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December 31, 2016
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The Five Most Important Website Design Trends That Will Emerge In 2017

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Uncategorized

For non-website designers, it is nearly impossible to stay on top of the technological advances and countless new design options emerging almost daily. But you know that your website must be user-friendly and engaging on any device.

As a business owner in the digital marketing space, it is comm to become the translator for designers and coders. Here are five of the most important website design trends to help you engage visitors and achieve your website conversion goals in 2017, all of which are included in TotalWeb Partners Website Design Strategies:

  1. Responsive Website Design
  2. Semi-Flat Design
  3. Minimalism Paired with Micro-Interactions
  4. Parallax Scrolling and Interactivity
  5. Stronger Use of Typography

Read more

December 31, 2016
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Forbes – 7 SEO Trends That Will Dominate 2017

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Content, Website Design Practices

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a game that’s all about staying one step ahead of your opponents.

One of the best ways to accomplish this competitive dominance is to be aware of how search engines are changing, and adjust your content and SEO strategy before your competitors have a chance to catch up. The SEO industry is always moving, so it pays to be aware of these evolutions.

It looks like 2017 will be an interesting year for SEO, with the following trends dominating the arena:

1. The Rise of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs).

2. The Rise of “Dense” Content.

3. Machine Learning Will Change the Way the Algorithm Works.

4. Personal Branding Will Become an SEO Secret Weapon.

5. User Experience Optimization (UEO) Will Start to Blur the Lines with SEO.

6. Apps Will Feel the Love.

7. Personal Digital Assistants will Become More Sophisticated, Changing the Way Many of us Perform Search Queries.

Read more

December 28, 2016
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How To Use Email Marketing To Boost Your SEO

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E-Marketing

There are two main components of search engine optimization (SEO): on-site and off-site optimization. With on-site optimization, you’ll be improving your site’s layout and performance, producing high-quality content, and targeting specific keywords that are relevant to your business and your audience. With off-site optimization, you’ll be posting content on external publications and building inbound links to your website.

However, there are peripheral ways to complement and enhance these efforts; for example, you can use social media to increase the popularity of your content and earn more links as a result of that increased visibility. Similarly, you can harness the power of email marketing to support and improve your campaign.

Here’s how.

Primary Goals

These primary goals are ways for your email marketing campaign to directly influence factors that have significant bearing on your rankings in search engines:

  • Inbound links. The more links you have pointing to your site, and the more diverse and high-authority sources that are hosting them, the higher your domain authority will be. Domain authority, according to Moz, “is a score (on a 100-point scale) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines.” As such, acquiring strong inbound links is a crucial factor in improving your SEO. You can use your email marketing campaign to specifically encourage other users to link to your latest posts, or specific pages of your site. For example, let’s say you’ve recently published a whitepaper with a truckload of important statistics you’ve gained from conducting original research. Getting this information in the hands of other users will make them more likely to link to it in the future.
  • Content promotion. You can also user your email marketing campaign to increase the visibility and performance of your content in general. For example, you can send a weekly or monthly newsletter that recaps some of your blog’s most popular posts. This increases both the visibility of these posts (potentially leading to more inbound links) as well as general traffic to your site.
  • On-site engagement. Google uses a plethora of individual traffic and engagement metrics to determine the relative “value” of a given webpage. Though the exact significance and influence of these metrics is often debated, it’s clear that having more active, engaged users (with lower bounce rates, higher time spent on page, etc.) is better for your search rankings. Keeping your email audience engaged and coming back to your site with valuable offers can help you maintain a more engaged overall audience.

Read more: How To Use Email Marketing To Boost Your SEO

December 8, 2016
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Don’t Overestimate the Power of Social Media Marketing

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Social Media Marketing

Social media can be a great way to grow your company if you know how to go about it. People today spend a majority of their time scanning their feeds on these popular platforms. Because of this, companies are doing what they can to connect as much as possible with potential customers.

That being said, there’s a lot of information out there that suggests social media is the “be all end all” to a company’s success. Before you hop on board, though, there are a few things you need to know. We just hope you won’t get too disappointed…

Social Media Can Be a Hot Lead Generation Tool

When we tell you not to overestimate the power of social media, what we’re really saying is don’t believe what all the buzz says. Yes, if treated right, taking advantage of it can do a lot for your company. It’s certainly a great way to get a good idea of who your audience is and what they like to see from you. But, as with anything in the marketing world, it’s more about producing quality over quantity. Don’t invest so much time into possibly gaining leads from social media that you don’t have time for other things.

Likes Don’t Always Mean Leads

Getting a lot of likes on your content? That’s great, but don’t let that fool you. After all, likes are just “likes.” What you do with them says a lot more about how your company operates. Despite the popularity of social media, email marketing is still the number one way to bring in leads. You can try to engage with these potential leads via Facebook or Twitter, but the rest of the relationship building needs to be done elsewhere.

Read more: Don’t Overestimate the Power of Social Media Marketing

December 6, 2016
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7 Suggestions for Better Mobile-Friendly Web Design

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Website Content, Website Design Practices

Recently, Google made a statement that the volume of search queries on mobile devices has now surpassed desktop. This along with their most recent algorithm updates means that much more value is being given to well-designed mobile websites. Desktop sites failing to conform to the standard are likely to witness a marked decline in SEO rankings and traffic.

So what does this mean for mobile web designers & marketers?

Well for starters, if you haven’t created a mobile website or introduced responsive features into your existing one, you are likely missing out on valuable SERPs rankings and traffic since the majority of your users will likely be visiting on their phones.

Here are 7 suggestions you need to know to update your website to modern mobile standards.

1. Understand usability
Usability is arguably the most important aspect of a mobile website, after all; would you buy an unsteerable car? The same point can be made for your website, your users don’t want to visit a site they can’t use.

You should start off by viewing your current website on your mobile. If you have to pinch in and zoom around to read everything, and it takes several attempts to navigate to a new page, you’ve gotten a clear view of the mobile experience you are offering your users.

2. A responsive website isn’t always the best answer
Depending on your current website, you may want to consider developing a responsive theme that adapts to your users’ browser or device resolution. However, sometimes this isn’t achievable and you may want to opt for a dedicated mobile website instead.

Building a separate mobile site has its benefits, for example they are often easier to develop than integrating responsiveness into your existing site and costs can often be significantly less (especially when using a third-party mobile website builder), however a separate mobile page means you will have to maintain 2 different code bases and upload content to both.

Whichever route you decide to go down, research is needed to ensure which option is more suited to your marketing and business model in the long run.

Read more: 7 Suggestions for Better Mobile-Friendly Web Design

November 28, 2016
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5 Ways Web Designers Can Create Amazing Websites

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Website Content, Website Design Practices

All masters in their domain have secrets they might not be willing to reveal, but their products and practices can speak for themselves and offer clues to achieving greatness. Web designing is such a field. It demands creativity, attention to detail, and practice. Understand what the best web designers do and you can become a master yourself. Here are 5 ways to amp up your web design skills and create powerful websites:

Avoid slideshows and carousels

Slideshows and carousels are suitable only if you are seeking to feature a lot of information on a single page. Remember though, many of your visitors might not stay on your website long enough to absorb all the information in a slideshow or carousel. Given visitors’ short attention spans, it’s typically better to offer a concise value proposition, especially on your home page, and avoid slideshows carousels. When you are seeking the attention of someone, it is important to deliver content that’s meaningful and remove anything not relevant.

Simplify the navigation through your design

A complex website might seem appealing at first, but it will not be very welcoming for a random visitor. Infusing too many options can be counterproductive. Simplifying the visitor’s experience is recommended so a visitor won’t lose time in an attempt to find the information they need the most.

Do not crowd your header or sidebar. Remove as many links as possible. Dropdown menus might adversely affect the aesthetics of your design and the user experience and can be difficult to use on mobile devices – consider eliminating them

Use a sketchbook!

This old-school hack is a must for designers. When ideas come or you feel like organizing a concept, grab your book and sketch it out as the inspiration flows. Tablets can also help you in drawing your design thoughts, but the feeling of sketching out a design on the paper is irreplaceable. This method can assist you during brainstorming and help organize your design process better.

Read more: 5 Ways Web Designers Can Create Amazing Websites

October 6, 2016
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The Real Truth About B2B Marketing And The Social Media Platforms You Need

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B2B Marketing ,

I’ve read a few articles about social media and B2B Marketing lately that have blown my mind. You won’t believe number three…OK, there is no number three. And this is not a listicle. However, I read an article recently that got me thinking, and there are a few things that need to be said about it’s validity. But in answer to your question about which platform is the best one for B2B marketing? It depends.

B2B social media platformsIt is unsatisfying, I know — but there is certainly no shortage of opinions on the matter. For example, that article I mentioned was called Facebook ranks ahead of Twitter and LinkedIn for B2B decision makers, and the title alone was enough to surprise me. It details the results of a study by United Kingdom PR agency Hotwire called The Changing Face of Influence, and there is a lot of interesting information there. The statistic that hooked me? “…when asked which one channel they’d turn to for information on a purchasing decision, 1 in 4 (24%) decision makers said Facebook would be their social channel of choice.”

Why Facebook over Twitter and LinkedIn, you may ask? “Because we use it more – our study reveals the average decision maker uses Facebook 18 days a month, compared to 13 for LinkedIn. Decision makers look to the channels they’re using as part of their daily routine – we don’t want to check whole new sources of information if we don’t have to.”

Read more: The Real Truth About B2B Marketing And The Social Media Platforms You Need

October 4, 2016
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The four pillars of the future of SEO

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO has come a long way from being all about on-page optimization, building backlinks and creating “relevant” content. When I read popular search engine blogs, I notice a definite trend: SEO is moving toward a more inclusive strategy that goes beyond new ways of link building or content marketing.

A huge part of present-day SEO practices is brand building and influencing search queries themselves, as opposed to starting with a truckload of keywords and creating content around them. Therefore, while links, keywords, content and site optimization remain the building blocks of SEO, the columns on which the edifice is being built are taking on a different appearance. Let’s see what these pillars are.

1. RankBrain
2. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
3. The Knowledge Graph & rich answers
4. Real-time, integrated penalty filters

Read more: The four pillars of the future of SEO

September 29, 2016
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9 Things Social Media Marketers Get Wrong

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Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has arguably survived the initial wave of backlash that came when marketers first started leveraging platforms like Facebook and Twitter to reach new audiences. It was said that social media was a fad, or at least that it was impossible to generate a positive return on investment (ROI) with it. Now, more than a decade later, marketers are still leveraging the power of social media for greater brand exposure, more traffic, and more revenue-generating conversions, among many other benefits.

Even so, there are some critical things social media marketers still commonly get wrong:

1. Followers are the most important metric.
2. Paid advertising is the only sure way to get visibility.
3. The more platforms you’re on, the better.
4. Posts should be automated.
5. Hashtags make everything better.

Read more: 9 Things Social Media Marketers Get Wrong

September 27, 2016
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How To Leverage Marketing Automation For Holiday Email Marketing

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E-Marketing

It’s time to start rockin’ around the email tree. With the holidays fast approaching, businesses should start thinking about using marketing automation to get registers ringing.

This year, make the process easier with email marketing and automation. Rather than creating and sending emails during the thick of the holiday season, use marketing automation features to create relevant campaigns to arrive in subscribers’ inboxes at exactly the right time, all season long.

For most businesses, the last two months of sales account for forty percent of the total revenue earned throughout the year. With so much riding on the holiday season, using marketing automation is a decision even the Grinch wouldn’t disagree with.

To help businesses get their marketing automation groove on, we’ll give you a list of holiday emails that you can send and provide tips to get the most out of your marketing automation during this critical time of year.

Light up inboxes with these 4 automated emails

Wondering what emails you can automate this holiday season? Here’s a list of four emails that will light up inboxes:

1. A welcome email or series
2. Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals
3. An inspiring gift guide
4. Helpful holiday hints

Read more: How To Leverage Marketing Automation For Holiday Email Marketing

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