• 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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Are Vanity Metrics Running Your Decisions?

Today businesses are collecting more data in one day than most did over a year in the past. But just having this data available to us means very little. Knowing how to use that data to make informed decisions that lead to growth is where the real power lies. Not all metrics are created equal and knowing which ones to use could mean the difference between feeling successful and being successful.

Many business owners are obsessed with what I like to call “vanity metrics.” They are metrics that make you feel good but lack any real meaning. Vanity Metrics are very surface-level and typically actionless. These are metrics like number of website visitors, keyword ranking, the number of likes and so forth.

Now, these metrics alone aren’t worthless; they just aren’t the full picture. Let’s take website traffic for instance. Many businesses or marketers will check the number of visitors and, if it went up, they’d assume they are doing a good job. If it went down, they’d assume they need to change something. Most never ask the most important question, “why?”

The problem with vanity metrics, is you still end up making decisions based on assumptions instead of facts. Looking at your website traffic numbers going up and assuming you’re doing the right thing could be very misleading. If you take your traffic data and break it down, you will start to see what is really contributing to your growth and what is not. But traffic is still a hard metric on which to base business decisions.

When it comes to tracking what matters, you must start with “actionable metrics.”

Any time you start tracking a metric ask yourself “Will this help me take action and make decisions?” If the answer is no, don’t waste your time with it.

Kissmetrics has a great post on this topic, and they say, “actionable metrics are geared to answer these questions:

  • How do you gain or lose revenue?
  • How do you gain or lose customers?
  • What are the key functions and benefits that people are coming to you for?”

Having answers to these questions will help you understand what types of information you need to track and how it impacts your business. Below are three core metrics every business should track.

Conversion Rates

The first thing you want to track is conversions. The definition of conversion is, “The point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs the desired action.” In short, it is the number of people who take a particular action you’ve set up. This could be a form fill or click on a specific element.

Tracking website traffic will have more meaning if you also have conversion tracking set up. This will help you understand how your users are interacting with your site and if you need to make changes to your conversion points.

In the Kissmetrics article referenced above, they also share a very good point about comparing. “Don’t compare yourself to the industry or your competitors. Your goal is to establish an internal benchmark. Then try to beat it. When you move the needle up, you’re on the right track. Otherwise, you’re either going backward or your efforts aren’t making any impact.” In short, your conversions are specific to your business. Don’t get bogged down by other people’s numbers. Set your own goals and optimize to the needs of your audience.

Leads & Customers

How does your business attract and retain customers? Which channels are the most effective for driving leads? What is the preferred way for your customers to interact with you?

This is a little more in-depth than finding out from where your visitors come. Tracking leads and customers is about finding which referral sources are generating new business.

Knowing which channels are generating the most leads and new customers will give you insights on where to focus more of your time and energy. For example, say you are driving a ton of traffic from social media, but none of your visitors are taking action. But when you look at organic traffic, you notice 15% of your visitors are converting into leads. Now you can focus more energy on organic traffic since it’s producing results. For your social audience, you can run some a/b tests to see if you can get that segment to engage.

As you can see from this simple example, we now have actionable data rather than some numbers that are higher or lower than the last month.

Revenue

The last metric you need to track is also the most important, revenue. Without cash flow, you’re out of business. Every time someone makes a transaction with your company, you need to track it.

Here are a few other revenue-based metrics you need to track:

  • Customer Lifetime Value
  • Total Revenue (Month, Quarter, Annual)
  • Net Profit
  • Average Order Value
  • Number of Transactions

Having the insight into your financial numbers will give you a baseline of the health of your business. The deeper you go, the more information you will glean from your research.

While tracking your data is important, it’s what you track that makes the biggest impact. Instead of wasting time on vanity metrics that lack action, take the extra effort to dive into the numbers that matter to your business. Remember, actionable metrics are geared to answer these questions:

  • How do you gain or lose revenue?
  • How do you gain or lose customers?
  • What are the key functions and benefits that people are coming to you for?

If you have questions about your data or would like some help setting up your data tracking, contact us today. We’ve helped a number of companies just like yours put their data into action.

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