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Social Media Marketing (SMM) is typically seen as beneficial for B2C companies. But this couldn’t be far from the truth. 

If you don’t have a social media plan for your B2B business, you are missing out on huge benefits. Social media is the top distribution method for B2B marketers, with 89% using social tools.

We break down how social media is a fantastic platform to promote your B2B company and when done right, it can have multifold benefits. 

What is B2B Social Media Marketing And How Is It Different? 

While B2C companies use social media marketing to reach out to their audience and influence purchases,  the social media marketing goals for B2B is to sell their products and services to other businesses. 

B2B social media marketing entails strategizing, drafting, promoting, and analyzing content to engage your target audience on social platforms. 

While it might look simple at the outset, there are several nuanced factors including staying abreast of rapidly evolving social platforms and features that make it both challenging and exciting.  

The social media marketing approach for B2B differs from B2C companies. Typically, B2B social media marketing tends to be more strategic to influence business founders and decision makers. It involves relatively more nurturing of business relationships to influence large order purchases. Even the nature of content mix will look different for B2B social media marketing. For example, insightful, and informational videos, case studies, reports, white papers. 

Also, consider these statistics to understand how different the B2B buyer from the B2C customer: 

  • B2B customers spend 27% of their purchase consideration time conducting independent research online.
  • 44% of millennial B2B customers prefer not to interact with a sales rep at all.

B2B buyers are more proactive in their research and enjoy more autonomy in their purchasing decisions. It’s vital that your digital presence and social media marketing are strong for astute B2B buyers.  

[mk_padding_divider size=”100″][highlight_box style=”fade2″ height=”200″ textsize=”20″ iconsize=”18″ icon=”fas fa-search-location” text=”“Social platforms are no longer add-ons to a business’s communication budget; they should be central to its marketing strategy, and used in coordination with other marketing efforts.”
~ Richard Branson” clr=”#000000″ bgclr=”#66cccc” hoverbg=”#aac3c0″][mk_padding_divider size=”100″]

Top 3 Ways  Your B2B company should utilize social media marketing for maximum benefits

B2B social media marketing is one of the best ways to build a strong brand presence and customer loyalty. 

Here are the top benefits of B2B social media marketing. 

  1. Build And Boost Brand Awareness And Repute 

Leverage your company’s social profiles to provide useful information about what your B2B company has to offer for your clients.

Publishing relevant and high-quality content consistently on social media and engaging with your audience via comments and messages helps in improving brand awareness and trust with your customers. 

Sharing your industry expertise and insights by leveraging social platforms establishes you as a thought-leader and helps you stand out from your competition by attracting qualified partners. We are already seeing the benefits of employee branding, especially the increasing digital presence of C-suite leaders, such as the improved trustworthiness of your B2B company. 

  1. Create An Engaged Community And Improve Customer Experience 

Social platforms help you tap into a ‘mostly online’ audience to gain their trust and improve customer experience.  

Your business clients are on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, making it easier for you to build connections and collaborations with them. 

You can interact and help answer your clients’ queries, solve their problems, or thank them for their reviews online whenever possible. It shows them that you’re paying attention to them and are invested in their growth. It makes your brand more humane, approachable and authentic. 

  1. Drive Traffic, Generates Leads, And Increases Sales 

Social media marketing helps achieve your search engine optimization (SEO) goals. Being active on social platforms can improve your company’s positioning in Google’s organic search results, and can help in improving your ranking indirectly. 

“Social platforms are no longer add-ons to a business’s communication budget; they should be central to its marketing strategy, and used in coordination with other marketing efforts.” 

– Richard Branson 

Social media marketing helps drive the relevant traffic to your website, generate qualified leads and increase sales. 

The ultimate goal of all marketing efforts is to promote sales. Social media marketing entails identifying potential clients, positioning their products and services to the targeted prospects, building relationships and trust with them, and nurturing leads. 

It’s Time To Get Social

Social media marketing is a powerful marketing channel for enabling brand authenticity, trust, community and sales. 

As much as it presents a massive opportunity, it is also getting increasingly competitive. 

Looking to improve or initiate social media strategy for your B2B organization? Follow the streamlined 1-2-3-4-5 foundational steps to start your social media marketing on a solid footing!

Contact us to learn more about how Webtage can help you with our innovative and focused approach to social media marketing that can help you stand out from a sea of competitors. 

Social Media Marketing Company in Naperville

How B2B Social Media Marketing Can Take Your Business To The Next Level

Posted on June 2, 2022 - 11:36 AM by

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is typically seen as beneficial for B2C companies. But this couldn’t be far from the truth. 

If you don’t have a social media plan for your B2B business, you are missing out on huge benefits. Social media is the top distribution method for B2B marketers, with 89% using social tools.

We break down how social media is a fantastic platform to promote your B2B company and when done right, it can have multifold benefits. 

What is B2B Social Media Marketing And How Is It Different? 

While B2C companies use social media marketing to reach out to their audience and influence purchases,  the social media marketing goals for B2B is to sell their products and services to other businesses. 

B2B social media marketing entails strategizing, drafting, promoting, and analyzing content to engage your target audience on social platforms. 

While it might look simple at the outset, there are several nuanced factors including staying abreast of rapidly evolving social platforms and features that make it both challenging and exciting.  

The social media marketing approach for B2B differs from B2C companies. Typically, B2B social media marketing tends to be more strategic to influence business founders and decision makers. It involves relatively more nurturing of business relationships to influence large order purchases. Even the nature of content mix will look different for B2B social media marketing. For example, insightful, and informational videos, case studies, reports, white papers. 

Also, consider these statistics to understand how different the B2B buyer from the B2C customer: 

  • B2B customers spend 27% of their purchase consideration time conducting independent research online.
  • 44% of millennial B2B customers prefer not to interact with a sales rep at all.

B2B buyers are more proactive in their research and enjoy more autonomy in their purchasing decisions. It’s vital that your digital presence and social media marketing are strong for astute B2B buyers.  

[mk_padding_divider size=”100″][highlight_box style=”fade2″ height=”200″ textsize=”20″ iconsize=”18″ icon=”fas fa-search-location” text=”“Social platforms are no longer add-ons to a business’s communication budget; they should be central to its marketing strategy, and used in coordination with other marketing efforts.”
~ Richard Branson” clr=”#000000″ bgclr=”#66cccc” hoverbg=”#aac3c0″][mk_padding_divider size=”100″]

Top 3 Ways  Your B2B company should utilize social media marketing for maximum benefits

B2B social media marketing is one of the best ways to build a strong brand presence and customer loyalty. 

Here are the top benefits of B2B social media marketing. 

  1. Build And Boost Brand Awareness And Repute 

Leverage your company’s social profiles to provide useful information about what your B2B company has to offer for your clients.

Publishing relevant and high-quality content consistently on social media and engaging with your audience via comments and messages helps in improving brand awareness and trust with your customers. 

Sharing your industry expertise and insights by leveraging social platforms establishes you as a thought-leader and helps you stand out from your competition by attracting qualified partners. We are already seeing the benefits of employee branding, especially the increasing digital presence of C-suite leaders, such as the improved trustworthiness of your B2B company. 

  1. Create An Engaged Community And Improve Customer Experience 

Social platforms help you tap into a ‘mostly online’ audience to gain their trust and improve customer experience.  

Your business clients are on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, making it easier for you to build connections and collaborations with them. 

You can interact and help answer your clients’ queries, solve their problems, or thank them for their reviews online whenever possible. It shows them that you’re paying attention to them and are invested in their growth. It makes your brand more humane, approachable and authentic. 

  1. Drive Traffic, Generates Leads, And Increases Sales 

Social media marketing helps achieve your search engine optimization (SEO) goals. Being active on social platforms can improve your company’s positioning in Google’s organic search results, and can help in improving your ranking indirectly. 

“Social platforms are no longer add-ons to a business’s communication budget; they should be central to its marketing strategy, and used in coordination with other marketing efforts.” 

– Richard Branson 

Social media marketing helps drive the relevant traffic to your website, generate qualified leads and increase sales. 

The ultimate goal of all marketing efforts is to promote sales. Social media marketing entails identifying potential clients, positioning their products and services to the targeted prospects, building relationships and trust with them, and nurturing leads. 

It’s Time To Get Social

Social media marketing is a powerful marketing channel for enabling brand authenticity, trust, community and sales. 

As much as it presents a massive opportunity, it is also getting increasingly competitive. 

Looking to improve or initiate social media strategy for your B2B organization? Follow the streamlined 1-2-3-4-5 foundational steps to start your social media marketing on a solid footing!

Contact us to learn more about how Webtage can help you with our innovative and focused approach to social media marketing that can help you stand out from a sea of competitors. 

Social Media Marketing Company in Naperville

Top 5 Questions to Ask Your SEO Agency

Posted on May 11, 2022 - 10:28 AM by

Deciding to hire an SEO agency is easy. The tricky part is to skim the chaff and find the best SEO agency that helps achieve your business goals and outcomes. 

The global search engine optimization service providers’ industry is expected to grow from $63.19 billion in 2022 to $134.26 billion in 2026. It’s not surprising to see anyone with a computer become an entrepreneur today and start an agency offering their SEO services. But unfortunately, many don’t have the expertise to grow your business. 

This article is to save you the heartache and money from choosing the wrong SEO agency. We list some basic but crucial questions that will help you see through the bells and whistles that agencies offer to bait you. 

What is SEO And Why Is It Important For Your Business? 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical digital marketing pillar for getting traffic organically from search engines. 

However, it is difficult to get your company showing up at the top of the search engine’s front page listings. It takes time, effort, and patience to achieve the desired SEO results. 

Most companies make the mistake of underestimating the importance of having a solid SEO strategy and action plan. 

Some of the main SEO benefits include: 

  • Improves your site ranking on search engine results 
  • Generates organic web traffic without having to pay for each lead 
  • Improves brand awareness, loyalty and advocacy. 

It helps make things easier for Google to find, index, analyze and rank your site. Not investing time in SEO activities can slow down your marketing efforts and hence, lead generation and revenue. 

SEO is a broad umbrella that includes:

  • SEO Audit
  • Link building
  • Keyword Research and Strategy
  • SEO-optimized content marketing
  • Local SEO
  • Voice SEO
  • Technical SEO
  • eCommerce SEO

No one SEO professional can handle the above tasks. Any reputed agency should have a credible SEO team of experts in the respective domains. 

If you have diverse SEO needs and scope of work, then you must consider an agency instead of hiring a freelancer or several freelancers. Hiring an agency will give you a holistic, streamlined, and effective SEO campaign instead of outsourcing the work to several freelancers and ending up with a disjointed campaign. At the worst, hiring several freelancers can hurt your marketing efforts and business.

What You Should Consider Before Hiring An SEO Agency 

You should tread with caution before hiring any SEO agency. Just as an agency has the power to spike your business’ marketing efforts and revenues, it could also ruin your business’ reputation and hurt the bottom-line. 

There are so many unfortunate stories of businesses crashing even before they take off, because of the wrong choice of an agency which scammed them. 

While there will be many agencies that will promise the moon to you at a fraction of the cost, there could be a catch to it. Like adopting black-hat techniques or strategies that go against the platform’s guidelines, or getting tons of irrelevant traffic with badly researched keyword strategies. 

[mk_padding_divider size=”100″][highlight_box style=”fade2″ height=”200″ textsize=”20″ iconsize=”18″ icon=”fas fa-search-location” text=”At Webtage, our primary SEO focus has been on producing high-value content or content that’s original, well-researched, and resourceful for our clients’ target audience. This approach not only builds our clientele’s social repute but also boosts their brand identity with thought-leadership content and creates very valuable backlinks that help with their ongoing SEO efforts.” clr=”#000000″ bgclr=”#66cccc” hoverbg=”#aac3c0″][mk_padding_divider size=”100″]
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Before you place your trust and hire any SEO agency, I want you to pause and reflect upon the following questions.  

  1. Do You Know Your Goals and Outcomes?

No SEO agency can help you determine your goals and determined outcomes, however good it is. 

There are many SEO agencies with distinct core strengths and specializations. If there is a mismatch in your goals and expectations and their expertise, then it’s a sheer waste of time, money, and effort. 

If your goal is for your website to rank on the search engines’ 1st page for specific keywords relevant to your business that your target audience searches for, then you’ll need an agency whose core strengths include SEO-optimized content marketing. Your strategy will be to attract your audience and educate them with compelling content and pull them into your sales funnels. 

Maybe your goal is to improve the domain authority of your site as you’re losing out ranking for your target keywords despite excellent content because your competitors have higher domain authority sites. You’ll need to find an agency whose core strengths include link building. 

Maybe you’ve noticed that your organic traffic has dropped despite publishing more content. This could mean several problems including a bad robots.txt file or bloated site with duplicate content or something more serious. In that case, you’ll need an agency whose core strengths include technical SEO. 

Maybe you’re a local business that caters only to local customers and needs leads/inquiries from certain locations. In that case, you’ll need an agency whose core strengths include local SEO. 

Knowing your goals and outcomes will help you shortlist the relevant agencies tailored to your needs. Agencies will also prefer to work with clients who are looking specifically for their expertise as they know they can serve them better. 

Based on your goals, desired results, and budget, you can choose an agency that has a specialist focus where it’s focused only on one or few aspects of SEO like technical SEO or a generalist focus where they offer a bouquet of SEO services. 

  1. Does The Agency Have A Defined SEO Process? 

A credible agency will have a unique and holistic SEO process that’s based on its vast experience with diverse clients. They have the experience of going through the ‘trial-and-error’ process in SEO to map out their process on what works to deliver the results every time. 

At Webtage, one of the top Chicago Digital Marketing Companies, our process follows the below 9 unique steps:

  1. Business Understanding & Website Audit

2. Competitor Analysis, including:

  • Backlink research
  • Content research
  • Keyword Focus

3. Keyword Research & Analysis

  • Conversion-ready keyword research
  • Monthly Search Volume
  • Competition Index
  • YoY changes

4. Tag Development & Optimization

  • Title Optimization
  • Description Optimization
  • Heading Optimization
  • Image Optimization
  • Content Optimization
  • Navigation Optimization

5. Technical SEO Analysis

  • Add Sitemaps(XML & HTML)
  • Add Robots.txt file
  • Internal Linking to create topic clusters
  • Structured Data set up correctly
  • HTML & CSS Error Resolution

6.Blog / Article Content Creation

  • High-quality, industry-standard content creation for backlinks and PR

7.Link Building/Promotional Strategies

  • Domain & Page Authority strategies
  • Percentage of Links Building Across Different Platforms Types, including:
    • Guest article publication
    • Local Listing /Business Listing Creation
    • Directory Submissions
    • Classifieds
    • Asset (presentation & video submissions)
    • Q&A activities
  • Spam Score policy

8.Tracking & Reporting

9. Google My Business profile Optimization

A good agency will not simply fix your SEO issues, but have a solid strategy and plan for growing your organic traffic in the long-term. They will have regular goals to achieve over a period to grow your SEO traffic and site every year.  

An agency with a clear and proven SEO process with deep expertise across the various pillars of SEO will grow your business sustainably. 

  1. Does The Agency Have A Knowledgeable And Experienced SEO Team?

There is a lot that happens in SEO and it takes specialized skills and in-depth expertise to be successful in this field. 

Check the credentials of the SEO team of the agency. Most reputed agencies list their team members on their website with their expertise. 

Ideally, the team should have experienced members with their unique strengths. They should have deep industry expertise after working with diverse clients. 

They should not only be able to manage amidst Google’s ever-changing algorithms but also stay ahead of the curve by spotting the future trends and patterns. 

An agency’s SEO team should also be able to give suggestions and recommendations for improvement, such as starting and growing on social channels, launching an optimized content marketing plan, starting a blog, improving the content on your website or the site speed. 

Instead of viewing your SEO partner as being sales-driven, it would do you well to listen to the recommendations and opt for the suggested SEO services that should grow your business. 

It should worry you if the team has no suggestions for improvements as it can tell poorly of their expertise, and it could also be a red flag of dubious SEO tactics to grow your business. 

  1. Does The SEO Agency Produce High-Value Content? 

A common mistake most SEO agencies make is to focus primarily on more mundane SEO-focused tasks, such as building backlinks. They neglect content, which is the major currency of SEO.

Search engines are getting so advanced and sophisticated that a lot of SEO tasks that were necessary a few years back are redundant today. Review the content on the agency’s website, and ask them for the content they’ve created for their client’s websites, social platforms, and other content assets. You should be able to gauge the worth of an SEO agency by the content they create. 

At Webtage, our primary SEO focus has been on producing high-value content or content that’s original, well-researched, and resourceful for our clients’ target audience. This approach not only builds our clientele’s social repute but also boosts their brand identity with thought-leadership content and creates very valuable backlinks that help with their ongoing SEO efforts.

We are cognizant of the audience’s preferences and platform’s best practices to produce both long-form (above 1200 words) and short-form content (below 800-1200 words). Long-form content works best for in-depth blogs, how-to-guides, case studies, and white papers. Short-form content works well on all social platforms, snackable blogs, news articles, infographics, sales copies.

We have led several successful SEO and PR campaigns publishing high-quality content on high DA third-party sites and building the brand reputation of our clients. 

  1. What Is Their Social Proof And Reputation? 

A good agency will be proud to display their client portfolio and testimonials as social proof. They will also showcase their industry-specific thought leadership in the form of in-depth blogs, research papers, and social posts, which reveal how they are the top of the latest SEO trends. Have they published their findings in a report from their exclusive company research and surveys? 

A reputed agency will be happy to share their list of clients, case studies, work samples, testimonials, and references. You can also check their online reviews, and especially the negative ones, to see if there are any red flags that you need to watch out for. Do they have the skills and experience to handle outreach, partnerships, and content promotion with journalists and publications? 

Their website should also be a good indication of how they perform in the SEO domain. If they are doing their SEO well, they can undoubtedly do the same for your business. However, some agencies focus their complete attention on serving their clients, and so you can ask them specifically for their recent client work or a case study.  

  1. What Is Their Company Culture Like? 

While this might seem like an odd question to ask, it is crucial before you sign the final deal. 

If you think about it, an agency is an extension of your business. What are your core business values and company culture? Check if you share a similar culture and values. This will make a fruitful, long-term relationship possible with them. 

You would not want to work with agencies with a toxic culture and environment. Are they realistic and transparent in their communication process? Or do they set unrealistic expectations such as promising you #1 rankings in a record-breaking time? Are they too focused on vanity metrics instead of showing you monthly organic progress on deliverables and reasoning behind their strategy and results? 

If they hide their SEO techniques under the pretext of confidentiality, you may have to think twice about proceeding ahead with them as the chances of a scam are high. 

Why Consider Webtage For Your Business? 

At Webtage, a Digital Marketing Agency in Naperville IL, we excel in delivering one of the most comprehensive, realistic, and proven SEO strategy plans with an excellent and consistent track record of implementing the SEO requirements to help our clients achieve their desired results. 

SEO Agency in Naperville

Why is building a brand image so important?

Posted on May 26, 2020 - 8:54 PM by

Why is building a brand image so important? It’s because this is how your customers/clients will remember you. And if there is no brand consistency, there will be only chaos and confusion. Nobody wants to deal with more chaos and uncertainty. Especially now.

 

Why do we remember brands like Coca Cola, Google, Apple? It’s because they invest in developing and promoting their brand identity. You cannot piece together a brand like a patchwork quilt from a dozen different sources just because it was the cheapest. This isn’t how you create brand loyalty.

 

Why do people pay more for a MacBook Air when they could get basically the same no-name brand for less than half the price? It’s because of Apple’s carefully constructed branding and image. Their message and their branding is not ONLY carefully constructed, but it’s consistent. It’s not about saving a few pennies or dollars here and there. It’s about an investment in a potentially amazing future.

 

There is a probably a LOT of competition in your area. What do you want to do to make your business stand out? What is important about YOUR image? What is the image you want to present to the world? You might think that, say, business cards are just a small, meaningless detail, but they are part of a foundation that is building your brand and even something as small as a business card is part and parcel of a consistent message: and part of that message is that YOU pay attention to EVERY detail: not only in your products or services, but your office setting, your website, your branding, your everything. Your image is what is working for you.

 

Spend the time, discipline and dollars now to perfect the image. Every single thing you put out there is representing YOU. This is the area where you can outshine every other mediocre and same-o same-o-business in your industry. Your business has a lot of potential to be unique and amazing with the right plan. This can be an exciting and creative time, getting your business off the ground or getting it to grow further by putting together a great brand with a good creative and marketing plan! So get out there, form a great team to elevate your brand, and create something amazing.
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[mk_padding_divider size=”100″][highlight_box style=”fade2″ textsize=”20″ iconsize=”18″ id=”01″ text=”You cannot piece together a brand like a patchwork quilt from a dozen different sources just because it was the cheapest. This isn’t how you create brand loyalty.” clr=”#091315″ bgclr=”#b0b948″ hoverbg=”#92c847″ icon=”fas fa-bullseye”][mk_padding_divider]
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About the Author

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[mk_circle_image src=”https://www.webtage.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/sandra_circleprofile.png” image_diameter=”150″]

Sandra Mui shines in her role as the Creative Director at Webtage. With over 15 years of experience in creative writing and visual arts, she gets the pulse of the consumer and creates content that strikes a chord.

Having previously worked for advertising agencies, such as Leo Burnett and other boutique creative houses, she has successfully launched Fortune 500 ad campaigns, including those for Procter & Gamble, Kodak Professional Division, Phillip Morris, FILA, Aki Italia & Champion Sportswear.

Sandra has a passion for reading, writing and researching. Her love of words and art gives her a unique vision and ability to put things together in ways that will make your brand pop!

Contact her at sandra@webtage.com

Digital Marketing Services in Naperville

Are you a Healthcare Provider That’s Offering Telehealth Services? This is What You Need to do Right Now!

Posted on April 14, 2020 - 6:26 PM by

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in place orders in many areas of the country, many healthcare providers, including hospitals, doctors, and mental healthcare providers, are now providing virtual care. Google has recently rolled out tow new features in Google Search and Maps to allow users to conveniently find telehealth options, “whether it’s to a doctor’s office down the street, the hospital across town, or a national telehealth platform.” You can also clearly communicate your COVID-19 information with your intended audience.

So how do you, as a provider, access these features? Let’s talk about Google Maps first (if you are not familiar with the significance of Google Maps for your healthcare business or have not claimed your Google My Business listing , learn why it’s critical that you do so now and while you’re at it, also learn foolproof tips on optimizing your GMB listing):

      • Google My Business now offers URLs dedicated to COVID-19 and telehealth services. Make sure you add the URL links to your Google My Business Page listing. After your edits have been reviewed and approved, it’ll appear in Google Maps listing and your detailed Google Maps listing as well. Here’s how you can add the URLs: Sign in to your GMB listing by visiting business.google.com. Next click on ‘Info’ on the left-hand side panel. If you are a healthcare organization, you will see two additional URL options for COVID-19 info link and virtual care link. Add the links as applicable and click Save.
      • List Telemedicine Services on your Business Profile on Google. Google adds that “you can choose what to offer from suggested types of services. If the type of service isn’t listed, you can add your own custom services, like “telemedicine,” “telehealth,” “video visits,” or “house calls.” Once the services edit has saved, patients will be able to see the services you have listed, including online visits or telemedicine.
      • Finally, in the Attributes section, add video visits to the offerings, if you do provide video visits. This will also help display your telemedicine option to your patients when they search for your services in Google.

I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention that Google is also helping healthcare providers with technology infrastructure and support via “HIPAA-compliant G Suite products (including using Google Meet for telehealth or virtual visits), deploying virtual agents to field questions related to COVID-19, and helping with capacity-planning and demand forecasting of key medical supplies to better manage their supply chains.”

If you need help planning your transition to virtual care, contact us at Webtage where we have facilitated the transition to online visits for healthcare providers, developed the capacity to communicate high quality and credible information in the midst of the health crisis, and marketed online visits to continue solid revenue generation for our client. 

[mk_page_title_box page_title=”Healthcare Digital Marketing Done Right” page_subtitle=”Grow Quickly & Effectively” section_height=”150″ font_size=”24″ title_force_font_size=”true” sub_font_size=”16″ subtitle_force_font_size=”true”]
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Healthcare Marketing Agency in Naperville

Why Google My Business Optimization Should Be #1 on Your Local Marketing Agenda AND Foolproof Optimization Tips

Posted on April 14, 2020 - 1:59 PM by

Why is local marketing big business? According to Moz, there are “approximately seven billion unique local searches per month on Google in the United States.” More than 50% of mobile searches have a local intent. If you are a local business and haven’t invested in local digital marketing, you should be thinking about it now.

So how do you market your business for local visibility? In this article, we will focus on strategies to optimize your Google Business Listing to increase your chance of appearing on positions 1-3 of local pack listings (also known as Google Map listings) . These listings appear below paid Ads, but above organic listings. As an example, we searched for “digital marketing near me” on Google and as you can see, at the top of the page are the paid ad listings, followed by Google Map listings. Organic listings appear even further below. So unless you’re running a paid ad campaign, local pack listings are your best bet for Google page 1 visibility.

 

 

Main Idea: If you’re looking to appear on positions 1-3 of Local Pack listings, work on optimizing your Google My Business listing as that provides more than 25% of ranking success in Google Local Pack! 

So how do you go about optimizing your Google My Business Listing?

  1. Claim Your Listing and Get it Verified – While you can still post content on your GMB listing even if you’ve haven’t claimed it, claiming your listing will provide you with a lot more control, including responding to client reviews, create posts, or reach out to GMB customer service to resolve issues. So make sure you’ve claimed your listing. If you listing does not exist, create one at by going to google.com/business and select “Start now” in the top right-hand corner. Once you’ve claimed your listing, make sure you verify it by clicking on the “Verify” tab in your GMB dashboard. next, you will be asked to verify your mailing address.  An postcard will then be sent to the mailing address you entered. Follow the steps on the postcard to get your listing verified.
  2. Craft the Business Title Well – Add Business Name. Remember that by adding your product or service keyword improves your chances of ranking for those keywords. Notice that all three local pack listings for “digital marketing near me” (and that includes Webtage as well!) include “digital marketing” in their business name. While this is not a guarantee for a top position, it is certainly a big plus.
  3. Make sure your profile is as close to 100% set up as possible – This includes vital information such as hours, website URLs, services or products, highlights where you can add sttributes such as, “veteran-led” or “women-led,” descriptions, photos and phone numbers.
  4. Choose Your Category Well – Do not dilute the impact by choosing too many categories. Try to limit to 1-3 categories.
  5. Gather Testimonials from Your Customers – GMB makes it very easy to collect reviews if you don’t have enough reviews. Simply share the ‘Review Form’ link from your GMB dashboard with your clients. Also, ensure you respond to reviews posted to your GMB listing. Do not ignore negative reviews. Best ways to respond to a negative review is to acknowledge the negative sentiment and provide solutions to your customer.
  6. Post often – GMB Posts show up in search results in the Knowledge Panel and Google Map search results. You can post about events to promote events at your location. You may also post promotional offers, highlight products, or post announcements.
  7. Communicate With Your Audience –  Answer any questions posed by the general audience. To answer a question posed, navigate to your listing via Google Search and see all questions listed under Q&A section. Navigate to the question you want to answer and hit “answer.” Once you’re done, click “post.” Answering questions posed will help you build customer’s trust and improve search visibility.

 

Here’s a simple to use infographic on ways to optimize your Google My Listing:

Digital Marketing Agency in Naperville

Five Things Marketing Teams Should be Doing During the COVID-19 Shutdown

Posted on March 26, 2020 - 2:32 PM by

The Covid-19 pandemic seems surreal and straight out of a science fiction scenario. However, as a wise person said, “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” As we struggle to adapt to the realities of shutdowns, shelter-in-place, work-from-home, or closed-for-business scenarios, remember that shutting down all marketing activities can become a liability when our lives go back to normal. You want to be prepared to ensure top-of-mind brand awareness when demand resurges. So, gather your energy and focus on tasks that can help you help your customers today and tomorrow when the clouds give way to sunshine.

 

  1. Communicate with your customers – Intimate your customers about what they can expect from your business. Are you shut down for business? Are you open for business virtually? Or is it business, as usual? Pick up the phone and contact your customers. Post updates on your website and social media channels. Create a video with updates and send it to your clients via email – a personalized message works wonders and your customers will be relieved to hear your planned approach directly from you or your team.We recently created a COVID-19 communication plan for our healthcare client, helped them transition to online visits, and then reached out to their patient base as well as prospective audience to let them know about their new service. As part of the communication plan, we designed visuals, videos, door signs, updated the website with updated content, created Q&A documents, and communicated through all owned and earned channels.
  1. Study successful competitors –A slowdown is a perfect opportunity to examine how industry leaders and competitors create unique value propositions as well as business growth strategies and reevaluate your own against those. Is there something you could learn about product positioning, pricing, promotional strategies, places they operate in, and the way they manage their people. Shutdown is a perfect time to reassess your business strategies. A business-savvy client of ours, who operates a transportation logistics and luxury transportation service, is studying how Uber managed to come a long way from being a cab aggregator in 2009. And what better time to adjust your strategies than during a downtime when you have the luxury of time on your side?

 

  1. Evaluate your content strategy – No matter which vertical you are in, content is the king of marketing and consistency is the queen! So during the slowdown, take a step back, reassess buyer personas, funnel strategy, and content pieces that plug into the funnel. Pull your email, paid and social engagement numbers to see what’s worked in pulling in leads and sales. Channel efforts that work better than others. Repurpose old blogs that got you traction in the past. Here are 5 strategies on how to repurpose old content.

 

 

 

  1. Build Proof Points – This current crisis will pass. Prepare so you can put your best foot forward when customers begin seeking products and services. Collect data, get testimonials, and create case studies. Create brand videos that tell your story. Create product demo presentations that will fuel your sales. You may not be inclined to investing in a full-scale website rehaul but certainly consider updating your website with current content.

 

 

 

  1. Continue to create brand affinity content and stay active on social media – This may not be the best time to market your products or services. Focus instead on building your brand voice and brand awareness. Inspire people to dream about the future. Ask your customers to create wish lists that you can incorporate into your offerings. Finally, leave them with positive vibes.

 

 

As Haruki Marukami said in Kafka on the Shore:

 

And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.

 

So be transformed and be ready when the storm passes. Because it will.

 

Let us know how your marketing team is doing during the COVID-19 crisis to be prepared for the present and the future!

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Healthcare Digital Marketing: What E.A.T. Means for Your Search Visibility and Why Good Content is Your Best Friend!

Posted on March 1, 2020 - 9:01 PM by

In 2018 Google unveiled its “medic update” which had strong implications for businesses in the YMYL (short for ‘Your Money or Your Life’ or in other words websites that provide any information that affects people’s health, wellness, or money). Since more than 40% of websites affected due to this update were health related sites, this came to be known as the “medic update.” There have been further Core Quality Updates in 2019 that continue to have deep implications for search visibility of healthcare organizations.

So what do these updates mean if you are a healthcare provider? Put simply, it means that Google does not want to recommend “uneducated advice, opinions, or potentially fraudulent websites.” Google wants to be certain that the sites that they recommend display a high level of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

So how do you signal your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness to Google?

Expertise

  1. Build expertise by creating frequent content that is informative, useful and engaging for your audience.
  2. Remove poor quality, dated content from your website that would signal half-baked, incorrect, or worse, harmful information to your audience.
  3. Keep in mind that it is not only important to build E.A.T. for your website, but also work on building E.A.T. for your content creators. How?

 

  • Ensure your content creators are experts in healthcare. Google has indicated that “medical advice needs to be written by people with high medical E-A-T to be considered high quality.”
  • You may be a wonderful and experienced doctor, but if you haven’t built your online profile then there is nothing in the digital world to back up your expertise. So strengthen your online expertise by writing guest articles for niche publications in your field and contribute to industry publications and forums.
  • Add by-lines expert to website content. This will signal that the author is an expert in the profession or niche and the information provided in that blog is trustworthy.
  • Link content creator’s profile to other online profiles, especially on authority sites.
  • Use structured data to markup the author’s profile that will allow for a connection to be made with other online profiles for the author.
  1. Cite credible research, statistics, and data in the content that you create.

 

Authority

  1. Build authority by developing valuable backlinks from relevant & authoritative sites.
  2. Gain backlinks from high authoritative sites naturally by guest blogging for niche high DA (domain authority) sites. Most health-related guest blogging sites have clear guidelines on the types of content they will consider for publication. Identify sites that are the best fit for your specialty.
  3. Create outbound links to high quality health sites & industry publications. Try to include links to research studies or academic journal. Outbound links to .edu or .gov or .org sites are especially useful.
  4. Quality over quantity! Take your time to build good quality links. Building links through automated citation submissions may not be enough anymore.
  5. A good social media strategy will help you market your content and get your content shared – another great way to build authority.

Trustworthiness

  1. Build trustworthiness by building positive reviews. Positive client reviews help in increasing the E.A.T. score, so encourage all the satisfied patients to write testimonials on Google My Business, social media, and review sites.
  2. Many healthcare provider websites allow for email subscriptions, online appointment scheduling, online portal sign-ins etc – all considered to be Protected Health Information (PHI) under HIPPA. This patient data is vulnerable to being stolen unless your site is secured with an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate is not only necessary for you to be HIPPA compliant, it also signals trustworthiness of your website. Google takes privacy of user data very seriously and provides a boost to those websites that signal their intent to protect their user’s information. So make sure your website is secure with an SSL certificate!
  3. Have a clear way for your visitors to contact you with a clearly accessible Contact page.
  4. Include a Privacy Page to let your patients know how you gather, use, disclose, and manage their data.
  5. If you allow for online transactions through your website, ensure that clearly outline your refunds & returns policy.

 

E.A.T. is not the only update that has had an impact on Google search rankings of healthcare businesses. The 2019 B.E.R.T. is another update that has hit some healthcare sites hard and is about incorporating Natural Language Processing (NLP) into Google searches. And if pages on your website don’t provide information on topics that users are keying into search bars, then your website is likely to be overlooked.

 

Note the common theme in all the updates? Create content that is informative, useful, and engaging. Google has been saying this for a very long time. Create great content. That has not changed and will not change. See how we used content creation and a solid digital marketing strategy to help a healthcare practice gain top search visibility, increase online patient lead generation, and grow their long-term patient panel 60%.

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Make Your Higher Ed Website Modern, Personal, and Effective by Avoiding These 10 Costly Mistakes

Posted on March 12, 2019 - 8:01 PM by

In working with various higher education providers and legacy institutions, we have come to learn that websites have emerged as the leading tool in the admission and marketing toolkit to draw in prospective students especially qualified students who will also tend to retain better with positive academic and career outcomes. In that sense, the website is the first point in the virtuous circle of lead to advocacy.

 

Students are increasingly using the web to evaluate and choose a college. However, despite the critical role that websites play in their ability to drive choice, higher ed websites are notorious for being clunky, impersonal, and confusing. Part of the problem is higher ed websites tend have sprawling site architecture with thousands to sometimes millions of pages. Bringing order to the sheer size of the site can be daunting task, not to mention the multiple user behaviors and preferences that the site must cater to. The mistakes, however, are easy to spot. Here are ten most common mistakes that higher ed website redesign teams tend to make:

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  1. Over focused on Admissions and Enrollment– Websites for higher education are increasingly driven by the enrollment team and are overly focused on their applications and enrollment goals. Prospects on the other hand are thinking beyond admissions into student life, co curricular and extra curricular opportunities to get a glimpse into student life. Websites are woefully lacking in delivering content and user experience that a prospect can use to imagine his/her life at the college.

 

Who Got it Right? Not all high-ed websites fall into the trap of admissions and enrollment goal overzealousness. The Johns Hopkins website does a commendable job of not only telling their ‘brand story’ but also highlight school philosophies reinforced through student profiles.

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2. End game focus is here to stay– Only a handful of the 20,000 or more higher education websites really address the “What will be life like after I graduate” question.  Only a few provide program specific career links and current data from BLS and other projections. The alumni tab is not enough to provide students with a look at their future selves!

Who Got It Right? Stonybrook, North Central College and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts do a great job of highlighting Alumni profiles to prop up post-university opportunities.

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3. Mind over heart – Webtage’s audit of over 100 websites showed a shocking lack of emotion and personal touch. How about a professor or a counselor making a personal connection through the site? Students want to study from and spend time with people not institutions!

  1. Who Got It Right? Bucknell, one of our favorites, got it right by putting faculty voices front and center on their home page.
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George Washington University also offers a personalized experience through wide-shot and close-up videos and images of faculty and honorable guests.

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4. Lack of simplicity/transparency – Many college websites bury answers to the top 5 questions relating to admissions, cost of attendance, outcomes, student life and graduating requirements in such a complex maze of content instead of tackling these in a transparent and straight forward manner.

Who Got It Right? Bucknell University made the cut again. We’re very impressed by Bucknell University’s navigational ease in providing sought-after information to audience segments.

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5. Comprehensiveness over user experience: Website for a lot of colleges are over a 1000s of pages deep!! This is in total contrast to the twitter culture where consumers expect to find information/form an impression in as little time as possible. The worst sites are the legacy sites which have simply added on more content as needed sacrificing the user experience completely. It is risky to assume that “if they need it, they will find it” is a way to define user experience.

Who Got It Right? The University of Tennessee at Knoxville One Stop Student Services uses a simple layout and unadorned navigation to provide a wealth of information to students

 

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6. Tradition versus dated : The age of the college doesn’t have to show on the website user experience! A 200 year old college does not have to offer a “dated” user experience to communicate the tradition and experience.

Who Got It Right? The 273 year old Princeton University has a website that is fresh, clean, and modern and still packs a punch by giving viewers a clear sense of their ethos, their commitment to keeping up with the times, and a ton of key information neatly organized.

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7. Foggy pathways: For colleges that have programs that lead to licensure/certification –  it is a missed opportunity to not show the pathway to achieve that licensure.  Many progressive colleges are now including the steps to the licensure in their program/service so that they are a one stop shop.  Short of that, at least the websites can provide clear pathways and third party links that can bridge the knowledge from graduation to certification.

Who Got It Right? Harper College, in our neck of the woods, has created a simple and simple and easy to navigate career pathways landing page for its students. We love the interactivity it offers in contrast to the text-heavy career pathways page on most other higher ed sites.

 

 

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8. No (N) traditional students: Almost all colleges want the non traditional students for their onsite or online campus but the websites are an extension of their lack of clarity on what these students want and their barriers/anxieties. Many websites just use diverse student images to satisfy themselves that their site addresses the non-traditional student but the reality is that these students have very distinct concerns and anxieties.

Who Got It Right? Rutgers has a spotlight on their active military/ veteran students as well as continuing education and online programs on their home page that allows for good targeting and intuitive self-segmentation for the non-traditional students attending a traditional university set-up.

University of Maryland at University Campus also does a great job with a landing page for military/veteran students with a lot of useful information organized neatly into a side navigation.

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9. Underleveraged Assets: Any college or university has faculty or other assets that could be powerful in search engine optimization ( SEO) but because these are not tagged properly or recognized, they remain under-utilized.

 

 

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10. Lack of enough program level differentiation: Most universities are beginning to answer the question “why them” and develop a somewhat distinct identity/voice. However at the program level, higher education is becoming increasingly commoditized. The website is a great place where using the Less is more principal- the program can be differentiated in how its CLO or PLO are defined or how the capstone project is to be completed. Typically, we work closely with the Dean or the Program Director to define the program level positioning.

Who Got It Right? Chamberlain College of Nursing has well activated its program positioning on its website through effective brand voice, content development around careers, spotlight on nurses and tips for students.

 

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Redesigning a higher education website is a more than a technology migration or marketing communications initiative. It is truly about delivering a user experience that is relevant and compelling enough to drive choice and ease of use for all users.

 

Which higher education websites do you like and why? We’d love to hear!

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We are an award-winning digital build and market firm that brings a research-based approach, technical sophistication, marketing ingenuity, and creative thinking to innovative web solutions that bring consistent returns on digital investments.

Our digital build & market experience spans multiple industries, but our strongest strengths are B2B/technology, higher education, healthcare, B2C, and professional services. Our clients achieve sustained visibility because we build online campaigns the solid way.

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How to incorporate storytelling into B2B content creation?

Posted on October 2, 2018 - 5:29 PM by

While it is said that B2B buyers make decisions based solely on price and profit potential alone, even Ebenezer Scrooge succumbed to his amazing life story being shown to him through the eyes of the spectres! The most hardened number cruncher among us can’t resist a good, relevant story.

On average, 4% of people will remember any facts or figures from their last Power Point presentation. Most of us dread meetings as nothing more than ‘yawn fests’ that drone on seemingly forever.

These days we can consume up to 100,000 digital words every single day. Studies show that people prefer to get their information in the form of stories, not having statistics and lists of facts thrown at them.

If we are listening to a story about climbing a tree, the parts of our brain that would activate if we were actually climbing a tree in real life, light up. Telling a story is a powerful way to communicate and reach clients in a meaningful way.

Sometimes all you need are a few powerful words to engage. Ernest Hemmingway has been attributed to this six- word short story that is hinting at or implying a much larger story:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

A story need not be novel length. A good story can be a just a few words. When you know your audience, when you want your brand to resonate you can tell a story. Stories will not only inform and teach but they will be remembered as well.

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Elements of B2B Storytelling

The heart of B2B marketing lies in building lasting relationships based on mutual trust. What better way to connect with the humanity of potential customers than with a story? Stories are how we learn. Stories can convince. Stories teach. Stories entertain. In the end, stories build relationships.

Building a strategy to reach out to other businesses through storytelling involves:

  • Showing who you are
  • Giving your brand the starring role
  • Striking an emotional chord
  • Inspiring trust so they will come back for more

 

B2B Storytelling: How We Did It

Optimized Solutions, an enterprise software solution provider in the digital transformation space, approached us to create a product video to launch their ground breaking enterprise IoT data product. We knew right away that we had to cut to the core and create an experience that would make the viewers sit up and care. Care about the value possibilities of the product itself and of the Optimized brand too. From finding the right hook to creating stunning motion graphics and the perfect script, we elevated the story of day in the life of a modern day business enterprise that captured and sustained the interests of the audience on a seemingly dry topic.

Watch the B2B Product Launch Video 

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[mk_padding_divider][mk_padding_divider][mk_padding_divider][highlight_box style=”fade2″ iconsize=”24px” id=”01″ text=”On average, 4% of people will remember any facts or figures from their last Power Point presentation. Most of us dread meetings as nothing more than ‘yawn fests’ that drone on seemingly forever.” clr=”#091315″ bgclr=”#b0b948″ hoverbg=”#ffffff” icon=”fa fa-quote-left” text2=”These days we can consume up to 100,000 digital words every single day. Studies show that people prefer to get their information in the form of stories, not having statistics and lists of facts thrown at them.”]
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Storytelling Works

Stories sell.

That is a basic fact of life. Who among us, when we were children, actually wanted to go to bed? Selling bedtime to an active four year old with the promise of a bedtime story is proof that telling a good story works.

Stories give relevance.

Stories allow us to connect with humanity. We see ourselves as we are and we also see ourselves as we’d like to be. Stories teach, inform and entertain. What better way to show people who you are than through a memorable story?

Stories drive action and create purpose. You may not want to incorporate storytelling into every aspect of your marketing, but realizing what a powerful tool stories are will open doors for many new opportunities.

Storytelling is science because evolution has hardwired our brains to react to stories. It is a connection of cause and effect. When you want to make lasting connections with other businesses, tell your story!

About the Author

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Sandra Mui shines in her role as the Creative Director at Webtage. With over 15 years of experience in creative writing and visual arts, she gets the pulse of the consumer and creates content that strikes a chord.

Having previously worked for advertising agencies, such as Leo Burnett and other boutique creative houses, she has successfully launched Fortune 500 ad campaigns, including those for Procter & Gamble, Kodak Professional Division, Phillip Morris, FILA, Aki Italia & Champion Sportswear.

Sandra has a passion for reading, writing and researching. Her love of words and art gives her a unique vision and ability to put things together in ways that will make your brand pop!

Contact her at sandra@webtage.com

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40 Questions to Ask Before You Start Healthcare Digital Marketing

Posted on October 20, 2017 - 2:48 PM by

A digital marketing campaign needs a strategic approach and careful planning. Advance preparation can help both clients and vendors develop a common understanding of marketing objectives & constraints.

This questionnaire will help you understand your vision for your organization’s growth goals and plan the overall effort required for a confusion- and conflict-free digital campaign. It will help your vendor understand your constraints and will also lower your risk for running into a time and cost overrun.

So whether you are considering improvements to your existing campaign or an extensive omnichannel marketing launch, use this questionnaire to start your digital strategy on the right footing.

    What is 7 x 3 ?

    About the Author

    A believer in hype-free and performance driven digital strategies, Snigdha’s endeavor is to get your brand established and your business grow. She is passionate about research, design and analytics and works non-stop and meticulously to make sure that your brand stands out from the rest.

    Snigdha’s background is in research design, industry research, content creation, and qualitative and quantitative research (including web-based and phone survey methods and focus group discussions). She is a highly qualified professional in the areas of digital marketing strategy design, SEO, content creation, and social media marketing. Most recently she has grown a client’s online presence from zero to 25% online leads within 3-6 months; moved client website to the #1 & #2 spots on Google, Bing, and Yahoo for all major keywords; and generated online leads accounting for 25% – 30% of all leads for that client.

    Contact her at snigdha@webtage.com

    Healthcare Digital Agency in Naperville