• 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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Has Your WordPress Site Been Hacked? Here’s What To Do About It

    One of the biggest concerns for WordPress users is having their site hacked. Out of 11,000+ hacked websites that were analyzed by Sucuri in 2016, a whopping 75% were WordPress sites. A hacked website can affect your business and your ranking on Google. Taking precautions by downloading security plugins and using complex passwords can only get you so far. If the DNC and NSA can be hacked, then your website can be hacked. Knowing what to do if your site gets hacked can help you act quickly to minimize damage and protect the reputation of your site.

    How to Tell if Your Site Has Been Hacked

    First you will need to confirm that your website has been compromised. Some tell-tale signs of a hacked site include: pop ups, redirects to another site, plugins containing obfuscated code, or warnings telling visitors that your site contains malware. If you notice these things happening, there are a number of free scanners that you can use to confirm your suspicions, including

    It’s a good idea to use more than one scanner in case one scanner misses something that another may pick up on.

    How to Fix Your Compromised Site

    Now that you know your site has been hacked, cleaning it up may seem like a daunting task. It can be hard to figure out where to start and what steps need to be taken. By providing some simple instructions, I hope to guide website owners and help them get their WordPress site running smoothly again. If you aren’t comfortable with fixing your site yourself, contact a professional.

    Your first step should be to change all your passwords and SALTS so that the hacker can’t get back in to your site. By changing your SALTS, all users who are logged in will be automatically logged off. The easiest way to do this is to use a plugin, such as iThemes Security. If you can’t get into your WordPress site, use an admin tool like phpMyAdmin to change your password. Before attempting to remove the hack, it is crucial that you have a backup of your site.

    Now we’re ready to move on to the next step: finding and cleaning infected files. Online security scanners can identify these compromised files for you. You should take a look at your index.php, header.php, footer.php, and function.php files since these are often compromised. Also take a look at uploads directory, wp-config.php, wp-includes directory, and .htaccess file. Replace the compromised files with clean ones from a backup. If you can’t fix infected files individually, you can replace them by installing the WordPress core files. You should reinstall WordPress as well as all of your plugins and themes. Look out for any inactive plugins and themes as this is where most hackers hide their backdoor so they can get back into your site. Also, make sure to delete any admin users that you don’t recognize.

    If your database tables are infected, make sure you have a backup of these as well. Then look for and remove any suspicious content such as links and spammy keywords. Common malicious php files that you should search for include eval, base64_decode, gzinflate, preg_replace, and str_replace. However, these files are sometimes used by plugins so be careful before making any changes.

    Ensure Your Clean Site’s Security

    After cleaning up the hack, you should change your passwords again and create a backup of your clean site. Then, run a few security scans again to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Now that you’ve restored your website, it’s important to make sure it isn’t still listed on the blacklists. Having a blacklisted site can impact your business by shying visitors away and reducing traffic. According to Sucuri, websites lose around 95% of their traffic when blacklisted by Google. You can head over to Google Webmasters to request a review of your site so it can be removed from blacklists.

    Congratulations, you’ve successfully restored your hacked WordPress site! Now that you’ve done all this hard work, it’s important to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Remember to keep your plugins up to date and install a firewall. These are highly recommended:

    Being hacked can be a pain, but it isn’t the end of the world. By knowing what to do in the event of a hack, you’ll be able to fix your site quickly and calmly. Having a website free of issues will give visitors a better experience that will leave a lasting positive impression. As a website owner, a hack is the last thing that you want to deal with. By following these steps your website will be as good as new in no time!

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