• FAQs

          Search engine optimization (SEO) helps businesses drive visits to their website through organic search traffic. Given that the top organic search results receive a third of the clicks, a decline in ranking could be detrimental for your business. Implementing SEO best practices on your website will help to ensure that your web content is seen by as many potential customers as possible. The more visitors you have, the better your chances are of converting those visits into sales!

          Local search engine optimization (SEO) helps local businesses gain visibility by optimizing their local business listings for local search. A business that leverages local SEO will include its address, phone number, local opening times, and exact location in the form of a local citation. The goal is to rank for local searches which are usually performed by people in a specific geographical region looking for a business near them.

          We typically see results within the first 30 to 60 days, but when it comes to SEO, there are many factors at play. It's important to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy and results may not come as fast at you wish.


        • FAQs

          Digital advertising uses the internet to send advertisements to customers who are online through different websites and social media platforms like Google, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook.

          The price for Google Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.

          The price for Social Media Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.


        • FAQs

          This depends on the complexity and size of a redesign and if eCommerce is needed. On average, it takes around 14-18 weeks from the web design intensive stage to launch.

          If your website experiences the following issues: it’s not responsive on all devices, has a slow loading speed, the design appears old and tired, users don’t spend long on the site, sales are stagnant, or your business is going through a rebranding - your website needs a redesign to boost your brand awareness and sales.

          Sometimes there’s no need to rebuild a website. Minor edits, refreshing page content and images, or restructuring page layout for SEO best practices can boost traffic and sales.


        • FAQs

          Semantic search launched in 2013 with the release of Google's Hummingbird update. Since then, Google's search engine has become more complex. The integration of machine learning, with RankBrain, and NLP, with BERT, has enabled the search engine to better understand the context of a query and deliver more personalized and targeted results. Semantic SEO is the process of creating machine-readable content using structured data and linked open data to help search engines better understand your content.

          On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. On-page SEO refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals. From meta tags to page content, website structure, and HTML, on-page optimization services are focused on making your website more visible to search engines.

          Structured data refers to any organized data that conforms to a certain format, such as information in a relational database. When information is highly structured and predictable, search engines can more easily organize and display it in creative ways. Structured data involves using a piece of code that is laid out in a specific format easily understood by search engines. The search engines read the code and use it to display search results in a more dynamic way.


        • FAQs

          An SEO agency has experts in different areas of search engine optimization that may be out of the realm of your marketing team's abilities. SEO can be very complex and time-consuming. Furthermore, as search engine algorithms change it can be difficult to stay current on the latest ranking factors and strategies for improving online visibility. You will likely see a greater return on investment and better results from using a professional SEO agency than you would from tackling this on your own.

          As a digital marketing agency, SMA Marketing provides products and services in four areas: SEO, Local SEO, Digital Advertising, and Web Design

          We focus on building authentic, long-lasting relationships with our clients. We’re goal oriented and results driven and believe in doing good and making a difference in the world.

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Using Business Analytics to Build a Data-Driven Culture

In today’s data-driven world having a plan for implementing, using and working with data is a must. For many business owners, Business Intelligence and Analytics can seem overwhelming. But, when you slow down the process and weigh the benefits of BA it’s easy to see that the only way to really get the answers to the questions you are seeking is business analytics.

What is Business Analytics?

Business analytics (BA) is the practice of iterative, methodical exploration of an organization’s data, with an emphasis on statistical analysis. Companies use business analytics when they are committed to data-driven decision-making. (source)

If you want to make better decisions using your data, then Business Analytics is a must. BA takes a look at the role of data in your company as a whole and then helps you build systems and structures to use that data to help you make data-driven decisions.  

What is a Data-Driven Culture?

A data-driven culture is a business culture where data is used to help influence decisions and help the business reach their goals using the information they have. At its core, a data-driven culture views data as a powerful tool that can be used to predict success, build better products and better connect with customers. It’s important to know that just because you use data, doesn’t mean you have a “data-driven culture.” Data-driven teams have very important building blocks that hold them together and help them be extremely efficient and effective.

In an article on TechCrunch, Carl Anderson and Michael Li state, “To be data-driven requires an overarching data culture that couples a number of elements, including high-quality data, broad access and data literacy and appropriate data-driven decision-making processes. In this article, we discuss some of the key building blocks.” 

Below are the 5 building blocks recommended when building a data-driven culture:

Single Source of Truth

“A single source of truth is a central, controlled and “blessed” source of data from which the whole company can draw. It is the master data.”

This is key. If everyone is pulling their data from their own sources, you are going to get a bunch of reports that conflict with one another. Having a central location to house all your data is the first step toward building a data-driven culture. 

Data Dictionary

“Knowing where to get the data, and providing quality data, is only one ingredient. Users need to know what the data fields and metrics mean. You need a data dictionary.”

Without a data dictionary, there is no cohesiveness. Everyone must understand what all the KPIs mean as well as what dimensions and metrics the company is using. This again helps make sure the whole team is on the same page. Data is a language in and of itself, and there are many “dialects” so make sure you have a data dictionary that explains how your company uses data.

Broad Data Access

“Having clean, high-quality data, from a central source, and with clear metadata, is ineffective if staff can’t access it.” 

Having the data is not enough. If your team can’t access the data, then it’s a waste. Sure, be safe and make sure you have the right security in place, but don’t make your team jump through hoops to access the data they need. If you make it too hard, they won’t use the data resources, and you won’t have a data-driven culture. 

Data Literacy

“In a data-driven organization with broad data access, staff will frequently encounter reports, dashboards, and analyses, and they may have a chance to analyze data themselves. To do so effectively, they must be sufficiently data literate.”

Make sure that your team knows more than just terms. They also need to know how to interpret the data with which they are working. Take the time to train all of your staff on what the data points mean and how the analysis works. Data literacy is a must!

Decision Making

“Data can only make an impact if it is actually incorporated into the decision-making process. An organization can have quality, timely and relevant data and skilled analysts who generate masterful reports with carefully crafted and presented insights and recommendations.”

We often place more weight on our gut decisions than data. It’s human nature to believe we are right all the time. But, this is the power of data-driven cultures. It helps us fight our own ego and make better decisions that impact the company at large. I am not saying don’t trust your gut, but I am recommending that you challenge it with the data. All the data will do is confirm or disconfirm your assumptions. This is the power of a data-driven culture. Read the full article here

Conclusion

While Big Data is a term that many are nervous about, the truth is we are already using data daily in our lives. The goal of Business Analytics is to help give you more control over your data and then put it back to work for you. Teams that have developed data-driven cultures are the ones that are creating massive change in our world today. Companies like Warby Parker, HubSpot, and Looker are just a few that have adopted a data-driven culture and in return create better products and develop deeper relationships with their customer bases. Data is not stalled. It’s living and changing, and the companies that embed it into their culture are the ones that change the world.

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