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SEO

5 SEO TRENDS OF 2017 TO KEEP YOUR BUSINESS ON TOP

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April 27, 2017

- SEO

Think you know SEO? Think again. The ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing brings new trends and strategies the moment you’ve caught up to the last round. Stay on top of these SEO trends to keep your business’s website and digital marketing campaigns successful.


1. Nurture leads.

Studies and reports about e-consumer behavior suggest that customers do their research and take their time with the decision to buy. Capturing them as a lead isn’t enough. Email provides a constant line of communication and allows you to share additional resources with them, from testimonials and reviews to social media stories and news coverage.

  • Design for mobile first, because that’s how most customers are browsing the web. Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and a responsive design with clear, easy navigation. Mobile-friendly is customer-friendly (and customer-friendly is SEO-friendly).
  • No time to watch a page load! Check your website’s speed and invest in quality hosting before your bounce rate jumps off the charts.


2. Create amazingly amazing content.

Most people now understand that you shouldn’t just write for search engines—you need to write amazing content that people want to read. This means that “amazing” is no longer enough to stand. Google is looking for content that’s amazingly amazing.

  • Blog articles should drill into a specific topic in-depth. 800 words laser-focused precisely on what your customer wants to know will out-perform 2,000 words that ramble vaguely around a topic your customer is interested in.
  • Use formatting to guide readers easily through your content. Assume they’ll only read about 10-25% of what you write. (And that’s probably a generous estimate!) Numbered lists, bullet points, bold key phrases, spacing, and strategic images or infographics can keep them scrolling through to the end and help them get a digestible overview of what they need to know.
  • Keep your visitors engaged with attention-commanding images and videos.
  • Stay ahead of the trend by utilizing the newest types of technology and content, like VR (virtual reality). Start building up ranking before the masses catch on.


3. Steer traffic to your amazingly amazing content.

It doesn’t matter how amazing your content is. If all you do is create and publish content, all it will do is sit there.

  • Build up your social media networks, and use social media to share content. This is an easy way to direct traffic to your website. Different platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, have the potential to drive traffic from different target groups of customers and potential industry partners.
  • Build up your professional networks, and share your content with industry experts who find value in sharing your content with their followers. One link into your website from a quality source with a large following is much more valuable than 50 links to your website from irrelevant, unpopular sources.
  • Regularly invite content from credible guest bloggers. These contributors will promote this content to their own followers and help drive additional traffic to your site.
  • Practice content repurposing. You may have written the blog, published it, and promoted it two months ago, but if there’s a new demand for the topic, don’t miss out. Put the right content in front of the right audience at the right time.
  • Search for broken links with outdated URLs on websites where you would like your content to be linked to. Bonus points if the broken link was directing to a competitor in your market. Offer a link to your content as a replacement for their broken link.


4. Think about links in a new light. 

It’s no secret that links are linked to SEO, but the criteria for SEO-worthy links continues to evolve.

  • Link to industry expert material that is perfectly relevant in the context of your content. These links should open in a new window or tab so they do not navigate away from your website.
  • Internally link to other relevant content within your site. Keep your customers on your website longer.
  • Create anchor text within certain pages so internal links direct readers exactly to the most relevant part of the content. Make their experience as easy as possible. Know where they’ll want to go, and take them there.
  • Consider an approach to content where you write a larger piece immediately followed by smaller, focused articles that drill into detail on the subcategories of that larger piece. This will allow you to easily set up a structure of internal links.


5. Key in on keyword strategy.

It has become common knowledge that there’s more to SEO than just keywords and links, but that doesn’t mean that keywords aren’t valuable.

  • Understand LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing). Search engines like Google don’t only calculate exact keywords and phrases. They also analyze other related terms according to relevance.
  • Don’t overdo your keywords. Again, the focus should be on readability and interest for your readers and your customers. If you focus only on keywords, you’ll end up with unnatural sounding content that readers don’t enjoy engaging with. 

By focusing your brand’s SEO strategy around these 5 trends, with time you can expect to see higher search rankings, more website traffic, and ultimately higher profit and ROI. It can take time to make Google trust you, so it’s important to start now and to stay on top of it. Part of staying on top of it means staying on top of the always-evolving trends. Keep your content marketing current.


To learn how Illuminati Studios can help your brand optimize its SEO and content marketing strategy as part of an integrated digital marketing campaign, please contact us.

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Marketing

6 WAYS EMAIL MARKETING IMPROVES YOUR MARKETING SUCCESS

By on

April 27, 2017

- Marketing

Learn how to utilize this powerful marketing tool to generate valuable business growth across platforms.


Think about your marketing goals. You want to generate leads, increase awareness of your brand, keep current customers interested in your products, and pump up the profit.


You’re posting and engaging with customers on social media, running digital ads to reach new eyes, and using “grass roots” marketing such as flyer distribution and local event sponsorship. But if you’ve overlooked email marketing, you’re missing an integral part of your comprehensive marketing strategy.


Email marketing alone boasts the ability to promote your brand and products or services, but here are 6 ways a consistent email plan helps you reap even more success from your other marketing endeavors:

1. Nurture leads.

Studies and reports about e-consumer behavior suggest that customers do their research and take their time with the decision to buy. Capturing them as a lead isn’t enough. Email provides a constant line of communication and allows you to share additional resources with them, from testimonials and reviews to social media stories and news coverage.


2. Convert leads.

Emails that utilize strategic calls to action can guide a potential customer through to the buying or sign-up process. They’ve already expressed interest. Stay top of mind and keep sending them emails until they buy. Then keep sending emails until they buy again. If they’re members who’ve already signed up, encourage them to buy the swag, sign up for that extra class, and refer their friends.


3. Boost social media engagement.

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram use an algorithm that limits organic reach so your posts are only shown to a small percentage of your followers. Boosting engagement (likes, comments, etc.) triggers the algorithm to share your posts with more people. More people seeing your posts leads to more people sharing your posts with their own networks. And even for those who already know and follow you, seeing your posts ensures you stay top of mind. Emails can link to social media and generate clicks through to your profiles for additional engagement.


4. Improve Google search rankings.

Emails that promote blogs or other website content can increase traffic to your website, which is beneficial for SEO. Most people won’t even go past the first page of search results when looking for a business or product, so anything you can do to boost your search ranking can help new customers find you.  


5. Develop your online reputation with positive reviews.

By including screen captures of positive reviews that have been left on Yelp, Google, and Facebook, you can encourage other satisfied members to also take the time to leave a review. These positive reviews will seriously aide your online reputation management efforts and demonstrate credibility to anyone who’s considering trying your product or service for the first time.


6. Build recognition and sentiment so “grass roots” efforts work better.

Consider a lead or member who has received consistent emails from you. One small moment of recognition when he or she sees your logo on a billboard and suddenly it becomes a full conversation with friends and family members you haven’t reached before. Equipped with the information and fun content you’ve provided through emails, he or she becomes a knowledgeable ambassador for your product or service.


Email marketing is a powerful profit-generating tool that deserves recognition, utilization, and optimization. If you are interested in an integrated email marketing strategy developed specifically for your brand or business, along with full production and management, please contact iluma Agency at 786-703-3083.

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SEO

BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS: SEO IS MORE THAN JUST KEYWORDS

By on

April 27, 2017

- SEO

You may have heard that a complete digital marketing campaign for your business should include a blogging and content marketing component.

One of the primary ways that blogs can boost your brand’s growth is by maximizing SEO, or search engine optimization, so your business appears higher in Google search results. This is especially crucial when you consider that most people won’t even click or tap through to the second page of results.

Here are two of the more commonly known tricks for an SEO blog boost:
  • Blog length of more than 300 words
  • Use keywords likely to be entered in a search engine when searching for a business similar to yours

But these can’t be the only techniques that go into a blog post, or what you’ll end up with is something that people don’t want to read. Keyword density should not be your sole focus.

Search engine optimization goes beyond just keywords and word count. Search engines like Google have evolved in complexity and rely on a complex algorithm to determine SEO and page rankings.
 

Readability is equally important to your blog’s SEO, so keep these points in mind:


  • Grammar and spelling matter.
  • Short words, sentences, and paragraphs make it easier to read. Aim for a conversational tone, and check your Flesch-Kincaid readability score.
  • Page design, formatting, and typography (including font, size, spacing, and header structure) can affect whether people read it.
  • Breaking up text with relevant images improves readability and shareability.
  • It must be interesting to your audience.


The length of time spent on a blog page helps search engines determine readability and assess whether people can and want to read your blog.

Aside from increasing search ranking results, you do want people to read your blog. By providing relevant, interesting, and readable content to your customers and prospects, your blog allows you to position your business as an industry leader. Use your blog to connect with your audience on a human level while you teach them about your brand and ultimately increase sales.

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Blog, Meet the Staff

Meet iluma’s Team: Lydia Pulver

By on

April 7, 2017

- Blog, Meet the Staff

Lydia Pulver, Account Executive, has been with Illuminati Studios for three years. As she communicates with our clients and works closely with our production team to ensure high-quality digital marketing services, she enjoys the variety of projects she’s involved in. One of her favorites? OTF car wrap designs and window graphics. If you’ve ordered car wrap designs or window graphics from Illuminati Studios, then you’ve likely had the fortune of speaking with Lydia. Those of us lucky enough to work with her here at our office in Miami Lakes, Florida, are happy to report that she’s just as friendly, cheerful, and enjoyable to work with as she sounds! We’ve loved getting to know her and think you will, too.

Lydia was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on Cinco de Mayo (margaritas, anyone?). Her family then moved to Vermont before Lydia moved to Coconut Grove, Florida, with her mom. She still visits her dad and extended family in Vermont, having spent entire summers there when she was younger. Sounds like a different world from the developed gridlock of Miami—her father’s rural mountain residence doesn’t even have an address!

Here in South Florida, Lydia attended K-12 at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart and went to the University of Miami, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in communication with a concentration in advertising and a minor in psychology. Having first studied engineering and physics and at one point considering a career in accounting, her broad educational background makes her an adept team player who can take on anything. Lydia was drawn to the Univeristy of Miami as a small, private school with reputable academics—but there’s also another very big reason she went there. Lydia is a huge UM sports fan. She watches every single UM football game and attends all the home games so she can cheer on her Canes. Her love of sports doesn’t end there. She loves the Miami Heat and even brings us with her to baseball games at Marlins Park from time to time, including the recent World Baseball Classic match between USA and Colombia. Tickets courtesy of her boyfriend, David, who works for the Marlins finance department. (Thanks David!) Lydia met David in high school after becoming friends with his sister. They both went to UM, where he pursued a degree in sports management. A love of sports is definitely something they have in common!

When football season isn’t filling her weekends, Lydia enjoys trying new restaurants. Sushi is on her weekly must-eat list, but her absolute favorite food is cheese, whether it’s blue cheese crumbles on a salad, mac n’ cheese, or her famous pesto grilled cheese. She’s also quite the baker, having won our recent Pi Day pie-baking challenge here in the office. She had all the motivation she needed: The prize was a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory.

From what we hear, Lydia has done some pretty great traveling. She shares stories of family fishing trips to Scott Lake, in a very remote area of the Northwest Territories in Canada. She has done fly fishing and standard fishing, catching trout, grayling, and pike. She saw the northern lights and has even flown in a seaplane. From a month-long stay in Spain during high school to an Alaskan cruise her Oma (grandma) won in a bridge tournament, she has plenty of stories to tell about spending a night in sand dunes or her Opa (grandpa) losing their passports and finding them in his fanny pack only after visiting the American embassy! We also get to hear stories about Zoe, Lydia’s energetic 9-year-old Boston Terrier. Zoe may not see very well these days, but she never loses sight of tennis balls—those are her favorite!

Lydia looks forward to talking to you the next time you order OTF car wrap designs or window graphics. Be sure to wish her a happy upcoming birthday, but don’t tell her if you’re an FSU fan or don’t like the Hurricanes! Don’t have the latest OTF approved car wraps or window graphics? Get started here, and Lydia will be happy to contact you.

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