Digital marketing myths busted: What you really need to know!

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  Did you know the Great Wall of China actually isnvisible from space? At least not to the naked eye. Also: bats aren’t blind, Viking helmets didn’t have horns, and toilet water in the Southern hemisphere does NOT rotate the other direction. We love busting myths! So, in this article,we’re going to take 5 of the most commonly held beliefs about digital marketing and hold them up to the light. The internet is so full with information that it’s simple for marketing falsehoods to catch on fire. To dispel these myths, we need to be proactive in our efforts. Join me as we dispel the top 5 fallacies around digital marketing and give you useful, workable solutions that will let you take control of your marketing approach.
   

Myth # 1: Digital marketing is only for bigger businesses

One of the most widespread misconceptions we encounter or hear is the idea that only larger organizations can afford or reap the benefits of digital marketing. While it’s true that larger businesses are typically able to afford to invest heavily in costly advertising campaigns and optimize their presence on all social media channels, including their website, smaller businesses can still reap significant benefits from digital marketing. This does not require them to make large financial investments. Establishing a social media account and building an excellent mobile-friendly website (ensuring that it loads quickly and that the pages adjust to the size of the screen, among other things) is a positive first step. Free social media sites are available, and hosting for websites is not too expensive. Without breaking the bank, you can begin with the fundamentals. It is far better for your company to just have an internet presence than none at all. Regardless of size, digital marketing and a strategy may help businesses of all kinds. ‍This  will put you miles ahead of your rivals who continue to think that digital marketing is ineffective! ‍  

Myth # 2: Digital marketing results cannot be tracked

A prevalent misconception regarding digital marketing is that since there is nothing tangible to observe, the results cannot be monitored. On the other hand, practically anything may be monitored, including the bounce rate, the sites that users clicked on, and the quantity of visitors to your website. You may even monitor your campaigns to determine which elements are profitable and effective, as well as which ones are not. A website with strong search engine optimization (SEO) will receive more natural traffic than one with weak SEO. You can gain insight into your website’s reach and the paths customers have traveled to visit your website and make a purchase by utilizing free tools like Google Analytics. ‍Tracking all of this is a terrific method to expand your audience and strengthen your brand.  

Myth #3: ”I Can Use the Same Content Marketing Strategy as Other Companies”

Whether you run a multi-million dollar company or a five person firm, you have to figure out what works best for you and stay on that path. Just because something works well for one company doesn’t mean that it will work well for you. Like anything in this business, you have to work at it through trial and error.

 

 Myth #4: More Traffic = More Money

Do you want to increase sales? All you have to do is increase website traffic. Correct? Yeah, well, not quite. Please do not misunderstand us. We at SEO Ghana are big fans of traffic—the type that comes via websites, not cars.However, keep in mind that not all traffic is created equal and that none of it is bankable. Traffic must truly convert to leads and sales in order to be considered valuable. Recognize that “traffic” refers to more than just a dashboard indicator. It is a group of breathing, living humans with issues, anxieties, dreams, and hopes. Additionally, you must persuade them to convert on your website by emphasizing its benefits in a way that is both frequent and powerful enough. Want to learn how to do that? Contact us for more information!  

Myth #5: Having a Website is Enough to Market My  Firm

You might assume that if your website is well-designed and you’ve done a fantastic job with it, it will handle your marketing. Ultimately, visitors can use your website to obtain information and make contact with you. The act of finding your website is the sole issue. How do potential customers initially discover your website? Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements, social media, content production, SEO, and other tactics will drive traffic to your website, where you may wow visitors with an amazing user experience and design.     It is easy to become misled by myths in the quickly changing field of digital marketing. Our staff at SEO Ghana is available to assist you if you’re prepared to advance your digital marketing strategy or if you need assistance navigating the confusing digital landscape. For a consultation, get in touch with us right now. Together, we can debunk more fallacies and advance your company.       ‍ ‍ ‍ ‍  

Tips To Receiving Enough Facebook Business Page Likes

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Succeeding on your Facebook business page

In order to achieve success on your Facebook business page, you need an engaged community. Without it, no one will see or read your content, making it difficult to build brand awareness and deliver ROI. New social networks crop up all the time, generating buzz and excitement among businesses and tech media, but Facebook remains the giant, with has 2.80 billion monthly active users. To keep up with changing needs and trends, Facebook continues to evolve, introducing new features and functionality for users and advertisers. If you are unable to keep up, you could miss out on potential customers. However, it’s not just about the quantity of Facebook Likes, it’s about the quality. You need to attract the right audience and engage them in ways that align with your business goals. Here is the latest checklist to ensure you have enough quality likes and following on your Facebook business page.
  1. Optimize your Facebook Page Information

First things first! Most of the time, the only thing people see from your company’s Facebook Page is the profile picture, cover image, and short description. Make sure your brand’s images and description are engaging, encapsulate what your company does, and encourages people to like your page. Don’t stop there, make sure you fill out as much of your Page Info as you can. Select the categories and subcategories that best describe your company, include your website URL, list your address, phone number, and hours of operation (if applicable). All of this information will help your page appear in Facebook & Google searches when people are looking for companies like yours, which can increase your Facebook likes even more!
  1. Post engaging content

It’s important to post engaging, entertaining, and compelling content on your business Page. Facebook constantly updates its Edgerank algorithm and rewards posts that receive engagement (likes, comments, shares) with increased reach. Facebook will reward your content by letting your engaged users’ friends know on their newsfeed that they’ve engaged with your content.  Recently Facebook announced that it will update its algorithm to track how long users spend reading posts. Videos are the best type of content to post on Facebook for capturing attention and driving engagement. But make sure the videos are at an optimal length to grab your followers’ attention and keep it long enough to digest the content.
  1. Page URL

Take a quick look at your Facebook business page now – what does the URL in the browser bar look like? If it’s something like this: https://www.facebook.com/kente-house-ghana -162166373456878/ (see all the numbers at the end?) then you’re missing an opportunity. In less than a minute you can easily change the web address of your Facebook page to something a bit more memorable, like www.facebook.com/kente-house-ghana. Click the ‘About’ tab below your Facebook cover photo, then click the Facebook Web Address option and type whatever you’d like to appear after the Facebook.com URL.
  1. Make your Facebook business page easy to find

People looking for your brand on Facebook will be searching for your brand name. Keep things simple and make it easy for them to find you by using your brand name as your Page name. Don’t add unnecessary keywords—these will just make your Page look spammy rather than like a legitimate business presence for your brand. Your username should be consistent with your handle on other social channels will make it easier for people who already follow you elsewhere to track you down on Facebook. Like your Page name, your username should be closely related to the name of your business. Someone who has just discovered a valuable tip or strategy on your website or blog is primed to want to hear more from you. Make it easy for them to connect with you on Facebook by adding Facebook follow and Like buttons to your site.
  1. Know when to post content on your Facebook page

Think about how often you post on Facebook. Is it once per day? Once a week? Only once a month? You also need to analyze the time of day you’re posting on Facebook. All of this matters when it comes to increasing engagement and getting more likes. Research shows that higher engagements happen later in the week and on the weekends. If you think about it, this makes sense. People have jobs and are usually busier during the week. But as the weekend nears, they may be getting a little bit antsy and slack off if they are ahead of schedule. So they can spend more time on Facebook. People are also happier on the weekends so they are more inclined to like, share, and comment on your posts. You also need to consider who likes your Facebook page. For example, if 90% of your followers are from Ghanaian, posting at 3 AM EST isn’t going to yield high engagement rates. Use automation tools to schedule your Facebook posts at the most optimal times so you won’t have to do it manually each day. Your posting schedule also needs to remain consistent. Stick to your strategy. Don’t post regularly for a month or so and then go silent. But you don’t want to spam your followers and post too frequently either.
  1. Posts on your Facebook page should be kept short and concise

Nobody is going to read massive blocks of text on social media. There is just too much for them to see from their friends and family. Reading long posts from brand pages won’t be at the top of their priority lists. Social media platforms such as Facebook are designed for users to scroll through content quickly. You also need to consider how many Facebook users are accessing content from their mobile devices: Paragraphs on your computer screen will appear even longer on mobile devices. Plus, long blocks of text are difficult to read. If you’re currently posting long content, it may be the reason why you’re not getting enough likes. A good rule of thumb is that shorter is always better. If people see your posts aren’t long, they will be less hesitant to like your page.
  1. Invite your existing community

You have a community that’s easily within reach: employees, friends, current customers, business & industry partners. They are likely to be your first advocates and find your content interesting and shareable. Why not send a friendly personal invitation to ask them to like your company’s Facebook Page if they haven’t already? One way to do this is by simply adding a call-to-action in a personal e-mail (i.e. “P.S. Like us on Facebook”). Add a slide at the end of your presentations or webinars to encourage customers and business partners to remind them to like your Facebook Page, if they haven’t already. As for your industry ‘buddies,’ find their Facebook Pages and Like them as your brand. To do this log into Business Manager > click the Use Page button > click the Use Facebook As Your Page link (top right, in a skinny grey bar). It’s a great way to Like your industry partners, colleagues, & other influencer brands. Plus you’ll be able to view your News Feed as your brand and keep watch on what’s happening in your industry on Facebook.
  1. Use Facebook Ads to reach more people

Facebook offers very detailed ad targeting, so you can laser-focus your advertising efforts and make the most of your ad spend. Putting your brand in front of your ideal audience is a great way to pick up more Facebook Likes. By boosting a post, you can extend the audience beyond people who already like your Page. This can be a great option for a post that’s already proved to be compelling. It can bring in a large number of Facebook likes from people who already follow your Page. Facebook also offers campaign objectives relevant to every type of business. Since this post is about how to get Facebook Likes, we’ll focus on the Engagement objective, which is designed to expose your ad to a wide audience to increase the number of posts or Page Likes. Go to your business manager page for options on running a campaign or boosting posts.
  1. Run competitions, or promotions on your Facebook page

Your business can run competitions or promotions on its Facebook to build an audience and get more likes. Even better, liking a post is a popular form of contest entry and one that’s allowed under Facebook’s contest rules  If you decide to do so, make sure your competition follows Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines. Also ensure your competition is fun, easy, relevant to your audience, and encourages users to share their participation with friends. Don’t forget to utilize Facebook Ads to promote your contest. And If you use an app to run your contest, make sure it’s mobile-optimized.
  1. Use social media monitoring to measure, analyze, and learn

Use Facebook Insights or other automated apps to find useful metrics on your Page performance. You can view metrics like reach, the number of engaged users, engagement rate, and new Page likes. These metrics will help you understand what’s driving your likes and engagement so that you can adjust your posts accordingly.   Did I forget anything? Have a question about any of the suggestions above? Please add a comment and, if you like the post, feel free to share it with your friends. Now that you know how to get more likes for your Facebook Page, it’s time to increase your Facebook reach content. Contact us today! Please Don’t forget to Like us on Facebook if you haven’t already.          

Favicon: Small But Mighty For Brand Awareness

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What is a favicon?

A favicon (pronounced “fave-icon”) is a small iconic image that represents a website in web browsers. If you take a look at the address bar of your browser right now, I’m sure you’ll see several favicons. Well-designed ones are styled to feature a logo, the first letter of the company name or simply an image that reflects the specifics of the website it represents. In the small chance that a website doesn’t have a favicon, the browser will display a generic browser symbol. Here are examples from famous brands: Favicons: Examples from world-known brands Which of these favicons do you recognise? While favicons may seem small and insignificant, having one can make a huge difference in terms of user experience and online branding. In this post, we’ll figure out where favicons come from, what kinds are used in modern browsers, and how to create one for your website.

Why is a favicon important for your brand?

Favicons attract user attention and boost brand awareness. If users visit a website with a memorable favicon a couple of times, they will then easily distinguish it from others in the future. Think about a famous brand you interact with daily—like Facebook or Instagram—you should be able to easily picture its favicon with your eyes closed. Again, If you‘re like me and tend to keep dozens of tabs open simultaneously—ultimately being unable to read their names—favicons are your best friends that make finding the website you need much easier. The favicons for Facebook and Twitter have look exactly like their respective logos. So, does it mean that all you need is to minimize your logo image and upload it onto your website? Let’s dive deep into all the technical details and talk about what it takes to create a favicon.

What type of image is a favicon? 

Although most modern browsers will recognize PNG, GIF, and JPG formats for favicons, Internet Explorer currently does not. It is recommended to use the Microsoft ICO format, which works in all browsers.

What size should your favicon be? 

Another good reason to use the ICO format is that it can contain multiple favicons of different sizes in one ICO file. It is best to have, at minimum, a 16×16 pixel version. I usually include 32×32 and 48×48 versions as well. That way, if users drag the bookmark to their desktop they will see a nicely scaled version of the icon instead of the 16×16 version stretched out. Google recommends going with the largest possible resolution of 192×192. At the moment, Google simply stretches existing low-resolution favicons when a bigger size is required. As a result, all of the images look blurry and take away from the user experience.

General tips to consider

So, if you don’t want to lose out on clicks, consider “upgrading” your site’s favicon. And here are some general guidelines you should stick to:
  • Use a square icon.
  • A favicon should represent only your brand and not contain inappropriate symbols (like swastikas) — otherwise, Google will not show it and will use the generic symbol instead.
  • Favicon file should be accessible to Google crawlers.

How to create a favicon

Although there are many ways to create favicons, the easiest is to use an online tool. Use an existing image of, for example, your logo and upload it to an online generator like a site heaalth checker. Once you download the generated favicon, all that’s left is to add it to your site. 

How to link to your favicon

Now that you’ve created a nice little favicon, you need to tell web browsers and other applications where to find it. Adding this line to the <head> section of your HTML will ensure that your favicon will be found: The location of the favicon isn’t really important, as long as the href attribute is accurate. Most are, however, placed in the root directory (the directory that contains the homepage). Keep in mind that it is not necessary to have multiple instances of the same favicon on one website. If you add a favicon without linking to it within your HTML, you may notice that some browsers will still find and display it. This only occurs if the favicon is in the root directory. It isn’t good to rely on this method, so if you want to make sure that applications will see your favicon, <link> to it!

Conclusion

Favicons help websites stay afloat in the vast ocean of online resources, plus make them more attractive and professional in the eyes of the visitors. If you need any help with yours, turn to our website audit for help. Among other things, it can run a full technical check-up for your website that includes finding your favicon. Well, your favicon is a very small detail that can affect the public perception of your site and brand, their recognition and even the volume of traffic it gets from search, so don’t underestimate it.  It’s worth every second that you invest in it.  

Meta Description: Writing The Perfect One

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Writing the perfect meta description

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:   "<yoastmark   "<yoastmark 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): Preview of meta description in WordPress  

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.  

These Free Website Tools Will Grow Your Business

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Use your website to grow in Ghana

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, A Must Use Digital Marketing Strategy To Help Boost Sales In Your Business

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Companies providing email marketing services in Ghana

Email marketing

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?

Agencies in Ghana to help you with your digital marketing strategy 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 companies in Ghana 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!

Why is Digital Marketing Better Than Traditional Marketing Practices?

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Digital marketing vrs Traditional marketing History has seen that marketing of a product has always been an essential aspect. This is the best way to get your brand name out and make sales. If we go a decade back, entrepreneurs used traditional marketing techniques to advertise their products. For example, ads in newspapers or magazines, T.V commercials, billboards, business cards, radios, etc. But today, there is a growing transition to digital marketing which primarily has its full focus on the INTERNET. To market the products digital marketing uses promotion techniques like social networks, own websites, etc. Instead of having tit-bits of either of the two, a proportionate mixture of the two conventions seems apt. By combining traditional and digital marketing, you put the right ad in front of the right people and give them a reason to visit both your website and your physical store. Although both share similar goals, that is, to attract qualified customers and build brand awareness in the market yet the debate continues as to whether digital marketing is overpowering and surpassing traditional marketing or not. One of the basic difference between the two is that digital marketing focuses on the web and the other focuses on media like print, television, radio, and direct mail. Since the former focuses on the web it is easily measurable, that is, you can find out the exact number of times your site has been visited, which page the customer liked the most, how long they surfed it and more. However, this is not the case with traditional marketing; It’s not easy to know how many people heard your radio spots or read your newspaper ad. Digital marketing is also cost-effective as it gives your business the power to advertise effectively against larger competitors, reach a wider audience of qualified customers, generate new revenue and get the data you need to accurately measure your ROI (return on investment). In this way handling the accounts department of your firm becomes a cakewalk. But the same cannot be done using traditional marketing. Now the period of printed sales flyer going viral is gone. These days we hardly hear any traditional technique going viral like the digital one. Like when your website content and digital ads appear on Google, Bing and Yahoo, also on the social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. your message and brand fall under the possibility of getting viewed by potential customers which will increase the effectiveness of your total marketing investment. This way the potential for the exposure increases tremendously again helping the business to prosper.
As a customer, we too get annoyed by the repeated phone calls from a particular firm or by the frequent visit of salesmen at our doorstep. This means that traditional marketing might become aggravating. But with the widespread exposure digital marketing produces many ways to target people who are interested in a particular product. Hence, Digital marketing sets a stage for customer engagement. This will further give you the opinions of your customers, that is, the real-time results which will help in the refinement of your strategy that will lead to brand development. In the present scenario, even if your firm does not sell online it must be found online if any customer is researching a purchase. Such is the power of digital marketing in the society. Therefore it can be concluded that digital marketing paves way for all kinds of businesses and also makes the consumers feel secured better than the traditional marketing.

Are You Blowing Your AdWords Budget?

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Ranking organically in search engine results can be hard work which is why many businesses couple their organic efforts with an AdWords campaign. AdWords is form of PPC (pay per click) advertising which means your ads go straight to the top of the search engine above organic results. However, you have to pay for the privilege so it’s important you spend your budget wisely. As experts in providing PPC services to our clients, we’re here to share common mistakes businesses make with their AdWords budget so you can avoid them in the future.

Setting the budget too high

A lot of businesses start with unrealistic expectations of what they’ll get out of their AdWords campaign and allocate too much money in the first instance. Start small with your budget and then monitor how much your campaign increases your turnover. If it’s working well, you can always allocate more money to the budget.

Not using targeting

There are a number of targeting options available on AdWords and you should take advantage of them to get more bang for your buck so you’re not spending money where you don’t need to. For example, if you provide services in only a certain area, set your location targeting to reflect this. Otherwise, you’ll start popping up all over the internet for users who can’t use your service because they’re not in the right location. If you don’t take advantage of the tracking options offered through AdWords, you’ll have no idea if your money is being spent wisely. Take the time to get to know how tracking works so you can keep an eye on your campaigns. If you find that a particular campaign isn’t working that well, you can pause it and focus on something else. Keeping a close eye on your tracking means that you can make the changes you need to so your budget works hard for you.

Not developing negative keywords

Your negative keywords list on AdWords is a list of keywords that you don’t want your ads showing up for. Take the time to grow your list of negative keywords so you don’t waste money having your ads show up in searches that aren’t actually relevant to your business. For example, if you have a business that provides luxury furniture, you can include phrases such as ‘cheap furniture’ and ‘budget furniture’ in your negative keywords as people who use these search terms won’t be interested in your products.

Linking to the wrong landing page

The whole point of your AdWords campaign is to increase traffic to your website to facilitate conversions. With that in mind, there’s no point spending money on ads which are going to take users to the incorrect landing page. For example, if you advertise a product in your ad, make sure the link takes users directly to that product rather than your homepage. If you need a helping hand with your AdWords management, SEOGHANA can help. We’ll get your AdWords campaign off the ground and continually monitor the results to ensure maximum efficacy for your business. If you’re ready to appear right at the top of the search engine results, call us and we can get you started! For help with all things on PPC click here

How Digital Tool Is Disrupting Traditional Advertising

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seoghanaIn the past, many industries and businesses resorted to the monopolistic paid analogue television form of advertising and the increase demand on TV ads lead many cable networks to raise charges that come with it. The advent of the internet shifted the desire of terrestrial analogue television to the digital platform especially in the western world which was higly a considerable trend and affordable for its operators. In Africa the digital transition in broadcasting went through a mileage before it was potentially (or still) thriving to be accepted. Hitherto, it was able to improve both the quantity and quality of what is available on TV and to increase the number of people who will be able to watch it. The recent establishment of digital radios and television has become very accessible to media young entrepreneurs who have the passion to enter into broadcasting. Although many advertisers are reluctant to shift a large proportion of their advertising budgets to the Internet because they still view terrestrial television advertising as the main vehicle for building a brand. The use and brand awareness on the use of digital marketing has really being an eye opener to many industries on the benefits they tend to derive by shifting to digital marketing.   Digital Marketing  You can’t deny it. Digital marketing is shifting the all-hailed traditional forms of marketing, with emphasis the number of people that used to stand in queues at the popular news stand is dramatically receding into oblivion; the over-charge cost of giant of raising and hoisting billboards by advertising companies is dwindling; the overprice form of television and radio advertising and moreover the various form of direct email or junk marketing is now beginning to be a thing of the past. People are consuming more digital content daily now! – using their smart phones, desktops computers, laptops, tablets, and more. The thing is, companies need to recognize that they need to alter their marketing strategies to adapt to this. Why do you think that digital marketing is so important? Take SEOGHANA, for example. Services we offer include digital marketing which utilize research, strategy, data, planning and persistence to customize each campaign. Digital marketing means that you get a custom strategy that will boost your digital channels so that your business can dominate. Digital marketing is also more eco-friendly than more traditional forms of marketing. There is no need for any materials to be consumed which means that there is less harm done to the environment to get the name of your business out there. Your business is immediately responsible for sustainability. Today, your digital footprint is much more important than the physical footprint of your business.