• 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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Why Trying to do Everything Is Costing Your Business Marketing Efforts

With so many growth hacking tips and tricks out there it can be enticing to want to try them all. The internet is full of noise and agencies like mine and other businesses are scrambling for new ways to rise above the chatter and be heard. Often times what happens instead is we burn out from doing too much. This never leads to growth and is one of the main causes of businesses failing to ever reach their potential. So what can we do to maximize our online marketing efforts without burning ourselves out?

Whether you run a marketing agency like me or own your own business, you know or at least somewhat understand the power of inbound marketing. Simply put, it works very well. The issue is that we often over complicate it and for beginners, or those new to the inbound method, it can seem extremely overwhelming. If you’re going in with the mindset that you can do it all and you’ll just have to suck it up, that may work in the short term. But eventually you’ll burn out and could actually hurt yourself more than help.

Let’s briefly take a look at the effects of trying to do it all.

Why You Can’t (& Shouldn’t) Do Everything

 

You Stretch Yourself to Thin

When trying to do everything, you have to really stretch yourself. But what if there just isn’t enough of you to give? Embracing your limitations is very healthy and will lead to more focused and productive work. For a little more insight, check out this great post from Seth Godin.

You Produce Half-Assed Work

Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty of this in the past. When trying to do it all, the clock becomes your enemy. Instead of focusing on the task at hand with the intent of doing it well, the goal simply becomes to finish the task at all cost. Your marketing needs to be exceptional if you want to stand out. Exceptional work doesn’t just happen, it takes focus, purpose and time. Slowing down and removing things that may seem urgent and giving your best to the things that actually matter, is a must.

Not Everything Works in Every Niche

This is what makes Inbound Marketing beautiful and at the same time can be confusing for others. Inbound is a method, not a set of rules. I’ve seen a lot of companies and small business jump right into tactics without ever defining their audience. This is a huge mistake. Before you ever begin a process, you must know and understand your buyers. They help dictate your approach. Example: If you run a plumbing company in a small town, twitter is probably not your best bet‚Ķ make sense?

How to Focus on What You Can (& Should) Be Doing

So by this point I hope you get that you can’t do it all. But what should you be doing? 

Determining your buyers

Your buyers are the cornerstone to all of your online marketing efforts. If you don’t have them clearly mapped out, you will struggle. Check out some of the posts below to learn more about how to define your audience and even a free template to get you started.

Focus on Adding Value

After you know who you are marketing to, give them what they want and need. Educate them, add value to their lives and position yourself as an expert. This could be through your blog, social media or with your website. Only focus on areas that add value.

Do More of What’s Working

If you are not tracking your efforts, you are wasting your time. You can’t understand what is working and what is not working if you don’t track. By understanding what is working and what isn’t you’ll be able to give your time to what will have the greatest impact on your business.

Outsource If Needed

If you’re anything like me, you wish you had a few more hours in the day. One way I fixed this stress was realizing that I can’t do it all. For me the issue was more of business related tasks like bookkeeping. After struggling with it for way too long, I fired myself and hired an awesome online bookkeeping company. If you don’t have the time to devote yourself to marketing your business, hire someone who can take your vision and put in into action.

Trying to do it all won’t get you to where you want to go. If anything it will actually prevent you from reaching your potential. We put a lot on ourselves and not only is this not helpfu for our businesses or customers, it’s really bad for us personally as well. Check out this great article from Fortune Magazine on that topic.  Stop trying to do it and focus on what you can do well. 

If you can’t afford to outsource your marketing, we created a condensed and focused guide for business owners who are looking to grow their reach online. Click the button below to get your copy.

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