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Category: Marketing
What is Hybrid Blogging?
When you promote your business, it is imperative to set yourself apart from the competition. Developing an effective marketing strategy is vital to the success of your business, and doing something different will help increase interest in your company and improve the likelihood of conversions. There are many different ways that you can promote your business, and it can be difficult to know where to start. Working with a skilled marketing partner can help you use all your outlets efficiently and direct you in different ways that will set you apart from your competition. One way to do this is with a term coined by Virteom hybrid blogging. What is Hybrid Blogging? Blogs are essential for todays businesses. If you think about it, majority of the pages you land on after Googling something is a blog. If youre a current Virteom customer, then youve probably heard CEO Dan Carbone talk about blogs and SEO in terms of frogs andlily pads. (You know, he gives you his whole spiel to think of your
You're too Busy for Marketing - and We Know Why!
We know why you arent marketing: youre running a business. Your time is literally your money and the money of everyone who works for you, and nothing eats up the hours of the day like running a business. When the buck stops with you, schedules need to be made, books need to be balanced, payroll needs to be in on time, supplies need to be ordered and products need to keep moving out steadily. On top of all that, you still have to deal with daily decisions that cant be planned for. Being your own boss has its drawbacks, and a premium on time is probably the most significant. The problem is your business still needs to market, because marketing wont happen by itself. Fresh original content needs to be posted to the business blog, social media needs to keep turning out fresh, useful information to your followers, and you need to continue to build your brand even as you get business done. How do you do that with all the responsibilities and time constraints you already have? Thats where we
Effective Video Marketing Grabs Attention and Boosts SEO
A television show, movie, video game they all hold our interest. And, while most of us love a good quality program, even the less-than-stellar options keep our attention at times. Incorporating video marketing into your marketing strategy capitalizes on this draw. Why Video Marketing is Important to You Videos hold human attention longer than our usual eight second, similar-to-a-goldfish span. Elevating us to new heights, video marketing interactively engages your audience, raises brand awareness and prompts lead generation. EyeView Digital suggests that landing page videos boost conversions by 80 percent. Increased time spent on your branded page, the trust raised with your audience and capitalizing on our human preference for having material fed to us (rather than reading it) gives video a leg up. But theres more. Check out this HighQ infographic for the stats on why video must be an integral part of your marketing strategy this year. How Video Marketing Fits Your Strategy Incorporating
3 Ways to Think Like Your Customer for Digital Marketing Success
Sometimes, the most valuable things cannot be measured. Gone are the days of a brands marketing strategy being only about the metrics and products or services. Marketing can be an impossible game to play as its based on assumptions. As our CEO Dan Carbone once put it, Its really just guessing and testing. However, the secret to success here can be simplified; Think Like Your Customer. Many businesses know that this is easier said than done, but once you have it down, everything falls into place. Many companies put a lot of resources into finding out their target market, the ideal customer. Some companies, dont put a focus on determining their buyer personas at all. Whether you have or have not pinpointed who your true audience is, understand that knowing who they are and how they behave is half of the battle. You have to put resources diligent effort into understanding who the people are that you will truly help with your business. Once you know who your buyers are, the rest flows naturally,
The Importance of Link Building
Link building is an important aspect of SEO marketing. If you have not yet employed link building strategies in your marketing structure, you are possibly missing out on potential business. Using link building strategies will help you create high-quality SEO marketing campaigns that will help your business thrive. But, first you need to understand what it is and how to use it. What is link building? Link building is a strategy that that gets web pages to link to each other by acquiring hyperlinks from other websites and apply them to your own site. It helps users navigate between different pages on the Internet. They also help search engines crawl between the pages on your website. There are different ways to build links. But, if you can master at least one of them, it can catapult you ahead of your competition.In the United States, the interest for link building has grown 43 percent since 2005. How are links created? Since links are at the crux of link building, it is important to
Create Landing Pages that Convert
Every nano-second on the web counts. Creating landing pages that score leads and sales brings a high return on investment and after all, thats the benefit of online marketing. But what strategies earn you the biggest lead in the game of online marketing? Lets take a look. 1. Know Your Team Strategies which work for one team, fail for others. One jersey does not fit all. Think about it: Your call-to-action (CTA) or goal, reader or user, product or niche are all unique. Your strategy must address these factors. Craft strategies which target your specific audience and reach your goals. At Virteom, our Persona Development helps you identify your buyers for your marketing strategy. Creating campaigns for different buyers and following the funnel with a landing page tailored to them as well not only leads to more conversions, but better-quality leads. 2. Spell It Out Fans in the stands know that cheers and chants that are short and spell things out reach the teams ears and engage the
Chatbots are on the rise -- and that's good news for you
Over the past few years, a new trend has been gaining steam online: chatbots. Theyre a type of artificial intelligence that can hold conversations with people in a realistic and human-like manner. In 2016, chatbots seemed to explode onto the scene as a new interactive marketing and customer service tool and this year, theyre only growing as new uses and environments start cropping up.. how are chatbots used? Typically, business chatbots have been used in a customer service capacity when you visit a website, a chatbot in the corner will pop up and ask you if you have any questions. This type of user engagement has worked well in the past, especially as it helps users save what can be a significant amount of time waiting for a customer service representative to become available simply to answer a routine question. But now, chatbots are moving into an even more personalized realm conducting routine activities for their users, from paying bills to scheduling meetings to ordering online. For
Creating an A+ Blog that Ranks High and Provides Value
With a lot on your mind, you pour your heart and soul into blog post after blog post. You post all the new events, awards and recognition your company gets. Isnt that quality? No fluff topics. No sales pitchy posts. Just trustworthy, heartfelt content. Unfortunately, even this noble foundation leaves many blogs unread. To create an A+ blog that ranks high in search engines, your content needs to provide value and speak to readers by doing the following. Feed Your Audience What It Wants Great content means little if it only has meaning to you. To draw readers in, you need to give audiences what they want to read. Look for trending topics, provide solutions to reader problems and answer their questions with your blog posts. Become a resource for your current customers and readers and future ones! To accomplish this, you need to do your research. Use Google Trends to find up-to-date topics based on search volume. Look to Quora, LinkedIn Answers and other such sites to identify
The Consequences of an Online Ego and Not Addressing the Customer
Set Your Pride Aside! There are certain mistakes that instantly kill the purpose of a marketing campaign and excessive boasting is one of them. A boastful and self-centric online presence highlights a lack of understanding of what customers want. So, while marketing may be all about putting a word about who you are, what you do and how well you do it, too much boasting can destroy your online image altogether. How do you get customers to choose you without talking about your capabilities and accomplishments? Bragging Ends up Costing More Than Youre Getting Businesses need to understand that the purpose of branding is to highlight the value their service/product holds for the customer. It should be about What You Will Get rather than What We Do? A simple change of subject can make a world of difference. Blowing your own horn is a sign of ego and customers arent attracted to big-headed brands anymore. One of the worst mistakes companies can make is putting no focus on building a connection
Why You Should be Blogging About Your Business
Everyone knows what blogging is, but not everyone realizes how truly valuable it is to a business. Business owners of all types and sizes can reap many rewards just from blogging. Take a look at all of the way blogging can help your business. Drive traffic to your website Driving traffic to a website is important for any business, no matter how niche. The presence of a blog creates the opportunity to write compelling and relevant content that will draw people to it. A blog is a great marketing tool when it is used properly and it can easily become the foundation for social media platforms as well. You can post links that lead people to your blog so they can easily browse through your website. Increase your SEO SEO has not gone by the wayside. It is still an integral part of increasing your viewership on search engine pages. The more you write about your business, you will naturally increase your use of relevant keywords that will come up in Internet searches. So, simply continuing
Why is Branding Important to My Website?
When you start your own business, the planning phase requires you to focus on many different things at one time. One of the most important aspects of building your new business is having an effective marketing strategy and the branding of your business. Your branding is a key factor in helping your company get recognized so you can achieve success. For the branding of your business to be successful, it must carry through all of your materials. The themes need to clearly run through your website, printed materials, and social media accounts. To accomplish this continuity and have your brand be recognized, the colors, logos, fonts and other important features need to be consistent throughout everything. Why is Branding Important to Your Website? In our technology-driven society, a business website is often the first exposure potential customers have to a business. It is also quite often the first place people go to learn about a company or to make purchases. So, it is crucial that the
What is Hybrid Blogging?
When you promote your business, it is imperative to set yourself apart from the competition. Developing an effective marketing strategy is vital to the success of your business, and doing something different will help increase interest in your company and improve the likelihood of conversions. There are many different ways that you can promote your business, and it can be difficult to know where to start. Working with a skilled marketing partner can help you use all your outlets efficiently and direct you in different ways that will set you apart from your competition. One way to do this is with a term coined by Virteom hybrid blogging. What is Hybrid Blogging? Blogs are essential for todays businesses. If you think about it, majority of the pages you land on after Googling something is a blog. If youre a current Virteom customer, then youve probably heard CEO Dan Carbone talk about blogs and SEO in terms of frogs andlily pads. (You know, he gives you his whole spiel to think of your
Virteom Launches Redesigned Ingot Metallurgy Forum
This month has been a very productive month here at Virteom. Weve had 4 websites go live! The first of the August website launches was Ingot Metallurgy Forum (IMF) (ingotmetallurgyforum.org) -- IMF is a forum for technical discussions on producing steel and alloy ingots. IMF is headquartered here in Lorain, OH, but its reach is nationwide. The case of the MILK-CARTON DEVELOPER IMF came to us in need of routine website maintenance. The developers they were previously working with were not as responsive as they needed. Since the organization has two events each year, they need to keep the website up-to-date with information regarding their meetings. They reached out to Virteom for assistance! Since we are a full-time web development firm, were able to respond to inquiries quickly, and keep their members in the loop. GIVING YOUR SITE A FRESH LOOK In taking on the maintenance of their WordPress website, we found that they would do better working within our custom-built content management
How Can a Content Style Guide Boost Leads?
Forget the sales pitch, people want content. Eighty-four percent of consumers expect content creation from brands, even from emails. Millennials distrust ads and ad blockers are the norm. This data means you need a content style guide to maximize your results. What is a Content Style Guide? If content is king, a content style guide is its chief advisor. For any and all content you publish or post as a company, this key document defines the Voice: Rhythm and language of your brands personality. Tone: Adaptation of your voice to different platforms. Style: What your content looks like i.e. formatting, grammar, etc. It clearly explains what your brand is and how to best express it through copy. It offers both an overview and detailed direction to writers, video producers and all other content creators. The foundation of quality content starts with a well-researched content style guide. How Does a Content Style Guide Help? Your brand consists of visuals and content both equally important
Content Creation Keeping Your Website From Launching? Problem Solved!
Is content development holding your website back from launching? Did one look at the site map for your new website strike fear in your heart because of the content that was required? The good news is, help is available. A copywriter can come to your rescue. Here are some great reasons to hire someone else to write your content: You Do Not Have Time to write content As a business owner, your calendar, schedule and to-do list are likely maxed out. Adding content writing to your to-do list will only stress you out and leave you less time to get everything else done. But, content is vital to any business to engage with your target audience, increase conversions and communicate about your company effectively. You Lack Content writing Skills Expressing your thoughts with proper spelling and grammar is the foundation of writing. But, so much more goes into content creation. To publish quality content, you need to have knowledge of the following: Grammar, spelling and punctuation. Search
What Can My Business Blog About?
Its no secret that blogging, or content marketing as its also called, is a great way to grow your business and authority. The challenge is coming up with fresh blog ideas on a consistent basis. There are a lot of great resources and tools to help you come up with blog content ideas, but you can also use the list below to start crafting great content for your business blog. Frequently Asked Questions Your blog allows you to speak directly to your customers. It iis the perfect platform to help educate your customers. Take an inventory of the questions you get asked the most from your customers. Take the top five questions and create a blog post for each of them that goes into depth on the answer. This approach not only is targeted to the needs of your customer, but its also a way to provide value and add credibility to your brand. It shows you listen and you care about your customers needs. Case Studies Find a few customers who have had great success with your product or service and
The Fate of Adobe Flash in 2018
For decades, Adobe Flash has been a cornerstone of the web, with the player plug-in doing everything from helping you watch videos to playing computer games. But Flash is on its way out as a technology. Adobe made the decision to phase out the software by the end of 2020. Some browsers are already making the transition, leaving Flash behind in favor of migration to open web technologies. Why Adobe Flash Is No Longer Working Hopefully you wont notice much difference, as browsers try to seamlessly migrate without disrupting your user experience. However, there are some hiccups. For example, at Virteom, we have had to make alterations to some modules (or plug-ins) that we use in our content management system (CMS); they no longer work because Chrome and Firefox are no longer supporting Flash. How Are Browsers Transitioning Away From Flash? Browsers have always been the primary delivery mechanism for Flash-enabled content, but today, popular browsers are definitely migrating away from
Virteom Launches Brolex Builders
Virteom Launches Brolex Builders and Findlay Roofers! Virteom is excited to announce the launch of two new websites: Brolex Builders and Findlay Roofers. Brolex Builders is a roofing and general contracting company located in Findlay, OH. Their roofing business, Findlay Roofers, services all of Northern and Central Ohio. Virteom was brought on to help establish a better presence online for both of these companies. We begun our relationship as we encourage all, through discovery:cross analysis, persona development and site mapping. Through our discovery process we were able to put together a guided strategy to allow their website to connect better with their customers on a more personal level -- ultimately compelling them to convert. Findlay Roofers started as a one-page scrollable website. We encouraged this buisness owner to spread his content across many pages, giving users ample opportunity to land on their website. Visit Brolexs Live Site| Visit Findlay Roofers Live Site Why We
Why do I need Buyer Personas?
When youre building a business, its imperative that you know who your target audience is. In order to develop your marketing campaign and even design your website, you need to understand the people that would have interest in your product or service. This will help you better market to and interact with them. A great way to figure out this information is through identifying buyer personas. Each buyer has a persona which is based on specifics needs, emotions and demographics. These buyer types will have a personality that can direct your online market strategy to help facilitate the production of leads and conversions through your website. Why take the time to identify your companys buyer personas? Because it helps identify the objectives, problems, and questions your potential customers may have when visiting your website. Thus, providing a clear and direct path for them to take when visiting your site. It also helps you map out what their steps of engagement may look like. How will
What You May Be Missing With Your SEO Strategy
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a term is that is used a lot in our online business world. But what does it really mean? There is a heavy emphasis on using SEO to improve our search engine rankings and increase our website traffic, but there is an element to SEO that is often overlooked --the emotional element. Emotions are what really motivates a customer to click, read or purchase. This is where many SEO strategies miss the mark. Most SEO strategies are technical in nature; pick the keywords, place the keyword a certain number of times within the content, etc. What really motivates a customer to take an action, such as reading an article or clicking a buy button, is the emotion behind the words they are reading. This is where the magic happens. Businesses who recognize this are at a huge advantage. The truth is, SEO should not be looked at only from a technical aspect of keywords and meta tags. Emotional SEO is creating content that helps your customer answer a question, solve
