SMarT Marketing - Internet Marketing Blog

The squeeze page funnel is a digital lead generation tactic that can attract leads to your business like a magnet and drive conversions. But what exactly is it? Find out how squeeze page funnels ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ignite-lead-generation-using-the-squeeze-page-funnel.html

Email remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels for engaging customers and driving conversions. However, with inboxes flooded with promotional content, your emails must stand o...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ab-testing-ideas-for-email-marketing.html

A robust online presence is crucial for businesses to attract customers and build a loyal customer base, but it requires a diverse marketing toolkit. Two fundamental elements in any digital marke...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-do-sales-funnels-differ-from-websites.html

Online reviews wield significant influence over consumers' purchasing decisions. Whether it's choosing a restaurant for dinner or selecting a doctor's office, people often turn to online reviews ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/best-practices-to-collect-online-reviews.html

A sales funnel is pivotal for guiding potential customers from the initial awareness stage to the ultimate goal of purchasing. A critical component of sales and marketing automation, it encapsula...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-a-sales-funnel-types-of-sales-funnels-proven-to-work.html

Today is officially the first day of spring! As the days grow longer and flowers bloom, now is the perfect time to revitalize your online presence with a digital spring cleaning. While many focus...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/spring-clean-your-website.html

Thought leadership isn't just about sharing knowledge — it's about shaping perspectives, driving conversations, and inspiring change. However, with the abundance of online content, it can be ch...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-elevate-your-thought-leadership-content.html

Getting visitors to your website is only half the battle — you need them to stick around to boost conversion rates and achieve your business goals. Here are some tactics to increase the time vi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tips-to-keep-visitors-on-your-website-for-longer.html

Video is a powerful medium for engagement, information dissemination, and entertainment. With platforms like YouTube boasting billions of users, it's no surprise that businesses and creators are ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/video-seo-101-a-beginner-s-guide-to-optimizing-video-content.html

Monitoring social media engagement is crucial for determining whether your message or content resonates with your audience. Not only does tracking gauge effectiveness, but it also informs strateg...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-accurately-measure-social-media-engagement.html

In today's hyper-competitive landscape, standing out from the crowd is essential for businesses looking to generate leads and drive conversions. Traditional lead generation tactics are no longer ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/creative-lead-generation-ideas-to-get-more-high-quality-leads.html

Websites play a crucial role across industries because they're often one of the first introductions prospects will have with your business and determine whether your products and/or services are ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/a-website-checklist-to-increase-conversion-rates.html

The unveiling of Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) in 2023 has sparked discussions among industry experts about its potential impact on pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. According to Searc...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ppc-marketing-google-search-generative-experience.html

Did you know that 77% of companies use eLearning to enhance workflows and employee skills? According to G2, a software review platform, businesses with online learning tools and strategies saw in...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/grow-your-business-with-an-online-education-center.html

We’re only a few weeks into 2024 and already seeing significant changes to email marketing ! Google and Yahoo are implementing authentication requirements and spam prevention updates, which wil...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-yahoo-email-requirements-2024.html

Capturing leads efficiently and adapting to the changing dynamics of consumer interactions has become even more crucial for effective digital marketing. See why a robust lead intake strategy is i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/lead-intakes-the-critical-link-to-tracking-your-marketing.html

As we usher in a new year, it's the perfect time to reflect on the past and set our sights on the future. For businesses, this means crafting a set of goals that will not only shape the year's su...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/digital-marketing-resolutions-to-thrive-in-the-new-year.html

As 2023 comes to a close, the digital marketing landscape has witnessed significant shifts, with email marketing standing out as a particularly dynamic arena. In this article, we'll delve into th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-state-of-email-marketing-and-trends-to-expect-in-2024.html

In the fast-paced world of social media marketing, businesses are always trying to figure out how to increase reach and engagement. Creating a dynamic and effective social media plan that accompl...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/proven-strategies-to-increase-social-media-reach-and-engagement.html

As we bid farewell to another year, now is the perfect time to reflect on the marketing triumphs and lessons learned over the past twelve months. In July, we shared mid-year marketing review tips...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/year-end-marketing-review.html

How much a marketing budget should be is always a tough question to answer. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and by when. Setting a firm objective helps provide clarity on the budge...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-much-should-i-budget-for-marketing.html

In today's digitally-driven world, web traffic is the lifeblood of any successful online business or website. The more visitors you have, the more opportunities you have to convert them into cust...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-organic-traffic-is-down-and-strategies-to-fix-it.html

Email list building is an effective digital marketing tool for driving traffic to your B2B website and increasing conversions, such as purchases, demos, quote requests, and more. It can also help...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/effective-b2b-email-list-building-strategies.html

Your content needs more than compelling copy and visuals to be effective — it should speak to your audience on a deeper level. That’s where using psychology can help. In this article, we’ll...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-psychology-to-make-content-marketing-more-effective.html

As the holidays get closer, businesses are busy preparing for the festive rush and trying to make the most of their digital marketing efforts. Standing out in the sea of promotions and ads is a c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/optimize-holiday-digital-marketing.html

Crafting a compelling brand story is essential for establishing a deeper connection with your audience. However, brand storytelling goes beyond mere product promotion — it evokes emotions, buil...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-secrets-of-successful-brand-storytelling.html

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful digital marketing strategy for driving leads and customers to your business fast, but a big chunk of its success depends on the quality of your ads. ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/writing-great-ppc-ad-copy-that-drives-clicks.html

In an era where customers have endless options and high expectations, businesses need to go above and beyond to meet their needs. A seamless customer experience (CX) is crucial for ensuring that ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-a-seamless-customer-experience-that-builds-brand-loyalty.html

Buyer personas are crucial for building a B2B marketing strategy because they allow you to understand, reach, and engage your target audience. Personas can help your business in various ways, fro...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/create-b2b-buyer-personas-for-a-stronger-marketing-strategy.html

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping events of the year, making them great opportunities for brands to boost their sales and attract new customers. However, a lot of other busin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-marketing-ideas.html

While there are many different types of landing pages, they all share the same objective: generate conversions. A conversion happens when a website visitor completes a desired goal, such as makin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/landing-page-tweaks-to-increase-conversions.html

Content marketing has become a cornerstone of successful online businesses and brands in today's digital landscape. It's no secret that valuable and engaging content can drive traffic, increase b...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/must-have-content-marketing-tools.html

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, it's crucial to keep up with the latest tools and technologies that help us measure the success of our online presence. If you've been using Google Univers...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-analytics-4-updated-data-metrics.html

The way we search for information on the internet is constantly evolving, and one of the most significant changes in recent years has been the rise of voice search. With the increasing popularity...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/voice-search-trends-what-you-need-to-know-for-successful-optimization.html

Email marketing offers numerous benefits — such as lead nurturing, sales, and customer retention. However, with so many emails arriving in people’s mailboxes, you must use best practices to b...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/email-marketing-best-practices-for-great-campaigns.html

With nearly five billion social media users worldwide, it’s important to focus your marketing efforts where they’ll not only be seen but also be advantageous. But creating the right social me...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-engaging-social-media-content.html

Successfully launching a new website or redesign requires a solid web development foundation, from research and planning to coding and design. However, it can be easy to overlook details when a p...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/web-development-tips-for-a-successful-website-launch-or-redesign.html

As the sales landscape becomes increasingly competitive and complex, sales automation platforms have become powerful tools for businesses to streamline their processes and maximize efficiency. Th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/essential-features-sales-automation-platform.html

Creating ‘perceived value’ for your brand is essential to its success, however, that’s easier said than done. Perceived value isn’t just about the price — it’s your brand’s ability ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ways-to-increase-the-perceived-value-of-your-brand.html

With so many tools and technologies available, it's important for your business to have the right marketing technology (also known as 'MarTech') to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and d...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-should-your-marketing-tech-stack-include.html

In the digital age, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has become a popular and effective way to drive traffic and generate leads. However, simply running ads and hoping for the best won't cut it an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ppc-strategies-to-supercharge-lead-generation.html

Are you looking to showcase your business's success and attract new clients? One effective way to do that is by utilizing case studies. Case studies are persuasive pieces of content because they ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-get-case-studies-for-your-business.html

With half of the year behind us, now is the perfect time to take a step back and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. Are you on track to reach your marketing goals? Or do you...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/mid-year-marketing-review-tips.html

Sitting around hoping that customers will refer your business to their family, friends, and online network isn’t an effective digital marketing strategy — but setting up a referral marketing ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/referral-marketing-program-beginners-guide.html

At first glance, E-E-A-T might look like a new diet or fitness trend, but it's a rather important concept in the world of SEO (search engine optimization). In recent years, search engines like Go...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-e-e-a-t-and-why-it-matters-for-seo.html

Instagram is a power player in the social media marketing world, reporting over 2 billion monthly active users. With such a large and active user base, many businesses use Instagram marketing to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/instagram-marketing-essentials-for-businesses.html

Summer is here, and with it comes the perfect opportunity to heat up your marketing strategies. Are you looking for ways to attract more customers and boost your sales during the summer months? L...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/summer-marketing-ideas.html

Have you ever created an amazing piece of content, only to have it lose its relevance and engagement over time? In today's fast-paced digital world, content can become outdated in a matter of mon...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/powerful-benefits-of-updating-old-content.html

Customer reviews are a vital component of any digital marketing strategy. Positive reviews can increase sales and brand awareness, while negative reviews can harm your reputation. Plus, they're a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-build-a-customer-review-strategy.html

Having a strong online presence is crucial for any business, but it's especially important for small businesses that need to make every marketing dollar count. However, with the vast array of dig...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/proven-digital-marketing-strategies-for-small-businesses.html

As your business grows, it's common for bottlenecks to arise. That’s why ‘business process automation’ is crucial for removing or minimizing bottlenecks to help your business and employees ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/resolve-common-bottlenecks-with-business-process-automation.html

It's crucial that your web design delivers a seamless and enjoyable user experience to generate leads and sales. But with so many elements to consider, it's easy to make mistakes. User experience...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/13-most-common-ux-design-mistakes.html

When people search for a product or service online, they often use their city or zip code as part of the query. Local search marketing is a powerful digital marketing strategy that allows you to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/local-search-marketing-tactics-to-boost-your-online-presence.html

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a popular digital marketing strategy that can drive traffic to your website and generate business. However, it's vital to measure the success of your PPC campai...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-measure-the-success-of-your-ppc-campaigns.html

Capturing your target audience’s attention, let alone convincing them to take action, is a challenge that every brand faces. It’s not enough to simply create content — you must consider how...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/key-strategies-for-creating-persuasive-content.html

Landing pages play an important role in any digital marketing campaign as they're designed to convert visitors into leads or customers. But what makes a landing page truly effective? In this arti...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/anatomy-of-a-high-converting-landing-page.html

As a business owner or marketer, you know that leads are essential to the growth and success of your company. However, manually processing and following up with leads can be time-consuming and in...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/automating-your-lead-intake-a-step-by-step-guide.html

Getting better engagement on your social media posts plays an important role in building a successful online presence that drives business growth. But it takes more than setting up your profile a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/12-ways-to-maximize-social-media-engagement.html

Understanding what your customers think — and how they feel — is one of the most important steps to any thriving business. It informs product development, marketing campaigns, and customer se...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-find-out-what-your-customers-really-think.html

A marketing system is a crucial component of any successful business, as it drives sales and revenue growth. However, even the most effective systems can sometimes lose their luster over time. Ex...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/signs-your-marketing-system-needs-a-tune-up.html

Audiences (and Google) love fresh, relevant content, which is why now is a great time to get your digital marketing ready for spring. No matter what your business is, there are ways you can incor...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-spring-ideas-to-inspire-your-marketing.html

Content marketing is an important digital marketing tool for businesses these days, as more and more companies are utilizing content as a way to attract and engage customers. However, simply crea...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-content-marketing-isnt-working.html

You don’t need to drop a fortune to promote your business online, but you do need to be strategic. There are a variety of free and low-cost options to get your company noticed on the internet b...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/8-low-cost-ways-to-promote-your-business-online.html

PPC advertising is a great way to get your products or services in front of potential customers. But, if done incorrectly, it can lead to subpar results or even costly mistakes. Now is the perfec...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ppc-mistakes-to-avoid-in-2023.html

Crafting a captivating and convincing landing page isn’t as easy as throwing an offer up and driving traffic to it. There are several different factors that go into creating a page that speaks ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/1-minute-landing-page-checklist.html

Are you looking for a way to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales operations? Sales automation can help you do that! By eliminating manual tasks with automation tools, business...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/sales-automation-how-to-get-started.html

Achieving top rankings in Google's organic search results for your business requires maintenance and improvements, which is why regular SEO audits are essential. An audit allows you to better und...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-does-an-seo-audit-involve.html

Are you looking to build an audience on TikTok? With over 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms. To tap into this huge user base...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tiktok-marketing-tactics-to-consider.html

Recent advances in digital marketing have changed the way businesses market their products and services. From artificial intelligence to voice search, technologies are evolving how we connect wit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/8-digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2023.html

A website redesign does more than breathe new life into your brand's online presence — it's also beneficial for search engine optimization (SEO). From a better user experience to technical upgr...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-does-a-website-redesign-help-with-search-engine-rankings.html

Automated emails can effectively build relationships with leads/customers and drive more conversions, growing your business faster. According to Harvard Business Review, studies reveal that inves...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/types-of-automated-emails-to-keep-more-customers.html

When you hear the words 'artificial intelligence,' does marketing immediately come to mind? Probably not. However, AI technology is found in many marketing tools, such as analytics and CRMs, beca...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ways-to-use-ai-in-your-marketing.html

If you want to drive more traffic to your website, building a blog that brings in and engages your target audience is a powerful strategy (when done right). Many people turn to blog content for a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-build-a-blog-that-gets-traffic.html

We’ve worked with many clients in the past who have told us that Facebook ads didn’t work for them. The explanations why they didn’t range from "our audience isn’t on Facebook" to "we don...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-top-5-reasons-your-facebook-ad-didnt-work.html

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping days of the year. But if you're not prepared, you could miss out on sales opportunities. That's why we've put together some digital m...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/black-friday-digital-marketing-ideas-to-boost-sales.html

What does your business website need to increase leads and conversions? A way to sign up or purchase! Sign-up forms not only increase leads but also help businesses grow their mailing lists and l...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-tips-for-creating-sign-up-forms-that-convert.html

Marketing automation software is a powerful tool for marketers looking to automate various tasks related to running a successful organization. Automating certain aspects of the marketing process ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-choose-marketing-automation-software.html

Email marketing can be used for a variety of objectives like promoting an offer, cultivating relationships, sharing company updates, and more. In addition to its versatility, email software makes...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/10-email-marketing-tactics-that-increase-roi.html

From small startups to global enterprises, all businesses require a website to attract customers. While the design will certainly vary from one to the next, every business website needs several t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-every-business-website-needs-to-drive-conversions.html

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful tool for businesses looking to reach customers during the holiday season. However, there are a lot of other businesses vying for holiday shoppers' at...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/holiday-ppc-advertising-6-tips-to-optimize-your-campaign.html

Keywords are an essential part of digital marketing but there's often confusion about what they are and how to use them. While the practice of "keyword stuffing" used to be common in the early da...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/everything-you-need-to-know-about-keywords.html

In order to build a marketing system that attracts and retains customers, you have to start with a strong brand foundation. After all, branding can be the deciding factor in whether customers cho...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-branding-essentials-for-marketing-success.html

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and re...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-content-marketing-to-grow-your-list.html

The days will soon be getting shorter and cooler, meaning autumn will be in full swing. Planning for this new season is important since there are many marketing opportunities at your fingertips. ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-fall-social-media-marketing-tactics.html

Many people use the search phrase “near me” when looking for restaurants, gas stations, apparel, and more in their area. This is because smartphone users are dropping location qualifiers (e.g...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-leverage-near-me-searches-for-your-business.html

Your About page is usually where people go to learn more. It’s essential that this page explains who you are, what your business is about, and everything else customers may need to know. Some c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/about-page-writing-guidelines-to-engage-readers.html

Marketing automation software allows companies to simplify their workflows and make data accessible anywhere, making it easier to track customer interactions, automate repetitive tasks, and send ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/signs-your-business-needs-marketing-automation.html

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising isn’t something you “set and forget” — it requires monitoring, testing, and optimizing to improve your ROI. By following these settings and PPC strategy ti...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/fine-tune-your-google-ads-campaign-for-better-results.html

Summer’s drawing to a close, which means back-to-school season is nearby. For many businesses, this is a prime time to market their products or services, especially with deals for parents and s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/back-to-school-digital-marketing-ideas.html

According to RingLead, 80% of sales calls go to voicemail, and 90% of first-time voicemails are never returned. Furthermore, an Invesp infographic noted that 80% of sales require five follow-up c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-craft-the-perfect-voicemail-script-to-get-more-callbacks.html

Digital marketing is essential to making your business successful in this digital age, but that doesn’t mean that offline marketing can’t still have an impact. Whether you consider yourself m...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-offline-strategies-that-drive-online-success.html

Evergreen content is a type of content that doesn't lose its value over time. Plus, it encourages sharing because the content is always useful and relevant. Evergreen content marketing is particu...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/evergreen-content-marketing-ideas.html

Not every visitor that comes to your website will enter through the home page — they may first land on a product page, blog post, case study, etc. That’s why having a Start Here page provides...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-essential-elements-of-a-start-here-page.html

Social media marketing can be a tricky game, especially on Instagram. The algorithm seems to change at a whim, and what once brought in the clicks, likes, and comments may now be getting crickets...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-ways-to-boost-instagram-engagement.html

Backlinks are an important factor in search engine optimization (SEO ) because it shows Google that your website is trustworthy. In addition to helping your business website rank higher in organi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/create-a-link-building-strategy-in-6-steps.html

Not long ago, sales teams had to spend more than half of their time on tedious tasks like taking notes, logging calls, and prioritizing leads. Sales automation technology now allows salespeople t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/11-ways-to-improve-your-business-with-sales-automation.html

Driving customers to your site is only half the battle. Once they’re there, you want to convert these visitors into leads. How can this be done? Thankfully, we have a few tricks up our sleeves ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-to-boost-landing-page-conversion-rates.html

More than 58% of online users are active on Facebook every month. With all of those active users, you would probably assume there are many, many Facebook business pages — and you’d be correct...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-to-get-the-most-from-your-facebook-business-page.html

Building out your email list may have you scratching your head for ideas. How can your brand do it both quickly and effectively? And what exactly are the advantages of an email list for your busi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-grow-your-email-list-faster.html

With school out and people going on vacation, many businesses experience a summer sales slump, but there are ways to avoid the slowdown. Preparing your pipeline in advance and continuing sales-ge...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/strategies-to-avoid-summer-sales-slump.html

No matter how proficient you are at keeping notes, setting reminders, or checking your calendar, almost everyone has at least one memory of not doing any of that. It can even go so far as forgett...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-ways-to-know-you-need-a-crm.html

While SEO can help boost your organic search rankings on a wider scale, it’s also important to factor in local search marketing. Local-specific content is vital for increasing traffic to busine...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-types-of-local-seo-content-to-boost-rankings.html

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is an ever-changing field, requiring foresight and constant creativity. It’s important to both stay ahead of the trends and predict what may be coming next, which ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ppc-marketing-tactics-to-increase-b2b-conversions.html

Even with the best email list, it’s easy for your communications to get lost in your customer’s inbox — or worse, in spam. Not to mention that getting your emails opened is only half the ba...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/13-simple-tips-for-improving-your-email-open-and-clickthrough-rates.html

Many businesses have had to transform their marketing strategies to align with the current times. Some have used this as an opportunity for growth and advancement, while others have simply honed ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/post-pandemic-marketing-trends-to-watch.html

Scarcity and urgency are valuable concepts in business, and how you incorporate them into your campaigns could be the difference between success and failure. Scarcity is the understanding that a ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-scarcity-and-urgency-to-increase-sales.html

If there’s something you may be overlooking on your website, it’s probably your “About Us” page. When you’re running a business, it's easy to focus more on your customers rather than yo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-ideas-to-upgrade-your-about-page.html

Looking for ways to boost your credibility online or capitalize on positive mentions of your company? In this article, we break down why and how to incorporate social proof into your digital mark...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-you-should-be-including-social-proof-in-your-marketing.html

Turning your business into a sales machine requires a healthy marketing system, a key component of which is your offers. To pull customers in like bees to nectar, you need to craft offers that pr...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/4-types-of-offers-to-attract-customers-like-a-magnet.html

The growth of social media over the years has involved a lot of new tools and platforms cropping up as well. For each new social network, it feels like there are a dozen or more sites and apps th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/social-media-tools-to-improve-your-results.html

Email marketing is a huge opportunity for your business. From brand building to nurturing leads to making sales, email marketing is crucial for a fine-tuned marketing system. According to Constan...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-quick-tips-for-better-email-subject-lines.html

As competition for organic search results continues to grow fiercer, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a way for you to ensure search visibility in Google, Facebook, etc. Used alongside search e...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-reasons-you-should-use-pay-per-click-to-drive-website-visitor-traffic.html

Ever heard the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes to marketing? One of the most important aspects of content marketing is consistency, whether that’s in your social media post...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-marketing-needs-consistent-content.html

When customers flock to your website, there are a handful of reasons as to why they may be there. Perhaps your business is the answer to a need, or word-of-mouth sent them there to see what all t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/4-best-design-practices-of-contact-pages.html

In Part 1, we covered the first four stages of 'The Customer Value Journey' (the eight-stage process coined by DigitalMarketer ), which every new prospect goes through in order to become a custom...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-customer-value-journey-part-2.html

With so many B2B marketing brands fighting to attract the right attention and clientele, it’s easy to succumb to certain mistakes and errors in the process. Going into a new year can be seen as...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/b2b-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid-in-2022.html

The post-holiday season offers many opportunities to spike sales as many people during this time of year are looking to spend their gift cards, get ready for the new year, or simply treat themsel...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/post-holiday-marketing-tips-to-spike-your-sales.html

Businesses benefit from customer relationship management (CRM) software in a variety of ways, from sales reps saving time searching for customer details to marketers effectively communicating wit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/predictions-for-crm-software-in-2022.html

Customers have more ways to buy products than ever before, and one of the newest channels is social commerce. Before, social media’s role in the buying process was to direct users to websites t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/social-commerce-boosting-sales-on-social-platforms.html

The Customer Value Journey is an eight-stage process, coined by DigitalMarketer, that every new prospect goes through in order to become a customer, and eventually, a raving fan. This process is ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-customer-value-journey-part-1.html

Digital marketing is always evolving because of new technology, consumer changes, or even a global pandemic. A strategy that worked a year or just six months ago may not be serving your business ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-in-2022.html

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a popular type of automation that has many advantages for generating sales and retaining customers. When you’re focused on digital marketing a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ways-to-motivate-sales-reps-to-use-crm.html

Content marketing is essential for online success as it allows your business to rank higher in search results, generate audience engagement, and convert prospects into customers. Since creating a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/repurposing-content-ideas-to-boost-roi.html

A marketing system is essential for growth, but many businesses don’t take full advantage of its potential. That’s why having a healthy marketing system is one of the most effective things yo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-build-a-healthy-marketing-system.html

Online reviews play a huge part in the perception of your business, as well as your organic search rankings. In order to make informed decisions about online reviews, don’t let your emotions ge...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/10-facts-you-need-to-know-about-online-reviews.html

Holiday digital marketing is unique from your year-round marketing activities because of the spike in online and traditional shopping, along with more brands competing for shoppers’ attention. ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/holiday-digital-marketing-tips-to-generate-sales.html

Guiding prospects into becoming loyal customers is vital for sustainable growth, but you can’t rely on chance for this to happen — you need a strategy. While it’s unlikely that every prospe...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ways-to-turn-prospects-into-loyal-customers.html

TikTok advertising is a newcomer in social media marketing, but the video-based app is giving other networks a run for their money by launching several interactive ad formats to attract advertise...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-tiktok-ad-features-encourage-interaction.html

Apple’s iOS 15 is the latest operating system update that includes more privacy features, which will impact Google Analytics and marketers in some notable ways. These changes are part of Apple�...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/impact-of-apples-ios-15-update-on-google-analytics.html

It’s important to track ‘key performance indicators’ (KPIs) for your social media marketing so you can see what content captures attention and identify opportunities to increase engagement....

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/8-social-media-engagement-kpis-you-should-be-tracking.html

Don’t let the analytics of your website scare you! Though these metrics may mean nothing to you now, they should mean everything to you if you want to start tracking the success of your website...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-things-to-measure-on-your-website.html

Direct response marketing is designed to evoke an immediate response and encourage potential customers to take a specific action, such as joining your email list, going to a landing page, submitt...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-direct-response-strategies-that-will-increase-engagement-and-sales.html

Search engines, such as Google and Bing, are constantly changing and growing. They regularly release algorithm updates and new ranking signals to help users find the most relevant and quality web...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-key-seo-principles.html

A common question that digital marketers hear a lot is, “How much should I spend for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising ?” The answer is: it depends. There are many factors that come into play w...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-determine-your-ppc-budget.html

It’s no secret that online reviews are important for any business, and acquiring reviews and incorporating them into your overall digital marketing plan is essential. According to Brightlocal's...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-5-places-to-get-reviews-other-than-google-and-yelp.html

Email marketing is a powerful tool for engaging and nurturing your audience, which helps your marketing system get maximum results. With over 1.8 billion users worldwide on Gmail alone, email mar...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-things-to-start-or-stop-doing-with-your-email-marketing.html

TikTok offers brands the opportunity to connect with younger audiences while enjoying relatively few business competitors present on the social network. If you’re considering adding TikTok mark...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/best-types-of-tiktok-content.html

Marketing doesn’t need to be complicated to work — in fact, it generates the best results when simplified and systematized. Many businesses have a strategy, but they often lack or underuse ma...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/marketing-systems-the-key-to-scaling-your-business.html

A well-organized site structure is essential for a successful website because it makes it easier to understand and navigate your website. Since websites often have multiple pages, it’s vital th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-site-structure-affects-seo.html

Sign-up forms are a simple yet effective way to increase conversions, grow mailing lists, and learn more about leads, but they must be designed with intention to be successful. Before adding one ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/9-sign-up-form-design-tips-to-increase-conversions.html

The weather is hot. Kids are out of school. And everyone is ready for a chance to sit by the pool and relax. Does that mean it’s time to ease up on your content marketing ? Not at all. In fact,...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/content-marketing-ideas-for-the-summer.html

Local search marketing often focuses on optimizing the website, but an area that’s often neglected is online citations. Citations are a critical ranking factor for local SEO because it helps se...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/improve-local-search-marketing-with-online-citations.html

You shouldn’t “set and forget” a digital marketing strategy — it requires refreshing from time to time in order to provide value for your business. What worked before in your strategy doe...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-digital-marketing-strategy-needs-a-refresh.html

Improving your website’s internal search function not only enhances user experience, but also helps your business make more sales. Many e-commerce and B2B companies, however, overlook their int...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/make-more-sales-by-improving-your-websites-internal-search.html

Back in February, we explained the new social media app, Clubhouse, that’s available only on iOS devices — until now! That’s right, Android users around the world will be able to join the c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/clubhouse-launches-new-android-app.html

When customers are happy with your product or service, they’re more likely to share it with others, which is why setting up a customer referral program is a great way to increase retention and ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-start-a-customer-referral-program-for-more-sales.html

Google is all about helping users find the most relevant and quality websites, which is why in 2020 it announced new ranking signals for Google Search — ‘page experience.’ The page experien...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-googles-new-core-web-vitals-to-improve-seo.html

Content marketing offers many benefits like building trust with customers, establishing authority, and increasing organic website traffic. That’s why it’s essential to track the proper key pe...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/best-kpis-to-measure-content-marketing-effectiveness.html

Digital marketing is crucial for staying competitive online, but what makes customers loyal to your business is exceptional customer service. If most of your attention is on gaining new customers...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/enhancing-customer-service-with-marketing-automation.html

At its core, web accessibility is the practice of making sites usable by as many people as possible. This includes people with disabilities as well as other groups like mobile device users, peopl...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-web-accessibility.html

Internet technology is constantly evolving which is why it’s crucial for businesses to keep an eye on digital marketing trends to gain a competitive edge. Digital marketing includes a wide rang...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/digital-marketing-trends-that-arent-going-anywhere.html

Google has recently announced that hotel booking links, previously provided through Google Hotel Ads, will be free for hotels and travel companies starting this week on google.com/travel. The fre...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-will-offer-free-hotel-booking-links.html

Local link building is essential for local search engine optimization (SEO) because it shows Google that your website is trustworthy and relevant to location-based searches. Local SEO is a powerf...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/local-link-building-tactics-to-boost-local-seo.html

Your web design is more than a branding asset or sales channel - it strongly influences search engine optimization (SEO) which is one of the most powerful strategies for reaching new prospects an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-web-design-directly-affects-seo.html

Google responsive display ads are a great way to reach people while they’re browsing websites, watching a YouTube video, checking their Gmail, or using mobile devices and apps. They appear as �...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-responsive-display-ads-pros-and-cons-of-using-them.html

You’ve probably heard of Clubhouse by now, but what is the new social media app really about? Whether you’re a digital marketer or entrepreneur, Clubhouse can offer several benefits for netwo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/meet-clubhouse-the-new-audio-based-social-media-app.html

Search engine optimization (SEO) is no longer optional for most businesses these days which is why using up-to-date SEO tactics is crucial for driving growth in 2021. As data privacy changes roll...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/seo-tactics-to-drive-more-growth-in-2021.html

Landing pages can be a powerful tool for funneling leads into your marketing automation campaign, but they’re only effective when done properly. Marketing automation offers a variety of benefit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/landing-pages-funnel-more-leads-into-your-marketing-automation.html

In June 2020, Apple announced at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) privacy changes that will impact data sharing across iOS. Apple has stated it believes that privacy is a fundame...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-apples-privacy-changes-will-impact-facebook-ads.html

Many businesses these days understand the value of social media marketing, but one area that they often don’t take advantage of enough is employee advocacy. Getting employees more involved in s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/increasing-employee-involvement-in-social-media-marketing.html

Content marketing in 2021 will continue to be crucial for an effective digital marketing strategy, whether it’s improving your website’s SEO or increasing conversions like purchases and form ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-improve-content-marketing-in-2021.html

Using social proof in digital marketing is effective for inspiring confidence in your business, product, or service. Not only does it boost your credibility online, but it can also convert appreh...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/leverage-social-proof-to-power-up-your-digital-marketing.html

There are a variety of ways you can build your email list like website popups, discount codes, contests, and of course, lead magnets. Creating enticing lead magnets are an effective way to genera...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/building-your-email-list-with-lead-magnets.html

You can have amazing ad copy and imagery, but if you haven’t properly defined your target audience, then your Facebook ads won’t deliver the kind of results you want. Before launching a campa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-ads-defining-your-target-audience.html

Is your digital marketing ready for holiday shopping? Now is a perfect time to start implementing holiday digital marketing tactics that will help boost your sales. According to an October 2020 h...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/digital-marketing-tactics-for-the-holidays.html

Generally speaking, when you’re able to keep visitors on your website for longer, a conversion is more likely to occur. That’s why monitoring your Google Analytics’ average session duration...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/metrics-you-should-monitor-for-increasing-visitors-time-on-your-website.html

Backlinks are crucial for getting your site to rank higher in Google search results, so it’s important to understand how many backlinks your site has and their quality. With the information in ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-a-backlink-profile.html

Getting your website to show up in search engine results for keywords that are relevant to your product or service is crucial for many businesses, but choosing between outsourcing SEO (search eng...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/advantages-of-outsourcing-your-seo.html

Setting up and maintaining a free Google business profile is essential for building trust in your brand and driving customers to your business. Additionally, a Google business profile is an impor...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-common-mistakes-of-google-business-profiles.html

There’s a lot to think about when creating or updating a website, but there are certain things a business website absolutely needs to be effective and worth the investment. While web design is ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-does-a-business-website-absolutely-need.html

For advertisers that want a bid strategy that’s less “hands-on” than manual bidding, Google Ads offers automated bidding. As a quick reminder, a bid strategy controls how you pay for users ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-ads-bidding-guide-part-two-automated-bidding.html

There are many types of Google Ads bidding to choose from so you're better able to achieve your campaign’s goal. However, given the variety of bidding options, it can be overwhelming for Google...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-ads-bidding-guide-part-one-manual-cpc-bidding.html

“Customer relationship management” (CRM) software offers many benefits for B2B sales like being able to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, im...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-crm-software-is-crucial-for-b2b-sales.html

Without tracking SEO metrics, you won’t be able to tell if your strategy is working or not and what steps should be taken to get better results. Not only is it important to track SEO metrics, b...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/which-seo-metrics-should-you-track.html

Practically every business owner knows the importance of having a quality website, but hiring web design services isn’t as straightforward. It’s essential that you select a web design company...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/20-questions-to-ask-before-hiring-web-design-services.html

With networking moving more online than ever before, LinkedIn is an effective social media platform for providing and finding professional support. On June 30, 2020, LinkedIn Official Blog announ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-linkedin-features-promote-community-support.html

Regardless of your industry or business size, having a great company culture is crucial for attracting and retaining talent as well as making your brand more attractive to customers, clients, inv...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-a-great-company-culture.html

We all know that having a great web design is crucial for keeping visitors from bouncing and attracting customers, but it’s not as obvious how video can be used to create a better website exper...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-business-website-needs-video-content.html

Creating content for each buying stage offers several benefits like gaining more customers, generating leads, and improving your website’s rankings in Google results. By using the buyer’s jou...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/gain-more-customers-by-creating-content-for-each-buying-stage.html

Local search marketing is a subset of search engine optimization (SEO) that’s ideal for businesses that need to attract more customers in their city, state, or region. This is done by optimizin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-local-seo-tips-to-increase-customer-traffic.html

Websites have become essential for business but being online-based places them at a higher risk of a cyber attack. A hacked website can lead to financial fraud, data breaches, or downtime which i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/cybersecurity-protecting-your-website-from-hacks.html

Google is constantly refining its search algorithm, culminating into larger “core updates” - the most recent one happening in May 2020. According to Google’s official blog : Several times a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-may-2020-core-update-key-takeaways-to-know.html

While there are certain marketing tasks that require a human touch, many processes can benefit from marketing automation which can lift sales and lower customer acquisition costs. By using market...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-biggest-advantages-of-marketing-automation.html

Website usability is key to keeping visitors on the page so they’re more likely to take further action, but there are many different factors that can increase bounce rates like a busy design an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-improve-website-usability.html

On April 14, 2020, the Google Ads Blog announced the launch of a free beta tool for businesses to create short promo videos for YouTube. According to the announcement, “Given the current enviro...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-launches-free-tool-to-create-short-promo-videos.html

A recent Google study on global shoppers found that 81% shopped in the past week in an average of seven categories. The study focused on four international markets - the United States, Great Brit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/online-shopping-trends-of-us-consumers.html

Regardless if you’ve never created content before or have been doing content marketing for years, a content strategy will help you achieve marketing and sales goals more easily. An effective co...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-crucial-elements-of-a-content-strategy.html

Right now, your prospects are out there searching for a solution to a problem, which is why your website needs a ‘lead magnet’ that helps them while also generating leads for your business. W...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/lead-magnets-turning-your-website-into-a-lead-generation-machine.html

“Plan for the worse and hope for the best” - but are you leaving out the planning part? Your business is too important not to be prepared for the worst like a natural disaster, financial turm...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/crisis-communication-checklist-for-businesses.html

While pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is effective for driving website traffic, leaving out search engine optimization (SEO) can end up hurting your campaign’s performance and increasing ad cos...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-ppc-and-seo-should-work-together.html

Trade shows are an effective promotional tactic to gain more quality leads and generate new business, especially when sales automation is used. B2B brands, in particular, can benefit from trade s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/sales-automation-tips-for-successful-trade-shows.html

When people visit your website and their needs aren’t met, they’re going to leave right after arriving (aka ‘bounce’). That’s why a website redesign can be crucial for keeping them on t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-signs-you-need-a-website-redesign.html

Businesses that depend on local customers for revenue, like a restaurant, florist shop, or dentist office, need a lead generation strategy to drive high-quality, local leads. However, successful ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-tactics-to-generate-more-local-leads.html

On January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect, giving California residents the right to learn what data companies collect about them and allowing them to ask com...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/california-consumer-privacy-act-what-your-business-needs-to-know.html

As you probably know by now if you’ve been an SMT blog or podcast subscriber, content marketing is beneficial for a variety of reasons like improving search engine optimization (SEO), building ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-generate-content-ideas-that-will-attract-and-engage-visitors.html

With 40 percent of online transactions happening on mobile and the rise of voice search, your digital marketing strategy must include mobile marketing to be competitive in today’s marketplace. ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/8-tactics-to-boost-your-mobile-marketing-in-2020_943.html

Voice search, which allows users to use a voice command to search the internet, a website, or an app, is gaining in popularity and if you’re not optimizing your content for voice search, you co...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-to-optimize-content-for-voice-search.html

Although inbound digital marketing helps attract customers, what makes customers loyal to a business is exceptional customer service. Some businesses get so caught up in trying to acquire new cus...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-increase-customer-loyalty-through-consistency.html

Google Ads is a powerful platform for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising but its many capabilities can often be overlooked. After all, Google rolls out new targeting features on a regular basis whic...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-practices-to-improve-google-ads-performance.html

As the leading social network for saving and discovery information through images, GIFs, and videos, Pinterest is a hot online destination for holiday inspiration. According to Pinterest’s 2019...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/pinterest-reveals-top-holiday-search-trends-for-2019.html

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe has raised concerns all over the globe about the changes happening in digital marketing and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. While business...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-tactics-to-balance-data-driven-marketing-and-user-privacy.html

Paid advertising is an effective way to get LinkedIn leads but if you don’t have the budget or a boss who sees that value in it yet, you can still identify and nurture leads organically on Link...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-it-possible-to-get-linkedin-leads-without-advertising.html

In a perfect world, every new web development project would progress without a glitch but in real life, things happen and plans get derailed. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take from t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-best-web-development-practices-to-prevent-project-setbacks.html

Content marketing can help you reach new audiences, engage your current audience, and generate leads or conversions. However, breaking through the digital noise is getting increasingly harder as ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/6-content-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid.html

It’s not enough to set up your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign, you’ll need to monitor and optimize it on an ongoing basis if you want to improve its performance. Fortunately, there ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-to-improve-your-ppc-campaigns-performance.html

An important activity of search engine optimization (SEO) is keeping track of Google’s algorithm updates because minor changes today can become major changes tomorrow. That’s not to say that ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/when-does-google-update-its-algorithm.html

Sharing links on Instagram can be a little tricky since it doesn’t allow clickable links in post captions or comments, however, there are other ways you can drive followers to your content. Che...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-5-ways-to-share-links-on-instagram.html

When you create and share content on social media, it should align and support your marketing goals, however, misinformation and unrealistic expectations often undermine efforts to achieve those ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/4-social-media-stats-you-shouldnt-ignore.html

Reviews play an important role in search engine optimization (SEO) and attracting more customers. Not all reviews, however, are given equal weight by Google because depending on how the review wa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-collect-more-reviews-for-search-engine-optimization.html

It’s not enough to simply set up a Google My Business listing; you also need to maintain your profile’s quality to build trust with customers. Problems often arise when businesses “set it a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-maintain-a-quality-and-trusted-google-business-listing.html

Local SEO is a mighty tool for smaller sized businesses that want to attract high-intent qualified leads, especially if they need to target people in their city, state, or region. The goal of loc...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-ultimate-guide-for-enhancing-your-local-seo.html

Creating a marketing plan for your products and services is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Finding ways to boost your brand awareness, connect with customers, and ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-essential-building-blocks-for-online-marketing-success.html

When it comes to the customer journey online, there are a few different stages that they go through before making a purchase. Here are the buying stages: Awareness: The customer becomes aware of ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/a-quick-guide-to-search-intent-and-optimizing-your-website-for-it.html

Updated: June 3, 2019 One of the toughest challenges in building a successful B2B internet marketing strategy is figuring out where to start. This can be especially challenging for B2B companies,...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-build-a-solid-b2b-digital-marketing-strategy.html

Is your drop in traffic a true indicator of less visibility in search results? Or is it merely because you’re showing up more prominently? In the past, we’ve talked about Google’s search in...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-position-zero-in-google-search-impacts-your-websites-traffic.html

Facebook started allowing Business Pages on their social media platform back in 2007, but it didn’t necessarily help with the discoverability of your business at that time. It wasn’t until 20...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-facebook-the-new-local-search-engine.html

There are an infinite number of ways to promote your products and services, which can make planning your promotions a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to pick the right type of...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-types-of-promotions-that-help-grow-your-business.html

The web is moving faster than ever – literally, according to Google. Google announced that it would be releasing its official Google Speed Update back in July 2018, and since then they’ve see...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-page-speed-matters-for-search-engine-optimization.html

Updated 4/16/19 In the world of web design there are a lot of trends and fads that come and go, but some aspects of web design remain relevant and critical to any project. While staying up-to-dat...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-5-web-design-metrics-to-consider.html

Frequently asked question (FAQ) pages not only serve as a way for your audience to quickly find answers to the questions that they many have about your business or industry, but they also serve a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/10-amazing-faq-page-examples-and-why-you-need-one.html

A few years ago, Facebook introduced the Relevance Score as an attempt to ‘grade’ your ads on how relevant they are to your target audience. Unfortunately, it was not always clear exactly how...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-to-add-new-relevancy-metrics-for-ads-how-this-helps-your-campaigns.html

The goal is simple: sell more of your products or services. However, sometimes your product or service isn’t exactly the easiest thing to explain. If you have a complicated subject matter to co...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-ways-to-simplify-your-complex-content.html

Updated: 3/12/19 One of the first questions you should ask yourself when planning any marketing campaign is, “Where does my target audience congregate?” The answer to this question will usual...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-differences-between-linkedin-and-facebook-for-business.html

In a recent Webmaster Hangout, Google’s Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, John Mueller answered questions about when combining pages makes sense and when it doesn’t make sense, as well as some...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-combining-content-can-help-your-websites-search-ranking.html

It was announced towards the end of 2018 that Google would be shutting down their attempt at a social media network, Google Plus. Google Plus was a place where you could share status updates, pho...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-plus-is-going-away-but-what-does-that-mean.html

A lot of planning goes into running paid advertising — "Where should I run my ads?," "What audience should my business target?," and more. But perhaps the biggest question you’ll need to ask ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-choose-the-right-offer-for-the-different-types-of-traffic.html

Google has long provided some insights into how their search rankings are determined, but Facebook has been another story. Now with the company taking steps to be more transparent, they’ve rele...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-describes-how-its-search-results-work.html

Recently, Google has pushed to increase the use of automation in ads. Some of the initiatives they developed include: dynamic search ads, automated ad suggestions (formerly known as Ads Added by ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-ads-introduces-new-responsive-search-ads.html

It’s the beginning of another year, which means it’s time to look at your marketing and see what’s working and what needs to change. You should ideally evaluate your website and marketing e...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-seo-essentials-for-2019.html

Doubling your sales in a year can seem like a daunting task: especially, in the beginning of the year, if you look at the whole year’s goal. Your brain naturally locks up at the enormous task l...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-double-your-sales-this-year.html

Social media is huge . Statista reports that the number of Facebook users in the U.S. (as of October 2018) had reached a whopping 204 million users. However, many local business owners are still ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-local-business-needs-social-media-marketing.html

2018 has come to a close and Google has released their most popular search trends for the year. This list is a great way to see how search has changed in Google over time – now that the search ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/a-year-in-search-google-search-trends-from-2018.html

Social media marketing often needs to adapt frequently in order to keep up with the latest trends in the social media landscape – but this article is not just fleeting information. Even with al...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-social-media-marketing-trends-for-2019.html

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Is your business ready for holiday shopping? If not, it’s not too late to get in some last minute holiday promotions. A recent Gallup report shows th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-last-minute-holiday-marketing-ideas.html

Video continues to dominate when it comes to social media. In fact, more than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube alone each day . That’s not even factoring in all of the time sp...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-reveals-3-ways-youtube-habits-and-ads-have-changed.html

We’ve previously talked about how beneficial a Facebook Group can be in building a community around your brand and interacting with your target audience – not only by joining them but owning ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/now-you-can-join-facebook-groups-as-your-business-page.html

There are countless hashtags that your business could use on Instagram, so how do you know which ones to use to get the best results? In this article, you’ll learn how to use hashtags in order ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-instagram-hashtags-to-increase-visibility-for-your-business.html

There is a deeper, more technical side to search engine optimization (SEO) on your website that is just as crucial, if not more, than quality content and strong backlinks. Even if you’re not th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/a-technical-seo-breakdown-for-business-owners.html

LinkedIn has been a powerhouse for professional development and B2B communication for years, but they’ve never been able to fully master how to connect people within Groups. In 2015, the compan...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/linkedin-revamps-their-group-experience-to-compete-with-facebook.html

According to Google, a third of holiday shoppers search for images before going out to shop. “One-third of holiday shoppers said they searched for images before they went in store to shop. The ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-releases-shoppable-image-ads.html

Updated: Oct. 1, 2018 Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are the busiest shopping days of the year. And though they may seem far away, if you haven’t started planning your ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/10-marketing-tactics-for-a-successful-black-friday.html

Not only does your Google My Business (GMB) listing increase your chances of showing up in the Google Local 3-pack, but when your business is searched for by name, Google often shows a Knowledge ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-optimize-a-google-my-business-listing-for-local-search.html

Influencer marketing is a hybrid of old and new marketing tools. Essentially it takes the idea of a celebrity endorsement and merges it into a new, modern social media space. But it’s not only ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-basics-of-influencer-disclosure-guidelines.html

When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) management, a simple mistake can easily throw off your budget and affect your bottom line. Even PPC professionals have made at least one of these mistakes at ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-ppc-mistakes-that-are-easy-to-avoid.html

Before we delve into the logistics of setting up a referral program, take a second to think about the first place you turn to when you’re looking to purchase a new product or service. Usually y...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/setting-up-a-referral-program.html

Back in 2013, Facebook launched partnerships with major data providers including Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom, and BlueKai. This allowed advertisers to target existing and potential customers using...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-ad-targeting-removes-third-party-data-options.html

Did you know that 98% of new traffic leaves your website without converting? They might be interested in your product or service but are just not in the buying stage yet. They could still be rese...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/building-email-list-get-started.html

With over 40 percent of online transactions happening on mobile, it’s becoming clear that now more than ever, mobile is truly taking over. Even when the transactions don’t occur on a smartpho...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/mobile-transactions-continue-to-grow-are-you-prepared.html

It is predicted that in 2019, 80% of all internet traffic will come from videos. That might seem like a big leap, but video content is already proving it can grab and hold audiences’ attention ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/video-marketing-what-does-the-future-hold.html

The current search engine optimization (SEO) landscape is already tricky for local business. Google Maps trimmed its business listings down from seven to three listings in search, plus with new f...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-does-voice-search-affect-local-businesses.html

You may have noticed a new section to Facebook pages recently – “Info & Ads”. This new section added by Facebook is another addition to continuing its transparency efforts regarding Pages a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ad-transparency-facebook-starts-showing-all-ads-that-pages-are-running.html

Google recently announced a new rebranding and restructuring of their popular advertising programs – AdWords and DoubleClick. These flagship advertising products that were established 18 and 22...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-google-ads-platforms.html

Try to think of the last time you used the yellow pages. Now think of the last time you looked up something on your phone. We’re living in a digital world and if your business is not living in ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-every-ceo-needs-to-know-about-digital-marketing.html

If your website collects sensitive visitor information such as passwords, credit card information, or other personal data – be warned. Earlier this year, Google made changes that started to mar...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-is-requiring-websites-to-switch-to-https-or-show-up-as-non-secure.html

If you’re familiar with the term search engine optimization (SEO), you may know about how titles, meta descriptions and alt tags are a crucial part in getting you more traffic from search engin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-technical-seo-is-more-important-than-ever.html

Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns require a lot of work and coordination in order for them to perform properly – bringing your business more traffic and new leads. Part of this work includes the la...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-landing-page-optimization-leads-to-ppc-campaign-success.html

Have you ever been on a website and seen those banner ads along the top or sides of the website for services or products? What you are seeing are called display advertisements. Display advertisin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/an-intro-into-display-advertising.html

Video continues to be on the rise – both in usage and as a marketing tool. In fact, according to Tubular Insights, “The number of people watching videos online only continues to grow, with vi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/linkedin-introduces-video-advertising.html

There are many ways that websites unintentionally make things difficult for visitors – poor navigation, pop-ups, no clear calls-to-action, and cumbersome checkout processes. A website is meant ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/webmasters-dont-punish-your-users.html

No matter how hard you try, it’s nearly impossible to stay away from mobile marketing. With roughly 77% of Americans owning a smartphone (according to PEW Research Center), people are bound to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-mobile-marketing-optimization-checklist.html

Content marketing is an essential piece of the digital marketing puzzle. Without it, search engines like Google have a harder time deciphering what your business does and how it should be ranked ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-evergreen-content-for-your-website.html

Online citations are defined as “ mentions of your business’s name, address and phone number on other websites ” such as YP, Yelp, and many other directories. A citation does not need to in...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-citations-matter-for-your-local-business.html

When it comes to websites and search engine optimization (SEO), ecommerce websites are almost considered a different animal. While many of the fundamentals remain the same, ecommerce websites ten...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-seo-essentials-for-boosting-your-ecommerce-websites-organic-traffic.html

Before we start getting into the nitty gritty of this article, we’ll start by saying that Sales & Marketing Technologies is not a law office and can’t give you legal advice. However, here a f...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-legally-use-images-for-social-media-marketing.html

Fake reviews are an annoying problem to have. We work hard to build good, ethical businesses and fake negative reviews can tarnish an otherwise glowing profile. This is extremely upsetting. In an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/can-you-get-rid-of-fake-negative-reviews-on-google.html

There are hundreds of millions of Facebook groups. From car enthusiast groups like Miata Club ( 27,964 members ) to entrepreneurial support groups like Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs ( 37,406 ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-facebook-groups-to-help-market-your-business.html

You may have noticed a trend in your Facebook feed lately. Quizzes. Major companies have started to utilize this trend to engage with their audience (and add a retargeting pixel if they’re smar...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-quizzes-can-boost-your-traffic-and-leads.html

Selling products on Instagram tends to come more naturally for business owners. You can take photos or videos of your products and there is a more direct correlation to sales. When it comes to se...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-instagram-to-sell-services.html

Instagram has positioned itself as one of the top photo and video sharing networks since it launched in 2010. Once Facebook acquired it in 2012, it became even more accessible for business owners...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-for-using-instagram-to-sell-products.html

As a business owner, you might not have a lot of time to be in marketing mode. You have other pressing tasks, but at the end of the day, you know marketing is absolutely essential in order for yo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-a-marketing-calendar.html

Every year for the past 4 years, Orbit Media Studios surveys 1000+ business bloggers and publishes a research report on blogging statistics and trends. While there are some subtle changes through...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-you-should-still-be-blogging-in-2018.html

Facebook is switching up its algorithm once again, and this time it’s going to start lowering the reach for posts that use “engagement bait.” According to Facebook, “Engagement bait is a ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-to-start-demoting-posts-that-use-engagement-bait.html

Digital marketing is an ever-changing landscape, and what worked a year ago or even a week ago might not work as well today. Many businesses still use outdated and/or ineffective marketing method...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-years-resolutions-5-digital-marketing-upgrades-for-2018.html

Please note: We are digital marketers, not attorneys. Therefore, this article is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, you should speak with a lawyer. More and more, we’ve been hearing ab...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-your-website-ada-compliant-why-you-need-to-know.html

In a news release made on November 7, 2017, Facebook announced that its newest Messenger Platform 2.2 would offer new and exciting features that work to build engagement with customers. Facebook ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-introduces-a-website-chat-plugin-for-businesses.html

High-quality, relevant content truly is the key to success for reaching new audiences, engaging your current audience, and creating new business opportunities. But where do you start if you’ve ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-types-of-content-that-can-grow-your-company.html

Updated 11/6/17 Most business owners understand the importance of their website design, their branded social media pages, and even the idea of search engine optimization, but when it comes to con...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-your-business-needs-to-create-content.html

If you’ve never tried Facebook advertising for your business, you’re not alone. There are plenty of business owners who are worried about making the leap into social media advertising. Howeve...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-different-facebook-advertising-options-for-different-budgets.html

As we enter into the fourth quarter of 2017, many businesses are already looking forward to 2018 and what they can expect to plan for in their marketing strategy. While some of these trends have ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-5-digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-for-in-2018.html

What parts of your website really matter to customers? Can I make do with what I have? Is it worth investing in a new website design? Is my website really affecting sales that much ? There are ce...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/do-i-need-a-website-redesign.html

Earlier this year, LinkedIn announced a new feature being launched, called Matched Audiences, that would help business owners narrow down their targeting immensely. Matched Audiences began rollin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/linkedins-new-targeting-options-matched-audiences.html

If you have WordPress, you better keep reading… Equifax Inc. just had their second massive security breach in four years, and according to the Apache Foundation it all stems from one main issue...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/there-is-no-free-lunch-the-real-cost-of-open-source-software.html

Have you ever visited a website and then suddenly you start seeing ads for that company all across the web? This phenomenon is called retargeting or remarketing. Your customers don’t always buy...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/which-should-you-use-google-or-facebook-retargeting.html

Marketing has changed a lot since its infancy. It used to be one message for the masses. Nowadays, people are looking for more of a personalized experience. So how do you individually market to p...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-boost-sales-with-facebook-messenger-and-chatbots.html

Of course we’d love to believe that every person who comes in contact with our business follows a specific and direct path to purchase. They visit our website, read our content or download a he...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-design-campaigns-for-the-non-buyers-with-retargeting.html

Video marketing has become one of the biggest digital marketing opportunities – and for good reason. Almost 50% of Internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-video-testimonials-can-establish-authority.html

Google has long been a place people turn to find a solution to their problem or an answer to their question. So it makes sense that the search engine giant took another step out of the equation a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-get-a-featured-snippet-in-google-s-answer-box.html

The new Google Verified Customer Reviews not only boost your business’ reputation, but can also boost your visibility and authority online. But what is a Google Verified Customer Review? And ho...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-are-google-verified-customer-reviews-and-how-do-you-get-them.html

The rise of virtual assistants such as Siri, Cortana and Alexa is changing the game when it comes to local search engine optimization with one little thing… your voice. If your business relies ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/voice-search-what-it-means-for-local-seo.html

If you’re operating or marketing a business, whether it’s B2C or B2B, in 2017, you probably utilize at least one social media platform for your business. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedI...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-10-recent-social-media-updates.html

Using a marketing tactic called a “dedicated email drop,” has the potential to send a huge amount of traffic to your website or lead magnet offer using someone else’s email list. But how do...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/grow-email-list-and-website-traffic.html

It is a happy day when you cross over the $1,000,000 mark. If you haven’t yet reached that milestone in your business you might be wondering what it will take to hit the mark. The reality is at...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-ways-to-grow-your-business-past-the-1-million-mark.html

Most business owners or marketers that track their website’s success have probably heard of a term called ‘bounce rate’. Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who clicked away fro...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-website-factors-that-affect-bounce-rate.html

Whether you are a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) newbie or veteran, a CRM is one tool that can really change the way you do business. What is a CRM? According to TechTarget, a CRM tool is...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-ways-to-tell-if-your-crm-is-working-optimally.html

If you’ve decided to read this article, you probably already have some idea of how important search engine optimization (SEO) is for your website and your business. Despite a huge growth in soc...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-hidden-factors-that-affect-seo.html

Why would a marketer do that? Ever see an ad and wonder, “What were they thinking?” I know I have. Well, not everything in marketing makes sense until you know the wisdom behind it. Here are ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-things-marketers-do-that-seem-crazy.html

If you have read some of our Tips & Trends articles in the past, you may have seen us refer to Lead Magnets, Tripwires, or Profit Maximizer Offers. These are industry terms for different types of...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/one-easy-way-to-increase-the-value-of-your-offer.html

(Updated 4/25/17) These days, people expect to be able to do almost anything and everything from their phones. Historically, mobile phones were great for discovering new things or doing research ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-capture-leads-with-facebook-s-newest-ads.html

Before we show you how to get more leads for your business, let’s take a moment to think about why people would want to give you their information. It’s all about your offer. Why You Need to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/want-more-leads-try-strengthening-your-magnet.html

At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we are all about innovation and discovering new digital technologies that can help grow your business. But there’s one simple aspect of marketing that is esse...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-1-tip-for-selling-more-products-online.html

Building beautiful, functional and engaging landing pages is one of the most important parts of a successful online marketing campaign. Any savvy marketer knows that once you've done all that har...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/clickfunnels-vs-leadpages-which-landing-page-tool-to-use-for-your-business.html

When was the last time you talked to one of your customers? Asking and listening to what your customers say can give you invaluable insights into their pain points, needs, and the exact language ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-5-things-to-look-for-when-gathering-customer-intelligence.html

Looking for some ways to get your company growing again? Here are the 7 simple ways to get your business back on the growth curve... 1. Talk to Your Customers Talk to your customers. Just making ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/7-ways-to-get-your-business-growing-again.html

When it comes to choosing a digital marketing company to help you create your company’s digital strategy, you may be tempted to choose a company that specializes in your industry. While this ma...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/industry-specialization-vs-broad-experience-which-is-better-for-digital-marketing.html

How do you know that a piece of your marketing campaign is performing at its best? The truth is that until you start testing various elements of your marketing campaigns – from ads to landing p...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ab-testing-marketing.html

If you don’t think your customers are reachable via social media, think again. These social media usage stats will blow your mind. If you can’t see opportunity in these numbers, you need to c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/15-social-media-usage-stats-that-will-blow-your-mind.html

Are you responsible for marketing in your business? Are you looking to ways for your marketing team to be even more successful? If so, we've found the fastest way to be more successful is to make...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-succeed-at-digital-marketing.html

WordPress is one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) for building websites out there today. But this doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. For that reason, we wanted to share some ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/escaping-from-wordpress.html

A lot of companies will be launching new initiatives in 2017. Those initiatives may require a new website, or new additions to an existing website. If so, here are some things you should consider...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/seo-friendly-url-structure.html

Imagine one of your competitors’ hot prospects opening their Gmail to check their inbox. Right there amongst their emails is an email from your company. It has a subject line with a compelling ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/put-your-offer-directly-in-your-competitors-customers-and-prospects-inbox.html

No matter what types of marketing you’re looking to explore in 2017 - from direct marketing to email marketing to Facebook ads - building a strong list of potential customers is a great way to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-proven-list-building-strategies-to-start-in-2017.html

The end of 2016 is within sight, which means you’re probably starting to plan out your digital marketing strategy for 2017. We’ve learned plenty of lessons this year and as we know, the digit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-fast-small-business-marketing-tips-for-2017.html

When it comes to picking a winning web design, there’s no one perfect template that will work for every business. But there are certain aspects of a web design that are essential in order for y...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-pick-a-winning-web-design-template.html

We’ve seen a lot of advances in the digital marketing industry in 2016, and though the year is not quite over, it’s time to start thinking about how your business will need to shift in 2017 t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-5-digital-marketing-trends-for-2017-to-get-ready-for-now.html

You may not realize it, but your website navigation plays a huge role in the success of your website in converting visitors. And this doesn’t just apply to the navigation on your homepage. Near...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-ways-to-optimize-your-site-navigation-for-better-conversions.html

Business owners know it is critically important to keep up with what is going on in the sales department of your company. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Some companies do their bes...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-a-killer-sales-dashboard.html

It’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, so how many words is a video worth? Answer: Nearly two million per one minute of video. While creating videos for your business is still a hu...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-anyone-can-use-live-video-broadcasting-for-their-business.html

With the display, booth costs, travel, hotel, etc., trade shows can be a relatively expensive way to meet prospects. With this in mind, leads can be like gold. It is critical to capture every lea...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/cleaning-up-at-trade-shows.html

Whether you’re a business owner looking to get more sales for your business, or a sales professional searching for a way to boost productivity and your numbers, making sure you are using the ri...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tools-of-the-trade-what-the-top-sales-professionals-use.html

You might have heard the phrase “mobile first” recently in regards to optimizing your business’ online presence. The idea behind this is that with people using their smartphones more and mo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/responsive-web-design-vs-mobile-apps-which-is-right-for-your-business.html

Responsive design has come a long way since it started being implemented as a popular form of web design to merge desktop and mobile versions of a website into one, easily maintained design. And ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-critical-steps-for-optimizing-your-responsive-website.html

Texting – it is not a new technology, yet when many business owners are asked if they utilize text message marketing, many will laugh at the premise. Why? With people relying more and more on t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/hitting-a-moving-target-with-text-communication.html

If you’ve been thinking about shooting a video for your business, whether it is an ad, introduction video, or a related video for social media, there are many reasons hiring a professional vide...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-reasons-to-hire-a-professional-video-production-team.html

As a marketing-savvy business owner, you know that video marketing is no longer just a passing phase. Videos are being used to boost sales on landing pages, engage audiences on social media, and ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/our-1-tip-for-getting-the-most-from-your-video-shoots.html

Sales Managers know this fact: The best 20% of salespeople generate 80% of the sales. The same fact holds true for your marketing materials, which should be looked at as salesmanship in print and...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-importance-of-copywriting.html

Videos are taking over. Videos are now in everything from emails, to landing pages, to social media channels, and even product descriptions on websites. These videos preset a unique way for busin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-basics-to-shooting-great-video-for-your-business.html

Whether it is a physical product, digital product or service, there are places on the Internet to review it. Those reviews can mean a lot for the companies selling those products and services. - ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-tips-for-getting-more-online-reviews.html

Haters gunna hate… or at least that’s what they say. But when they start leaving negative reviews or comments on sites such as Facebook, Google, Twitter or Yelp, how do you respond? Stay Posi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-respond-to-a-bad-online-review.html

We knew it was bound to happen again… Facebook has made yet another change to their algorithm that will severely impact the way your posts will appear in your fans’ Newsfeeds. Facebook made a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-algorithm-update-2016.html

At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we had a big task ahead of us when we decided to pack up our stuff and move from a location we’ve occupied for over 15 years into our new, but smaller office ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/10-lessons-learned-from-our-business-office-move.html

Did you know that having employees volunteer hours at a local fundraiser could elevate your search rankings and generate 5-star reviews of your business? Did you know that attending trade shows a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-offline-marketing-strategy-can-influence-your-social-media.html

There are many benefits to exhibiting at trade shows, including getting quality face-to-face time with your potential customers, a desirable advantage in today’s market. Being physically presen...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/make-the-most-of-trade-shows-with-sales-automation.html

We talk a lot about digital marketing trends and tips in this blog, but some offline methods of marketing are still effective, even if they don’t get the lion's share of media attention these d...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-postcards-to-market-your-business.html

This week, Sales & Marketing Technologies will turn 25 years old! We sure have come a long way through the emergence of search engines, email, content management systems and more. But today we wa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/sales-and-marketing-technologies-25th-anniversary.html

Sales & Marketing Technologies (SMT) is proud to be celebrating our 25 th anniversary this year and in celebration, wanted to look back at all that has changed in the digital world since we start...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/looking-back-at-25-years-of-digital-change.html

Whether you are looking to expand your list for email marketing, Facebook retargeting, or even for pay-per-click (PPC) remarketing, growing your list via paid channels gives you the opportunity t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-for-growing-your-retargeting-list-with-ppc.html

Many businesses are investing heavily to drive traffic to their landing pages in hopes of garnering more leads, sales, and email subscribers. To maximize your investment you need a top converting...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-get-more-leads-from-your-landing-pages.html

For a long time, brands and businesses were able to post to Facebook and easily reach their target audience and fans organically (without using paid ads). That all changed in 2013 when Facebook�...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-ways-to-boost-facebook-engagement.html

For those of you who heeded our warning about getting a responsive website back in April 2015, you don’t need to fear. However, if you are still operating with a website that is not mobile-frie...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-set-to-increase-mobile-friendly-ranking-again.html

Acquiring new customers is a time and resource intensive process – advertising to them, learning what they’re interested in, and enticing them to purchase. In fact, it takes on average 5 time...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/marketing-automation-return-customer-secrets.html

In the past, we’ve talked about how the power of Facebook’s advertising capabilities can successfully bring in new leads to your business. In addition to the extensive targeting options avai...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/remarketing-facebook-ads-targeting-interested-audiences.html

A major shift in the way Google displays its advertising took place this past week. Google began phasing out the right hand or sidebar ads and instead are now featuring 1-4 ads at the top of the ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-s-new-ad-structure-will-you-pay-more.html

Facebook Flash Sales are an excellent tactic when you’re looking to acquire new customers at break even or better. It is important to remember that these types of sales aren’t necessarily mea...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/running-facebook-flash-sales-to-boost-customer-acquisition.html

Lots of companies give salespeople dollar goals to hit. While that is certainly one way to do it, in some cases it can be counter productive. After years of trying different sales goals, we final...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/trouble-hitting-your-sales-goals-maybe-you-are-using-the-wrong-number.html

Building a community around your business can be challenging, but the payoffs can be astounding. Research has shown that customers in communities spend 19% more than customers who aren’t in com...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-build-a-community-around-your-business.html

Far from it! Email marketing is alive and well. Here are some stats from MailChimp (just one email service provider) for 2015. In 2015, MailChimp handled 62,310,854 email campaigns. They sent 204...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-email-marketing-dead.html

Many businesses spend a lot of time, hard work and money in order to attract new visitors to their websites. Of those new visitors, some decide to leave the website while others take an action or...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/don-t-leave-money-on-the-table-website-conversion-tactics-post-sale.html

With the expansive targeting options now offered by Facebook, it is nearly impossible not to find your perfect target market using Facebook advertising. Are you a dentist? Wedding planner? Auto d...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-ultra-targeted-facebook-ads-bring-you-new-leads.html

MailChimp takes on Infusionsoft It is the difference between a bicycle and a Ferrari… it is the difference between communication and money… it is the difference between a shore wave and a swe...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-biggest-difference-between-email-marketing-and-marketing-automation.html

Marketing Automation Sure, you’ve heard the term, but it’s likely you don’t exactly know what this trend is and what it means for you and your business. In this article, we will educate you...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-marketing-automation-is-it-for-you-and-your-business.html

For many years, businesses have been trying to get marketing and sales to work together. Like oil and water they didn’t mix. It was marketing’s job to bring in the prospects and sales' job to...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/keeping-the-peace-integrating-sales-and-marketing-systems.html

CSS Attribute Selectors have been around since CSS2 and expanded as part of CSS3, compatible in all browsers (excluding IE6). Even though they are not new, they continue to be overlooked and unde...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/learning-to-use-css-attribute-selectors.html

Have you ever visited a website and noticed that the site content was poorly formatted or off the page? You tried to make the best of it… by scrolling left to right, top to bottom – but the s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/does-your-website-have-a-responsive-web-design.html

Website security is an ongoing concern for businesses. Compromised security communications have resulted in large amounts of revenue loss and damaged reputations of small and large companies. Whi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/implementing-the-security-best-practices-of-2015-on-your-website.html

As a new business owner, you may already have your business plan, products and services ready to be released to the world, but you may not have a customer base yet. If you are a business with a p...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/seo-starter-kit-for-new-business-owners.html

In today’s competitive web market, all companies strive to get a “leg-up” on the others to win over potential clients. There are many types of web clients; some wanting to be “hands-off �...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/do-you-have-a-strong-web-development-team.html

Periscope is a live steaming video app that came out earlier this year with the support of its parent company, Twitter. Plenty of people took notice of the new app; some called it yet another fla...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-periscope-and-how-are-businesses-using-it.html

Deciding to market yourself on Facebook is a pretty big commitment. It will require page upkeep, regular posting and in some cases, the ability to navigate Facebook advertising. Thankfully, the a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/personal-branding-facebook-profile-or-page-or-both.html

If you haven’t realized the power of social media in scaling your business, you are missing out on incredible potential for company growth. In the last year, there was almost $15 billion spent ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-common-facebook-for-business-mistakes.html

Do you have several different audience segments that you’d like to target on Facebook? Then dark Facebook posts might be your solution. “Dark” posts, also known as unpublished posts, are a ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-are-dark-facebook-posts-and-how-can-you-use-them.html

Most people or businesses that track their website’s success have probably heard about their website’s ‘bounce rate’. The bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who clicked away ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-tips-for-improving-bounce-rate-and-conversions.html

While the algorithms and strategies behind local search can easily get complicated and messy, today will only be a brief look at local search and ways that we can use simple tactics to better our...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/a-brief-look-into-local-search.html

While the connection between email and SEO isn’t as cut and dry as some of the other methods of search engine optimization, it can be a very useful tool to keep your audience engaged and direct...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-email-can-drive-seo-results-for-your-business.html

There is a lot to consider when deciding if rebranding your website is the right move. Some businesses bought exact match or partial match domains in the past, such as FlowersAndVases.com, and th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/should-i-rebrand-my-website.html

Blogging has been an integral part of some businesses like ours for many years now. But with the purpose of blogging and Google algorithms changing over that time, it leaves your blog looking ver...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/historical-blog-optimization-reviving-your-blog.html

According to Google, an estimated 73 percent of all online activity is related to local searches. Very often, customers turn to the Internet to learn more about local businesses and evaluate what...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/4-easy-steps-for-local-search-optimization.html

In the early days of search engine optimization (SEO) people relied on using short phrases or words to find what they were looking for. As the Internet has evolved and websites offer more and mor...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/whats-trending-in-seo-long-tail-keyword-optimization.html

In the competitive landscape of online marketing, your local business can still stand out and attract new customers with the use of creative, high-quality content. Having quality content has alwa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-content-marketing-helps-local-businesses.html

Using videos in your content marketing strategy is becoming even more important in 2015. With social media sites, such as Facebook, pushing video content to the forefront, it is a great way to ga...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-not-to-use-videos-on-your-website.html

According to a report from eMarketer, U.S. mobile search ad spending was projected to have grown by 83 percent in 2014. We’ve talked before about how Google’s algorithm is soon to be taking a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/mobile-ppc-campaign.html

In the past, centroids, or central points of relevance, were determined by a specific location in a city, such as the town hall. Based on this type of city centroid, many local search-ranking var...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/local-centroids-how-they-effect-local-seo.html

Healthcare marketing success isn’t something that happens overnight, but it is becoming easier than ever to reach your audience online. According to Pew Research, about 72 percent of Internet u...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/healthcare-content-marketing.html

When you begin working with a web designer at an Orlando web design company, there are some common questions they may ask in order to present you a mockup that you’ll enjoy and that is suited f...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-questions-your-web-designer-will-ask-you.html

At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we have the opportunity to work with some great clients and create beautiful web design and development work for them. We recently had the pleasure to work with...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/showcase-orlando-web-design-for-award-winning-granite-company.html

You may have heard a lot about mobile-friendly or responsive design in the past year or so, but how important is it for Google and search rankings? Well, Google’s recent announcement on Webmast...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/responsive-design-affects-google-search-rankings.html

Whenever one of our clients is going through a website redesign, we have to pay special attention to ensuring that our search engine optimization (SEO) efforts don’t get thrown to the wayside. ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-update-your-website-without-devastating-your-seo.html

Twitter has come a long way in the past few years in terms of their advertising options. Although it’s still not as detailed as Facebook or LinkedIn advertising, it is able to create an impact ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/advertise-on-twitter.html

Planning your website architecture is like laying the foundation of a house. Taking the time to plan it properly will save you time and money in the long run. A well-planned site is not only beau...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/website-architecture.html

With the introduction of even bigger and smarter phones, how are the trends changing in relation to the time being spent on them? The interesting thing is; it’s not. While more and more apps ar...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/mobile-web-search-and-social-still-conquer-apps.html

In the legal industry, it is especially important to look at every client’s case as an individual. We believe the same thing is true for web design and development. SMT has created many unique ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/case-by-case-legal-web-design-in-orlando.html

Mobile marketing goes beyond having your landing pages the correct size for mobile or tablets. Consumers' behaviors and goals vary depending on which device a person is using at the time. Buildin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-optimize-for-mobile-marketing.html

A few weeks ago, we posted an infographic about local SEO and how it can help get you better placement in search results, including Google’s local search results pack. In this article, we will ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/local-seo-tips-for-getting-found.html

Every business, big or small, needs the same basic marketing elements to survive past year one. Beyond that, if these businesses are looking to grow, there are going to be even more steps in the ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-marketing-elements-every-business-needs.html

While surfing the web you may have come across websites that were unattractive or uninformative and they left a bad taste in your mouth as you click the back button to find another site. As a bra...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/orlando-web-development-building-a-website-worth-visiting.html

Local businesses, or businesses that have a physical storefront, require a special emphasis on local SEO in order to be found online. Unlike their ecommerce counterparts, these local businesses s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/orlando-seo-finding-new-customers-with-local-seo.html

You may by worried that your small business cannot compete with the big brands on Facebook, but there are plenty of reasons you should still be part of the Facebook community. With over 1.3 billi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-tips-for-your-small-business-to-rule-facebook.html

2015 Online Marketing Trends 2014 has been a wild ride with Google updates, the realization you now have to “pay to play” for Facebook reach, and content creation becoming more important than...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-top-predicted-trends-for-digital-marketing-in-2015.html

The plug has been pulled on Facebook’s policy for Like-gating campaigns. Started on November 5, 2014 Facebook no longer allows company or brand pages to offer rewards, gated apps, or app conten...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-like-gating-ends-what-that-means-for-you.html

Writing an SEO-friendly blog post starts with the ability to write for your audience. Creating an easy to read and digest blog post will improve important factors that help with your SEO efforts ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-tips-to-make-your-blog-posts-more-seo-friendly.html

Does your company have a SEO strategy? Then you should already be creating excellent content that adds value for your customers. But did you know that you could take this existing content and gai...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-use-your-seo-content-to-create-a-content-marketing-strategy.html

Whether you’re the CEO of your company, or you’ve been tasked with finding the right Digital marketing company for the company you work for, it can be a daunting task to sift through the page...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/choosing-the-right-orlando-seo-company-for-you.html

The Internet has evolved in many ways over the past few years. As Google’s algorithm sophistication has increased, so have the tactics used for SEO, probably for the best. Search engine optimiz...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-orlando-seo-has-changed-and-continues-to-change.html

Brands and marketers alike have constantly questioned the effectiveness of social media marketing in their overall marketing strategies. While a Gallup poll report states, “A clear majority of ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/does-social-media-marketing-really-work.html

Its time has come. Once a staple of the Internet, the Google of its time, the Yahoo Directory is coming to a close. Yahoo announced the news today that they will be closing the Yahoo Directory af...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/say-goodbye-to-the-yahoo-directory.html

Earlier this month it was discovered that Google had begun testing a form of knowledge graph data in the search result snippets. Google is now referring to this added information as Structured Sn...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-introduces-structured-snippets-as-part-of-search-results.html

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doesn’t require a huge budget for small businesses and startups but it does require a major time investment. With Google algorithm updates like Panda, Penguin a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-boost-your-seo-tactics-for-free.html

Sales & Marketing Technologies is proud to announce that the website of our client, Ponte Vedra Complete Dentistry, has been acknowledged as the winner of the 2014 WebAward for Outstanding Achiev...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/pvcd-2014-webaward.html

You’re ready to take your business online. You’ve got your business plan, mission statement, your logo, etc. when you run into your first roadblock, choosing your domain name. Your domain wil...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-tips-for-choosing-your-domain-name.html

They’re the ultimate symbol for your brand and they’re anything but simple to design. Logos are often your first impression, and can ultimately lead to the decision to purchase from you. In a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/designing-your-brands-logo.html

By the end of 2013, over a third of Internet usage came from smartphones and tablets, according to Walker Sands Communications’ Quarterly Mobile Traffic Report. This statistic alone is enough t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/mobile-websites-are-becoming-crucial-to-every-business.html

In an age of technology and ever changing social media platforms, there’s one that seems to keep leading the pack. Facebook has been on the cutting edge of social media since it’s creation an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-facebook-paper_683.html

As of a couple of weeks ago, Facebook released their 2014 Financial Summary for the second quarter. Mark Zuckerberg starts out the release with, “We had a good second quarter. Our community has...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/large-increases-in-facebook-mobile-users.html

Since we specialize in digital marketing and SEO, hearing that Google is releasing a new update is something we don’t take lightly. Whenever Google makes changes, they shape our marketing strat...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-panda-40-what-you-should-know.html

It’s official. Google Analytics has released an easy way to keep track of all your important statistics on the go. The Analytics app lets you check out all of your favorite features, including ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-analytics-iphone-app-what-s-in-it-for-you.html

Professional social network, LinkedIn, announced an overhaul of one of their stand-alone apps, Contacts, on Thursday. The new and improved app, named "Connected" includes a slew of features you m...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/network-better-with-linkedins-new-app-connected.html

Having a truly open company culture can be very challenging these days. It seems like the more "social networked" we become the more employees are aware of what is going on inside the company the...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/when-to-stop-fighting-how-to-have-a-great-company-culture.html

Over the years, Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) had developed a negative reputation. People claim it is too expensive, or generates little results. However, if used correctly, PPC advertising is ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/pay-per-click-advertising-provides-instant-exposure.html

With all the hype around social media and people tweeting, liking, snapping and commenting, it might be a little difficult to figure out which platform or platforms you should setup your business...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/which-social-media-platform-should-i-use.html

When people visit your website, they are seeking information. In this day of instant information, a consumer is going to quickly scan your website to determine if your products and/or services ar...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/five-tips-to-assess-your-website-s-ability-to-convert-visitors.html

There is a clear “knowing / doing” gap when it comes to blogging. Companies know they should be blogging, but they are not doing it. The gap of people actually blogging and those who know the...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/10-reasons-your-company-should-blog-more.html

What is the objective of your website? Before you start building your website, it’s advisable to sit down and write out a business plan. How does your website fit into the plan? Is it going to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/3-things-to-consider-when-developing-your-first-website.html

Imagine a scenario in which you, or a loved one required heart surgery. After hearing the diagnosis, would you solicit two or three additional medical consultations? Once you elected to move forw...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/does-experience-matter-for-digital-marketing-in-orlando.html

A recent study was done by the New York Times’ Consumer Insight Group looked at the psychology behind sharing on social media platforms. It asked three main questions: what motivates consumers ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-do-people-share-online.html

Two weeks ago, a package of eight Yellow Page directories, bound together, appeared lying next to our mailboxes. I opened the package and took out one of the Yellow Pages. It was notably lighter ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/time-to-transition-your-yellow-page-ads-to-digital-marketing.html

Often times, companies within the business to business (B2B) realm are at a loss when it comes to social media marketing. If you are a B2B company and are trying to utilize social media networks,...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-social-media-for-b2b-marketing.html

In conversations with dentists, I am always asked of ways to increase their “likes” on Facebook. There is a definite value of getting a “like" to your business page. It is a way to quickly ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/expand-the-reach-of-your-dental-promotions-through-facebook.html

It was reported in 2012 that nearly two-thirds of the people looking to hire an attorney used the Internet as part of their search. As a result, it makes sense to put your law office in the best ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-are-google-reviews-important-for-orlando-law-offices.html

Sales & Marketing Technologies started 23 years ago with the thought of helping businesses grow through the use of technology. Over the past 10 years, the focus has been helping businesses grow b...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/helping-the-next-generation-of-business-owners.html

Are Facebook Ads Worth It? Absolutely! Depending on your practice area, Facebook ads can be extremely useful in reaching potential customers. Facebook allows for advertisers to narrow down where ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/for-orlando-lawyers-are-facebook-ads-worth-it_660.html

Every article on device sales shows mobile device sales going through the roof and PC sales declining. Does that mean that people have stopped buying computers? Not from what we've seen. Gartner ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-the-latest-technology-changes-are-affecting-our-web-surfing-habits.html

Answer: You get an advanced form of Video Sales & Marketing Technology SMT is always looking for unique ways to reach and create a significant and lasting impression on target prospects. The late...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-happens-when-you-combine-a-crm-video-smt-and-a-group-of-prospects.html

YouTube has grown leaps and bounds beyond the days of piano playing cats and singing dogs. More than 1 billion unique visitors go to YouTube each month. In fact, over 6 billion hours of video are...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-youtube-a-good-idea-for-an-attorney.html

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we’re taking this holiday as a cue to examine relationships – specifically, how we can help our clients build meaning...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/build-business-relationships-with-social-media.html

For many businesses, local marketing can be the key difference between success and failure. Many people are turning to search engines to look in their local market - with Google research showing ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tips-for-local-marketing.html

In the year 2013, the traffic of mobile websites almost doubled. Almost everyone now owns smart phones instead of regular cell phones - in fact, the second quarter of 2013 was the first quarter i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/creating-a-successful-mobile-experience.html

In a recent article from Search Engine Land, speculation was given about the importance of links in 2014. With updates from Google like Hummingbird, many companies are concentrating on social pla...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/will-link-building-remain-important-in-2014.html

According to a study from Ascend2, 50% of companies that are struggling with their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are not properly integrating social media marketing into their Digital marketin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/are-you-integrating-social-media-with-your-seo.html

Google’s own Matt Cutts posted a video yesterday discussing the importance of unique meta descriptions. For those of you who are unfamiliar with meta descriptions, these are HTML attributes tha...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-do-you-need-unique-meta-descriptions.html

In October, we told you about the Hummingbird update from Google. While it has not had a large effect on SEO, it does provide an opportunity to help your website’s rankings via blogging. Someti...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/want-to-drive-traffic-to-your-site-consider-using-these-blog-topics.html

Facebook recently announced that it will be allowing users to search posts and status updates within its graph search. What does this mean for your search? Now, you will be able to ask questions ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-graph-search-updates.html

Last month, Google announced its “largest upgrade to its search algorithm since 2001”, which has been dubbed Hummingbird. As you might guess, many businesses were concerned about this update,...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/hummingbird-update-what-it-means-for-your-seo.html

The New York Attorney General’s office is cracking down on fake reviews in an investigation nicknamed “Operation Clean Turf”. Nineteen companies have agreed to stop writing fake reviews, an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-the-recent-crackdown-on-fake-reviews-affects-you.html

Just last month, we posted about the Facebook algorithm used on newsfeeds, and how it affects the content that you see. Already, there are new changes to your newsfeed. Now, Facebook is punishing...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-punishes-pages-without-engaging-content.html

Recently, Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cuts, published a video discussing the top five SEO mistakes that people make. Some are simple and easy enough to fix, while others are more complic...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-seo-mistakes.html

When everyone thinks of Google updates and how they will affect SEO efforts, they usually only think of the many different Panda and Penguin updates. But in 2009, another update was made to Googl...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/other-google-updates-to-be-aware-of.html

Facebook is at it again - a recent update has been made to Facebook’s Newsfeed algorithm, making it more difficult for your business to reach its fan base. According to Facebook, the goal of us...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/algorithm-updates-on-facebook-newsfeed.html

You’ve seen people use hashtags on your Facebook newsfeed before, but did you know that they will now be functional? This week, Facebook introduced clickable hashtags to its site platform. Thes...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-launches-new-hashtags.html

Have you considered implementing video marketing for your company? Putting together videos is a great way to show your audience what your company is really about. Here are some quick tips on how ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/could-your-company-benefit-from-video-marketing.html

When building a website , many people do not take the time to stop and take a step back to check its functionality. However, website functionality can be a make or break feature when it comes to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/improving-website-functionality.html

Have you ever sent out a newsletter for your company? A newsletter is an excellent way to get in contact with your past and present clients, and possibly up-sell products or services. But how do ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/considering-writing-a-newsletter-for-your-company.html

Article Updated: Feb. 2015 Having a LinkedIn page for your business may seem like a superfluous social media gimmick but there are many reasons why having a page is essential for your business. T...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/best-practices-while-updating-your-linkedin-business-page.html

You’ve heard it before - infographics are a great way to engage readers. They help make content more interesting, and they are easily used across your marketing platforms - not only on your web...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-an-infographic.html

One of the most important parts of getting customers to your website is providing relevant and engaging web content. This might seem like a daunting task to some, but writing web content is fairl...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/writing-engaging-web-content.html

These days, almost everyone owns a smart phone, and they are using them to do more than make phone calls. They are also using their phones to look up the answers to questions, the addresses to bu...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-are-people-searching-for-on-their-mobile-phones.html

If you’re a company that caters to a local clientele - whether it be a doctors’ office, a clothing store, or a restaurant - you want to make sure that people can quickly and easily find you o...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-tips-for-local-seo.html

Facebook is continuing to stay on top of innovations, recently rolling out a test of its new “Graph Search” capability. Graph search will be an excellent tool for many businesses that utilize...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-introduces-graph-search.html

Facebook has been rolling out a lot of new updates recently, such as Graph Search. Facebook has also been eying your status updates for gifting opportunities. What does this mean? Facebook has al...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/facebook-offers-gifting-opportunities.html

The optimization of Facebook fan pages has been a point of great debate on many SEO and social media blogs, as different experts argue the best ways to get your fan page noticed. Despite the conf...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/optimizing-your-facebook-fan-pages.html

More and more, Google is concentrating on content as a factor in how high your website will be ranked. Now, it is more important to focus on the quality of content over quantity – that is, it i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-should-you-use-content-marketing.html

A recent article in Mashable reviewed some tips and tricks of the trade that those in the media have learned this year that can easily be applied to marketing efforts as well. Here are three of t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/three-things-marketers-can-learn-from-media.html

A recent addition to the Google+ platform is Communities. This latest feature integrates with other features such as Google+ Hangouts to allow you to gather members in either public or private co...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-communities-on-google.html

Email marketing, when done correctly, can be beneficial to your business. Whether it is a monthly newsletter that you send out on a regular basis, or the occasional coupon, unless you have many p...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/growing-your-email-list-with-twitter.html

We’ve told you before that Pinterest can be a great marketing tool for your company. But are you using it properly? There are a few ways that you can use Pinterest in order to attract customers...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/are-you-properly-using-pinterest-for-your-business.html

It was expected - on November 5th, Google added its latest Panda Update to its search engine algorithms. This led to a slight shaking up of the Google results, as there was a worldwide impact on ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/panda-update-21-released.html

We already know that Instagram was bought out months ago for a high price by the people at Facebook. Up until this week, Instagram remained a mobile-device based application. But now, Instagram i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/instagram-launches-web-profiles.html

At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we understand the importance of review websites, and making sure your company is portrayed properly. We already work with many different organizations on their ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/yelp-cracks-down-on-fake-reviews.html

One of the biggest things people worry about is their online security. It can be scary – with the amount of personal information we are putting on the internet through social media sites, we of...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/online-social-media-security-tips.html

Like almost everything else in the world, you really get what you pay for when it comes to SEO and social media marketing. You might want to try to save money, scrimping and cutting corners as it...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-cost-of-cheap-seo-and-social-media-labor.html

Facebook lists aren’t new, but many people do not realize the many ways they can utilize them. Normally, if people utilize Facebook lists, they are using them to manage their privacy settings �...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-utilize-facebook-lists.html

It appears that Google is testing a new way to show its search results, with only 7 results instead of 10 on the first page. It also seems that it is easier for one site to dominate these results...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-results-from-10-to-7-links.html

So, you created a Facebook page, got some fans…now what? There are some simple tactics you can use to keep up your engagement on Facebook. By using calls to actions, you are able to create an i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-can-you-increase-your-engagement-on-facebook.html

One of the most important parts of crafting a workable social media strategy is understanding your audience. Unless you are providing your social media followers with information that is useful a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-understand-your-social-media-audience.html

Over recent months, Google has changed Google Places for Business into Google+ Local. These pages serve as a directory listing for your business that can place prominently in Google search result...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-places-taken-over-by-google-plus-local.html

Are you using Instagram to reach your customers? Instagram is one of the latest crazes in social sharing, allowing users to share photos with friends and family, adding filters to transform their...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/instagram-management-added-to-hootsuite.html

The world of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is getting more challenging to navigate. Updates to the Google search algorithms, Panda and Penguin, have sent those companies who rely on search ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/seo-challenges-will-continue-to-rise.html

One of the biggest roadblocks to utilizing social media for your company is the company itself. You have to make sure everyone supports the process, and understands why social media is so importa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/getting-your-company-behind-your-social-media-strategy.html

We’ve told you about Google’s shift to including Google+ results in its searches, and also the controversy that has come from it as other social media outlets fight back. What will it mean fo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-will-google-s-social-search-affect-your-seo.html

In their ongoing climb up the proverbial “social ladder” Google has now merged Google+ into its search results. What this means, moving forward any Google + member who is signed in will be ab...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-intergrates-google-into-google-search.html

Just when you thought you were getting a handle on Social Media and managing your online reputation, Google has gone and changed the playing field again! Earlier this year Google decided to try a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-expands-to-include-business-pages.html

With Facebook’s recent changes to its personal page design, Twitter couldn’t be left behind in updates. Therefore, Twitter recently implemented significant redesign changes, with new tabs for...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/twitter-follows-suit-with-new-functionality.html

When you do a search on a search engine and the results come up - what is the map and the little red balloons with letters in them? That is what is referred to as “ local listings ”. And it s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-is-local-digital-marketing.html

Google is starting to test out a new feature – “infinite scroll”. Already implemented in its Images search section, infinite scroll would allow readers to click to view more results on the ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-infinite-scroll-better-exposure.html

Google’s latest attempt to build and grow a social network is called Google+ (spoken as “Google Plus”). Because most people are sharing links, articles and ideas outside of the Google netwo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-google-is-shaping-the-future-of-search.html

Article Updated: Feb. 2015 A study conducted at MOZ is helping us understand how tweets influence search rankings. The study has shown that a bit.ly link tweeted by an influential user group has ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-tweeting-the-new-link-building.html

On February 24th of this year, Google rolled out it’s (now infamous) Panda update . Throughout the year, Google updates it’s method of ranking and displaying search engine results for all que...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-do-you-know-if-youve-been-panda-slapped.html

QR Codes are two-dimensional barcodes. QR stands for Quick Response and were developed to contain more data and character types then current barcodes. QR Codes can contain up to 7,089 characters ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-are-qr-codes.html

At the beginning of November, LinkedIn released some new features for their Company Profile section. LinkedIn now allows businesses to add services and products to their company profiles, solicit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-edit-your-company-profile-on-linkedin.html

The integration between social networks and search engines is going to start to impact traditional search engine optimization techniques. There has been more and more social influence being built...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/get-social-with-ecommerce-receipts.html

Noticing that Google Maps has added some additional functionality for hotel searches. I noticed at the top of the Google Maps search results a "Check In" and "Check Out" search feature. Also, bes...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-maps-adds-hotel-comparison-shopping.html

Facebook recently announced a new partnership with Bing. Bing will now pull in Facebook "Like" information into their search result pages creating "social search". Social search will take the per...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/social-search-results-facebook-friends-bing.html

Google has been using the user's IP address to serve up local results for the Google Local 7-pack for awhile now. Then back in February they added a search "Nearby" feature that would allow you t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/ip-address-influencing-search-engine-rankings.html

From the recent SMX East conference Barry Schwartz, contributor at Search Engine Land, confirmed with Steve Tullis, Sr Program Manager Lead at Bing/Microsoft, that Bing does indeed use click thro...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/click-through-rate-can-affect-your-bing-rankings.html

At SMT we typically do a website audit for new clients. During these website audits we see a lot of the same mistakes from web developers and web designers that do not fully understand search eng...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-handle-secure-files-being-indexed.html

A recent study, The Impact of Social Media on Search, by BtoB and Business.com took a look at how business-to-business (B2B) marketers are integrating social media with search engine marketing (S...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/social-media-impact-search-rankings.html

Infographics, or Information graphics, are visual representations of complex data or knowledge that is presented in an easy to understand graphic. While infographics have been around for a long t...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-infographics-to-build-links.html

Did you know that Google says there are hundreds of factors that go into getting your site to rank for targeted keywords? It can be overwhelming to think about. That’s why many of our clients c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/forgotten-power-of-internal-linking.html

Survival of the fittest To this day, the Internet is the fastest changing industry which adapts many changes throughout every month, even on a daily basis! With the Google algorithms always incre...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/digital-marketing-a-road-map-of-the-basics.html

Forrester Research recently released a report, Location-Based Social Networks: A Hint Of Mobile Engagement Emerges, that noted there were only a few million consumers using geolocation apps on a ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/few-people-using-location-based-social-networks.html

Recently, we had a client that was very interested in launching an aggressive PPC campaign. Everything started out perfect. During our collaboration to form a strategy, we found out the domain na...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tips-if-your-domain-name-is-too-long-for-google-ppc.html

If you have a website, you need traffic. Unfortunately many people know this and also come to realize their lack of knowledge on how “Internet traffic” really works. There are lots of “oppo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/digital-marketing-investing-wisely-in-your-business.html

There are plenty of resources and methods out there you can use to reduce the amount of submissions to a form on your website by non-humans. Some website administrators get hundreds or thousands ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/reduce-spam-without-captcha-using-a-customvalidator.html

How to Optimize your Page Rank Those SEO-savvy web programmers and search engine optimization specialists are familiar with the problem caused by changing a previously ranked URL to a new URL. Fo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/optimizing-search-engine-pageranking-by-using-dynamic-301-redirects.html

Choosing a domain name is probably the most important step in getting your business online. When choosing a domain name for your business there are several factors to consider before you make tha...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tips-on-choosing-domain-name.html

Bing is now giving you the option to send local search results to your Facebook and Twitter friends along with the option to email them the results in order to ask them if they agree with the res...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/bing-ask-your-friends.html

Search engines are always changing their algorithms, sometimes as often as twice per day, but lately there have been some major changes that will affect the way search engines produce results. Re...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/search-engine-optimization-in-2010.html

There has been a lot of debate on whether a business can survive and thrive using pay per click (PPC) marketing alone. While PPC marketing can be very effective, using it without an organic searc...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/can-your-marketing-survive-on-ppc-alone.html

We all know how important it is to be engaging customers online, but how do we accomplish this? Here is a list of 4 online marketing techniques your business should be using. 1) Search Engine Opt...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/4-online-marketing-techniques-your-business-should-be-using.html

Real-time search makes social media (more) important On Monday, Google made a giant leap to the front of the real-time search game by adding "Latest Results", a real-time search result box, to th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-google-real-time-search-means-to-your-business.html

If it’s not too late, I wanted to go over your 2010 marketing budget. No, I physically can’t look over it, but what I can do is list off reasons why you should invest in an online marketing s...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-online-marketing-should-be-in-your-marketing-budget.html

Google announced an extension to personalized search on Friday. Google noted that they will now provide customized search results based on past search activity for users not logged into their Goo...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-implements-personalize-search.html

Favicons are very important for branding your website and your services. As you might already know, the favicon.ico shows up in several places. The greater exposure to of your brand, the better e...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-create-iphone-favicon-for-website.html

It’s coming. The wonderful time of year when houses and stores are being decorated with lights and trees, the time when the weather is cold enough to drink hot chocolate, and the time when you ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tips-to-prepare-your-ecommerce-site-this-holiday-season.html

and then takes it away Twitter recently made changes to the way people retweet in a limited beta release of their retweet button. Usually, retweets are done by appending 'RT' to someone else's tw...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/twitter-adds-retweet-button.html

Google has now started showing what it believes are the most significant for you website. Here's what Google believes are the most important keywords for SMTUSA.com In a Webmaster Central Help Pa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-keyword-significance.html

There are so many different aspects and fundamental elements that need to be in place for a website to be prosperous. With so many different, yet important elements that make up a successful webs...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/effective-call-to-actions-help-increase-conversions.html

Recently I have been doing some work and research with email newsletter services. While there are so many great companies out there that offer superb services and competitive prices, I wanted to ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/popular-email-newsletter-services.html

Google has just launched Google Social Search . Google Social Search is a new feature that will pull in relevant information from people within your online "social circle". Google is going to dis...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-google-social-search-means-for-companies.html

I know there have been many people anxiously waiting for Part 2 of How To Make a CSS Sprite Rollover List. Didn't read part 1 yet? Well before you learn how to make a CSS Sprite, why don't you he...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-make-css-sprite-rollover-list.html

Still not convinced social media is a good way to spread the word? Let's take a look at this past Thursday (10/15/09) and the five hours that 'balloon boy' captivated the world. Balloon boy is a ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-balloon-boy-can-teach-us-about-social-media.html

Linking your Google Adwords Pay Per Click ads to an effective landing page can help increase your ad rankings, increase traffic to your site and increase conversions on your site, but choosing th...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-landing-pages-to-maximize-ppc-results.html

Google recently launched a new product called SideWiki. Google's Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that allows users to add comments and information about a particular site. There has been some contr...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-sidewiki-steps-to-claim-your-site.html

If you haven't seen or heard about it, Google has a BETA version of the new Keyword Tool out. It still contains its fundamental functionality, but added some new features, made some tweaks, and c...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-google-keyword-tool.html

Recently we were attempting to establish why there were a proportionally large number of visitors leaving a site from the site search results page. In other words, a customer would search for a p...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/is-your-site-search-costing-you-sales.html

You’ve heard the term bouncing around the Internet, but still not sure what, why, or how to use CSS Sprites. I’m here to enlighten you on this neat little feature that is sure to help speed u...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-use-css-sprites-part-1.html

We get questions all the time on how to improve Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns. One issue that comes up a lot is related to how Google ranks Adwords ads. What we find is that small businesses as w...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/understanding-google-adwords-quality-score.html

For the past several months there has been a lot of talk and speculation as to whether or not ICANN will be opening up their gTLD-global top-level domain(extension)-registration in late 2010. ICA...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-icann-gtlds-mean-for-search-engine-rankings.html

Sales & Marketing Technologies has the pleasure to speak at various events and seminars about Digital marketing and web design. Recently, our "Achieving Breakthrough Results From the Internet in ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/need-an-digital-marketing-speaker-for-your-next-seminar.html

First, you must understand the purpose of a GridView in the.NET framework. A GridView control displays rows of data in a table like structure. It displays one record from the table per grid row. ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/nested-gridviews-in-c-sharp-dotnet-how-to-display-relational-data-together.html

Google introduced a new feature for Google Adwords advertisers this past week. The new feature allows advertisers to integrate their existing Google Base products into their current Adwords campa...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/display-google-base-products-google-adwords.html

Today Google released a video from two leaders of the Google Search Quality Web Spam Group, Racheal Searles and Brian White, giving their recommendations for creating a good reconsideration reque...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-reconsideration-request.html

Parsing data in C# is a simple process, and can be done using some basic language syntax. Sub Strings provide this functionality, and when used properly can make data collection, or simple parsin...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/data-parsing-in-c-sharp.html

Wikipedia defines system integration as 'the bringing together of component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system." It is also about "value-add...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/system-integration-with-or-without-a-website.html

UPDATE: Sitelinks have evolved since this post was published. To learn more about what sitelinks are, how they can help your site, and how to implement changes to your website's code to help Goog...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/dual-inline-site-links.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 Blogging, or content writing in general, has become an essential part of your business' search engine optimization efforts. Not only does it bring fresh, quality content to you...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/business-blogging.html

There has been a shift from Yellow Pages to Search Engines to find local companies and products. According to a TMP Directional Marketing study, the Internet has become the primary source for loc...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/city-centroid-local-search-ranking-factor.html

Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) recently requested the assistance of Sales & Marketing Technologies to provide an effective solution to dynamically translate their English content from their we...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/automated-spanish-translation-system-for-websites.html

The implementation of 301 redirects for legacy URLs is a crucial step in website redevelopment and URL optimization projects. It seems that web development companies that are not strong in Digita...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/implementing-301-redirects-on-legacy-urls.html

Article Updated: Feb. 2015 In the context of this article, globalization is the integration of views to all parts of the world. Globalization has been, and most likely will always be, an ongoing ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/twitter-contributes-to-globalization.html

The explosive growth of Twitter has made Twitter a mainstream micro-blogging platform. With the estimated 6 million users, businesses find that there are true opportunities to connect with custom...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-small-businesses-are-leverage-twitter-into-sales.html

Long tail keyword searches are the secret to tremendous website traffic. Why are they so important and how do they work? Here are three reasons why long tail keyword searches are so important. Af...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/long-tail-keyword-searches-are-the-secret-to-tremendous-website-traffic-.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 When it comes to your image, or the image of your brand, reputation management is a phrase you need to know. The Internet is a very powerful and quick force. Negative comments ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/top-10-reputation-management-tips.html

Running Google Adwords on a budget? We work with many small and local businesses that are battling the same issues as you. Therefore we've come up with some tips to lower your costs. Here are fiv...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/five-great-google-adwords-tips-for-saving-money-on-adwords.html

Surprised? Yeah, me neither. According to Nielsen Mobile, surprisingly (sarcasm) Google is the leading force in mobile search in the US. With iPhones, Google Androids, Blackberry Storms, and othe...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-leading-mobile-web.html

Recently John Mueller, a Webmaster Trends Analyst for Google, reported on his personal blog that hackers have been stealing PageRank from websites. He writes: In this particular case, a "massive ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/hackers-can-steal-your-pagerank.html

Earlier this week Google released a new set of Blogging Best Practices in their Creating a Google-friendly site section of Webmaster help. The document starts out with Google reiterating their pr...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-releases-guidelines-for-bloggers.html

I hear this question “How do I increase traffic & sales on my website?” all the time, and the funny thing is most of the time its from clients who’s sales have doubled and even tripled over...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-do-i-increase-traffic-and-sales-on-my-website.html

Shhh… Do you hear that? Yeah, me neither. If you want to avoid launch failure and the crickets, follow these easy steps to create a buzz about your newly launched site. 1) Check, Check, and Che...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-to-launch-a-new-site.html

Never would we have ever thought that great Google rankings could hurt your business, but its true. So many businesses are focused on Google rankings that the most important thing is usually over...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/when-great-google-rankings-hurt-your-business.html

Sales & Marketing Technologies is pleased to announce the launch of the Healthcare Consultants Pharmacy Staffing Division newly redesigned website. The redesigned site provides an updated look an...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/healthcare-consultants-launch-newly-redesigned-website.html

Today I noticed a new option in one of our clients Adwords accounts, Smart Positioning Beta. Google describes Smart Positioning as: Smart Positioning (beta) is a bidding feature based on an aucti...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-adwords-smart-positioning-beta.html

UPDATE: Since the posting of this article in 2008 we have closed the Tampa office of Sales & Marketing Technologies. We continue to work hard for our clients out of our Orlando Digital marketing ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/new-tampa-online-marketing-and-web-development-office.html

We always hear the question “We are thinking about redesigning our website. When should we think about search engine optimization?”. The simple answer is at the beginning. When considering re...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/think-seo-before-a-website-redesign.html

Currently Google is the largest search engine in world and one of the most visited sites on the Internet, its stock is currently trading at $400.52 (Sept 30th 2008) and it’s name has become syn...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-is-10-and-we-get-the-gifts.html

Google Webmaster Tools is a free service from Google that provides webmasters with tools and data about their site. I want to touch on some of the benefits of authenticating your site through thi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/effectively-using-google-webmaster-tools.html

As a long-time internet user, I have seen breadcrumbs really take off around the internet and recently with many of the major Wordpress websites using them. You may be asking, “Why should I use...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/why-and-how-to-add-breadcrumbs-to-your-wordpress-blog.html

HP recently ran an article which hinted that it was developing a software package that had the ability to bypass a portion of the Windows Vista Security. HP might not be the first, but should be ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/microsoft-s-vista-armor-starting-to-fade.html

Universal Search, also known as Blended Search, blends listings from local, images, video, news, and blogs. Universal Search was introduced first by Google in May 2007. MSN and Yahoo quickly foll...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/effectively-leveraging-videos-for-universal-search.html

Is your website vulnerable? Very possible. You could do a few quick checks, but explaining how to write SQL Injection code is out of the scope of this blog. Websites written using Classic ASP lan...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/protect-your-website-from-sql-injection-attacks.html

You may have heard of the term “SQL Injection” often or never before. So, what the heck is it? And, why should I worry about it? Below I try to put in lamen's terms what it is and why it is a...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-s-the-hype-about-sql-injection.html

It's time to consider online reputation management into your monthly marketing budget. If you have never thought about reputation management for your business according to Wikipedia it's "the pro...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/reputation-management-protect-your-company-online.html

Today Amit Singhal a Google Engineer in charge of the ranking team introduced Google’s three core ranking philosophies. 1) Best locally relevant results served globally. 2) Keep it simple. 3) N...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-s-ranking-philosophy.html

The nofollow is a HTML attribute for links. The nofollow attribute supposedly excludes links from search engine ranking calculations. This attribute was first introduced by Google’s Matt Cutts ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/nofollow-what-is-it.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 A bounce rate is the percentage of single page visits to your website where the visitor left from the same page that they entered. A bounce rate for a website can indicate many...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/high-bounce-rates-mean-it-s-time-to-revise-your-website-content.html

I finally found a few minutes to blog after returning from Pubcon to an over-flowing inbox, voice messages, and rescheduled meetings. It was a great time, as always, with lots of knowledgeable sp...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/pubcon-2007-take-aways-buying-links-video-buzz.html

As 2007 comes to an end and 2008 is just around the corner, now is the time to review just how far you and your business has come. Did you improve your website, adjust content, include conversion...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/5-keys-to-planning-your-2008-digital-marketing-strategy.html

You surely have seen it, or you might even use it as a spell checker daily. If you search in Google and spell your word or phrase incorrectly, Google will ask, “Did you mean…?” with a sugge...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-s-did-you-mean.html

Article Updated: Feb. 2015 Keyword expectation is precisely what you’d think, which is kind of the point. It is the expectation a person searching online has based on the meaning of the keyword...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/keyword-expectation-how-do-you-rank.html

Web designers, programmers, IT specialist and business marketing departments are all involved in the development of wonderful, and functional web sites. However, few of these professionals are ab...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/increase-web-site-traffic-by-eliminating-these-5-web-site-mistakes.html

Using web analytics can help you better understand your customer’s needs and help you market to them more effectively. It has been found that emails generated from clickstream data saw a 9x imp...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-web-site-behavioral-clickstream-data-as-an-email-targeting-tactic.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 The importance of having a consistent message should never be overlooked. Especially when it comes to your website. Recognition that carries over from print or traditional medi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/offline-and-online-marketing.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 It was 10:43 p.m. last night when I logged in to check the daily e-commerce sales. The results; ip 20% for the day and for the month, up a whopping 50%! "Yes!" I said. This wou...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/learn-what-small-website-changes-are-adding-up-to-50-sales-increase.html

Article Updated: Feb. 2015 Domain name buying, selling, and brokering can be big business. People will scoop up the good ones and hold them ransom or auction them off to the highest bidder. Your ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-importance-of-domain-name-extensions-com-vs-org-and-the-others.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 Often times, to a business, a blog may have an undeserved negative connotation. By now, most of us are aware that it is no longer exclusively for teens to hobnob about their we...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/business-benefits-of-blogging.html

There are many companies out there offering very attractive hosting and website solutions. They promise to give you 99% uptime and tools to build your own website in minutes for a low monthly fee...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/template-cms-based-websites.html

Recently we have seen several of our clients purchase additional businesses or be purchased by another company. My first question to my clients is "What is going to happen to the web site?" This ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/mergers-acquisitions-and-websites.html

In order for Google to even begin seeing your website, it needs to be able to send it’s Google bots to “crawl” your website. The way that these bots crawl your website is determined by a fi...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/how-google-sees-your-site.html

When you're ready to launch a new website, it is easy to forget the little things, like search engine rankings. Enamored by the glitz of a fresh looking website and new images, often redirects ar...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-importance-of-a-good-hosting-company-during-website-launch.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 There seems to be a misconception by many businesses that a website is an expense. Of course this is true to the extent that a properly built and marketed website costs a decen...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/website-asset-rather-than-expense.html

A website’s internal linking structure is simply how each page links to other pages on the site. Seems simple enough, but surprisingly, many business owners or Internet marketers overlook how i...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/importance-of-a-good-internal-linking-structure.html

It’s not altogether uncommon; a prospective client calls in and says, “We just finished our website and now we are looking for a marketing firm to drive in new business via search engine traf...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/online-marketing-before-or-after-web-site-development.html

A “ Ping ” is a basic internet program that allows one to verify that a certain IP address exists and can accept requests. Pinging acts as a notifier to search engines that you have updated y...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-exactly-is-a-ping-and-how-do-i-do-it.html

A “title tag” is coded into each page of a site and is meant to define what a page’s content is about. It appears in the title area of a browser window and will be the default name when you...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/what-s-a-title-tag-why-does-it-matter.html

What is RSS? RSS, also known as Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, is an XML-based format for distributing links to content on your web site that you would like oth...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/benefits-of-rss.html

Updated: Feb. 2015 Your website analytics can be used for far more than just tracking the performance of your search engine optimization efforts. Media buys these days almost always have a websit...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/tracking-offline-media-buys.html

According to a recent comScore study : 63% of U.S. Internet users perform a local search online last July This is a 43% increase over July 2005 As Local Search starts to take off in the next coup...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/getting-local-on-yahoo!-local.html

When I started Search Engine Marketing in 1998, there were 10 to 20 key players, instant search engine updates, Google was in beta, GoTo (a new pay per click search engine) had penny bids, banner...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/9-years-of-digital-marketing-and-everything-continues-to-change.html

Google Analytics has been on the website traffic statistics scene for just a little over a year now and looks to be in no danger of fading into obscurity. For many website owners and professional...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/the-pros-and-cons-of-google-analytics.html

Most people are familiar with the term "site map", but how does it differ from "sitemap"? Besides the obvious spelling, these two terms have completely different meanings. Knowing the difference ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/a-simple-guide-to-sitemaps-or-is-that-site-maps.html

Article Updated: Feb. 2015 Google Sandbox You may have heard about the Google Sandbox, or sandbox effect, while surfing the web for Digital marketing, SEO, SEM, or other related terms. This term ...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/google-supplemental-results.html

What exactly is the NOODP meta tag? NOODP, or No Open Directory Project, is a meta tag that is used to prevent DMOZ, an open content directory or website’s link hub, from pushing titles to sear...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/using-noodp-meta-tag.html

There’s a lot of ModRewrite tutorials out there, but I always had a hard time finding a pretty clear cut explanation for the most common uses: redirecting and making search engine friendly URLs...

https://www.smtusa.com/blog/posts/modrewrite-for-apache-and-iis.html