Category: Blog

Have you ever felt like you’re in the Wizard of Oz? Spun up by a tornado, and dropped without a semblance of where you are or where you should go? There are a ton of scenarios that put us in this position when small businesses get into the world of Google PPC marketing. So many different things to keep track of, so many people, companies, sales reps, family members and friends telling us to do 100 different things, and promising you’ll be the next Apple, Uber, Home Depot, etc.

We, at MediaWorks, want to put a stop to this head-spinning. We’ve talked at length about web design, development tactics, web functionality, and SEO. Now we want to give you a guide on paid digital ads, specifically Google PPC marketing. There are a ton of different ways to pay for ads online, but Google is still the enormous elephant in the room.

Your business isn’t a multi-billion-dollar international industry leader, so there’s no way it makes sense to actually pay for ads, right? Ehh…you’re probably leaving a ton of money, traffic, and market share on the table if that’s your mindset.

Granted, Google PPC marketing isn’t for everyone. There are scenarios where it absolutely makes sense to invest money in other places, but hear me out. These might not apply to you, but here are four reasons you should reconsider:

Google PPC Marketing is Accessible

Most brands hesitate to pull the trigger on SEM because they think the costs might outweigh the benefits. But the costs don’t have to be as high as you think they do. In fact, with the average keyword bid (across industries) is between 2-3 dollars per click so budgets don’t have to break the bank.

There are also hard ceilings on monthly budgets, so if you’ve got $100 in your marketing budget, you can make it impossible for it to cost you more than that. So with a low barrier to entry and control on your side, it can be easier to get started than you believe.

Google Ads Generate Quick Results

Unlike other forms of online marketing such as SEO that takes longer to deliver increased traffic, Google PPC marketing can provide immediate results. It will take you one business day to create and launch an ad. And after that, you can literally watch as traffic to your site increases. You’ll generate as much traffic as your budget allows, and is only limited by the number of searches for the keywords you’ve bid on.

Google PPC Marketing is Consistent

Here’s the thing about business…it’s nice when you know what’s going on. It allows you to plan, to properly allocate resources, and have the freedom to invest in your business when you know that everything else is taken care of.

The great thing about Google PPC marketing is it allows for consistency on two fronts: one, your ad budget is set, and you know you won’t overspend, and two, it allows for consistent traffic and (depending on industry and product/service) predictable revenue. Sure, there will still be fluctuation, but it allows you to tap a market/audience that you didn’t have before. One that will be there as long as your ads are running.

Google PPC Marketing = Qualified Leads

If there’s one thing we hear all the time, it’s: who even clicks on ads? I know I don’t…

This is where you’re wrong. In fact, the vast majority of search engine users are wrong. Most users can’t even tell the difference between paid and organic results. And, even when they can, the motivated buyers actually prefer paid results.

A recent study found that when someone is ready to purchase a product or service, Google Ads traffic is 35% more likely to convert. So what does that mean for you? It means when you run your ad campaign, (when properly targeted) the leads you get are 35% more likely to fill out a lead form or make a purchase and they spend nearly twice as much. Those are the results we see every day with our client’s paid ads.

Below shows the total clicks, leads (conversions), revenue (Conv. value) and cost of all of Mediaworks PPC clients combined from last year. As you can clearly see, our clients had a good year!

Final Verdict

I want to preface this by saying that Google PPC marketing is not the end-all-be-all of digital marketing. But is Google PPC marketing right for you? Probably, what I can say with certainty, is that it is a pivotal piece in the digital marketing puzzle.

Even if you’re a company with multi-million dollar products with a 24-month sales cycle, PPC marketing adds to the funnel. It gives fuel to the fire while an SEO campaign is ramping up. It allows you to precisely target demographics, geographic areas, time-of-day ranges, device types, and very specific keyword phrases that other forms of marketing can’t.

But most importantly, it gives you control and measurability where a lot of other campaigns can’t. You can see, in real-time, what works and what doesn’t. It lets you put a finger on the pulse of your audience, and hone in on (and assist with) the path to growth for your company.

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Arvada, Denver, Aurora, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, Bing & Google PPC marketing, and content marketing.

Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

Metadata? SERP? Ad spend? Conversion demographics? Head spinning? There’s so many terms and numbers to track when you’re looking at the performance of your websites and digital marketing campaigns. We’ll break down what the differences are between search engine optimization and search engine marketing. There’s a lot to consider, and it’s important you know what you’re looking at when evaluating what you are doing, or what you should be doing.

What is SEO?

SEO, from a high-level view is fairly simple to understand. The biggest question that’s being answered is “How trustworthy and relevant is this website in the area of ________?” But you also have to remember that it’s not your customers who are asking this question. It’s a cold, heartless, non-thinking algorithm that’s housed on thousands of Google servers around the world.

So pragmatically speaking, we’re really asking, “How trustworthy and relevant does Google think this website is?”

The answer to that question can be found in a number of checklist items, as well as a few vague points put out by Google. Is your site secured and encrypted? Is your site mobile responsive (note: this does not just mean that your site just works on mobile devices)? Does your site have content? Is your content relevant? Is your content current? When was your last update? How many other sites use your site as a resource? Are you adding value or using hard sales language?

SEO has more to do with you establishing an online presence and a reputation of credibility in the digital community than with anything else. Fortunately, it is not a pay-to-play environment, and anyone and everyone can have great SEO. That is a very different environment than the world of search engine marketing.

What is SEM?

SEM is also fairly easy to understand from a high level. Simply put, you’re erecting digital billboards that can only be seen when people search specific keywords. In this context, we’re going to focus on Google for the same reason as we did with SEO: they process roughly 90% of all online searches worldwide.

SEM, from a Google perspective, simply means you bid on keyword phrases in order to serve ads to those searches that include the keyword phrase you’re bidding on. As with any auction, the highest bid wins, and in this case, gets the top display spot on search results.

Here’s the thing about SEM…they are focused on those prospective customers who are already in the buying cycle, and are likely looking to make a purchase, or commit to a provider right now (or at least quickly, relative to the sales cycle time of your product/service).

And that’s great, because those are precisely the people who actively click on ads. In a recent study, 65% of people ready to buy chose to click on paid ads vs organic results. We’ll talk about bidding strategies in a later blog, but these visitors are generally using active search phrases vs passive ones (i.e. “where to buy widgets in Denver” vs “what do widgets cost”).

The other thing to realize about SEM is that you can see results quickly, and I mean really quickly. Whereas an SEO campaign may take months to mature and bear fruit, SEM campaigns can get you new customers in hours. Not only that, but with a properly executed campaign, the average return on ad spend (ROAS) is up to 4:1.

So which one is right for me?

Here’s the answer you weren’t hoping for…both. They both have different objectives, and different value points. They both help your business, but in different ways with different audiences.

A quick breakdown:

SEO

• Long-term, brings in more traffic.
• Grows sales funnel
• It often will have a better return on investment over the long-term
• Highly sustainable
• It has a broader reach

SEM

• Gives you more control over the results you achieve.
• It allows you to achieve results faster and enables you to measure success.
• PPC provides you with real-time feedback.
• Unlike SEO practices that are updated or changed from time to time, SEM tactics are more stable and predictable. Even if there are updates, they won’t have a significant impact on your paid ads.
• PPC agencies in Denver will help guide you to set your daily budget depending on what you want you to achieve and how much you are willing to spend.  The good news is that you can begin with a very small budget – and measure results – and expand from there at whatever pace you want.

Still not sure?

So there you have it…a beginner’s guide to SEO vs SEM. There’s still an entire universe of learning to do before being an expert in either arena. That’s why it’s so important to reach out to an agency with a verifiable track record of getting results in both areas. If not to have them set up campaigns for you, at least to walk you through what the heck you’re looking at.

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

You may have heard the term metadata bouncing off the tongues of SEOs and web developers and immediately put it in the back of your mind. After all, in the ever-evolving world of SEO, there always seems to be new techno-jargon to try to keep up with. Still, you know you need to improve your online presence. After all, there are 63,000 search queries performed every second! That’s 5.5 billion searches per day, according to Internet Live Stats, 2019. Let’s break down exactly what this bit of techy lingo means, and why your website needs it if it wants to climb to page one of Google.

What Is Metadata?

Metadata is all the background information hidden in your website’s code. While your customers may never see it, Google’s search engine will. That’s why metadata is a crucial component of SEO 101.

Think of metadata as the information that’s stored when you make a phone call. You can view the date and time of the phone call, the length of the call, and even the GPS coordinates of the place you made the phone call. However, the callers rarely view this information. It simply gets stored.

Why Is Metadata So Important For SEO?

Unlike your phone call, Google does view the metadata stored on your website. This data is used by Google to learn what your website is all about, how often its updated, and whether it’s a valuable website in your niche.

In other words, Google doesn’t just read the words you post on your website. It reads all the technical information stored in the background – information you might not know is there. That information can be updated by our Arvada SEO agency to reflect the front-facing content of your website. By updating the metadata, our developers can help your message be seen by Google. In return, Google will serve up links to your website more often to potential customers.

An Example of How Google Uses Metadata

Let’s say you’ve recently experienced a leak in your roof. You start to solve the problem by searching for “roofers in Denver metro.”

As you can see from this image, Google returned 2.8 million results for Denver roofers. Denver is a big city, but it’s certainly not big enough to warrant 2.8 million roofers!

This is an example of Google searching the content and metadata of websites to find all the sites that mention roofers in Denver.

It is important to note that Google doesn’t discriminate when it comes to metadata. These 2.8 million results are the result of Google finding all the sites that mention roofing, Denver, metro, or any combination of those keywords, and then ranking all of them. So if a site for an actual Denver roofing company has poor SEO, it’s entirely possible it could be ranked below a restaurant with rooftop seating in Denver!

In order for a roofing company to compete with those 2.8 million results, it would have to employ an SEO agency in Arvada like MediaWorks to get behind the scenes and leverage metadata.

Don’t Leave Your Metadata Blank!

By default, metadata is a blank field. The designers who made your original website may not have a thorough understanding of SEO. That’s why an Arvada SEO agency like MediaWorks is so important. We take the blank fields where metadata belongs and maximize it, making it easy for Google to read and understand.

SEO 101 states that search engine optimization is a competitive and technical field. There’s so much more to SEO than having a nice-looking website. Be sure to capitalize on all the components of your website, especially the ones you can’t see.

Amazing results come from incredible SEO knowledge. Let the experts help you grow your business so you can get back to managing it. After all, you have enough on your plate. We’ll take care of your online presence.

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

Is content really that important to your site? Your business? A strong digital marketing strategy is made up of many different components. From social media to search engines, it can be difficult to know where you really need to focus your attention. While each piece of your digital marketing strategy is important for effectively promoting your business online, some elements will be more crucial than others.

The big takeaway here, is that content fuels everything else you’re doing. A cliché metaphor? Don’t mind if I do! If your business is a car, your website is the engine, SEO is the cruise control, PPC campaigns are the accelerator, a well-planned marketing strategy is the steering wheel. But what good is a car with no gas? You guessed it, content is what makes it all go.

So why is it so important?

Content Educates Your Audience

Today’s consumers are more likely than ever to fast forward the sales process for you by doing nearly everything but purchasing before they ever even think to contact a business. Downside for businesses, where are they getting the information that sales reps and literature used to provide? All from websites. In fact, 89% of buying decisions are made online, even if the customer purchases in a store or by phone.

This makes it all the more important for customers to come to YOU to get their information. That’s why the content you post should be valuable and educational.

Your educational content will likely take the form of blog posts, product pages, your home page, and your company’s ‘about’ pages. However, it may also include tutorials, reviews, and other content that provides your customers with the resources they need to make educated purchasing decisions. It should focus on teaching your target audience more about your business and offerings.

To educate your audience through the content you create, you want to focus on the questions or concerns they may have. When addressing your target audience, consider what problems they might be trying to solve and how your products or services relieve those issues. Your educational content should focus on the solutions you provide, and how you can make their lives easier.

Content Fuels SEO

Search engines are a go-to resource just about any time someone has a question or concern. This means that optimizing your content to appear in relevant searches can help you attract new leads to your website. However, in order to fuel your SEO strategy, you need to have strong content.

SEO revolves around keyword placement, backlinks, and website visitors, and your content enables you to create web pages that fuel each of these components. Without content, you’d have nowhere to place your keywords, no page for your visitors to read, and no information for other websites to link to. However, if you’re creating awesome pieces of content that your target audience is excited to engage with, you’ll find it’s not hard to reach the top of the search engine results lists.

Content creation and SEO should always go hand-in-hand. When you consider your readers first and foremost, you will be able to create something that provides clear value to your audience. If your target audience is engaging heavily with you, your SEO strategy will be that much more successful.

Content Drives Social Media Strategies

Your social media platforms are one of the best ways to connect with your target audience. As a powerful tool for establishing genuine relationships with your customer base, social media gives you a direct pathway to have conversations, get feedback, and push new leads to your website. However, this is all fueled by strong content creation.

Your content enables you to take your social media conversations deeper. While there is only so much you can say in a Tweet or Facebook post, great content encourages your audience to follow through to learn more. This helps you establish a better connection with your target audience. Plus, you can also gain more visitors to your website, where you can collect their information and bring them into your sales funnel.

Your social media strategy should leverage content that provides a high amount of value to your target audience. While content is crucial for developing strong connections, you also need to remember that your audience wants information they can participate in. If you’re simply posting links to your site, you can’t expect to see high amounts of engagement.

Content Builds Backlinks

Backlinks, or links from an external website back to your site, are an important part of bringing new traffic to your site. A backlink to your site can encourage a visitor of another article or website to click through and learn more about you.

Of course, you’ll only see backlinks when your content contains ideas, opinions, or information that is worth sharing. If what you’re creating is mediocre or simply relaying information that your audience can find elsewhere on the web, you’re going to struggle to get other websites to link to you. This means that you’ll have a more difficult time attracting new attention and establishing authority online.

Backlinks can also contribute to your SEO strategy. They show Google and other search engines that you create content worth recommending. The more backlinks you have, the more authority a search engine will assume your page holds:

To encourage backlinks, you want to ensure that your topics are unique. While there may be similar information already available online, you want to put your own spin on each piece. Adding your unique perspective can ensure that your information stands out, helping you attract more attention. You can also increase your number of backlinks by focusing only on creating high-quality content. This includes developing harder-to-create pieces like infographics or videos. Since they take more effort to create, other sites will be less likely to produce them as well, instead choosing to link to you.

Conclusion

Your content is the foundation of your digital marketing strategy. Without it, you’re going to struggle to attract the attention you need to collect leads and convert them into paying customers. When you create great pieces of content, however, you’ll be more successful in your other digital marketing efforts.

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

What Should it Cost?

When you are pricing out the average website cost, keep in mind that the most expensive isn’t always the best and the cheapest doesn’t mean compromise.

Imagine you just hired a new salesperson who works around the clock, day and night, promoting your business to prospects with perfect consistency. Given the right tools, this salesperson continually improves with minimal supervision and intervention on your part.

Whenever a prospect wants information about your business at midnight, and you’re sleeping, your star employee is there with a big smile and all the information your prospect desires.

Now imagine this new sales rep doesn’t want to work on commission, doesn’t want a salary, and could care less about any of the benefits your company offers. All they want is an upfront fee of $12,000 and they’ll continue to work hard for you for as long as you let them.

Would that be worth it to you?

Of course, it would. Your company website is this dream sales rep — well, a great company website.

When you are looking for Arvada web development companies, consider your budget and what you need most.

What Are You Paying For?

Well, when you hire a professional, you are paying for their time and expertise. Again, just because someone charges $500 an hour doesn’t make them the best, it only makes them the most expensive.

Expertise is likely what you are looking for. You want someone who knows what they are doing from a reputable firm with reasonable prices. You should be able to get a free consultation, so that should help you gauge whether they are right for you or not.

Size Does Matter

The cost of your site will largely depend on what you need and how big you need it. If you require several pages and multiple features, then that will reflect in the price.

Each website design starts with a basic concept and goes from there. The more you need to be customized, the more it will cost. It’s a good idea to find out if extra features you may need are available in a package like payment plans for a certain number of pages.

Great Content

Your website needs content. This means blogs, events, contact information, an ‘about us’ page, histories, product pages, and so on. If you don’t have any or if it’s outdated, then that will need to be factored in the website cost.

This can also include graphics, photos of your product or store, staff pictures and even pictures or videos of your product or service in action. Whether you upload and add these yourself or not, you need to consider they will take up space and more pages cost more.

Helpful Website Cost Hints

Make your budget and stick to it. Watch out for companies that keep adding costs or try to up-sell you.

Within your annual budget, you need to remember that your website needs maintenance, extras, updating and there are also fees for licenses and hosting. As technology advances, so will your website.

There may be certain elements you can do yourself when it comes to content, simple upgrades and function.

Actual Website Costs

A reasonable cost for these services could start around $4000 and up to about $14,000. That should allow you to get what you need to customize your website to work in the best possible way.

Don’t be afraid to ask about discounts, incentives, feature packages, and payment plans. Some design companies may not need the entire fee right away, which opens the door for a bit more wiggle room regarding design and extras.

More and more, your website is the heart of your business. Don’t scrimp when it comes to design, but don’t go broke, either. Keep a reasonable budget in mind and plan for what you need before consulting the experts.

No human alive can do what a great website can for your business, yet, so many businesses look at it as one of the first areas to cut corners.

Your website is the smartest and cheapest salesperson you’ll ever hire. Treat it right.

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

In today’s competitive digital market, just having a beautiful website just isn’t enough. Does your competitor have a blog on their site?

If so, that means their chances of ranking higher in Google are greater than yours. If not, that’s great news! Get ahead of the competition with an authoritative and informative SEO blog.

What’s SEO Blogging All About?

Personal blogs and online journals have gone the way of the buffalo. People don’t read blogs just for fun anymore. They’re looking for answers to specific questions.

Today, blogs are less about you as the writer and more about your customers. What problems do they have? How can you help them solve them? Your SEO blog is your chance to show your customer that your product or service can help them – and that you’re an authority on the subject.

Does Blogging Really Help SEO?

The short answer is: Yes!

Blogging helps SEO by allowing you to answer questions your customers are searching for before they have a chance to ask someone else. When customers search for information that is related to your product or service, Google’s algorithms search for the most relevant answers. The more relevant your blog post is to the question, the more likely Google is to deliver it.

How Do I Answer Questions with an SEO Blog?

It’s more intuitive than you think. As a small business owner, you know your product best. What questions do you hear your customers ask everyday? How would they best search for them in Google?

Simply take those “keywords” and develop content around them. This is proven to help drive interested customers to your website.

Finding Competitive Keywords

So you have an understanding of what your target audience is searching for, but how do you stand out from the competition?

Answer: you focus on keywords with high monthly search volume and low competition. Ask MediaWorks to give you that information – they have it at their fingertips!

If you’re struggling to find keywords in your niche with low competition, try using “long-tail keywords” instead.

What Are Long-Tail Keywords?

Long-tail keywords are typically easier to rank for than simple one-word keywords. That’s because they answer something more specific.

For example, let’s say you own a lawn mowing company. Instead of trying to target the keyword, “lawn mowing service,” you can answer specific questions by targeting the long-tail keywords, “lawn mowing service cost,” “commercial lawn mowing in Denver,” or “lawn mowing service for the large lawns.”

Building Content Around Keywords

Now that you have your low competition keywords, you can start building content.

Continuing with our lawn mowing example, you might write an article titled, “How Much Does Commercial Lawn Mowing Cost?” From there, you can explain what commercial lawn mowing is, what levels of service you offer, and how each situation is different.

End your article with a call-to-action. Ask the customer to contact you for a quote.

Optimizing Your Blog for SEO

Now that you understand why blogging is vital to your digital marketing strategy, let’s get into how to really make it work for you.

With a clear idea of your keyword or keyphrase, you’ll want to include it in the areas that Google’s website crawlers search.

– Include your keyword in your post title

– Make your post 300 words or longer

– Simplify your URL structure and make sure it contains your keyword

-Link internally and externally

-Use your keyword in your headings

Don’t use your keyword more than once or twice per hundred words – this is called over-optimization or keyword stuffing and Google can penalize you for it!

Of course, there’s always more you can do to optimize your blog, but this is enough to get you going in the right direction.

Boost Your Reach With Arvada’s Premier Digital Marketing Services

As you may have gathered from this article, SEO blogging is just a part of your whole digital marketing strategy. It can be time-consuming and confusing. Your SEO blogging should be handled by the best. MediaWorks is Denver’s best digital marketing service. With a long track record of successful SEO campaigns, we work as a partner, not a vendor. Call us today!

We’ve established that having a website is important, and we know what it’s for; but there’s an even more important question to ask: Who is it for?

This question is even more important because knowing who your website is for determines essentially everything else about the site. It affects design, functionality, content, capabilities, web services staffed, sales integration, adjacent and dependent marketing…you get the idea. So, how do you figure it out?

Coverall + Generalities = Blah

If you don’t take the time to figure out who you want to/are speaking with, you can’t be specific with your content, and end up having to appeal to everyone that could possibly come in contact with your site. This creates the need for speaking in generalities and covering the spectrum in all or nearly all of your content.

You can’t dig into the meat of the issues your site visitors are having. You can’t show an understanding of the intricacies of problems they have. People want their problems to be solved, and digitally speaking, you have one first impression to convince them you can do it.

If people aren’t sure you can solve their problem, they have no reason to trust your brand. Sure, that doesn’t mean they’ll have a negative opinion, but are lukewarm and wary the feelings you want potential clients to come away from your site with?

Purpose + Persona = Success

We learned in the last lesson the different functions of a site. Is it going to be sales focused, service focused, investor focused? Any of these questions will drive the functionality of your site. But knowing who the core audience is determines what is on your site, where it is, and how much of it exists.

Many business owners take the mindset, “I don’t care who buys my stuff, as long as they’re buying it.” Which is fine, but you end up leaving tons of money on the table. By drilling down and specifically designing and marketing for a target persona, you end up with higher conversions and more sales.

So who is your target audience? Males? Generally too broad. Males living in the Rocky Mountain region? Still too broad. Male business owners based in the Denver metropolitan area, employing between 11-50 people, whose sales are between $1M-5M and have 1-24 fleet vehicles? Now you’re on the right track.

By getting specific with who you want to speak to, you’re not only able to better target your message, you’re able to speak to direct problems that your core audience is having. This is critically important because they don’t just read/hear/see your message, they connect to it.

Connecting to marketing messages and website copy and content is the gold mine of website success. This is the “it” factor of someone clicking an ad, adding a product to their cart, filling out a contact form, or being receptive to a sales call.

This ultimately leads to more interactions, better proportional web conversions, better sales, and higher revenues. Isn’t that kind of the point?

The Best Next Steps

Here’s your takeaways: First, figure out who you are talking to, and even if that’s the core audience you should be talking to. Second, figure out what the issues are plaguing that audience and what your solutions are to those issues (hint, it should be your product or service). Third, design your site and your content around those problems and solutions. Last, make sure you’re getting feedback about what you’re doing. Is the content connecting? Do you need to go deeper? What’s the best platform/channel to reach this audience? These are great feedback questions.

We cannot stress this part enough: all of these decisions need to be data driven! There is something to be said about gut feelings and intuition, but this process of determining target personas and curating content specifically for them is an ongoing process that is backed up or refuted with data. It is vitally important to follow the directions laid out by analytics and feedback in every stage.

So now you know. Persona is important and should be a part of any digital campaign. Find your audience and speak directly to them.

 

 

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

Ok, time for business 101. It’s not very controversial anymore to say that every company should have a website. Regardless of industry, business model, geography, or target customer, today’s world operates online.

 

As of 2018, nearly 90% of buying decisions start online, and the majority on search engines like Google. Despite this fact, close to 40% of small businesses don’t have a company website. From a business perspective, this represents an absolutely crazy number of missed revenue opportunities.

 

What is a website?

 

At it’s core, a website is simply a digital representation of your organization. A place with a digital “address,” where clients and potential customers can “visit” to learn more about a company or interact with it.

 

It’s a place where people can gather information about your products or services that informs the process in which they choose where to spend their money. So the question really becomes, do you want that site visitor to spend their money with you or your competition?

 

What is it for?

 

Deciding what the purpose of your website actually is will determine not only how it’s designed and built, but also how visitors interact with it.

 

Should they be able to purchase your goods and services directly from the site? Do you just want to show them who you are and what you stand for? Is your website going to serve in a strictly customer-service capacity?

 

This is where it gets a little more tricky. You see, there’s no right answer to this question. This is where you get to determine what is best for your business. There are extremely successful retail operations that have no ecommerce functionality on their site. There are customer-service firms that don’t offer online customer service. There are plenty of companies who have very simple sites that offer no online services.

 

But the possibility exists for you to add 100% of the capability of any brick-and-mortar location directly to your website. Quite literally, any transaction or communication can be completed over your site now.

 

How to decide?

 

Deciding to have a website is obviously the first step (is this even a decision, anymore?), followed closely by what it is you want the objective of your site to be. This decision could be an easy one for your company, depending on your business model. Or it could be much more complex, taking into account any number of factors. If you’re not sure exactly which features and functions would be beneficial to include on your site, you should contact an expert. They should use their experience in the digital field to translate your expertise in your company to an online medium.

 

Once you have your website up with it’s ideal functionality, you can optimize it to rank better on the search engines, and be back to the business of growing your organization.

 

 

 

MediaWorks Digital is a hometown agency focused exclusively on helping small businesses in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Colorado Springs, and across Colorado. We specialize in effective web design, development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing. Value is always a priority, and we don’t rely on one-sized-fits all web packages, quirky gimmicks, or hard sales. We are a partner in small-business success. Contact us today to see how we can help.

 

Back in 1991, we decided to launch MediaWorks, specializing in producing video, multi-image, print, logo, and animated-graphic business presentations.  Keeping up with technology and communication trends was one of our biggest priorities. We were one of the first users of Avid Technologies Editors.  As a Beta Test site, we helped provide critical feedback for the user experiences.

I thoroughly enjoy working with new technologies and determining how they can best be implemented and translated into business success, and in 1999, we started our web design and development services to fulfill the needs of small and mid-size business owners who want a professional, yet affordable web presence.

At MediaWorks we solve this problem by providing professional websites, up-front, honest pricing, and great one-on-one interaction with our clients.

We expanded to offer additional services such as search engine optimization, marketing services, and mobile application development. But our core focus has always been on beautiful, effective website design.

As founder and President of MediaWorks, my sole motivation is to make sure we provide you with high-quality services at competitive rates, and to establish a long-term and trustworthy relationship that is coupled with an exceptional customer service experience.

We have been very fortunate to work closely with our clients to develop custom programs that  help them successfully establish their online presence.

I look forward to working with you and I truly hope you decide to get in touch with us and let our team of experts help you. Even if you are not sure how we can help, just give us a call and we’ll be happy to advise you on how to effectively establish a better online presence that will help you grow your company and increase sales. 

We will always strive to be a helpful, productive member of the small-business community here in Colorado. We love getting to know you and your business, and are always reaching to be better for you.

 

President
MediaWorks Digital

Gone are the days of mailers and calls as a primary way to get noticed.

In 2018, Millennials spent between 4-6 hours per week on social media platforms*. Nearly 80% of Americans own smartphones** that allows them to access to browse the web, check email and social media, while getting bombarded with advertisements.

Today, non-profits need to invest in a dynamic website designed to help them meet their goals, along with a digital marketing strategy to get their message heard. The most innovative non-profits understand that investing time and money into amplifying their digital presence wins them support and furthers their mission.

Executing an online marketing strategy is not only more effective in collecting donations and engaging new and old donors – it is also more affordable than relying on traditional advertising campaigns and less time-consuming.

Nuts and Bolts of an Engaging Website

Mobile Responsiveness
Visit your organizations website on your phone. How does it look? Is it easy to read and access all the pages? Are you “pinching and zooming” just to see your page’s content? If so, your website is most likely not “mobile responsive”. A responsive website means no matter which device or screen size your website is displayed on, the formatting will automatically adjust correctly, and the site will remain easy to navigate. Mobile responsiveness is critical to maintaining healthy SEO and improved user experience.

Page Loading Speed
Google now considers page loading speed as part of their SEO criteria. When it comes to browsing online, a person’s attention span is only a little more focused than a gold fish. If your pages are taking more than 10 seconds to load, you’re missing valuable opportunities to engage your audience.

Does it all work?
Gone are the days of Adobe Flash! Ensure that all pictures and videos on your page load correctly and can be played. Does your website fill the screen? Is the layout clean and uncluttered? Nothing says “blah” like a giant grey box where a photo should be.  If you have giant grey boxes, call your local web development expert ASAP.

So, you have a functioning website. What good is it?

A dynamic, contemporary website is critical for non-profits to go from merely existing to making a measurable impact.

Amplify your message
If no one knows that you exist, you can’t expect to receive donations and fulfil your mission. Use your website as a tool to create a strong online presence. Prioritize practicing healthy SEO efforts, so people searching for ways to help their community find and support you.

Donor Engagement
Engaging donors is HUGE for non-profits. When donors invest in supporting you, they want to know that their money is being used to further your mission. Use your website to communicate your non-profit’s mission and values. Share stories, data, and media on your website to stakeholders and donors are updated so they remain invested in your mission.

Building New Support
The quest for more funding never ends! A dynamic website that leverages people’s desire to be involved with something that reflects their values and has impact will increase your support base. True – money makes the world go ‘round, but non-profit leaders know that the value of a committed volunteer is worth their weight in gold.

Create a base of monthly donations
Your website gives you the opportunity to tell your organization’s story in a visual, contextual, and emotional way – helping win the hearts and minds of potential donors and supporters. You can also explain the impact of each dollar donated and where exactly that money goes. The more transparent your organization is, and the more credibility and excitement you can inspire – the more money you will raise!

The goal of all of your digital marketing efforts are to drive traffic to your website Leverage a variety of platforms and publishing outlets to drive traffic to your website. Post content on social media with strong calls to action and use your blog to publish success stories people want to know about.

Make sure your website is functional, mobile responsive, is easy to navigate, and is utilized to serve your mission’s goals – and watch donations roll in!

* https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-much-time-do-people-spend-social-media-infographic
** https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/