If you have already audited your website and have walked here to understand how meta-description works, I’m here to help remove that confusion. This article will cover everything you need to know about the basics of meta- descriptions and what makes a perfect one. You’ll also learn why your site’s meta descriptions are so important, as well as the best length for your meta descriptions (especially taking into account Google’s changing policies) and some great meta description examples.
What is a meta tag?
A meta tag is an HTML element that provides information about a webpage for search engines and website visitors. Two elements must be placed as tags in the <head> section of an HTML document. These elements are:
Title tag
Meta description
We’ve already discussed title tags in a separate post, and now, let’s move straight into meta descriptions.
What is a meta description?
The meta description is the short paragraph of text placed in the HTML of a webpage that describes its content. This is also known as a snippet. The meta description appears under your page’s URL in Google’s organic search results. The meta description will often appear when people share your articles across other websites and social channels.
Where is meta description added?
You can add a meta description in the <head> section of your site’s HTML. It should look something like this:<head><meta name=”description” content=”Here is a precise description of my awesome webpage.”></head>Here are examples:If you use an SEOplug-in, that comes with a content management system, you can add a meta description to the ‘meta description’ section, and you can preview an example of how it will look in search engine results pages (SERPs):
Why is the meta description important?
Since meta descriptions appear with your title and URL on the results pages, they have the power to influence the decision of the searcher as to whether they want to click through on your content from search results or not. The more descriptive, attractive, and relevant the description, the more likely someone will click through. Research has shown that having your content focus keyword in the meta is a relevant signal for search engines to discover you.
How to write a perfect meta description?
A great meta-description will compel the reader to visit your website and read more. Here’s an example of what it usually looks like.
1. Keywords
Do make sure your most important keywords for the webpage show up in the meta description. Often search engines will highlight it in bold as a clue to where it finds the searcher’s query in your snippet.
2. Write legible, readable copy
This is essential. Keyword stuffing your meta description is bad and it doesn’t help the searcher, as well as robots, discover you well. They’ll assume your result leads to a spam or phishing website, so make sure your description reads like a normal, human-written sentence.
3. Treat it as an advert for your web page
Make it as compelling and as relevant as possible. The description MUST! match the content on the page, but you should also make it as appealing as possible. That is what we call SEO copywriting.
4. Length
Google cuts off the displayed description tag at about 150 characters but may index up to 185 characters. Other engines may index up to 250 characters, but will still only display about 150. Therefore, try to say what you’ve got to say in 150 characters or less, but feel free to use up to 180, and even up to 250 if you’re not concerned with the entire thing getting indexed by all the search engines. Aim for about 1-2 sentences (140-160 characters) long
5. Keyphrase
Use your primary keyphrase at the beginning of your description tag, giving it higher “keyword prominence”. Don’t overuse your keyphrase though, or it can be considered “webspam”. Higher than zero keyword prominence is good, but higher still is not always better.
6. Use natural-sounding language
Use proper grammar, and try to peak interest in the subject. Also, consider making an actual “offer” in your description tag. Remember, you want the reader to click your ad, but not just to record impression. Now let me ask you? how many times have you skipped over a search result because the two lines of text you see (the description tag) in the SERPS looked gibberish?
7. Do not duplicate meta descriptions
As with title tags, the meta descriptions must be written differently for every page. Google may penalize websites that indulge in mass duplicating of meta descriptions.
Examples of good meta descriptions
Since you only have 160 characters to work with, writing a great meta description takes more than just throwing a few words together. To help you get your creative juices flowing, here are some examples for your inspiration.
Helpful online tool for checking your meta descriptions
Below is a helpful tool that you can use to test your meta descriptions as you write them.SEO Analyzer— This tool analyses the health of a website. It will provide you with a list of issues that makes it easy to see where exactly a website is struggling, including missing and duplicate meta descriptions:
Conclusion
Remember, the primary reason for a perfect description tag is NOT so you can rank higher, (since Google, for example, is currently not using the description tag in their algorithm). The primary reason for a good description is to compel the reader to click on you, instead of the competitor.
Have you ever wondered what heading tags (H1) are? If you’ve thought about either of these questions, this article is meant to teach you all about using the h1 tag to improve your onsite SEO. Heading tags (H1) are pieces of HTML code that allow you to make certain words stand out on a page. Content must be useful and unique to attract your target audience. But if it’s not visible, people will not know about your compelling, informative content. Thus, before you can have your audience’s eyes, search engines must see your content. To attract search engines, you need to think about your heading tags (H1). To understand how headings work on a web page, let’s consider a writeup in a Microsoft word document. The title of the article is usually bigger and more pronounced than other words. It may be bold, coloured, or have some other format quality that makes it stand out. Whatever the case, this allows you to scan a word document and pick out the sections you want to read.They differentiate the heading <h1> and sub-headings <h2> to <h6> from the rest of the content. The number from 1 to 6 determines the importance and the position a heading has in the overall hierarchy of the heading structure.Header tags and H tags are some other ways to describe the same thing.
Why are heading tags (H1) important?
An H1 tag is critical. The heading acts as an information guide for the search engine bots. It makes certain words stand out, which allows readers of your website to see what the page is about immediately, and determine whether or not they want to read it. It also helps tell search engines what your page is about, and when used in conjunction with the page title, meta description, keywords and keyword-targeted content, it helps improve your search engine ranking. Search engines generally give this tag more weight over other headings.
Heading tags (H1) SEO tips
Always include an H1 tag.
Use only one per page.
Include the primary keyword for your content.
Avoid populating the tag with too many keywords.
Ensure that your target audience can easily read the H1 tag.
Use up to 70 characters in the tag length.
Make the tag unique.
What about H2, H3, H4, etc?
Whereas your H1 tag is used for your document’s main heading;
Your main points are wrapped in subheadings known as H2s. In other words:A <h2> tag defines the second-level headings in your webpage.But, heading tags don’t stop at H2s.Sub-points below your <h2> tags use <h3> heading tagsSub-points below your <h3> tags use <h4> heading tagsSub-points below your <h4> tags use <h5> heading tagsSub-points below your <h5> tags use <h6> heading tagsH4, H5, and H6 tags are used less frequently. They are useful for breaking up content in long reads.But be careful about using too many H tags, as that could be interpreted as spammy and decrease the value of all the headings in the eyes of search engines. Google treats such content as less informative.
SEO tips for your headings
Write a brief, well-articulated H2 through H6 tags.
Do not use other tags within your H tags.
Don’t use links in heading tags unless you want to take readers away from your content.
Conclusion
To make your content effective and actionable, heading tags optimization is vital. In short, make sure to:Use one <h1> tag.Don’t forget about hierarchy <h1> through <h6>.Apply keywords within headings based on their search volume.Keep headings brief and to the point.Don’t overuse H tags.Clear styles and format headings within the CMS to avoid unexpected/extra symbols within the tags.Do you have additional tips for creating SEO-friendly headings that convert and meet the target audience? Please share them in the comments below.
Defining title tags rightly is very crucial for your business. The title tags in SEO are the title of your document to your most important types of readers; people and robots. The page title is used by search engine algorithms to decide the order when listing pages in search results. Title tags are shown in the browser’s title bar or in the page’s tab and are the most prominent and noticeable part of a SERP result. The contents of a page title are very important for search engine optimization (SEO). People need to know what they can expect to find on your page when they click the link.
What are Title Tags?
The <title> tag defines the title of the document.
Your title tag is the “headline” that people will see in the search results. It’s also one of the primary factors for the search engines in determining your ranking for a given search phrase, although that’s declining in importance.
In the HTML code of your web page, they should appear as:
<head><title> Your Title Goes Here </title></head>
These titles can appear in:
Search engine results
Social media posts
Unfurled chat messages
Browser tabs
Why are title tags important?
Defining title tags are important because they let readers know what information will be present when a user clicks on a page. They also function to determine the relevancy of the web page as a result of a search query. If your title tags do not appeal to Google, then they may change it to better suit their/user needs. If this happens, you can bet it most likely won’t be to your liking.
Tips to defining your title tags
Here are some tips and best practices to ensure your title tags are optimized for crawlers and readers alike.
Your wording
Stay away from all capital letters in your title tag as they’ll use up more character space than lower case letters will and like emails, it is considered improper. Instead of the title, “BEST SELLING SHOE SHOPS IN GHANA” use “Best Selling Shoe Shops In Ghana”.
Search engines will display about 50-60 characters of the title, so try not to have titles longer than that. Keep your titles shorter. This makes for a nice headline for the SERPS and prevents the title from being cut off in the mid-sentence. Google has not specifically come out and said that title tags should be this length; however, if your title is longer than 60 characters, you risk the chance of it becoming cut off in the middle.
Avoid stop words in your title tags such as A, And, But, So, On, Or, The, Was, With, etc. Sometimes it might not seem impossible to have a title tag without stop words, but if you try different combinations of the same title, you can find them.
Your creativity
Write the title in plain English, using proper grammar, make it easily readable, and not just stuff a jumble of keywords in there. As a headline, it should captivate the reader’s attention and motivate them to click. What do you think is more effective to draw in a customer” “SEO Ghana – Evans Stevens” or “SEO Ghana – Secrets to Boosting Your Online Presence”?
Put in your most relevant and desired keywords you want to be ranked in the title, but don’t overdo it. Google can easily recognize keyword stuffing and may change the title of your web page if it feels you’re just throwing different variations of a keyword into it.
Having action words in your title tags can help entice users to click through. Some examples of action words often used in titles are: Get, Take, Boost, Learn, Make.
Try to feature your brand at the end of the title if there’s space. If not, shorten your page title and make space. Having your brand featured can further convince users that the web page is reputable, trustworthy, and has solid information. By using your company name in the title tag, you’re possibly also wasting space that could otherwise be used for a secondary persuasive keyword or phrase. What do you want here? New customers or bragging rights? You decide!
Conclusion
Title tags play an extremely important role and the way you use them can impact your SEO significantly. Use all the SEO tools at your disposal wisely and ensure that you’re getting the most out of each SEO facet, no matter how small it seems.
Remember this is the headline for your search listing!
Many website owners don’t give their websites the needed care, and so they get astonished when things get bad. Rebuilding your website can be costly but this can be avoided by having simple tools to regularly check on your site. This will ensure that your website is competitive and up-to-date with changing trends in your field of work. You can use many free website tools to grow your business in Ghana. However, in this article, we shall talk about these 3 free website tools: SEO analyzer, keyword planner, and site health checker.
SEO Analyzer free website tool
SEO simply consists of multiple strategies, which have the end goal of improving your website’s position in search engines.The analyzer, a free website tool is used by businesses to improve their website’s ranking on search engines. With an SEO analyzer, you can spot issues on your site and get a full list of strategic actions you can take to fix them. SEO analyzer tells you what aspects of your SEO strategy are working and what isn’t working. You can utilize SEO analysis results to help you rank higher, expand your reach, and drive traffic.If you want to get more visitors to your site, Get a FREE report of your website here. If you want more search traffic, all you have to do is follow the website analysis report. It will give you a complete list of errors that are hindering you from achieving the top spot on Google. Our SEO Analysis tool doesn’t just point out errors but gives you step-by-step instructions on how to fix each of them. Once you make changes, you can re-run the report and check to see if you did it correctly.
Keyword planner free website tool
Are you familiar with Keyword Planner? Choosing the right keywords and phrases can get your promotions closer to the top of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) and in front of the right clients. After all, to drive increased traffic, you need to know which keywords customers are using when looking for your site and the role these words play in SEO. If you don’t know how searchers are looking for your products or services, you are working blind. The right keywords planner is a tool that every search marketer needs to familiarize themselves with. The good news is that keyword research doesn’t need to be a daunting task. One of the best places to start to gain an insight into the search terms you need is free here. With this free digital checker, just start with a solid list of keywords, and a column or two of variables, and you’re good to go. This free tool sits at the core of your SEO or PPC toolset and helps to discover new keywords, and plan your Google Ads budget. If you need to find the right keywords for your business, it is a great place to start.
Site health checker free website tool
Often when we’re asked to build a website, the client expects it to work flawlessly forever. The truth is, it won’t. Websites break most of the time because they’re out-of-date, or some plug-ins just stopped working, or it’s taking time to load. With 2020 properly underway, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess the health of your website. While you’re unable to tell immediately if your website is performing at its best, there are a few regular checks that can help. We all know how important page speed is, slow site drive visitors and search engines will drop your ranking. On-site SEO should always be top of mind. As your website grows, remember that good on-site (or technical) SEO is the foundation for any successful SEO strategy. Also, having a responsive website is essential. In 2019, 80% of users used a mobile device to search the internet. Besides, your site in 2021 should be using several security measures such as an SSL security certificate (HTTPS). This is both for ranking and for customers to have confidence in your website’s security. If your website gets hacked, it will have a big impact on your brand. Check the health of your website for free by simply pasting the URL here, with no other characters, and wait for the magic to happen!
Conclusion
Regular analysis of your site with these free website tools will ensure your site always performs at its best. If you’ve found this analysis useful, you may even want to do it once a month. Constant small improvements are the most direct path to a high-performing website.
Email marketing is the oldest form of online marketing. It is the most direct and effective way of connecting with your leads, nurturing them and turning them into customers. Most digital marketers use email marketing to advertise special deals, highlight content or promote an event.Email marketing is one of the most popular and effective tools to help you boost sales online. In this article, we’ll share how email marketing can help your business grow and few tips to get you started.
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing strategy used to promote products or services to prospects and customers. Effective email marketing can convert prospects into customers, and turn one-time buyers into loyal, raving fans. Using emails can also help your customers to become aware of your latest items or offers. Email marketing can play pivotal roles in lead generation, building relationships and also driving traffic to your blog, and social media.
How email started
Engineer Ray Tomlinson, the father of emails, in 1971 launched the world’s first email while in a windowless room in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The message was nothing special, a series of numbers and letters that looked more like a password than a message, but its significance was profound.The email was sent from one computer to another, travelling through a network of machines not unlike the internet we know today. Tomlinson also introduced the “@” symbol in email addresses to the world.In 1978, Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager for the now-defunct computer company Digital Equipment Corporation, sent out the first commercial and unsolicited mass e-mail promoting his firm’s computer products. Sent to hundreds of computers over ARPANET (a precursor to the Internet; see DARPA), Thuerk’s message immediately gave birth to email marketing. There were only a few hundred people on the list, but that was enough for Thuerk to claim the mantle, “Father of Spam.”Today, we’re inundated with email marketing campaigns, and spams, but there’s no denying the impact a well-crafted message can have on your customers.
Why is email marketing important?
You now know what email marketing is. Let’s talk about why email marketing is relevant for your business.Despite the rise of social media, and a hundred other forms of messaging, the traditional email format feels relatively old. However, it still remains one of the most powerful and effective way to nurture leads and boost customer loyalty. That’s why almost every social media platform requires you to have an email. The email list can yield dramatic rewards for business owners. According to Direct Marketing Association, email marketing on average sees a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI) for businesses in the US.
Importance of email marketing
1. Email is the #1 communication channel. You can go for a few days or weeks without checking social media like Facebook or Twitter, but most people use email every day, if not multiple times a day, so it’s safe to say that email marketing is good for business. At least 99% of consumers check their email daily. That can’t be said of any other communication channel.2. You own your list. On any social media platform, your account (along with all your fans and posts) could be suspended or deleted at any time, for any reason, without notice. However, you own your email list. No one can take those leads away from you.3. Email converts better. People who buy products marketed through email spend 138% more than those who do not receive email offers. In 2015, a study by the U.K.-based Direct Marketing Association (DMA) found that for every $1 spent, email has an average return on investment (ROI) of $38. That’s huge! The average order value of an email is at least three times higher than that of social media.4. Email marketing allows you to run A/B tests. With email marketing, you can run A/B tests of a subject line or call to action to identify the best performing message using email marketing software that can also be configured to easily send out emails.
How to get started with email marketing?
Email marketing is made up of several moving pieces, but that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. Here’s how it breaks down:
Step 1: Establish your goals
But signing up to an email marketing tool and jumping to send your first email, it’s worth taking a minute to think about your goals and what you really want to achieve with email, as that will dictate the type of campaigns you send, who you target, the content you include, and how you measure success.
Step 2: Build your email list
Now that you have identified your goals and what you want to achieve from email marketing, it’s time to build your email list so you can start sending campaigns that those goals. There are a couple of different ways you can build your email list, but the right method depends on the goals you establish in Step 1.
First, create a branded opt-in pop-up form for your website
Pop-up forms provide visitors with a quick, convenient way to share contact information and subscribe to your list while they’re browsing your site, making them a powerful tool for audience growth.
Create marketing campaigns to find your people with Facebook ads
Facebook ads can help you reach new audiences and find new customers by targeting people who’re similar to your existing contacts. But Facebook ads aren’t just used for selling stuff, but also to generate leads by collecting emails through ads that link to your landing pages with opt-in forms. In just a few steps, you can create an ad that drives people to your site so they can quickly and easily sign up for your email list.
Step 3: Select the type of campaigns you want to send
There are several different types of email campaigns you can send to subscribers, and the type you choose really depends on the goals you established in Step 1. The campaigns could be newsletters (about one main topic of interest), Marketing Offer (offering discounts and special promotions), announcement (announcing a new product, feature, or service), and event invitation.
Step 4: Create your first campaign
Now that you’ve decided on your goals, built a bit of an audience and selected the type of campaign you’re going to send, it’s time to start building your email. Find tips to making the most of your email marketing campaigns in the next heading.
Step 5: Measuring your success
After publishing your email campaign, it is now time to keep track of your progress and learn exactly how many new people join your email list. You can track the success of your email marketing campaigns: using tools like Google Analytics.
Email Marketing Strategies
Effective email marketing takes effort. Here are a few strategies for making the most of your email marketing campaigns:
Send relevant emails
Once someone has trusted you with their email address, don’t abuse that trust. Inundating your audience’s inbox with emails will cause them to lose interest or unsubscribe entirely. Focus on sending them relevant, engaging messages about the stuff they like, and they’ll be loyal for a long time to come.
Attract your subscribers
Grow your email list, you need to attract people with a compelling offer. You need a lead magnet, something awesome that you give away for free in exchange for an email address. It doesn’t have to cost you anything to create. Some popular lead magnet examples are: eBooks, resources or consultation.
Seek permission
Probably the most obvious problem is when your email gets sent to a subscriber’s spam folder. Before you can email anyone, you need their permission.
No purchased emails
While buying email lists may sound like a great shortcut, it isn’t. And we do not recommend it. We also do not recommend adding emails from people’s business cards that you collected at seminars or workshops unless you have their permission. People who don’t opt-in specifically for your email list are not interested in your services. Emailing them, therefore, is a complete waste of your resources.
Consistency
it’s important to email your subscribers consistently, so your list doesn’t go stale. So to keep your list fresh and filled with engaged subscribers, it’s a good idea to periodically remove inactive subscribers. An inactive subscriber could be anyone who has not engaged with any email in the past 6 months or more.
Timing
Timing can have a huge effect on subscribers opening your emails, so think carefully about what time and day you send your emails.
Make subject lines stand out
When it comes to email open and click rates, your subject lines are everything. Your job is to make your subject lines stand out. The subject line should entice curiosity, include numbers, be friendly and speak in a language and style that your subscribers use themselves.
Be friendly
When you draft your subject line and message content, write as though you are speaking to a person, with a personal subject line and a personalized message.
Mobile friendly
Mobile email accounts for 67% of all email opens, depending on your target audience, product, and email type. Make sure your email is responsive and includes easily loadable media. Also consider the fact that mobile screens are smaller, so long subject lines may get cut off on mobile devices.
Content must be engaging
If a subscriber is happy with your content, they are more likely to open your emails in the future. Conversely, if a subscriber is displeased with what they get, they probably aren’t going to open your emails again, and they may even unsubscribe. Simply make your content engaging and appealing t your subscribers.
Conclusion
Email marketing is a powerful driver of sales & revenue for your business, and has a greater reach and return on investment than any other channel available to marketers today.Follow the steps outlined in this guide for a quick start to email marketing and campaign success.Get started with email marketing today with SEO Digital!
Digital marketing, also known as online marketing or internet advertising is a big deal these days. Internet usage has doubled over the past decade. This shift has massively affected how people purchase products, services and interact with businesses.
So, what is digital marketing? It is simply the use of the internet, emails, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other channels to reach the right consumers. All these forms of marketing help introduce people to your company and convince them to buy your products. One key element of digital marketing is that, it requires the use of innovative approaches to attract and understand your potential customers as compared to traditional marketing.
Digital Marketing Assets and Strategies That Can Boost Your Brand
Digital assets and strategies are vital in today’s market and if you don’t keep up, you will be left behind. Let’s take a look at what your business needs to maximise its marketing plan and start reaping profits.
Digital Marketing Assets
Assets are values owned by a group or company. Marketing items used to project your business and get potential clients attracted to buy your products are termed Digital Assets. Are you using the available digital assets you have at your disposal to boost your marketing? If you’re unsure, don’t worry, here are few examples:
Strategies for digital marketing is also constantly evolving. Some strategies businesses use are:
1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising
PPC advertising is any type of digital marketing where you pay for every user who clicks on an ad like Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.
2. Paid Search Advertising
Google, Bing and Yahoo allow you to run text ads on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to target potential clients who are actively searching for a product or service like yours.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
With SEO, you can rank pages or blog posts on your site organically and not have to pay directly for every click, but this usually takes quite a bit of time and effort.
4. Paid Social Media Advertising
Social media platforms like Twitter allow you to run ads on their site to increase your business’s visibility with audiences.
5. Social Media Marketing
This is free and organic however, organically marketing your business on social media takes a lot more time and effort but in the long run, can deliver much cheaper results.
6. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
CRO is the art and science of improving your online user experience. Most of the time, businesses use CRO to get more conversions (leads, chats, calls, sales, etc.) out of their existing website traffic.
7. Content Marketing
This is another fairly broad digital marketing term. Content marketing covers any digital marketing effort that uses content assets (blog posts, infographics, eBooks, videos, etc.) to build brand visibility, drive clicks or sales.
8. Native Advertising
Ever get to the bottom of an article and see a list of suggested articles? That’s native advertising and mostly fall under content marketing because it uses content to attract clicks.
9. Email Marketing
This form of online marketing is the oldest and it’s still going strong. Most digital marketers use email marketing to advertise special deals, highlight content (often as part of content marketing) or promote an event.
10. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is essentially paying someone else (a person or a business) to promote your products and services on their website.
How Powerful is Digital Marketing Now?
With technology continually evolving, so do the behaviours of consumers. As a result, we have seen how traditional forms of advertising has continued to decline. We have also watched how digital advertising have grown from strength to strength. Some reasons for this include, an increase in the way we access information, news and an increased activity on digital devices. In addition, digital marketing is affordable, which allows any sized business with any size budget to target specific markets effectively. Today, just having a website is no longer enough to engage your audience and convert them to new customers. It is now important to consider implementing a complete digital plan that works across multiple channels.
With this in mind, here are 7 reasons why you need digital marketing for your business:
1. Increase reach
With the growth of the internet, more people are spending their time online. Over 7.7 billion people use the internet across the globe. It has become an integral part of everyday life to conduct searches, check social media, and purchase products online. Your customers are online, which highlights the importance of digital marketing. They’re browsing the web looking for your products or services. If they can’t find your services/products because you’re not online, you risk losing those leads to your competitors.
To drive the best results for your business, you need to build your online presence. This will help you reach more audience that want your products or services.
2. More Advanced Analytics
With digital marketing you know the following about your ads and audience:
Whether they actually saw it. With traditional marketing like TV and radio ads, you don’t even know that much.
What they interacted with
If they liked it
If they lingered on it
What they viewed
If they shared it with a friend
Did it prompt another action
If it led to a sale
You also learn much more about the people interacting with your ad:
Who’s most interested in your ads
What are they like
What makes them more likely to take an action
Who is easiest to convert
Who spends more
What do they do online
Gives you their demographics
What terms do they use to find you online
Which websites do they visit that lead them to yours
All of this easy to with free analytics software like Google Analytics. You can gain even more insight with paid tools. In addition, you can use what you learn to cut costs where you aren’t seeing an ROI and increase efforts where you get the best results.
3. Keep up with your competitors
Online marketing is highly competitive and your competitors have already taken advantage of it. They’ve created social profiles, adapted their website for SEO, and run paid advertisements to reach new leads. This reason in itself is one of the reasons why you should use digital marketing. If you want your business to compete with others, you have to do what your competitors are doing and even more. By neglecting digital marketing, you’re already falling behind your competition.
Your competitors are gaining traffic that could be yours if you’re also investing in digital marketing. Customers online won’t know that your business is an option and will automatically choose a competitor. You must invest in digital marketing to get leads to consider your business as an option.
4. Target the right audience
The ability to target the right audience is one of the most obvious reasons why digital marketing is important. Imagine being able to market directly to people who have an interest in your products or services. You have the capability to directly reach leads interested in your business.
With digital marketing, you can target your audience more precisely than traditional methods. You can input important information about your audience and use that information to shape your marketing campaigns. It makes it easy for you to reach the right people. When you better target your audience, you drive better results with your campaign and reach more leads.
5. You can monitor and optimise your campaigns for better results
The importance of digital marketing is that you can easily track and monitor your campaigns. When you invest time and money into your campaigns, you want to know that they are working. Internet marketing makes it easy for you to track your campaigns, which allows you to adapt and drive better results.
It can be challenging using traditional methods to know the results of your campaign. If you run a TV ad, you may have to ask every person that comes into the store about what brought them to your business. It would be a very time-consuming effort that could annoy people who visit your business. You don’t need to worry about bothering your audience with online ads. Every campaign you run is easily trackable to see if it is driving valuable results for your business. In addition, metrics such as impressions, clicks, views, comments, conversions, and more can be analysed.
When you track your campaign’s performance, it’s easier to fix it and adapt to changes. With traditional advertising campaign, you typically can’t make changes until the campaign is over. It only benefits the next campaign you run, which can feel like you wasted money on the previous campaign. Whereas with online ads, you can see if they are successful or need improvement. If they need improvement, you can make immediate changes and implement them at any point during your campaign. In addition, online marketing helps you spend your budget more wisely to get more out of your campaigns.
6. Best return on your investment (ROI)
If you want to know the importance of digital media, look at the results it drives for businesses. Marketing strategies online have awesome return on investment (ROI). When you invest in these methods, you’ll get more out of them. For example, email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing method. Every $1 spent, you have the potential to earn a whopping 4400% in return. This is a great opportunity for you to grow and earn a profit from your marketing efforts.
Internet marketing is also cost-effective and hence, leaves room for a great ROI. It doesn’t cost much to run a social media ad campaign, compared to certain traditional methods, and this gives businesses an opportunity to grow.
7. Easy to Scale & Adapt
For small businesses, it becomes very clear when you see how easy it is to scale and adapt as your business grows. Example, with social media campaigns, you can choose a daily budget and know how much it will cost without having to renegotiate an ad spot on TV. As you continue to convert that traffic, you just increase your daily spend and revenues with it. If you got a massive order from a customer and need to scale back to avoid getting backlogged, it’s just as easy. The power of digital marketing lies in the fact that, you can get instant results and analyze data fast to reduce wasted ad spend.
Digital Marketing Strategy
At SEO Digital, we recommend a professional online plan to raise awareness of your business and engage with prospective customers. Hence, strong digital marketing strategy should consist of the following elements:
1. Website
Build a functional, professional and easy to navigate website. Include a blog on your site to update and inform your customers of any news in your industry. Also, consider inbuilt functionality to streamline office processes and make the customer experience better.
2. Search Engine Optimisation – (SEO)
Your website needs to include high quality, relevant content about your business and services. A number of SEO techniques such as high quality content, and keyword research can all help with your online presence. Keep this up to date and integrate it with a website measurement tool such as Google Analytics to improve your chances of being found online. Additionally, using strong quality content and relevant keywords on your website can improve your organic search results and make you visible to people.
4. Mobile responsiveness
If your website is difficult to read, the chances are prospective customers won’t make an enquiry. Make sure your website is optimised for mobile devices and creates a pleasant user experience.
5. Social media
The development of social media platforms will grow your online audience, and assist with online marketing. Social Media allows you to speak directly with your customer base to provide valuable information and build trust digitally to to increase your audience.
6. Online Advertising
Consider using various online advertising streams to increase your brand awareness. Common online advertising strategies such as Google AdWords allow you to target specific demographics and set your budget to suit your business. Online advertising is a highly effective way to add impact to your business and brand.
7. Nurturing your leads
Your digital strategies need to engage your customers to get them to take the next step and make a purchase. You need to have clear ‘call to action’ strategies built in to your digital platforms and make it easy for the customer to take that next step.
CONTACT US NOW FOR A DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY
Digital marketing is becoming more complex, as we develop new ways of effectively reaching clients and driving revenues online. Your digital marketing strategy and assets are essential in driving business success. Contact SEO Digital today on info@seoghana.com or +233 50 664 3847 if you would like to review your business’ online marketing to increase your client base and profits.
8 SIMPLE AND FREE TO USE SEO SOFTWARE TO INSTANTLY ENHANCE YOUR BUSINESS IN 2021
SEO is a vital skill to enhance your business online in 2021. You may not grow or get any product sales without the SEO software and the technical know-how. Using SEO software is therefore highly imperative while creating your business websites. A good SEO software has the power to transform a weak online presence into a revenue-accumulating one. The most significant importance of SEO software apps are that, it gives you a competitive online presence. In addition, a good SEO software can also help you draw attention from potential clients. In today’s competitive app and tech-centered world, you need such software to succeed.
New software solutions are designed everyday to get websites among the top search engine results. However, such software and hiring SEO managers can be expensive. This can be a problem for marketers on a tight budget so, we put together a list of 8 simple and free SEO tools that are tried, tested and actually work.
What is SEO Software?
SEO tool/software is used to investigate the potential of web pages for high placement on search engine ranking. Such software provide information on backlinks, keywords, content, domain, traffic and as well as insights into SEO competition on the internet.
Why does your business need SEO software?
No matter how resourceful a website is, if there are not enough viewers, all that work is in vain. SEO software are definitely useful for your business. Here are some brilliant reasons why using SEO software is critical.
Doing Competitor Research
In SEO, spying competitors without crossing any ethical lines is allowed. Software like SEMrush or Raven Tools allow you to dig into competitor’s SEO strategy. Additionally, you can use them to see competitors traffic numbers, backlinks and find new strategies to attract consumers.
Automating
The first fact about SEO software is how much it can speed up the process involved in SEO. Automating processes through some handy SEO tools help in eliminating unproductive time and effort. Imagine the number of hours that one will be able to save when checking backlinks because SEO software can do this within a few minutes.
Drawing Analysis
With the help of effective tools, a lot of time and energy are saved. This time can be used in analyzing and comparing data. Apparatus that help in research are not shades of malice; they are useful companions to give you sources of information and spare-time.
Backlink Profile
One of the sneakiest ways to spy on competitors is to use SEO software to see backlink profile. Here, you can see what websites their backlinks are coming from, the authority of these sites, the anchor text, and much more. By so doing, you can lay out a game plan for reaching out to those same sites to generate links to your own website.
Keyword Opportunities
Listing out keywords and phrases that you believe represent your brand can be tedious and time-consuming. Thankfully, SEO software allows to see what terms people are searching for that are associated with your own keyword. Again, SEO software also show the volume of monthly searches that are being performed, as well as the competition level.
Using these 8 Simple and Free SEO Software will make your Business Succeed in 2021
Here are 8 simple to use and free SEO software to draw in clients and enhance the growth of your business in 2021.
1. Google Analytics
Possibly the most powerful free analytics tool available, Google Analytics can track traffic (organic), traffic sources, bounce rate, time on site and page speed. Secondly, the app can also help measure advertising ROI. While it’s not a strict SEO software, it can be kept as an effective toolbox. Thirdly, the great thing about Google Analytics is that, unlike other non-google analytics software, its data comes directly from Google, so it is reliable.
2. Google My Business
With a Google My Business free account, you get to easily connect with customers across Google Search and Maps. It enables you to post photos and offers to your profile to show your business uniqueness, and give customers reasons to choose you. Additionally, the app users are given the chance to interact with you by calling, messaging, or leaving reviews.
3. Google Ads Keyword Planner
The Google Ads Keyword Planner is another effective software to make your business competitive online. Choosing the right keywords and phrases can get your promotions in front of the right clients. The app helps you to discover new keyword ideas for your search campaigns. Again, the app can guide you to sort keywords relevant to your business and even suggest terms you might not have considered.
4. Google PageSpeed Insights
The Google PageSpeed Insights software grades your site’s speed and performance on mobile and desktop. Secondly, it gives you how fast it takes to load your site and suggests areas for improvements. Thirdly, it also provides you with a score for your website from 0-100. Lastly, it integrates with other PageSpeed tools such as PageSpeed Service and PageSpeed Chrome DevTools to improve your performance.
5. Google Search Console
Google Search Console can be used to check the performance of SEO and find additional resources that can boost your success with Google SEO. In addition, the app also gives SEO data like clicks, impressions and average ranking position, submit sitemaps and more.
6. Google trends
Google Trends shows you trending topics, stories and places over time. In addition, it shows you how people around the world react to major events and it is one of the world’s largest real time datasets. Again, by examining what people search for, you get a unique perspective on what people are currently interested in and curious about. This is useful for uncovering seasonal variations in search popularity amongst other things.
7. Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio is another free and convenient solution from the search engine giant. Basically, it helps digital marketers generate reports using data. Specifically, it merges data from 17 products by the Google corporation. Again, it can turn data into informative, easy to read, easy to share, and fully customizable dashboards and reports.
8. Google Alerts
Just enter the name of your brand, competitors’ names, names of influencers or keywords and Google Alerts will send you an email if it finds any webpage mentioning them. Basically, this app is great to know whenever your company’s name is mentioned and by what site. Specifically, the app sends you information about your competitor’s activities and new developments. Again, the app can also help your business to be proactive in supporting customers and avoiding surprises.
SEO is a vital tool for digital marketing but what exactly is it? Is SEO useful for businesses? SEO simply means Search Engine Optimization. It consists of multiple strategies, which have the end goal of improving your website’s position in search engines. This is why it’s called “search engine optimization.”
On-page consists of anything you can control on your own website to improve your rankings. Site speed, keyword presence, header text and content are examples of on-page SEO. For example, keywords must be well-researched, carefully chosen and used in your content in order to be effective. Keywords are words and phrases that prospects use to find content online. Brands use keywords to connect with prospects who are looking for their products and services.
When researching keywords, it is advisable to use those with high search rates and low competition. Short-tailed (such as food), long-tailed (such as foods that are delicacies), and local keywords (such as food delicacies in Ghana) are good for your content. Your content must also be educational, compelling, relevant and shareable to attract prospects. Content can include videos, infographics, social media posts, and local listings.
Off-page
Off-page consists of anything that happens away from your site. Generally, this only refers to links. The current best practices include guest blogging, creating compelling infographics and mentioning influencers. By appropriately implementing the components of on-and off-page factors, you’ll rank high in search engines.
Is SEO important for businesses and digital marketing?
Are you in an industry where there’s little to no competition? Are you already ranking #1, and wondering if there are options to keep you visible always? No matter the business you own, if it has a website, then SEO is crucial for its success online. Even if you are the only one in your industry, SEO is still important.
Importance of SEO to businesses
Investing in your business’s SEO, is making direct investment in its visibility and profitability. Regardless of the future, you can count on that visibility to help your business prosper.
Search engine is valuable tool for brand awareness and positioning yourself as a trustworthy expert in your field.
It also helps to know that once customers visits your website, then they have an interest in your services. Hence, saves you time in convincing them to patronize your product.
Search Engine Optimization rewards your business for its efforts at a higher rate compared to all the other forms of online marketing.
It is relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things.
A strong search engine can also leave lasting impacts many years ahead.
Finding the right SEO firm for your business
The SEO industry is constantly evolving. You need to stay on top of trends in order to maintain your rankings. You need a reputable and reliable partner that fully understands your business. A partner that will work with you to reach more people and make sales online. When selecting SEO firm to work with, examine their pricing, area of expertise and clients published testimonials.
Choose SEO Digital Ghana as Your Trusted Partner
Are you looking for a trusted and reliable SEO company to get you on top of search engine rankings? Kindly call/WhatsApp us on +233 050 66 43 847 NOW! Our experts are always available to speak with you and answer all your questions,
How much effort do you need to put while choosing a domain name for your business? Is it that important? Well, the answer is definitely a big yes. The domain name can make or break you. It is the key element of your website. Let’s see why it is that much important?
It is the first impression: First impression is the last impression. Url is the first thing your users will see. A good and impressive website name makes a long lasting and positive impression.
It highly affects SEO: While (EMD) exact match domains are no longer a need but having targeted keyword is still in demand. It helps in SEO ranking.
It improves brand popularity: The right domain increases brand recognition.
Now the question is how to choose a good web name?
Easy over generic: Don’t forget, your domain name is how users and visitors will remember, find and share your business on the web. The site name is the foundation of your online presence and brand.
Instead of having a new web name, it is better to go with an already existing domain. The existing site will definitely have high authority as compared to a new one. It will help in ranking good in the search engines. You can book the desired domain using several tools available like .in domain drop catch for India or if you are looking for the global market you can try .com drop catch.
Easy to type: If I ask you to provide a list of 5 websites that comes first in your mind, your answer may be Google, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo etc. Do you know why? Because these are easy to pronounce and type. Easy to type domain name saves users from mistyping and leads them to some other website.
Never use numbers and hyphens: As I told you domain name should be easy to type and pronounce. Well, numbers and hyphens both make the domain name difficult. For example, let’s imagine Facebook. What if it had a hyphen in between Face and book (Face-book). Not good, right? So, never use hyphens and numbers while choosing a domain.
Last but not the least, always choose the right domain extension. If your targeted audience is country specific that means if you are targeting Indian customers only, go with .in extension.
These are some of the points one should consider while choosing a perfect domain name.
There might be numerous SEO tools out there and though nobody disputes their role, one of the easiest and most accessible ways to optimize your WordPress site is with the help of WordPress SEO plugins. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of WordPress SEO plugins for you to choose from. While you can’t say there is a WordPress plugin for every type of SEO tool you can think of, there are some SEO plugins for WordPress you really must try (if you haven’t already done it). Here is a list of the most important ones.
1 WordPress SEO by Yoast
WordPress SEO by Yoast is rightfully considered one of the top SEO plugins for WordPress. It’s a complete suite that covers almost any aspect of SEO. With WordPress SEO by Yoast you can analyze onpage and offpage factors, create XML sitemaps, optimize meta and link elements, as well as RSS and breadcrumbs, edit .htaccessand robots.txt file, enjoy integration with social media, use it on multiple sites and many more. In a sense, if you get this plugin, you might not need anything else.
2 All in One SEO PACK
All in One SEO Pack is another really popular and comprehensive SEO suite for WordPress. Similarly to WordPress SEO by Yoast, you can use this one to handle all your SEO tasks. All in One SEO Pack offers XML sitemaps, optimization of titles and meta tags, advanced canonical URLs, and what not. One of its uniques features is the ability to eliminate duplicate content issues. Additionally, it’s a plugin you can use on e-commerce sites.
3 Google XML Maps
If you are not looking for a complete SEO suite, such as WordPress SEO by Yoast or All in One SEO Pack that among their numerous features come with XML sitemap generation functionality but would like a simple plugin especially for this, then Google XML Maps is your best choice. This plugin doesn’t come with bells and whistles and it doesn’t offer tons of functionality but it is really fast and reliable for XML sitemap generation, even if your site is pretty large and there are thousands of pages.
4 HTML Sitemap for WordPress
Here is another plugin (or more precisely a template) from Yoast de Valk HTML Sitemap for WordPress. While XML sitemaps are no doubt useful for search engines, an HTML sitemap is definitely more useful for your human visitors. HTML sitemap generation is not part of the WordPress SEO by Yoast it’s provided separately. The template in the link is special because it gives you a lot of flexibility when you decide what to include in your HTML sitemap and what to skip.
5 SEO Friendly Images
We all know how important it is to optimize images and how much time this could take. This is why it really makes a difference when you have a reliable ally on your site. With the SEO Friendly Images plugin for WordPress, it gets so much easier to optimize your images. This plugin automatically adds alt and title attribute to all your images. Of course, if you are not pleased with its suggestions, you can always modify the automatically added alt and title attributes to something you like more.
6 WP Smush
As alt tags become a necessity for finding images, It is an SEO friendly practice also for your images to load efficiently fast so as to be on top of the SEO game. One sure plugin that caters for this is the WP Smush.
This plugin meticulously scans every image you upload – or have already added to your site – cuts all the unnecessary data and scales it for you before adding it to your media library.
In addition to smushing your media uploads, you may want to compress the images stored in other folders. Smush lets you compress any image in any directory so that you can optimize all the images on your site – including NextGEN images, images stored on Amazon S3 using WP Offload S3 and images in EVERY WordPress plugin and theme package!
7 Share This
You might have mind-blowing content but if it doesn’t get traffic, then it’s useless. Out of the many ways to drive traffic to your site, social sites are among the best. With the Share, This plugin for WordPress, content sharing is much easier. The plugin not only allows you and your readers to share your content on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and 120 others but it also comes with analytics features, too.
8 Broken Link Checker
There is hardly an SEO expert who doesn’t know how badly broken links are. Checking broken links one by one is not physically possible, even for a small site. While there are numerous free and paid tools that check for broken links, if you don’t want to leave WordPress, you can get the Broken Link Checker plugin and monitor the health of your links with it. When a broken link is found, you are notified about this.
9 SEO Links Checker
While the previous plugin is great for broken links detection, if you want more power in dealing with your links, then you need SEO Links Checker. The purpose of this plugin is to automatically create links (i.e. affiliate links) and make them nofollow, if you like. If you are running a big site with a lot of affiliate links tied to a particular keyword, this plugin is a valuable assistant. Just remember to use links wisely i.e. don’t stuff your posts with links simply because it’s so easy to do.
10 SEO Plugin By Squirrly
The last plugin on this list SEO Plugin by Squirrly is again a full SEO suite but the difference is that it’s for NON-SEO experts. This said, the plugin is by no means inferior to the rest, it simply doesn’t offer that many opportunities to mess directly with code. SEO by Squirrly deals with all aspects of SEO customization from content marketing, to keyword research, to SEO analytics, to onpage optimization.
Of course, there are many more SEO WordPress plugins we couldn’t cover in this article. If the plugins on the list are not what you need, browse the Net for alternatives. However, be warned that most of the other plugins are either not as good, or they are for earlier versions of WordPress (and might not be compatible with the latest ones). While the WordPress plugins on the list are generally OK for most WordPress Webmasters, if they are not OK with you, you always have the option to optimize your WordPress site with external tools.
If you use an SEO plug-in, that comes with a content management system, you can add a meta description to the ‘meta description’ section, and you can preview an example of how it will look in search engine results pages (SERPs):
Defining title tags rightly is very crucial for your business. The title tags in SEO are the title of your document to your most important types of readers; people and robots. The page title is used by search engine algorithms to decide the order when listing pages in search results. Title tags are shown in the browser’s title bar or in the page’s tab and are the most prominent and noticeable part of a 
In the HTML code of your web page, they should appear as:
<head>
<title> Your Title Goes Here </title>
</head>
These titles can appear in:
Digital assets and strategies are vital in today’s market and if you don’t keep up, you will be left behind. Let’s take a look at what your business needs to maximise its marketing plan and start reaping profits.
With technology continually evolving, so do the behaviours of consumers. As a result, we have seen how traditional forms of advertising has continued to decline. We have also watched how digital advertising have grown from strength to strength. Some reasons for this include, an increase in the way we access information, news and an increased activity on digital devices. In addition, digital marketing is affordable, which allows any sized business with any size budget to target specific markets effectively. Today, just having a website is no longer enough to engage your audience and convert them to new customers. It is now important to consider implementing a complete digital plan that works across multiple channels.
With this in mind, here are 7 reasons why you need digital marketing for your business:
With the growth of the internet, more people are spending their time online. Over 
With digital marketing you know the following about your ads and audience:
The ability to target the right audience is one of the most obvious reasons why digital marketing is important. Imagine being able to market directly to people who have an interest in your products or services. You have the capability to directly reach leads interested in your business.
With digital marketing, you can target your audience more precisely than traditional methods. You can input important information about your audience and use that information to shape your marketing campaigns. It makes it easy for you to reach the right people. When you better target your audience, you drive better results with your campaign and reach more leads.
The importance of digital marketing is that you can easily track and monitor your campaigns. When you invest time and money into your campaigns, you want to know that they are working. Internet marketing makes it easy for you to track your campaigns, which allows you to adapt and drive better results.
It can be challenging using traditional methods to know the results of your campaign. If you run a TV ad, you may have to ask every person that comes into the store about what brought them to your business. It would be a very time-consuming effort that could annoy people who visit your business. You don’t need to worry about bothering your audience with online ads. Every campaign you run is easily trackable to see if it is driving valuable results for your business. In addition, metrics such as impressions, clicks, views, comments, conversions, and more can be analysed.
When you track your campaign’s performance, it’s easier to fix it and adapt to changes. With traditional advertising campaign, you typically can’t make changes until the campaign is over. It only benefits the next campaign you run, which can feel like you wasted money on the previous campaign. Whereas with online ads, you can see if they are successful or need improvement. If they need improvement, you can make immediate changes and implement them at any point during your campaign. In addition, online marketing helps you spend your budget more wisely to get more out of your campaigns.
If you want to know the importance of digital media, look at the results it drives for businesses. Marketing strategies online have awesome return on investment (ROI). When you invest in these methods, you’ll get more out of them. For example, email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing method. Every $1 spent, you have the potential to earn a whopping 4400% in return. This is a great opportunity for you to grow and earn a profit from your marketing efforts.
Internet marketing is also cost-effective and hence, leaves room for a great ROI. It doesn’t cost much to run a social media ad campaign, compared to certain traditional methods, and this gives businesses an opportunity to grow.
For small businesses, it becomes very clear when you see how easy it is to scale and adapt as your business grows. Example, with social media campaigns, you can choose a daily budget and know how much it will cost without having to renegotiate an ad spot on TV. As you continue to convert that traffic, you just increase your daily spend and revenues with it. If you got a massive order from a customer and need to scale back to avoid getting backlogged, it’s just as easy. The power of 
At SEO Digital, we recommend a professional online plan to raise awareness of your business and engage with prospective customers. Hence, strong digital marketing strategy should consist of the following elements:
Digital marketing is becoming more complex, as we develop new ways of effectively reaching clients and driving revenues online. Your digital marketing strategy and assets are essential in driving business success. Contact SEO Digital today on info@seoghana.com or +233 50 664 3847 if you would like to review your business’ online marketing to increase your client base and profits. 
With a 
The 
The 
Just enter the name of your brand, competitors’ names, names of influencers or keywords and 
How much effort do you need to put while choosing a domain name for your business? Is it that important? Well, the answer is definitely a big yes. The domain name can make or break you. It is the key element of your website. Let’s see why it is that much important?
It is the first impression: First impression is the last impression. Url is the first thing your users will see. A good and impressive website name makes a long lasting and positive impression.
It highly affects SEO: While (EMD) exact match domains are no longer a need but having targeted keyword is still in demand. It helps in SEO ranking.
It improves brand popularity: The right domain increases brand recognition.
Now the question is how to choose a good web name?
Easy over generic: Don’t forget, your domain name is how users and visitors will remember, find and share your business on the web. The site name is the foundation of your online presence and brand.
Instead of having a new web name, it is better to go with an already existing domain. The existing site will definitely have high authority as compared to a new one. It will help in ranking good in the search engines. You can book the desired domain using several tools available like .in domain drop catch for India or if you are looking for the global market you can try .com drop catch.
Easy to type: If I ask you to provide a list of 5 websites that comes first in your mind, your answer may be Google, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo etc. Do you know why? Because these are easy to pronounce and type. Easy to type domain name saves users from mistyping and leads them to some other website.
Never use numbers and hyphens: As I told you domain name should be easy to type and pronounce. Well, numbers and hyphens both make the domain name difficult. For example, let’s imagine Facebook. What if it had a hyphen in between Face and book (Face-book). Not good, right? So, never use hyphens and numbers while choosing a domain.
Last but not the least, always choose the right domain extension. If your targeted audience is country specific that means if you are targeting Indian customers only, go with .in extension.
These are some of the points one should consider while choosing a perfect domain name. 
There might be numerous SEO tools out there and though nobody disputes their role, one of the easiest and most accessible ways to optimize your WordPress site is with the help of WordPress SEO plugins. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of WordPress SEO plugins for you to choose from. While you can’t say there is a WordPress plugin for every type of SEO tool you can think of, there are some SEO plugins for WordPress you really must try (if you haven’t already done it). Here is a list of the most important ones.