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It seems every year someone comes out with a new article saying that SEO died, is dying, or is six feet under. There are a few reasons for this, mainly centered around the way Google’s algorithm works.

There are hundreds of search engines, but Google has managed to reign supreme through their general Google Search and their other specializations such as Google Images and Google Scholar. In 2019, Google products were used in 94 percent of searches.

“It is no question that Google owns the market when it comes to internet queries,” says David Brenton, President of BluShark Digital, LLC.

However, Google has made several changes to its algorithm over the years, leading some to claim SEO – or search engine optimization – is going the way of the dinosaur. Here are the facts and figures to get a better idea of why people think this (and why they are wrong).

Why They Think SEO is Dying

There are three main reasons people think SEO is dying, but first, let us get a firm grasp on what SEO truly means. Search engine optimization refers to the links, keywords, and other factors that tell Google what your website is about. From there, Google will rank your website among others covering similar topics. The ultimate goal is to have your website be the first link in the Google search results because that means you get more potential customers visiting your website.

SEO experts will alter a website’s links, keywords, and other factors to make their website more user friendly, and thus more Google friendly. Some people may pay to have their website promoted, but SEO specifically focuses on rising through the ranks organically.

There are a few hurdles Google throws at website designers to use SEO tactics properly. Firstly, Google changes. A lot. In 2010, Google made 516 algorithm changes. By 2018, that number increased to 3,234 changes. Having over nine algorithm changes a day can be hard to keep up with, meaning SEO has gotten much more difficult. It is no longer easy to manipulate the system to have your website appear first.

Combined with this issue is the over-supply of information on the internet. There are over 5.6 billion Google searches every 24 hours, with two trillion searches per year. Compare this to the one billion blogs on the world wide web, it does not seem to be a problem. However, the oversupply and the under-demand issue becomes abundantly clear when you use the search engine.

Take the phrase “what is marketing.” Search that, and Google spits out 665,000 websites with that specific phrase. However, only 11,300 people search “what is marketing” per month. Although there are billions of searches a day, each search falls into a different specific niche that can only be serviced by one website. This leaves hundreds of thousands of websites competing against each other for that click.

To make matters worse, Google has also thrown its hat into the ring. Google will answer some questions directly without needing to click on a link. By getting these answers to their user directly, it makes a better user experience: however, it can be a slap in the face to the SEO specialists who worked hard to get their link to the number one position in Google’s eyes.

Take a weather search. When looking for their local weather forecast, consumers have a 46 percent chance of clicking on the first link. However, when Google shows the daily weather forecast in a graph before listing links below, the likelihood of getting that click falls to just seven percent.

For this reason, the number of clicks SEO brings to your website has been decreasing over time. This decrease has led many to believe these changes to Google’s algorithm are SEO’s headstone. Here is why they are wrong.

Why SEO is Not Dying

The biggest issue in the claims for SEO’s death is conflating change with decay. Just because something is decreasing in one area does not mean the industry is going down. These changes have been rippling throughout the entire marketing world and have forced businesses to become more creative to survive.

In the past, advertisements stole attention. Take a television advertisement or its modern equivalent: the ad that plays before YouTube videos. In that instance, we roll our eyes and groan. Instead of focusing on the countdown until the “skip ad” button appears, we ignore the product and completely forget about whatever it was that flew across our screen.

With the increasing efficiency of the internet comes a demand from consumers for advertisements to be worthy of their time. SEO pushes businesses to be more creative in their advertising endeavors, and some marketing campaigns that would have been fever dreams in the past have become full-fledged realities.

Take Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), which is famous for its classic fast food. They are probably the last business you would expect in the video game world, yet in 2019, they released a dating simulator featuring their mascot Colonel Sanders. No, this is not a joke. I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator is a free game anyone can download from Steam, a software that hosts several indie video games.

It sounds like a joke (because, deep down, it is), but by becoming creative with their advertising, KFC saw a huge boost around the game’s release. Famous streamers on YouTube and Twitch played the game, bringing free advertising to KFC and boosting their SEO.

It sounds crazy, but it worked. SEO is essentially a new platform for consumer behavior. By identifying your websites and social media posts with keywords, search engines can connect your business with other topics of similar interest, bringing new clients.

Take Olay, a beauty brand famous for its soaps and makeup products. Olay ran a study where they promoted two different websites featuring a product to reduce dark circles under people’s eyes. The first website was a blatant advertisement, while the second gave several tips and tricks on reducing dark circles and simply listed the product as one of their methods.

When they changed their advertisement to include other methods, engagement went through the roof. The number of clicks increased by 87 percent, while cost per click fell 30 percent. By creating organic content for people to enjoy, brands can properly earn their consumers’ attention. You are giving them more than just your branded product: you are giving them authentic content.

In this way, the changes Google makes to its algorithm improve how businesses advertise in the digital marketplace. Instead of corporations controlling the narrative, consumers can decide what is worthy of their attention, and products can be more effectively allocated to those who are actually interested.

SEO is not dying. It is simply changing to fit the needs of consumers. As the digital market begins to change from the Wild West to a consumer-centric society, SEO becomes more important than ever. SEO tells Google not only what a website is but what it can offer to its audience. By forcing businesses to provide more than just flashy banners before YouTube videos, marketing can become what it was always meant to be: for the consumer.

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Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/search-engine-optimization-2/no-seo-is-not-dead-dying-or-6-feet-under/

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Whether you’re selling online courses, kitchen appliances, or trivia games, getting noticed on social media can be a huge boon for your business. It’s not just about going viral — just amassing a loyal audience of a few thousand people is already enough to help signal boost both your current marketing efforts and the efforts associated with any new product you decide to launch.

1 – Target the right crowd

Just like your marketing efforts in any other medium, your social media marketing campaign will work better if it is well-targeted. Trying to appeal to everyone will generally lead to you not quite appealing to anyone. So make sure you’re putting up posts and writing content with a specific target demographic in mind.

Having a clear audience in mind will also help you find the groups where those users congregate, or which hashtags they use, depending on the platform you’re on. And while you don’t want to be that brand that floods hashtags with spam, making the occasional post with a hashtag relevant to your audience — or in a relevant group — can help your page get more attention.

2 – Post consistently

Most popular brand pages today had to spend months posting regularly before they managed to gather any attention. Don’t let the initial apparent lack of results discourage you from posting on social media — consistently putting out content is the key to success in this field.

3 – Try different styles

There are tons of different ways to post about a brand or a product, or to create posts that will connect with your target audience. Make sure you’re regularly trying out new styles and approaches to see what gets the biggest response from your audience. And once you have found a style that works, stick with it.

It’s important to rein in your experimentation as your audience starts to grow. After all, someone who followed your brand page because they enjoyed the behind-the-scenes posts you’ve been making might stop following the page if it suddenly switches to posting nothing but product photos or testimonials.

4 – Be helpful

Put your expertise in your field to good use. Try to be helpful to customers who are facing issues within your area of expertise, even if they don’t follow the page. And of course, do your best to engage with and help the people who comment directly on your brand’s page.

Being helpful online may seem not to make a difference in the short-term, but it helps your brand earn the public’s goodwill. And it encourages more customers to engage with the page in the future.

5 – Run events

Contests, giveaways, sales, and other online events are all great ways to keep your audience engaged and earn more followers. It can also be a good excuse to get your social media followers to visit your website or sign up for your newsletter.

6 – Make friends with influencers

You don’t necessarily need to sponsor an influencer to earn their goodwill. Plenty of content producers in niches relevant to your product would be eager for the opportunity to interview a member of your staff or tour one of your facilities. And of course, sponsoring influencers is also a good way to get more people to pay attention to your page and your products.

The post 6 Tips to Get Your Product Noticed on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/6-tips-to-get-your-product-noticed-on-social-media/

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Why 80% Of Being An Entrepreneur And Business Owner Is About Mindset written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Learn more about Petter-Erik Nyvoll:

Like this show? Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts here!

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by Airborne, a sales engagement platform. Learn more about how to set your team up for success at Airborneapp.io. Sales Engagement Platforms are fundamental to the Modern Tech Stack. Airborne delivers everything you would expect from a Sales Engagement Platform and then some. Get the most out of every interaction and make your team more effective with Airborne.

Entrepreneur On Fire – The Ultimate Marketing Engine written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

You can catch my conversation with John Lee Dumas on the Entrepreneur On Fire Show where we discuss what I believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with, the reason why I wrote The Ultimate Marketing Engine, and the Customer Success Track Model.

Listen to the episode here: https://www.eofire.com/podcast/johnjantsch3/

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/entrepreneur-on-fire-the-ultimate-marketing-engine/

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3 Ways to Motivate Yourself

Motivation Is Often Difficult

Father George Rutler has given a lot of advice on how to motivate yourself. He does not take this subject lightly because motivation is often difficult to comeby when it is needed most. People who are working jobs they hate often find it difficult to do their best. When people suffer from depression, it is often difficult to get motivated. Father George Rutler has a few solutions to use when motivation is difficult to muster. Will his words instantly turn a person into a type A go-getter? It is unlikely that this will instantly happen, but his advice will put a person on the right path.

Focus On Leadership

It might be an odd thing to suggest to an unmotivated person, but focusing on leadership is a power method that will increase motivation. One rebuttal is that a person is not in a leadership position. The truth is that everyone is in leadership. Leadership is not a position, it is taking responsibility. Leaders do what needs to be done. The best companies develop everyone into decisionmakers. The US Army even suggests that the US Army is an Army of one. Each person makes the best decisions that they can. Each person is looking for opportunities to improve themselves, to improve the way things are done, and to improve each other.

Quick Motivation Tips

Embrace the struggle: Motivation is not a switch that will simply turn on and off. No, it doesn’t work like this. Some people believe that if they find the right “motivation tip,” everything will be easy in life and they’ll do whatever they want without having to do any difficult work.

Define Motivation: Here is a wonderful quote about motivation: “Motivation. That thing that holds us back when we are trying our hardest to get something done; the reason we fail in doing what we set out to do; the substance that is so hard to find, yet lingers inside everyone of us. What is motivation? It is the drive and desire that encourages you to go above and beyond.”

Motivation As A Spectrum

We rarely have 100% motivation or simply 0 in the tank. Most of the time, we simply accept our current mood as who we are. We might even make excuses that we buy into. The biggest turning point is realizing that each person has a choice. One person might face these struggles with grit and determination. Other people, well, they might decide that they are not in control, but instead their current mood is the captain.

This Information Must Be Used

It is beyond easy to see that this advice is timeless. Father George Rutler believes that the advice given is something that can be instantly put into place. It is up to the reader to implement these things in their life. If a person puts this information into continued use, it is impossible for them not to have more motivation. Importantly, this information will teach the reader how to get out of their funk, and how to transform their bad moods into a fuel that will push them forward.

The post How to Motivate Yourself appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/how-to-motivate-yourself/

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Connect The Dots – The Ultimate Marketing Engine written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

I had the pleasure of talking with Carla Johnson on the Connect the Dots show. We talked about my work with thousands of businesses over the last 30 years, how sticky marketing drives growth, and many of the concepts from my new book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine.

Listen or watch the episode here: https://www.carlajohnson.co/john-jantsch-on-how-sticky-marketing-drives-growth/

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/connect-the-dots-the-ultimate-marketing-engine/

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Agents Of Change – The Ultimate Marketing Engine written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

It’s one thing to close a sale with a customer, but how do you get closer to them in a way that goes above the transactional relationship where you become a business they actually care about and that matters to them? Selling things is great, but nurturing relationships with die-hard evangelists for your business is even better for both sides.

Catch my conversation with Rich Brooks on the Agents Of Change show where I’m talking about a process we can use to not only grow our customer base but one that allows you to develop a strategy for your entire business around how you’re going to move through those stages and up the customer success.

Listen or watch the episode here: https://www.theagentsofchange.com/john-jantsch-2/

Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/agents-of-change-the-ultimate-marketing-engine/

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Weekend Favs August 21 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

Are you a real estate agent or property manager? If so, you may understand the fact that social media can help you advertise properties more effectively. However, you also might not know exactly how.

Don’t worry if this is the case! Advertising a property on social media can be quite easy. To leverage social media to its full potential, keep the following tips in mind:

Run Facebook Ads

Unless you’re advertising properties to attract investors instead of buyers or tenants, odds are good your target audience will generally consist of people who live in the area you serve. For example, if you’re advertising a property that’s based in Houston, you won’t necessarily need to market it to people who live in New York City. That would simply be a waste of your time and budget.

This is one reason to consider running ads on social media platforms when advertising properties. Although ads are not a substitute for an active social media presence, they can be a helpful means of optimizing your return on investment.

That’s because social media platforms usually give you the freedom to target an audience based on various factors when running ads. For example, when advertising on Facebook, you have the option to decide which part of the country you want the people who see your ads to be from. This helps you avoid wasting money on ads that are seen by people who live too far from a property to purchase it or become tenants.

Additionally, you can define your audience by other factors that may be important to you, such as age range. After all, if you’re a property manager or real estate agent, it’s highly unlikely any of your customers will be children.

Use Video

In both your ads and social media posts about properties, don’t rely solely on still pictures to highlight them. To truly show off the most attractive elements of your properties in a way that’s dynamic and interesting, incorporate video into your marketing efforts.

The idea that incorporating at least some video ads into a marketing campaign may be more effective than relying solely on ads and posts with still images isn’t merely a theory. There’s strong evidence supporting this notion. Research tends to indicate that video ads generally receive more user engagement than still picture ads on social media. With a video ad, you can also record a voiceover, sharing important information about a property you’re advertising while the video plays.

Answer Questions

Social media is an important marketing channel in virtually all industries because it’s quite unique when compared to other channels. Most types of marketing involve sharing information or content with an audience but not listening or responding to their reactions. Most marketing is a “one-way street” in this regard.

That’s not the case with social media. On social media, you have the ability to have a conversation with your audience. This can increase their sense of connection with your brand.

It can also allow you to address questions or concerns that your customers may have. For instance, perhaps you post on social media about a property you’re marketing, but some potential customers don’t feel your post shares enough information to let them know whether it’s worth visiting said property to learn more.

Luckily, it’s social media. They can simply reply to your initial post with their questions. You can reply back, sharing the information the initial post may have been lacking. This can also provide you with insights that may be valuable when you’re designing posts and ads in the future.

All that said, it’s important to remember that social media marketing is a skill that develops over time. Applying these tips won’t necessarily turn you into an incredible social media marketer overnight. It will, however, help you better understand why social media is such a valuable tool for real estate agents and property managers.

The post 3 Social Media Tips for Property Managers & Real Estate Agents appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/3-social-media-tips-for-property-managers-real-estate-agents/

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Believe it or not, 5 of the world’s top growing nations are all located within Africa. While Africa currently makes up 16% of the world’s population and just 3% of the global GDP this is a stat that is quickly changing. Africa is projected to achieve double-digit economic growth within the next decade and is continuing on its path to grow faster than any other region in the world. The time for investing in Africa is now.

There are lots of large corporations that have been taking a serious look at expanding their operations in Africa. Google has placed an AI lab in Ghana that will work to apply AI solutions to help with local challenges and improve google translate for African languages. There are also plans for Facebook to build tech hubs for startup development in Nigeria as well. These companies are looking at the future of Africa and investing now knowing it will pay off. By 2025 Africa will have a GDP growth reaching $4.5 trillion.

Many startups are flourishing in Africa, even some startup unicorns. Just three years ago funding for startups grew by 4X with funding deals doubling as well. Over $725 million dollars were raised across 458 deals and the top 30 startups are now receiving rounds of over $5 million.

As you can see, there’s no doubt that Africa is on the rise on the world’s stage. Learn how to embrace the opportunity of broadening your horizons and investing in Africa with the information found in the visual deep dive below:

Via: EmpowerAfrica.com

The post Is Investing in Africa Right For You? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/investing-in-africa/

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