Optic Marketing

Google’s E-A-T: What Is It and How Does It Impact Your 2023 Marketing Goals

Nearly 50% of consumers report turning to Google when they are on the hunt for a particular service. If your business's online presence is lacking, you could be missing half of your target audience.

Luckily, a solid organic marketing strategy can help solve that problem. Organic marketing utilizes high-quality content (e.g., blog articles) that features search engine optimization (SEO) to increase a website's Google ranking.

But how exactly do you create this high-quality SEO content? In 2023, it is critical to use Google's E-A-T guidelines to produce content search engines will love and reward with a higher ranking. Here's why.

What Are Google's E-A-T Guidelines?

E-A-T is an acronym for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It is an update to Google's search engine ranking algorithm that came out in 2014. Though E-A-T alone will not determine your Google ranking, it does affect it.

Expertise

Expertise is defined as expert knowledge or skills. People typically have expertise in a particular field (e.g., technology). However, generalists can have expertise in many different fields.

Why is expertise important to Google? People with expertise in particular subjects can think deeply and intelligently about problems in their field.

Authoritativeness

Being authoritative means someone or something has authority over a particular skill or field. In other words, an authoritative website can be trusted to give out correct advice or information.

Authoritative content inspires, motivates, and influences people. Readers know that the author of the article is providing valuable and reliable information.

Trustworthiness

In the age of clickbait and fake news, trust is increasingly difficult to foster online. That makes honest and reliable content, content creators, and content publishers more valuable than ever before.

And building trust with your audience will not just improve your search rankings. Readers will begin to think of you as a safe source of information and services.

E-A-T and Your Digital Marketing Goals

Now that you understand the basics of E-A-T, you may be wondering: why is E-A-T so important? Here are three ways Google E-A-T digital marketing trends can impact your business marketing goals.

E-A-T Determines High-Quality Content

The number one reason Google implemented E-A-T was to weed out low-quality content. More specifically, Google wanted to address high-ranking websites that provided irrelevant or incorrect information to readers.

E-A-T intends to do the reverse: reward websites that consistently turn out correct and relevant content.

As long as a piece of content abides by the E-A-T guidelines, the Google ranking algorithm will consider it high-quality. And as we will discuss next, publishing high-quality articles on your site can improve your Google ranking.

E-A-T Impacts Your Organic Search Ranking

Search engine marketing (SEM) heavily relies on organic search. Organic searches occur when a customer types a query into the Google search box. Then, they click on one of the pages that come up under their search.

The majority of Google searchers only look at the first three results. So, how does your site get ranked in the top three results for a search query? You have to improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Publishing high-quality content that adheres to E-A-T guidelines can help you do just that.

E-A-T Can Reduce Bounce Rate

Another benefit of E-A-T that has less to do with Google and more to do with your prospective clients is bounce rate. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of people who visit your website and leave after viewing only one page.

A poor bounce rate is usually a sign of a low-quality website. As such, Google may consider bounce rate when ranking your website. But this is not the only reason bounce rate is important.

A high bounce rate means something about your website is turning away prospective customers.

Tips for Improving E-A-T on Your Site

The number one thing to do to improve your site's E-A-T is to update your content. Focus on providing trustworthy and easily verifiable information to your readers.

It is also a good idea to update content regularly as new information comes out. Keeping up with changing trends will impress not only Google but also your prospective clients.

Yet, updating the quality of your content is only the beginning. You should also consider doing the following to improve your site's E-A-T.

Publish Contact and About Pages

Blog articles are not the only kind of content to consider when updating your website for E-A-T. Google will also take into account the other pages on your site, including your contact and about pages.

Your contact page should provide trustworthy contact info. That includes but is not limited to your company's email address, phone number, and physical address. Include as many customer support points of contact as possible.

Your business' about page should speak to your authoritativeness. Include any credentials or relevant degrees members of your staff hold. You can also talk about prior speaking engagements that speak to your firm's expertise.

Check Your Facts and Cite Them

An authoritative and expert business website should have factually accurate content. If you do not have the expertise to create this type of content, it is important to hire a content creator who does.

Another way to build authority for your online business presence is to link to other high-quality sites. Always search for high-ranking, authoritative, and trustworthy sources when creating citations to achieve this goal.

Work With a Digital Marketing Firm

Google's E-A-T guidelines can be tricky to understand. And even if you do get the basics down, you still might not outrank your competitors. That is where a professional digital marketing service can come in.

Digital marketing firms are experts in Google's algorithm and SEO. They can help improve your rankings, even if your own efforts have not achieved the results you want to see.

At Optic Marketing Group, we specialize in digital marketing strategies for home services businesses like yours. We can help you design a new website from scratch or update your old one to adhere to E-A-T standards.

Optic Marketing Group Is the Partner You Need

Google's E-A-T guidelines help distinguish high-quality content from low-quality clickbait. In 2023, it is critical to creating an expert, authoritative, and trustworthy website. If you don't, your Google ranking could suffer.

Do you need help updating your business website according to SEO best practices? Optic Marketing Group is the partner you need to get it done right the first time. Contact us today to learn how we can help you E-A-T.

by Optic Marketing

New Year, New You? ..... Well, the Same Applies to Your Business. 2023 Is the Year to Focus On Building Back!

New Year, New You: Why 2023 Should Be When Your Business Builds Back

It is estimated that there are 32.5 million small businesses currently in America. It is also estimated that 50% of those businesses will fail within 5 years.

The new year is just starting, and your focus on your business should be building back. This new year provides an opportunity to grow your business and become part of the small businesses that succeed.

One mistake that business owners make is not having business goals. You will not be able to hit your target if you don’t know what your target is.

Keep reading to find out more about building back your business in the new year.

Review Your Expenses

A recession is looming and has become something that is weighing heavily on business owners. That is why your business initiatives should include analyzing your expenses.

You can counteract this problem by looking closely at your business operations and where your money is going. Chances are, there are a few areas where you could cut back and save.

The first thing you should do is review your pricing strategy. Do some research on your competition to see what rates your local competitors are charging their clients.

Sometimes it can be worth raising or lowering your prices depending on what is going on. No matter which option you choose, you will need to look at how it will impact the rest of your business.

You should also review unnecessary expenses in your business. There is a good chance that money is going to places that aren’t actually benefiting or growing your company.

This is a good time to review the areas where you lost money last year. By looking at the mistakes that you made previously, you can avoid losing money this year by trying other methods.

Create Goals

Part of building back your business in the new year includes business goals. You should take some time to sit down and figure out what the goals for 2023 are that you want to achieve.

You should have made goals last year, which you can compare to the goals you want to reach this year. If your business is growing, your goals should also grow and become more extensive.

You can also take the time to share these goals with your employees. This is a great team-building exercise and helps everyone to stay on the same page.

Nurture Your Clients

It's very easy to run into the new year with a goal to scale a business quickly. When you do this, it can be very easy to start to neglect your current clients.

Every small business wants to grow by collecting more and more clients that you can depend on. But you will need to be able to do this while nurturing the relationships you already have.

Many businesses neglect to do this and risk losing their current clientele. You want to make sure your clients continue to feel important and valued by your company.

One great way to do this is to send out emails for the new year to your clients. You can let them know how much you appreciate their trust and look forward to continuing to work with them in the new year.

Branch Out in Marketing

Building back your small business is going to require some new steps. If you really want to experience business growth in 2023, you need to experiment with marketing services.

Marketing is going to be your number one tool when it comes to growing your business. This is something that can be far too easy to neglect, but your business will ultimately suffer from this.

Handling marketing on your own can be quite difficult if you don’t know what you are doing. Juggling a business and trying to hit all of those marketing goals is not usually going to be a productive use of your time.

Companies like Optic Marketing Group make this much easier for your company. They will handle all of the marketing services that you need, so that you get guaranteed results.

Find What People Want

At the start of 2023, you should put the time into researching what people are looking for. In the HVAC, lawn care, and plumbing industry, there are plenty of statistics that you can dive into.

You will want to look at the services that people are predicted to need this year. You should also compare that to the types of services that were in high demand in 2022.

Predicting what people want is going to predict the services you offer. It will also help you to know where you should invest your money in your business.

Take Time Off

Something you may not have done in 2022 is taking enough time off of work. As a business owner, it is very easy to neglect yourself and throw yourself into your work.

The downside to this is that eventually overworking yourself will lead to burnout. This will result in a lack of motivation and less concentration when it comes to important business details.

You need to set aside time for yourself, so that you can recharge and regroup. Pushing yourself too hard will only damage your business operations in the long run.

Building Back Your Business in 2023

If your business goal for 2023 is building back your company, there are a lot of places to start. This is something that all small businesses should aspire to do for better growth in the new year.

Do you want to use marketing services to grow your company? Contact us today at Optic Marketing Group to create a marketing plan for your business.

by Optic Marketing

How to Make a Website Mobile-Friendly

In 2023, 60.9% of all website traffic come from mobile device users. With more mobile-based traffic on the go, it is essential for businesses to have a proper mobile website. If your website isn't up to speed for mobile use, your business will suffer the consequences.

61% of mobile users will abandon a site altogether that isn't mobile-friendly. This means you're missing out on a huge chunk of potential business. But having a mobile-friendly website across a variety of devices is one of the best things you can do to boost your online presence.

If you're looking for ways to make your website more mobile-friendly, this guide can help, so keep reading.

Enhance Your Mobile Website's Loading Speed

Your business may already have a mobile website, but is it truly mobile-friendly? This pertains to areas like the loading speed of your site on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. If your website lags and takes too long to load, this can cause major issues such as site abandonment and a poor opinion of your overall business.

In the digital era, the attention span of users waiting for websites to load on average is about 3 seconds tops. You must check your mobile website's loading speed to determine what could be holding up the process. This could be due to a number of reasons like large images or too many videos loading at once.

Compress Images for Your Mobile Website

If large images are slowing down your mobile website's loading speed and affecting its mobile-friendly capabilities, there's an easy fix. Compressing large images limits their overall file size so they take up less space and require less time to load and view.

You also have the option to only load these images when needed instead of all at once. For example, you can make it so that images lower down on the mobile website will only load when the website visitor scrolls down. Both of these methods will make your website more mobile-friendly and load faster.

Utilize a More Responsive Website Layout

Along with speed, having a responsive layout is another key aspect to consider. This means that your existing business website can easily scale itself and adapt its layout for use on different mobile devices.

The content should still be readable no matter what the screen size of the mobile device is. This also means that it won't interfere with your mobile website's loading time.

Not only do mobile-friendly websites have a more user-friendly layout, but they can also help you improve your ranking on Google through SEO. Google heavily favors websites that are mobile-friendly and ranks them higher in its search result data.

Adjust Your Font and Button Size and Placement

Your mobile website fonts and buttons must also be adapted to create a mobile-friendly experience for its users. If buttons on a standard website are already small, they will likely be even smaller on a mobile website and make it hard for users to see or tap on. Make certain they are larger, visible, and accessible.

Avoid using ornate or fancy text fonts that may be difficult to read, especially on a smaller screen. Your fonts should be clear and legible. Also, don't use too many different types of fonts, you want your mobile website to have a uniform and professional look.

Ensure the Proper Use of Pop-Ups

Pop-ups may be a part of your website marketing to get users to opt-in for mailing lists and other purposes. But they can be a nuisance for creating a mobile-friendly website. Using too many pop-ups can feel spammy and detract users from further navigating your site.

A mobile website pop-up may also be harder to close out since the "X" in the corner is too small to see or tap on. This can create frustration for mobile website visitors. Use pop-ups sparingly and ensure that they don't trap your mobile website visitors on the page and prevent them from viewing the website.

Use Appropriate Link Spacing

When using links, you need to remember that these will also appear smaller and closer together on a mobile page. Links rely on the user's thumb to tap on them to open them, which is much larger in relation to the mobile screen.

Mobile website users may get frustrated easily if they mistakenly keep tapping on the link above or below the one they want because your links are placed too closely together. You need to allow for the right amount of space between links for a more user-friendly navigation and mobile-friendly experience on your site.

Simplify Your Website's Design

One of the best ways to make your website mobile-friendly is to start with a simple and straightforward design.  You don't need a lot of bells and whistles to attract attention, a good mobile-friendly website design will do this for you. So make sure that your website content is up-to-date, well-organized, and easy to find or search.

Don't use long and cluttered menus, especially when using drop-down-style menus. You want your website users to be able to easily find the options they are looking for to navigate through your site. Use white space strategically in between to accommodate easy website viewing.

Test Your Website to Check Its Mobile-Friendly Usability

When it comes to creating the best mobile-friendly website, don't just assume that it's mobile-friendly. Check it out for yourself first. Try accessing your mobile website from a variety of different mobile devices like tablets, Android, and iOS mobile operating systems to ensure that your website's display and design are optimized for all devices.

Run additional testing from time to time to verify that all of your website options and settings still work with new software updates or device releases. This will help you keep your website's interface user-friendly and working its best for users over time.

Let Optic Marketing Group Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Your business website is your unique opportunity to inform and attract potential customers. When it comes to designing a website that is also mobile-friendly, don't leave anything to chance. Come to Optic Marketing Group.

Optic Marketing Group specializes in designing all types of websites for businesses from HVAC to Plumbing and Lawn Care. We are a premier, full-service marketing agency with locations in Tampa, FL, and The Woodlands, TX. We want to help you tell your story to your customer base through a professional and well-designed website.

Contact us today for more information on your business website design needs today.

by Optic Marketing

Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips for Business Owners

As a small business owner, you have a lot of competition. There are around 32 million small businesses in the United States.

In order to be successful and beat out your competition, you must invest in marketing. The idea of creating a marketing strategy can be overwhelming and you may not know where to start.

It doesn't matter if you studied marketing in college or if you have a small budget; the tips in this article are going to help you push your company to the next level. Read on so you know what small business marketing steps to take next.

Know Your Audience

The first marketing tip is knowing your audience. Who is your ideal client?

If you're offering residential lawn care, then you'll want to grab the attention of homeowners and landlords. You'll then need to figure out where they get their information.

How are you going to get your business information to them? Find out where they hang out and what their hobbies are.

You need to put yourself in a position where you can help them solve a problem. Another example would be if your small business installs HVAC systems.

Are people in your area having a hard time keeping their homes cool in the summer? Or maybe they are having issues with high humidity levels.

You need to know this information about your audience so you can better serve them and market to them. If you're marketing a solution to a problem that your ideal client doesn't have, you'll be wasting your time.

Build a Website

The next step when it comes to a marketing strategy for small businesses is creating a website. Now it's a bit more complicated than it might sound.

You must have a working website that is easy to navigate. You don't want your clients to get frustrated and leave your site.

All the information your customers may need should be laid out in an organized fashion that is easy to read. Be sure there aren't any glitches before launching your website as well.

It's likely that there are other companies in your area that offer similar services. When someone searches for home services, you want your website to be the first one to pop up.

This requires you to do some research. You'll need to include keywords throughout your website to make it SEO-friendly. The more quality content you provide, the more traffic you'll have to your site.

Get On Social Media

It's crucial that you get your company on as many social media platforms as possible. It's affordable, but you will have to invest some time into it.

People tend to overthink social media, and while there are strategies out there that can help you grow your following; the algorithms are different for each platform. One post that gets a lot of views or likes on TikTok may not reach as many people on Facebook.

It's a lot of trial and error and figuring out what your audience likes to see. When it comes to marketing small businesses on social media, it's crucial that you don't get discouraged.

Offer Rewards

Another small business marketing tip that will help you find new customers and keep old ones coming back is to offer rewards or a loyalty program. Back to the lawn care business example, you could offer your clients half off their fifth lawn mowing appointment.

If you're installing HVAC systems, you could offer one free maintenance check a year. Everyone is always looking for a good deal and marketing rewards and discounts will grab people's attention.

Look at Reviews

As a business owner, it's crucial that you look at your online reviews and encourage your clients to leave them on all platforms. Take the time to respond to as many reviews as you can.

If someone said they had a great experience, write them back thanking them for their loyalty. This shows your clients and future customers that you care about them personally, not just about making money.

Seeing a negative review can be discouraging; however, how you handle the situation is key. Respond to unhappy clients and ask if they would be willing to speak with you offline so you can work out the issue. This shows anyone who reads the review that you genuinely care and didn't try to make excuses.

The problem could have been out of your control or it could be an issue you need to address with your staff later. You can't make everyone happy, but as long as you're doing good honest work and treating your customer's rights, you'll have more positive reviews and the negatives will fade away.

Send Emails

Our last small business advertising tip is to send out emails. This can be tricky as you don't want to send too many and annoy your clients, but you also want them to know about the services and deals you're running.

You want to send just enough to keep them engaged. Setting up an automated system to send emails out regularly can help save you some time, too.

Small Business Marketing

Whether you just opened or you've been running your business for years, creating updated and new marketing strategies can be challenging. There are so many things to think about when you're running your company and it's vital that you don't put small business marketing on the back burner.

Don't continue to struggle with your marketing plan. We work will all types of companies and our experts will help you grow your clientele. Give us a call today to get started!

by Optic Marketing

Google’s E-A-T: What Is It and How Does It Impact Your 2023 Marketing Goal

Nearly 50% of consumers report turning to Google when they are on the hunt for a particular service. If your business's online presence is lacking, you could be missing half of your target audience.

Luckily, a solid organic marketing strategy can help solve that problem. Organic marketing utilizes high-quality content (e.g., blog articles) that features search engine optimization (SEO) to increase a website's Google ranking.

But how exactly do you create this high-quality SEO content? In 2023, it is critical to use Google's E-A-T guidelines to produce content search engines will love and reward with a higher ranking. Here's why.

What Are Google's E-A-T Guidelines?

E-A-T is an acronym for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It is an update to Google's search engine ranking algorithm that came out in 2014. Though E-A-T alone will not determine your Google ranking, it does affect it.

Expertise

Expertise is defined as expert knowledge or skills. People typically have expertise in a particular field (e.g., technology). However, generalists can have expertise in many different fields.

Why is expertise important to Google? People with expertise in particular subjects can think deeply and intelligently about problems in their field.

Authoritativeness

Being authoritative means someone or something has authority over a particular skill or field. In other words, an authoritative website can be trusted to give out correct advice or information.

Authoritative content inspires, motivates, and influences people. Readers know that the author of the article is providing valuable and reliable information.

Trustworthiness

In the age of clickbait and fake news, trust is increasingly difficult to foster online. That makes honest and reliable content, content creators, and content publishers more valuable than ever before.

And building trust with your audience will not just improve your search rankings. Readers will begin to think of you as a safe source of information and services.

E-A-T and Your Digital Marketing Goals

Now that you understand the basics of E-A-T, you may be wondering: why is E-A-T so important? Here are three ways Google E-A-T digital marketing trends can impact your business marketing goals.

E-A-T Determines High-Quality Content

The number one reason Google implemented E-A-T was to weed out low-quality content. More specifically, Google wanted to address high-ranking websites that provided irrelevant or incorrect information to readers.

E-A-T intends to do the reverse: reward websites that consistently turn out correct and relevant content.

As long as a piece of content abides by the E-A-T guidelines, the Google ranking algorithm will consider it high-quality. And as we will discuss next, publishing high-quality articles on your site can improve your Google ranking.

E-A-T Impacts Your Organic Search Ranking

Search engine marketing (SEM) heavily relies on organic search. Organic searches occur when a customer types a query into the Google search box. Then, they click on one of the pages that come up under their search.

The majority of Google searchers only look at the first three results. So, how does your site get ranked in the top three results for a search query? You have to improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Publishing high-quality content that adheres to E-A-T guidelines can help you do just that.

E-A-T Can Reduce Bounce Rate

Another benefit of E-A-T that has less to do with Google and more to do with your prospective clients is bounce rate. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of people who visit your website and leave after viewing only one page.

A poor bounce rate is usually a sign of a low-quality website. As such, Google may consider bounce rate when ranking your website. But this is not the only reason bounce rate is important.

A high bounce rate means something about your website is turning away prospective customers.

Tips for Improving E-A-T on Your Site

The number one thing to do to improve your site's E-A-T is to update your content. Focus on providing trustworthy and easily verifiable information to your readers.

It is also a good idea to update content regularly as new information comes out. Keeping up with changing trends will impress not only Google but also your prospective clients.

Yet, updating the quality of your content is only the beginning. You should also consider doing the following to improve your site's E-A-T.

Publish Contact and About Pages

Blog articles are not the only kind of content to consider when updating your website for E-A-T. Google will also take into account the other pages on your site, including your contact and about pages.

Your contact page should provide trustworthy contact info. That includes but is not limited to your company's email address, phone number, and physical address. Include as many customer support points of contact as possible.

Your business' about page should speak to your authoritativeness. Include any credentials or relevant degrees members of your staff hold. You can also talk about prior speaking engagements that speak to your firm's expertise.

Check Your Facts and Cite Them

An authoritative and expert business website should have factually accurate content. If you do not have the expertise to create this type of content, it is important to hire a content creator who does.

Another way to build authority for your online business presence is to link to other high-quality sites. Always search for high-ranking, authoritative, and trustworthy sources when creating citations to achieve this goal.

Work With a Digital Marketing Firm

Google's E-A-T guidelines can be tricky to understand. And even if you do get the basics down, you still might not outrank your competitors. That is where a professional digital marketing service can come in.

Digital marketing firms are experts in Google's algorithm and SEO. They can help improve your rankings, even if your own efforts have not achieved the results you want to see.

At Optic Marketing Group, we specialize in digital marketing strategies for home services businesses like yours. We can help you design a new website from scratch or update your old one to adhere to E-A-T standards.

Optic Marketing Group Is the Partner You Need

Google's E-A-T guidelines help distinguish high-quality content from low-quality clickbait. In 2023, it is critical to creating an expert, authoritative, and trustworthy website. If you don't, your Google ranking could suffer.

Do you need help updating your business website according to SEO best practices? Optic Marketing Group is the partner you need to get it done right the first time. Contact us today to learn how we can help you E-A-T.

by Optic Marketing

How to Grow Your Plumbing or HVAC Business With Multi-Media

Around 20% of HVAC businesses fail every year across America.

If you want to start an HVAC or plumbing business, you need to know how to make it succeed. You need to know what to do in order to reach your target market and bring in leads.

This is why HVAC marketing is so important. Having a digital marketing strategy can help HVAC and plumbing businesses step up their game, especially ever since 2020 occurred and businesses everywhere realized they needed an online marketing strategy.

But what is the best online marketing strategy? What do HVAC businesses need to do in order to bring in more leads and drive in more revenue?

Here’s a detailed guide on home services marketing, particularly around heating and cooling, and which kind of marketing can help propel your HVAC businesses.

Using Mass Media

If you want to grow your HVAC and plumbing business, you need to consider using mass media. You need to consider how mass media can help you reach your target market.

There are a lot of forms of mass media to consider and you want to spend your money wisely before going all-out in one particular medium.

Here’s why social media, TV, and radio can help you reach your target market and build your HVAC business.

Social Media Advertising

One of the best forms of HVAC advertising is social media. You can use social media in a lot of different forms to reach your target market.

One of the best ways to use social media is with Facebook advertising. With millions of people on Facebook, it makes it one of the best ways to promote your product or your services.

You can use Facebook advertising in multiple ways. For instance, you can do lead generation on Facebook and bring in hundreds of leads if you have an enticing lead magnet.

You can also use Instagram advertising that has the same strategies as Facebook. You can use it for lead generation or you can use it for conversion campaigns.

This is a great way to introduce your services and how they are valuable to your customers.

You can also try social media advertising when it comes to Twitter, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, and other forms of social media.

TV and Radio Advertising

If you want to extend your advertising beyond social media, you can also try TV and radio.

You can either pay for 30-second-commercial spots. It can also cost a lot more if you want to advertise during sports specials like the Super Bowl.

If you want to advertise on the radio, it just depends on the size of the audience and the location of where you’re at.

However, the same principles apply when you advertise on TV and radio as it does with social media.

You have to find your target market and figure out how to reach them. You have to understand their problems and see how you can help them.

This may mean you have to try and see what kind of copy is the best for your audience. You have to see what advertisements perform the best in your market.

Ultimately, there are a lot of ways to advertise in the mass media, but you have to figure out your budget and the best ways to reach your audience. You have to see what performs the best.

You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on advertising and not realize what works. Find out what advertising platform is going to do the best for you and stick with it.

The Benefits of HVAC Advertising

When you do find what mass media advertising platform works the best for your HVAC or plumbing business, you’ll see how the benefits that come with it.

One of the best benefits is that your business will be more profitable. You’ll bring in more leads for your business, which can help drive in more customers.

Another benefit to consider when you’re advertising is you’re seeing what your target market is interested in with a particular season. You’re seeing if they need heating during the winter months or work on their AC during the summer months.

This can help give you an idea of what you need to advertise during the year. You have an idea of what people are looking for during the year and how to build trust with them.

Another benefit to consider with HVAC advertising is that you’re extending your reach as a business. You’re not just reaching people in your local area, you’re reaching people throughout the United States.

If you have the capacity and capability of working with people in a certain range, you can use mass media to help you reach those people in that range.

You don’t have to rely on foot traffic to get you the customers you want. You can advertise online or on TV to help reach people that may be 100 miles or farther away.

Now You Know How to Step up Your HVAC Marketing Game

When it comes to creating an HVAC marketing strategy, it can be challenging. You may feel overwhelmed by all the choices you make in marketing.

This guide gives your HVAC or plumbing strategy the confidence you need to make the best choice. You have an idea of what mass media advertising can do for you and how it can help bring in more revenue.

If you have more questions about HVAC or plumbing marketing, you can contact us here.

by Optic Marketing

Here’s Why You Should Stop Googling Yourself

by Optic Marketing

What Home Services Business Owners Should Expect From SEO

What Home Services Business Owners Should Expect From SEO

Did you know that home services business owners can benefit from running an effective SEO campaign? Here's everything you need to know.

Keyword(s): Home Services Business Owners

Only about 30% of businesses have an SEO strategy, yet more people are using the search engine to answer their questions.

So what does this tell you? This means that if you are not using SEO, you will get outcompeted by 30% of businesses using it.

This is especially true for home services business owners, who need to be relevant in front of their target audience. That's why a solid SEO campaign can help you get thousands of targeted visitors from your location. Keep reading to learn what you should expect with this marketing strategy.

How Long Should SEO Take?

This is a long-term discipline that requires ongoing short-term strategy and execution. Whether you are using an SEO agency or an in-house team, you must be psychologically prepared to wait several years. You should anticipate knowing the following:

• What landmarks are ahead

• Which measurements and KPIs will be shown

• Communication and input requirements for the process

It is inappropriate to anticipate or make promises about how long it will take to achieve certain goals. Skilled SEO specialists should provide you with realistic expectations based on their strategy. Every month, they should show you improvements in keyword indexing, backlinks, and a rise in traffic.

What Does a Successful SEO Campaign Look Like?

SEO success may take on various shapes. If your purpose is to drive visitors to your site, then thousands of viewers per month may accomplish that goal. However, if only a couple of people purchase your product, then you may find that your campaign has failed.

Remember that ranking for targeted keywords for conversions is different from just getting viewers to read a blog. It's vital to express your goals to your SEO team and ensure proper communication throughout the whole process.

What is Bad SEO?

Bad SEO often comes from a lack of transparency and unrealistic expectations. Before starting this endeavor, you should have a clear picture of these components:

• Time
• Money
• Target performance criteria
• Means required to attain the results

If any of these elements are unclear from your SEO team, you should be concerned. Stop the campaign and fix the issue before investing extra time and money.

Providing Value

People in the middle of a crisis will be anxiously searching for solutions. They are using Google to find their answers. Your SEO marketing strategy should focus on providing value and solutions to the user's inquiry.

Do you know what questions your clients are now asking? Provide these insights to your marketing team, so they can make you an authority in that field. After all, genuine SEO should focus on offering internet users accurate information to fix their problems.

Local SEO

Your business will thrive on local customers. Local SEO must be improved for home service contractors to convert leads. It helps your target audience locate your company and pick you for the service they need in the following ways:

• Let mobile phone users find your company using directories
• Get discovered on Google and Apple Maps
• Increase organic ranks in SERP and local map listings

Did you know that only approximately half of your competitors employ local SEO? This implies that by using this tactic, you'll be ahead of almost half of your competition.

SEO Keyword Analysis

Keywords are phrases that users enter into a search engine to locate relevant results. If Google's search algorithm finds these terms on your website, your page will appear higher on the SERP. This allows the user to see you on the search.

Using keywords with high traffic and low keyword difficulty (KD) is vital. A low KD means the keyword is easy to rank on the first page. Usually, SEO specialists will use tools like Ahrefs, SEM Rush, and Yoast to help them find these keywords.

Quality Content

On average, a blog that ranks well will have around 2100-2400 words. This is mainly because more keywords are indexed, and various information is used to establish it as an authority. A solid SEO blog should have internal links, external links, and an excellent readability score.

The content should have short paragraphs, be easy to read, and contains headings. It should also be entertaining, informative, and free of grammatical errors.

Avoid Black-Hat SEO

You've likely heard of terminology such as "white-hat" and "black-hat" SEO. Black-hat SEO techniques can lead to a significant increase in exposure in the short term. However, you will eventually get penalized by the search engine.

It can get to the point where the website cannot be salvaged, and you will have to start from scratch. Popular black-hat techniques include:

• Keyword stuffing
• Purchasing links from websites with low authority
• Sneaky redirects

Before going with an agency, ask them where they get their backlinks and the credentials of their writers. Also, inquire about the tools they use to find keywords and how often they plan to implement them on the site.

Whitehat SEO is the legitimate way of ranking your website. These agencies get backlinks through networking with high-authority websites. Their writers are all from the US and are also industry experts.

Google My Business

Regarding local SEO, Google My Business should be in your marketing guide. This free service allows you to submit vital information when local prospects search for your services.

You may begin by entering your URL and company name. It also allows you to add extra details about your firm, such as:

• Business images
• Telephone number
• Videos
• Business time

You can use the Google My Business page to reply to customer inquiries and reviews. You can also send and receive direct messages. This lets you communicate with other users and share events, deals, and valuable posts.

Web Design

You should ensure that your website is current, quick, and easy to access. Remember to incorporate SEO titles, meta descriptions, calls-to-action above the folds, and more. Moreover, high-quality pages should follow the acronym EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness).

The website should take less than six seconds to load. If it takes longer than that, you risk elevating the bounce rate, which can hurt your SEO. Make sure there are no broken links or redirect issues that can damage the user experience.

SEO for Home Services Business Owners

Any home Services Marketing (HVAC, Electricians, Plumbing, Lawn Care) should focus on local SEO. That should entail targeting customers near your location. Not only that, a full-service marketing agency should offer realistic expectations and transparency.

This is vital because SEO does take a lot of time and money. For any home services business owners who need assistance with their marketing campaign, we can help. Check out our diagnostics page to see how your business is listed.

by Optic Marketing

Not All Backlinks Are Black Hat SEO

Not All Backlinks Are Black Hat SEO

Buying backlinks is part of a black hat SEO strategy. Keep reading to learn more about this questionable marketing technique and its alternatives.

Keyword(s): Black Hat SEO

In the US alone, there are millions of websites vying for attention and the best search engine rankings. This can lead to some questionable practices, such as buying backlinks as part of a black hat SEO strategy. While this technique may seem attractive in the short term, it is important to understand how this practice can be damaging in the long run.

Regarding backlinks, there are two main types: white hat and black hat. White hat SEO techniques focus on creating valuable content and earning links naturally. Black hat SEO techniques involve buying or exchanging links. This is done for the purpose of manipulating search engine rankings.

In this blog post, we will discuss the pros and cons of black hat SEO backlinks. We will provide some alternatives for businesses that want to stay within Google's guidelines.

Read on to get well acquainted with the right way of managing search engine tactic marketing.

Backlinks: What Are They & Why Are They Important?

Backlinks are links from one website to another and they are an important part of SEO. Having quality backlinks helps a business rank higher in search engine results.

This means that when customers search for relevant keywords, your business has the chance to appear on the first page. Thus, increasing visibility and potentially driving more traffic and leads to your site.

When it comes to backlinks, quality is key. Google looks for links from authoritative websites with relevant content and domain authority. The higher the domain authority of a website linking to yours, the better it will be for your SEO ranking.

That's why businesses often try to get backlinks from influential blogs or news outlets in their industry. These are good indicators that your website has valuable content worth sharing.

However, not all backlinks are created equal. One way businesses try to manipulate search engine rankings is by buying or exchanging links. This practice is known as black hat SEO.

This could have negative consequences for a business's website if Google penalizes them for using such tactics. Buying links also means you are missing out on the value of organic links. Those are earned naturally by creating high-quality content that other websites and bloggers link to.

Black Hat SEO vs. White Hat Backlinks

Black hat backlinks are any links that are bought, exchanged, or manipulated in order to artificially increase a website's ranking. These links do not provide authentic value and can harm your SEO efforts.

On the other hand, white hat backlinks involve earning links naturally. This is done through content marketing, guest blogging, and link-building strategies. For example, linking out to relevant content on other sites.

Earning links this way is sustainable and helps build relationships with influential websites.

Moreover, white hat backlinks are the only ones that will be counted toward your SEO ranking. Google has strict guidelines against manipulative link-building.

They can penalize websites for using black hat SEO techniques. It's important to stay within their rules when creating backlinks.

Outsourcing White Hat Backlinking Is Not Considered Black Hat SEO

When it comes to white hat backlinking, many businesses outsource their link-building efforts due to a lack of time or resources. This is not considered black hat SEO as long as the process respects Google's guidelines.

In fact, outsourcing such tasks can be a great way to ensure your website gets enough quality backlinks without breaking any rules.

The key is to find a reputable and experienced backlinking service provider.

Someone who follows link-building practices, like researching the right keywords for your industry. You must be creating content specifically tailored for each website you want to get linked from.

When outsourcing white hat link building, be sure to ask the company about its processes. Find out if they use any black hat techniques or if their link-building practices are compliant with Google's guidelines.

It's also important to make sure that the backlinks you buy are from high-quality sites and not spammy ones, as this can hurt your SEO ranking.

By following these tips and staying within Google's guidelines, you can build a link-building strategy. You can do it without resorting to black hat techniques.

Doing so will help you increase your website's rankings. And by consequence, establish yourself as an authoritative source in your industry.

How to Get Quality, Authentic & Reliable Backlinks On Your Own?

It is not always necessary to outsource backlinking services. Instead, you can get quality backlinks on your own.

To do this, start by creating content that engages readers and offers real value. Make sure to add relevant keywords in the title and body of the article so that it can be found easily online.

In addition to this, look for websites or blogs related to yours that already have a good amount of authority and traffic.

Reach out to them with an authentic message requesting if they would like to link your content on their website. This will help boost your SEO ranking as well as build relationships with other websites in your industry

Finally, establish yourself as an expert in your field by actively joining conversations on social media and participating in relevant forums. This will help you build credibility and attract people to link to your website.

Backlinks Done Right

While buying backlinks is an easy, fast way to increase a website's ranking, it doesn't come without risks. Not only does Google frown upon this practice, but such links can also hurt your SEO ranking. Black hat SEO is not the way.

This is true if they are from low-quality sites or sources that don't align with the content on your page.

On the other hand, white hat link-building is creating high-quality content and reaching out to websites in your industry.

Not to mention, actively engaging on social media can help you build long-term relationships with authentic sources that will boost your SEO rankings sustainably. Get in touch with us if you'd like to ensure that your marketing is done right.

by Optic Marketing

Why Mobile Device Targeting Is Important for Home Services PPC Campaigns

Why Mobile Device Targeting Is Important for Home Services PPC Campaigns

Device targeting is a great way to run the most successful PPC campaign. Here's everything you need to know about mobile device targeting.

Keyword(s): PPC Campaigns

As important as advertising is in our economy, most people are still amazed when they find out how vast the market for advertising agencies is. Even if you look only at digital advertising agencies, the United States alone has a market that generates more than $31 billion in revenue every year! More than 101,000 people around the country work in more than 8,000 digital advertising agencies.

Of course, not all of these agencies achieve the same results. In particular, many agencies fail to make the most of PPC campaigns by neglecting the importance of targeting devices.

Mobile device targeting is essential to achieve the best advertising results possible. But what is so great about mobile device targeting during PPC campaigns?

Read on to learn all about the most important reasons to prioritize mobile device targeting in your next campaign!

Reach More Users With Mobile Digital Marketing Tips

In the past, it was common wisdom that you could ignore mobile device users. On the one hand, this was because so few people used mobile devices. Even those that did use them tended not to use them to buy products or services.

However, this kind of conventional wisdom inevitably changes as circumstances evolve. These days, many people use their mobile devices as the primary way they access the internet.

As a result, huge numbers of potential customers will never see your campaigns if you do not target mobile device users.

If you have not been targeting mobile device users, then starting to do so can do more than simply double the number of potential people who see your advertising campaigns. When it comes to advertising, the idea of low-hanging fruit is often informative. If you have been advertising the same way for a while, there is a certain sense in which you have already plucked most of the low-hanging fruit that is accessible via that advertising method.

Starting a new advertising campaign that uses different techniques is the perfect way to access untapped groups of potential customers. Once you have spent some time plucking the low-hanging fruit in the direction of device targeting on PPC campaigns, you can then use a more balanced approach that combines all of your most successful advertising methods.

Enjoy a Flexible PPC Marketing Campaign

One of the great advantages of mobile device targeting is that it allows you to adjust your campaign quickly. These days, there are plenty of tools that will track the way that mobile users respond to PPC ads. Depending on how people are reacting, you can adjust your campaign for maximum efficiency and results.

For example, you might notice that your PPC ads generate positive responses during certain times of the day more than others. If there are times of the day when your ads do not generate any results at all, then you can stop wasting time on running them during those times.

This same basic principle applies to a wide variety of responses. With the right tools, you can even automate adjustments so that your campaign continues to aim at the highest efficiency possible.

Adjust Your PPC Marketing Based on Demographics

The more experience people have with advertising, the more they understand the importance of using different ads for different people. There is no such thing as the perfect ad for everyone. Rather, different people respond to different messages.

Using mobile device targeting can allow you to present different messages to mobile users from different demographics. For example, the kind of message that appeals to an older man might not be the same message that appeals to a younger woman. You might also make use of click-to-call ads while targeting mobile users.

In general, mobile users are often younger. That means that the kinds of ads you will show during mobile device targeting in a PPC campaign might be different from the ads you show using other advertising channels.

Use Device Targeting Based on User Behavior

These days, there is a lot of data about how people behave on their phones. As amazing as it may sound, tiny pieces of data can provide a detailed picture of mobile users.

This kind of data can then help advertisers send ads to the people who are likely to be interested in them.

In some ways, this is the main problem with advertising. People like ads that help them find the goods and services they want. But they find ads annoying when they are uninterested in what they have to offer.

Using user behavior data can allow you to predict which mobile device users could be potential customers. Then, you can show more ads to people who are happy to see them. That will also allow you to annoy fewer people with unwanted ads.

Maximize Your PPC Marketing Efficiency

Careful mobile device targeting increases PPC campaign efficiency. It costs a certain amount of money to show an ad to 1,000 people.

Without careful targeting, most of those ads will go to people who do not want to see them. With mobile device targeting, you can get more bang for your buck.

All of these advantages will be enhanced when you work with the right advertising agency. Consider looking at reviews online to help you find the best company for your situation.

Understand the Importance of Device Targeting in PPC Campaigns

As powerful a tool as device targeting often is, it is even more important in PPC campaigns. When you want to achieve the best results for your home services advertising campaigns, it helps to find options that can interact with potential customers as unique people. If you have not seen the results of mobile device targeting in your campaigns yet, it is worth seeing them for yourself so you can decide how much to emphasize device targeting in future campaigns.

To learn more about how to find efficient marketing services, reach out and get in touch with us here!

by Optic Marketing