Tag Archives: SEO

Case Study: Behind The Scenes of A Multilingual E-Commerce Website Launch

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Friday January 6th 2017 at 12pm I clicked the refresh button on my browser and was overcome with excitement – my latest project was live and ready for public consumption.

www.tilosamericas.com is one of the larger projects I’ve worked on. Here I am sharing behind the scenes of what went into creating this multi-lingual ecommerce website.

Snapshot: the e-commerce website by the numbers:

Serves 23 countries, in 2 languages, over 72 pages with approx. 20,000 words, selling 22 products, completed in 7 weeks.

E-commerce website – client overview:

 

TILOS is a very specialized software tool that makes planning, executing and controlling linear infrastructure projects easier and more profitable.  

Petroglyph Project Analytics recently became the Authorized Dealer of TILOS across the Americas – North, Central and South America – and needed increased exposure online to get in front of their customers.

Objective:

Create a new website that would:

  • Be found on search engines.
  • Communicate the unique benefits of TILOS in a way that would generate leads and sales, across multiple cultures and languages.

E-commerce website- process:

Strategy First:

 

First, we worked to understand the target audience: what problems they were having, what questions they asked through different phases of their buying process, what they’d already tried and how TILOS could positively impact their daily work.  

Then, we got really clear on the benefits TILOS offers, specifically how it solves the target’s pain points in a way that is unique within the marketplace, who else was using the product and what they were saying about it.

Lastly, we conducted comprehensive keyword research to determine what the target customers were typing into search engines when they were looking for a solution to the problem TILOS solved. We also looked at the amount of demand for each keyword or phrase as well as the amount of competition for each phrase to create a nice balance of high traffic and very niche terms to target.

Creating The Brand:

It was really interesting to develop the key benefit statements and create the brand and identify the imagery to associate with each benefit statement.

We needed a message that could be instantly understood across multiple cultures and languages and decided to deliver the message with the use of vivid and stunning images of animals. This was a bold move in the conservative area of civil engineering, but one that dramatically conveys the message in a way that makes this website a memorable stand out from the sea of boring software websites.

Creating and Translating the Text.

Based on the target keywords and best practices for search optimization, a total of 72 pages were written and then translated into Spanish.

Finalizing the Design:

Now that we had the text and images, we crafted each page of the website around one purpose: asking the website visitor to take action.

The entire website is crafted around the call to action, which is for the visitor to request a free trial version of the software.

The call to action buttons and links are prominent and frequent – it’s obvious what the next logical step should be.

Additionally, we had to find a way to present a huge volume of content in a visually appealing way that wouldn’t intimidate website visitors. Some pages are close to 3,000 words! The use of visuals in the form of icons instantly transmit the message in a way that facilitates the scanning-instead-of-reading behaviour of online users today.

Building the Site:

Creating a multi-currency, multi-country, multi-lingual ecommerce website is not a simple task!

We built the website in WordPress and painstakingly developed the functionality that would identify the user’s location and language, displaying the correct text, product info and pricing as well as relevant taxes for each location.

The site also offers, administrator on-page search engine optimization support, social media sharing, blogging and lead-capture email newsletter integration capabilities as well as the integration with Salesforce and Desk.

Launching the site:

Once the website went live (on January 7th), we submitted the sitemap to Google and verified the website with Google search console. The target search keywords and terms were added to a tracking software to report on where the site is ranking for key terms within the first 30 days of launch.

What the client says:

wow

What it took:

From my perspective, as the lead web marketing strategist, copywriter and project manager on this project, I’ve slept, ate, and dreamed TILOS americas.com over these past 7 weeks.

It’s been an incredible journey, from a pile of dense technical white papers to a world-class online presence.

The team I worked with included: one extremely talented website developer, one lovely translator, two brilliant SEO and content experts and a very much appreciated Office Ninja.

Where we’re going from here:

We’ll be monitoring the initial search ranking performance of the just-launched site very closely and augmenting where needed with off-site search ranking tactics.

Work with me:

 

Do you want better results from your online marketing? Let’s chat! Visit me at

http://www.laurelastark.com/web-marketing-consultant-services/

Your questions answered: Can social media actually drive sales?

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social media marketingToday’s question comes from Kevin who writes, “Can social media actually drive sales?”

That’s a great question, Kevin. If you’re looking for the answer for this, too, then keep on reading.

1. Social SEO

First of all, social media absolutely does drive sales because a lot of social media sites—Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest & Linkedin— show up on Google search results.

In fact if you have social media profiles, you can search your company name on Google right now and see that not just your website, but almost all your social media properties display on that first page of Google.

In the same way, customers searching for what you sell can see your social media profiles on the first page of Google. The trick is search optimizing those social profiles properly; using keywords, hashtags and mentioning your local service area.
In this way, you get exposure to folks who are actual, qualified prospects to buy your products or services.

2. Social Proof or Implicit Endorsements

The second thing is a presence on social media, as well as building an active engaged community, acts as social proof.
Simply put, most people make their buying decisions based on what other people are doing.

By having people on your social platforms engaging with your business, you are receiving implicit endorsement from them. This behavior, along with a consistent look and feel and recently updated information shows that you’re a credible business that people can trust.

This helps buyers through the part of the sales funnel, or buyer’s journey where they’re evaluating companies to make their purchasing decision. They can then omit businesses that don’t display social proof.

3. Buy Buttons on Social

And lastly, a lot of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are now offering a “Buy Now!” button directly in the newsfeed.

You can sell products without having to make your customer leave the actual social media site. So in that way, social media definitely can drive sales. The buy now button is available through the advertising options from each platform.

Has social media helped you drive sales? Share with me in the comments below.

Sharing is caring!  If you found this valuable, please consider sharing it with your network.

https://youtu.be/tw93YjY5pOQ

Three Steps to Getting on Google

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If you want your website to be noticed, you have to get on Google.

Google-Ranking

And if you want to get on Google, you have to make yourself as visible as possible to them and their web crawlers.

Then of course once you’re on, you’re going to want make sure you stay there.

Getting and staying on Google can be broken down into three easily remembered stages:

·      Build (on-site SEO)

·      Engage (off site SEO)

·      Stay fresh (regular content)

Let’s elaborate and see what these points really entail.

Build – on-site SEO

Anyone who maintains their own website, be it for business or pleasure, should at least be aware that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a thing, even if they might not really understand it.

They also need to know that it comes in two flavours: on-site and off-site, and taking care of the on-site SEO while building your website is paramount if you want it to get on Google.

On-site SEO includes everything that your web design team can arrange for you, either behind the scenes or for public consumption; quality content with relevant keywords, page titles, Google text snippets, URLs, H1 or H2 headings, correctly tagged images, outbound links, and having a site map.

All of these will affect your Google rank, although some (content and titles) carry more weight than others (alt tags on images).

Engage – off-site SEO

As the name suggests, off-site SEO covers everything you can do in other places online to improve your own SEO and help you to get on Google.

One metric used by Google to measure your ranking is the quality of your inbound links; that is, links from other places directing people to your site.

The practice of link building has long been a big part of any SEO campaign, although the focus has now shifted to the subtly different but more interpersonal practice of link earning.

Advisable ways of earning the high quality links that help you to get on Google include reaching out to bloggers and asking them to link to your best content, or offer to write a guest post with a link back to your site.

Leaving useful, non-generic comments on relevant blog posts with a link back to your site also works, as does being active and respected on a forum that allows you to display your web address in your signature or in posts.

Building a community on social media is another great way to improve the engagement with your content, if you can encourage your audience to share it directly from your site.

Stay fresh – regular content

While on and off-site SEO practices help you to get on Google, the ubiquitous search engine also takes into account the freshness of your website and its content.

It makes sense; after all, Google wants you to keep using its service, so strives to give the most relevant, freshest results it can. Stale websites get punished by falling in the rankings.

Even if most of your website’s pages are static and don’t change, there are ways to maintain a steady stream of new content. The most common is a regular blog, with the opportunity for people to comment on the posts.

Depending on the nature of your site, running a forum is also a possibility and helps with the fresh posts and interaction that Google values so highly.

Get on Google, Stay on Google

Being found through organic search engine results is vital to your business, and that means one thing: you have to get on Google.

By following the three key stages of building, engaging and staying fresh, you’ll give yourself the best of chance of both getting and staying there.

What Is Search Engine Optimization?

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Today let’s talk about Search Engine Optimization and how to do it!

If you’ve ever wondered how some businesses are on page one of google search, and you’d like to be there yourself…keep reading!

Search Engine Optimization is the process by which you optimize your website to rank highly on the search engines, like Google.

To get high rankings on search engines, I’ve outlined a three step process below!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Step One- Keyword Analysis:

The first thing that you want to do is go to the Google Keyword Planning tool (sign up if you don’t have an account already) and type in what you think that your future clients might be typing into Google.

They will generate a whole bunch of keywords for you and tell you how many people are actually searching for what you think they are searching for.

Search Engine Optimization Step Two: Optimize Your Website Text

Next make sure you have the right keywords and you start using them on your website- this is called On-Site Search Engine Optimization.

Once you identify what keywords your target market is actually searching for, then you can go ahead and start using those words in your website text.

Make sure you have a frequently asked questions page that addresses questions that people may be typing into Google and make sure your services pages have those words in the actual text there.

Search Engine Optimization Step Three: Update Your Website Frequently

The second thing you want to do is absolutely make sure you are updating your website on a frequent basis, the more frequent the better.

For best SEO results, I recommend updating your website once a week if you can.

Post a blog post, talking about those keywords; addressing the questions your future clients may have and  are actually typing into Google.

Search Engine Optimization Step Three: Integrate with Social Media

Thirdly, make sure your website is engaging and actually addressing things people care about and is integrated into social media.

Statistics are showing the more engagement you are getting on social actually on your website, contributes to where you rank on Google, more specifically use of Google+.

OK, I’ve followed these 3 steps, Now What?

If you’re serious about getting on google or optimizing your website so it shows up higher on the search rankings, you need to get a Google Analytics account.

Your web developer can set one up for you as well- but once you’re logged in, on the left hand site you will see a section for Social which shows how socially integrated your site is, where your social traffic is coming from.

Google Analytics will also show you where your site is ranking, what terms people use to get to your website and lots of other great information about how your website is performing.

That is your one minute tip! If you liked it, please share and don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCurxTLa0XxIvJowi6HuhpUw

 

Why Your Company Needs an Optimized Social Media Presence

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new-media-group-optimized-social-mediaGone are the days of needing the newspaper or the radio to tell the world about your ideas. You no longer need press releases or the wire to break exciting news to your customers, and you no longer need a TV to publicize videos and online commercials. The only thing you need is a social media strategy.

Plain and simple, your business needs to be online; if you’re not sharing, tweeting or posting, you’re falling behind. Social media has taken the world of information by storm – we’re able to watch events unfold in real time, and see the opinions of people from all over the world with just a couple of clicks. Your business is able to take advantage of these tools in order to gain more followers, develop your reputation, improve your SEO, and gain direct access into the thoughts and values of your customers.

Here are four reasons why your business needs an optimized social media strategy:

1.    Extend Your Reach

Social media is arguably the largest method of communication – it gives you access to hundreds of millions of people! Whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, you have the chance to connect with people of all ages, from all around the world. Some great ways to do this are to start following or “liking” different companies that are in the same industry, or even pick a few that are just for interest! The social media world is a give-and-take process; the more you share and follow the more you’ll get in return.

2.    Direct Access

Customer feedback is the most valuable insight for a business. You get to learn what your customers are looking for and how you can improve for next time! With social media you’re able to make that feedback turn into a conversation, and show that individual as well as many other potential customers, how dedicated you are to working with them to meet their needs.

3.    Thought Leadership

Having a business blog or generating an opportunity to be a guest writer on someone else’s blog is a great way to improve your business’ reputation. People know that real people run businesses, and they want to know the thoughts and values of those top executives. Writing out your ideas can turn your status towards thought leadership, and you’ll start being the source that people go to for details about your industry. Whether you’re in finance, construction, jewellery making – you name it! Show the world your expertise over your social media channels.

4.    SEO

Lastly, from a technical standpoint, social media is a quick way to improve how you rank in search engines listings. It grants you more links and pages, and the more your content gets shared the more opportunities you will have to show up through searches. There are also a number of very insightful programs that are able to run analytics on your accounts to see how your influence is growing, and where you’re seeing the most success.

With the number of individuals using social media to pick where they shop, eat, buy, visit, etc., you will be left in the dust without an online presence. Take the time to build out a strategy that will show the world your thoughts, and then build a system so that you can show customers your commitment to them through responses. Social media is invaluable, and could be just the step that your company was looking for to take it to the next level.