Search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO, can be one of the most confusing areas of marketing for small business owners. If you’re not familiar with what the term even means, give yourself a break, because the strategy of what it means to have “good SEO” has changed significantly, even in the past few years. Put simply, search engine optimization is the process of making your website better so that it will show up well when people perform a search on search engines, such as Google. It’s different from buying Google Ads, which is commonly called PPC (pay-per-click). Search engine optimization requires brands to produce wise content, organize their site correctly, and build the site on a foundation that search engines like. While Google gives a window into how its algorithm works, the exact process for how to rank in search engines well is not a strict scientific formula. Small business owners are rightfully frustrated when they invest time, energy, and money into creating a website to serve their target market, only for the content to become the best-kept secret on the internet. The rise of AI-generated content from sites, such as ChatGPT, has presented even more confusion for marketers seeking to grow their digital presence. While the process of creating an SEO-friendly website for your business is not copy-and-paste, there are consistent principles that smart brands follow to help their site win and rank well. We’ve seen 3 SEO mistakes regularly from small to medium-sized businesses that, when fixed, can make a noticeable difference in a brand's search engine ranking. Mistake 1: Thinking You’re Done Making Content When Your Website is Launched It’s so tempting to think a “website launch” means completion. However, smart marketers know that you’re just getting started! Rather than a one-time project, websites should be seen as your online hub to communicate with your customers and clients. Regularly updating content isn’t just great practice for keeping your market up to date with the latest relevant information– Google loves it too! Beginning in 2011, Google began giving preference to recently updated pages for time-sensitive and trending topics. This emphasis on relevancy has remained consistent, so make sure that you’re updating your site regularly with things like new service offerings, industry updates that are relevant to your target market, blogging, and more. [If that sounds daunting to you, we can help. ] Mistake 2: Writing for Google and not for People It’s important to remember Google’s overarching mission here: to provide users with the most relevant and useful information available. That means that Google search isn’t built to serve itself. Rather, it’s built to serve YOUR customers. Don’t write content to try to please the search engine with things like keyword stuffing . Additionally, using AI tools like ChatGPT to write content for you can come with risks. While Google doesn’t overtly claim to punish AI-written content, they do specifically say that they prioritize content that shows expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google knows that AI-produced content that isn’t uniquely tailored to answering questions in the best way could easily frustrate your consumers. Mistake 3: Not Understanding that Word-of-Mouth Means Online Too Many companies become prone to falling behind in digital search because they believe that their business solely grows by word-of-mouth. While earned media like word-of-mouth marketing is powerful because it is so trustworthy, it’s also important to recognize that the modern consumer practices word-of-mouth differently than they used to. 88% of consumers look to Google reviews to determine the status and quality of businesses and 73% of consumers prioritize Google reviews in the last month alone. Google recognizes how powerful reviews are and uses them to help prioritize businesses within the Google Map Pack. Driving regular, consistent, high-quality reviews can help your business come out on top. Pro-tip- make sure you respond to reviews of your business too, whether positive or negative! Don’t wait to help your business show up higher in Google search engine results. Just implementing these three simple tips can make a great difference for a small to medium-sized business’s SEO strategy. Need help with this? We’d be honored to chat with you and see if we’re a good fit to work together. Feel free to get in touch today.

LinkedIn is more than the place to scramble when you're on the job hunt. It's also is a great community of colleagues and like-minded professionals to meet, learn and keep up with one another. However, with 310 million active monthly users, getting content noticed is challenging. Here are five tips on what not to do posting mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn. Read the full article here >>

On Tuesday, April 9, students in professor Ryan Russell’s digital marketing class in the UTC Gary W. Rollins College of Business reaped the rewards of a real-world social media exercise and scored an exclusive, virtual chat with world-famous entrepreneur, Mark Cuban. Cuban may be best known as the host of “Shark Tank,” a reality show that gives entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their business ideas to major investors, but he is also part owner of the Dallas Mavericks, owner of CostPlus Drug Company and co-owner of Broadcast.com. According to Forbes.com, he has a net worth of $5.4 billion, making him the 577th richest person in the world. The social media experiment began last week, when a guest speaker cancelled, and Russell found himself with some open class time. He offered his students a challenge–pick anyone in the world and he would work with them to bring that person to class for a virtual conversation. One of the students threw out Cuban’s name and Russell offered to donate $1,000 of his own money to Cuban’s nonprofit foundation and give each student fifteen points of extra credit for their work on gaining Cuban’s attention via social media and other outreach efforts. Professor Russell teaches a number of marketing classes and has developed a talent for bringing celebrity speakers to his class. During the pandemic, when all classes moved online, he used a similar approach to snag Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, for a virtual visit with his students. The students went to work filming videos, taking photos, and creating other content. Other students were aware of Cuban’s habit of responding to email and wrote to him directly. UTC alumni, faculty and members of the local business community saw the posts and added their voices to the campaign via LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. Tony Bonner, a senior entrepreneurship and Spanish double major at UTC, received the answer from Cuban via TikTok: “Deal. If I can schedule it, I’ll do it. But instead of sending 1k , buy Alyssa’s healthy cookies for your classes. We can discuss their marketing :)” The classroom was packed as Cuban logged on at 2 p.m., chatted with students and answered several questions. He talked with students about his experience working with the founders of Alyssa’s Healthy Cookies and about marketing the Dallas Mavericks. He also answered the question: “What gets you out of bed in the morning?” “Competition,” Cuban said. “I love to compete. And you know, as I’ve said before, business is the ultimate sport.”

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