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Five Social Media Marketing Tips to Use That’ll Boost Up Those Holiday Sales


Ever asked yourself why retail stores pull out all of their holiday stock months before Christmas actually arrives:

As I’m sure you can guess, these stores do it because they want to:

  1. Give customers plenty of time to buy what they need, increasing their customer satisfaction and the likelihood that customers will shop there again, especially during the holiday season.
  2. It makes these businesses a ridiculous amount of cash!

So if old school brick and mortar places can do it, why can’t you for your e-commerce business or website? Today, expert digital marketing consultant, Mauricio Piña, explores just how to rake in all of that holiday spending by using digital marketers’ best friend, social media.

  1. Cook Up Some Product Reviews

  2. A product review covers the product(s) you are showcasing from head to toe describing what the product is, highlighting its features, and providing unique tips on how to use it. It can be a video or written content that highlights your product or service in a new and special way.

    This is one of the best things that you can do to boost those sales numbers this holiday season. Writing up a product review and then promoting it through social media can spark up a lot of interest about your product(s).

  3. Put Those Holiday Hashtags To Work

  4. Holiday hashtags are huge among brands looking to get into the festive spirit. And—fun fact—when tagged to your social media, it can also help boost up your click-through rates and visits to your website.

    Hashtags that embrace the holiday spirit, and such, may appear in holiday social media searches, granting exposure to your social media post. Bonus points if your post also has an appealing form of visual media that draws in plenty of viewers and likes, helping to bring customers to both your social media page and website.

    Don’t forget to use engaging images like a wonderful holiday spread for Thanksgiving or a mound of presents and gifts.

    Get into the #HolidaySpirit now by using #hashtags to start drawing attention to your business #ChristimasComingSoon Click To Tweet
  5. Put Some Holiday Spirit Into Your Branding

  6. Giving your social media presence a little bit of a makeover to fit the theme of the holidays is a great way to show your followers that your brand is active during this festive time.

    It could be something as simple as wearing a Santa hat in your profile pic, visual media that incorporates both your logo and the theme of the holiday, or even a whole new design that encapsulates the essence of the holidays.

    The holiday-themed branding will help attract potential customers to your site where you can pique their interests with compelling holiday offers and sales.

  7. Create Social Media Only Deals

  8. This is where the juicy part of social media marketing for the holidays is at. Social media has the power to reach plenty of holiday shoppers looking for — and hungry for — your product or service.

    With exclusive social media deals, it’ll keep eyes glued to your social media page.

    These types of offers promote your social media profiles and business. Shoppers will relish the chance to say how they got your product at a discount exclusive to them, while also generating interest by word of mouth – which is still one of the best forms of marketing.

    Try coming up with a few social media-exclusive deals like a 10 percent discount off one of your products or services for the holidays, or free shipping, bonus gifts, or discounts on their bill.

  9. Take Advantage of Influencers

  10. When it comes to social media marketing, influencers are well worth the investment. Influencers — in tandem with your social media marketing and advertising campaigns — like vloggers or Instagram influencers, can do wonders to help promote and sell your product or service.

    Do you run a clothing business? Send a product sample to a local fashion influencer. Soon, they will be showcasing your product to their — hopefully large — base through their social media pages, YouTube channels, and other outlets, helping to get the word out about your stellar products.

    Bonus points if your influencers are also embracing the holiday spirit.

The holidays are just around the corner. If you don’t have a social media marketing plan in place, you are bound to lose out on revenue opportunities. Don’t let this happen to you.

Contact me, Mauricio Piña, your expert digital marketing consultant to help you get started right away.  

Digital Marketing

What’s the Word: 19 Digital Marketing Terms You Need to Know


The world of digital marketing, just like any other industry, has its own jargon, acronyms, and technical terms that can seem like a totally different language if you aren’t in the know. While it can potentially take you some time to become familiar with them all, it doesn’t hurt to start getting your feet wet.

Let me, your digital marketing consultant, give you the lowdown on some of the most common and important digital marketing phrases used in the industry.

The Power of Words

If you’re new to digital marketing, then you’re going to want to bookmark this blog or even print it out. There is great power in these words:

  1. Audience: This is the group of people or demographic that you are targeting with your digital marketing efforts. Search engines like Google and social media platforms like Facebook offer various tools to reach these individuals that may share the same characteristics.
  2. Analytics: This is the data found through your website, social media campaigns, content marketing campaigns, and email campaigns. This information can include traffic numbers, conversion rate, bounce rate, engagement, site speed, and much more. They should also be used to improve your website and digital marketing efforts.
  3. Bounce Rate: Your bounce rate is the percentage of people who visit your website and leave after viewing just one page. You want this rate to be as low as possible.
  4. Call-to-Action: A call-to-action – or CTA – is a piece of content designed to get your audience to perform an action. CTAs tend to contain action words and verbs such as “call now,” “click here,” “visit our website,” etc.
  5. Click-through Rate: This is the number of people that have clicked on a link in your email, display ad, social ad, or on a call-to-action (CTA) in a blog post. For example, if your display ad was seen by 100 different people and only 10 individuals clicked on the ad, this would give you a 10% click-through rate.
  6. Content: Content is the material that you publish online related to your business. This can include videos, social media posts, articles, blogs, and other forms of content that all build brand awareness and establish you as a quality expert.
  7. Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of people who take the action that you want them to on your website or ad – but this isn’t to be confused with only sales. This can include having individuals submit their emails or signing up for a webinar.
  8. Cost Per Click (CPC): Cost per click refers to the amount paid for having an individual click on your display ad. The amount you pay will vary depending on how competitive the terms are that you want to be known for, the industry you are in, and several other factors.
  9. Digital Marketing: Suffice to say that digital marketing is here to stay. It’s a way of marketing and promoting brands using various digital channels including websites, social media, content, search engine, display advertising, and other forms of media. Digital marketing requires plenty of data analysis to make the most of your efforts.
  10. Engagement Rate: Engagement is the number of times somebody interacts with your content, whether it be likes, shares, comments, or any other number of actions that can be performed. This term is related much more to social media marketing.
  11. Impressions: Impressions is the number of times people see a specific post or content. But this doesn’t mean that they necessarily engage with it.
  12. Keywords: Keywords are essentially the words that you want to be recognized for when people search for a specific service or business. You’ll have to do some research to find out what these terms are for your business (i.e. restaurant in McAllen, dentist in Austin, lawyer in Houston, etc.)
  13. Landing Page: Landing pages are generally stand-alone pages that provide some sort of offer related to your business. Ideally, you CTA is clear, and your landing page content encourages visitors to take action.
  14. Off-Page Optimization: These are the SEO practices you use to improve your organic search rankings but which take place away from your website.
  15. On-Page Optimization: These are the SEO practices you use to improve your organic search rankings by improving internal site factors like meta tags, internal links, content, and more.
  16. Organic Traffic: Organic traffic comes through when people enter the keywords related to your business and find you through the search engine results page.
  17. Paid Traffic: Paid traffic is the traffic your website receives when people click on your ads. Since you paid for the add, you are essentially “paying” for the traffic.
  18. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Search engine optimization is the strategies and techniques used to get your business website on the first page of the search engine results. This includes a wide variety of practices including: content creation, link building, on-site and off-site markup, and so much more.
  19. Unique Visitor – >Unique visitors are technically considered a “new” visitor to a website within a given time frame.

 

And last but not least…

(20) Digital Marketing Consultant –

This is what I do. With my years of experience in the world of digital marketing and website design, I can provide you valuable insight and information to help you build an amazing digital presence.

These terms are just touch the tip of the web design iceberg. Why don’t you contact me, Mauricio Pina, at (956) 566-4998 for a one-on-one consultation where I can teach you everything you need to know about digital marketing.

Digital Marketing

How To Create Phenomenal Digital Ads That Absolutely Grab Attention


Digital ads: bane of the Internet or helpful guides for finding products and services? Well, that’s for your business to decide.

Many companies don’t give the average Internet user the proper respect they deserve. Instead, many businesses create intrusive and drab digital ad campaigns that focus totally on what their product or service is before—if ever—actually engaging with the potential client.

You can bet a year’s worth of revenue that that is something a digital marketing consultant like me, Mauricio Piña, won’t ever advise.

Today, I cook up an informative post that can give you some insight into what it takes to make a good digital ad. So grab a pen, some paper, and let’s jot down some notes.

What is a digital ad?

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is a “digital ad”? Is that like a pop-up? No, not really. In fact, Google dislikes pop-up ads probably as much as you do.

Why? Well…pop-up ads are intrusive and have been shown to lose potential customers. Think about it. No one doing their thing online gets a pop-up ad, clicks on it, and says, “Boy, am I glad to see this ad because I need to buy this obscure foreign instrument.

It just doesn’t happen. In fact, in a survey conducted by HubSpot, 73 percent of respondents strongly disliked ads that popped-up over the entire screen.

Because of these old digital marketing practices, digital ads have evolved to encompass so much more than annoying pop-up windows that you have to click out of. Now, it’s the funny ad before your YouTube video starts. It’s that inviting advertisement on your Facebook feed. It’s the link that pulls up in the search engine results page when you search for a particular product or service.

It’s about being less intrusive and obnoxious; more about catering to user needs.

Kind of sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Truth is, digital marketers are just starting to get the hint, and nowadays, ads are becoming less intrusive and more aligned with the interests of potential customers.

While it may seem like advertising on the Internet is an uphill battle, reality is that advertisements (so long as they aren’t intrusive) don’t really bother the general populace. The same HubSpot survey mentioned previously reflects that fact, noting that 83 percent of respondents do NOT consider all ads to be bad. At the same time, these same respondents would like to filter out the really obnoxious ones.

Since people’s opinion regarding digital ads seems favorable, so long as you stay within polite parameters, below are some tips that you should consider before drafting plans for your next digital ad campaign. That is, if you want it to be successful and improve your click-through rate.

Food for thought for your next digital ad campaign.

Before you launch your next digital ad campaign, it would do your business well to make sure that your ads do not fall into the same old routine. Gather your team, order some take-out, and start hashing out ideas for your next ad with these pointers in mind:

  1. Less is Better – The less an advertisement seems like an ad, the more receptive potential customers will be toward it. The goal is to encourage customers to watch your commercial, and not make them feel like you are force-feeding it to them.
  2. Make Your Digital Ads Consumer Friendly – As stated earlier, a good digital ad will invite someone to view the ad rather than force them to watch or read it. That means:
    • No unskippable ads before a YouTube video.
    • No autoplay in video or in-banner ads.
    • No banners that take up half of the screen.
    • No banner that obscures or hides the ‘x’ button.
    • And for the love of everything sacred to digital marketing, no pop-ups!
  3. Ensure Your Ads Are Worth Viewing – You’ll need to really do your research to create a digital ad that engages well with potential customers by doing something that not many other companies get right – either through humor or drama to name a few angles.
  4. One classic example that falls out of the digital marketing scope, but it rings true for great advertising, are the Geico caveman commercials from way back in the day. Their commercials hit the funny bone for of a lot of people, solidifying Geico commercials as a humorous brand of ads, while still attracting business.

  5. Use Design to Your Advantage – Going the extra mile on your digital ad with these tips can be the difference between a great or disappointing click-through rate:
    • Don’t be afraid to add a little white space in your digital ads to emphasize your message.
    • Use your branding colors to draw attention and promote your brand.
    • Evaluate what size of ad would work best with what you want to sell. But also make sure that it falls in line with being courteous to your potential customer as well.
    • Make sure your logo is on the digital ad to promote brand identity.
    • Make sure your digital ad design is consistent with the landing page.
    • The digital ad copy should be the same on both the ad and your landing page.
    • Determine the word count with your designer.
  6. Generate a Clear and Catchy Call-to-Action (CTA) – A CTA is absolutely necessary in advertising. A good CTA encourages potential customers to inquire more about your product or service because of its enticing copy and design. You’ll also want to link out to your landing page or your website’s order page with clear instructions on what to do next (e.g. make a purchase, read more about a subject in your blog, etc.).

Digital advertising is all about finding the right balance. If you need help creating that perfect digital ad, then contact the experienced digital marketing consultant, Mauricio Pina, today at (956) 566-4998.

Digital Marketing

The Basics of Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Wouldn’t it be nice if advertising wasn’t so expensive? If only there was some way to have your ad gain exposure for a nominal fee.

One can only dream, huh?

Well, dream no more. Pay-per-click advertising is an essential digital marketing strategy that needs to be mastered in order to grow a business. If you haven’t been taking advantage of it yet, let me – Mauricio Pina — convince you why you should be.

Strap in. There’s a lot to learn.

What is Pay-Per-Click Marketing?

Pay-per-click marketing (PPC) is an economical method of advertising where businesses create ads for their products or services that are then displayed whenever a user searches for a similar product or service within a search engine.

What truly sets it apart is that advertisers are only charged when a user clicks on the ad – that’s where pay-per-click gets its name. It’s also known as “keyword advertising” due to the nature of keywords and how they function in paid search.

How Does PPC Work?

Keywords play a big role in PPC. However, a lot more goes on behind the scenes than just plugging in a search term and magically having a relevant ad pop up in your search engine results page (SERP).

In order for these ads to display properly, an ad auction must take place first. No, there’s no little auction bidding paddles, podiums, or fast-talking auctioneers with long handlebar mustaches and a monocle.

The ad auction is an entirely automated process that allows advertisers to bid for certain keywords or phrases that would, in a sense, trigger these ads to display. Google and other search engines use this ad auction to determine what ads are valid and relevant within a SERP.

For example, let’s say that you were looking for a local course that teaches people how to code. You type in “online coding courses” and find that the first few results are ads.

Clicking on these ads costs the owners money, whereas not clicking on them doesn’t cost them a dime. That is the brilliance of PPC; in a certain way, you get free advertisement exposure until someone clicks on your ad.

Of course, you can’t have the bitter without the sweet. The thing is, there are only so many placements that are allotted. Bidding evens out the playing field a little bit, allowing those that want to spend more a chance to rank first in sponsored or paid results

PPC isn’t dependent on your agency’s budget alone. Google also takes into account a quality score.

What Factors Into A Quality Score and How Does It Affect Your PPC?

Based on how well you are doing in key select areas, Google and other search engines will increase or decrease your bid amount in order for your company to gain a favorable position. These key areas include:

  1. Your advertisement
  2. Your keywords
  3. Your click metrics
  4. Your on-site usage metrics
  5. Your Landing Page copy

These are just a few of the factors that search engines take into account when generating a quality score, so if they are lacking effectiveness, your PPC bid amount will suffer.

But all hope is not lost. You can build up your quality score by:

  1. Testing your ad copy to determine what makes your best click-through rate.
  2. Using A+ level keywords and move the under-performing ones into their own campaign.
  3. Placing keywords in your ads.
  4. Placing keywords in your landing pages.
  5. Focusing your ad campaign within specific parameters like the time of day, geography, or search network to name a few.

A great quality score can trim off 20 to 30 percent of costs and is well worth taking the time to perfect. At the same time, a low-quality score can tank your search engine rankings.

Why is PPC So Important to Digital Marketing?

With a simple bid, so long as you have the budget for it, your company may be able to get that coveted top spot that potential customers are more likely to click on.

Sure, that may mean that each click costs you money, but so long as you improve those quality scores and convert leads to sales with a strong call-to-action, your investment should be well worth it.

Not convinced yet? Pay-per-click ads provide a bevy of benefits to businesses and their websites including:

  1. Getting Started with PPC is Fast – Google AdWords, now Google Ads, is one of the more popular PPC ad platforms that allows you to set up shop in moments. Soon, you’ll be able to attract traffic to your website in droves.
  2. Pay-Per-Clicks Offer Quick Adaptability – It can take weeks to months for organic search engine marketing or other forms of advertising to catch up with audience behavior. By the time it does, you risk missing out on sales opportunities. With PPC platforms, you can make a quick adjustment to meet current marketing conditions and buyer interests within a couple of hours to days at most.
  3. PPC Provides Value – If you’re lucky, you may be able to find certain keywords that are in a niche of their own, which means getting a bid in at a reduced cost compared to other keywords or forms of advertising. These “long-tail” keywords are usually super specific and longer words or phrases that not everyone may have thought of or taken the time to look in to. This is truly a “best case scenario” as this has the opportunity to route a lot of traffic to your site at a low cost.

If PPC seems like a subject that is too complicated or you need the expertise of a digital marketing consultant that can get you real results, contact me, Mauricio Pina, at (956) 566-4998. Let’s get started on your PPC marketing campaign today!

Digital Marketing

Get It Done! How to Boost Your Website Conversion Rate

Conversion RateSo you have a beautiful website set up. You’re posting engaging content on social media and your site is starting to get loads of traffic. Awesome…right?

Well, of course, you want plenty of traffic coming to your business’s website, but if you aren’t converting those visitors then you’re losing out on potential customers. In order to improve product sales, you are going to need to improve your site’s conversion rate. If you don’t know where to start, don’t sweat it! That’s what I’m here for.

As a digital marketing consultant, I’ve had plenty of experience helping small business owners improve on their conversion rate and I want to share a few secrets tactics with you. Don’t let bad conversion rates stymie your business any longer.

What is Conversion Rate?

It’s important to recognize that conversion rate does not simply mean visitors who purchase your product. When it comes to digital marketing, your conversion rate is the percentage of total site visitors who performed a specific action that you want them to take, such as providing you their email, subscribing to your page, or placing an order.

In 2016, the average conversion rate for U.S. online shoppers stood at 3%. But leading businesses stood at over 5% with those in the top 10% having conversion rates of 11.45% or higher.

That means there’s plenty of opportunity for growth and improvement – you just have to know how to get there.

10 Primo Tips to Maximize Your Conversion Rate

1. Limit Options

Yes, options are good, but too many can be overwhelming – especially when it comes to your website’s design and navigation bar. Too many links, too much clutter, and too many options can leave site visitors confused and unable to decide on what action to take.

You can simplify this by giving visitors a (full-screen) call-to-action that only gives them one choice at first. Fewer distractions mean improved UX and growing conversion rates.

2. Don’t Take Too Long

Website load time and speed are absolutely essential, especially with Google taking this into consideration with their updated algorithm. Make sure your site is running at optimal speed so you don’t lose them before you even get a chance to offer your product. According to Google, 53 percent of mobile site visitors leave a page that has taken longer than three seconds to load.

3. Keep Forms Simple

When asking site visitors for their information, make sure your forms require as little information as possible. You should focus on just obtaining a name and email. You can also make these forms pop a bit more by:

  • Using bold headings to convey your message
  • Avoid using an image
  • Use the word “Subscribe” on your call-to-action
  • Use a clean minimal look for your submission button
  • Keep form colors consistent with your brand colors.

4. Your Call-to-Action (CTA) Needs to Pop

While it may seem insignificant, the words you use for your CTA can prove to be a game changer. Action words tend to perform better. Use language like “Get Started,” “Reserve Your Seat,” “send Me Specials Now,” and the like.

Make sure to place the CTA button in an easily accessible area and in plain sight.

5. Testimonials Are as Good as Gold

Testimonials are the perfect tool to draw in potential customers and show proof of your product’s value. Make sure to include plenty of testimonials on your site, in your landing pages, and even in your email opt-in landing pages.

6. Get Creative With Your Offer

Most companies are going to present their offer in the same way – “Get a Free Consultation,” “Get a Free Trial,” “Sign Up,” etc. While this type of wording may work for a small percentage of site visitors, if you really want to get into the upper echelon, you’ll want to provide a unique offer. Do some A/B testing until you figure out what works best for you customers.

Another solid option is to provide seasonal offers or limited sales offers. Knowing that the product might run out or that the sale period is about to run out, might just be the push a site visitor needs to become an actual customer.

7. Landing Pages Can Be Phenomenal

If you’re eager to see those conversion rates grow, then consider creating several unique landing pages, each with their own message and offers. And when I say several, I mean several – anywhere between 4-10 landing pages should suffice to help you get some traction.

Just remember to track data and be aware of what elements of your top-performing landing page helped to draw in visitors.

8. Give Thanks

Sometimes a simple gesture of gratitude can go along way in turning a visitor into a customer. Whenever a user performs an action or interacts with your site in a meaningful way, like following you on Facebook, then acknowledge them.

9. Add Some Flavor to Your Website

There are plenty of elements that you can include on your website or a landing page to further entice customers including:

  • Using videos of your team to add some personality
  • Use high-quality images of your product
  • Avoid using stock photos
  • Implement a live chat tool if possible
  • Use images with people smiling and enjoying themselves

10. Conversion Rates Aren’t Everything (Kind Of)

Yes, conversion rates are valuable but not if you’re reaching out to the wrong demographic. The intent should always be to turn these leads into sales. High conversion rates really don’t mean much if you aren’t performing. Plus, you can end up spending a lot of money on PPC ads and landing pages but with very little in return.

Conversion rates got you down? Contact me, Mauricio Pina,at (956) 566-4998 for a one-on-one digital marketing consultation to turn that conversion frown upside down.

Digital Marketing

4 Little Known Headline Creation Tips to Live By


Writing a headline is one of the most challenging tasks when it comes to writing blog posts. Not only do you have to write something that pops, it has to be an ultra-concentrated sentence of what your blog post is essentially about. It has to capture the imagination while teasing just enough information to draw in readers.

That’s probably why a lot of content marketers leave it as the last thing they do when creating a blog or article. But you don’t need a digital marketing consultant like me to tell you that.

After sitting down one evening, I started to brainstorm a few tips that can help push the creative process along, and these 4 tips are generally what I use when making a headline that pops out, entices, and brings traffic to my website.

Check them out.

Tips to Shaping One Heck of a Headline

1. Do Your Homework

One way to learn how to write a great headline is to find one what you like and analyze what makes it successful. Whether you know it or not, you encounter dozens of headlines every day when you read:

  • Blogs
  • Newspapers
  • Magazines
  • YouTube Videos
  • Email titles

Analyze all of these headlines and titles thoroughly, then focus your attention on the ones that compelled you to click on them. Next, ask yourself some insightful questions about them:

  • What was it about this particular headline that drew your attention and made you act?
  • What was your favorite part about this headline?
  • Was it funny, charming, or eye-catching? If so, how did it evoke that emotion?

Don’t forget about the ones you DID NOT click on. Ask yourself:

  • What about this headline made me not want to click it?
  • How could it have been better?
  • Did it offend or annoy me?

Jot down the answers to your questions and have them readily available. I jot down my findings on my Sticky Notes application in my laptop, that way, they are there when I need to remind myself.

Keep in mind, however, that you are essentially basing the value of a headline on your own personal likes and so what you like might not work for everyone else. But, on the other hand, the truth of the matter is that you aren’t going to please everybody, all of the time.

2. Try and Spot the Winning Headline Formula

For years, digital marketing content writers have conducted research to see what headline factors and trends bring traffic to a website.

Multiple findings point to the following elements that the most successful headlines have:

  • Numbers – Headlines that began with a number, normally introducing a list within a certain subject. Take the headline above, for instance.
  • How To’s – Kind of a no-brainer. People Google things all the time in an effort to learn something they don’t know how to do. A headline that includes “How to…” within the title will let the visitor know that your site intends to deliver the information they’re looking for.
  • Rare Opportunities – These headlines tend to have some sort of secret that an expert wants to let you in on. They usually have a “5 Little Known Tips…” or “The Secret to…” within them. It offers visitors an opportunity to gain knowledge that isn’t mainstream yet.
  • Piggy-Backing on Popularity – These headlines include names of famous people or popular events and entertainment, in essence, borrowing from their popularity. Depending on the article topic, it can add a little extra flair and personality to your headline. An example would be like “5 Friendship Tips I Learned From Watching Game of Thrones” or something of the like.
  • Big Promises – These headlines generally involve words like “The Ultimate Guide to…” or “The Best 7 Tips for…”. They offer a plethora of information to interested visitors.

Of course, you don’t want to load up your headline with all of these factors because then you’d have a whole mess of stuff that doesn’t make much sense. As with any content creation, the goal is to shape a quality title that delivers the overall message of what the blog is about and lures visitors at the same time.

You don’t want to oversell anything either, as that generally sends visitors running away from your site, not to. Avoid hyperbole like “These 27 Headline Creation Tips Will Blow Your Mind” when, in fact, the majority of those tips are mediocre at best. You’ll lose credibility that way.

3. Practice, Then Produce

As with anything in life, you need to practice in order to get better at it. Making an eye-catching headline is no different. Practice is something that I would consider somewhat of an umbrella term in this case. It means several different things, but it all has the same end goal: honing your ability to create a great headline.

Below is what you should focus on:

  • Practice Writing Blog Post Headlines – Commit 30 minutes each week to just writing a headline. For better results, commit at least 10 minutes each day.
  • Write Multiple Headlines For Each Blog Post – Some say that you should spend an equal amount of time creating an engaging headline as you would with creating an actual blog post, but I wouldn’t recommend that. A good 15 to 20 minutes should suffice when it comes to developing an outstanding headline. Then, read them off to a friend to see which ones are more engaging.
  • Appeal to Readers/Visitors’ Emotions – Most research points to an emotional response when a visitor decides to click on a headline. According to Copyblogger, eight out of 10 people will read your headline, and only two of those 10 will actually read your blog. Appealing to readers’ emotions can grow that number, meaning more visits that can help your Google rank. A higher Google rank means more leads that can be converted to sales.
  • Keep It Short and Concise – People have short attention spans so a short headline won’t lose their attention. Keep it down to that sweet spot of eight to 10 words.
  • Use Keywords – If you’re a content marketer, you may already have keyword research results for your particular niche on hand. Focus on a natural delivery of the keyword in your headline; you don’t want it to read awkwardly. As a matter of fact, keep the language conversational, more in tune with your potential customers’ word choices.

Once you’ve practiced all that you can, you should be able to produce quality headlines that can attract traffic, but your learning doesn’t stop there.

4. Most Importantly, Write For YOUR Audience

When it comes to marketing in general, not everyone is going to like your advertising strategy. The same is true when it comes to digital marketing.

What counts, though, is getting the audience that you are trying to reach out to like you. Don’t create a headline to have something to show your family at the next holiday dinner, to appease your boss, or to make you sound witty to other digital marketers. That’s not the point.

The point is to write a headline for your audience, tailored to the data you have collected. You can collect data through a survey or an A/B test.

An A/B test, in a nutshell, is when you compare two versions of a single thing—in this case a headline—to see which one performs better with your audience. A number of programs exist that can help you do this like KISSmetrics, but if you have Google Analytics, you can try out their Experiment systems tool to get this done for free.

But the easiest way that you can write a great headline is to have an expert in the digital marketing field do it for you. My expertise as a digital marketing consultant can get you a quick return on your investment. To begin, all you have to do is reach out to me at (956) 566-4998 today.

Digital Marketing SEO

Local SEO: Getting Down to Local Business

Local SEOYes…I know I harp a lot about how big SEO is. But it really does bear repeating. There are a plenty of meaningful SEO tactics and strategies that one can be used to improve your website’s Google ranking.

But I know what you’re thinking. “Moe, I’m a small business owner. How can I compete when my market is dominated by a national chain?”

Easy. Local search engine optimization.

Leave it to an expert digital marketing consultant like me, Mauricio Pina, to give you a little bit of insight on Local SEO and how it can improve your lead generation and business.

What is Local SEO?

SEO can encompass a lot of different things. But in this instance, local SEO deals specifically with search engine tactics that focus on helping you reach customers based on location.

Sounds simple, right? While it’s an easy concept to understand, it’s a little harder to put in practice. When implemented correctly, however, it can help your small business outrank larger competitors. Plus, with the Internet going through a mobile revolution, it is a tactic you are going to want to master.

How does Local SEO work?

Millions of potential customers are combing through the Internet at any given moment, searching for that perfect product, service, restaurant, etc.

This is where local SEO comes in.

Local SEO is comprised of several components that allow you to be found online when customers are searching in your area or city. Some of the most important steps to improve your local SEO include:

    1. Web Localization – When it comes to localizing your web page, you are going to want to pepper in your city, county, or region name naturally throughout your site. You don’t have to saturate your site with said information because if Google detects that you are trying to exploit its algorithm, it could penalize you.

      Rather, sprinkle it throughout your content and blogs. You can also use a footer on your site to include your local information (address, phone number, hours of operation, etc.).

    2. Citation Building – Your business – whether it is a brick-and-mortar shop or e-business- needs to be featured in online business directories and citation sites. This helps your local SEO two-fold:
      1. Helps customers find your business.
      2. Having your business on citation sites and online business directories improves your search rankings.
    3. Acquiring Quality Backlinks – Backlinks from authoritative sites like local newspapers, business associations, bloggers, and citations help build your site’s credibility, helping search engines acknowledge your website as a trusted page full of quality information.
    4. Managing Your Reviews and Ratings – Honest ratings and reviews are valuable for numerous reasons. They give potential customers a glimpse of how well of a service or product you provide. They also signal to search engines that the site and product/service you provide are both useful and trustworthy. Important factors about reviews and ratings that help improve your rankings include:
      1. The number of reviews you’ve received.
      2. The general quality of the reviews and ratings.
      3. The authority that the review or rating sites carry.
    5. Google My Business Listings – This is a key step in improving your website’s visibility – especially with Google. Google My Business helps you display important business information on Local Search, Google +, and Maps. Take ownership of these online directories right away.

    Does your business need a Local SEO rework? Contact the digital consultant extraordinaire, Mauricio Pina, to find out more.

    Properly implementing Local SEO strategies can help you to equalize the market, giving your business the ability to compete with larger competitors. When done right, Local SEO optimization can net you a lot of revenue for your business.

    If you need help, enlist the aid of a digital marketing consultant like me to help build your website’s presence. Contact me today at (956) 566-4998 to learn more about how I can help you increase your profit.

Digital Marketing

What You Need to Know About Landing Pages

Landing Pages
If you have been looking for new methods to improve lead generation and don’t know where to turn to, then you have come to the right blog. One of the best tools to improve your digital marketing ROI, landing pages can prove to be exactly what you need to get potential clients into your sales funnel.

Efficient, targeted, and action-oriented, landing pages can prove to be a key component of your overall marketing strategy.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of creating a landing page – or never even heard of one – then trust in the digital marketing consultant, Mauricio Pina, to bring you up-to-date.

The Low Down on Landing Pages

A landing page is a standalone web page for your business. Landing pages can be created for a number of reasons such as for general marketing, advertising a specific campaign, generating leads through info and email acquisition, or advertising a particular ebook, blog, or whitepaper.

Ultimately, landing pages are part of your conversion funnel and should be used to capture email addresses of potential leads.

Once you have these emails, you can begin to nurture a relationship by sending out emails and other content to highlight your business and the services/product you offer. The value of your content can have a huge impact on potential clients before they even speak with a sales representative. Consider that before a potential client even reaches out to your company, 70% of the decision-making process has already happened.

Why You Need a Landing Page

Because landing pages are targeted efforts, they work amazingly in converting website visitors into leads. Now, this is not to be confused with saying you don’t need a website.

But if you are having a special sale on a specific product or service, then this targeted traffic can be driven to a landing page that prompts them to complete an action that you want them to do (i.e. purchasing the product or service). Otherwise, the wrong type of ad might simply send them to your website’s homepage, where they’ll have to navigate to make the purchase, and likely give up before doing so.

Making Your Landing Page Work For You

Landing pages can be relatively easy to make and there are plenty of online tools and resources available to help you create your next one. A Moe Pina favorite is Unbounce.com.

Now, it’s important to remember that landing pages are meant to be efficient, compelling, and action-oriented. This means that the design has to work hard to draw visitors in, inform them about your specific goal, and then make them take action.

Simplicity tends to be key here and there are a number of essential elements that every good landing page has including:

  • Limited Navigation – Landing pages are single-paged websites so there’s no reason for them to have tons of navigation options. Get rid of navigation elements or hide them as necessary.
  • Bold Headlines – Headlines draw in website visitors and for landing pages, it’s no different. Your main and supporting headlines should be informative, attention-grabbing, and precise.
  • A Valuable Offer – Your landing page should be providing a valuable offer in exchange for lead emails and information. If your landing page doesn’t have this value then you need to go back to the drawing boards.
  • Concise Content – Landing pages are all about efficiency. Don’t overburden your visitors with heavy content. Keep your content and forms to the point.
  • Don’t Forget Images – You’ll want to include an image of your product, service, or simply a related-image to keep the design flowing and not just create a text-heavy page.
  • Call-to-Action – A landing page should have a “Call-to-Action” button that helps to capture a visitor’s information. This call-to-action may include a download, a checklist, an ebook, or some other offer.
  • A Form – You need a form to capture information (ex. email addresses). Try to keep these as short as possible. Too many input fields and your potential client may lose interest.

Another key element of your landing page is going to be promotion. There’s little value if your landing page isn’t getting in front of the right crowds. Promote it by sharing on social media networks, Google ads, Facebook Ads, and the likes.

Need a landing page? Contact Mauricio Pina today.

Are you ready to improve your lead generation techniques? If you don’t feel like you have enough experience or know-how to properly create a landing page, then reach out to the expert digital consultant, Mauricio Pina, to find out more about how he can help you grow your business.

Content Management Digital Marketing SEO

The 411 on Conversion Funnels

Lead Generation

Maybe your website is doing just fine without a particular marketing strategy. Maybe you’re making okay earnings every month with what you are doing right now.

But the truth is, without a direction, you could be ultimately shooting yourself in the foot – so to speak.

A conversion funnel can organize not only the way you run your business – but more importantly – it can make your shoppers transition to customers much easier.

If you don’t know what a conversion funnel is or haven’t developed one, you’re in luck. In today’s piece, we are focusing on what a conversion funnel is, why they are so important, and how they can benefit your business.

First thing’s first: What is a conversion funnel?

A conversion funnel is a concept that helps marketers visualize how a customer lands on their website and is directed to perform a certain desired action – usually to purchase a product or service.

You may have heard it called a “sales funnel” before. In truth, they are one in the same. It is called a funnel because it guides the customer toward a conversion point in a multitude of ways:

The terms “desired action” is defined by what the business hopes to accomplish. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the desired action is to have your customer purchase a product or service, although it mostly used as such.

A conversion funnel can also be used to gather customers’ email addresses in an effort to create an email list that your business can use for an effective email marketing campaign. It can also guide visitors to download useful PDFs on certain subjects, offering a little more information that wouldn’t be found in a traditional blog.

However, the word “funnel” may implicate some sort of haphazard pouring of customers into your business. Of course, you need to do your best to attract customers to your funnel, but don’t narrow it down so much that a customer feels closed in. Your customer needs to have options that they can select (like proceeding to a landing page, opting in or out of an email list, etc.), and the funnel must also present clear directions to them there.

Let’s Put This All into Context

Take, for instance, a customer interested in purchasing scented candles. They’ll type in “scented candles” in the Google search bar and find a distributor recommended by a friend. The moment the friend told them about the site, they were already in the first stage of the funnel known as “Awareness”.

The potential customer will go to the website and immediately notice a blog: “Three Scented Candles You Want to Use Around the House For Summer”. They’ll click on it because that was just what they were looking for. This particular stage in the funnel is called “Interest”.

They’ll read the content and are pleased with the inspiration that it provided them. This is the “Desire” stage of the funnel.

At the end of the blog post will be a “Call to Action”. A call to action attempts to convince your potential customer to do a desired action. In this case, perhaps it will be a link that leads to the three candles that were highlighted in the blog with an option to buy. This stage is known as “Conversion” because you are converting shoppers into customers—assuming they make the purchase.

So, let’s recap. The stages within a conversion funnel are:

  1. Awareness – making customers aware of your product through SEO, content marketing, word of mouth, etc.
  2. Interest – providing engaging and attractive content like blogs or email campaigns.
  3. Desire – essentially building upon the interest stage with product reviews, tantalizing images of your product, fantastic product descriptions, or inspiring videos.
  4. Conversion – turning the shopper into a customer.

While these are all crucial components of a conversion funnel, people tend to forget another important part of it: re-engaging.

Customer retention is the lifeblood of an e-commerce business. These customers are crucial to your revenue streams because:

  1. You don’t have to pay much of anything to get these type of customers.
  2. They already demonstrated an interest in your business.

Needless to say, you’ll want to pull these customers back to the top of the funnel to start the process all over again. Some of the easiest ways to do this are to:

  1. Have them sign up for an email list.
  2. Encourage them to follow your social media accounts for latest news, offers, products, and more.
  3. Send coupons or special deals to their email.
  4. Ship marketing or loyalty materials with their purchase so they know they are a valued customer.
  5. Expand your product line or develop new services to entice them back.

These are all cost-effective ways to re-attract customers that you can use to pump up your revenue stream.

Why are conversion funnels so important?

Simply, conversion funnels are important because they help you pinpoint where customers are having difficulty transitioning from potential shoppers to actual customers. If your website doesn’t have a conversion funnel strategy, that could be a big reason why your conversion rate is so low.

Maybe the shopping cart is buggy or not user-friendly. Maybe content is not engaging or missing a call to action and customers don’t know where to go to purchase your product or services. Cluttered or poorly detailed product pages and descriptions can leave a customer confused.

So many minor and major things can compromise the conversion of shoppers to customers, and your earning potential may be suffering as a result. With a proper conversion funnel strategy, you can easily see where improvements must be made – and then make them. In the end, taking the time to address these pain points only builds up your business’ earnings and that is always a good thing.

With a good conversion funnel, your business can truly thrive. To start developing yours, enlist the help of an expert digital marketing consultant like me, Mauricio Pina. Contact me at (956) 566-4998 today to find out how I can help you grow your business through digital marketing.

Digital Marketing Google Ranking SEO

Why You Need Blogging In Your Digital Marketing Plan

Blogging Social Media

If you are reading this blog, then you are a perfect example of why blogging is so important to your digital marketing plan and business. That’s right!

Think about it. Maybe you ran across this post on Facebook or LinkedIn. Perhaps you found it while Googling info on how to improve your website.

Whatever the reason, here you are now, on my website, reading through my article, learning about my field of specialty, and building a relationship with my business of digital marketing consultation. That is exactly the reason why – alongside some other meaningful ones – blogging can play such an important role in your business.

Alongside a healthy dose of social media marketing, PPC ads, and a solid SEO plan, blogging can really help to take your site to the next level and grow your client base. Whether you’re a startup or large, growing company, blogging can really benefit your digital marketing strategy. Here’s why.

Why You Should Be Blogging For Your Company Website

To begin with, you’ll want to make sure that you have a page on your site specifically designed for your blogs. This means hosting the blog directly on your business website and not as an independent site. This way, blog links and posts shared on social media will lead directly back to your website where leads can learn more about your company and services or product.

Now let’s consider why blogging is such an awesome marketing tactic.

1. It helps to drive traffic back to your site.

Your blog provides you the perfect opportunity to deliver useful, informative, or downright entertaining content that can draw traffic to your site and generate new leads. This is a great marketing tool as it allows you to deliver relevant content on a frequent basis, and the more you blog, the more leads you generate.

When coupled with your social media profiles – such as your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account – followers are much more likely to click through to your website.

2. Google loves fresh content.

In case you didn’t know, Google is the ruler of search engines and your SEO strategy should be aimed at ranking high on Google’s search engine results page.

Content that effectively uses search keywords and covers meaningful topics means Google (and other search engines) will see your site as active and crawl it more frequently – increasing your chances of being found in organic search. The fresher and more relevant the content your site has, the higher the chances of ranking on Google for high-converting keywords and keyword phrases.

3. Be the voice people trust.

Consistently writing well-informed articles and blogs can go a long way in highlighting you as an industry leader.

Sharing your knowledge not only underscores your value as a service provider but also helps to build consumer trust as well. If a potential client truly values what you have to say about a problem or question they had, then they are much more likely to enter the sales funnel.

Depending on your industry, if you are in B2B, your company can really shine as the focal point of all things related to that specific field.

4. More than just a business.

Blogging can help you to cultivate a better relationship with your customers.

It’s no secret that certain portions of the population (i.e. Millenials) are demanding more meaning from their brands versus older generations. One way to deliver on that is by creating blogs that showcase your company’s unique voice and personality.

By exhibiting the human element behind your company, potential and real customers are going to appreciate your honesty, and this should, in turn, help to improve your company’s image with certain demographics — demographics that are growing in economic impact.

5. Works perfectly with your social media campaigns.

Another great benefit of blogging is that your social media campaigns are able to draw from the original content you create, rather than having to use someone else’s articles. Plus, you are also building a repository of content that can be used by your social team for certain seasons or when you haven’t created a new content piece in recent days or weeks.

On top of that, using your blogs in conjunction with your social posts means followers are able to follow you back to your site – and hopefully turn into a sale.

6. Gets the word out about new products or promotions.

While you won’t want to necessarily use your blog only for this, blogs still offer a great opportunity to share PR information about your company, such as a new product, a new business accomplishment, product promotions, or events that you would like your client base to know about.

7. Gives you control of your online identity.

Whether you like it or not (or know it or not), your business likely has an online identity. From social media posts about your business to reviews, there’s probably plenty of information – good or bad – floating around out there in the web.

Blogging gives you back control of that identity by allowing you to really highlight what your company does and showcase what makes it so valuable. It also gives you the opportunity to rank high on Google for the right reason. Believe me – there are plenty of hostile parties out there who are happy to destroy a good reputation. Don’t let them.

With all that being said…

If you aren’t much of a writer and don’t currently have anyone on your team who you feel is capable of handling your content creation – and believe me you don’t want to entrust just anyone – then it might just be time to get some digital marketing experts on your side.

Want to find out where you can find these people? Then contact me today at 956-566-4998 for the digital marketing consultation you need to optimize your chances for success.