• 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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Essential Actions Create Outstanding Blog Content Consistently

One of the hardest things about having a blog for your company or niche’s website is trying to write an article when you don’t have much time or an inspiring topic. While the instinct may be to skip publishing, that’s not best because frequency matters with posting. By utilizing a few strategies, you can successfully create outstanding blog content and stick to your publishing schedule.

Use these Five Essential Actions to Create Outstanding Blog Content Consistently

Crappy First Draft

Anne Lamott is famous for promoting a bad first draft. Her point is that you need to get something on paper. “Writers write” is a quote I hear or read at least once a day because it is a crucial thing writers use to remind ourselves that our job is to write.

My first drafts often take on an outline form. I’ll consider the title and keywords I need to focus on, and as I research I’ll pull out the ideas, I want to highlight. Once I determine the sections and flow, I can start in the middle of the article to get something started even when the introduction isn’t coming together. The point of the crappy first draft is to get some words written. You may delete them all later, but you have start somewhere.

Walk Away

After you get something down, walk away. This might seem counterproductive, but I promise it works. When writer’s block strikes, I’ll sometimes take an actual walk. A change of scenery, getting out and doing something active and having permission to push pause on my article seems to be the perfect combination to inspire new perspective and thoughts.

Grammarly

While no tool is perfect, Grammarly is my go-to tool so that everything I write has an automatic second set of eyes on it before I hit publish. This is a helpful tool to catch spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes, but with the paid version it also goes further. One of the suggestions Grammarly often highlights on my work is “wordy.” This isn’t surprising, but it’s a gentle reminder to edit.

I don’t turn Grammarly on when writing my first or second drafts. Once I’m on my final review before sending the content to the proofreader, I’ll turn on Grammarly, and as I edit, I’ll consider the suggestions. Then I do one final read-through.

Outside Proofreader

As writers, we can find ourselves feeling defensive with the editing process, but the reality is developing outstanding content requires editing. Even when you have a great handle on the audience you are writing for it’s still important to make sure your ideas are coming across clearly. Remember, at this point, you have been focusing on the article for several hours or even days and have read it through at least four times. It’s possible you are not as clear as you think.

Proofreaders are also great because they can tell you when you complicate an explanation. Perhaps you are using five sentences when three are needed. A great proofreader will provide suggestions that clarify your content without substituting their voice or perspective for yours. Remember that pushback is a necessary part of the process. Consider all suggestions and always keep the end goal in mind‚ creating outstanding content for your reader.

Content Calendar

The best way to stay on track with writing content consistently is with a content calendar. There are many benefits of having a calendar, but my favorite is that you only need to brainstorm subjects once in awhile as opposed to every time you sit down to write.

With my personal blog, I plotted out a year-long content calendar with titles and subjects in January. This might sound like an overwhelming task, but I publish eight times a month, and three of the articles are monthly commitments which don’t change. So, I only needed to come up with sixty titles and plot out the publish dates. I pulled out my writing pipeline and knocked things out in one evening.

As I work ahead, life circumstances may inspire new content. I have found that titles are easily recycled for future use the next time I develop my content calendar.

Thinking about your blog articles one a year at a time won’t work for everyone, but I suggest you think further ahead than four weeks. Quarterly calendars are the ones I encounter most often. By taking the time to research keywords, titles, and different subjects you will write on, in the future, you can jump into the crappy first draft with a little bit of inspiration.

These five essential actions will help you to create outstanding blog content all year round, but we all encounter seasons where we need help. If you need help designing a content calendar or developing excellent blog articles we are here to help. Our experienced staff is ready to jump in and provide a well-researched content strategy for your business or niche blog. We can also take things a step further and develop all the content for you so you can focus building your business and online presence.

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