How to Build an Effective Local SEO Strategy

Instead of selecting a broad SEO marketing plan, choosing to pursue local SEO may be even more satisfying. If a business is one that depends on local customers and reaching local customers online, pursuing local SEO is one of the more effective tools one may employ to accomplish these goals.

For companies struggling to rank effectively in their localized marketplace, local search engine optimization can help rank one higher in Google Maps listings, location-related keyword searches, and more.

Local SEO is search engine optimization specifically targeting location-based searching. In building short- and long-tail keywords, including a location can help take an SEO plan further in reaching customers.

To learn how to do search engine optimization successfully, local SEO results ultimately come down to three factors. The first is relevance. Search engines like to build results based off the most qualified, high quality web pages possible. Therefore, you need to provide them with relevant, high quality content. Then, there’s proximity. Though not every search result will contain a location, Google attempts to determine location based on the user. The third and final factor is the reputation that a website carries online, such as in reviews and ratings. The higher that your business ranks locally is dependent on these three things, among many other aspects of search engine optimization that play into it.

The process of building location-specific SEO begins by optimizing title tags and headers first. Include your location in the title tags and headers. This lets search engines identify a specific location which means a higher likelihood that your site will appear to individuals searching in that region. The same approach should be taken on the main headers of a page. If you find that it’s getting in the way of delivering quality content though, use them sparingly.

Next, you want to make the name of your business, address, and phone number clear on your site as well as in the Google My Business listing. Name, address, and phone number should be included regularly in any business listings you maintain online. Including business hours is also an excellent idea. You may choose to do these things on a separate ‘Contact’ page. If so, embed a Google map on your Contact page for any users in need of directions or who want a better idea of where your location is. Another way to heighten your Contact page is by including reviews and testimonials. All of this is designed to help establish trustworthiness and authority.

The last thing that bears mentioning when discussing how to build an effective local SEO strategy is to ensure your page is mobile responsive. More than 60 percent of searches are now done on mobile devices, most of these equipped with location. For anyone searching on their smartphone while they are out on the go, location plays a big role in what results come up. Also, more users are turning to Google Maps for their mobile searches, putting even more emphasis on location. Here exists a great opportunity to pull in some walk-in traffic, sometimes already ready buy.

There are only a few key differences between local SEO and more generalized SEO however these strategies are important. Local search results are a challenging beast and if you don’t know where to start, we hope that this talk helped to shed some light. By pursuing these tips and tricks, you can rank higher in local search results and reach customers you may not have even known were there

How to Build an Effective Small Business Website

Building a smart, effective small business website begins with investing the time to know what to do and what not to do. There are a multitude of different areas where companies make common mistakes, including inserting too much text, a bad visual design, poor or no CTAs included, and a lack of keyword targeting. Every site is going to go through growing pains, yes, however you can save yourself time and money by getting to know the basics.

#1 — To Hire a Web Designer or to Do it Yourself

The first step to building a small business website is to decide whether this is something you want to attempt on your own or if you choose to hire someone else. Cost is a big consideration, as web design expenses can add up quickly if one does not where to spend. The unfortunate reality is that most of the business owners who try to do it themselves end up not producing the results they have the potential of having. Be it a simple site or something more complex, hiring someone ensures you get experience and knowledge on your side. Also — and this is a biggie for many business owners — it saves time. Keep your focus on running the business and oversee the larger decisions when it comes to your website, letting someone else do the heavy lifting for you.

#2 — It’s Way more Work than you probably think

Even with the most experienced of web designers, there’s always something unexpected that will eventually rear its head resulting in more time and effort having to be dedicated to a website. By having outside help on hand, you can literally save hours of your time trying to work some of these issues out. Even better, by hiring a web design company or a single web designer, they should be able to point you towards analytical tools that help in seeing where your site is succeeding and where improvements are required. The nature of having a website is one where continued improvement is a necessity.

#3 — Defining what you Need

Depending on your category of business, some elements may be more appropriate than others to include. For example, enticing, interactive graphics are not really needed for a contractor business. For a news site, including a comments section is recommended and a share bar. For an ecommerce site, product descriptions are going to be important in addition to potentially a lot of back-end work to ensure everything is running smoothly. By consulting with a professional web designer, you get their input in what is best to input into a site design.

#4 — Creating something Amazing

By constantly improving on your site’s design and conversion capability, over time, you should be seeing increases in site traffic and revenues. In today’s landscape of marketing and advertising, even in local markets, having a website and social media marketing plan is key to a business’ long-term success. No matter what category of service you are in, tap into a whole new set of customers by setting up a website and accompanying marketing plan.

In the end, creating something amazing does not happen overnight. It requires time, effort, financial investment, intelligence, and luck. In the long run though, you will be thankful you invested everything you did to get set up.

9 Ways to boost SEO and better Target Keywords related to your Business

Improving SEO is not as easy as deciding on some keywords and turning out a ton of blog content. If anything, that’s the exact opposite of what any website should do yet so many believe this to be the right way to approach search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization involves many moving parts and constant updates from players such as Google which need to be considered in strategy. Before getting started on a website’s SEO plan, here are the most effectives strategies we’ve found to increase search engine rank.

High-quality content that is updated consistently
 Commit to building focused, targeted content that does not compromise on quality. What many companies forget on this point is that beyond developing high-quality content, consistency in its release is required. By setting up a regular schedule of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly releases, you create more value for your site from search engines’ perspectives.

Image optimization with alt-text
 Alt-text communicates to search engines what a picture is about, helping to rank images to keywords in the same way as text. Alt-text should always be filled in, describing the images that appear. Sans alt-text, there is no other way for a search crawler to understand image placement.

Keywords in URLs, page titles, headings, and more
Keywords optimization is central to search engine optimization. Keywords need to be applied not only in the body of the content but also in URLs, page titles, and headings. That said, do not keyword stuff or add keywords unnaturally into content. By doing so, you may see penalties resulting in lower search engine rankings and potentially more issues as it pertains to the site’s relationship with Google.

Earning quality links to your website
 Connecting your website to high authority sites is key to where one ranks in search results. Seek out links from quality websites related to your business. An easy way to do this is by publishing content on your site that others are willing to link to.

Site navigation
 Site structure and navigation should be configured for an easy, enjoyable user experience. Sites with high bounce rates send a signal to search engines that your site is not quality. Improving structure and navigation can help keep consumers happy and index pages clear.

Improving site speed
 The amount of time it takes your website to load is something noticed and picked up on by search engines like Google. If a site takes more than a few seconds to load, expect higher bounce rates and the perception of a low-quality site, sending search engines scrambling to rank other sites above yours.

Creating a positive user experience
 Websites should always be seeking to improve, constantly ensuring it functions to its maximum potential. By providing users with a website that works and where information can be easily located, search engines will interpret your site to be high quality.

Mobile-responsiveness and mobile search
 Google recently switched from a desktop-first index to a mobile-first index, meaning that sites with high mobile responsiveness now rank higher than their counterparts. Evaluate your website from a mobile user’s perspective. Now that over 60 percent of online searching is done on smartphones and tablets, mobile responsive designs are a necessity.

Regular updates
 Websites require ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure that it does not lose its placement on search engines. Remember, there are usually at least a dozen, if not hundreds, of sites gunning for where you are placed on a search engine. To succeed, you should be checking in regularly on your site’s SEO strategy.
Contact us if you need help with your website optimization and Digital Marketing

What no one tells you about Building Effective Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization has been a key focal point among online marketing experts, for over a decade. Achieving big results in digital marketing depends heavily on a site’s ability to succeed in its SEO strategies.

For sites not able to navigate the waters of search engines, they get left behind fast. Those that do succeed, however have the opportunity to see big jumps in web traffic, increased quality of leads, and higher conversion rates overall. Whether you’ve already involved with search engine optimization or are just getting started, here’s what no one tells you about building effective SEO.

Investing the right amount of money into SEO can see high ROI

There’s no way around it, to succeed using search engine optimization strategies, you need to spend money. Figure these into your company’s marketing campaign budget. Though the price may be high, compare it to traditional means of offline advertising. SEO is cost-effective and does not require a significant amount of money to work. Though it will take an investment, spreading out financial resources smartly over time can see some big return-on-investment (ROI).

SEO is not a destination — it’s a journey

Search engine optimization is ongoing. It’s not the process of executing a strategy, achieving a result, and then, keeping that result indefinitely. Search engine rankings change daily and what a campaign may have achieved six months ago, it requires fine-tuning over time to stay competitive. Consequences of SEO — such as increased online presence — should generate the income required to maintain ongoing SEO work. Be sure to evaluate online visibility monthly to ensure your website still ranks where it needs to be.

If the content is not relevant and high quality, you won’t get anywhere

SEO is not about stuffing a bunch of keywords and optimized code into a site, assuming that is what’s best. Any SEO expert knows that providing high quality, relevant content is at the centre of it all. Be it social media posts, blogs, general articles, press releases, images, video, or other forms of content, the relevancy and usefulness of the information must be high. Remember, it is quality over quantity.

Your competitors are likely using a lot of the same strategies

Marketing via SEO comes with some basic tenants that most sites use. Needless to say, your competitors are likely doing a lot of the same things you are doing SEO-wise. This is both, good and bad. The good is that you can see what your competitors are doing with their SEO strategies, determining what’s working and what isn’t. The bad is that, though pursuing SEO might elevate your website beyond all the sites who are not actively involved in search engine optimization, it may be difficult to beat out some competitors who have been doing it longer and/or more smartly.

SEO actually improves the user experience

SEO challenges a website owner to get incredibly involved in their site. In the end, this makes a higher quality website and a more user-friendly experience. The common ways SEO affects the user experience is by encouraging regular updates on content, publishing and sharing of high quality content, faster load speed and load times, images with alt-text optimized, keywords in strategic places alongside CTAs, streamlining site structure, keeping navigation simple, and having mobile responsiveness embedded into the design, ensuring consumers are able to reach the site from any device.

Contact us if you need help with your website search engine optimization.

Successful Customer Offboarding is to know the Right Way to End a Relationship with a User

Customer onboarding, within the context of online marketing, is the experience a customer has when they first encounter your website. As important as it is to entice, qualify interest, and provide CTAs in the onboarding process, what is equally important is how a customer’s interaction with your business comes to an end. For that, we look to the term ‘customer offboarding’.

There is an art to bringing customer interactions to a conclusion. Even if you don’t close a product or service sale, if a consumer leaves your website happy, they are more likely to share their positive experience with others and potentially growing your business. If a customer has a negative experience and leaves your business disappointed or upset, this does not reflect well.

There are some businesses who believe customer offboarding to mean doing everything one possibly can to retain the client. That is, make them exclusive promotional offers, provide discounts, and/or do whatever needs to be done to keep their business. At some point though, one needs to recognize when they’re simply not going to reach the customer.

For example, when a client walks into their bank to close accounts and move their finances over to a competitor, this is not the time to be throwing down offers. Be it cancelling an account or service, returning a product purchased, or whatever it may be, consumers need to feel heard and accommodated for. If it takes a consumer too much time and effort to close their business with your company, the act of trying to retain the consumer is going to backfire.

We have all been in that position where a company makes it difficult to offboard. It’s endlessly frustrating having to jump through hoops just in order to leave a product or service behind. The key to businesses who know the advantages of customer offboarding strategies are to make cancelling or opting out easy. Designing a good offboarding experience will, at best, potentially lead to a consumer returning down the line or, at worst, leave them with a positive or neutral feeling towards your business going forward.

Therefore, keep customer offboarding simple. Don’t set up a ton of barriers for someone to opt-out. Above all else, do not knowingly create design patterns of visually confusing design or difficult to interpret copywriting as a way to retain the customer. It won’t work and at the end of the day, it will make you look like you are trying to trick the user into doing something they just plain don’t want. Consumers are not dumb. They will catch on to any guilt-tripping, unnecessary processes, or misleading design patterns.

For a strong, healthy customer offboarding experience, firstly, identify reasons consumers may want to leave your website or company. Perhaps there are areas to improve company processes by knowing where you are losing consumers. Secondly, empathize with the user and consider what they might want to gain from leaving you company. Thirdly, don’t draw it out. Keep the offboarding experience simple and don’t waste anyone’s time. Lastly, no one likes a website begging for ales, attention, or that needlessly upsells. Recognize the value in a fast, to-the-point customer offboarding experience.

These are the strategies we employ in our belief of the right way to end a company-customer relationship. The customer ultimately calls the shots. When they want to opt-out, unsubscribe, or leave, a quality offboarding experience is something that they’ll appreciate.

We are an affordable web design and internet marketing company in Toronto

We are an affordable web design and internet marketing company in Toronto
We have developed over 1800 websites since 1997
We design website
We create contents
We write blog
We make video
We promote your website EVERY DAY over 100 platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter and many more
We do content marketing and
We bring results.

Call us at 1-877-283-18311 or contact us at http://unlimitedexposure.com/contact-digital-marketing-agency-in-toronto.html

Is My Website Design Trendy or Dated – A Look into the Future of Design

The type of web design that made the cut even a decade ago is significantly different from the way web pages are built today. Some business websites are quickly falling behind the curb, especially as trends in web design continue to change. So is your business website design trendy or date – let’s find out.

The future of web design is being slowly pulled towards pageless design. When we say ‘pageless design’, we mean a design where all of the content on a website is published on one long page. This is the opposite of what would be considered multi-page design, which is how the majority of business sites are built today. Though the future might be pageless, does that mean that, if your site is not pageless, it is somehow out of touch with the times – not necessarily.

Most of the philosophies surrounding contemporary web design involve building pages that are user-friendly, interactive, embedded with clear CTAs, and that use conversion rates as predominant measures of success. In order for each of these components to work successfully, they must be clear in the information they communicate. Websites are essential tools for businesses to communicate information about their products and services, using CTAs in the process. The multipage web design succeeds because it is neatly structured information according to consumer interests, often times being divided among different service pages, different location pages, and allowing brands to embed entirely different pages and CTAs into one all-encompassing website.

Therefore, any business site that accurately and appropriately communicates its message should make for a successful design – in theory, anyways. In reality, businesses are working with consumer perspectives which establish clear lines between what is considered trendy, credible, authoritative, and appropriate, and what isn’t. Though a web design does not have to be highly experimental and reinvent the form, it should prove effective in its communications by capitalizing on important trends.

Think about all the other websites you are competing with for attention. There may not only be local competitors, but provincial/state competition, larger corporate conglomerates, and sites from all over the world. They’re all battling for the same space. Every second, new sites are being launched around the world – some with exquisitely beautiful design and most that are not. Pageless design is the future of web design and is something that slowly more businesses are going to be switching to because it’s the design theory that appeals to the current consumer base.

Pageless web design is the chosen choice for trendy websites because of its high level of responsiveness among mobile users. As impressive as a multi-page design might appear on a desktop or laptop computer, the same design applied on a mobile device wreaks havoc on user navigation. Currently, web design companies create responsive multi-page designs which are adapted to suit mobile screens, be it on a smartphone or tablet. A pageless web design, however would be more advantageous, providing all information on a single page built for the mobile experience.

Think about where the majority of your customers is coming from. If it’s from mobile sources – as it for most websites – discussing the possibility of switching to a pageless design might be right for your site. Do away with the traditions, outdated conventions, and multi-page designs that are failing to gain significant traction on mobile screens. Instead, choose pageless designs to maximize the potential of the mobile audience and create a more satisfying, user-centric consumer experience.

Contact us if you need help with making a pageless website

How Video content can make a different at promoting your company products or services online

How Video content can make a different at promoting your company products or services online

Contact us if you need help with your video marketing or call us at 1-877-283-1831

Inside Local SEO Strategies and how any Company can Surpass its Competition

Mobile users are a captive audience that if you’re not already tapping into, you should be. Mobile users and mobile search have surpassed desktop use and searches. Approximately 30 percent of all mobile searches related to location, including those performed in Google Maps. To ensure that your website is getting the most visibility it can with location-based and location-related searches, it involves first filling out all citations and business information in any local listings and directories. Be consistent across all listings, including Google Maps, where your business name, contact information, and website link should be placed.

After filling out local business directories and listings, ensure you claim your Google My Business Page and Bing Places for Business. These are two 100% necessary directories, required for local SEO success. This way, anyone who puts in a search on mobile or desktop platforms in your location using the relevant keywords, they should see your site name come up in the results.

The next component to local SEO strategies involves evaluating and improving online ratings and reviews. Even leaving local SEO marketing out of it, this is just good business. If someone has left a negative review of a product, service, or your business in general, be responsive. Seek ways to ameliorate the situation, resolve the dispute, and/or address the comment. Even if you cannot get a negative review pulled, by going the extra mile to ensure the customer is heard, this has the potential to have positive consequences down the line.

Above all else, relevant local content and ranking with location-based long-tail keywords are the central reasons why some companies surpass others in their local region. Title, meta description tags, and site body content should all be embedded with locations. For example, let’s say you are a local marketing firm in Toronto. You would want the title, meta data, and body of a page include keywords such as ‘marketing firm Toronto’, ‘marketing Toronto’, and ‘marketing services Toronto’, among other possible options. The insertion of location into keywords can help Google index your page according to location. Also, inserting the geographic area as close as you can to the beginning of a tag, title, or paragraph also helps to communicate to search engines the importance of it as a keyword or term.

The deeper we delve into local SEO strategies, the more likely the question is to be asked, “If I am marketing my business to different locations, how do I create effective local SEO strategies?” If the goal is to service different regions, a website designer must create what we call ‘location pages’ which uses location-specific keywords unique to each page. These pages can then be used as landing pages for each geographic region. For example, a Canadian marketing company targeting locations across eastern Canada may include individual pages for ‘marketing firm Toronto’, ‘marketing firm Ottawa’, ‘marketing firm Montreal’, and ‘marketing firm Halifax’.

For small businesses marketing to a specific geographic area, localized search engine optimization oftentimes is what will make the most impact and will help to surpass competitors in the local marketplace.

Contact us if you need help with your local seo marketing.

How to Build a Smart Small Business Website with Strong CTAs

Building a small business website is a necessary part of growing a company in this day and age. Websites act as a 24-7 sales resource, attracting new customers and closing sales without the business owner having to lift a finger.

A Sneak Peak into 2018’s Biggest Trends in Ecommerce Web Design

Top ecommerce web design companies are already capitalizing on some of this year’s biggest trends. The trends we’ve included on our list of 2018’s biggest tap into the creative minds of savvy web designers and passionate ecommerce developers. For better conversion rates, adapt any of these tips and strategies to your ecommerce website.

 #1 – Customized, location-friendly, date-friendly email marketing

 Attracting existing and new customers to your ecommerce platform is made easy using email marketing. By sending offers directly to a person’s inbox, catch consumers as they’re ready to buy. Create location-based, limited-time only promotional offers. Send discount codes for special holidays, such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, summer vacation, and more. More companies in ecommerce are seeing bigger revenues from email marketing than they are anything else, including social media marketing.

 #2 – Higher customer engagement via social media and other platforms

 Ecommerce web design marketing campaigns must be built off consumer engagement. Emails, social media, customer service initiatives, and other engagement strategies are extremely effective at leading customers back to your ecommerce marketplace.

 #3 – Informational, helpful content

 Most customers doing online shopping will take the time to research a product and look into reviews, prior to making a purchasing choice. By setting up your ecommerce site with a review section for each product and sufficient product descriptions, this content may be enough information to qualify the customer then and there. Better yet, combine this with unique blog and social media content built on a content marketing strategy, and before long, you should see big improvements on key metrics.

 #4 – Humanizing your brand

 Be real, authentic, and human in your email communications to the customer, social media postings, and content marketing. Adding personality and some genuineness gives the impression that consumers are with a friend. By being real and connecting with your customers sans the excessive sales pitch, you may see more loyal consumers in the long-term.

 #5 – Taking control of ecommerce social media pages

 When customers are ready to make a purchase on something, if an ecommerce site doesn’t have all the answers, customers will likely visit social media to pose the question. As an ecommerce web company, being on top of social media queries and reviews can add tremendous value to the business. Any long-term ecommerce strategy should incorporate social media, to some degree.

 #6 – Mobile-friendly and mobile-optimized

 More users are coming to ecommerce sites than ever before from mobile devices. Focusing on convenience and accessibility on mobile platforms has been key for numerous ecommerce brands early in 2018. When creating a mobile responsive ecommerce web design, be sure to take into account any chat support you wish to include, in addition to ensuring the checkout process is sufficiently optimized. To this point, offering digital wallet payment options – such as PayPal – can increase an ecommerce site’s chances at closing a sale.

 #7 – Using a pick-up in-store option for any brick and mortar businesses

 If you are one of the ecommerce sites fortunate enough to have a brick and mortar partner or a dedicated location, setting up in-store pick-ups can be a great way to encourage consumers to buy. This way, they can order the product online, save on shipping costs, and on top of everything, you receive a walk-in customer who may be able to be upsold to other products in-store.

2018 is going to be yet another record-setting year for ecommerce sales. As the marketplace continues to grow, these trends are likely to define the biggest ecommerce successes.  Call us if you need help with your e-commerce website

The Immense Value in Asking your Customers for their Data

The more information you have about your customers, the more successful you will be at growing your client base. Remember, if you’re not sure about how to market to new customers, look to your existing buyers for answers.

 Assembling as much data as possible about your customers is key for several reasons. First and foremost, it allows one to personalize communications and market specifically to the customer. Studies have shown personalization in marketing to increase loyalty among existing customers and provide a higher chance of obtaining new customers. This is why meeting and getting to know customers is a high priority for so many businesses.

 Just as important as getting to know the backgrounds of your customers, it’s equally important to know what data is most significant. Don’t pursue invading questions about customers’ personal lives or participate in shady behaviour to obtain customer info. There’s many data sets already available to small businesses that they may not yet be tapping into. For example, purchase history is key. By knowing what customers have bought in the past, you may be able to pinpoint what they are most likely to buy in the future. By knowing a customers’ name, this can help personalize email communications to them. These two bullet points have the potential to increase the value of a customer to your business and, in turn, increase revenues.

 Consumers have been conditioned to handing over certain information about themselves and some are more than willing. For example, according to a recent study, more than 32 percent of users are willing to share their social media handles, 36 percent are willing to share their GPS location, and more than 38 percent are willing to provide a phone number under the condition that it will be used to receive text messages. Through these three pieces of information alone, a business has a number of personalization opportunities it can take advantage of – and to acquire this information, all a company has to do is ask.

 Always ask and don’t be secretive about collecting customers’ information. Many brands even go so far as to provide users with surveys to fill out, offering special promotions in return of providing their opinion. This might be a technique worth considering. Next time you visit your local grocery store or fast food restaurant, examine their survey strategy. Many times, they will offer a free menu item, a free gift card, or offer to put your name into a draw for a prepaid credit card. Provide value to the customer, in return for their time and effort in filling out a survey. Accumulating this information, you can better engage customers by using their name, making relevant product recommendations, and ultimately you make them a happier customer.

 Customer data, from a marketer’s perspective, can be used again and again to provide value. Customer data pays for itself again and again, and the more you have, the more effective your marketing can be. Remember to leverage this information to create different marketing personas to be used to provide more relevant messaging to different demographics. Studies have shown that through the use of different marketing personas, one can create advertisements as much as five times more effective. Personalized, relevant messaging is what it comes down to. Be sure to keep all of this in mind when considering the impact of customer data and what you can do with it. Let's chat

Small Business Entrepreneurs say, ‘We Don’t Need Online Marketing!’

 It’s not uncommon to hear from small business owners that they don’t need online marketing. Though that philosophy may have worked years ago – like let’s say, in the 1990s – in this day and age, not having an online marketing strategy in place is a HUGE mistake!

As it pertains to online marketing, there are a number of opportunities for small business entrepreneurs to increase revenues and reach a whole new audience. By setting up a website, a small business establishes a reputable, trustworthy presence online. By engaging in search engine optimization or SEO practices, this gets a business’ name out there on search engines, allowing new customers seeking your products or services to find you. For some companies, designing an e-commerce platform allows them to sell products or services online across the country and even internationally. Also, by building social media profiles, a small business opens up a direct line of communication with new and existing customers, cultivating stronger relationships in the local marketplace.

 As evidenced by the benefits, for any company who are not pushing themselves to establish a strong online presence, they are giving up customers to competitors who are. Far from a waste of time, online marketing is a necessity to thrive and survive.

 I’m happy with the customers I have.

 A lot of small businesses will come at online marketing with the belief that business is doing good and they don’t need to be any busier than they already are. To a point, they might be right. If you don’t want to grow your business beyond its current customer base, don’t. There will come a time though when you might not be able to count on your existing clientele. When that happens, you need to replace those customers or begin to see your business shrink. In this case, online marketing is needed because it sets a company up for the future and ensures they are positioned to continue growing in a healthy, sustainable way.

 I find my customers offline and not online.

 Because some businesses operate offline, they think they need to stay that way. That’s not true. Everyone from basement repair and construction companies to roofing companies, to waste collection companies, to cleaning companies all have websites. That’s because they realize the more than 1 billion active Facebook users out there every day and the more than 5 billion Google searches performed daily. There are customers out there to be found for any company!

 I tried it. It didn’t work.

 Maybe the reason why online marketing didn’t work for you was because of the stakeholders involved. Good marketing wins customers. Bad marketing does not. If you’ve not had success, partnering with an online marketing company who knows their stuff might do the trick. Finding new customer channels and different, more cost-effective strategies are keys to success in marketing.

 It’s too expensive. I don’t see the point.

 Yes, online marketing comes at a cost – just like offline marketing does. Marketing is an investment though. It helps to acquire customers and depending on the quality of your service in addition to the quality of your product, marketing generates revenues. When done correctly, the ROI is worth it. There’s a high value in online marketing and for those that choose not to see it, other businesses will and those other businesses may just be competitors to yours. That said, there are many different online marketing strategies to choose from and not all components of online marketing may be recommended for a business.

 Speak to a qualified online marketing specialist for more information on what is appropriate for your business and don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with an online marketing campaign that takes your company somewhere it hasn’t been before.

Source : http://unlimitedexposure.com/basic-digital-marketing/625-small-business-entrepreneurs-say,-%E2%80%98we-don%E2%80%99t-need-online-marketing-%E2%80%99.html

Key Strategies to Keeping Kids Safe on the Internet and away from the Darker Side of Tech

The Internet is filled with way too many opportunities for kids to jump down a rabbit hole to inappropriate subject matter, questionable photos, manipulative content, hate speech, and misinformation. Though there are many ways to protect kids from the darker side of the internet, there’s always more that we could be doing as parents to keep our children safe. To keep kids from straying towards stuff you don’t want them to see, here are some key strategies.

Supervise your children’s internet time

 Though it’s not always possible to be there 24/7, taking an interest in what your child is doing online and overseeing their internet use can help in identifying inappropriate subject matter. Be a co-pilot and partner to your child, as they explore the internet. As they get older, this obviously is not a realistic approach to take however even as they reach adolescence, be sure to check in now and again.

Set rules for using the internet

 Many parents find it very helpful to set rules on when and how the internet is to be used. For example, deciding what sites they are allowed to go to, how much time they are to spend on the computer, and limiting total screen time across their multiple devices is always helpful.

Be clear with your children on protecting their private information

 Kids rarely know how important it is to protect their personal, private information. Therefore, be sure to communicate to your children what personal information they are never to share online and the consequences of what happens when they do share this information. Among the information kids should never be sharing online, these include name, phone number email address, passwords, address and postal code, and school. Under no circumstances should your child be exchanging or sending pictures without your permission. Also, kids should never be opening emails from people they don’t know, responding to negative messages online, and should not be arranging to meet anyone they meet online.

Keep internet time in a central location

 Install the computer in a safe, public place in the home where it’s easy to oversee what’s going on. For some families, they may have multiple computers however only a few are connected to the internet. Any device connected to the internet should be held in a central location.

Use parental controls

 Using parental controls is a key component of internet safety for kids and is typically among the first things parents do before letting their children explore the internet. Be sure to look into what security monitoring system your ISP has provided you with. Depending on the brand, you might be able to limit access to certain sites and communication features according to time of day, content categories, keywords, and age-intent. There also may be parental controls on your browser which can help filter out content with inappropriate language, nudity, sexual references, and violence. These parental filters will not always catch everything you want them to but they should work to catch most of the content you want off-limits.

The last thing any parent wants is for their child to see something that makes them feel uncomfortable, bullied, sad, or confused. By employing these strategies, we believe you can better monitor your kids’ internet time and keep them safe from the places you don’t want them venturing to.

Source : http://unlimitedexposure.com/basic-digital-marketing/624-key-strategies-to-keeping-kids-safe-on-the-internet-and-away-from-the-darker-side-of-tech.html

Basic Mobile Apps And Web Design

How Smartphone Ownership is Seeing Teens less Happy and with Lower Self-Esteem

Less happy, lower life satisfaction, and weaker self-esteem are among the effects of climbing smartphone ownership among teenagers in North America. As approximately 73 percent of teenagers in the United States own smartphones – a percentage that continues to climb with each passing year – this is something that is in need of address.

A recent study published by a team of psychologists at the University of Georgia and San Diego State University suggests that the declines in happiness and self-esteem recorded in American teenagers is directly linked to smartphone ownership. The study tracked a series of data sets based on 1.1 million teenagers, demonstrating a rise in unhappiness and low self-esteem since 2012. What is interesting about this study is that for the entire decade prior to 2012, teens were actually getting happier and seeing higher self-esteem. Something in the period surrounding 2012 appears to have changed that, with a significant shift in level of happiness noted.

It’s no big secret that the world has embraced technology with open arms. By 2012, the smartphone revolution was in full force with 37 percent of teens owning one. By 2016, as stated, that number climbed to 73 percent. Throughout this time period, there have been multiple studies produced showing the negative effects of prolonged smartphone use, such as the conclusion that the longer a user spends engaged in online content and social media, the unhappier the teenager. The studies published have not all been negative either, with some showing how participating in social media can have a positive effect on a teen’s self-image.

 What studies like these show is that smartphones are not inherently a bad thing, when used in moderation. The line where positive use turns to negative is unclear, which is where the issue lay. What is evident is that adolescents and teens who tend to spend more time engaged in social media, texting, electronic games, and the internet tend to be unhappier. Though one can have debates on the merits of these statements, across multiple studies, it is difficult to argue with a conclusion that the vast majority have come to.

 The ultimate division seems to come down to screen time. Teens who tend to spend more time on non-screen activities report higher psychological ratings, and higher happiness and satisfaction than their screen-dedicated counterparts. Activities such as spending time with others in-person, exercising, and engaging in sport rate higher in happiness than screen-based activities, such as social media. As smartphones have come to present a screen experience one can have in their own pockets, for any teen who owns one, there is no real escape. Even if one is not directly engaged with a screen, it’s only a matter of time before they are.

 In the long-term, it’s understandable for parents and society to worry. More screens are being released to the public every day, smartphone ownership is still on the rise, and many non-screen processes are gradually being transferred to online spaces. The infrastructure we are creating for each other is one where, according to the data, we can expect increasingly unhappier, less satisfied people.

 In the years to come, there needs to be a serious discussion on the consequences of prolonged screen time and the mental health issues they have been known to perpetuate.

Source : http://unlimitedexposure.com/basic-mobile-apps-and-web-design/623-how-smartphone-ownership-is-seeing-teens-less-happy-and-with-lower-self-esteem.html