The Inboundo Blog

3 Unique Ways You Can Showcase Your Brand’s Personality Via Web Design

August 13, 2018 By schhay Leave a Comment

Smart Web Design Choices To Convey Your Brand’s Personality

Small businesses face many challenges, and one of the most prevalent today is making a mark online. The majority of consumer-level shopping today happens digitally, and smaller companies are at a distinct disadvantage compared with larger companies that have more flexibility and notoriety on the internet. Web design plays an important role in any ecommerce-focused business, and you can showcase your brand identity and make a strong impression with a few key web design choices.

Don’t worry if you’re wondering how to design a website and juggle the myriad tasks facing any small business owner. The right ecommerce web designer can help you take advantage of your brand’s unique personality and reach more people online. Ultimately, this will boost sales numbers and encourage consumer loyalty. Repeat business is the natural result once a customer knows he or she can return to your site for another high-quality experience on a reliably performing platform. Building your brand identity through solid web page design is a great way to encourage this process, and there are three major steps you should take in this regard.

1. Visual Design Elements

Good web design should look as good as it performs. The visual design elements you choose should not only catch visitors’ attention and keep them engaged, but also function well on your site and not bog down loading times with oversized images, clunky animations, or other space wasters. Determining the best visual elements for your website is a multifaceted project.

Color Choice

First, the color palette you choose for your brand should resonate throughout your site. While you don’t want to oversaturate your website with color, you definitely want to create a cohesive color scheme that extends through all of the pages of your site. Try to stick to a color palette with no more than four different hues that complement one another. Any more than this will look too busy, and some designers may find that four is too much. Some brands stick with one or two colors that create visual interest and apply them throughout their web design and website marketing materials. Find a color scheme that works for your brand and stick with it.

Typography

The fonts and typography you choose for your website should be legible at different zoom levels and on different devices. It’s frustrating for customers to have to zoom in and out to read tiny text, so make sure the text on every page flows well and responds to the device on which a user views it. You may also want to consider selecting typography that resonates with other elements of your business besides your website, such as your products, packaging, business cards, and printed marketing materials. This helps build trust in the minds of your consumers as they start associating your brand with the visual identity you’ve created.

Logos And Graphics

Your company’s logo can evolve over time, so don’t worry too much if you feel as though your brand’s logo needs a facelift. Take time to develop a brand identity that’s easily recognizable with or without your company name. Your logos and the imagery on your website play large roles in this, so make sure the web design company you hire for your logos has a strong portfolio of logo work for past clients.

2. Set The Tone For Your Content

Content is a major facet of modern professional website development. The content you produce and display on your website and in your marketing materials is crucial for building credibility with your audience and staying relevant in your niche. Search engines such as Google and Bing constantly scan websites for their latest updates, and the sites that have regular content updates with well-made content tend to rank the best in relevant search results.

Why Is Content So Crucial Today?

The modern economy is heavily reliant on the digital world, so high-quality web design is an absolute must for any brand trying to capitalize on a super competitive market. The content your company produces can help you resonate with more customers, expand your reach to new markets, and cultivate feedback on your products and services. These are all massive advantages in today’s business world, so don’t neglect the common modern adage of “content is king.”

3. Functionality And Navigation

The last major element of high-quality web design is functionality. You may have stunning original photography and well-produced video content, but if your site slows down due to these types of media, visitors to your site will likely grow frustrated over the lack of functionality. Images and videos take longer to load than text, so think carefully about the type of content you want to include on each page of your website.

Designing For Speed And Reliability

Responsive design is the concept of designing web pages that respond to the device a user prefers for visiting the website. For example, a page may load completely differently on desktop than on a mobile device, but a user can easily navigate either format thanks to responsive design. The majority of online traffic for ecommerce and content consumption happens on mobile platforms, so you need to be sure your web designer can handle responsive design for multiple device types.

Some small business owners may decide to tackle web design on their own, but others know investing in the services of a reliable web design company provides a stellar return on investment, and with generally better results.

About The Author: Nicola Yap lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her two cats Marcie and Lambert. When she isn’t writing blog posts, she’s probably playing video games or doing something as equally unproductive. She works as an organic marketing strategist for Eminent SEO, a full-service digital marketing agency that creates custom websites and innovative marketing solutions for small to medium-sized businesses that are looking for impactful results.

How Brands can Benefit From Creating Ephemeral Content

August 9, 2018 By schhay Leave a Comment

At first glance, the notion of ephemeral marketing doesn’t make much sense from a business perspective. After all, why would you spend precious resources on producing a piece of promotional content that’s only going to be available for a short amount time? And yet, ephemeral content is currently one of the hottest digital marketing trends. So what’s the story behind this discrepancy?

Part of the answer can be uncovered by taking a look at how such content is being distributed online. The top three platforms for sharing ephemeral content are Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. Instagram Stories alone is sitting at 400 million daily active users, which is more than Facebook Stories and Snapchat have combined (150m and 190m respectively). Tapping into such a large pool of users can be a lucrative prospect, provided you can deliver a constant stream of content updates.

To find out more about the ways brands are benefiting from ephemeral content, check out our short guide on the topic in the text below.

Keep Them Asking For More

A common mistake that people make is to think that being ephemeral is inherently a disadvantage when content is concerned. In reality, short-lived content can actually be far more effective at eliciting a reaction from the audience. If you create a piece of content that your audience enjoys, but which will become unavailable soon after, their only means of finding something similar is to keep waiting until you produce more of it. Scarcity is a powerful driving force, and ephemeral content is one of the best ways to leverage for improving audience engagement.

1. Fear of Missing Out

Another psychological principle that underpins ephemeral content is called FOMO, or fear of missing out. FOMO is characterized by a sense of anxiety that arises out of a perception that others are having worthwhile experiences without us. It arises as a result of a desire to keep in touch with what others are doing at all times. Ephemeral content is inherently geared towards eliciting feelings of this sort. After all, it is quite likely that you will miss out on content, if it has an expiration date. And the best way to alleviate FOMO is to pay more attention to ephemeral content updates.

2. Let Bygones be Bygones

So far we have talked about how being ephemeral can actually amplify the effectiveness of content for producing a positive audience reaction. But ephemeral content is also well suited for managing negative feedback. Not every content update you publish will be of the same standard of quality. Some might be met with criticism, and other will fail to generate a response at all. If such content remains permanently available, it will continue to generate a negative response. But if it stuck around only for a short while, there would be nothing left to keep reminding your audience of the negative experiences they had.

3. An Authentic Experience

We have been using the word “ephemeral” to denote content that is available for a limited time. But in another sense, ephemeral content also alludes to the fact that it was created in the spur of the moment, without much forethought. This gives it an aura of authenticity, which is something internet users have grown to appreciate now that standardized, corporate content has become the norm online. Brands that offer ephemeral content are therefore perceived as being more in touch with “the little guy”. In other words, ephemeral can be used to give brands a human face, which is a feat that some of the top digital agencies have managed to achieve.

4. Outsourcing Content Creation

Part of the reason why ephemeral content is so popular is the fact that practically anyone can make it. All you need is a smartphone and some time on your hands, and you can create something that actually has a shot at becoming a viral sensation. This makes ephemeral content creation a perfect fit for crowdsourcing. By incentivizing your audience to produce content in your stead, you can drastically reduce the costs of your content marketing strategy. In exchange for exposure and a few perks, you can gain access to large pool of talented content creators, which is a deal that few companies would be willing to pass up.

5. Recruiting Gen Z

Over time, each content marketing strategy develops its own preferred audience. In the case of ephemeral content marketing, the audience in question is Generation Z. This demographic cohort consists of people born after 1995. These individuals grew up fully immersed in the online world, and they are have wholeheartedly embraced social media as means of everyday communication. They are used to consuming ephemeral content on a daily basis, which makes them prime targets for ephemeral content marketing. While their spending power is still less than their millennial counterparts, in the coming years Gen Z is set to become the audience of choice for businesses world-wide.

6. Get on the Ephemeral Bandwagon

The impact that ephemeral content has had on the world of marketing stands in stark contrast to its shelf-life. And as content creation tools and platforms become more widely available, we are likely to see an even greater emphasis on it in the future. We hope that our guide can help you to capitalize on this emerging trend.

10 Free Ways To Increase Your Blog’s Organic Traffic

August 8, 2018 By schhay Leave a Comment

If there’s one thing all bloggers have in common, it’s a desire for readers. Whether you’re posting about vegan recipes, B2B businesses or horseback riding, you want someone to care about what you have to say. So, how can you drive more traffic? What are the best ways to bring new readers to you?

From a business standpoint, the good news is there are plenty of free strategies that can boost organic site traffic. If you can dedicate time and energy toward building your blog’s value and promoting it online, over time you will reap the benefits.

From using long-tail keywords to guest blogging on other sites, here are 10 great traffic-building ideas to try. Whether your site is brand new or slow to grow followers, these tips can help you cultivate its reach.

1. Optimize your posts for keywords

Every time you write a new post, you need to pick keywords you’d like that post to rank well for online. (If you want inspiration, try Google Keyword Planner, and go to the “Keyword Planner” tab under “Tools.” With this tool, you can compare keyword search volume to see how often certain words or phrases are typed into Google.) Then, implement your chosen keyword(s) into your URL, post title, headers, image ALT descriptions and paragraph copy. It’s also helpful to add an SEO plugin such as Yoast to your blog — it gives you built-in reminders for keyword optimizing each article.

2. Pay special attention to long-tail keywords

What’s great about long-tail keywords (i.e., longer, more specific phrases) is that they can be less competitive than short, simple options. While a huge number of websites are already writing posts about “blog traffic,” for example, there are likely fewer optimizing for “free ways to increase your blog’s organic traffic.” Choosing long-tail keywords helps you achieve higher search rankings faster, as you’re competing for a less saturated market.

3. Optimize your images

In today’s visually focused Internet, every blog needs good pictures. However, huge images can slow a site’s performance — and search engines notice. If images are reducing your site speed, search engines will be less likely to rank you well in results. So, what can you do? Always adjust your photos to the desired display size before uploading them to your blog. Likewise, compress the images so they’re the smallest file sizes possible. You can use the “Save for Web” feature in Photoshop and/or free tools such as ImageAlpha, JPEGmini or TinyPNG to ensure your images are optimized properly.

4. Guest post on other sites

When it comes to search engine optimization, backlinks (links from other sites pointing to yours) are important. Why? To put it simply, the more sites linking to your blog, the more authoritative it becomes to search engines. This is where guest posting comes into play. When you contribute articles to other sites online, you’ll typically get an author bio that allows you to link back to your site. This helps you keep building online authority to rank higher in search results. To find sites to which you can submit posts, look for established blogs in your industry that accept articles. Then, create guests posts that are high in quality and offer real value to readers.

5. Link internally

Just as search engines pay attention to what external sites link to yours, they also watch how you link within your own site. Use your navigation menu to highlight the most important five or so pages on your site. Make it a habit to link to related blog posts within your new articles. These practices communicate a hierarchy of content to both visitors and search engines.

6. Promote your content on social media

Part of marketing your blog content today involves being active on social media. Every time you write a new post, you should promote it on your blog’s Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram profile and Pinterest. A tool such as Buffer can streamline this process for you. Social networks are so important because they act as discovery tools online. A new reader may find your post while searching for something else on Pinterest or Instagram, for example. Social media platforms also allow you to build connections that drive traffic to your site.

7. Post consistently

For the best long-term traffic results, you need to blog routinely. Whether you post once a week, twice a week or every other Monday, set a schedule and stick to it. Regular posting keeps your site fresh and gives readers a reason to return to your site.

8. Post evergreen content

With all the work you put into writing blog posts, you may as well write them to last. There’s no reason an article you create today can’t keep generating traffic a year from now. The key is making it evergreen. Write posts that will stay relevant rather than be limited by a current trend or topic.

9. Engage with other bloggers

The same principles of networking that apply to business apply to blogging. Relationships are the bedrock of growth. So, whatever your blog niche, tap into the community of bloggers writing about it. Read their posts, comment genuinely and build connections.

10. Answer questions online

Online forums such as Quora are a goldmine of opportunity for driving traffic. Find a question someone is asking, and write a post that answers it. Then, go back to the forum and respond to the question, including a link to your site.

Even without investing upfront cash, there’s a lot you can do to drive blog traffic. Start with the free strategies above, which focus on two main goals: making your site more authoritative and promoting its content. What’s beautiful about these strategies is they keep paying off over time. In other words, follow them consistently, and watch your traffic grow — and keep growing — well into the future.

Author bio: Shanna Mallon is a contributing writer for Straight North, a Chicago Internet marketing firm providing specialized SEO, web development and other online marketing services.

Drug Treatment Marketing: You Have Traffic, Now What? CTA’s and Conversions

July 12, 2018 By schhay Leave a Comment

The biggest shift in this modern age is how the digital world has become such a huge part of everyone’s life. Everybody is online almost 24/7 so it is no wonder why businesses have followed this trend in order to reach the consumers.

But reaching out to the target audience is only half of what is being done as companies also look into individual’s behavioral pattern particularly on what people like, where they spend most of their time, and how often do they visit the sites.

For drug rehab facilities where the battleground is almost always online (also taking into account the underlying question patients’ ask “can you have a cell phone in rehab,” your call-to-action (CTA) messaging is crucial to conversions. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there are more than 14,500 drug rehab centers in the United States, so the competition is definitely stiff.

In digital marketing, CTAs are most often overlooked. But statistics reveal that it’s almost as important are your headline as 9 in 10 of your visitors arrive at a decision after reading your CTA. In fact, just putting a CTA on your drug rehab Facebook page will boost conversion by as much as 2.85%.

But it’s not just as easy as asking your visitors to “sign up now!” or “register online today!” If your CTA is too weak, you fail to convince potential clients. Too strong, and you risk turning them off. Below are some of the quick tips in order to tweak your CTAs to boost your conversion.

Add Value to Your Text

Your CTA is the topping for your cake. Or to make another analogy, the uppercut that will finish off the fight. If your visitors managed to read the whole text, then you have already a captive audience. You got them hooked, now you need to reel them in. The customers should still feel that their needs are being met when they read the CTA. In this sense, the call-to-action text or button will feel like the next logical step, a guide to what they will do next.

Your CTAs Should Stand Out

There are many strategies that drug rehab centers adopt for their CTAs. A quick browse of your competitors’ sites should give you an idea of how they do it. Some use sound to draw attention to the CTA button. Others will employ contrasting colors so the button will stand out.

To achieve this, you should:

Avoid too much noise around your CTA button
Make your text on the button distinct (e.g. “Does your loved one need help?”)
The CTA button should be surrounded by white space so it “floats”

Create a Sense of Urgency

This strategy is no different from the “SALE” or “75% off” promo on shopping malls. Mallgoers, even if they had no intention of buying, will find the huge discount too tempting to resist. You are going to appeal to people’s basic sense of instinct and trigger an emotional response. Putting in the words “now” or “today” is just one example of creating a sense of urgency. You may have noticed that they are still being used by most websites. The simple explanation is that they still work, just like the red label tag on shopping malls signifying a sale.

Make sure that your CTA is:

Clear
Relevant
Provide value
Not confusing

Positioning Matters

The eye-tracking study by the Nielsen Norman Group revealed that online readers follow the F-shape pattern. This means that they spend too much time on the left side of your page as well as the top. This is why your first paragraph is crucial if you want your readers to continue reading. The F-shape pattern also gives you an idea of where to place your call-to-action button. It should be at the top to the right side of the window where your readers will naturally see it even if they don’t finish the whole page.

Make Sure Your CTA is Aligned With Your Landing Page

A bad landing page is the fastest way to lose your customers. You just did all that work for nothing. The landing page should fulfill or add value to what you are promising in your CTA.

You are only going to confuse your visitors if the landing page is very different from the CTA. They are going to leave immediately thinking that they hadn’t arrived at the right place. Another way to stand out in the drug rehab industry is not to put any CTA button on your website.

Admittedly, this is a risky proposition, but it’s been proven to work in countless cases. If you can’t convince your visitors of getting your services after they browse through the page, you have no fallback plan. However, you need the help of an experienced digital marketing company to make this work because your value-proposition is contained in your main message, whether it’s video, audio or text.

7 Things Your Competitor Can Teach You To Rank Higher On Google

June 28, 2018 By schhay Leave a Comment

In today’s world, competition is the word of the day. There is so much saturation in almost every field that competing and striving to be on top is everyone’s primary motive. Being ahead in the competition does not mean bringing someone down using some malicious means, in fact, if your competitors are doing better than you, it must be because they are doing something right.

This is where you have to be smart and learn their strategies and techniques about how to be more successful and then implement it better. Sometimes when original thinking is no more possible, you should go out of your way to learn from your competitors and plan the structure of your marketing strategy by simply analyzing and doing thorough research of your competition. In SEO and web hosting, websites that get the most traffic are the ones that are prospering. If your competitors are ahead of you, make sure you get an idea of what they are doing right, to identify where you are going wrong.

Identify your real competitors

Any company or website that you are competing for better web visibility and traffic should be your competitor, not just the ones pertaining to your product. Do a small analysis based on the location and the type of industry you are associated with and find out more about them through members directories. You can even set up alerts which will update you on the progress of your competing services.

Determine the keywords you are competing for

Once you have a hold of your competitors, start analyzing the keywords that your competitors are using and how they are getting more hits out of it. There are different tools available for it, like the Google Keyword Planner where as soon as you enter the URL of your competitor, it will list down all the keywords that they have been effectively using.

Comparing and learning becomes very easy this way. The role of the company hosting your website becomes very important here as they implement the keywords optimally. Bluehost web hosting service has been identified as a pioneer for this said purpose.

Create engaging content

The holy grail of any website is the content it hosts. It is what drives more and more people towards a particular website and generates a number of hits to go higher up the rankings in Google. Your competitors must be having more variety and quality content in order to stay up the ladder. It is an indication for you to up your game.

Do your research about what interests the common public more, maybe conduct a study or ask for opinions through your website and once you catch the pulse of the people, make sure you improve the quality of the content you write.

Optimize URL structure

If you look into the strategy of your competitors, one thing that they have got right is putting up URLs which are user-friendly and straightforward and can be easily targeted upon by SEO services. They must be meaningful and simple. Therefore, you should adopt this strategy too while creating your URL.

Meta titles and descriptions

Some people might say that this is a thing of the past, but if you look into the history of any SEO that has done well in the recent past, it is because it has been able to guide the viewer to the right direction using meta titles and appropriate description. Make sure that your website has the right mix of titles and descriptions to make your agenda clear to the people visiting it.

Create a social media campaign and remain consistent

Social media has taken a firm grip on all aspects of life, with marketing being a key factor for more web visibility and more traffic passing through your website. One mistake that bloggers tend to do is be normal. The normal and conventional methods may have worked all this while, but it is time for a drastic change which will set you apart from the rest of your competitors in the market. You should strive to create a campaign on social media that has never been seen or heard before.

The more catchy and innovative it is, the more are its chances of garnering the interests of viewers. Once you have hit the right spot, being consistent in maintaining the campaign also becomes as critical as it requires a lot of hard work and dedication to do so.

Link building strategy

Having a strong link is also necessary for having more traffic. Your competitors might have built the strength of their link in such a way that it is easily accessible by all. Make Strategies and build your link in such a way that is available in all appropriate portals and people can arrive at your website easily.

Again, your web hosting service provider plays an integral role here to keep the uptime of your website as high as possible, so that no one exits your website because of inaccessibility.

Healthy competition has never harmed anyone and setting the achievements of your competitors as a benchmark and striving to do one better can act as enough motivation for a successful leap up the ranks on Google.

« Previous Page