Performance Driven Marketing wants to highlight the work of our amazing team members. We have recently added two new members to our team and would love to introduce them to you. Below are their responses to some get-to-know-you questions about hobbies, how they stay productive at work, and what makes them smile. We are happy to have you as part of the team Christi and Max! 

1) What inspired you to pursue a career as a (graphic designer/web developer)?

Max: “I worked in a call center and hated every second of it so I decided I’d do something about that and get educated and find a better job. I have always loved learning about technology and I enjoy art so I figured web development would be a great fit for me.”

 

Christi: “I have always been drawn to anything artsy including typography and drawing on napkins. In fact, in school, I got in trouble on my bubble test for drawing a butterfly.

I love being creative!

 

2) What is your favorite part of this job?

Max: “I love learning. It’s just so satisfying learning how to do something new and then being able to use that knowledge on more projects and expand my existing skills.

For example, I do a lot of CSS styling work so far at this job and that is something that I loved doing before this and really wanted to improve so thanks to this job I’m getting tons of experience doing that every day.”

 

Christi: “ My snacks…just kidding! Being able to share my creative brain with clients and the people that I work with.”

 

3) What are your hobbies? What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?

Max: “I’ve been into video editing/photoshop most of my life (just random stuff, mostly fun effects I wanted to try) and I recently started a podcast (discussing movies/media) with my friend. I also enjoy art. I used to do tons of charcoal drawings but I’m trying to talk myself back into doing more of that. I’m also finally getting back into reading books (just started the Mistborn series) and I enjoy some Xbox as well.”

 

Christi: “Can you have too many hobbies? I enjoy reading, anything crafty, being a giant kid at heart, dancing, anything outdoors, and having fun. You could say I am a jack of all crafts. I also love to surf in the ocean and have traveled all over the world 

 

I work on VW buses for fun and I enjoy trying anything new and exciting or challenging.”

 

4) Have you read any books or seen any movies/shows lately that you’d recommend?

Max: “YES. I’m a Star Wars fan but having said that, you don’t need to like Star Wars at all to appreciate the Andor series. I think it’s amazing. Also, I really enjoyed Better Call Saul and some of my favorite movies this year are: Everything Everywhere All At Once, Prey, and Glass Onion.”

 

Christi: “This one is tricky, books are hard. I read a bit of everything and am learning constantly. As for TV, I am not a huge fan but can watch The Office on repeat.” 

 

5) What are your favorite productivity hacks? How do you stay focused?

Max: “I like the Pomodoro technique: every 30 minutes take a 5-minute break at the end but no breaks in the 25 minutes leading up to that.”

 

Christi: “I have to multi-task to change things up. I also really like a 30/30 timer, it helps with my fluidity and challenges me.” 

 

6) How do you get energized for work?

Max: “I enjoy music or podcasts on the way to work! The Stuff You Should Know podcast is pretty great.”

 

Christi: “The goofy movie soundtrack! Sometimes Hamilton ha ha.”

 

7) While you work, do you like music or shows in the background, or do you need quiet? If you listen to something while you work, what’s your favorite thing to listen to?

Max: “I prefer music, usually background type stuff like Lo-Fi or ambient noise but sometimes normal songs too.”

 

Christi: “I go back and forth between podcast, audible, and music of all types. I am pretty eclectic.” 

 

8) What’s something that made you smile recently?

Max: “This is gonna sound cheesy but getting this job was huge for me so I’m always happy to be here.”

 

Christi: “When I was a total Karen in the auto shop (sorry if you’re reading this and your name is Karen). I know a little something about cars…”

 

9) What is your best piece of advice?

Max: “CONTROVERSIAL OPINION (and IDK if it even counts as advice??)

Original Oreos> double stuff by far. Also, Cheeto puffs > regular Cheetos.”

 

Christi: “ Be real in the unreal world. Don’t be afraid to live a full exciting life full of adventures.”

 

10) Got any favorite quotes?

Max: “‘Give a man a program, frustrate him for a day. Teach a man to program, frustrate him for a lifetime.” -some dude on Twitter named Francesco.” 

 

Christi: “‘Sometimes you just need to wear stretchy pants!’ and ‘Kevin’s a girl?’

 

We are grateful to have Max Lythgoe as our new web developer and Christi Spencer as our new graphic designer! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and we hope our clients and others enjoyed getting to know the newest members of our team.

 

Trust Our Team At PDM

As our team continues to grow, the way we serve our clients continues to become better and better. We offer a variety of marketing services beyond web development and graphic design.

If you are looking to take your business to the next level and improve your SEO ranking, fill out our contact form to get started!

It used to be that AIs were only found in dystopian sci-fi stories. Over the past few years, however, they’ve risen in popularity. People wonder at the ability of art AIs to generate pictures with a few words as prompts or content AIs to generate entire blog posts within seconds. In the world of marketing where people are always trying to find ways to make processes more efficient, these content-generating AIs seem like a good tool to do that.

However, you still need humans to write your content. Here’s what you need to know about these content-generating AIs and why you shouldn’t use them to replace real human writers.

AI-Generated Content Goes Against Google Guidelines

When it comes to things that you should and should not do in online marketing, it’s always best to look first to Google before anything else. If Google says that something is alright, you’re good to go. However, if Google guidelines state that something is not permissible, doing said something will result in your site getting penalized. 

Such is the case with AI-generated content. Automatically generated content, which is what AI-generated content consists of, is against Webmaster Guidelines. Google says that content automatically generated with AI is considered spam. This can result in a penalty.   

While Google systems are still learning how to detect AI-generated content without the help of humans, if it is detected, it is flagged as spam. It’s best to avoid any penalties by steering clear of using content-generating AIs in place of a human to write your content. 

Reasons To Resist The Temptation Of Content-Generating AIs

Why hire a content writer when you can just give a content-generating AI a few prompts and have it spit out a page that passes plagiarism checkers? While art AIs steal from artists in order to generate images, so much content out there is basically the same, spun in different ways. What’s the harm?

Aside from the most important fact that content-generating AIs go against Google guidelines, there are a few other reasons why you should stick with humans to write your content for you.

#1. It Reguritates What’s Already Out There

Content-generating AIs can only generate simple pieces of content about things that are widely agreed upon. They cannot add new insights, nor keep up with current events. They can display outdated biases. If you want something more specific, they can start repeating themselves over and over and go completely off-topic. 

A human writer, on the other hand, can provide new insights into topics. They can go into detail about things that most people don’t know. If you want your content to be more specific and detailed than what can easily be found on Google, you can share your industry insight and expertise with your content writer.

Content writers can also do in-depth research into publications and consult with industry professionals in order to write on more nuanced topics.

#2. There’s No Uniqueness

Sure, content-generating AIs can automate a blog that will pass a plagiarism check, but that doesn’t mean it’s unique. You may argue that humans can do the same thing, by spinning articles that have already been written and just changing a few things here and there so that they can pass a plagiarism check. 

Unfortunately, people who just take what other people have done, make tiny adjustments, and pass it off as their own are always going to be out there. Fortunately, though, this is something that Google is aware of. The Helpful Content Update addresses this issue. 

The Helpful Content Update encourages unique content that is actually helpful. When you have a human write your content for you, they can create just that. They can write content that has original insights, narrative structure, evidence to back up points, and new information. This is especially good for when you want content written about something that isn’t very Google-able, such as for niche topics and industries. 

Can AI Be Helpful In Content Writing?

AI is constantly changing and improving, especially as more people use and train it. It could be helpful in some aspects of content writing, such as in helping writers with brainstorming topics to write about. However, it’s important to adhere to Google guidelines.   

Performance Driven Marketing provides professional content writing services, SEO services, and more. We offer free website consultations to help you pinpoint how you can improve your site so that it works better for you and your business. Contact us today to learn more about our services or to schedule your free consultation. 

Optimizing websites is a process that continues to become ever-more refined. While it can be easy to get lost down rabbit holes explaining the current SEO methods, a good optimization strategy is built on just a few SEO basics. As you continue to broaden your horizons to improve your websites, here are a few key points to never lose sight of.

What Is SEO?

You can’t get more basic than a subject’s raw definition. SEO, short for search engine optimization, is the process by which an owner optimizes his or her website to improve its rankings in search results, thus increasing the site’s amount of organic (non-paid) traffic.

Search engines like Google have search bots that “crawl” the internet to find, catalog, and rank websites. This allows search engines to deliver a list of relevant websites catered to a user’s search query. Good SEO strategies help content rise to the top of that list. The goal of SEO is to generate visibility and ultimately revenue for a business. 

As you learn the SEO basics, you’ll need to know a few key terms:

• SEO: search engine optimization
• SERP: search engine results pages
  • The goal is to rank highly, with your content coming in close to the top. Users often only look at the first one or two search results, and rarely do they go to the second results page.
• CTR: click-through rate
  • This indicates the number of users who visit a website from an ad with a hyperlink. The metric itself is determined by the number of clicks to the site divided by the number of views. Higher click-through rates indicate greater ad success.
• UX: user experience

This is certainly not a comprehensive list of SEO basic acronyms or terminology, but it is a good jumping-off point.

4 SEO Basic Strategies

While the number of methods site owners can employ are abundant, here we focus on just four of the most important. Starting your SEO strategy based on these strategies can help your content thrive online.

Key-In

Keywords are the staple of good content. They follow the search terms people look for when conducting online searches and can help shape the content you put on your website. Keywords should be weaved throughout your content naturally and fluidly, not just crammed in to improve ratings. In fact, with each update Google makes to its searching systems, keywords thrown in haphazardly are more likely to be detrimental to a site’s ratings.

Specific keywords target traffic better than generic ones. To this end, there are two kinds of keywords, short-tail and long-tail. Short-tail keywords include only one or two words while long-tail keywords have three or more. Long-tail keywords refine the focus of a page and generate better interest, but keywords that are too niche may alienate some of your searchers. 

Make Content for Human Audiences

While there are many SEO basics to make your content more visible for search engines, at its heart, content should be written for people and not search bots. Target your content creation and changes to improve the user experience. These may include design and material changes that make the functionality, accessibility, and content more palatable and digestible for users.

For example, longer posts are, as a general rule, more helpful in helping users find the information they are looking for, while shorter paragraphs within those posts make them easier to read. Users are likely to leave hyper-short posts or those with hefty blocks of words quickly, injuring a site’s CTR.

On top of formatting, the content itself must be worth reading. SEO is not just a matter of stringing a bunch of keywords together. Only real quality content can produce positive ratings. Such material, which is additive to the internet’s information base, improves the relevance ratings of a post and its attractiveness as a result compared to other content.

Speaking of being additive, make sure you are bringing something new to the table, and make sure your words are your own. Plagiarism is the enemy of good integrity and good SEO. Google penalizes phrases and sentences that have been copied from other sources.

Link Building

If you want to reference what others have said, links are the way to do it. Links are one of the most effective SEO basics. Links to external sources and to other pages of yours give your content credibility, while internal links to your own content informs your readership about what you have to offer. When links to your content are used in other materials, those links can bring in online traffic that would not ordinarily find your content. For all these reasons, links remain one of the top three ranking factors in Google.

On-Site vs. Off-Site SEO

On-site SEO is the content you directly create, threading your keywords through meaningful content. Off-site SEO is determined by others’ impressions of your content: third-party mentions and social media marketing, etc. Though off-site SEO can be more difficult to control, you should have strategies for both on- and off-site SEO.

A beautifully designed website with engaging, informative content can do wonders for your business. However, it’s crucial that you ensure said engaging, informative content works well with your design. As Jeff Zeldman said, “Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” 

This applies to many different industries, not just web design. You need a script before you can film a movie. You need blueprints before you can build a structure. You need to understand the purpose of your structure, the story that you’re trying to convey, before you can do so effectively. 

Focusing on web design instead of content can be very tempting. You want your site to look good, after all. Plus, trying to get information about content from clients can be like pulling teeth. However, in order to have a site that retains potential customers and boosts your business, you need content that fits with it and works well.

Save Time, Money, And Frustration

If you focus on designing a site before you have content, you could end up with a design that does not work with the finished content – at all. This can lead to either the web designer or the content writer having to redo their work in order to make it fit with what the other has done. 

When web designers and content writers work together throughout the process, you can save a lot of time, money, and frustration. Through open communication and understanding what the client wants, content writers and web designers can ensure that what they come up with works well together – without needing to completely redo their content or design in order to achieve this. 

The Dangers Of Lorem Ipsum

When designing a site, Lorem Ipsum is very useful to fill in the spaces where content should be. It can give clients a better idea of what their website will look like when everything is complete. All that a web designer needs to do when the content is finished is to replace the Lorem Ipsum with the approved content – easy peasy.

However, it’s important to be aware of the limitations of Lorem Ipsum. Lorem Ipsum is like gas – it expands to perfectly fill the designated space. Real content doesn’t work like that. While the Lorem Ipsum title may be an ideal 20 characters, the actual title that the content writer comes up with likely won’t be that length. 

If the design doesn’t account for this variability, when the actual content gets put in, it may not fit or it may look very off. For instance, if the space that the Lorem Ipsum occupies only accounts for about 200 words and the actual content is 400 words, it’s going to look very crammed. Then, either you or the content writer is going to need to make some edits in order to help the site look good again. Bear in mind that if your goal is SEO, the content the content writer gives you will likely need to be at least 600 words, if not more. 

Lorem Ipsum can also give the impression that the client’s site is much further along than it actually is. While this is a very useful tool, for many different reasons, it’s crucial to remember that it doesn’t give an entirely accurate idea of what the completed content will be like.

As such, the web designer and the content writer will need to work closely together. The content writer will need to understand the layout that the web designer has in mind and the web designer will need to have an idea of what the content will look like. The client will also need to understand that Lorem Ipsum is just a placeholder, and that when the content is completed, their site may look a bit different.

Retain Site Traffic

If your content doesn’t fit with your web design, you may notice a much higher bounce rate than you’d experience otherwise. Sure, a site with a beautiful design is nice to look at… But as mentioned in the quote at the beginning of this article, if there’s no content, there’s not much keeping potential customers on your site.

Alternatively, if your content doesn’t work with your site’s design, potential customers likely won’t stick around. There are thousands upon thousands of other websites out there. If your site doesn’t look good and have informative content, your potential customers will just go to another site for whatever services or information they need.

As you can see, it’s crucial that you ensure that your content and your website’s design work well together.

Performance Driven Marketing provides professional web design and content writing services. Our team works closely together in order to ensure that your completed site looks good and reflects the story that you’re trying to convey with informative content. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation!

If you are new to starting a website or are looking for ways to improve your website, you have come to the right place. We at Performance Driven Marketing discuss topics ranging from page speed to graphic design, comprising all the things required to make a website great. We make it our business to improve your business (by bettering your website). Reach out to us for more information about how to use SEO and how to improve your website.

What Is Page Speed?

Page speed is the time that it takes for a website page to load once a web user clicks on a link. It is also defined as how quickly a website can display full content on any given page. Page speed is critical to pay attention to because it directly affects SEO, Google rankings, customer satisfaction, and conversion rates. You should aim for a page speed of 3 seconds or less, because any longer drastically increases your bounce rate and the number of people who will leave your website before it even loads. 

Ways To Improve Your Website’s Page Speed

Some factors that could negatively affect your page speed that you may not be able to control. These factors include a web user’s internet provider, the web browser they used, or the type of connection that was used. However, there are several more factors that are within your control that can be easily fixed! Continue reading to learn more.

Make Sure Your Images Are The Right Size

Images are an important part of any website because they help your website rank better and they help enhance web users’ experiences on your website. However, sometimes when images are too large, they can slow down page speed. Therefore, one way to improve your website’s page speed is to optimize your images and size them down. Reduce the file size of your images by changing their file formats or by installing a plugin that will automatically resize and compress your images for you.

Change Your Hosting

Another important factor that affects how fast your website loads is your hosting provider. Cheap hosting options often create more problems than they fix. Sometimes your hosting provider may share resources between several websites (including yours) and overload the server, effectively slowing down your page speed. If you try other things to speed up your website and they don’t seem to be working, consider switching to a more powerful hosting platform that doesn’t offer shared hosting.

Cache Your Web Pages

Another effective way to improve your page speed is to cache your web pages. Caching is the process of copying your website’s files so that the server does not have to do as much work to serve your web pages to visitors. There are multiple ways that you can complete this process. You could have your hosting provider take care of caching web pages for you or install a caching plugin.

 

For more great tips about how to improve your page speed, feel free to reach out to us at Performance Driven Marketing or read here to learn more.

Reach Out To Improve Your Website

If you are looking for more help improving your website, we at Performance Driven Marketing would be more than happy to be of service. We offer comprehensive services that are sure to better your SEO, your conversion rate, and your page views. Our talented team can help you with anything from designing your website to managing your Google ads to writing monthly website content. If you are in need of online marketing services, feel free to contact us today.

 

In order to have a successful business, you need to be able to identify your target audience. Doing so will allow you to craft your marketing strategies to their best effect. If you need help refining your business’ target audience or want better metrics for how your marketing is serving you, Performance Driven Marketing can help.

What Is a Target Audience?

A target audience refers to the set of consumers to which a business or organization focuses their marketing attention. This group usually exhibit empirical interest in the business’ type of product or service, and are therefore more likely to buy what the business is offering. Target audiences may be defined by many factors, including location, gender, age, income, interests, etc.

Your target audience, a more specific subset of a target market, is dependent on the service or product you offer. If you want your business to succeed, it is essential that you understand who your intended target audience is before starting your business and that it may evolve as you progress. Your marketing strategies should be based around your target audience to ensure best performance.

Strategies for Identifying a Target Audience

If you have already started a business, the likelihood that you have already considered who you want it to reach is good. However, it is vital to have a specific target audience in mind and to have means in place to track how well your marketing is received by them. To do so, here are a few suggestions.

Define Who Your Target Audience Is Not

While they say all publicity is good publicity, your budget may not necessarily agree if you spend precious business resources trying to reach a demographic that is completely uninterested in what you have to offer. Your intended audience should be defined enough that you can act on it (for example, simply saying “women” is not a very measurable audience). Narrow things down by things like age, interests, or location without constricting your audience to a group that is too niche.

Assess Your Current Clientele

If your business is already up and running, conducting research using current customers can help you see the kind of audience your business already resonates with. What kind of demographic is already buying your product or service? You can build more efficient strategies based on this information.

As people give your business their custom, ask for pertinent information, either in person or through optional surveys. Gather information such as age, location, language, income (this can be tricky), significant events (i.e. local high school graduations or sports competitions or elections), challenges unique to the area or to the demographic, stage of life (are you setting up your business in a college town and want to capitalize on it?). During this process, be careful not to interrogate your customers or spam them with surveys.

Use Google Analytics

Do most of your customers find your website through other sources? Do they access it and do their purchasing from their phone or from a desktop computer? On average, how long does a customer stay on any of your pages? This is all information that can be ascertained from Google Analytics, and the list doesn’t end there. 

Google Analytics allows you to see what type of content your customers engage with the most. It can also help you see how your social media marketing is faring and if your target audience is engaging with it. What kind of audience follows the links you include in your social media stories or posts? The answer allows you to make more data-driven decisions as you plan your marketing campaigns.

Identify Industry Trends and Conduct Market Research

In addition to conducting your own research on your existing customers, it can be very helpful to examine the market research out there for the industry in general. This can help you find holes in the industry that your business can fill. Google is a helpful resource in this regard as well, especially in conducting keyword research.

Google Trends can help you see who is asking for the services or products you offer, and this can help you define your target audience. While you are in the “Related Topics” section of Google Trends, keep an eye out for “Related Queries.” These can generate subsections of your business, product categories, or even promotions. Use the “breakout” feature to see how viable each new term is.

Assess the Competition

One of the reasons a little competition is healthy is because it allows you to see what works for other companies without expending the resources yourself. Analyze who your competitors commonly sell to and how they reach their audience. Do your competitors have the same target audience as your business? Is there an audience that is being bombarded? Is there an audience or niche being missed? Are their marketing strategies working for their target audience?

Create a Target Market Statement

The goals you set for your business should be measurable and specific. Creating a target market statement can really refine your marketing strategies to serve your target audience, but you must be specific as you establish it. Incorporate the most relevant behaviors and demographic information. Your target market statement may read: Our target market is [gender(s)] aged [age range], who live in [place or type of place], and like to [activity].

Social media is one of the greatest tools available today for marketing. There are many different types of social media platforms that perform different types of purposes for businesses, website owners, and bloggers. Blogging and social media are the bread and butter of SEO marketing and can help many organizations become much more profitable. Using social media for blog marketing is an excellent way to utilize both blogs and social platforms to increase your following. Continue reading to learn more about how to use social media for blog marketing.

What Is Blog Marketing?

Firstly, it is important to understand what blog marketing is so that you can properly use it to your advantage. Blog marketing uses written content to target your audience directly by using keywords that web users search for. Blogs can address your target market’s questions and provide useful information to those interested in your industry (and could become potential customers). Blogs can advertise your website and business and can be an excellent way to get search engine traffic.

How To Use Social Media For Blog Marketing

Now that you have an understanding of why blog marketing is important, you can now learn how to use social media for blog marketing. As previously mentioned, there are many social media platforms for business owners to market their products and services. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest are some of the most popular social apps used today. There are specific strategies that are used to market on different platforms, but there are specific things that you can do to market your blog (therefore marketing your business!).

Create Simultaneous Posts

The reason why integrating your social media with your blog posts is so great, is because the blog posts will already have the content and information, making your posts easy for social media. By simply posting a sneak peek of the blog on your social media with an intriguing photo or announcing a new blog post that your social following would be interested in, you will create traffic from your social media to your blog (& your website!). 

By posting your blog and a social media post simultaneously, you make a natural path for your social media followers to your website. It is also a good idea to put sharing buttons on your blog so that your followers can easily share your content with others on social media. Find out when the optimal time to post on your social media is and be consistent, and you are sure to see success.

Create Interesting Content

Whether you are creating video-based content, photos, or written content, it is vital to make sure that what you create is compelling. That includes creating great content for your social media platforms. By having interesting titles for your blogs, you will be able to capture your social media followers’ attention, bringing more traffic to your website. Also, use interesting photos or images on your social media, that will draw in your audience.

Join Online Communities In Your Industry

Another way to get more traffic (and more customers) is to join blogging communities online and follow other bloggers or other business blogs. You may be able to connect with other people that can help you get the word out about your business or participate in a guest blogging opportunity. Interacting with other people on social media and on blogs is one of the best ways to connect with your audience.

Are You Looking For Blog Marketing Services?

If you are wanting to market your blog through social media, we at Performance Driven Marketing would be happy to help you get started. We have comprehensive online marketing and website-building services that can help you get your business out there. We can help improve your SEO, manage your social media platforms, and even write content for your website. If you are interested in starting a blog for your business, our talented team will be of great help to you. For more information, reach out to us at Performance Driven Marketing today.

Starting a business is no small task. There are an almost unlimited number of questions to answer, problems to solve, and possibilities to consider. While the end result can be very rewarding, you don’t want to begin without first doing your research. Before starting your business, there are a few strategies to employ to see if people are looking for what you have to offer.

Finding if There Is a Market with Google Trends

The days of canvassing a neighborhood to get people to buy a product are well on their way out the door. With the prevalence of Google as a search engine, the most efficient way to pool for consumer interest is by analyzing what people are looking up online, and one of the best ways to do that is with Google Trends. 

Google Trends is a search feature that shows the popularity trends of any given search term in Google. Because you can refine your search based on time window, region, category, and type of media searched for, Google Trends gives pretty comprehensive data for you to find out if there’s a market for your product or service before starting your business. 

Discover Your Product’s Search Trajectory

If you want to discover if your niche is on the rise, set your Google trends parameters to “2004–present.” This will give you a global view of how your keywords are faring, whether many have searched for your terms and if popularity of the term is waxing or waning.

This data can also be helpful in determining when you announce your business. Are people looking for collapsible snow shovels in June or January? These trends don’t necessarily govern the timeline of your business setup, but they can educate and inform you going into the process.

Especially if you are looking for products to sell, beware of fads. The search trends for these spike in isolated periods of time and plummet just as quickly. Fads are a flash in the pan and are not a good business investment.

Location, Location, Location

Before starting your business, check your product’s search popularity by region. With the internet as the dominating source of business traffic, you are not confined to your geographical region as to where to sell your stuff. Services are more dependent on location, but you can check to see how many in your area have looked for the service you want your business to provide.

Use “Related Topics” to Expand Your Business Model

Especially if your business model is still in its infancy, you can discover what similar topics people commonly search for. At the bottom of the page during a Google Trends search, Google includes related topics that people also look up when they search for your topic. These may be within your niche or adjacent to it, but they may also feel tangential. 

Either way, it can help you expand your business model to include other services or products mentioned in these metrics since they are a good indication that your intended audience has interest in these topics as well. These may not always make a lot of sense to include in your business plan, but you may choose to incorporate them in other ways. The “Related Queries” section is a good source for this as well.

Healthy Competition

Before starting your business, it is helpful to know if other companies exist that cater to the Google searches you find. Google Trends has a compare feature to let you see how well they are doing. Be wise with this information. Understand that a bit of competition is good for business, but you don’t want to oversaturate the market. Use discretion and highlight what makes your business different.

Other Strategies for Monitoring Interest Before Starting Your Business

What happens if there doesn’t seem to be a market for your service or product? This does happen, and Trends will indicate that it doesn’t have enough data to form trendlines. So what do you do? Throw in the towel? Not necessarily. Maybe your business will offer something that people are looking for but don’t know they are looking for, or maybe a little refining will help your business get on the map.

Other ways to check for consumer interest include GoogleAds, social media ads, and networking. Following the ups and downs of these methods can be challenging, so before starting your business you might choose to brush up on how to use them. You can also let Performance Driven Marketing handle your online presence, delegating the marketing strategies to the professionals. We’re eager to help you follow your passion to get your business up and running.

Designing a website for your business needs to give your information clearly to your customers while showing who you are as a company. Performance Driven Marketing works to design and develop your website with your personality in mind. While you may have the best website design formed in your mind, there are multiple aspects to consider when choosing website themes and color schemes. 

Proactive Website Themes

Choosing the right theme for your website is the best way to put your most important content at the top and keep customers on your website for longer. Choosing a cohesive theme makes your site easy to navigate, and visually appealing without being too cluttered. 

High Octane 

Here at PDM, we use this fully customizable theme for our clients. Our development team uses this theme because of its high SEO ranking and functionality without compromising the overall look of your site. We push this theme because it is the best way for us to provide you with the best web services.  

Working with our team to develop your website instead of using a premade theme is the best option to help you avoid broken code and help you create a completely custom website. When you use a pre-built theme on your own, you may not have the support or help of a web developer. When a problem arises, you may not be able to remedy it and your website is now useless. PDM can help fix problems with our design or any updates that occur in WordPress. 

 

The following WordPress themes are usually best for DIY sites because they are more cost-effective. 

Divi

Divi is an interactive WordPress theme that helps make it easy for the developer to make changes or gives you the tools to design the website yourself. Divi is a theme that lets you have beautiful visuals and allows you to drag and drop what pieces you need on your site. This theme makes it easy to put the most important information to you exactly where you want it. 

Divi is also fully responsive and helps you rank well for SEO. Using this theme helps our team or you focus on more detailed aspects of your business and spend less grueling time on your website. 

Astra

The theme of Astra is a very responsive theme with coding samples built in. This theme also has unique advanced options to help mobile users better use your site. Astra has many features that can help take your site to the next level. When you put a mobile design first, you will get more customers who are able to conveniently access your site on their mobile phones. 

Ultra

If you are looking for a multipurpose theme, Ultra is the one for you. Another drag-and-drop theme comes with built-in designs or templates to help save time in the design process. Ultra has animations, sliders, and access to Google maps to help your customers see all perspectives of your company. 

Authority Pro

The theme of Authority Pro is perfect for those influencers or business owners that are looking to market themselves. It is eCommerce ready so that you can sell online and build a community. Your designer can also add a vertical social menu, custom widgets, and more to grow your collective community. 

Neve

This modern WordPress theme is designed to make your website faster and less intense. With light design and easily customizable footers and headers, choosing the Neve theme will help your site run faster than your competitors. 

Why Use WordPress?

The Client Management System of WordPress is the best for our SEO clients and proper site management. This is because it is user-friendly and is the top choice for the Client Management System (CMS). This allows you to keep track of who is visiting a purchasing from your website and make relationships with potential and existing customers. When you use this software with us, you will see real results and be able to have true customer relationships. 

Appealing Color Schemes

Once you have determined the theme of your website, it is time to coordinate the colors of your business, brand, and all your web pages. 

Jewel Tones

The colors considered as jewel tones help to make your website colorful without using neons. Jewel tones are softer but still bold enough to be seen on dark or light backgrounds. Jewel tones can include colors like Mauve, Deep Blue, Lavender, and Mandarin. These colors can help give your business website an expensive look and feel. 

Double Blue

Monochromatic use of blue can be a classy look for your business. Blues of darker and lighter hues can help create contrast while limiting the number of color choices you have to make. Choosing a monochromatic color scheme saves you the stress of matching colors and changing text colors to make them readable. 

Grayscale With One Color

A classic color combination is to use variations of grays with one brighter color (like Yellow) for some of your text, links, and buttons. This timeless design not only makes the text easy to read, but it stops your website from looking too pushy or cluttered. A bright color that is only used in certain areas of the site will help draw the viewer’s eye to those specific aspects. 

Gradients

Companies like Canva, Pho, Instagram, and Gucci Beauty have all implemented color gradients. Blue to purple, blue to orange, pink to orange, or other gradients can make your website look more modern. They also give you a little more freedom to create a beautiful design without choosing just one color. 

Beige And Purple

Some unlikely combinations seem like they won’t work, but they do. Beige and purple may seem like a risky combination but it can help your website stand out against other similar websites. Purple has royal or regal roots that can help visitors see your company as knowledgeable, and make a lasting impression. 

Color Designs And Combinations To Avoid

While your website is your own and can be designed to your specifications, there are some color schemes and mistakes we work to help clients avoid. When it comes to website themes and color schemes, it is best to avoid putting text over detailed backgrounds or light colors over that type of background. 

It is also best to avoid pure black, because of the sheer saturation and intensity when looking at the screen. A dark gray or variation is best for logos and backgrounds, but the black text can be used. 

Hire PDM To Optimize Your Website

Our development and design team at Performance Driven Marketing work directly with you to make sure your website stands out from the competition. We want to help our clients rank highly on Google and increase their SEO, so we choose themes that run at fast speeds, work well with mobile devices, and look visually appealing. Each website we design helps to generate leads for your company. 

A proper website with friendly website themes helps people to remember who you are while relaying a specific message to customers. A website is the main way that people find your products or services so having something you are proud to show off, is important. Fill out our contact form to learn more about our services and schedule your website build today!

With how visual our world is now, high-quality images are crucial in order to create a trustworthy site and advertisements. Many people use stock images for marketing purposes, but it’s essential to be careful with these. Using stock images for marketing can be very beneficial when done correctly. However, many people don’t realize the different practices they need to utilize when using stock images.

Here is what you need to know about whether you even should be using stock images for marketing purposes, as well as what you need to do in order to ensure that they’re used effectively.

Should You Use Stock Images For Marketing?

This is a topic of some debate. Some people say that no, you should absolutely never ever use stock images. You should hire a professional photographer and ensure that all of the images you use are original. Others say that there’s nothing wrong with using stock images, so long as you follow the appropriate practices.

In truth, you can use both. Professional, original images of your team, your business, and your products add authenticity that customers love. However, hiring a professional photographer can be expensive, and you can find yourself needing more images than you currently have. You need a variety in order to avoid boring potential clients and causing them to click away from your site. 

Using stock images for marketing allows you to cut costs down on professional photography, but you need to ensure that the stock images you use suit your purposes. The more authentic they look, the better. You must also ensure that you follow all the licensing restrictions to avoid getting landed in hot water. There’s nothing wrong with using stock images for marketing purposes, so long as you utilize the following practices.

How To Use Stock Images Effectively

Stock images can be a lifesaver. However, they can also be incredibly easy to spot, which can lower the trustworthiness of your site. You need visual elements on your site in order to catch and maintain attention – no one likes blocks of texts, after all. But the wrong stock images can backfire, impacting how much time people spend on your site and how likely they are to contact you about your services.

Here’s what you need to know about using stock images for marketing effectively.

#1. Ensure That You Check Their Legality

You can end up getting sued if you use stock images incorrectly. There are many different sites that sell stock images you can use, such as Depositphotos. They will typically list any usage clauses, modification limitations, and image permissions. It’s essential that you understand the licensing and copyright before using an image.

For instance, one stock image may be fine to use on your site, but may have a clause saying that it cannot be used in print. Thus, you need to know the licensing rules of the stock images you want to use. If a stock image you like has restrictions that mean you can’t use it how you wanted to, you will need to find another. 

#2. Know What Type Of Licensing You Need

This goes hand-in-hand with the above point. There are two main types of stock image licensing: royalty-free and rights-maintained. 

• Royalty-free stock images are images that you can use repeatedly after a one-time purchase. They are not exclusive, so you may notice competitors using the same stock images you do. 
• Rights-maintained stock images come with exclusive rights that can expire. They allow you to use the image exclusively for a higher price.

Ensure that you understand the restrictions of each image you use to avoid violating its copyright or licensing. Know when you need to credit photos too.

#3. Select Images That Look Authentic

You know the infamous stock images that are so fake they’ve become memes? Unless you’re trying to take a humorous angle, it’s best to avoid such images. The more natural and authentic the stock image, the more trustworthy your site will be and the more professional it will appear.

The more obviously posed and staged and exaggerated the emotions of the models in the photo, the worse it looks on your site. Instead, opt for images that depict more natural poses and emotions to generate trust and give your site more authenticity. 

#4. Know When To Use Stock Images And When To Get Original Pictures

If you can easily get your own images, why use stock images for marketing? For instance, if you have a cooking site and you’re writing recipes, it would be better to get pictures of what you actually made, instead of using stock images. Consider when you can ask your team if you can take pictures of them while they are at work, for a more human element to your site.

#5. Optimize Your Images For SEO

Many people overlook images in their SEO practices. Regardless of whether you use stock images for marketing purposes or original photos, you need to ensure that the images are optimized. This means:

• Rename the file to include your keywords. Avoid underscores. The image name matters, so instead of a random string of numbers, use something like: gutter cleaning in autumn. 
• Be mindful of the file format. Generally, you will use JPEG for photos and PNG for illustrations and logos. 
• Use the alt text, as this helps both SEO and with accessibility.
• Use your image title tags.
• Compress images as needed, so pages load quickly.
• Caption accordingly. You don’t want to be spammy and jam keywords into the caption, but you can do a simple descriptive caption that fits with the content of the image and your page. 

These are but a few of the ways you can optimize your images for SEO. If you would like to learn more about using stock images for marketing or image optimization, the experts here at Performance Driven Marketing are here to help. We know how to use stock images for marketing in a way that benefits your site’s SEO and authenticity. Contact us today to learn more about how we can improve your site’s SEO.