VE Digital

Category: Business Development

  • 5 Useful Ways to Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

    5 Useful Ways to Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

    Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

    Are you looking for ways to level up your small business’ digital marketing? Here are ways to incorporate video marketing into your business strategy.

    We’ve talked about video marketing in our blog a couple of times. In this post, we will be talking about actionable steps on how to include videos in your content marketing strategy. You don’t need to have a director or a scriptwriter or a film crew. You only need your creative ideas and these video marketing tips. 

    Videos play an important part in digital marketing today. Most people prefer watching videos to reading a long all-text article to help them with their problems or even just gain information from something they’re curious about.

    You can leverage this information to make your brand and company more appealing to your audience. Videos are effective in telling a story, building connections, and tapping into the emotions of your consumers.

    With a solid video marketing strategy, you can build and establish trust with your audience and share your brand’s story in a. elaborate way. 

    Here are five (5) ways on how to incorporate video marketing into your business.

     

    Tell Stories

    A video is an excellent platform for storytelling. Take this opportunity to show off the behinds of what your brand is all about. Be creative and tell stories about the business’s history, your employer’s stories, some problems you encountered, or even a customer’s story. These will allow viewers to connect with you and put real faces behind the logo that they usually see.

     

    Make How-To Videos

    Showcase your products and address frequently asked questions about them in a video. Give your audience useful advice that they can apply to their lives. This is a great way to show your expertise and knowledge about your industry.

     

    Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

     

     

    Repurpose Old Content into Videos Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

    Make use of the content already found on your website and make them into several videos. This is a great strategy to maximize the use of your old content. Update them and repurpose them into video format.

    If you have blog posts and lists, you can convert them into video format and make them even more interesting. Make these articles into bite-sized information that is easy to digest and make them into 1-2 min videos that are shareable to generate engagement. Don’t forget to add calls to action at the end!

     

    Create Short Videos for Social Media

    Millennials and the younger generation flock over social media for news and updates so it just makes sense that you branch out your digital marketing to social media as well.

    Make short and simple videos that will resonate with your target audience. People love pleasing visuals and this is the perfect opportunity for you to make engaging and shareable videos to garner views and engagement in social media.

    Use Consumer-Generated Content Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business 

    An effective and affordable way to bring in new customers is by using customer-generated video ads. Nothing beats authenticity and people trust the opinions and reviews of previous customers before deciding that a product is worth a try. Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

    Ask existing customers for honest reviews about their experience with your products and services. Ask for photos or videos and let them share their testimonials about your brand. You can then use these materials for your video marketing strategy. Upload these on your Instagram stories or reels or IGTV, share them to your Facebook My Day stories, or even Twitter Fleets if that’s where your audience is.

    These short videos will serve as social proof that can garner trust for your brand when people search for feedback from your previous customers. Incorporate Video Marketing into your Business

     

    Breathe life into your marketing strategy and incorporate video marketing into your business. It may be time-consuming and you’ll have to make the effort to make your videos pop, but this is definitely worth your time.

    Videos let your potential customers see what your brand has to offer and what it’s truly about. With this in your arsenal, you will also build an authentic relationship with your audience.

    Still in doubt if video marketing is effective? Read Benefits of Video Marketing For Your Small Business.

  • 10 Effective SEO Strategies to Increase Organic Traffic

    10 Effective SEO Strategies to Increase Organic Traffic

    10 Effective SEO Strategies to Increase Organic Traffic

    In the digital world, the business landscape has become saturated and more competitive than ever. If you don’t make the effort to stay on top of the trends and be visible in search results, it will be a reason for a decline in your business. Here are effective SEO strategies to increase your organic website traffic.

     

    10 Effective SEO Strategies

    Improve Your Headlines

    Appealing headlines are effective to attract viewers’ attention. It is arguably the strongest advertising feature of an article because it’s the first thing that readers will see in the search results.

    You will need to make an effort to write engaging headlines to stand out from your competition and garner more clicks. Just make sure that you optimize your headlines for both the search engines and the users.

    To optimize your article headlines, here are some tips to remember:

    • Keep your headlines under 60 characters.
    • Use a descriptive title.
    • Place the keyword towards the end of the headline.
    • Use eye-catching and powerful words to attract the viewer’s attention.
    • Use numbers in your titles, it increases the chance of clicks.

    Read: Effective Writing: How to Write an Irresistible Headline

     

    Write Longer Content (at least 1,400 Words)

    Google now prefers longer content as it tends to accumulate more backlinks which will translate to better rankings and drive more traffic. However, everyone can’t write 2k+ words in every blog post as it is time-consuming, intensive, and usually not necessary to all content.

    When you’re struggling to generate 2k+ words of content, you can always look back to your old blog posts and refresh and expand them. Old content already has authority and by updating it and adding additional content, you can simply boost its performance in the search results.

     

     

    10 of the Best Productivity Tools for your Startup Business

    Make Your Posts Easy to Read

    Aside from writing quality content, to increase your organic traffic, you’ll need to further optimize your content for readability.

    Make sure you write an enticing introduction that will talk about what your whole article is about. You also have to make sure that there are no typos and grammatical errors. Format your content into bite-sized pieces by writing shorter paragraphs so that it’s easier to read. Mix longer and shorter sentences together to create harmony through your paragraphs.

    Use headers and sub-headers on your article so that skim readers can easily scan what your post is about. When you have a list of facts, ideas, etc, use bullet points to iterate them. Lastly, balance out your text-heavy content with photos and videos so you won’t overwhelm your readers.

    Work on Your Meta Description

    Meta descriptions are influential features in marketing your website pages in the SERPs. Construct your meta descriptions properly and make sure to include your keywords in them.

    Make your meta descriptions precise yet exciting. Make it tempting so that you’ll attract readers, but also make it understandable for viewers to know about your page just by reading it. Write your description in under 180-160 characters.

     

    Link From High Domain Authority Websites

    Including a high DR and high-traffic website with similar audiences to yours will help your site. These links will draw relevant traffic and improve your site’s authority as well.

    You can reach out to site owners to link to your web content or publish your guest posts on their websites.

    This can take some time and effort but having relevant backlinks can help you improve your site’s traffic tremendously.

     

    Increase Website Speed

    Site speed is another important factor when it comes to website performance. It has also become a ranking factor so it’s important for your website to have a fast loading speed.

    Google has many SEO tools to help you improve your website speed. Here are some tools to help your out:

    The best site speed is between 1-3 seconds.

     

    Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

    77% of American’s have a smartphone and 79% of smartphone users purchase online using their mobile devices. Google has also gone mobile and now, it uses its mobile smartphone user-agent to crawl sites. Your website’s mobile version will be crawled and indexed first before the desktop version, so if you want your website to show up on the SERP, build and focus on your website’s mobile responsiveness and experience.

     

    Write a Roundup Post

    Round-up blog posts are popular because they are consolidated data about certain topics. People always turn to the internet to learn what’s the best of something.

    It’s a great way to get different viewpoints and learn new things, it’s also one of the effective SEO strategies to improve your rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

     

    Optimize For Image Search

    Optimizing your website for image search is an excellent way to grab traffic from several sources. Consider taking care of your alt tags, file names, image sizes, image sitemap, and hosting your images on a CDN.

    Here’s a helpful blog that you can read on image optimization. 

     

    Don’t Overlook Technical SEO

    Your site’s technical SEO matters just as much as any other.

    • Make sure that your site runs and loads on HTTPS so that Google can tag it as a secure page.
    • Enable AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for mobile. 
    • Correct your semantic markups as it helps Google understand your website more. Semantic markups are your HTML tags that will help emphasize the important information on your website. This includes your headings and sub-headings.
    • Fix your broken links and 404 errors by redirecting them into working URLs. 

     

    SEO is ever-evolving and digital marketers and business owners need to keep up and adapt fast to keep your website afloat.

    Spend time to learn the fundamentals of SEO, content creation, and copywriting so that you can improve your website performance gradually.

    There’s a lot more to consider regarding SEO, but we hope that these effective SEO strategies we listed will help you and your website.

  • 7 Things You Need To Check on Your Website Regularly

    7 Things You Need To Check on Your Website Regularly

    Things You Need To Check on Your Website Regularly

     

    A website is a business’s storefront, so it’s important to always keep it updated and problem-free. Just like a house, your website needs maintenance and constant TLC. When you fail to clean up and maintain your home, it will slowly disintegrate and lose value. The same thing will happen with your website. We’ve listed seven (7) things you need to check on your website regularly.

     

    Check your website load time

    There’s no certainty that site speed affects your Google ranking, however, it does affect the user experience. It’s crucial to have a short loading time because viewers have a short attention span. If users are not getting a good experience when they visit your website, they will instantly click the close button.

    Make sure that your website loads fast. There are free tools online that you can use like Google’s own page speed insight tool. Aim for a score of 85 or above.

     

    Find and Fix Technical Errors

    Even the smallest technical errors can affect your credibility, so make sure to check your website for these errors. Regularly review your website for the following:

    • False redirects
    • Inconsistent styles or formatting
    • Typos or grammatical errors
    • Broken links
    • Missing or outdated content
    • Missing metadata
    • Test out your forms

    Regularly check all your forms and calls to action. Test your contact forms and your website’s checkout process, too. Just because they are working fine today does not mean that they will be next week.

    There’s a lot of reasons why forms will stop working. It can be caused by bugs, website software updates, different APIs problems, and so on.

    These forms are how customers reach you so you will need to make sure that they always work. Otherwise, you’ll be losing business opportunities.

    Check your forms every other week to see if they are still working.

     

    Build and Improve Your SEO

    SEO or Search Engine Optimization is crucial for websites. It’s how Google finds you. As Google constantly adjusts its algorithms to improve user experience, you also need to constantly update your website’s SEO standing.

    Make sure you have your page titles, header tags, meta tags, alt tags, and sitemap fixed and intact. There’s a lot of things involving SEO so having the basics down is one task off your list. Continue to build and improve your SEO on a regular basis.

    Here’s a free online tool you can use to check your website’s performance, SEO, mobile-friendliness, and security.

     

    Check your domain names

    Make sure that your domain names are renewed annually. You don’t want your domain to expire because this will lead to problems. Put a reminder on your calendar when you have to renew your domain name if it’s not already on auto-renew mode.

     

    Things You Need To Check on Your Website

    Design and compatibility with browsers

    According to HubSpot, 94% of internet users say that a website’s design is crucial for building trust.

    Website design is just as important as everything else. Your site needs to look pleasing to the eyes and a breeze to navigate through. And you shouldn’t only be satisfied with how it looks in Google Chrome, you also need to make sure that it looks great on other web browsers.

    Moreover, your website should also be mobile responsive.

     

    Review contact information

    Check the contact information found on your website and review if they are still accurate. Make sure to have the correct details such as email address, contact numbers, and location. 

     

    In digital marketing, the only constant is change, and so to keep up with time, you need to keep up with the trends.

    To keep your website relevant and up to date, do regular reviews and check-ups to make sure that you don’t have any major and minor hiccups. Of course, there are other things you need to check annually aside from the things we mentioned above, but these are the non-negotiable ones that require your immediate attention.

    For more articles like this, make sure to visit our blog. 

  • Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    We live in a content-driven world, where more and more businesses need to write articles to drive traffic, engage customers and generally get people talking about them. But how do you create content? What should it be about? When should you publish it? And why should you bother in the first place? In this article, I’ll tell you what content marketing is, how to get started, and why content marketing works so well.

     

    What is Content Marketing?

    Content marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on the creation and sharing of valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience. It is primarily used by companies to increase brand awareness, attract new customers, engage, trust, and ultimately sell. It is the lifeblood of your business. It’s what makes you an authority in your field, building trust and establishing a relationship with prospects. It’s also the foundation of inbound marketing strategy.

    Content Marketing can be done in many ways: blogs, videos, social media posts, infographics etc. as long as it has the ability to attract new customers for your business. This marketing technique has been proven to be one of the most effective methods for reaching potential customers and improving relationships with existing ones. It has become so popular that thousands of businesses are using it worldwide today.

    Content marketing can be used by both small businesses and big brands. The more popular forms of content marketing include blogs, eBooks, white papers, webinars, infomercials, podcasts, and other creative ways that may not fall into any of these categories.

     

    It’s Not Always Blogging

    Content marketing doesn’t always mean blogging; in fact, it can also be other types of content like videos, photos, podcasts, case studies, lead magnets, and more. The key is to create or curate content that provides value to your target audience.

    Content marketing is not just about publishing blog posts and hoping people will see them. It’s about creating valuable content that solves a problem for your target audience. It could be an article that helps your target audience learn something new, like this one. It could be a video that helps answer a question they need to be answered. It could be a podcast that speaks directly to their pain points.

    Whether it’s a blog, a video, an e-book, an infographic, or a Facebook post—whatever form it takes, the purpose of content marketing is to bring value to your target audience. So, what should you write about? Where do you get fresh content?

     

    Where Do You Get the Content?

    It’s tempting to think that content is easy. That all we have to do is open our eyes, observe the world around us, and start writing. Many people who want to start businesses ask me where I find my content, and how I find it. The answer is: “I don’t know.”

    There’s really no efficient way to get content but to experiment, take suggestions from readers, and maybe get lucky when an idea hits you. But then, there are ways to get ideas and material for your business blog or website.

    First, you can use your own experience. This is valuable because you know more about your own life than anyone else does. But it’s also tricky because it’s tempting to be self-indulgent or even misleading. It’s not uncommon for people to write about their lives and then go back later and fill in the boring parts with made-up stuff so that their past seems more exciting than it really was.

    Second, you can read other people’s blogs, books, and magazines. The danger here is that you will simply repost articles that you find interesting without adding anything new or personal. It is more work to put yourself into things you didn’t experience first-hand; but if you can manage it, it will make your blog a lot more interesting and helpful to your readers.

    Third, you should read nonfiction books and articles by experts in various fields that are relevant to your business. This is a good way to learn the basics of your field so that you can talk about them–and the people who write these books are usually experts!

    Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    Why Content Marketing Works

    Content marketing works because of the way well-optimized content spreads. The better your article is, the more readers you get, and the more readers you get, the more links you get. And the more links you get, the better your articles perform. It is a virtuous cycle and the hard part is getting into the cycle. Once you’re in, though, it can become self-supporting. You can outsource it, though that costs time and money. It’s usually easier to start with just one piece of great content and then use that as a stepping stone for other pieces of great content.

    As said earlier, content marketing is the practice of creating and sharing valuable online content to attract, engage, and acquire customers. Note that “content” is not just a synonym for “text.” When using it correctly, content marketing involves audio and video production, infographics, webinars, ebooks and white papers—any format that delivers value to your audience.

    This marketing strategy has become the default sales method for one simple reason: it works better than anything else out there. For example, sending email pitches straight into people’s inboxes almost never works anymore. But sending them helpful articles? That works very well indeed.

    Content marketing works because it’s more efficient than other forms of marketing. Instead of interrupting people and hoping they remember your message, you’re providing them with the information they would otherwise have had to seek out on their own. That makes it more likely that they’ll pay attention and remember what they learn, creating a virtuous cycle in which the more useful your content is, the more widely read it becomes.

     

    Final Thoughts

    A good content marketing campaign is a little bit like being on the right kind of diet. If you have the right strategy, you’ll find that it can bring great results. If you don’t, you won’t see those results, and it may even look like poor results when they look at your traffic or engagement.

    With the right approach to content and research, you can create a blog post that brings in readers (and potential clients/customers) and stand out from the crowd.

    The insights above should give you an idea of what content marketing is, why it works, and how to get content ideas to take advantage of this great online marketing tool.

     

    Recommended Reads:

    5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

    7 Benefits of Content Marketing for Small Businesses

    5 Companies Dominating Content Marketing

     

  • 10 Top Digital Marketing Blogs to Follow

    10 Top Digital Marketing Blogs to Follow

    10 Outstanding Top Digital Marketing Blogs to Follow

    It is no secret that in the digital marketing industry, experience sets you ahead of your game. Learning and reading up on trends, techniques, and strategies can take anyone’s career a long way. Digital marketing blogs are the easiest way to gain it. Marketing has changed drastically over the years and digital marketers have adapted their strategies to match it. Whether you’re a beginner or already experienced, we have curated 10 top digital marketing blogs that any marketer should be following.

     

    10 Top Digital Marketing Blogs to Follow

    The Moz Blog 

    Moz is an inbound marketing and SEO company that offers a blog with articles on topics such as SEO, digital marketing, and analytics.

    It is one of the best blogs to read when you are looking to widen your knowledge about SEO, conversion optimization, and content marketing. The blog is written by experts in those fields and it has been recognized as one of the top blogs for digital marketers by Entrepreneur Magazine. They also have a podcast (The Moz Pod) that covers a range of digital marketing topics. 

    Moz has been publishing blog posts for over 10 years and its goal is to provide readers with insights into the world of search engine optimization and digital marketing. Whether you’re a beginner or someone who already has experience in the industry, its content is relevant still, offering real value with actionable insights. It’s a go-to website for many digital marketers and if you haven’t visited them yet, now is the time!

    Check Out: 22 Smart Google SEO Tips for 2022

     

    Neil Patel Blog

    Neil Patel is a digital marketer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of CrazyEgg, Hello Bar, KISSmetrics, and Quicksprout. His personal blog, NeilPatel.com is a blog all about online marketing and entrepreneurship. The site features articles on a variety of topics including SEO, social media marketing, conversion rate optimization (CRO), email marketing, content marketing and more. Neil Patel also shares his thoughts on entrepreneurship and life in general with his readers who are mostly entrepreneurs or marketers themselves.

    Patel almost everything about online marketing and he shares everything with his readers. His articles are usually 5000+ words long so you’ll have a lot of content to read to educate yourself about the industry. If you are a beginner, this is definitely one of the top digital marketing blogs to follow.

    Check Out: 10 Website Performance Metrics You Need to Understand

     

    Ahrefs 

    Ahrefs is one of the most valuable services for SEOs. It is a comprehensive suite of tools that helps users monitor and check all their data, backlinks, anchor texts and much more. Ahrefs has a blog where one can find the basics of SEO, keyword research, link building, and many more.

    If you are looking for a reliable resource to learn and improve your SEO skills, this is the website you should go to.

    Check Out: SEO for Startups: 8 Steps to Grow on a Budget

     

    Content Marketing Institute 

    Content marketing is the most effective way to convey your company’s message in a way that will resonate with customers. Although companies have been using content for decades, in recent years the effectiveness of this tactic has skyrocketed. Content marketing can provide your organization with a voice and connect it powerfully with people who are interested in your products or services.

    The Content Marketing Institute is a place where you can really learn how to create content and use it to help your business. The best part of it is that everything here is written by experts in the industry, so you know that they have actually created great content and know what they are talking about.

    The site offers advice on everything from how to create content to how to promote it to how to measure the success of your content. There are also case studies from different companies that have had great success with content marketing and interviews with the people behind the successes.

    Check Out: How To Find SEO and Keyword Ranking Success on Google in 2022

     

    Top Digital Marketing Blogs to Follow

     

    Search Engine Land 

    Search Engine Land is one of the top digital marketing blogs to follow covering search engines and SEO news, information, insights and analysis. For more than a decade, Search Engine Land has been the leading news site for search marketing professionals, providing breaking news and analysis about search engines, SEO and the latest trends impacting search marketers.

    The blog has over 100,000 views a month. It also has a search engine optimization podcast that is popular in the industry featuring interviews with leading SEO experts.

    If you’re involved in SEO, digital marketing, or online advertising of any kind, this blog is a must-read.

    Check Out: Build a high-impact SEO strategy in 2022

    Seth Godin Blog

    This is different from all the other blogs in this post but I just have to include this. Today the reality of all sorts of marketing has changed. The old rules no longer apply and Seth Godin’s blog is a great place to start with your marketing efforts.

    The blog is updated regularly with articles that are relevant to all marketers and business owners, ones who are looking for some guidance in the new era of Internet marketing. Seth Godin’s blog will help you learn about branding, promoting your business online, and just about marketing in general. The blog teaches you how to market books, products and services online, by using simple techniques that will help you boost your business in a short time. There are also a lot of tips and advice on attracting customers to your business. Seth Godin’s blog will help you establish effective communication with your customers online and offline, which is important in any business.

    Check his blog here: Seth Godin Blog

    Social Media Today 

    Social media is a very useful tool for promoting your business. It is also extremely important to use it effectively in order to make sure you do not lose any customers.

    Social Media Today is a guide to marketing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and other social media sites. It contains essential information for marketers who want to use social media effectively and efficiently. This blog is ideal for marketers at all levels, from beginners to more experienced professionals.

    Check Out: 9 Tips to Create Super Shareable Social Media Content

     

    Copyblogger 

    Copyblogger is a website containing a lot of useful information. It’s an online magazine that provides tips, advice and information for effective online marketing. They provide articles, ebooks and seminars that help people improve their blog writing, content creation and online visibility.

    Copyblogger was founded by Brian Clark in 2006. He has been blogging since 2003 and is one of the first bloggers to really gain popularity. Clark knows his subject and Copyblogger is a great resource for those looking to learn about online marketing. The site offers a variety of posts from basic guides to more advanced topics in the form of ebooks.

    The blog covers topics that cover SEO, social media, email marketing, and niche site-building.

    Copyblogger is a must-read for any business owner or entrepreneur who wants to improve their marketing.

    Check Out: How to Write a Good Blog Post: 7 Practical Steps for Modern Bloggers

     

    Hubspot Blog 

    Another top digital marketing blogs to follow is this one. HubSpot Marketing Blog is one of the most reputable sources of information about online marketing techniques. Sometimes, this blog posts articles written by industry experts rather than their own employees. These experts include Dan Kennedy, Jeff Bullas, and Ann Handley. It’s a blog that focuses on topics related to internet marketing like social media, blogging, conversion optimization and other fields. The Blog has a good search engine ranking and has great content, so it’s easy to find when searched through Google.

    “HubSpot’s blog is one of the most powerful pieces of content marketing software out there. This easily navigable and well-organized site feeds business owners and marketers a steady stream of advice, tips, tactics, and news in order to improve their sales and conversion rates.” -Neil Patel

    Check Out: Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

     

    Jeff Bullas Blog

    The Jeff Bullas Blog is a leading authority on personal and business marketing, social media and content marketing. The blog is about marketing and personal growth and has been running for more than seven years. It is read by over 1 million people each month and the site attracts more than 50,000 visitors a day. It’s a great guide for beginners who want to get started in marketing or blogging.

    This is one of my favourite blogs to read at the moment. It’s run by Jeff Bullas and is mainly about marketing and personal growth, but has a diverse range of other topics too. I love that it’s written in a relatable way and offers a great guide for beginners. He’s also a great follow on Twitter: @jeffbullas.

     

    Final Thoughts

    Every reader of this blog will interpret the list differently and who is to say what the top digital marketing blogs really are. That’s just one of the many reasons why posts like this are difficult to rank at the top. I believe that any form of a list, whether it be 10 best, 10 worst, 10 high, 5 low etc. is subjective at best. It all depends on your background and viewpoint.

    I am not an expert in Digital Marketing but this is my interpretation of the industry followed by some familiar content creators and a few new sites that I have recently found great information from.

    I hope you’ve found this list useful. Build a relationship with these online voices and it will undoubtedly be your ticket to success. I don’t believe you can outsource the process of building relationships with potential customers. You need to spend the time interacting with your readers and followers if you want to gain their trust.

    For more articles like this, visit our blog.

  • 7 Helpful Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

    7 Helpful Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

    7 Helpful Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

    Are you struggling with improving your website, doing more for your social media, generating leads, or just about anything in the digital marketing field? Here are seven helpful digital marketing tips for small businesses like yours.

    As a small entrepreneur or business owner, leveraging digital marketing is one of the keys to success, especially in our world today when everything is available at the tip of our fingers. Compared to traditional marketing, taking up your business to the digital world has so many more advantages. To learn how to get those advantages, heed these tips and advice.

    Research Your Competitors and Differentiate Yourself From Them

    Knowing your competition is vital because you would want to be able to offer additional value in your market. A great place to start your research is on Google. Observe how your competitors position themselves in terms of their ads. What are their selling points? How can you be different from them and do better? As per marketresearch.com, there are 6 ways you can differentiate your business from your competitor: your product, service, ways of distribution, customer relationship, brand image & reputation, and pricing. 

    Improve Your Website

    The user’s experience should be your priority when it comes to improving your website. On top of the list, your website needs to be fast-loading, user-friendly, and attractive. Slow websites will lead to customers closing the tab to your site and most of the time, they won’t be returning. This will ruin your chance to convert new users into customers. As we shift into being a mobile-first world, page speed and page load time are becoming more and more important. Get tips from google on how you can reduce your website’s loading time.

    Improve Google My Business Listing and Customer Reviews

    Your business’s reputation online is just as good as the reviews and listings it has. People nowadays rely heavily on ratings and previous customer’s reviews before trusting a brand unknown to them. With Google My Business, you will be able to control and manage how people perceive your business. Optimize your listing by removing any duplicates and unnecessary promotional messages. 

    Create Interesting and Engaging Content

    Being in a competitive industry, you have to constantly think up new ways to drive the results you want. Make sure that your content strategy builds up your brand’s reputation. Some tips to keep in mind when making the perfect blog post: put your audience first, use the correct tone of voice, make sure your blog is SEO friendly, and show your readers that they can rely on the information you release.

    Not sure what blogging can do for your business? Read this: Why Blog for your Business?

    Stuck and don’t know where to get new content ideas? Read this: Content Creation and Generating New Ideas

    Create Professional Visual Content

    Content will always be king and as we all know, content marketing has already proved itself to be an industry in its own right. That is why your content is an important part of your digital marketing strategy. Making content for your business is not only limited to blog posts, you can also make infographics and videos.

    Video contents are all the rage these days, may it be short or long. According to Hubspot, 97% of marketers say that videos help increase brand awareness by showing how their products and services work. 76% say it helped their sales increase, and 81% of consumers have been convinced to make a purchase after watching a brand’s video. If these numbers don’t speak volume, I don’t know what does. Did you know that there are over 2 billion users worldwide logging into YouTube and consuming video content each month? Big brands such as Apple, Disney, Nike, Nintendo, and many others understand the power of video marketing and I think it’s time you should, too.

    In need of a videographer? View our portfolio.

    Focus on a Primary Social Media Channel

    Social media is becoming a part of every business’ marketing strategy, and while it’s easy to fall into the hype and go along with the flow, social media marketing strategies are always changing as each platform changes. Small businesses would often ask what platform should they put more focus on. Well, that’s simple. It should be the platform that is most relevant to your business and where your audience and customers are the most active.

    If your business leans toward offering products and services to other businesses, the choice is Linkedin and Twitter. If it’s for B2C, Instagram and Facebook are your options. Whatever you choose, have a primary social media channel to focus on and grow. 

    Improve Your Local SEO

    Your local SEO is vital if you are a local business. Update and link your business to your location. Link building is also important. Build local links from local newspaper sites, bloggers, and sponsorship sites if there are any. 

    7 Helpful Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

    These digital marketing tips for small businesses should help you improve your overall business if you use these strategies wisely.

  • 5 More Free Websites That Every Content Creator Should Know

    5 More Free Websites That Every Content Creator Should Know

    5 More Free Websites That Every Content Creator Should Know

    Being in the digital marketing industry, especially in the content creating scene, you need to always be on the lookout for exciting ways to create new quality content. With that said, while we have already posted 9 Helpful Tools for Content Creation a few weeks ago, there are still more free websites that every content creator should know. If you are one, these will be very helpful, if you are not, this knowledge could still be valuable. 

    Let’s take a look at these websites, shall we?

     

    Free Websites Every Content Creator Needs to Know

    Answerthepublic 

    This is one helpful website when you want to know what people are asking on the internet, whether it’s on social media sites or forums and communities. Answerthepublic allows you to generate ideas for topics you can write that will be interesting for your audience.

    The website is easy to use. You only have to type down a keyword or a topic related to your industry and then it will give you results with popular questions and other keywords related to your topic. It’s a great tool to learn more about what people are searching for online. You can get inspiration for a new blog post or social media content here, so utilize it as much as you can!

     

    5 More Free Websites That Every Content Creator Should Know

    Ubersuggest 

    This tool from Neil Patel’s website is a keyword research tool that can help you find relevant keywords when you are creating content. Ubersuggest gives you 3 free searches daily and this tool shows you a list of related keywords, their volume of searches per month, their CPC, and the level of competition in paid and organic search. It will show you if this certain keyword and other topics surrounding it is worth creating content for.

     

    Headline Studio 

    This is a free online tool you can use to write catchy headlines for your posts, all you have to do is make an account and you can then start using it. Type in the headline you’ve thought of and click the ‘Analyze Now’ button. This free tool will give you a score and data about how powerful your headline is. It will give you insights into how many times web users have viewed similar articles and what makes them engaging. This headline analyzer tool will also give you tips and suggestions on how to improve your headline.

    Copy.ai 

    This free tool is perfect for content creators who needs a little help when they feel a little lazy (ahem). If you feel lazy to start writing from scratch, Copy.ai can help you by leveraging its features to reduce the time and effort you spend on writing content and copy. It’s basically a tool that writes copy for you with the help of an AI.

    Copy.ai generates a copy that sounds as authentic as possible and it provides you with choices that you can then tweak and edit to your liking. Here’s some stuff Copy.ai can write for you:

    • Blog posts
    • Social media captions
    • Social ads
    • Email and sales copy
    • Product descriptions

    Pexels 

    In our other blog, we included Unsplash as a free website to get free images. Another one that’s just as good is Pexels. It’s a great resource for free high-quality photos you can instantly use for whatever project you have. The photos are readily available in different sizes and are free of watermarks. Just search for any photos on the website and download as much as you like!

    Final Thoughts

    And those are the free websites that every content creator should know. It’s always a welcome sight to learn more things when it comes to furthering our knowledge in improving our craft. As content creators, it’s important to always have a plan B when struck with the ever-elusive creative and writer’s block. And in digital marketing, this will happen often if not all the time especially when swamped with so much content to create. Use these helpful tools to make your job easier. Work smart. 

  • 10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    With millions of blogs on the world wide web, content marketing has exploded and has grown exponentially over the years. But with every brand making use of this marketing strategy effectively, content marketing has become saturated more than ever.

    It’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed in this jungle and having these many competitors, is it still going to be worth your time to join the bandwagon?

    Yes, because if not, you will be missing out on a lot of opportunities and leads that will be useful for your business.

    Here are 10 actionable content marketing tips that you can implement in your content strategy.

     

    Plan your content

    First things first. Define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your business? What do you hope your business will become in a year? Do you want to reach more audiences? Do you want to have more site readers? Do you want to rank on SERPs?

    Just like any aspect of your life, you’ll have to know what you want to achieve before you try to achieve it. Set out a goal and create your content marketing plan on how to achieve that goal.

     

    Write relevant content

    Having high-quality content for your website is only great when that content is also relevant to your niche. Users are more interested in content related to your industry because that is what they came for you.

    Do your research to find out what your audience is looking for. There are many useful online tools like Google Analytics and Google Trend Finder to help you find relevant topics to write about. Make your content engaging and make sure that they are free from grammar errors and typos.

     

    Check your content for grammatical and typographical errors

    Don’t publish anything without checking them twice and proofreading them. Typos and grammar errors are painful to the reader’s eye and they will cause you to lose your credibility. These errors will also reduce the quality of your content and will ultimately affect your content’s potential to be ranked on Google. So be aware of this factor. A tool like Grammarly or Hemingway can be very useful in checking typos and basic grammar errors.

     

    10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

     

    Use headlines and proper structures

    Understand that content with proper formatting, headlines, and structure makes it more visually interesting that will capture a reader’s eye. Make sure that your content is properly edited before you put it out for your audience to see.

    Create the right headlines, subheadings, and bullet points. Make your sentences bite-sized so they’re easier to digest.

     

    Use relevant keywords

    In content marketing, keywords are very important. Using relevant keywords will make your content visible to the search engines that will eventually drive traffic to your website. Use keyword finder tools to find the relevant keywords in your niche that you can strategically use in your content.

     

    Educate first, sell later

    When you write content for your business, you always have it in the back of your mind to sell something. And we can’t deny that content sells, just don’t do it directly. Hard selling makes your audience feel uncomfortable and this may discourage them from reading what you have to say.

    Instead, talk about your products or services subtly and make your audience aware of its features and benefits and how they can improve their lives. Introduce your products and educate your readers about them first, and then sell them afterward.

     

    Offer a strong Call to Action

    A call-to-action is important and all of your content should have it at the end. This is what you want your readers to do after consuming your content. How do you want them to proceed? What do you want them to do next?

    Create a strong call to action. Do you want them to visit your blog and read more content? Link-related articles that might interest them. Want to offer them your product or service? Put that in your article.

     

    Be mobile-friendly

    More and more people now use mobile phones and it would be safe to say that we surf the web more using our phones. It’s important to have your website responsive for mobile.

    Optimize your website, images, and ads so that they are mobile-responsive.

     

    Gain authority with guest posts

    Guest blogging has been popular in the blogging world and it’s done so that your blog can gain authority. It allows you to get backlinks from authority websites and gain a new network from the host blog. It’s a great way to not only promote your brand but also build your brand authority.

     

    Be consistent with your content update

    In our fast-paced world today, content has become outdated for just about a year or two. So aside from writing new content, it’s also important for you to update your old content to keep them relevant with the times.

    Go through your blog and rewrite things you need to rewrite. Update your resources and check if all of your links are still functioning. Replace outdated images and refresh your intros and outros.

    Audit your blog to see which entries you need to update.

     

    We hope that these actionable tips will help you improve your content writing skills and content marketing strategy. Online content marketing can be overwhelming but put these tips into practice and you’ll see it’s worth it. 

    Need SEO help? Visit our blog for more tips and useful information.

    Need any digital marketing help? VE Digital offers different services to aid businesses with their digital marketing. Contact us today!

  • What is Vlogging? Why Vlog?

    What is Vlogging? Why Vlog?

     

    Vlogging has become more and more popular in recent years, and what used to be just a pastime for the younger generation, has become something much more to the people today. What has become so appealing about vlogging and why do people do it? Why vlog? 

    What is Vlogging?

    Vlog is short for “video log” which is a wordplay on the word “blog”. Vlogs are a form of blogging but in video form. It’s you talking in front of the camera, documenting your life, and uploading it online for people to see. Vlog entries can be a combination of texts, images, and video clips, and they can be recorded in one take or multiple clips. The most popular video-sharing platform where we can watch vlogs is YouTube. 

    Vlog content can be anything from everyday life to specific niches like art DIYs and classic book reviews. This is ideal for both personal and business use. However, with the competition in the saturated online world today, it can be quite a feat to make interesting vlogs that can attract an audience. But don’t let this discourage you because there are a lot of benefits in vlogging. Whatever your business is or personal goals are, having a vlog can be a very effective way to achieve your goals.

    Why Vlog?

    Where to publish your vlogs

    The majority of the vloggers choose to publish their videos on YouTube. With over a billion active users, YouTube has become the second-largest search engine after Google. The wonderful thing about YouTube is that anyone can use it. You can make your own YouTube channel and start uploading your videos right away. Not only that, but you can also stream live videos, have a live chat with your audience, and produce labeled playlists of uploaded videos. This makes this platform very ideal for vloggers.

    But Why Vlog?

    What’s the point of vlogging, though? Why are people interested in watching hundreds and thousands of videos every day?

    Twenty years ago, making a video and have it reach thousands of people is a monumental, expensive feat. You would need to spend thousands of dollars on equipment alone, and you would need to have access to a network that has a great reach. Nowadays, vlogging has been made so easy, as easy as pressing a button.

    People make vlogs for different reasons. Some vlog to document their lives, some share educational information, some make comedic skits, while others vlog to build brand awareness and market their business. 

    Here are some points that tell us the point and purpose of vlogging:

    1. Getting to learn about other culture

    Through vlogging, people can share their culture and learn about the culture of others in return. Through vlogs, we can get to know a country and its culture. When vloggers document their everyday lives, people in other countries can get to know and understand the culture of the vlogger’s country. Cultural barriers and culture shocks can be lessened and this will help us connect more with other people in a different country of origin.

    2. For educational purposes

    Vlogs aren’t just for documenting humor and everyday mundane lives, it can also be utilized for educational purposes. There are a lot of videos that teach us a lot of things like helping us academically to teaching us practical stuff like how to unclog your sink and how to redecorate your bedroom. Want to master your photography hobby? There are thousands of videos about it. Want to learn about calligraphy and brush lettering? The search bar is always open for you. Over the past couple of years, talented individuals have taken up vlogging into the level by sharing their expertise. Whatever you are looking for, there is surely a video or two about it.

    3. Health and other disabilities awareness

    Aside from educational videos, there are also many vloggers with various diseases who are open about their conditions and share them online. These vloggers make a difference one way or another by sharing their experiences, how their conditions have impacted their lives, and by debunking myths about their diseases. These channels can help us understand these people with different needs.

    4. Be entertained

    Why do we watch television? To be entertained, correct? Vlogs are no different. Some people are naturally full of humor and want to share their talents online. Entertainment vlogs vary from short skits to a full-blown 20-minute entertainment show. There are a lot of choices online, just choose some that will suit your taste.

    5. A fountain of information

    Vlogging can also be used as a medium in disseminating information to the masses. A lot of vloggers make informational videos, and as people nowadays use the internet to look for information easily, these vloggers make our lives easier. May it be information about current issues like bullying, social climates, or LGBTQ community, there are vloggers that spread awareness about anything you could think of.

    So you see, there are a lot of things you could get from vlogs. Vlogging boomed because they aren’t useless, vlogging became popular because they have a lot of use. 

    The Benefits of Vlogging

    The idea of making a vlog and continuously create it may be daunting at first. Questions like “Is this even worth it?” and “Am I not wasting my time and resources over this?” may arise. These questions about the return of investment is a good point to ponder. After all, why should we bother doing something that doesn’t give us anything in return, right? Why do something that doesn’t have any benefits? Why vlog?

    Here are some benefits that vloggers have seen as a result of creating vlogs:

    Discover a community of like-minded people

    One of the benefits of being a vlogger is that once you have built an audience, you will form a community of people who has the same mind as you. This community of people who has the same interests will come together and support the vlogger and will create an amazing support system and atmosphere that will boost the vlogger’s confidence and motivation to make more videos. The feedback from this community will also help the creator improve by taking in the viewer’s opinions, likes, and dislikes.

    Make and Build Connections

    As you vlog, you start to make and build connections with people from different parts of the world. The videos you create will find their way to an audience that deems your content relevant. By making connections, creators will gain exposure and this will help make their content stand out in the community.

    Making a Difference

    Another benefit of vlogging is that it allows people to make a difference – no matter how small it may be. We have different opinions about certain things and through these different perspectives, we can make a difference in the world just by sharing out our thoughts. People experiencing a tough situation can share it out and gather support from different communities. An example can be about discrimination. By sharing this, it can help them get justice sooner.

    A Creative Outlet

    It’s not easy to be consistent in vlogging. You’ll have to always have new ideas for your content. This may not sound like it, but a benefit of vlogging is it keeps your creative juices flowing, even though sometimes you get stuck. Creativity is required when you decide to make vlogs and sometimes, forcing yourself to create something will keep your creative toes on the go. This will allow you to make new concepts and challenges for yourself.

    You’ll find you are capable of creating new ways to deliver your messages to your audience. As long as you are willing, you will learn and improve your creative muscles when you vlog.

    Demonstrates your Knowledge or Expertise

    And finally, one of the best advantages of vlogging is it will share your talents, abilities, expertise, and knowledge to the world. A vlog can be whatever you desire it to be. With a platform of your own, you will have a responsibility to use it well. You don’t have to conform to how society makes their vlog, you can infuse it with your uniqueness. And while vlogging doesn’t make you an authority immediately, you will still be able to express your views and opinions on subjects that matter to you. And you’ll continue to improve in the long run. 

    Vlogging has a lot of benefits and this is why it’s such an aspired job in the younger generation. One thing that sets it apart from blogging is that, in today’s fast-paced world, people don’t have the time to read anymore. People choose to watch videos instead. And this is why vlog contents have received such a wide audience all over the world and it’s still growing to this day! 

    If you want to start making vlogs, today is the best day to start.

    Want to learn more? Ask us for a consultation today! 

    We hope this post has been helpful in making your decision. Good luck!

  • What Will Make You Fully Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

    What Will Make You Fully Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

    What Will Make You Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

    It’s 2022 and yes, every business is already saturated and digital marketing is not an exception. The question is what should you do to make your business stand out in the digital marketing scene?

    As the pandemic went on in 2021, the demand for businesses to go digital even became higher. If you are doubting coming into the online world when it’s already becoming more and more saturated, you shouldn’t be because it will still be a booming market even in the next few years granted that you’ll be smart about it.

    Marketing your business has changed over the years and a lot of options have opened with the help of technology. Today, you can market both online and offline. Offline marketing is traditional marketing where you spread your business by word of mouth or distributing flyers and the like. With online marketing, you’ll advertise your business over the internet by paying for ads, social media marketing, partnering with influencers, video marketing, and so many more.

    There are so many ways to market your business online and with the right strategy, you’ll be reaching more potential customers and this can help push your business forward and help you achieve success. With that said, how do you not get drowned in the sea of a saturated market? How do you make yourself stand out in the digital marketing scene so that your business can be differentiated from all others?

    Marketer Neil Patel has some amazing tips to share to make you stand out in the digital marketing scene. Let’s review them.

    Tips to Make You Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene

    Personalize Your Content

    First things first: content. When you think about content, you need to know that, presently, there are already more than a billion blogs and websites on the internet. So how do you differentiate yourself amongst this number? How do you make your content stand out among others? One tip is to use facts and data and then mix some of your own story with it. Storytelling has become a huge part of digital marketing because it personalizes a brand. People crave fresh perspectives and with personalized content, you’ll make something they can relate to. 

    Keep Your Content Updated

    Knowing how much content there is already out there, it’s now important to spend more time updating your old ones rather than creating more. Google likes ranking fresh content over stale ones so keeping your old posts up to date will make your Google rankings better.            

    Work With Influencers     

    One marketing strategy that has been gaining traction for a few years now is influencer marketing. Partnering up with the right influencer will help blow up your product and garner new customers. Large brands do this all the time (hello Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylie Jenner, and Alexa Chung), but it can also work for small brands when you find the right influencers to work with. 

    Read: All About Influencer Marketing

    Use Facebook for Internet Marketing

    Facebook is one of the most popular and most used social media apps today, from millennials to boomers and even the newer generation. With the number of users in this app, you’ll definitely find your target market and you’ll reach more people when you start using Facebook ads.

    Read: Facebook Marketing Tips for your Small Business | 10 Tips to Increase Your Facebook Page Engagement

     

    What Will Make You Stand Out in the Digital Marketing Scene this 2022?

     

    Incorporate Upsells and Downsells

    Add in upsells and downsells to your marketing strategy. This will help optimize and improve your conversion rates. Upselling and downselling can help you generate more revenue which will make things more profitable in the long run. 

    Read more about Upsells and Downsells.

    Use More Than Just One Channel

    Last but not least, use more than just one channel when you market online. Being in only one channel used to work, but times change and it’s better to have backups when one channel changes its algorithm that will then affect your strategy. There’s a lot to choose from including SEO, Facebook ads, Google ads, and so many more. Don’t just depend on one, take an omnichannel approach. Some may not perform as well as others but that’s okay. You’ll do well in the long run and won’t have to worry so much when there are updates.

    Wrap Up

    Even when the digital marketing world is swamped and saturated with competitors, you can still stand out in the digital marketing scene when you provide value and solutions to your customer’s problems. After all, the point of building a business is to offer convenience to your target market’s pain points, right?

    Be creative in your digital marketing approach. It may seem easy to just post an online ad but it takes a greater deal to create the right message to persuade people to trust your business.

    Need help with digital marketing? Contact VE Digital today!