2021 SEO Trends – How to Prepare for the Upcoming Year.
SEO is changing in 2021. While some SEO strategies will remain, Google will be looking at SEO in a whole new way to rank pages. It is time to prepare for the upcoming 2021 SEO trends now before the update is released next year.
Get Ready for Google’s Update in 2021
Google plans on releasing a “Core Web Vitals” update in 2021 which will affect SEO and how pages will be ranked on Google. Google’s main focus is to constantly improve their user’s experience. They want their customers to go to a website and find what they need immediately with the best experience possible. With the “Core Web Vitals” update, Google will be ranking pages according to how those needs are met.
The best ways to ensure your website meets these standards is to make sure your site’s pages are running at optimal speed. Three seconds is acceptable, but one second is preferable. Additionally, you want to ensure that your website does not have any broken pages. These are pages where a user would not get content, but instead a 404 error page. Also, it is essential for a website to be mobile friendly and have Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Because most users are using mobile devices, it is necessary that mobile is optimized to the best user experience possible.
Heatmap software, such as Crazy Egg, can monitor your customers’ use to determine if improvements need to be made to a website. Heatmaps track how users are using your website. For example, if a customer keeps clicking on a static image thinking it should take them to a page and it doesn’t, then a web developer will know how to improve the user experience by adding a link to the image.
Yes, Content is Still King
The term “Content is King” will still remain in 2021. However, it has to be quality, value perceived content in order for it to rank on Google. The days of just writing a short blog and stuffing it with keywords are long gone. Now Google looks for content based on E.A.T. (Expertise, Authoritative and Trustworthy).
Google is looking for knowledgeable content that is value-driven, answers their users’ queries and comes from a trustworthy source. So, for example, someone who writes medical content may need to have the proper medical credentials to be an acceptable trustworthy source to Google. Content that defines a problem and gives a solution is considered value-driven content.
Long-form content is also valued by Google. Google wants to know what your page is about; thin content does not allow for this. Having longer content lets Google know you are interested in the reader and solving their query.
Voice Search is on the Rise
Voice search is continuing to gain users. It is important that your website is optimized for longer, more-natural keywords so that it will appear in voice search results. Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and other mobile users are not using short, broad words when they speak. If you have a local business, you may want to consider using common phrases and natural keywords to help users find you in local searches. Voice search statistics show that the trend is on the rise.
Linking Will Still Prove Valuable in 2021
Linking has always been valuable to SEO, but providing the best user experience is going to be among the most valuable in 2021 SEO trends. Linking to high domain authorities and internal linking will still be strong for SEO in 2021, but not the main focus for the year. It is still advisable to disavow spam links and reach out for earned “white hat” type links. Any shortcuts will eventually get noticed by Google and can cause a hefty Google penalty on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Local Businesses Still Need Local Search
Local search is still valuable to brick-and-mortar businesses, although it has taken a hit since the stay-at-home orders took place. It is still important and should be updated regularly to help businesses rank on Google locally. It is hard to predict local search for 2021 because of the current pandemic, but it should continue to be one of the 2021 SEO trends.
Strategic Marketing is a full-service agency dedicated to assisting businesses in marketing strategies. For further information on how we can help you, visit us at www.thinkstrategic.com or you can contact us at (561) 688-8155.
- Published in Media
A Trusted Brand Strategy Agency Offers Tips for a Winning Brand Strategy
Why is it Necessary to Have a Brand Strategy?
Every business should develop a long-term plan to help their brand succeed. The brand should be defined with consumer needs, sales journey and competition in mind. Without a brand strategy it is difficult to meet goals or even know where to start. One simple way to create your brand strategy is by asking your audience.
Who is Your Audience and What Do They Think of You?
Before you begin your brand positioning, it is important to find out what your audience thinks of your company and your product.
Develop a focus group on your products to get valuable feedback on what customers like or dislike about you or your products and what improvements they recommend. This information allows you to reformulate, repackage or replace whatever else customers may not have liked before increasing the marketing budgeting on the product.
Another way to get feedback from your audience is through a short survey. Having customer feedback can help your company build a roadmap to a great brand strategy, allowing you to understand your unique positioning in comparison to your competition. If you are unsure where to start, a brand strategy agency can assist you.
Through your findings in your focus groups and surveys, you can get data that will help you understand your potential audience. This information is not only necessary for your brand strategy but also for digital campaigns that help you target a specific market with your ads. You don’t want your ads reaching the wrong audience that does not have interest in your products or services.
Branding is NOT about YOU
Once you know what your audience thinks of you and your product, develop your brand around these findings. This is not about what you want the product to be; it is what your customer wants it to be. Your potential customers are the ones who will or will not make the purchase. Your brand should answer your customer’s simple questions. “Why is this product better than XYZ brand?”, “Why does it matter to me?” and “Can I trust this brand?” If your company is not focused on answering these questions for the brand, the customer will not be focused on you.
Building the Brand Strategy and Connecting with Your Customers
Once you have defined your customer and what they want from your brand, the next action would be to launch it. This is where it is helpful to work with a brand strategy agency. There are several advertising outlets to reach your customers: media, digital and social to name a few. Branding through more outlets allows for more brand awareness. Some outlets, like social media, allow you to establish relationships with your customers. When your customers trust you, they will buy from you.
However, growing a brand takes time and money. A brand strategy agency can help you focus on where to allocate your marketing budget to provide the most benefit for your brand.
Analyze the Data
Every advertising platform provides loads of data that allows you to analyze your every move. It is extremely important to regularly monitor your efforts to ensure what you’re implementing is working and to find out what is not. Strategy is ongoing so things that don’t work you have to re-strategize your marketing efforts and funds to get better results.
Regularly Check in on Your Brand
Times change and so do customer’s minds. It is important to keep your brand fresh with the current environment, trending communications and with interesting creative marketing. Customers like brands that are “in the know.”
In conclusion, don’t think of your brand as a “one and done” deal. Branding strategy is constant and should be reviewed to make sure you are keeping up with the changing times. It needs to be revisited regularly and restructured based on your customer’s perception, the current environment, data and trends, and be refreshed to provide new visions to keep up with the changing times and your customer’s vision of your brand.
Strategic Marketing specializes in branding and is a full-service agency that can manage traditional and digital services for you. For more information on how we conduct branding strategies, please contact us at (561) 688-8155 or visit us at www.thinkstrategic.com.
- Published in Branding
When is it Time for a Social Media Marketing Agency?
The simple answer is when your social media management begins to take too much time from managing your business or it is not experiencing growth.
Social media is an important communication tool that allows a business to get in front of customers. An active social media program allows you to introduce new products and services, build relationships with potential customers and promote trust, potentially leading to sales.
Besides being time-consuming, social media management can be a complex process. Not every business has a dedicated team with the necessary skills to grow a business’s social media “following”.
That’s where a social media marketing agency comes in.
It is important that your business consistently posts on social media. It allows your customers to know what you are promoting and what you care about. When you post about things other than sales it gains trust with your customers. Business posts let your customers know what your company cares about and that you are “human.”
Being “human” in social media is important. “Human” posts gain a sense of trust with the customer which is essential for future sales. I mean if you think about it, how many sales people really get a sale by telling a customer all about a product without establishing a rapport with the customer first. It works the same way with social media.
To increase sales you have to build the rapport through regular communication in organic social media. So, while you may think “human” posts are not gaining sales, think of them as the communication that takes place before the sale.
However, this all takes time and thought. A social media marketing agency has dedicated people to commit to this process and are trained to respond to notifications from interested customers.
Many businesses do not have the time or the staff to commit to their social media presence.
By understanding the importance of organic social media, you may want to look into paid social media. This is where you pay for ads to show on social media. Ads are designed and budgeted to fit your business’s needs and can be particularly helpful If you have a new product launch, a new service or want to revive an older product. A social media marketing agency can easily manage this for you.
However, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you post ads for your business on social media. “Who is my audience?” “Where do they hang out?” “What do they like?” “How often should I post?” “Where do I post?” There is a lot to research and that is difficult when you are trying to manage your business. By answering the above questions realistically, you will be able to invest in the proper ads that reach your intended audience.
The good news is that you can hire a social media marketing agency to help you answer those questions and develop a strategy before posting so you reach the right audience and grow your social media “following.”
Maybe you are thinking “Why should I do any of this?” Very simply, for brand awareness. Several social media case studies have shown that social media has a big influence on brand awareness not just through organic and paid social but also through influencer marketing. Managing social media goes beyond just simply crafting a post. Social media is as big today for spreading brand awareness as TV was years ago. Don’t get me wrong, TV still brings awareness, but it is good to embrace new technology and tools to promote your business in today’s world.
Influencer marketing has a huge impact on brand awareness. It allows your content to reach large audiences similar to your market with people who already trust the person reposting your content. Although a money maker, it is time-consuming to manage on your own. A social media marketing agency can help establish the right person to represent your brand, manage the content and monitor your budget.
The world of social media is a wide-open door. There are new avenues to help promote your brand every day. Keeping up with the trends can be exhausting for businesses but it is a social media marketing agency’s job to remain up-to-date on trends.
Strategic Marketing is a traditional and digital marketing agency that has been in business for 28 years. We are not just a social media marketing agency, but an agency that offers multiple marketing and advertising services that most businesses require today to remain competitive. If you would like to learn more about what we do, you can contact us at (561) 688-8155 or visit us at www.thinkstrategic.com.
- Published in Marketing Strategy, Technology
