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Online reputation - London SEO Company, SEO Consultants, PPC Advertising Services London - FirstRank

Dec 24
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quality content

7 Ways To Create Quality Content

By | Content Creation, Digital Marketing, Search Engine Optimizaion, SEO & PPC

All the major types of digital marketing methods such as search engine optimization (SEO) pay per click (PPC), social media marketing (SMM) and email marketing largely depend upon quality content. In fact, you simply can’t run any of these digital marketing campaigns without content. Therefore, high-quality content is absolutely fundamental in digital marketing.

This gives rise to one important question – what is high-quality content? In simple words, quality content is an original content that adds value to the visitors, improves SEO, and converts visitors into customers. Defining quality content is an easier task than developing the same. However, if you focus more on visitors than on your search engine ranking, your job becomes easy. In this blog post, you will learn the top seven ways to create high-quality content.

1. Develop original content

You cannot rank your web page with the help of copied content. Google detects duplicate content within in seconds and penalizes your site. As a result, your search engine ranking may hit rock bottom. You may have to go for penalty recovery services.

Original content refers to a content that is a product of your thinking, and nothing else. Some people try to spin the article and cheat the search engine. Yes, there are many free article spinning tools available on the Internet. All you need to do is copy the content from a site, and paste it into an article spinner tool, and click on spin. Within a couple of seconds, you will get fresh content. However, the quality of such content is always very low. Since article spinners just rephrase a paragraph, most of the time the sentences do not even make sense.

So, if you want to develop quality content, then you have to forget these two things and focus on the uniqueness of the content. Google likes the content which is liked by the people. So, focus more on providing answers to the questions of the visitors.

2. Create compelling headlines

How do you decide to read a news article? By reading the headline, right? The same thing works here also. Your headlines act like a door for your content. They will decide whether the visitors are going to read your content or not. Here are the two statistics to back our claim:
80% of the people read headlines.
Only 20% of those people read the full content.
Make sure your headlines create curiosity in the minds of readers. Let us take an example. If you are creating content on types of business owners, then your headline should raise a question in the minds of them. ” Seven Types of Business Owners – Which Group Is You In?” creates more curiosity than “Seven Types of Business owners.”

Take time to write headlines. Prefer to write the content first and headline last. While writing you may get some good headline ideas, which you can note down. In the end, you can select the best one. This will save your time.

3. Create actionable content

What was the last article you wrote? Did it give advice on how your readers can apply the given information straight away? If no, you must focus on this aspect.

Content created by you should give the readers a sense of how to utilize the information. Users tend to like the content that guides them to apply the knowledge. For instance, “10 ways to create quality content” looks better than “10 aspects of good-quality content.” The former helps the users to create quality content, whereas the latter just describes the ingredients. So, write all your future blog posts keeping this thing in mind.

4. Try to add images and videos

Visual content enhances your overall content. There is a reason why kids like books which have more pictures. That is because they are engaging, and they also help them to understand quicker and better. The same things apply to blog and website content.

Paragraphs of texts are boring. Hardly anyone likes to read them. So, make sure you add high-quality pictures and videos. Also, make sure they are original. Do not add any images just for the sake of adding. If you put any image or video, make sure it has a role to play in your content. Adding unnecessary visual content can distract the readers and dilute the value of your content.

5. Keep to the point

Yes, Google likes lengthy content. That does not mean you should simply increase the length of the content. Doing so can reduce the quality of the content and spoil the readability.

Users usually want to know more in less time. So it makes sense to say things using fewer sentences. Who does not like to the point articles or blog posts? Increase the length of the content only if there is a scope. In most of the cases, lengthy text increases the bounce rate, as they are time-consuming and less interesting. As a result, your search engine optimization efforts will get spoiled. So, say no to fluff that dilutes your content.

6. Do proper research

This is one of the most important steps you need to take before writing the blog? Select a topic. Once you select the topic, do research and find out what is already written about it. Try to figure out what is missing in those blogs and make a note. Think what new you can add to the topic.

The other thing you should do is find what are the most shared contents in the topic selected by you. This will help you to opt the topics. There are several tools available on the Internet to do this job. You can try BuzzSumo. It helps you to find the most shared content for a particular topic under all social media platforms.

7. Aim to engage the audience

Audience engagement is one of the main goals you should try to achieve. That is because engaged audience hangs on to your every single word and grabs all of it. The only way to obtain engaged audience is to create engaging content. Here are the best practices to improve audience engagement:
End with the questions: Now this does not mean you have to write an incomplete post. We mean you should end the blog with a question that encourages them to utilize the information given by you.
Have a solid beginning: People will not read your full content and make a judgment. Rather they read a headline and first paragraph and decide whether to read or not. So it makes sense to tell why they should care to read and what will they learn from it, at the beginning, itself.
Tell a story: You might already know that people love stories. A story can help you to tell a point clearly. Furthermore, you can easily gain uninterrupted audience attention for a long period of time.
Try to gain user interaction: If you write a content that attracts a lot of user comments, the search engine will believe that you have good content and rank it higher. So, try to obtain people’s interaction.

Dec 16
0
SEO Consultants

10 Questions to Ask When Hiring an SEO Consultant

By | Black Hat SEO, Google, Search Engine Optimizaion

Search engine optimization is a never-ending process. Therefore, before hiring an SEO agency one needs to go through its various aspects thoroughly and ask some important questions. Asking these simple yet vital questions will reveal a lot about your potential digital marketing partner. Furthermore, gathering extra information about a probable SEO partner will allow you to make a well-informed decision. Below are the top 10 questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant. Make sure you don’t forget to ask these questions to your SEO agency.

1. May I know your former and current clients?

Experienced SEO companies usually have a wide range of clients. Normally, these companies encourage you to contact their former and current clients. Actually, this is one of the best practices that search engine optimization agencies follow. If you are not encouraged to contact former clients, you can ask your potential SEO partner to give a list of their clients. If the agency agrees, then that is a good sign.

Go through the list and select the businesses that are relevant to you. Try to contact at least two clients and know their experience. Yes, reading reviews is also a good method. However, a client tends to write a short review. He might miss some important points. So, it is good to talk to former clients to know the pros and cons of a search engine optimization company in detail.

2. How will you improve my visibility?

This is the most important question to ask an SEO consultant before hiring. It is fundamental to know how your potential digital marketing partner is going to improve your search engine ranking. Knowing the work process will make it easy to judge the cost of the service. You can do the same thing for a couple of SEO agencies and judge them on the basis of both cost and SEO service.

Make sure the proposal includes an initial technical review of your site. This can avoid the issues that lower your search engine ranking. Furthermore, ask the details of both on-page optimization and off-page optimization. Go through the process carefully. Search engine optimization is huge. Each and every company follows its own process. Therefore, it makes sense to know the SEO process before joining the hands.

3. Read online reviews.

In the first point, we have discussed that asking questions to the former clients will help you know the subtle details of a company. However, it is not a good idea to depend solely on a couple of ex-clients. Furthermore, it is not viable to contact all the former clients. So it is good to read several reviews, along with contacting a couple of former clients.

Reading online reviews is one of the best and most favorite methods of people to do research on a company. You can know both positive and negative points of an SEO company in one place. Do not form an opinion just by a reading couple of reviews. Make sure you read enough reviews before making an opinion.

Furthermore, read the response of the SEO company to the online reviews. Rude, duplicate or no reply shows the unprofessional side of a company. In addition to that, do not expect an SEO company to have a clean online image. No matter how good a company is, it tends to have a couple of negative reviews at least. So, read both positive and bad reviews and make a well-informed decision.

4. Do you follow search engine guidelines?

There are two types of search engine optimization. They are black hat SEO and White hat SEO. Blackhat SEO involves aggressive SEO strategies, that usually violate search engine guidelines. Such techniques normally give quick results initially, but later become a cause for Google penalty. So it is a good idea to ask whether an SEO company follows search engine guidelines.

Never opt an SEO agency that does a black hat SEO. Normally, online reviews will let you know whether a company follows Google guidelines or not. Furthermore, a company which promises guaranteed results within a short period of time is more likely to use black hat tactics. Search engine optimization takes time. Do not expect a company to deliver the result in a week.

5. How will you improve local search results?

Having a top place in the local search engine results page is critical for small-business owners. So, if you own a small or local business, you should not forget to ask this question. Contact your SEO consultant and try to know who holds the expertise in the local search engine optimization, and how he or she is going to enhance local search results.

If you are going for local search engine optimization, you should expect your business to appear when someone nearby is searching for the products and services you sell. This is done by adding your town, and state to your site’s meta description and title tags. This is just one among several steps that an SEO firm takes to place you in the top position for a specific geographical area.

6. How does pricing work?

Normally, SEO is not a low-cost digital marketing method. The amount you spend on SEO will get multiplied and come back to you in form of sales. In order to get good results, you have to spend some money. However, it does not make sense to pay the amount for the SEO service without knowing its pricing structure.

Since the pricing of SEO is unpredictable, you may end up with a surprise bill. To avoid this ask the below questions regarding pricing:

  • How much do you charge?
  • Do you charge hourly, monthly, or do you have a package?
  • When should we have to pay?
  • Can you provide the details of work done and its cost?
  • Do I need to pay the amount in advance?
  • Can I pay at the end of every month?

7. How will you optimize content?

You might already know content is the most important ranking factor. It has two important jobs to do. Those are engaging visitors and impressing search engines. Rightfully, optimizing the content is the top-most aspect of the search engine optimization process. Below are the five important questions you need to ask.

  • Will you create new content?
  • How will you optimize our content?
  • Why content optimization is important?
  • Is it possible to use the existing content?
  • Will you create new landing pages and add content to it?
    The above-mentioned five questions will give all the details that you need to know about content optimization.

8. Can I meet the SEO, team?

Before choosing an SEO agency, one must make sure that his or her online presence is going in the safe hands. Usually, SEO companies send their top team to win new clients. This is done to make a good impression.

Ask if you can talk to the SEO team that is going to handle your project. You can establish a relationship with them so that you know what work is being done, and who is doing it. The other advantage of knowing the team is that you will not be in the dark. In some cases, projects are handled by not so good SEO team of an excellent SEO agency. So, make sure you are getting the best team. You can judge the team by the previous projects and work experience of the team members.

9. Are you working for our competitors?

It is not unusual for an SEO company to handle the project of the two competitors. This can be good news or bad news based on the orientation of the SEO agency. If the agency is inclined towards you, then you are going to beat your competitors. And if the agency is inclined towards your competitor, then you are going to lose the battle at the beginning itself.

This is because an SEO agency knows what works for you and your competitors? In most of the cases, the SEO firm will take the side of the party which pays more. So, it is better to not to opt an SEO agency which is already running an SEO campaign for your competitors.

10. How do you measure the success of an SEO campaign?

In the end, you want to know how successful a search engine optimization campaign was. However, it is not good to expect quick results. White hat SEO does not violate search engine rules. Hence it takes time to give fruitful results.

There are multiple ways to measure the success of a campaign. In most of the cases, an SEO firm uses search engine optimization metrics to measure the progress of an SEO campaign. Do not aim only for organic traffic. Aim for more conversions and sales too.

Dec 16
0
Google maps

8 Reasons Why Your Business Isn’t Showing In Google Maps

By | Google, Local SEO, Online reputation

You are a small-business owner. You know the importance of Google My Business page for Local SEO. So you have created a Google My Business account. Unfortunately, your business is not showing in Google Maps. Yes, this is so frustrating. This issue can be fixed easily.

There can be many reasons for not finding your business on Google Maps. Therefore, it is important to diagnose the problem to discover the cause. Only when you come to know the cause, you can resolve the issue. Hence, to help you out, we are listing top 8 reasons why your business is not appearing in Google Maps.

1. Your listing is unverified.

One of the most common and obvious reasons for not seeing your business is your Google My Business listing is not verified. So, how will you find whether your business is verified or not? It is quite simple. Open your browser and search your business name. You will find search results on the left side of the search engine results page, and on the right side, you will see your business profile.

In the right, where your business is displayed, you will find a “suggest an edit” link. All you need to do is see what is next to “suggest an edit” link. If you do not find anything next to this link, then that means your listing is verified. However, if you find “own this business?” link, then that means your business is not verified. Just in case, if your business is not verified, you can follow the below steps to verify your business.

One of the easiest methods for verifying your Google My Business Listing is via phone. It is easy, simple, and less time-consuming. Here we go.
Sign in to your Google My Business account.
Select the business you want to verify, and click on verify now.
Go for the “verify by the phone” option.
A code will be sent to your mobile, enter the same code.
Your business will be verified.

2. Your Google My Business page has a new address.

It is not uncommon to change the business location. An incorrect or old address can be a reason for not seeing your Google My Business listing on Google Maps. So, if you have recently changed your business locations, then log in to your Google My Business account and update your address. Here are the few steps you need to follow:
Sign in to your GMB account.
Go to the menu option and click info.
Next, click on the “address” field.
Enter your new address and click on the Apply button.
If Google doesn’t find your address, you will find a red set marker on the right side over the map. Click on it.
Drag this pin in the map and place it on the new address. You can make use of zoom in and zoom out features of Google Maps while doing so.
After pinpointing, click on OK. Google will review your edit and publish it.

3. Your Google My Business listing is suspended.

This is the other common reason for not seeing your local business on Google Maps. Yes, Google My Business can suspend your listing based on various factors. Here are the common reasons why Google suspends Google My Business listing.
Your site contains a forwarding URL.
Keyword stuffing.
You are a service area business and your address is not hidden.
You run a sensitive business.
You do not have a physical storefront.
You run a business at a place you don’t own.
Find what is the reason behind Google suspending your listing, and fix the issue. Sometimes, Google may suspend the listing based on quality issues. Contact Google Support for assistance and improve the standard of your Google My business listing. At times, this can be confusing. In such a case, it is always better to take professional help of a Local SEO agency.

4. You chose a wrong business category.

Choosing the precise business category really matters. Google wants to know what business category or categories your business falls in, so that, it can show your business to the right audience and help them. Make sure that you have selected the correct business categories for your business. If you have selected the wrong business category, make sure that you correct it. While adding the business category, ensure your first business category is the best match to your local business. Select a second business category only if it makes sense. Do not opt for multiple irrelevant categories in the hope of reaching more people. It can harm your online presence.

5. You have fake or paid reviews.

This issue is common among new business owners. New owners tend to establish an online reputation quickly. So, they adopt methods that violate Google Guidelines. One such method is to buy paid reviews or post fake reviews. Google has built strong algorithms to detect fake Google reviews. With time, these algorithms are becoming smarter and smarter. That is the reason why ORM experts suggest to gain positive online reviews naturally. Below are some proven methods to avoid negative Google reviews, and gain good Google reviews.
Provide an awesome customer service.
Encourage your happy customers to post a review.
Generate a positive feedback loop.
Resolve customer issues within time.
Run online reputation management campaigns.
Report and delete negative Google reviews.

6. You have not updated your business listing.

Normally, a person begins his business journey with something small. With time, both the business owner and the business go through various changes. A business owner tries to evolve the business to adopt the changes. During this process, a business owner should reflect these changes in the Google My Business page.

Setting up Google My Business Page, and adding all the necessary data is not enough. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to keep the information on the Google My Business page up to date. Google expects you to be active when it comes to updating the listing. Here are some of the best practices to follow.
Add a business description in the story section.
Create a logo of your business and add it to GMB account.
Post business images regularly.
Publish status updates.
Share a link to review page.
Engage the audience via content.

7. Poor web experience.

The primary goal of a search engine is to provide a superior web experience. Therefore, the web experience is a ranking factor. That is the reason why good website experience has become an integral part of search engine optimization. If your website provides a poor website experience, then do not expect Google to display your Google My Business listing in the Map pack. So, it is good to have a website that enhances search engine optimization and user experience. Here are some of the basic qualities your website needs to have.
Original high-quality content
Device friendly
Browser friendly
Simple and easy to understand navigation
Lightning speed
Security

8. Inaccurate business information.

Yes, inaccurate business information can become a reason for disappearing your business from the Google My Business listing. Make sure every single detail you add in your profile is accurate. Double check all information present on your Google My Business listing such as contact number, address, business hours, open and close days, labels, keywords, etc. are correct and up to date.

Google does not like Google My Business accounts that have incomplete or inaccurate information. You may lose your search engine ranking and the presence on Google Maps. It is better to not to take the control in your hand unless you know how local search engine optimization is done. Lack of knowledge can harm your both online reputation and online presence. Hence, it makes sense to hire a Local SEO agency to improve your online visibility, conversion rate, sales, and customer base.

Sep 15
0
Online Reputation Management

10 Online Reputation Management Tips For Your Business 

By | Digital Marketing, Google, Online reputation, Social Media

Online reputation is one of the most important pillars of any business. A good reputation helps a business in retaining existing customers and as well as gaining new customers. On the other hand, a poor reputation and make you lose the market to your competitors. Hence, it is really important for a business to maintain a solid online reputation. Therefore, in this blog post, we are going to present the top online reputation management tips to establish a strong reputation.

Tip 1: Know your audience

Let us start with something very important and basic. To maintain an online reputation you have to do several things such as:

  • Fulfilling the expectations
  • Engaging the audience
  • Creating suitable content.

To do the above-mentioned things it is really important to understand the audience. Stepping into online reputation management without knowing your audience can harm your reputation. Therefore, know your audience very well. Make sure that you have a good understanding about their likes, dislikes, behavior, expectations, interests and many other things. This is vital because both your online reputation and business revolve around these things. You cannot run a business without a clear picture of your audience.

Tip 2: Avoid online argument

This is one of the major mistakes that most of the businessmen do. You might be right and have every reason to argue, but arguments show the unprofessional side of a business or a brand. The best way to handle such situations is by giving a standard reply and taking the matter offline. Keep calm and deal with the customer problems professionally. Solving an issue successfully will not only turn an unhappy customer happy but also attracts new customers.

Tip 3: Be a good listener

Today, there are various online reputation tools available to know what people are talking about your brand. Read what others are talking about you and how is your reputation is getting shaped. Popular tools such as Mention tool and Google Alerts can serve this purpose. Listening to what is being said about your brand is beneficial in multiple ways.

  • Helps you in understanding of current brand image
  • Improves the problem-solving ability
  • Introduces new customers
  • Connects with the probable customers

Tip 4: Apologize

Saying we are sorry or apologizing, even when the mistake is not on your side is a smart thing to do. It absorbs the anger of an unhappy customer and resolves the issue most of the time. Furthermore, it shows that you value your customer and establish you as a professional in the minds of other customers. The worst thing to do here is to be defensive. This will not solve the issue, but instead it makes it bigger. Your focus should be on resolving the issue. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to explain or defend yourself. Apologize, take the issue offline and resolve it. That’s the best thing to do.

Tip 5: Keep an eye on your employees

When it comes to fake reviews, angry employees are the common source. Although there is nothing much you can do, taking some precautionary measures can minimize the risk. Make sure that you check out their social media profiles before hiring them. Use online reputation management tools such as Mention tool for knowing and understanding the corporate image of your employees. This will help you to identify the problem early. As the result, you can resolve an issue before it turns big.

Tip 6: Be almost everywhere

Today, we have various online platforms to reach people across the globe. Your brand should have an online presence at these platforms. Well, at least on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. If you have a B2B business, then Linkedin can be more helpful. If your business has more visual content, then prefer Pinterest, Flickr and Instagram. If you can create videos, Youtube and Vimeo are the best. The point here is to be there where your customer is. Customers are more likely to share their experiences on social media. Having an online presence can give a better option to deal with negative reviews.

Tip 7: Get rid of negative reviews

To be honest, getting rid of negative reviews is quite difficult. However, it is possible is some cases where the review violates the policy. Therefore, check, whether a review is violating any guidelines. In case of any violation, contact concern officials and appeal to remove them. Another good method of removing negative removes is to contact the person and make a request politely. Customers usually tend to change the bad reviews into good owns when approached respectfully.

Tip 8: Blog

You might already know that blogging plays an important role in digital marketing by enhancing search engine optimization. In addition to that, blogging can improve your online reputation. Yes, you read it right. It can give you a solid “home court” ground where you can respond to any serious assertions made about your brand if required. It gives you an opportunity to tell your side of the story. Be honest and transparent. Over explaining or over defending yourself can do more harm than good.

Tip 9: Dilute negative reviews

If you can’t remove negative Google reviews, then dilute them. Encourage your satisfied customer to leave a review. A happy customer is more likely to give a positive review. Gaining better reviews will minimize the impact of negative reviews. In addition to that couple of negative reviews makes your brand look more genuine and credible. Having only positive reviews can make the customers question the credibility of the reviews. Therefore, fake positive reviews are definitely a bad idea.

Tip 10: Be transparent

Well a good reputation cannot be earned without being transparent. Therefore, be transparent with your employees, customers and probable customers. One of the common things that are responsible for negative Google reviews is a mismatch between the expectation created, and the result delivered. Hence, be honest about your products, services, company, staff, etc., and avoid overhype. So as you set out on the journey of building a good online reputation, keep these ten things in mind.

Nov 16
0
Online Reviews

How Do Online Reviews Impact Business

By | Online reputation

Your digital marketing efforts make your audience aware of your products and feed all the necessary information. A person before becoming a customer come across these questions:

  • Is the product worth the money?
  • Do I get the quality which I have been promised?
  • Will it fulfill my needs?
  • Will I repent after the purchase?
  • Should I purchase? Etc.

Of course, you being a seller will proclaim that your products are worth the money and have quality. Will a new customer take your word? That’s where reviews come into the picture. Let’s know how online reviews can impact your business.

Trust

Reviews from the recent customers or consumers are considered as trustworthy. Positive reviews always elevate trust in your product, and negative reviews might harm your business reputation. Trust is a foundation which needs to be built for all businesses; good reviews exactly do that. Nobody will spend money on anything that they don’t trust.

Buying Decision

 We live in a digital age. Before downloading a free app from the Play Store, we look at the star rating. It is very obvious that a potential customer will do a research before spending money on your product or service. Reading online reviews is one of the most popular and common methods to do a research on a particular brand. Every probable customer wants to know what your recent customers have to say. That’s how a review can make a great impact on buying decision.

Conversion rate

A conversion rate is equal to the number of people who bought your product divided by the total number of visitors. Conversion rate is highly dependent on trust established and buying decision of customers. Building trust and influencing a customer’s buying decision in a positive way help you achieve a higher conversion rate. A higher conversion rate indicates that your products & services are liked by customers especially new customers.

Search Engine Ranking

 Conversion rate is one of the key factors which search engines use to rank websites. In simple words, higher conversion rates help you attain higher search engine rankings. In digital marketing, getting a higher search engine ranking is very vital because it provides greater visibility, traffic and credibility.

Positive reviews have an added advantage. Reviews can be a source of quality backlinks. If your website is featured in many review websites, then it can attract quality backlinks. Quality backlinks further adds traffic to your websites and help to build new relationships.

Conclusion:

Reviews are important as well as powerful. Positive reviews will bring more business with other benefits, and negative reviews will harm your business. Good thing is that bad reviews can be changed by smart and honest responding. It is a good practice to communicate with customers and respond to reviews. It makes your site engaging and increases the quality of service you provide.

Do you want more traffic?

Get in contact with our team to chat about what we can do for your brand today.