Strategies To Hit The Ground Running With A Startup

As a startup business, you will want to hit the ground running so that you can find some early success, stabilize and start to build a reputation for yourself. It is always a cause for concern when a startup launches, but is unable to penetrate the market and find early success. 

Often this results in the company failing before it has had an opportunity to make an impact. This is why it is so important to know a few ways in which you can increase the chances of your startup finding success straight out of the gate. Read on for a few ideas which will hopefully help.

  • Have a USP

It is hard to find success as a new business if you are not bringing anything new to the table as the consumer will simply stick with the more established brands. This is why you need to find a gap in the market and have a USP. It can be hard, but thorough research into the industry, the competition and target customers will hopefully help you find a way to stand out from the crowd.

  • Generate Excitement

You should not wait until you launch to raise awareness about your brand. Starting promotion early can help to create excitement. You should have a high-quality website and start promoting your business as soon as possible to increase brand awareness. Plus, you can use social media to engage with your target audience, advertise your products/services and demonstrate your expertise.

  • Use PPC

Leading on from this, you should also use digital marketing to increase your visibility online. SEO is worthwhile, but it can take months for results to show, which is why you should also use PPC from a specialist like Click Intelligence. This will boost your visibility on the search engine results lists immediately and help you to compete; plus, this is a highly cost-effective form of marketing which is important when first starting out.

  • Traditional Marketing

It is important to create a strong online presence for your brand, but you should not forget more traditional forms of marketing and creating awareness in the local community. Print adverts, attending community events, networking, flyers and sponsorship can all help you get noticed early on and build your profile. 

  • Keep Costs Low

It is also important to keep costs low initially while still providing a high-quality product/service. This is important because it should help you to stay afloat for longer and maximize your bottom line once you start to win over customers. Additionally, many startup founders find it beneficial to continue earning in these early stages so that they are not reliant on the startup succeeding immediately. 

Launching a new startup can be daunting and you will want to do all that you can to hit the ground running. These are all effective strategies which should help you to do this, as well as enable you to find early success and start bringing money into the company as soon as possible.

What Exactly is the Google Dance?

What is the Google Dance?

You might be thinking, what in the world is the Google dance? Well, you’d be surprised at how much “dancing” actually does go on in search engines. And no, we aren’t referring to actual dancing on a dance floor.

The “Google Dance” can occur really in any search engine actually, however the term was coined for Google since it is the world’s largest and most recognized search engine. This dance occurs when a site is trying to rank for a specific keyword but continues to have somewhat dramatic bounces in the site’s ranking.

For example, a keyword we are ranking a client’s site for was recently on page 1 position 5 after just two months of optimization. However, in the past week it has been bouncing as low as page 3 number 8. Other keywords were ranking high as well, and have completely gone past page 10/

Now, most people might be thinking that this is really bad news that we were on page one for a few days and then dropped back below there.

Shockingly, in our experiences, the Google Dance is actually a very good thing. It means search engines have a different view on your small business’ website due to our search engine optimization campaign.

While the search engines don’t specifically know you are engaged in SEO, they do know that your website looks much more appealing to them, so they are trying to determine where exactly your site should be ranked.

Generally, once we make it to page 1 and then start seeing the Google Dance occur, it is only a few more weeks or at most a couple months before we see our search engine optimization results stabilize. I can’t think of a scenario where we got a website to page 1, saw the Google Dance, and didn’t subsequently make it back to page 1 and stabilize the results.

Now, if your website made it to page 1, stabilized there for a few months or even a year, and now is starting to dance around, this more than likely means one of two things:

  • The SEO company you used didn’t use a time tested SEO method, meaning an algorithm change is going on and your site won’t make it past the new algorithm. This means your site will likely start to drop dramatically until you engage in SEO tactics that fit the new algorithm.
  • Or another thing that could be happening is your competitors are engaging in SEO of their own and trying to rank for that keyword. I’ve seen this happen countless times.The solution for this is simply more SEO work to show them that we aren’t willing to give up our ranking on that keyword. Usually we have a pretty good head start, so it is usually pretty easy to get them to back off

Now that you are more informed about the “Google dance” and a few things that can affect your website’s ranking, ask yourself if you know were you website currently ranks.

And do you know if your website is properly optimized for the best possible search engine rankings?

If your site isn’t properly optimized, you are missing out on literally thousands of potential customers that are finding your competitors instead of you. Contact us today if you would like more information on our services, and if you qualify, for our guaranteed SEO services.

3 Tricks to Increase Your Click Through Rates in Google

Although important, high rankings are not the only goal for SEO companies and professionals when engaging in a search campaign.

Business owners tend to want to focus solely on search engine rankings, but it is important to keep the overall goal in mind. After all, your main goal should be to attract potential customers to your website. Some SEO professionals believe that search engine rankings are slowly becoming less significant, because local and personalized search roles have increased. Whether this is true or not, you should prepare your business for both circumstances.

Click through rates could make a world of difference when it comes to you verses your competition. Fortunately, there are several methods you should consider to make the most out of your search engine rankings.

Title Tags

The first tip I have for you may seem obvious, but paying closer attention to your title tags can greatly improve your click through rates. Think about how important title tags are; this is the very first thing Google users see relating to your business. Take advantage of this opportunity to make an admirable first impression.

Preferably your title tags will include a target keyword, along with supporting keywords and any branding you may want to add. For instance, lets pretend you run a website that provides retail store reviews. Your title tag should include keywords with the most traffic in order to attract potential viewers. Here is a perfect example:

<title> Las Vegas Shopping Reviews – Find the Best Shops in Las Vegas | MySite.com </title>

Its easy to see how much more enticing the title tag above is in comparison to something like:

<title> Susie’s Shopping Review Website </title>

Here are a few guidelines to follow when writing title tags:

  • The title tags for each page should be unique
  • 70 characters is the limit
  • Keep search engines and human viewers in mind when writing them. You want your title tags to be useful by both parties.
  • Choose keywords that are appropriate for a specific page of your site

 

Meta Description

The next step you should take when trying to improve your click through rates is to make sure all your pages have a captivating meta description tag that is unique.

Google usually uses the Meta description for the text shown below the title on their search results page.

The Meta description is the perfect chance for you to write something about your company’s page with no restrictions. I always like to include a call to action in the Meta descriptions I write. Here is an example:

<meta name=”description” value=”Looking to do your best shopping in Las Vegas? Come and browse our collection of free shopping reviews from all over the United States here.”/>

Please note that there are some instances when Google will not use a site’s Meta description to generate the text shown below the title on their search results page. To minimize the chances of this happening to you, here are a few guidelines.

Just like title tags, Meta descriptions need to be appropriate, compelling, and most importantly unique. If you have 100’s of website pages with the same Meta description, Google might attempt to generate their own description for you. This gives you no control over what users will see.

Make sure your Meta description is long enough for Google to use. 160 characters is the maximum for a Meta description, but get as close to that number as possible.

By following the previously mentioned guidelines for Meta descriptions, you should have no problem with Google using the descriptions you wrote. However, there is one more thing I can suggest to you. Consider adding this tag to the header of all pages:

<meta name=”robots” content=”noodp, noydir” />

This tag tells search engines to avoid using information from the Open Directory Project or the Yahoo Directory when generating description text about your website.

If you don’t want to have any snippets showing in the search engine page results you can use this tag:

<meta content=”nosnippet” />

Reviews

Reviews are very important, specially if you are a local based business, meaning you only do business with people in your local area.

When people search for you, Google and Yelp reviews usually show up. Make sure you invest some effort into getting your happy customers to leave you good reviews. All the SEO rankings in the world can’t help you if you have a lot of bad reviews.

Look at how many reviews your competition have and make it a goal to out review them. In local, getting reviews also helps you rank higher in the maps, so it has many benefits. For one, you will convert more traffic, and two, you will over time rank higher as well.

Conclusion

The suggestions and guidelines I have mentioned are easy to implement techniques that will improve your click through rates from search engine results. Remember, your overall goal should be to show potential customers clean, helpful information that stands out against your competition.

If you have any questions about the tips above ask me in the comments. I will be happy to answer!

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Thinking About Thought Leadership? See What Wizard Media’s Founder has to Say on Forbes

Follow These Tips For Creating Compelling Content

Thought leadership—in which business leaders and professionals produce content that’s not focused on marketing their businesses, but rather on providing insider insights, useful information and tips related to their industries—is gaining in both popularity and effectiveness. Thought leadership can help build personal and business brands by positioning the authors as reliable, trusted experts in their fields.

Many business leaders want to engage in this type of content, but they may have many questions: What should I write about? Where can I publish? What if I’m not a “polished” writer? How do I find the time? While it may seem like a complicated process, with planning and dedication, producing thought leadership content is within every business leader’s reach. Below, 10 professionals from Forbes Agency Council share tips to help you get started.

1. Plan, Create and Distribute

Start with a plan. It’s tempting to create content that is trendy or timely, but it’s more effective to write about topics that align with the problems you solve for clients. Leverage external writers when you don’t have the time or the skills in house to write. Don’t stop at content creation—distribute your content far and wide through social, email, digital advertising, media and more. –Natalie Nathanson,Magnetude Consulting

2. Educate Your Audience

If you plan to use content marketing as a lead-generation strategy, be sure to educate your audience and give examples of the results that your education has provided. People don’t care about you, they care about what you can do for them. Focus on this in your content and leads will reach out to you to see how they can work with you. –Jimena Cortes,Wizard Media

Link to article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/06/05/thinking-about-thought-leadership-follow-these-tips-for-creating-compelling-content/#629bcd087029

Company Raises $500k in Seed Funding from Investors from LinkedIn- Find Out How

The CEO of a startup connected with me on LinkedIn, and while he wanted to hire us to help him get clients for his company, he did not have the funds to invest in a marketing campaign just yet.

He needed to finish building out the product, but more importantly, he needed to raise funds in order to be able to launch.

I suggested we do a LinkedIn outreach campaign, targeting investors so that he could get to the point where his product was ready to sell (and then we’d do a campaign targeting distributors.)

He wasn’t sure this would turn into anything, but at this point he needed to do something, and fast to secure funds to pursue his dream.

He agreed to run the campaign for 3 months, and we implemented our LinkedIn strategy on his profile.

Our formula goes a bit like this:

  • Write your profile in a way that attracts your target audience and compels them to want to do business with you.
  • Reach out to connect
  • Start a conversation by introducing yourself and providing value to your prospect
  • Ask for the meeting

This has been to date, one of our most successful campaigns in the number of leads generated. During that 3 month period, over 150  investors responded wanting to learn more and speak with him.

By the end of the campaign, he had secured $500k in seed funding.

LinkedIn is not just for getting clients, but if you are looking to raise money, it can be an invaluable, yet underlooked tool.

If you are looking to generate more leads, better quality leads and more consistently, schedule a meeting with us here:

https://my.timetrade.com/book/59TCH

Solo Attorney Adds 4 to 7 New Clients Per Month to his Practice from Google- Read on to Discover What He Did

An Estate Planning Attorney came to us because he needed a better, and more consistent way to generate leads, than just going to networking events and referrals as he had been doing for the past 15 years.

We decided to optimize his website for conversions by adding a video to the homepage of him, and several of the inner pages, and we started a content marketing and search engine optimization campaign.

The video was a hit! People told him it was one of the main reasons they called, because they were able to get a good sense about him from the video.

We then mapped out the content we would create over the next 6 months, and began posting it on his website, sharing it on social media and also guest posting on his behalf on other sites to generate quality links.

We added him to all relevant directories as well.

After just 2 months, he had several long tail keywords on page 1 of Google, and his phone was beginning to ring more.

After just 4 months, he had several of his target keywords at the top of page 1 of Google, and he was averaging 2-3 new estate planning clients per month from these efforts.

After just 6 months of us working together, his Google listing, website and blog content were taking up several spots on page 1 of Google for his target keywords.

He is now averaging 4-7 new clients per month, from the leads he generates from Google. These are clients who pay anywhere from $1500-$5,000 for his services. 

Here at Wizard Media we don’t just rank your website…We ensure your website is first positioned to convert and positioned to rank high, then using white hat tactics we are able to show Google you are the authority in your niche…

And they reward you with multiple page 1 rankings allowing you to take up several spots on page 1 of Google for high value keywords.

If you are looking to generate more leads, better quality leads and more consistently, schedule a meeting with us here:

https://my.timetrade.com/book/59TCH

Marketing Agency Closes 3 Fortune 1000 Companies in 30 Days Using LinkedIn

I connected with the CEO of a marketing company on LinkedIn, and I was explaining to him to him some of our client results. He was interested in offering LinkedIn as a lead generation service, but he had never had results himself with the platform, so he was unsure about its effectiveness.

Even though I have several case studies and recommendations all on my profile, he was still unsure how this would work for him, or specially his clients.

I told him to test us out so that he can see how this works, and what kind of results it can generate for him. I told him, “if within 90 days you see no results, you don’t have to stick to the full 12-month agreement.”

He agreed, and we implemented our LinkedIn strategy on his profile.

Our formula goes a bit like this:

  • Write your profile in a way that attracts your target audience and compels them to want to do business with you.
  • Reach out to connect
  • Start a conversation by introducing yourself and providing value to your prospect
  • Ask for the meeting

After just 3 weeks of implementing our strategy on his profile, he had 11 leads who were interested in speaking with him and he had meetings scheduled with 7 of them.

All of these were large companies, because that is what we targeted, and he was able to close 3 large marketing deals with fortune 1000 companies from these 11 leads.

Since then, we have continued to run a LinkedIn campaign from his profile, and now also run campaigns for his clients. Since implementing our LinkedIn lead generation process at his agency, his clients are staying on longer, the lead quality has improved and the profitability of their marketing campaigns have doubled.

They now offer LinkedIn in every single proposal that goes out.

If you are looking to generate more leads, better quality leads and more consistently, schedule a meeting with us here:

https://my.timetrade.com/book/59TCH

CPA Triples their Business in Just 3 months- Details Inside

An accountant who had started his own firm just two years earlier, was looking for a way to generate new business, affordably. He mainly relied on referrals and attending networking events to acquire new clients.

Networking events were tiring for him, and it can take a lot of time to generate any business.

He had tried Google Adwords, but he spent several thousand dollars, and only received 1 client. Needless to say, this was a negative ROI.

I connected with this gentleman on LinkedIn, and I let him know that Adwords is a great way to advertise, but you have to know what you are doing, or you will waste a lot of money.

You also have to have sufficient funds to test, until you can dial in a campaign.

I suggested he try SEO. Now granted, in the beginning months, SEO may seem more expensive than Adwords, because with Adwords you can put in your budget today and start getting clicks tomorrow. You get instant gratification.

With SEO, you can start the work today, but you may not see your results until 3-6 months from now. He agreed to do SEO, since he did not want to try Adwords again after this experience, and we went ahead and got started.

We fixed all the pages on his website with the appropriate title, meta and keyword tags, maximizing these the fullest to rank for as many keywords as possible. We fixed additional things, but I’m not going to get all technical with you here, or I’ll lose you 🙂

Now, what I am about to tell you is not the norm, but it is what occurred in this case….

Within 45 days of us working on his website, creating blog content and acquiring high quality links for him, he had acquired several page 1 rankings in Google. His phone had begun to ring, and he was ecstatic.

Over the next 3 months, he was ranking multiple times on page 1 of Google for all the keywords we agreed on. He appeared at the top of the maps, then right below the maps his website showed up, and right below that, his blog.

This took his business from $150k in annual revenues to $400k in annual revenues.

Fast forward, 5 years later, and this CPA is still ranking multiple times on the page, even with all of Google’s algorithm changes.

Once we get a client to the top of Google, we adjust our strategy as needed to accommodate the changes we face from search engine algorithms. This is why our clients stay with us year after year, and maintain those rankings year after year.

If you are looking to generate more leads, better quality leads and more consistently, schedule a meeting with us here:

https://my.timetrade.com/book/59TCH