, bitten apple), and 2) instantly trust and want to acquire this product because of the positive feelings toward this brand you’ve developed from previous experience. Multi-million dollar companies invest large amounts of money each year in advertising campaigns, both online and offline, to maintain their brand awareness and sustain brand loyalty within their customers. As a smaller company, creating brand awareness or brand loyalty may seem like a far-off concept. However, even though brand recognition does take a lot of time and effort, it is possible to achieve for even the smallest companies out there. While we are used to seeing brand logos on signs or in print advertisements, the internet opens up a whole new dimension and possibility for brand building for even the smallest companies. Any business, small or large, has access to the online marketing world to promote their company’s brand.

Why Brand Building is Essential to Your Company

As previously mentioned, branding has the potential to build incredible value for companies both small and large. That being said, with the many corporations and businesses that exist nowadays, branding has become an integral part of a company’s overall success in the highly competitive marketplace. To brand your company is to differentiate it (or make your company stand out) from the rest. Since we already know that brand awareness can lead to brand loyalty, your goal as a business should be to create a group of followers or “fans” who not only recognize your brand, but also trust it and are loyal to it. Once you have that, you have a “voice”, or an influential authority in your industry and in the overall marketplace. With virtually limitless access to people around the world, internet marketing is one of the most powerful ways to attract and engage potential users who can help to build your brand.

How to Brand Your Company

As you can see, if you want to increase your company’s online presence and become a recognized leader in your industry, brand building is a fundamental stepping stone in the journey to online success.

So how do you acquire the aforementioned group of loyal supporters using primarily an online interface? And how can you begin the process of brand building in your company? Here are a few suggestions to help your company build a successful brand.

The Combination of Building Your Brand Awareness and Implementing SEO Techniques:

Internet marketing offers endless opportunities to promote your brand and increase your company’s overall traffic through the strategic implementation of marketing tactics and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. Therefore, if you’re mostly using the internet marketing medium to build your company’s brand, you should probably focus your efforts on the simultaneous usage of the following two strategies: 1) building brand awareness and 2) the proper implementation of SEO techniques. What this means is, if you’re a small business that is not very well known yet, you shouldn’t optimize your keywords to rank for only your brand. For instance, targeting the name of your company or brand that is not yet recognized on a large-scale level will not yield great search engine results, since users are probably not familiar with your brand in the first place. Therefore, in the beginning you want to optimize your keywords in such a way that you describe your products and/or services, leaving the implementation of “brand” keywords for later when your company is better known. Since it will take some time for your company’s brand to become recognized and trusted, you should consider using generic keywords or key phrases that describe your business and the industry it falls under as one of your primary SEO strategies. Eventually as your brand awareness increases, you can add your “brand” keywords into the mix as well.

Make Use of Different Social Media Platforms:

Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great ways to increase your brand awareness. Utilize these platforms by participating in their online communities regularly. You can do this by commenting on others’ posts, or by contributing your own posts to these social networking sites. Over time, you will find that this participation leads to not only greater mentions of your brand in the realm of social media, but also an overall increase in the exposure of your brand (a.k.a. brand awareness). Make sure you’re participating regularly and using your company’s logo throughout your different social media profiles.

The Placement of Your Logo:

If your company is looking for SEO services in Toronto or you would like to learn more about how Off-Page Optimization can help increase your sales, read on and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

What is Off-Page Optimization?

Off-Page Optimization refers to the strategies and techniques that are used to help the search engine rankings of a website. Whereas On-Page Optimization has more to do with the visible aspects of your website, such as the title, content, and images on the site, Off-Page Optimization is more “behind the scenes”. What this means is that certain optimized content outside of your website that may or may not be readily visible can help to increase your overall SEO and search engine ranking. Off-Page Optimization is really all about improving your website’s credibility, and in this case is done mainly through the implementation of external links, or “back links”. For example, receiving external and credible back links from other relevant websites in your industry is a great example of how to use Off-Page Optimization to potentially increase your company’s rankings. Therefore the more quality links you have pointing to your website, the higher your website will likely be ranked by the search engines. Ultimately, you want to demonstrate to the search engines that your website is not only relevant to what users are searching for (and the correct use of keywords here is imperative!), but also be able to display that you are an authoritative and credible figure for the industry in which your business resides. You want to show the search engines that your website is the one users should be visiting, and you can do this by positioning yourself as an expert in the industry through the proper use of quality content, keywords, and other Off-Page Optimization techniques, such as increasing the number of quality back links to your site.

If you’ve already read our article about On-Page Optimization, then you are well aware of the many techniques you can employ to help boost your website’s search engine rankings. But On-Page Optimization is only half the battle. While of course On-Page Optimization is an important component of SEO, effectively utilizing and implementing Off-Page Optimization strategies will make your company’s website that much more relevant to the search engines, and will thereby increase the overall volume of appropriate traffic that is driven to your site. So in order to improve your site’s traffic, visibility, and search engine ranking, it is recommended to implement Off-Page Optimization strategies in addition to your On-Page strategies to maximize effectiveness. We will now take a look at some examples of Off-Page Optimization techniques that will help the overall performance of your company’s website.

Examples of Off-Page Optimization Techniques:

There are several ways to optimize your company’s website using Off-Page Optimization strategies. They are as follows:

1) Link Building

As previously mentioned, Off-Page Optimization is basically the process of receiving quality links from other relevant websites back to your company’s site. For example, if a search engine highly ranks relative content on another website, getting that other website to link back to your website will help to make your website more relevant by giving it more power and authority, consequently causing your site’s search engine ranking to improve. The more inbound links from external sites that are considered to be powerful, credible, and influential sources, the more likely the search engines are to see your site as relevant and credible too. One of the best ways to build links is to ensure your website is generating fresh, unique content on a regular basis. Think about it this way: if you are constantly producing interesting  content on your website that is related to the industry and/or your target audience, you are more likely to attract users to your site who wish to read and (more importantly) share this content with others, giving your website quality links.

2) Content Marketing

Closely related to receiving quality back links is the notion of content or article marketing. Your goal should be to get good links from external sources, and one sure-fire way to do this is by producing interesting yet informative content on other websites and on a regular basis. Unique content is key though, as posting duplicate content across many websites will only hurt your search engine rankings rather than help them. A great way to ensure you are producing content regularly is to start and maintain a business blog or contribute articles in a public format or external website. Since blogs are easy to read, and usually both interesting and informative, it keeps people coming back to your content and makes them more likely to share it with their contacts over the internet.

3) Social Media Optimization (SMO)

Similar to content marketing, social media is a contemporary means to receiving quality links back to your website. By engaging others on popular social media platforms with regular and interesting content (i.e. offsite blog posts, articles, and photos), you can increase the volume of traffic directed to your website since you are expanding your audience reach. For example, you could join popular social bookmarking sites like Digg or StumbleUpon to share your content, generate publicity, and expand your reach to your target audience.

These are just 3 examples of popular Off-Page Optimization techniques that may help boost your audience reach and ultimately your search engine ranking. Keep in mind, however, that Off-Page Optimization is not a onetime deal. It is something that requires constant monitoring and upkeep if you want to see results and maintain those gains. The three aforementioned techniques all lead to promoting audience reach and engagement, but what it really comes down to is your content strategy. This means that you must have relevant content in order to engage users , and that content has to be created strategically so that people will want to read it, come back to it, and share it with others.

Why Your Company Should Employ Off-Page Optimization Strategies:

As you can see, implementing Off-Page Optimization strategies can positively impact your online business by driving relevant and appropriate traffic to your website. In doing so, this benefits your company in several ways:

• Increases your following on social media platforms by engaging users
• Increases your brand awareness and positions your company as an expert in the industry
• Increases your sales and revenue through targeted audience  reach

If you think that your company could benefit from the proper implementation of Off-Page Optimization strategies among other techniques that will boost your SEO and increase your search engine rankings, contact Mill St. SEO today for a free consultation! We can help you create content that is relevant to what your target audience is searching for, as well as help enhance your company’s overall search engine rankings utilizing social media platforms and link building strategies. Off-Page Optimization is just one of the many key components to a successful online marketing campaign, and Mill St. SEO can help your business gain the competitive edge it needs in the web marketing world!

Not sure what we mean by SEO? Check out this great article that explains search engine optimization for businesses. If you already have a grasp on the basic concepts surrounding SEO, and are wondering how having localized SEO can benefit your business, read on.

What Is Local Search?

Out of all the popular search engines, like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, 75% of online searches are searches for products and/or services locally. What does this mean? Basically it means that when a user is entering search terms into a major search engine, he/she is either looking for the results to be locally relevant (i.e. results from his/her city and not a city on another continent!), or is entering words to force the search results to be locally relevant (i.e. entering “Toronto SEO Company” vs. “SEO company”). Although it should be noted that nowadays, major search engines have algorithms built into them whereby users do not always have to enter a location or city name to receive relevant search results. Most of the time when a user is looking for let’s say a restaurant in their city, he/she can type the restaurant’s name or the type of food the restaurant serves without necessarily having to type the name of the city in which the restaurant is located. Geo-targeting (the process of identifying one’s physical location without that individual actually specifying it) and algorithms alike are ever-present on the web today, delivering more relevant and targeted results to the individual conducting the search.

Nevertheless, having good SEO on your company’s website is great, but it’s not enough. You have to ensure you’re optimizing your website for locally relevant searches, or you may not be reaching your target market at all. For instance, if you’re a company offering a product or service in a major city, you not only want users to be able to find your company on the Internet, but you also want them to select your company (and not your major competitors’) to make a purchase from regarding your products or services. This is what good SEO will usually get you. However, good local SEO will take it to the next level by ensuring these customers are not only relevant to what it is that your company is offering, but also relevant in the way that they are coming from your city or its surrounding areas. Unless you have an amazing website that offers product shipment overseas, chances are you want your customers to be somewhat local and within your company’s region. So how do you ensure that you, as a business owner, are receiving locally relevant searches and customers? Keep reading about how local SEO can give you that competitive edge you’re looking for when it comes to online marketing!

The Importance of Local Search Engine Optimization

Let’s be honest. Most businesses in metropolitan areas, whether they are large or small, have a company website that promotes whatever it is they’re trying to sell. In large cities, this becomes even more important due to the high competition between your company and other similar companies in your city. So you already have that against you – high competition to be seen and heard. But that’s not all you have to worry about. These companies will likely also have not only good SEO strategies in place, but also local SEO techniques as well. As we now know, 70% of all online searches are related to location. Therefore if the majority of searches are location-related, not optimizing for local web traffic will have you missing out on a large percentage of potential customers and thus overall potential revenue for your company. Chances are these “potential customers” will go to your direct competitors, because they were more easily found on the web.

 So if your competitors are implementing local SEO, you should ask yourself why you are not.

Another advantage to having a good local SEO strategy in place are the walk-ins, or “foot traffic”, you will receive from users who are searching on the go. Mobile phones and tablets are plentiful nowadays, and many individuals are conducting searches from these devices while they’re out and about. So if you want your business to be one of the top ones that is displayed, optimizing your site’s local SEO will also help you to generate more qualified and relevant leads. Now let’s take a look at how local SEO can be implemented to help your business stay competitive.

How Do I Implement Local SEO for my Business?

There are several ways that you can optimize your business’ website for local SEO, but some of the more common ways are as follows:

1) Create Relevant Content

Whether it’s just content on your company’s homepage or your business blog, make sure that you are creating fresh, unique content regularly, and that this content reflects the keywords you are trying to target. For example, if you want your website to appear in the SERPs near the top for a specific town or city, use the name of this location in your content! That way you are “telling” the search engine that your site is relevant to what is being searched. So if you’re a Toronto SEO company, make sure you are using the city name “Toronto” throughout your website’s content. This gives the search engines information about what you are trying to target, and will result in more relevant traffic coming to your site. And don’t limit your location or regional keywords to just your site’s content. Use these keywords in your page titles, URL, meta descriptions, and H1 and H2 tags.

2) Create a Google + Account for your Business

A relatively new trend in the online world is Google+. While it is similar to Facebook and other social media websites, it can be a great tool for business if utilized properly. Google Places, a component of Google+, is another great way to optimize for local SEO. To learn more about creating a Google Places account for your business, and how to optimize it, check out this blog.

3) Register Your Business in Local Directories

It’s simple and oftentimes even free! Register your business in local online directories (in addition to the aforementioned Google Places) such as Yelp and Yellow pages. This is an easy way to establish link connectivity and a greater online presence.

4) Link Connectivity and Including Surrounding Areas

Speaking of link connectivity, you want to try to get as many quality backlinks to your website as possible. This means that if you want your company’s website to rank for ‘Toronto SEO Company’, and be relevant to the city of Toronto, you should have other websites relevant to Toronto linking back to you. Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are great ways to do this. In addition, you don’t want to limit yourself to just one large city. Often there are towns and villages within large cities that are differently named, so ensure that you are also optimizing for these places, as well as some surrounding towns (within reason!)

Hopefully by now you have realized that local SEO is not just advantageous for your business in the competitive marketplace that is the online world, but that it is also becoming a necessity if you want to retain your company’s competitive edge in the industry. Remember, your competitors are probably doing it, so you should be too! Your goal should not just be to have good SEO techniques implemented, but furthermore to ensure that you are optimizing locally in order to gain the most relevant and qualified traffic to your website. To be seen is one thing, but to be seen by those who are looking for you is another thing. Aim for the latter! After all, irrelevant traffic is not going to benefit anyone. On the other hand, users who are seeking out specific products and/or services within your region (and remember: 75% of all searches are location-based!) will be better able to find your company’s website based on local relevancy, making your company one of the top competitors in the online marketplace for your industry.

SEO can be a daunting task, especially if you’re inexperienced and don’t know what you’re doing. If you would like some assistance bringing local traffic your way by locally optimizing your company’s website, please do not hesitate to give Mill St. SEO a call today for a free consultation!

Regardless of the size of your business, if you have a company website, you want to ensure that your site is both visually appealing and functional for its target market. Nowadays, more and more people are turning to the Internet to purchase products and services, as it has become an easy and convenient way to “shop” and gather information from multiple resources. Instead of visiting stores, people are browsing the web in search of a product or service that fits their budget and promises to solve whatever their current dilemma is. The Internet also allows for consumers to quickly and easily draw direct comparisons between your company and your competitors. So how do you ensure your business website is working for you, and not against you? We have faced this question many times from prospective clients, who have come to us saying things like: “I’ve spent all this money on making my website the most beautiful, attractive website there is out there, yet I don’t seem to be receiving any traffic”. Or even worse: “People are visiting my company’s website, but no one is buying anything”. As you can see, having an attractive website is only half the battle. You could have the most expensive, visually appealing website on the Internet, but what does it matter if you’re not generating any leads or sales from it? To learn more about website design best practices, and the difference between a good looking website, and a website that actually converts and works for your business, check out the following five steps.

Step 1: The Design of Your Site

Yes, of course your website has to be easy on the eyes. Maintaining both an attractive and professional looking website is imperative if you want your company’s site to succeed in converting visitors into customers. Remember, when a first time user visits your site, you want them to be impressed – and you only get one shot at making a good first impression. A well-designed website will make use of the same group of colours that are consistent with your brand, which will help prospective clients to remember your business. Having inconsistent colours, fonts, and too many images is overwhelming for users, so stay away from this at all costs! You want to reflect a professional yet visually appealing corporate image for your company. That’s the first step, but without the following four steps, all you’re going to end up with is a really nice looking website that doesn’t really work for you.

Step 2: Usability and Functionality

Remember when I said that having an attractive website is only half the battle? This is where step two comes in. Having a website that is both usable and functional is absolutely essential for online marketing success! Your website must be both easy to find (i.e. have good searchability, which we will discuss further in Step 5) and easy to navigate. Think about all those times you have visited an overly complex website, with all the bells and whistles, moving images and a wide array of colours. What did you end up doing upon visiting that website? Chances are that you most likely left the site, never to return. Too much visual stimuli overwhelms people, including your potential customers, and only deters them from visiting your site. So skip the unnecessary and flashy graphics and keep it simple. A clean, professional-looking site will engage your visitors and make them more likely to return. Another key feature that falls under usability and functionality of your website is making sure that your site is viewable on many different platforms. Nowadays, everyone seems to have a smart phone, tablet, or laptop with a different web browser on it. You want to ensure that your website is not only accessible on any given device, but also that it maintains consistency and looks relatively the same across these platforms and browsers.

Step 3: Your Site’s Story

The content on your website should be compelling and engaging in order to turn first time visitors into lifetime customers. To do this, you need to make sure you are writing content that is easy to understand. Avoid using phrases and terms that sound like a sales pitch. Most people will discount these attempts as marketing gimmicks or ploys, and thus will be put off by your website. Instead, try engaging with your target audience by relating to their dilemmas and problems and letting them know that your company has the solution that is right for them. Talk about what your company does and why your company is a better choice than some of your other competitors (without naming or singling anyone out, of course). Be honest and truthful in your written content. People respect this more than being lied to or being enticed with false promises.

Step 4: Be Direct and Let People Know What You Want

This is one of the most overlooked and common pitfalls in online marketing strategies. Remember, people aren’t mind readers. Just because something seems obvious to you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is obvious to the world. Perhaps you helped design your company’s website, or had a hand in mapping out what goes where on the site. If so, you have prior knowledge of what it is that you’re trying to achieve by putting this website up. But that doesn’t mean that your target audience automatically “knows” what it is that you want them to do upon visiting your site. So make it crystal clear for them! You can do this by including Calls to Action (CTA) somewhere on your website. CTA’s include saying things like: “Contact us today for a free consultation” or “Click here to find out how you can grow your business today”. If you’re clear in defining what you want your visitors to do when they arrive at your website, you will likely notice an increased conversation rate (meaning visitors are turning into customers), which is a huge part of making your website work for you!

Step 5: Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of naturally (also known as ‘organically’) boosting your website’s traffic by improving its searchability and visibility in popular search engines. Just about every successful website has good SEO practices in place. Without the implementation of proper SEO techniques and strategies, your website will be buried under the many other relevant websites that pop up in the Search Engine Page Results (SERPs) when a user types in a search query. If you want your company’s website to appear on page one, or close to the top of the SERPs, you should invest the time into learning good SEO techniques, or hire a firm who is able to implement these strategies for you. SEO includes both off-page and on-page optimization techniques, which you should definitely make use of if you want your company’s website to rank highly on the search engines. Remember, the better your website ranks, the more visible your site is, and thus the more likely you are to experience an increase in relevant traffic to your website as well as higher conversion rates.

So if you’re beginning to notice that you have a gorgeous, visually appealing website for your company, but it isn’t converting (or in other words: it isn’t working for you), then perhaps you need to try the five aforementioned suggestions to improve your website’s visibility, usability, and overall rankings. Having a beautiful website that is just sitting there idle, doing absolutely nothing for your business is essentially a waste of time and money. You have to make sure that your website is working for you, and by that I mean that it is getting an adequate number of visitors per day and that a significant percentage of these visitors are converting into leads or customers. In order to stay competitive in the online marketing world, it is crucial that your business website works for you, and not against you. If you want to learn more about how your company’s website can help you instead of hinder you in the growing realm of Internet marketing, feel free to contact us today for a consultation! We can help you decipher between having a good looking website that doesn’t perform, and having a website that is designed to both generate traffic and convert visitors into leads! The possibilities and potential impact your website could have on the overall growth and success of your business are endless!

Nowadays it seems like everybody has some sort of social media platform they visit daily – or even multiple times per day – to update their friends and followers on the many exciting happenings of their lives. But did you know that social networking sites, such as Twitter, can actually be good for your business? Just like the people who use Twitter to update their followers on where they are, what they’re doing, and who they’re with, Twitter can also be utilized in such a way that your company can report any recent activity, events, or new trends in your industry! Couple that with the fact that over three-quarters of major, successful businesses around the world have Twitter accounts which they frequently update. But how can Twitter benefit my business, you ask? Aside from “staying with the times” and engaging in the world of online marketing, Twitter happens to be one of the fastest growing social networking websites that exists. In fact, there are over 100 million Twitter users worldwide, which makes your company’s global reach infinite! Not totally convinced yet? Here is a list of 8 amazing advantages Twitter marketing has to offer your company:

Connect With Your Potential Customers or Clients:

Twitter allows you to connect with the world, and more specifically those people who could be your future customers or clients. How? By incorporating Twitter into your everyday business routine (meaning updating your ‘Tweets’ daily), you are able to connect with a limitless amount of people about what’s going on with your company in real time. Instead of e-mails or phone calls, where customers usually have to patiently wait for a response, Twitter allows you to address your customers’ concerns, complaints, or compliments instantaneously and publicly. If you’re wondering how this is beneficial, think about it this way: if a customer has a concern, he/she is able to reach your company immediately via Twitter, and by checking your Twitter often, your company has the ability to respond to this customer’s comments in such a way that every single one of your “followers” can see! This shows that you are a reputable company who takes its customer satisfaction seriously (since you are able to respond to Tweets directed at your company in real time) and in turn, builds your company’s reputation and credibility. Engaging with your current and potential clients is a must in the ever-evolving world of online marketing, because it allows for a different level of immediate customer service that corresponds well with the fast-paced world in which we live.

You Obtain Valuable Customer Feedback:

Closely related to the first point, Twitter also allows you to obtain valuable feedback from your existing customers. As your followers, your customers will help spark ideas on ways you could improve your products and/or services, which will improve your business overall. Even if it’s not to offer your company constructive criticism, your clients can share personal testimonies of their positive interactions with you as a company, which will not only show up on your Twitter newsfeed, but also on their Twitter page for all of their followers to see. This extends your company’s visibility and its reach even further, and may help to get the word out about your company’s services – particularly if you’re a small business.

Build Credibility and Your Brand:

Whether you have a large company or a small business, Twitter is an essential online tool that can help you to build your brand and give it “personality” and a “voice”. Often our interactions with businesses seem impersonal and distant, but Twitter can bridge this gap between you and your customers by showing them what your company’s all about and what your interests are. And you don’t always have to Tweet about your company and its happenings all the time either. With Twitter, you can post Tweets about what’s new and exciting within your industry, special offers and promotions you may have going on, or even something as simple as your personal interests outside of your business. But remember to keep it professional. As a company, you don’t want to be Tweeting about your hectic social life or your most recent breakup. Definitely find ways to make your Tweets “personal”, but keep them professional as well. For instance, instead of talking about whose birthday it is this weekend and what parties you’re going to attend, you could publicly wish a member of your company a ‘Happy Birthday’ on Twitter instead. See what I mean? Professional and personal! Remember, people enjoy interacting with other people, and not necessarily a large, faceless company that is always talking about themselves. If you give people some insight as to what your other interests are outside of your own company, they will respect you more and begin to trust your brand because they will feel like they can relate to you as a human being, and not some robot behind a computer screen. While you only get 140 characters to work with per Tweet, you can learn to make use of this limited space effectively by keeping your updates short and sweet. For example, you could Tweet photos that are related to your business or industry that may be of interest to your followers, or even catchy quotes that show off your expertise and knowledge of the industry you’re a part of. A variety of different types of Tweets will not just engage your audience and make them more likely to respond or re-tweet your posts, but it will show them that you are a company that has many interests and that is aware of the major events that directly impact your industry.

Boost Your Company’s Search Engine Rankings:

With social networking platforms such as Twitter, who already rank highly in the eyes of the search engines, becoming a part of this online community helps to boost your company’s search engine rankings also. If you are Tweeting regularly with interesting and informative posts,as well as interacting with your followers, you will soon notice an overall increase in the amount of relevant traffic that is being directed to your company’s website (which is the whole purpose anyway!). So make sure your company’s blog has a ‘Tweet’ option for its readers, and that you’re linking every new post on your company’s website to your company’s Twitter account. With frequent updates and fresh content, the search engines will rank you more highly and as more relevant by sending targeted users to your company’s website.

Help Your Company Stay On Top of Industry Trends:

Aside from having followers of your own on Twitter, you can follow other people or businesses that are relevant to your industry. Doing so will allow you to keep up-to-date with any breaking news of industry trends, and thus keep your company in the loop. You will also be able to see what your direct competitors are saying and doing regarding relevant industry news. There is no limit to the amount of users you may follow, so follow as many as you desire from all around the world – just be sure that they are providing honest and pertinent information about the industry your business falls under so that you can remain an expert in your field as well as share any knowledge you have learned from others. And the beauty of it all is that you can do all of this without ever having to leave the country, let alone your office desk!

Twitter is a Fast and Furious Way to Spread the Word:

Because of Twitter’s popularity, Tweets, news, and trends can spread virally within seconds! This can greatly benefit your business in many ways. As opposed to the old fashioned ways of spreading information about your company (i.e. mass e-mails), Twitter is instant and therefore information is spread at a much quicker pace. This makes spreading the word about your company’s exciting news not only easier, but also faster! This of course expands your reach and visibility as well, but also makes optimization more successful overall since you are able to let your current (and potential) followers know of any important company or industry announcements.

Brand Loyalty and Customer Retention:

Through the active process of engaging and conversing instantaneously with your Twitter followers (as described above), your followers will not only respect you and your company more, but will also become more loyal to your company’s brand. This will serve your business well because the greater your customer retention, the greater your brand loyalty. So be sure to connect with your targeted customer base if you want to earn the customer retention that will ultimately help boost your brand’s perception and customer loyalty.

A Cost-Effective Way to Engage in the Online Marketing World:

Aside from the many aforementioned benefits to having a Twitter account for your company, we cannot forget the fact that this social network is free of charge to anyone who wishes to make use of it! When it comes to online advertising, which we all know can be costly; Twitter is one of the few outlets whereby your company can promote itself for free! With Twitter and other free social networking accounts, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, your company can advertise its services and products in real time, as well as position itself as an expert within its industry. And above all, you can interact with your current and potential future clients on this amazing (and free) social networking platform!

As you can see, there are several good reasons as to why your company should have a Twitter account. Not only is it a cost-effective way of advertising and promoting your company’s products and services, but it also builds your brand and customer loyalty by enabling you to interact with your followers in real time! Within minutes, your company can not only showcase its expertise when it comes to your business’ industry, but you can also create a greater online presence for your company and ultimately drive more relevant traffic to your company’s website. Twitter is simply another online channel whereby you can educate, inform, and connect with the people who are interested in your company and its industry. So what are you waiting for? If your company is not already on the Twitter bandwagon, create an account today! It’s free, relatively straightforward, and has the potential to generate online popularity and increase your company’s revenue. If you feel like you may need help setting up a Twitter account for your business, or have questions about how to most effectively utilize and manage your company’s current Twitter account, please do not hesitate to contact Mill St. SEO today for a consultation! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: @MillStSEO

Blogs have been an integral component of the internet for quite some time now. They allow people to collectively discuss important issues as an online community, and may serve as a personal outlet, or online journal, for others. So how can implementing a blog for your company be beneficial? While blogging itself can be time-consuming, it is one of the most inexpensive ways to begin promoting your company and endorsing your brand.  A business blog also allows you to connect with your target audience by essentially putting a “face” to your company’s name. And above all, a business blog serves as a great SEO tool. As you can see, there are numerous advantages to starting a blog for your company. Here are the top five reasons your company should be blogging:

1. Positions Your Company as an Expert in the Industry & Strengthens Your Brand – Through the act of blogging, you can almost instantly position your company as an expert in the field and showcase your knowledge of the industry. By writing blog articles on topics such as the latest news or trends within your industry, your company is able to not only promote itself, but more importantly, demonstrate awareness and leadership.  Make sure to adapt your company’s blogs to meet the needs of your target audience. This means that you should write first and foremost for humans (as opposed to search engines). By providing unique, fresh content that readers find both entertaining and insightful, your company will increase its online presence and gain its target audience’s trust, which will subsequently increase your site’s traffic.

2. Engages Your Target Audience – Having a business blog creates an online space whereby readers can learn more about your company as well as your industry as a whole based on the interesting and unique content that you provide. If your blog is engaging, you increase the chances of your target audience returning to your blog (and therefore your website) in order to read your most recent posts. You can further this by utilizing RSS feeds and social media tools (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google +, etc.) whereby readers can “subscribe” to your blog and are able to see when you’ve posted something new. Another great way of engaging your target audience is to allow comments on your company’s blog posts. Comments from readers are a valuable business tool, since they provide insight as to what your readers like, dislike, and want to see more of. Enabling blog comments cultivates an online community between users and builds a relationship between your business and your target audience. This type of interaction will enable you as a business to see through the eyes of your target audience and better understand what it is that they are seeking or want to learn more about. By having this two-way communication between your company and your target audience, you will begin to notice that your audience will become natural ambassadors or representatives of your company in the online community – a service that some companies would pay substantial amounts of money for.

3. Gives Your Company a “Face” – Aside from an “About” Page, most company websites have little interaction with their target audience. Even though your website may have several pages of information about your company and its products or services, there is no real personalization or “human factor” behind your site’s professional exterior. Implementing a business blog on your site will give your company a “face” and a “voice”, which is what your audience craves! They want to get to know you better, and having a blog creates this transparency which allows them to feel as though they know you without ever having met you. Plus, the more your target audience knows about your company, the more likely they are to trust you and establish you as a credible and authoritative business in their minds. Having a company blog also provides your audience with insight into your company, including the company’s values, goals, and missions. Additionally, a blog makes your company more knowledgeable, since you are constantly releasing up-to-date information about your business.

4. Keeps You Up-To-Date With Your Industry – Having a company blog means keeping up-to-date with the continuous news releases and events that pertain to your industry. It essentially forces you to stay on top of your evolving industry and its current trends, so that your company blog is both contemporary and relevant. This means that in order to have a successful business blog, you will have to do some research, as blogging requires continuous learning. No one wants to read old news that they’ve probably already read elsewhere, so try to provide your audience with fresh, original content in order to encourage them to return to your site.

5. SEO Purposes – Last but certainly not least, having a business blog can quite easily increase your SEO and boost your site’s rankings. Since search engines thrive on websites that are updated frequently with original content, implementing a blog is one of the easiest ways to get your website recognized and ranked.  Blogs used for SEO purposes are great inbound marketing strategies, since your targeted audience is better able to find your website due to its frequent updates and relevancy to their search terms.

As you can see, there are several good reasons your company should be blogging. Having a business blog is a cost-effective way to position your company as an expert in the industry, engage your target audience, give your company a “face” and “voice”, keep you up-to-date with your industry, and serve as a highly effective SEO tool.