Have you established a company blog? A blog is an effective marketing tool for small business owners as it allows you to have a voice in your industry. You can finally keep customers informed about new products, conferences and events, job openings, and other news. Blogs help to reinforce branding with the customers by building trust and credibility. However, without the right SEO techniques, your blog may end up hurting your website ranking. Here are some things to avoid when blogging so you don’t end up destroying your reputation.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

One common mistake people make when blogging is keyword stuffing. Keywords are a great way to help the search engines find your blog, but keyword stuffing can kill your blog. The content on your blog needs to be readable to gain the right attention. A great way to find keywords that are useful is by signing up for a Google Adwords account. This will help you narrow down the list of popular keywords for your market. One tip to remember with keywords is to select a few localized keywords to reach your local audience. Adding the city name, state, and zip code to your website can boost local rankings, and will help you reach out to the targeted customers. To maintain a balance of keywords, select a few and use them for your posts. Start by adding the keyword in the title, within the first paragraph, and last paragraph of the blog post to assist in boosting rankings. You might find that the keyword naturally integrates itself into the content with you actually adding it in there. This is the best practice for SEO success as you want the content to be natural, original, and engaging.

Create Original Content

The search engines have started to crack down on duplicate content. If you are not creating unique, original blog posts, your blog will suffer. Take the time to create new blog posts that are different from all the recycled content on the internet. You need to express your point of view on different trends related to your industry. This can get the customers to leave comments and really start a discussion trend. When you start showing customers you have a voice, it will distinguish your company from others in the industry. Create goals for your blog so your customers will have a desire to read it weekly. Remain active with your posting and place new content on the blog 2-4 times a week to show the search engines it is an active blog.

Effective Marketing

It is common to see companies spend too much time trying to market a blog, and failing to market their website. A blog is a marketing tool that will boost interest in your company, but your main goal is to point people to your website where they can purchase products. Use the blog as a way to get people to sign-up for email lists and other promotional offers. Use social media sites to help build trust and credibility with the customers. A blog will assist in reinforcing branding that you have already set in motion. You must be accurate and honest with the information posted on the blog and social media accounts to effectively market to the customers.

Hire Professional Writers

One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to write content they do not understand. We have seen a lot of people outsource content to freelancers, some without any experience in their industry. Hiring a professional team of professional writers is the best way to ensure the information you are posting on your blog relates to your audience. Contact Performance Driven Marketing to discuss your blog and content marketing needs!

Are you tired of seeing lackluster results? If you do not have consistency with your online marketing efforts, it won’t take long for your website to start dropping position in the search engines. Use our 16 tips to enhance your website, and start seeing the results you deserve!

Include value proposition
Clean, easy-to-use website navigation
Clear call to action
Factual, relevant information
Colors
Valuable sliders and motion
About us company page
Social media engagement
Internal linking
Email marketing sign up form
Effective messaging above the fold
Customer testimonials
Mobile friendly
Team page
Blogging
Effective back-end SEO

Let’s dive right into each topic to build credibility and start generating quality leads from your website.

Include Value Proposition

Your value proposition is the mission statement of your business. What do you do, and why do you do it? When a potential customer is viewing your website, they want to know what makes your company work effectively. Why should someone work with your company over others? You want to let people know exactly what to expect in a clean, precise manner. Take a look at our mission statement below:

Clean, Easy-to-use Website Navigation

We’ve all been to websites that are poorly designed and difficult to navigate. When you have an effective website, you can find exactly what you are looking for quickly. Everything with your website needs to make sense in the way it’s organized, to the way the menu structure works. Here’s a clear example of effective website navigation. You can clearly see all the services provided by HVAC Utah:

Clear Call to Action

Why do people visit your site? What is the action you’d like them to perform? You need to have call to action to help your users find out what they want.

PDM Pro Tip: Use verbs for your call to action text as it engages the reader to actually DO something.

Factual, Relevant Information

According to TechJury, 4.4 million blog posts were posted in March 2019! With so many blogs posted on the Internet daily, how in the world can you make sure your blog is seen? You want to fill up your website with factual, valuable information that does pertain to your reader. Let’s say you are in the roofing industry, ask yourself what you can offer to your customer that gives them value? Perhaps writing a blog about tips on preparing the roof for winter, or a blog with explainer videos about cleaning gutters. The more information you post that pertains to your client, the easier it will be for people to understand the value you provide.

Colors

What makes a website different from all the others? You need to have color! Now, when it comes to color, there is a balance you must meet in order to make the website functional. The call to action must always be different from the rest of the website to draw the attention of the reader.

Valuable Sliders and Motion

Motion on a website is one topic where many people disagree. Some experts hate motion, others live for it! What we recommend is really learning about your customers and their browsing habits. We will recommend carousels in many instances as it does allow your readers to see the most valuable information right away. Keep the sliders short and concise as some people do not scroll past the second slide. If your slider isn’t delivering value, scrap the slider!

About Us Company Page

Did you know the about us page is the third most-clicked on page on a website? Why? People want to know WHO they are working with. The about us page should include the mission statement, but also the company story. Why did the business begin, who started it, what year did it open? The more information you can provide on an about us page, the better!

Social Media Engagement

Like it or not, social media is here to stay, and it means A LOT to your online results. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, etc., each and every one provides search engine rankings to your website. You need to run an effective social media strategy if you are planning to target all of your readers. Social media allows you to have a personality with your customers, making it easier for people to trust your business.

Internal Linking

Help the search engines and readers navigate your website by using internal linking. Internal links help to keep people moving around your website. Link them to the keywords where you have cornerstone content, blogs, and additional information that pertains to the reader. Internal links should also include a contact form to help the reader get in touch with you immediately. We recommend at least 2-4 internal links per page, and at least 1-3 external links.

Email Marketing Sign-up Form

If someone likes your business and your product, they want to sign up for more information. You MUST have an effective email marketing sign-up form that delivers value. Make it clear what your reader is signing up for, and find a way to truly engage your readers.

Effective Messaging Above the Fold

In the past, everything was about “above the fold” as people did not scroll…now, this is no longer the case. People do indeed scroll, but the MAIN information you want to provide needs to be above the fold. Here’s the deal, people are scroller’s and you no longer need to stuff in all your products and services above the fold. The menu bar should describe the services you offer, making it easier for you to add in other valuable information for your website visitors. If you have good content, people will scroll on for more!

Customer Testimonials

The trust factor is EVERYTHING! Customer testimonials are critical to the success of your website. People need to know what other people think about your business, they want to know what others are saying, and they want to know if your business is trustworthy. Highlight a few testimonials on your website, but really encourage your customers to leave testimonials on your social media accounts, especially your Google Business page. Add in other testimonials on various pages on your website like this:

Mobile Friendly

Do you want to boost your online marketing, get a mobile friendly website! The search engine algorithms are always being updated and changing, and mobile friendly websites rank higher. We have all been to a website on our phones that is not mobile-friendly, and it’s not pretty! Your website is all about the customer experience; make it worth the effort for the customer!

Team Page

The team page is different from the about us page. People want to know WHO works for the company. In many cases, the team page is where people build connections with the company. Your staff gives your company personality and gives people the “human element” they are seeking. Start with the management team, and move on down until you have the majority of your “major employees” listed on the website with their biographies:

Blogging

Earlier we spoke about the fact that 4.4 million blogs were posted in March 2019, now let’s talk about the purpose of the blog. Google wants you to blog. Why? They are looking for new, relevant content in your industry. Here’s the deal, everyone is going to have similar content, so your goal is to pull on business experiences and share them. Talk about reasons why people need to change that air filter in the HVAC system IN YOUR AREA. In Utah, we see a lot of differences with the weather here, and the HVAC system needs are drastically different from those in California, Florida, and everywhere else. Blogs are critical. If you don’t want to write them, hire professional writers! Trained marketing writers know how to structure content for the search engines. These marketing writers also know how to write FOR your readers.

Effective Back End SEO

Alright now to our final topic, the back-end of your website. The website back-end can be confusing and challenging for a lot of people, and without some training, you might end up destroying your website and your online rankings. We recommend everyone take some time to learn about the back end of their websites and how they work. Contact our team for a free website consultation, and we can clearly show you how your website works. Then, we can provide you with a task list of items you want to start with in order to start seeing results:

Online marketing is challenging, but taking some time to clean up your site will make a difference. We all live in a busy world, so finding the time to start working on these 16 ways to enhance your website can be difficult. Contact Performance Driven Marketing today for a free website audit, and let our experts guide you through the best way to generate online results from your website!

website redesign More than half of all small businesses do not have a website. We have seen a number of small businesses pop up around Utah, only to see them fail within the first two years. One of the things that often set a small business apart from their neighbor is their website. You need a website as it is one of the first places people will go to learn about your company. If you do not care about growing your business or starting to make a mark in your industry, by all means, enjoy the no website land. However, with technology constantly pushing people to their devices, the time has never been more important than now to create an effective website. Here are five reasons why a website is absolutely critical to your business.

Reason # 1: It Provides a Face to Your Business

When you are talking to other business owners, they almost always tell you about their website. Your website is the foundation of all your marketing efforts. This is your salesman that is ready to sell 24/7. The website is indexed by the search engines and hundreds of other websites to provide you with an online presence. When people are searching for local businesses more than 88% of them will start with the search engines and reading reviews before considering your business. If you do not have an online presence, you are missing a large demographic.

Reason # 2: Customer Service

A website is the place to send people for more information. A good website will have a lot of content. Content is KING when it comes to Google, but it is also KING when it comes to providing effective customer service. When you take the time to create large FAQ pages and blogs, it helps to answer pressing customer questions.

Reason # 3: It is Cost-Effective

It doesn’t cost a fortune to create an appealing website. The cost of building a website is hardly anything when it comes to attracting a new client. In fact, experts estimate the cost of a website is 1/10^th that of all other marketing expenses combined to acquire new business.

Reason # 4: Branded Marketing Works

One of the other reasons why we prefer using a website is how it helps a business to integrate all aspects of marketing. You can have traditional marketing work with digital marketing, creating a smooth brand across the board. Customers will be able to find you online and can recognize your brand easily if you are in local trade shows and events.

Reason # 5: Remaining Relevant

If you want to stay competitive in today’s world, you need to get ready and create a website. Your competition already has one and you’d better be prepared to deal with a significant disadvantage if you do not have one.

At Performance Driven Marketing, we help businesses of all sizes to remain relevant and competitive in their industries. We have been able to create custom websites for a variety of niche markets. If you do not have a website, or you have an outdated website that needs a facelift, give us a call today 801.326.0582

If you own a small business, and you currently have a website, you may be thinking you are set. At Performance Driven Marketing, we see a number of small business owners forget about their website and assume they don’t need to do much for it to bring in leads. The truth is, the Internet is a vastly different world today than it was 10 years ago, in fact, lets take a look at what Amazon looked like in 2008 versus today:

We can see quite a few differences in the home page of Amazon. From the user-friendly design of 2017 vs. multiple menus and scrolling bars in 2008. Websites often fall by the wayside and they aren’t given a fresh look, which makes a website look dated and quite simply, not relevant. While your business might be booming, you may not realize that may of your customers are currently frustrated with the structure of your website. On average a website visitor will stay on a home page for less than 15 seconds. What this means is you have a limited amount of time to capture their attention and become the “solution” to the problem or specific need they have.

Don’t Ignore Your Website

Ignoring your website can have devastating consequences. Google continues to release updates to their search engine algorithm, which could take a website from page 1 to page 3 in a day. You need to make sure your website makes a solid first impression as it is often the first experience most people will have with your business.

What to Consider for a Website Re-do

As you start scouring other websites for ideas on what you’d like to incorporate into your website redesign, we recommend understanding the importance of color, layout, functionality, and user experience. While a great looking site might impress you, it is important to consider the back-end of your website and the work that must be done to help Google and other search engines actually FIND your website and start ranking it. At Performance Driven Marketing, we provide local search engine optimization services for customers all over Utah, Idaho, California, and surrounding areas. Our team will help you bring your vision of a new website to life, or we can create a vision for you. Here are some of the important elements that must go into refreshing your website:

Website Design

The overall design of the website is vital as it needs to have a design that reflects your company image. To be noticed online, the design needs to be relevant and useful while also being unique. To help your website stand out, we use the following techniques:

Implementing geometric shapes and lines
Creative styling and fonts
Multi-tone gradient imagery
Mobile responsiveness
Custom logo creation and home page design

User Experience

While the look and feel of the website needs to be impressive, the overall user experience is vital to keeping a person from clicking off your website. The viewer needs to be able to find their way around your site effectively for them to find what they are looking for. Web users do not have patience and they will jump off a site quickly if they cannot find the information they need right away.

We find that web users like to be told what to do. Well structured menus and organized information helps them to properly navigate the website, making it easier on the user to find what they want. We recommend a clear call to action on a page, and always have your contact information visible for customers that choose to call or email you.
Avoid extra buttons and unnecessary information that can overwhelm your potential customers. Keep a single call to action on a page and stick with a prominent search bar function at the top of each webpage and a link to the sitemap at the bottom. Clean, easy, simple websites are those that often gain the most visitors.

Content

Content is essential for your website to rank properly. Google has been working hard to remove spam websites from the search engine. Websites that clearly copy content from another site risks being banned from the search engines entirely. Content needs to be clear and immediately available for the potential customers to understand answers to their questions. With the right information at their fingertips, customers will start turning to your company as the authority figure and the source of information in the industry. Engaging, useful, and professional content is the best way to accomplish this goal.

How do you create quality content?

You need to start by defining your audience and asking common questions that pertain to them. Fill out each question with an insightful answer, similar to a face-to-face conversation. As you answer these questions, focus on your ability to solve your client’s problems. Quality content will be able to build trust with your industry and can help to spread your brand’s name across the Internet.

Bridging the Gap with SEO

The term SEO tends to cause skepticism to some people as they assume you don’t need to do much for a website once it’s live. However, without the right optimization of the website, your online presence can struggle to be seen. We want your website to meet its true online potential without costing you an arm and a leg. Modern SEO goes much further than adding keywords, ALT tags, and mobile-friendliness. Let Performance Driven Marketing help your website thrive with our proven techniques.

In the digital era of fast-paced Internet and impatient web user, you cannot afford to have an outdated, slow, poorly designed website. If you are planning a website redesign, or you want to see what you can do to improve your website’s visibility, call our Ogden SEO Company today.

Connect Utah Presentation by Victor Hubbard
Internet Marketing – 101

Companies are building trust with customers by creating quality content. Marketing this content is essential to your website’s visibility, and online reputation. How do you market the content to build a strong following? Use our top five web content marketing rules below to boost your online visibility.

Become Diverse With Social Media

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter were once the dominate social media forces for companies. Now, there are a variety of new social media sites to consider including Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr. They have shown businesses the importance of branching out with social media marketing.

Use Infographics

A picture tells a thousand words. We are seeing a major shift in the content marketing world to image-centric content. An infographic is easy to read, and it is easy to share. Take a look at Pinterest and Buzzfeed to see how the infographic world is booming.

Mobile Friendly Is Vital

By the year 2017, Forbes predicts 87% of connected devices will be smartphone and tablets. If you do not have a mobile-friendly website and marketing strategy, you are missing out on a huge potential customer base. Providing the customer with a user-friendly experience is vital to online marketing.

Google Authorship

Bring your content marketing strategy full-circle by linking it to your Google + account. Signing up with Google authorship will bring your body of work together, increasing the visibility of your posts as your author rank grows.

Engaging Content

Don’t leave your readers bored with regurgitated content. It is vital to your content marketing strategy to create fresh, engaging content. Regular posting of quality content shows the search engines you have an active website, and you post relevant content for your niche market.
Use our web content marketing rules to increase your online audience. Join us on May 21, 2014 for an exclusive Google event. Our Google experts will teach you how to grow your business. For more information call Performance Driven Marketing today (801)326-0582!
Written By: Performance Driven Marketing

We know what you might be thinking: is email marketing really still relevant? Though it might not be as effective as other methods of digital marketing, it is still a popular and well-known form of reaching out to your customers and making sure that they continue using your services.
That being said, email marketing can be done right and it can be done wrong. Oftentimes, the difference is the in subject lines. When you send customers emails, the first thing they see is the text you put into the subject line. If they are not interested in whatever you said, your customers will likely delete the email before they’ve even opened it, which completely defeats the purpose.

How to Write an Effective Subject Line

Fortunately, writing an email subject line is not as difficult as developing a full-length article. Yes, it’s true that you only have a few words to catch your reader’s attention, but that isn’t as hard as it sounds. By following these simple tips, you can improve the rates of your customers opening your emails:

Use positively phrased sentences rather than negative ones
Personalize the subject line with the customer’s name
Make sure that your subject line is clear, even if it’s “creative”
Instill a sense of urgency with your language
Don’t use email subject lines with gimmicks

The majority of email marketing, unfortunately, is intuitive, meaning that trial and error is the best way to figure out what works best with a particular customer group. Thinking about what would make you open an email can give you valuable insight into how your customers are reacting.

Starting an Email Marketing Campaign

If you’ve been considering setting up an email marketing campaign but aren’t sure exactly how it works, you can talk to the email marketing professionals at Performance Driven Marketing by calling (801)-326-0582 today!

In the realm of internet marketing, domain names make a huge impact. With them, you can immediately jumpstart your ability to be found online. When you choose a domain name that includes searchable terms in it, you’ll be way ahead of the game before you begin SEO (search engine optimization) in your website content.
Choosing a domain, however, is tricky because you have to balance cost and effectiveness. Companies that deal in domain names are smart enough to know which domain names are extremely useful and which ones aren’t and prices them accordingly.

What You Need to Know about gTLDs

A gTLD (generic top-level domain) is the ending of your URL. For instance, “.com” and “.net” are some of the most common gTLDs. When choosing a domain name, at least as of now, picking a “.com” gTLD is best. It’s easy to remember and typically ranks better. However, “.net” doesn’t rank too far below “.com”, though customers will occasionally type in the wrong one.
New gTLDs have been released, however, and will be more industry specific. For instance, now you can get domain names with gTLDs such as “.dining” or “.dentist”, based on what your website and your company is focused on. These gTLDs are new, and it’s too early to see how they will affect marketing, but it’s definitely something to keep in the back of your mind.

Choosing the Right Keywords

Before you choose a domain name, you need to figure out which keywords you’re going to focus on for your website. Then, if you can’t have your business name alone as a domain name, attempt to use a combination of your keywords as the domain name. This will help you get found on Google and other search engines.
Choosing a domain name can be difficult, so, if you’re looking for advice from experts with internet marketing, call Performance Driven Marketing today at (801)-326-0582!

Affiliate internet marketing is a growing method of increasing traffic to your website. This marketing method works because it establishes a mutually beneficial relationship. When your company engages in affiliate marketing, you with partner up with another company and recommend what they have to offer while they recommend what you have to offer. There is a variety of ways to accomplish this, however.
There is a difference between affiliate marketing and referral marketing. Referral marketing relies on the relationship and trust between two companies. Affiliate internet marketing works based on financial rewards and monetary incentives for promoting one’s company.

Beginning Affiliate Internet Marketing for Your Company

First things first: you can’t start affiliate internet marketing without first having either a blog or a website to work with. From there, you can engage with potential affiliates, either those who want you to market for them or those who will market for you.
Here are some commonly seen methods of affiliate internet marketing:

Banner ads
Pay-per-click ads
Product reviews
Hyperlinked content
Resources, such as “How To’s”

When choosing an affiliate, it’s best to find a company that is related to what you do but is not exactly the same. That way, their target population and your target population will overlap but will not be in competition.

How Successful Can Affiliate Internet Marketing Be?

Depending on which affiliates you are working with and how much traffic their website gets, affiliate marketing can be very useful for both parties. On one side, someone is receiving compensation for the use of their website, especially if there are conversions. On the other side, the company is receiving more sales to, in turn, cover the cost of the affiliate marketing and generate more profit.
If you’re new to affiliate internet marketing but want to use it on your website, call Performance Driven Marketing today at (801)-326-0582!

Monday	8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday	8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday	8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday	8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday	8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday	Closed
Sunday	Closed

How to Manage Your Blog