08Nov

Tips for Using Adwords To Save Money on Growing Your Startup’s Website

November 8, 2022 W. Scott Cain 28

When growing a business, you can pour dollar after dollar into having the best and latest tools and features, including your website. However, an attractive domain is useless if no one can find it. Follow a few crucial tips for using Google Adwords to grow your startup without breaking the bank.

How To Use Google Adwords the Right Way

If used correctly, Google Ads can be a powerful tool for business growth. Select keywords that target customers with the best likelihood of conversion. Location targeting ensures you only reach the people you can serve. As you become more adept, refine your targets and focus on more specific keywords.

Negative keywords are essential for your strategy. You don’t want your ad to show up for words or phrases from people not in your target audience. For example, if you sell women’s clothing, add “men” as a negative keyword to ensure your ad won’t appear when men search for apparel.

Stick to a reasonable budget and increase it gradually. The key to success lies in continual testing. As you examine the results of various keywords, ad copy and landing pages, you’ll discover what works best for your business.

Who To Ask for Help Fine-Tuning Your Google Adwords Strategy

Marketing is an essential part of your budget, and you need an intelligent strategy using Google Adwords to complement your website. Look to Integrated IT Solutions for comprehensive solutions for SEO, web development and web design to get your startup off the ground and into the stratosphere.

26Oct

3 Ways Digital Marketing Helps a Business During an Economic Slowdown

October 26, 2022 W. Scott Cain 34

Worry about the economy may have you seriously considering switching strategies. Digital marketing can catch the attention of people who are spending more time online. There are various reasons why focusing on online marketing can get the word out about your product or service.

1. Digital Marketing Focuses Less on In-Person Interactions

When people are trying to save money in an economic slowdown, they are more likely to avoid traveling or spending money on luxury trips. This means that they may spend more time at home, likely searching the internet to relax.

2. Consumers Want More Quick Information

Many businesses that sold primarily to customers in-person have switched or included more ways to make online sales. During times when people are trying to save money, being able to compare prices online makes it easier for them to commit to buying something. Making this information easily available can encourage more sales.

3. Websites Can Easily Change and Adapt

In a quickly changing economy, choosing what you say and how you say it when crafting a digital marketing plan is important. When you start to notice new trends or come up with new ideas, you can change your marketing far faster than you could with printed advertisements.

Digital Marketing Shares Your Business With the World

How and where you market can help your customer base grow. Contact Integrated IT Solutions if you are interested in learning more about digital marketing.

26Oct

Optimizing Your Digital Marketing Strategy Mid-Recession

October 26, 2022 W. Scott Cain 24

Digital marketing during a recession can be tricky. More often than not, the marketing budget is the first place that funding gets cut, which can be detrimental to your company’s success. If you want to optimize your marketing mid-recession, here are three helpful tips.

Focus on Existing Customers

The first way you can recession-proof your digital marketing strategy is by focusing on existing customers. For many businesses, repeat clients make up a good portion of incoming revenue. Rather than blowing your budget on risky new campaigns, ensure your current customers are happy and satisfied.

Enact Multiple Strategies

Second, enact multiple strategies in your marketing department. Don’t just trust SEO to boost your revenue; use email marketing, PPC, and social media to bring in new clients. By using multiple marketing strategies, you can avoid losing too much money if one doesn’t pay out.

Use Your Budget Wisely

Finally, you need to use your digital marketing budget wisely. Because recessions tighten the proverbial belt company-wide, it’s vital to spend every cent in a productive way. If the risk of an investment is too high, avoid it and save your funds for something more guaranteed.

Get Some Help

If you need help setting up a digital marketing strategy, contact us at Integrated IT Solutions. We have experience with everything from web design to SEO marketing, so we can help you elevate your business.

15Aug

The Importance of Google Ads in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

August 15, 2022 W. Scott Cain 27

The internet marketing world is constantly evolving. New strategies turn up every day, and businesses must adapt quickly to stay ahead of their competitors. Here’s what you need to know about why Google AdWords is vital to your digital marketing strategy.

Audience

This advertising program allows businesses to choose the audience they want to target. With other ad services, you’re often at the mercy of the advertisers who are bidding on your space. With AdWords, you choose the audience you want to reach.

Tracking

AdWords tracks where each click comes from and which of your ads receive the click. This information allows you to track your campaign’s performance and identify which of your ads are bringing in the most clicks.

Flexibility

It’s a very flexible system. You can set a daily budget and adjust your bids at any time. This gives you complete control over how much you spend on your campaign.

Reach

AdWords has the potential to reach a large number of people. Google is the most popular search engine in the world, so your ads have the chance to be seen by a huge audience.

These are just a few of the reasons why Google AdWords is essential to your promotional strategy. If you want to stay ahead of your competition, you need to be using this service. Contact Integrated IT Solutions today to get started!

11Jul

3 Digital Marketing Trends to Finish 2022 Strong

July 11, 2022 W. Scott Cain 29

You want to make the most of your company’s digital marketing budget. The problem is this industry is constantly evolving, and keeping up with trends that give you actual results is challenging.

Top 3 Digital Marketing Trends for 2022

Here are the top three trends to follow in the second half of 2022 to finish the year strong.

1. Place Ads on TikTok

TikTok usage has grown phenomenally over the last year and is no longer just for kids. It now has over 1 billion users who spend an average of 850 hours monthly on the app. Placing your company’s ads on TikTok sends your message to those users.

2. Scale Back on Facebook and Instagram Ads

The popularity of TikTok is causing many companies to abandon Facebook and Instagram advertisements due to poor performance.

3. Embrace Google Local Service Ads

Consumers are interested in buying products and services from local companies to support commerce in their communities. Google Local Service ads connect you with customers who search for your services, and you only pay if a customer contacts you through the advertisement.

Integrated IT Solutions keeps up with the best digital marketing trends. Contact us today to learn how we can help your company increase sales and drive the right traffic to your site!

13Apr

Importance of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

April 13, 2022 W. Scott Cain 39

As a small business, you know that successful marketing is essential to your profits. If your marketing team doesn’t succeed, you won’t be able to draw in more clients and boost your revenue. At Integrated IT Solutions, we aim to help small businesses like yours build effective marketing strategies.

Better Connection With Customers

The first thing that digital marketing can do for you is give you a better connection with your customers. When you do a majority of your marketing online through outlets such as social media, you can speak to clients directly through comments or direct messages. Having this connection will help your customers feel more welcomed, which in turn will make them return to your business repeatedly.

More Consistent Reach

Another benefit of digital marketing is a more consistent reach. When you advertise your small business over Google or Youtube ads, you can take advantage of regular viewers who frequent those pages daily. This reach guarantees your ads will be seen by more people on a daily basis, which gives you the opportunity for more revenue. If you want to make your reach consistent and reliable, start marketing your small business online.

Access To Quality Analytics

Finally, employing digital marketing strategies gives you access to quality analytics. When you create a brand social media account, you automatically gain access to the analytics that power the site. You’ll be able to see how many people view your page, what posts people are clicking on, and how long viewers tend to stay. These analytics allow you to adjust your marketing strategies as your company grows, which in turn will continue to bring in more business. By allowing your marketing to evolve with your client base, you can consistently bring in more customers and continue growing your small business.

If you want to begin using digital marketing to advertise your small business, contact us at Integrated IT Solutions to get started. We can offer expert advice to get you on your feet and making money.

18Nov

Grow Your Small Business with Digital Marketing Trends

November 18, 2021 W. Scott Cain 69

In a world full of an abundance of choices, consumers rarely choose a small business. They see it as a risky option or already have a trustworthy brand for their needs. With that being stand, the internet is full of inspiring stories of small-scale businesses who made it out big. One of the most crucial components of their success formula is digital marketing.

It denotes a set of tactics and strategies that helps to drive leads and transform them into customers. Due to the advent of modern technologies, this process is becoming more personalized and seamless.

In that sense, here is a round-up of some of the best digital marketing trends that

AI

One digital marketing trend that has been in development for some time now is artificial intelligence. Several AI tools have recently arrived at the market that helps to process large quantities of data and turn them into actionable insights. Most importantly, AI compares data gathered across digital cyberspace and provides suggestions that are suitable for a particular brand and its marketing campaign. As a result, marketers can save lots of time and money that would have been wasted in a dead-end strategy. Ideally, artificial intelligence learns new things along the way and becomes more powerful.

Wi-Fi

In today’s conditions, free Wi-Fi is seen as an amenity rather than a useful perk. People expect to get free Wi-Fi in public places like airports, restrooms, and other social hotspots. Small businesses can this as a means to collect user information and produce relevant advertisements. It is more impactful than other targeted ads on Facebook, Google, or other platforms. Moreover, businesses can put their audience at the forefront of things in order to complete a conversion. When the right system is in place, it can also prove to be a powerful tracking method to analyze different demographics.

Agile

The Agile framework revolutionized the delivery of software products. Before Agile, businesses had to rely on a parallel development methodology that is slow and extensive. There were also a lot of problems involved in this method because the design team cannot incorporate different philosophies into a single unit. Agile marketing is scalable enough to adapt these principles and have them incorporated into marketing campaigns. The primary focus is to follow a high-value project that implements small actionable campaigns for the target audience. This practice results in high-focused marketing efforts capable of delivering better results.

Personalization

Recent developments set the bar high for personalization. Customers value brands that take the effort to address their pain points and have them resolved. The personalization efforts further extend to cold leads who may want to engage with a business in the future. There are many produce personalized campaigns for target audiences. The most prominent method is focusing on mobile device users. They make up a significant portion of web traffic and have the best reach than desktop users. The key lies in ensuring personalization that resonates with all demographics of target audiences.

Social media marketing

In any case, social media should be the critical component of any small business marketing campaign. These platforms provide the easiest and most cost-effective way to reach customers. The only real problem is the availability of different channels to reach users. Businesses are often unclear about where to invest their time and efforts. Hence, a comprehensive social media analysis is vital to find the ideal segment of the audience who are sure to engage with the campaign. Social media platforms are also effective to build a loyal consumer base who also acts as brand ambassadors with their reviews and testimonials.

Another biggest trend that should be followed is social media stories. Instead of individual posts, businesses can use them as a means to communicate core values or principles. They use stories for behind-the-scene footage to develop a closer relationship with the audience. Moreover, stories give them the opportunity to stand out.

Local ads

Lastly, the true and tried digital marketing trend that works for small businesses is local ads. Google introduced Local Services to connect customers with regionally relevant brands. Businesses should create a Local Service profile by providing various contact details to allow consumers to reach their service. Moreover, they should prioritize getting positive reviews from existing clientele and use them as a tool to improve credibility. Reviews also help to strengthen search engine rank positions because more customers will reach a business that is trusted by many.

10Nov

The Most Common Landing Page Mistakes

November 10, 2021 W. Scott Cain 68

In digital marketing, landing pages are specific web pages created for the purpose of branding or advertising. A user lands on this page when they click on a link from ads or emails. Instead of encouraging exploration, these landing pages are designed to focus on calls to action. For many businesses, these landing pages are the best option for increasing conversions.

Despite all the design guidelines available today, mistakes are quite common when creating landing pages. These mistakes could hurt the conversion rate of businesses and result in a waste of time and money.

Here are some of the mistakes that lead to poor results.

Not enough landing pages

Studies show that having more landing pages promises better results. Businesses create landing pages with the aim of catering to specific buyer needs. They try to appeal to that set of audiences, so having only one landing page will set up for failure. To avoid this, brands should make sure to create enough landing pages for different conversion objectives. They focus on each stage of the consumer journey and understand the pain points of target audiences to create an impactful landing page.

Message

Each landing page should carry a specific message at its core. Most importantly, businesses should communicate this message in a compelling manner. Customers will make up their minds in less than 50 milliseconds. This means that messages without any focus may fail to convince users about a product or service. One way to avoid this is by focusing on the core value proposition of a brand. They should tell that they can solve the problem and explain the benefits. Especially for landing pages, the core message should match the headlines. Moreover, each landing page should have a unique and relevant message to convince the audience.

Distractions

After creating a compelling message, the last thing businesses want to do is impose distractions. There are different types of distractions that take the user’s attention from the core message or benefit. Choice fatigue is the most common danger of creating distractions, as the user will fail to take the required actions to complete their conversions. This mistake can be prevented by removing any unwanted elements from the landing pages. It is essential to keep the users focused on the primary message and make the actions to be taken clear. This helps customers to complete the desired action without any distractions.

Friction

A distraction-free landing page still may suffer in conversions because of frictions. These are barriers that minimize engagement between audiences and a business. As a result, they may quit the session without any conversions. Similar to distractions, there are different types of frictions. To avoid this, evaluate the web page from the viewpoint of customers. Take note of things that may deter them from completing a conversion. Some obvious friction-creating elements are pop-ups and hijacked scrolls. Brands should pay attention to their CTAs and heedfully craft the steps that will help visitors to convert.

Unoptimized forms

The most important friction point in landing pages is formed. Even though they help to share information, forms not designed for conversions will affect the session. A form may have problem areas that create friction. Most importantly, such design issues may affect even existing customers from completing conversions. First, businesses should address the design flaws in the forms and make necessary improvements. Instead of traditional design formats, businesses can opt for multi-step forms. This new trend generates incredible conversion rates without even giving the impression of completing a form. It also significantly improves the overall user experience.

Loading times

The cardinal sin of all landing page design mistakes is slow loading times. Generally, users are sure to quit pages that load slowly. Reports show that many businesses lose more than 50% of their visitors due to slow loading pages. This mistake will also affect the search engine rankings of a website. Hence, businesses should keep an eye on the loading times of their landing pages. They can use a fast hosting provider or minify website files. Minimizing server requests will also optimize the webpage for better speed as well as image optimization. As cited before, page speed is a crucial ranking factor in Google’s Search Algorithm.

Final thoughts

Landing pages drive customers to a business. They may inquire about a product or make a purchase instantly. Either way, optimizing landing pages is proving to be a worthy investment that yields many long-term benefits. Ideally, it communicates highly specific marketing messages without sounding salesy.

02Mar

8 SEO Mistakes That Are Impacting Your Website Rankings

March 2, 2021 W. Scott Cain 56

Are you trying to navigate the ever-changing SEO world and get your website ranked higher than it did last year? Well, chances are you’re making one or more of these common SEO mistakes.

The experts at ‘Integrated IT solutions’ have shared the top mistakes that most people make regarding SEO strategy and website ranking. We’ve listed them out, so you can identify the mistakes and give your website a chance to rule the ranks!

Top 8 SEO Mistakes to Stop Making Today!

Let’s begin, and don’t forget to share and comment on this article if you like what you’re about to read.

SEO Mistakes – No. 1: Not Paying Attention to Search Intent

Ignoring search intent can impact your ranking because it is important to know the motivation behind a user’s search. Search engines favor websites whose content fulfills the search intent of a particular query.

The trick is to understand what the user wants when searching for a particular keyword. Are they looking for information, a service, or a product?

For example, if someone searches for ‘human resources’ – it’s presumable that they are looking for human resources information. Therefore, their intent is for information. However, if they type ‘human resource management,’their intent would be different. So, to answer both searches, your website needs to provide details/information that satisfy both intents.

Takeaway: Ensure your website satisfies various user search intent in your niche to improve your rank.

SEO Mistakes – No. 2: Ignoring Mobile Traffic

When creating an SEO strategy for your website, it is vital to include the mobile traffic demographic into your plan. Depending on your niche, the majority of users today are accessing content on their mobile devices. Therefore, search engines are favoring mobile-friendly websites.

Do this by making sure your website loads in under 3 seconds and is responsive on handheld devices. Also, factor in the user-friendliness of your website design on mobiles and the overall aesthetic when your website is accessed on a mobile. These are important website ranking factors to consider in 2021.

Takeaway: Ensure that your website is optimized for mobile usage to increase your website’s organic traffic.

SEO Mistakes – No. 3: Creating Duplicate Content

This is a common mistake most companies make when creating content for their website – they replicate the content on their website’s multiple pages. While this might not necessarily get you penalized, it will lower your SEO score if it contains identical content.

Search engines aim to show only the most relevant results for a user’s search – therefore, when multiple webpages show duplicate content, they might only show the most targeted page. This will cause your website to fall in SEO ranking.

Takeaway: Create unique content on your webpages that target various value-added info that your audience can benefit from.

SEO Mistakes – No. 4: Too Many Keywords

Stuffing keywords was a technique used to work a decade ago; however, this is no longer the case. Too many repeating keywords can decrease the overall ranking of your website.

Search engines have become a lot smarter than ten years ago, and the algorithm prefers content that is a perfect balance of keywords and value-added content. This is an important factor to remember when creating content for your website – remember that actual people will be reading this content. So, it should be geared to information that is vital and relatable to your target demographic.

Takeaway: Find the right balance between adding keywords and genuine content. A simple read-through of your content will give you a fair idea of whether it sounds authentic or too SEO-focused.

SEO Mistakes – No. 5: Focusing Solely On Text-based Content

Millions of text-based SEO content are available online; however, nowadays, people want to experience their content in more than just the reading format. Over the last few years, and especially in 2021, the biggest shift is that the written word has evolved into other formats such as video, audio, infographic, podcast, and visual content.

These different types of formats can drive organic traffic to your website, so it’s a good idea to implement them in your website’s SEO strategy. Currently, video content is reigning supreme as most users prefer to receive their information through this format. This is evident by the growing number of videos on different platforms and also on Google SERP.

Takeaway: Curate a variety of content in different formats and drive more traffic to your website.

SEO Mistakes – No. 6: Too Many Backlinks

Backlinks are still an important factor when it comes to website ranking. However, buying too many backlinks to boost your ranking may get you penalized by Google. It’s important to remember that quality is better than quantity when it comes to backlinks.

Instead of mass buying without much thought, spend some time researching the most notable and helpful backlinks relevant to your website and niche. Create a list of relevant and value-adding backlinks that will help your existing content.

Takeaway: Identify notable, relatable, and influential links to be associated with your website to help with your ranking.

SEO Mistakes – No. 7: Slow Speed, Got You Down!

It’s no secret that if your website has a slow loading speed, users will run out of patience and navigate away. However, this is not the only reason why you should pay attention to your speed. Google has added ‘page speed’ to their list of factors that determine SEO ranking – so you must implement techniques to reduce your website’s loading time.

Takeaway: A faster loading time will help your website rank higher and keep your users from navigating away!

SEO Mistakes – No 8: – Not Incorporating EAT

Ultimately when it comes to increasing your ranking – it’s about being authentic, not just to your clients/readers/demographic but also to search engines. Google’s EAT (expertise, authority, and trust) concept favors websites built on genuine value, information, and trustworthiness.

Increase your website’s ranking by including EAT factors such as:

Having an SEO strategy that incorporates brand-related searches.
Getting the website/company featured by other top media publications
Giving clear information such as location, about us pages, awards and accolade received, etc

Takeaway: Create your SEO strategy with the EAT concept in mind to increase your website ranking on Google.

Conclusion

Correct these common SEO mistakes if you’ve been making them, and we’re sure you will start to see an improvement in your website ranking. Apart from conducting a thorough SEO audit, when it comes to truly unlocking your website’s potential, we suggest hiring a firm like ‘Integrated IT solutions,’ which can help you with all your website-related needs.

If you like articles like these, do keep checking back for more fresh content!

18Mar

5 Ways to Make More Out of Your Content Assets

March 18, 2016 W. Scott Cain 41

5 Ways to Make More Out of Your Content Assets

If you have a product or business, you know the importance of advertising. Thanks to the Internet, it is fairly easy to reach the masses simply by having an online presence, such as a website or blog. Of course, your site needs to have more than just bare-bones details on it, which is where content marketing comes in. Any content, whether it be well-written articles, graphs, photos or reviews, is a valuable way to draw potential customers to your business, and, hopefully to turn them into paying customers.

So, how do you get content on your website? If you enjoy writing and photography, are passionate about your field and have plenty of spare time, you can create your own content. However, most business owners are busy with other aspects of running the company, and don’t have the time or desire to sit down and write new articles every day or even once per week. In that case, you can either hire someone to create meaningful content, or you can purchase it from a marketing company. In either case, you’ll need room in your budget to do so.

Small companies tend to have small marketing budgets, so when it comes to content marketing they want to stretch their dollar as far as possible. One good way to do that is to repurpose their existing content. That doesn’t mean simply rearranging the words and calling it new. Rather, it means focusing on a certain detail of the product or service that is offered and expanding on it, or presenting it in a whole new way. Read on for 5 cool ways to make more out of your content assets.

1. Add Quizzes to Your Content

It’s no secret that people love quizzes. They’re really nothing new; print magazines have been drawing readers in by utilizing them for decades. The great thing about online quizzes, though, is that after readers take them they often share the results on social media. Their contacts click on it, and pretty soon those people on your site, too. What a great way to get the ball rolling in your direction. Just make sure that the questions and answers have something to do with your business.

2. Use a Slideshow

In content marketing, the key is to have shareable content. Use a slideshow on your site to get viewers interested in your business. Gather images or blurbs from your existing content and put it into this format. Give it a heading that draws people in, such as “Top 10 Ways to Trick Your Wheels,” or whatever is relevant to what you are selling. Viewers click from one image to the next, and learn something valuable about your product. They’ll be intrigued, and hopefully will share what they’ve learned with their online friends.

3. Chat About It

It seems like social media is all about hashtags lately. If there’s a conversation going on that has anything to do with your business, start a chat feature on your website. Allow users to join in and share opinions with each other, and be sure to enter the conversation yourself. You can include findings from your research that are published on your site, which may cause people to dig more deeply into your existing content. If you come across as an expert who is approachable, customers may feel more comfortable using your services.

4. Put Data in Motion

If your website has a lot of information on it, some customers may find it hard to sift through. In content marketing, sites with video are more likely to be seen. A great idea is to take that boring data and turn it into a creative video. By using widely-available office software, you can create slides with charts and graphics and put it into motion. Add a voice reel to it and grab more viewers.

5. Take a Poll

People love to have their opinions be heard, and they love to be counted. There’s no simpler way to let users voice their opinion than to take a poll. By asking just one pertinent question, you can get people thinking about a critical aspect of your business. For instance, a roofing company might ask users how many years the average roof’s lifespan is. As long as the question gets people thinking about your product or service in a positive way, it is a good question. Make sure that users can click to see poll results. Not only do people like to be heard, they like to know how their opinion compares to others.

Content marketing is a fascinating and relatively simple way to build trust between companies and customers. By adding relevant, detailed and true content to your website people will look to you as an authority in your profession. Adding fresh content can be as easy as changing the format or expounding on a topic that has only been lightly covered in the past. By using the above strategies, small businesses can stretch their marketing budget.

31Dec

Fresh Content Shouldn’t Be Faked

December 31, 2015 W. Scott Cain 36

You’ve heard it time and again when learning ways to increase your website’s SEO: Fresh content equals higher rankings. However, you may have wondered if this was true and if so, how much of a boost would you expect to see. Researchers have experimented with content posting dates to see what the effects of more recent dates have had on SEO. Let’s take a look at some of their findings and what it can mean for your website traffic. (more…)

28Dec

5 Digital Marketing Trends for 2016

December 28, 2015 W. Scott Cain 32

As the attention given to traditional television advertising dwindles, the opportunities for businesses to make money online has increased. Each year, new innovations create ways for companies to get their marketing efforts in front of consumers, and 2016 will continue that trend. We’ve checked out some of the most intriguing options and gathered five interesting candidates that may help you boost your company’s bottom line.

(more…)

18Jun

Keys for Creating Shareworthy Content

June 18, 2015 W. Scott Cain 31

Digital marketing is all about creating content that people will actually want to read from start to finish. This is important because most content is only skimmed through. It has actually been proven that humans on average have an attention span of about eight seconds. That means a piece of content has that small window of time to impress a reader. While luck does a play a factor, it’s also about skill and knowing the keys to writing highly engaging articles that will prompt readers to share and spread the word about the piece. (more…)