Online Tools We Love to Boost Client Success

Any good handyman, plumber, or even a doctor, knows which tools to use to perform their job for optimal success. A handyman with no ladder, a plumber with no wrench or a doctor without a stethoscope most likely struggles to stay in business. But arm those knowledgeable experts with the tools they need, and what do you know? Oftentimes, they achieve success beyond measure!

A good content marketer may pontificate the most creative ideas, but if she fails to use the right tools to most effectively share those ideas with her target audience, then great success likely remains just out of reach. At Fight For Small, we’re constantly exploring and trying new tools and “tricks of the trade” to help our clients boost customer traffic. Here are three tools we love to get the best results:

Visual Content and Branded Images

Images are everything. Period.

No matter what content you create, more people will view it if it features an image. And even more importantly, those who viewed your content with images will remember 65 percent of it three days later, compared to just 10 percent of content without an image. Maybe it all goes back to those pretty picture books we used to learn to read as a child?

Pictures definitely tell a story, and more businesses are using photos, videos, infographics, charts, graphs, screenshots and other imagery to share that message with their customers. Visual content is one of the biggest trends for content marketing in 2017, which makes total sense when considering the Internet of Things. Consider these marketing statistics for visual content.

No matter what industry, niche or specialty, any business that uses good imagery in its content marketing will increase customer engagement and draw more attention to its content. Use a featured image or video at the top of every article, and sprinkle other images throughout (about every 350 words). Use a wide range of images to help tell your company’s story, and embed a nicely designed company logo on your customized content. Customers will recognize your brand with a certain style or visual flair.

While using stock images and memes seems like a quick and easy solution, try to avoid taking the easy way out. Create your own or let Fight For Small help you create customized, branded images that reflect the tone, voice and style of your business. Customers love to learn about the companies they hire, so let your personality shine through with photos of your employees at work or play, or post a video that’s instructional or funny and engaging. Repurpose that branded image in various ways, like posting it on social media, and direct viewers back to your site.

Online Advertising Using Google AdWords

If done correctly, online advertising boosts traffic with quality leads. One of our favorite tools is Google AdWords, which we know can be hard to understand and stay on top of for many businesses. With a certified Google AdWords partner on staff, we can walk you through the best search engine optimization strategy for your business.

An effective Google AdWords campaign doesn’t need to be expensive, but it needs consistent attention. Once you’ve identified the keywords (long-tail keywords are best!) that you want to bid on and established an online advertising campaign, it’s vitally important to log in and work to optimize your campaign at least once per week. Doing it only once per quarter won’t produce very good results.

It’s important to constantly evaluate what isn’t working and why, and Google AdWords can help you measure that. Consider adding keywords to your account after evaluating your search query report for relevant new keywords. Make the most of your budget by raising bids on top-performing keywords and lowering bids on weaker, more costly keywords. And you’re wasting money if you didn’t include some negative keywords in your campaign. Negative keywords help to filter out the traffic that doesn’t work for your business.

Landing Pages

What happens when you create a sweet post that reaches thousands of people with shares here and there that point nowhere? You get nowhere. All of the work you put into creating engaging visual content, titillating social posts and an effective AdWords strategy will make no difference in the world to your business if there is nowhere to direct the user.

A landing page is a separate page on your site that’s dedicated to delivering the promises you make in your content marketing. It’s a call to action for the customer to do something – sign up for a free trial, subscribe to a newsletter, watch an instructional video, learn more about your product, etc.

Your home page is not a good option for this purpose, since customers might view an immediate call to action on your site as pushy and invasive. They want some time to think about your product or service, and a separate landing page gives them some breathing room. We know social media marketing and paid ads do not work without landing pages as there is no trackability or dedicated content.

Be specific about what you’re offering and provide an incentive for customers to take action right now by offering them something your competitors are not. Sometimes simplicity works best, so be straightforward and to the point and limit choices. An effective landing page is usable, accessible, persuasive and promotes trust in your brand.

Are these three tools in your content marketing toolbox? Let Kicks Digital Marketing show you how to use them to boost your traffic.