If you are a business owner, you likely have one of three thoughts about your company’s website.

1. You LOVE it! You just spent a ton of dough to update it and it looks freakin’ awesome.
2. You HATE it! Maybe you never liked it or maybe it is old and worn out. It’s not working to drive new customers.
3. You don’t really care one way or another because you only have a website because someone told you that you need one. It doesn’t do anything anyway so why bother to care.
   

I have news for you. Regardless of how you feel about your website, if you aren’t paying attention to it — and I mean constant attention — it will never make you money. (Don’t have time to pay attention to your website? Skip to the end of this blog post NOW!)

It’s absolutely true that you need a properly optimized website that drives traffic to your brand. And, once they arrive on your digital doorstep, customers must be compelled to take action (calls to action.) The whole site needs to work properly and look appealing because if it doesn’t, you’ll quickly chase away any prospect who finds you in the first place. (You’ve got plenty of competition only a click or two away!)

So, that brings me to fresh content. Adding new content often to your site — new pages and an active blog — does several great things for your business.

1. Google loves fresh content.

Every time you add new content or update what’s already there, Google takes notice. The search engine bots (or web crawlers) will stop by to check you out (on the back end, of course!) When you get attention from search engines, you have the chance to achieve higher rankings in organic search. This means that people can find you more quickly when they search for something you sell.

2. Become (and remain!) an Authority Site

Google designates Authority Sites based on the quality of content offered and how often new content is added. If you are adding high-quality content that offers valuable information for people, your site has the potential to gain greater authority online. It stands to reason that the better the content is, posted often, the chances of becoming an authority site increase substantially.

3. Engage Your Audience

This is the most simple of concepts to understand when it comes to why you need to keep your site fresh and exciting with new content (content, by the way, includes words, images, video, etc.)

Think about the last time you did a web search for a piece of information you needed or a product/service you were interested in purchasing. When you find a site that is out of date, do you stay and search for information or do you immediately think, “what else is out there?”

Admit it. You bounce — and quickly.

If the last blog post on a website is from months (or dare I say years ago), it’s a sure sign that the company is ignoring its customers online. They might as well hang up a “Closed for Business” sign and go home.

This is the year your company is going to SHINE! We want to help you do that by making sure that your website is everything you need to attract customers and compel them to make contact.

At Harmonia Media, we do things a bit differently than our competition. We are honest and straightforward. We have no interest in selling you something you don’t need. And, like you, we pride ourselves on customer service.

Talk to Harmonia about your digital marketing strategy and you’ll never have to worry about your website again. We are offering free initial phone consultations for new prospects. Contact us now to schedule your free consultation.

In the world of digital marketing, we know two things about content.

1. Content has to be compelling, creative and high quality to get Google’s attention.
2. Traffic-driving SEO is dependent on quality content.

As a longtime journalist-turned-digital-marketing-content-strategist, I’ve always focused on connecting with the reader. There are so many distractions that can easily get your reader’s attention. This is especially true on mobile because on-the-go web surfers tend to be doing five things at once anyway. Dare I suggest that when the light turns green, you’ve lost them?

In any case, most companies look at the need for content as an expense. You need it. You can’t write it yourself. You have to pay for it. Ugh. Right?

I’d like to invite you to consider a new way to view online content. Consider the fact that there’s the possibility of ROI –  Return on Investment – that comes from actually having to spend less money on certain areas of your business. How? Allow your great web content to do the work.

Consider how important your customer service operation is to your company. Whether or not you have actual reps who answer phones, conduct online chats or handle emails, someone is playing the role of customer service guru. Perhaps it’s you? Maybe it’s everyone at the company — whoever happens to answer the phone.

A website with clear, concise information would truly represent your brand, answer important questions and compel the visitor to take the next steps to buy. This allows your content to be working for you 24/7 and frees up some of your critical human resources to focus on other money-making tasks.

It’s a delicate balance, of course. You don’t want to give away all your information. You want prospects to fill out the contact form or make the call. If they don’t respond to the CTA (call to action) then the likelihood of them buying anything from you is slim.

However, people want and need the information to make decisions. Few will spend money before they know they are A) buying something that will solve a problem; B) getting a good deal, and C) comfortable with the quality of the product/service itself.

Great content can satisfy those three needs/wants without giving away the farm. It’s all about strategy. The key to this precarious puzzle we call digital marketing is to understand the offering, get a full, clear grasp on who the potential customers are, and to use the right words to connect the two online. That’s the “what.”

The “how” is a bit more difficult. And, quite frankly, I’m going to use some of my own advice here. I’ve gotten you this far. Want to know the “how?”

Contact us to learn more about the importance of content strategy and how Harmonia Media can take your content to a place where it’s making you money and saving it at the same time.

There’s a rumour out there in the world of digital marketing that has to go.

More content isn’t always better for search engine analytics. Do you know what’s better? Actually being better.

Google wants high-quality content. Some great content is much better than a constant flurry of poor content. In fact, a website with tons of pages full of lacklustre, boring content that no one wants to read can hurt your website standing far more than it can help it.

The truth is, Google and other search engines have evolved in the past few years. Yes, there was a time that more was definitely better. Today, it’s important to add content to your site but it needs to be useful, interesting content.

In fact, Google has a list of tips for content writers who want to create the highest quality blogs and pages to drive prospective customers.

Google’s Content Style Guide

First things first, write as though you are chatting with the reader. Using jargon won’t connect with anyone. Be friendly and purposeful. You may even want to create a specific “voice” that will help you entertain and inform anyone who finds your site or blog.

• Be knowledgeable. People are interested in gathering information. Most people will find you because they searched for a particular topic. Provide the answer without a sales pitch.
• Be accurate. Spelling and grammar count. A website filled with editorial mistakes will drive people away.
• Avoid long and winding sentences. It’s important to provide information in a clear, concise fashion. Long, run-on sentences are confusing and will create more questions than answers.
• At a glance, text works great. Bulleted and numbered lists allow readers to find something on the page that appeals to them quickly. (Don’t forget to bold words to attract attention appropriately!)
• Piggybacking on the last bullet point, make sure you link important topics to other pages on your website where readers can get more information when they need it.

The bottom line: rather than posting content for content’s sake, find a writer who can do a bit of research and create compelling, creative copy that will influence readers and create a reason for them to contact you.

At Harmonia Media, content is our business. Give us a topic and we will provide you with high-quality articles, web pages and blogs that get noticed. Contact us today for a free consultation about your digital marketing strategy.

As with everything else, when it comes to content marketing — especially for social media — there are many ways to get the job done. However, there are some tried and true best practices (yikes, next I’ll be saying “paradigm shift” and “think outside of the box!”) to make sure you are connecting with your intended audience, driving traffic and, hopefully, exceeding business objectives.

Know Your Audience.

Let’s start in the most obvious place. WHO are you trying to communicate with on your social media platforms? If you take the time upfront to get an understanding of who needs what you are selling, you can write with the tone, attitude and authority appropriate for the conversation. Don’t make the mistake that everyone is a potential customer. Digital marketing is most productive when it’s targeted, strategic and focused.

K.I.S.S. 

The old acronym K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Sweetheart!) most definitely applies to social media strategy. First of all, you have a limited character count. Second, statistics reveal that you have 15 seconds to capture someone’s attention on a blog post. It stands to reason that you have far less time to hold a pair of eyeballs when it comes to social media. To make people click, be creative, direct and uncomplicated. Whatever you need to say, simplify it and direct them to a landing page on your website that continues the conversation.

Call to Action

Would you be surprised to learn that companies spend countless hours and dollars creating social media content that goes nowhere fast? It’s true. That’s because the posts fail to actually instruct the viewer in any meaningful way. Call to action matters throughout your digital marketing strategy. But it’s especially important when you have only 140 characters to get the job done.

One more thing, as a bonus tip: consider doing what you do best and allow Harmonia Media, digital marketing experts, to manage your social media and more. Give us a call and we’ll tell you why the buck stops here.