The Three Marketers have just returned from SMX San Jose, the world’s largest search marketing conference for online professionals! From Feb 19-20, SMX San Jose featured 2 days packed with expert-led, tactic-rich sessions covering everything from SEO to SEM and eCommerce and served as a great opportunity for us to gain the latest industry-leading insights to help benefit our current and future clients. Here are a few actionable tips we’ve picked up that can help boost your online marketing efforts:
Show Users That You’re Trustworthy
Google loves trustworthy websites, so be sure to let your users know that your website, and business, can be trusted.
- If your business is part of a trade association, don’t be shy to let your users know! Simply displaying logos on your site proves to users that your organization is part of a reputable and accredited association.
- If you have a local brick and mortar location people can visit in person:
- Make sure you include a photo of the building’s exterior or outside entrance in your local business listing.
- Include a photo of your sign (if it’s in front of the building or by an entrance).
- Avoid stock images! Using actual photos of your business does wonders to boost trustworthiness.
- Add a short bio or ‘About’ page highlighting the business owner and your staff. It’s also a great place to showcase any certification, awards, or accolades you’ve achieved!
- Include policies, such as a privacy policy or a refund policy, to help build trust with website visitors.
- Highlight past customer testimonials and listen, respond, re-assure, and be real with your customers. Don’t ignore bad reviews and reply to every single review you receive.
Demonstrate Your Authority
Google ranks authoritative websites that demonstrate expertise and genuinely help users.
- Make sure that all information published on your site is high-quality and factually accurate.
- Avoid thin-content and focus on in-depth explanations.
- Your content should be unique and fulfill a specific need.
- Avoid confusing users and provide clear, digestible, and useful content. Longer isn’t always better – simplify your message and focus on conveying the most useful information.
- Overcome objections and user uncertainty by offering money-back guarantees and free trials.
- Update site content regularly.
- Focus on crafting useful content that people will want to link to or share such as online guides, infographics, useful maps, quizzes, or tools.
Emphasize Positive User Experiences
Google wants you to get rid of your users’ frustration and is constantly on the lookout for sites that offer seamless user experiences.
- Ensure your site is mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, free of any errors, and that it loads fast.
- Opt for a professional-looking website design with a clear and consistent layout.
- Choose font sizes and styles optimized for scannability and readability over artistic fonts and colors.
- Make sure links are easily identifiable and get rid of those broken links!
- Use bullet points to separate and help key information stand out.
- Pay attention to your headlines. Well-written and well-designed headlines can drastically improve your site’s searchability.
- Include contact information (or a link to your contact page) on your homepage and throughout your entire site.
- Offer users multiple ways to connect with your business.
- A contact form doesn’t replace a phone number, be sure to include both on your site.
- If you run an eCommerce site, ensure that your checkout process is fast and easy.
Connect with the Three Marketers today to find out more about how our cutting-edge techniques can help grow your business online in 2020.
