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Your business has shifted

Whose business hasn't shifted since 2020, right? Aside from the impact that caused, it's natural for businesses to adapt over time. You might still be doing ok with a website that is slightly off brand and doesn't really reflect what your business does these days. But a website that isn't a reflection of the business means you're losing customers due to misinformation. Time to re-assess your website and perhaps get a refresh to match your current goals.

Your website isn't filling your pipeline

You've got a website. Now you sit back and wait for the leads to roll in... wait... why is no one inquiring or buying?! It could be you've not crafted an offer that is clear and easy for potential clients to say "yes" to. Or there's something off about your website structure that is making it cumbersome for them to do so. While this might not mean you need a complete overhaul, it's time to have a hard look at how you're capturing leads on your website and the effectiveness of it.

An amateur built your website

Photo credit: AksanaT via depositphotos.com, design credit: Geek Unicorn Inc.

When you start a business, it's totally normal to bootstrap and stay nimble in the beginning while you build. This often leads to pulling long nights making your own website or hiring your niece fresh out of high school because she's creative and could use a couple bucks. But now that you've gotten over the hurdle of your first year in business (when most businesses fail) and you've got potential in your market, several happy clients, and you're not in a financial hole, it's time to level up your website so it can serve your business better and help you scale.

Your competition stands out 

When you do competitive research in your market, are you green with envy at the websites other businesses have? Well, your potential clients are doing the same research and are drawn to those businesses over yours. Why? Because shiny object syndrome is real, y'all. In fact, 38% of people will leave a website if they find the layout unattractive. Yikes. Your business might be better than your competition but if your website is shabby next to theirs, people are going to assume your business is too.

People will leave a website if they find it unattractive.

You're embarrassed to send people to it

There are so many reasons people become embarrassed by their website. Maybe it's not reflective of your brand anymore, or you just always loathed it. I myself have been embarrassed by my own website before. Yes, me, a web designer. Not because it looked bad, but the information wasn't relevant anymore and I hadn't made time to update it. Instead of making excuses when someone asks you to "send a link" to your site, get a website you're not ashamed of and share it (and your business) proudly with the world.

You used a template (and it shows)

There's nothing really wrong with using a template, but if it's not executed well it can leave your website looking bland and blah. And it can potentially make your business totally forgettable. Think of cars on the road. The hundreds of Honda Civics go unnoticed. But that one Lamborghini will catch your eye and stick with you. Not that you need to shell out Lambo cash for a nice website. But don't be like everyone else stuck in a Honda (no offence to Honda owners, my family had one for many years).

Bad user experience

User experience is measured in things like site speed, easy of navigation, and the quality of content. Bad user experience means people are turned-off by your website because it didn't met their expectations. Once they're gone, they may not come back again. Just like a restaurant needs to think of all the elements of their dining experience from the host to the food temperature to the cleanliness of the bathroom, you need to think of what experience your website is giving those who are visiting it. If it's a bad experience, you'll want to focus on improving that.

It's become a hot mess in the backend

Photo credit: Juhku via depositphotos.com, design credit: Geek Unicorn Inc.

When you're managing a website yourself, it can be easy to get off track and start adding elements to your website that you don't need. I've definitely met websites that are bloated with dozens of pages that are unorganized, half-baked, or totally irrelevant. Not to mention the countless sites with multiple plugins and page builders that do the same thing or aren't being used. Often, this is a result of trying to DIY on the fly without a strategy or proper consultation. This might not seem like a big deal because a messy backend is invisible to most human visitors, but the extra bloat and disorganization is usually visible to search engines which can have a negative impact on your traffic and site security. Besides, it becomes difficult to manage or scale if things get too disorganized. If your website has become bloated and off-track, you need some guidance and a clean up. 

You're ready for something fresh

Let's not dismiss the energizing joy a fresh new website for yourself, your team, and your clients can bring to your business when things have gotten stale. There's also a marketing opportunity to connect with people when rolling out a new website because you have a reason to invite people to come see and you're more excited to present your business online. We recently had a client who finally updated their website after nine years, and used the launch as an opportunity to reconnect with the list of clients they'd accumulated since then. They got a fresh new site for the next decade, and a reason to say "hi" to past clients. Double win!

You never gave it much thought

A website for you may have always been an after thought. But 70-80% of people research a small business online before visiting it or purchasing something from it. Most of your potential clients are checking out your website before ever speaking to you about your services. If you've been under the impression that your website doesn't matter, data says otherwise. Imagine the positive impact it will have on your business and revenue if you recognized your website as the powerful marketing and sales tool that it is.

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To us, women-led businesses or organizations are those that enjoy employing and working with all genders, but are 50% or more owned by women, and/or have 50% or more women on their board of directors, and/or employ 50% or more women in leadership roles, and/or whose products directly contribute to the financial benefit of women.

Our reason for supporting women-led businesses is because we believe when you support women financially, you improve entire communities. In case you don’t believe us, here are a number of reasons to consider supporting women-led businesses too.

Charitable Giving

According to a study by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, women tend to be more charitable than their male counterparts when they’re financially able. Supporting a women-led business means a portion of your investment is going to support local and international charities.

Better Economy

Various research shows women make over 70% of the household buying decisions. That means if Mama’s not buying because of her financial struggle, the overall economy suffers. A good economy (in theory) is good for everyone. Large businesses making the right amount of revenue means less layoffs and higher salaries for all and better opportunities for entry-level positions for youth.

Longer Impact

Women live 6 years longer than men, on average. When you support women-led businesses, you’re ensuring she is financially secure in her elder years. If she’s financially secure, she puts less strain on you as a tax payer because she’s able to financially support her own care in her senior years.

Higher Education

Women hold more Bachelor and Masters degrees than men. When you’re supporting a women-led business, you’re likely getting a team of smart, educated ladies making decisions and creating products that reflect the quality of their education.

Empathy

Empathy is not something we immediately think of when choosing a business to support. But if you’ve ever had a customer service issue, you’ve craved some empathy from the other end. Science is still exploring why, but women tend to be more empathetic than men. Empathy means a women-led business will go that extra mile for you, because it seems they really do care more.

Community Support

Volunteers support your local community. They’re the force behind the local food drive, school events, animal shelters, tree plantings, beach clean ups, political campaigns, and so much more. Women volunteer more than men, and women in higher socio-economic brackets volunteer more than women in lower brackets. That means a financially stable woman is also making your community better through her volunteering.

Women’s Rights

Financially empowering women is central to women’s rights and closing the gender gap, according to the UN. Women’s rights are human rights. Regardless of your political affiliations or cultural background, I believe most of us support basic human rights. When you support women-led businesses, you’re championing women’s rights too.

Sameness

The gender similarities hypothesis explores that there are more similarities between genders than there are differences. That means you’re likely not missing out on what’s important to you when choosing a women-led business. So why not choose a women-led business when there are so many good things that come from it?

Where can you find women-led businesses?

For starters, check out these directories and organizations featuring women-led businesses.

• femmebought
• tellent
• CanWCC
• Women in Biz Network
• WBE Canada

Did we miss a directory or organization that should be featured here? Let us know via our contact page or in the comments below.

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That includes search engines like Google, social media channels like Facebook, guest blog posts, media mentions, reviews, directories, Reddit threads, image searches, that old ancestry.com account you filled out ages ago…. everything and anywhere, from any time.

The ultimate goal of online visibility is to align the quality of your presence with your brand and services, and to increase the quantity of touch points for your brand so you can reach a bigger audience. 

There is no one unit of measurement for online visibility because it depends on your industry, niche, and competition. It boils down how well your brand is influencing your target audience.

This guide will take you through how to measure your online presence. Want some tips on how to improve your online presence? Check out these tips from top marketers on what you should focus on to improve your online visibility.

Review your owned channels

Owned channels are the places online that you have control in editing the content about your brand. They include your website, social networks, business pages, and directories.

Check the following and make changes as necessary: 

• Is the messaging on those channels aligned with your brand and services? Consider your about section, profile picture, and posts. If it’s not, make the changes necessary to align with your brand so there is no confusion about what your brand is about.  
• Are all channels projecting the first impression you want to give someone new to your brand? Start with deciding what first impression you want people to have. For example, your first impression might be “professional and fun”. If your presence doesn’t match your ideal, where can you make adjustments to give people that first impression you want them to have?
• Is your visual identity consistent on all channels? Your visual identity are your colours, fonts, logo, icons, and images your brand uses. If your visual identity is not consistent, you miss out on capturing a subconscious input to your users if they happen to scroll by your content in a hurry because there is no memory of what they’re seeing. For example, if your brand uses a hot pink every single time, eventually people see that hot pink and instantly recognize it as your brand without needing to read or watch what it’s about. 
• Are all the fields filled out correctly (ie “description”, “services”, “hours”, etc.)? If not, update them so there is no conflicting information. 
• Do you appear to be active on this channel? If not, you might consider updating it more often, or deleting it. A stagnant channel or one created in error (but not closed) can make the brand appear like they’re not actively in business or not well liked.

Measure visibility

Count all the channels your brand is on as the highest score you can have. Then give yourself a point for every channel that meets the criteria above. 

For example, if you have a website, Facebook Page, and one directory listing, your highest score is 3. If you’re satisfied with your Facebook Page (1 point) and directory listing (1 point) but your Website needs some work (0 points), give yourself a 2 out of 3 (or, 67%)

To improve: First, get yourself to 100% with the channels you’re currently on. Then look to expand the number of channels you’re on, provided you can keep them looking active and up-to-date throughout the year. Continue to maintain and expand that 100%.

Visibility on search

Visibility on search is a combination of the amount of search terms your website comes up for, how high they rank in a search, and how likely that page will be clicked on.

For example, you may be #1 when you Google your brand name, but if almost no one Googles your brand name, then the visibility is low. However, you may be #1 for a search on the services you provide and thousands of people Google that term every month and typically click on your link. That makes your visibility high because lots of people are looking for it, and you’re the #1 spot. 

Measure visibility

You’ll need a tool like Ahrefs.com to properly research this. Measuring visibility on search gives a percentage. However, it is impossible to get 100%, so don’t aim for that. It’s ok to benchmark against your competition, but keep in mind they may have had more time and resources to improve their visibility.

If your visibility is significantly less than your competition, it can seem daunting to try to equal or surpass them. In truth, they may have been at it longer or had more resources to increase their visibility. We never want to compare our startling point to someone else’s current place, especially when they started long before us.

To measure your improvement, focus on your starting number and set a goal and plan for a reasonable increase over a six month period. Not sure what a reasonable goal or action plan is? If you want Geek Unicorn to do this research for you and support your action plan, we have an affordable package. Contact us and we’ll get started. 

Backlinks quantity and quality

A backlink is a link to a page on your website from a page on someone else’s website. Sometimes referred to as a referral link, or external link. Backlinks do not include links in social media posts.

The quality of the backlink is important. A good quality backlink is on a site that has high visibility in search, is well established (ie not a brand new site), gets a lot of traffic, doesn’t have a lot of other links on the page, and the page contains content that is relevant to your business/services.

For example, if your business coach used your testimony on their website and linked back to your home page in the byline of your quote, this is probably just an ok backlink. It’s not great because your coach probably doesn’t get a ton of traffic to their site, there are other links going out to other unrelated businesses, and the content surrounding the link has nothing to do with your industry. However, if you had an article published on Forbes website and it was all about your brand and your expertise in your industry, this is likely a very good backlink to have. You want to avoid backlinks that are from spammy sites or in the comment section of a non-related page or post.

Measure Visibility

Your initial measurement will just be a number to indicate the amount of backlinks you have. But over time, you’re looking for high quality and quantity. The focus is on high quality over just going for immense quantity.

As you’re developing more backlinks, aim for high-quality backlinks, and not bothering to add low-quality backlinks. Mid-level backlinks are fine since they probably won’t hurt (like our business coach testimony example). To measure, set a goal and plan to increase your initial measurement with high-quality links.

Not sure what a reasonable action plan is? Contact us and we’ll help. 

Engagement

Engagement here is in relation to your social media posts or email newsletters. It is measured by how many people like, view, reply, comment, or click. These measurements are available on your social media channels and email marketing.

You’re looking to increase the engagement by aligning your audience to your content, creating calls to engage, and posting at a frequency that works for your audience. Note that you don’t need to align your content to your audience if your content is aligned to your brand. But you may consider adjusting format by uncovering what your audience likes best (ie videos, images, or text). A frequency that works for your audience is going to differ for every business. If you’re a news outlet, you’ll be producing content at a higher frequency than if you’re a local plumbing business.

If you’re not sure how to do any of these things, reach out to an experienced social media specialist with a proven track-record who understands your audience.

Measure Visibility

Use the tools on your social media platforms to measure engagement rates. Don’t have the tools? You might not have a business account. If the platform (ie Facebook, Instagram, etc) is important for your brand, then consider a business account. 

Note the change over time. But know that your industry benchmarks are likely very low. In truth, the average engagement rate per post on a Facebook Page is around 3%. So don’t beat yourself up if you’re not going viral.

Overtime, you’ll look to increase your audience so more people see your content and have opportunity to engage.

Influential mentions

Influential mentions are when your brand is mentioned by a person or organization of influence within your market. I’m not just talking about “influencer marketing” when I talk about influential mentions.

Influence can come from the media, television, podcasts, awards, bloggers, affiliations, and yes, “influencers” on social media. If the person or organization has an audience, and that audience has your target market in it, then you’ll likely benefit from an influential mention.

When you’re going for influential mentions, consider how traffic will flow to your website and what link will be used for landing that traffic. For example, if you’re working with an influencer on social media for a particular product, consider creating a landing page for that specific product, rather than your general home page. However, if you’re the expert in a panel on a local television program, your home page might be the best link to reference.

Measure Visibility

For your measurement, you’ll simply count up the amount of influential mentions you have, and analyze the amount of traffic that comes from those channels. You can find the traffic from your Google Analytics or if you use special link tracking apps like bitly.

You can create a Google alert to notify you in your inbox when your brand is mentioned. It’s not perfect, but it’s a helpful method in scrapping the internet for new content about your brand. Hot tip: you can also use Google alerts for industry related news so you can stay on top of what’s happening in your industry.

Your goal for influential mentions is to increase the amount of mentions with quality sources of traffic. So if you ran an influencer campaign recently and saw amazing traffic and an increase in purchases, then do something like that again. If you’ve done nothing to increase influential mentions, consider the avenue that would be best for your brand (ie television, podcasts, news articles, etc) and work towards that.

Traffic 

Web traffic means the amount of data a website sends and receives. But for this purpose, I’m referring to traffic as a loose term to represent the amount of users (people) visiting your website and where they’re coming from. The more users you have visiting your website, the more visible your brand is.

Measure Visibility

You can use a tool like Google Analytics to measure your traffic. What you’re looking for is an increase in traffic over time. When you look at the sources of the traffic, like Instagram, email, search, etc. You’ll want to see which are performing well and improve your efforts in those areas or close the gaps on ineffective sources of traffic.

Not sure where to start on all this? Contact us and we’ll help you build a plan to increase your online visibility.

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Astrid Sucipto

Founder, CEO and Chief Pixie
Digital Pixie

digitalpixie.ca

The one thing business owners should do to increase their online visibility is to “show up” online. Showing up is about engaging and connecting with your customers wherever they are hanging out. If your customers are on facebook, reply to threads and be involved in conversations. There could be opportunities to link back to your blog or instagram post during these conversations. Showing up online and talking about what you do or what you sell is really how others will know what it is that you do. This is exactly the method I used when my sister first started making custom furniture. I started talking about her furniture online and showing them off, and before she knew it, she had so many orders that she ended up with an 8-week wait list. In addition to being an online marketing expert, I also have a small skincare brand and I apply the same method. I show up, I post about them, I provide education, and now almost every post converts to a sale. The trick is to do this in a non salesy way.

Here’s another example of showing up. If you’ve written a blog, it’s not enough to just write it and hope that people will stumble upon it. You still have to push it out. Post the link where your customers are and look for opportunities in the facebook groups you belong to where it makes sense to share your blog. You can do so many things online (social, paid ads, etc) but for you to increase and continue being visible is really about connecting and engaging and essentially, showing up (but not salesy!).

Avery Swartz

Tech writer, consultant and speaker
Author, See You on the Internet: Building Your Small Business with Digital Marketing

This may sound counter-intuitive, but my advice for business owners to increase their online visibility in 2020 is to actually be in less places. We’re all stretched way too thin, trying to maintain a presence across multiple social media channels, email marketing, online advertising, and websites and blogs. Unless you have a devoted team member managing all of this for you, odds are you’re not using each channel to its fullest potential. Instead of trying to be everywhere, cut back and devote more time and energy to a smaller number of digital activities. Be like Marie Kondo. Take stock of your digital marketing activities, and if one or more of them aren’t helping you meet your business goals, thank it for its service and let it go.

Cherene Francis

cherenefrancis.com

Owners should ensure that they have created a personal brand presence on social media and a website. If their name is taken they can also secure a variation of there name. For example, “Sarah Matthews” can be “LifewithSarah.com” or some other version.

With the prevalence of social media and mobile devices with two-faced cameras, it’s clear that being up close and personal is a game that everyone has to play whether you’re sitting on the bench or not. Professionals that choose to hold off on their engagement will miss out on this billion-dollar industry called internet marketing. For goodness sake, we have celebrity’s running and winning presidential races with social media. Even without political experiences, they skip out on using the traditional resume, and instead, they use their influence that they have created based on their values and personality. More than ever the business landscape is willing to look past your education if you can connect with them deeply through human connection, trust and likeability.

Therefore, it’s not about what you know, or even just who you know. It’s about who you are. Personal Branding.

Read the full article Personal Brand Marketing for Opportunities, Sales and Clients: https://www.cherenefrancis.com/blog/personal-brand-marketing-for-opportunities-sales-and-clients

Crystal-Marie Sealy

MBA, Keynote, Author, Consultant. President and Founder
Crystal-Marie Sealy, formerly Successiory

CrystalMarieSealy.com

Short of making the time for consistent, meaningful and strategic engagement, is leveraging trending hashtags. When you do find relevant hashtags trending, one tactic that works well is to go into your scheduling tool and add those hashtags to the posts you have scheduled to go out in the next hour or less. A few more insights here – https://www.crystalmariesealy.com/blog/hashtags-save-time-and-increase-visibility-2019-12-8

Crystal Washington

Futurist, Technology Strategist and Author
CWM Enterprises

crystalwashington.com

Business owners wanting to increase their online visibility in 2020 should close their social media accounts. No, not all of them, but all but one or two. Then business owners should master those two remaining networks. Focusing on no more than two networks will likely lead to more engaging and share-worthy content as business owners can put more time and energy into creating quality posts.

Darlene Moore

Chief Website Revenue Officer
DriveTraffic Digital Marketing

drivetraffic.ca

Coming from the Google perspective, stop producing content just for the sake of creating content – identify the 20% of content that drives relevant traffic from Google and either optimize or delete that other 80% while continuing to create only content that falls into the 20% – aim to shift your ratio in 2020 so that 80% of your content is driving relevant business!

Need someone to identify that 80% of your content that is not serving you well? We can do that at DriveTraffic – drop us a note https://www.drivetraffic.ca

Dee Boswell-Buck

deeboswellbuck.com

Not many people realize that using keywords on social media is a fantastic way for you and your content to show up on search engines.

Chicken or Egg question.
"Which should I have first... A website or a social media strategy?"

Honestly... A website inches out ever so slightly.

However while your website is being designed or if you don't have the budget to have one... Get started on social media!

What keywords are ideal clients searching?

What problems are they researching?

Those are the details that should be included in your social media content.

Use social media to get found! Drive traffic to an inexpensive landing page, your email, phone call and DM's.

Be intentional. Answer questions to the problems your customers lose sleep over. Research the keywords they type into Google.

Talk about all of that!

Build trust with your audience!

And when your website is complete, don't forget to announce it on social media... With the audience that enjoys following and engaging with you.

Then get ready for an influx of clicks to your website!

Doris Chung

Founder & Creative Director
Liquid Ink

liquidink.ca

There are so many ways to increase your online visibility… and I’m going to share my tip that is a bit outside the box. I want to and recommend make a [physical] product. Like workbook, journal or planner? Sharing something that you’ve made is a great way to promote yourself online. I call it your next big idea. I’m amazing at helping others get clarity on their big idea, so feel free to book a no-obligation call with me and share your big idea! https://liquidink.ca/book-a-call/

Jasmine Williams

Founder, Content and Social Media Consultant
Jasmine Williams Media

jasminewilliams.ca

Figure out where your target audience is hanging out online and make sure you’re showing up there regularly. For example, my clients tend to be more active on LinkedIn than other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, so it’s important for me to be active on LinkedIn as well. I’ll share articles and blog posts that I’ve written, updates on speaking engagements or other notable achievements – anything to give my audience more insight into what I do and show them that I’m a credible professional in my field.

Katie Pringle

Partner & Co-Founder
Marigold Marketing & PR (Otherwise known as Marigold!)

marigoldpr.com

Leverage knowledge sharing to grow your profile. Consider joining Facebook or LinkedIn groups, hosting a niche event, speak at a likeminded conference and, of course, engage media. Move conversations to your CRM and remember to promote everything across owned touchpoints (ie. blogs, social. email lists). Everything you do offline, will lead to online relevancy.

Laura MacHardy

Co-Founder
Klusster

klusster.com

Recently, Oracle found 47% of consumers look at 3-5 pieces of content before making first contact. Consumers expect content from you and will move on if they don’t find what then need to build trust. So the question is – how do you get your content seen by your potential clients to start building trust?

There is so much opportunity in forming collaborative online partnerships. It’s time to stop working alone online! What other businesses do you know that have complementary content/products/services to you? What if you all worked together and shared each other’s content to your collective social audiences? You could increase your social reach to new targeted audiences by orders of magnitude. You could add value to your social audience by sharing other valuable and relevant resources. You could support other trusted businesses and reinforce referral relationships.

Klusster is the Collaborative Marketing Platform – built specifically to help complementary businesses work together online to drive distribution. And – your Klusster content allows you to generate high quality backlinks to your website, which can boost your website’s organic traffic too! Collaborating with other like-minded, complementary businesses is a win-win for everyone!

As Johnathan Perelman (VP Strategy – Buzzfeed) famously said, “Content is King, but Distribution is Queen … and she wears the pants!”. Leverage collaborative relationships to drive more distribution with Klusster. Check out the video on our home page to learn more: www.klusster.com

Lindsay Johnson

The Radical Connector

theradicalconnector.com

One of the best ways to make your brand more visible online is to make videos … lots of videos…and have a heck of a lot of fun doing them! Showcase your passion and brilliance in your field on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Be a guest expert in other communities where your perfect customers hang. Let people fall in love with the real you by bringing your personality and play to the forefront. (Ahem, remember to keep it professional!) Most importantly, don’t let fear stop you. You’ll quickly get better with practice, just as you’ll get bolder, more creative, and so much more tuned in to who your market is and what they love about YOU and your brand! If you’re needing inspo or just a kick in the pants to get creating come join my online community for entrepreneurs, Rad Connectors, and see how others are showcasing their brilliance through videos.

Lisa Mc Grath

Founder
CAVEA Studio

caveastudio.com

Make your marketing all about meeting your customer’s needs. Turn all of your content around from being about you, to showing how you understand them, how you can solve their challenges and provide them with great value. You’ll attract more genuine connections by making sure their stories live in all of your marketing elements, from your brand’s voice to website copy and SEO, social media and targeted advertising. While your competition is shouting about how amazing they are, you’ll be showing your customers how invaluable you are at helping them to be amazing. Getting your customer’s attention can be time and resource intensive, so you’ll need to be attentive, committed and patient as you build a strong, value-focused brand. We can help you build connections to larger, more valuable audiences while you focus on the essentials of building your business. Get in touch at www.caveastudio.com/contact

Michelene Maguire

CEO
Maguire Maguire Marketing

Most business owners are really under-utilizing Google My Business. We are so passionate about getting leads using Google My Business that we wrote a book on it!

The truth is everybody uses Google. Whether you’re buying a car, looking for advice, or trying to improve your business… you’re probably “Googling” it. If your business isn’t set up on Google properly, you miss a huge opportunity to be found by the right people, at the right time, in search of the exact products or services you offer.

Here is a link to our book on Amazon: Get More Customers Using Google My Business

But whether you buy our book or not, we highly recommend that you get your Google My Business account set up!

Michelle Daides

Video Production Expert & Marketer
MD Media Inc.

mdmediainc.com

We are bombarded with content and we only have 3 seconds to grab the attention of our potential consumer. If you want to increase online visibility in 2020, video is the way to go. By creating a combination of professional and social media videos, you will instantly create that visibility as well as credibility. Don’t forget that consistency is key. Finally, make sure that you leverage search engines like YouTube and Google My Business by posting to these platforms in order to improve your SEO/Searchability.

Rachel Di

Head Unicorn
Geek Unicorn

Treat the online space as an opportunity to build community and connect with people.

Sarah Calderwood

President
Stirling Marketing & Communications

stirlingmarketing.ca

If you are not personalizing your customer experience across marketing channels, I promise you, you are not engaging at a level that people expect and are now used to receiving. Integrating your engagement across platforms has never been easier and more cost-effective. For instance, it is now possible to track and engage with your customers on email, website, social media, events, etc. as the same user? Measuring and perfecting your marketing “Return on Investment” is also quick and easy with the right automation system. If you want to understand how you can extend that personalized experience through segmentation and personalization, here is an article with lots of practical advice and tips: https://www.stirlingmarketing.ca/2019/09/16/marketing-tips-in-2020-segmentation-and-personalization/#more-1749

Sarah Kiriliuk

Founder and CEO
Rise Agency

rise-agency.ca

Businesses should be reaching out to bloggers and digital media with interesting stories that are relevant to the news conversations happening in their marketplace. This helps increase their subject matter expertise and thought leadership, as well as building good quality back-links for increased SEO.

Sara Vartanian

Conversion Copywriter and Launch Strategy
Sara Vartanian

saravartanian.com

In 2020, it’s time to stop trying to predict what clients want, and instead spend time listening to them. Chances are every single day your clients are giving you opportunities to learn about their feelings and needs through their inquiries, questions, and in social media groups.

Your client’s words will help you grow your business, but if you don’t think of them before writing any copy or content than you’re going to be about 15 degrees off from what they actually need to hear from you–that’s what my clients discover when working through The Copy Playbook. That’s why the easiest way to increase your online visibility is to use your words to show the people you love to serve that deeply get them.

Tiffany DaSilva

Founder & Growth Marketing Consultant
Flowjo.co

flowjo.co

SEO! Take 10 minutes of your time and create your Keyword Bucket list – that is 10-15 keywords you wish that your customers would type into Google to find you. Now ask yourself, Do you have pages on your website dedicated to those keywords? Many of the business owners I meet have sprinkled their dream keywords across their website and blog in the hopes of ranking for something, but I suggest making a real effort to create landing pages on your website dedicated to each and every one that matches the intent of your visitor. For example, let’s say you’re a italian restaurant in NYC with the best meatballs in town. Then create a page on your website called “Best Meatballs in NYC”, show them pictures, add reviews from your previous customers or media, and provide a map and reservations link. That way, if someone is looking for something you’re great at, they’ll find you, and get all the information they need to take the next step. Good luck!

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