Search Engine Optimization Archives - Alive Media - Web Design and Digital Marketing Agency - Augusta, GA

Web Design and Digital Marketing Agency

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What is Digital Marketing and Why is It Important to My Business?

In today’s digital age, it is almost a necessity for every business to have an online presence. While we still seek recommendations from friends, the majority of people use the internet to research products and services before making a purchase decision. This is where digital marketing comes into play. Digital marketing has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes and industries. It enables businesses to reach a target audience through various digital channels such as search engines, social media, content marketing, and more.

When used effectively, it provides a cost-effective approach to engage prospective clients. Here are a few reasons why:

Increases Brand Awareness
Digital marketing allows businesses to reach a wide audience and increase brand awareness. With more than 4.6 billion people using the internet globally, businesses can use digital marketing strategies to reach audiences efficiently. A creative and intentional approach can help your business stand out from the pack, and multiple digital channels – including social media, search engines, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising – can be used concurrently to keep your business top of mind.

Targets the Right Audience
One of the biggest benefits of digital marketing is that it allows businesses to target the right audience. Traditional marketing strategies like television or radio ads can be expensive and often reach a broad audience that may not be interested in the product or service being advertised. With digital marketing, businesses can target a specific audience based on demographics, location, interests, and behavior. This ensures that the right people see your website and online activities, making them more likely candidates to engage with your business.

Increases Engagement and Builds Relationships
Digital marketing provides businesses with an opportunity to engage with their audience and build relationships. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow businesses to connect with their customers, answer their questions, and respond to their comments. This engagement can help your business build trust with your customers and give them the confidence to engage in a purchase.

Generates Leads and Sales
Digital marketing can help businesses generate leads and sales. By using targeted advertising, businesses can attract potential customers to their website or social media pages. Once on your website, your business can use a variety of techniques to convert those visitors into leads or sales. This can include offering free trials, providing relevant and informative content, or offering exclusive discounts.

Quantifiable Results
One of the most significant benefits of digital marketing is that it provides measurable results. With traditional marketing strategies, it can be challenging to track the effectiveness of a campaign. However, digital marketing activities generate detailed analytics that can be used to optimize and adjust an online campaign. This allows your businesses to see which strategies are working and which ones need to be adjusted.

Digital marketing is an essential tool for businesses of all sizes and industries. It provides businesses with an opportunity to develop brand awareness, target specific audiences, increase engagement, generate leads and sales, and stay ahead of competitors. If you are ready to use digital marketing for your business, reach out to Alive Media today. We are your local experts for website and logo design and digital marketing, including search engine optimization (SEO), PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, social media marketing, online content creation, and more.

SEO Corner: The Importance of Customer Reviews

After you complete a purchase, it’s becoming increasingly common to receive a text or email asking you to leave a review. Businesses are prioritizing reviews with good reason. In recent months, soliciting reviews has shifted from a nicety to a necessity.

Prospective customers read reviews.

According to Brightlocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2023*, 76 percent of consumers regularly use client reviews to research local businesses, and 87% of consumers use Google reviews specifically. This number has increased by 25% since 2020. Google also maintains the largest number of reviews. Other review platforms – including Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor and Better Business Bureau – remain relevant but maintain less than 25 percent of all online reviews.

Google factors reviews into rankings.

As the most prominent search engine, a local business’s Google ranking is crucial. As consumers continue to place more priority on reviews, so does Google. Reviews have always been factored into rankings, but in recent months, reviews are becoming increasingly relevant. While Google doesn’t publicly release information on ranking factors, performance trends indicate that Google reviews are the second most important ranking factor for Google Maps, after geographic relevance.

How should business owners respond?

Claim and maintain your Google Business Profile. Make sure your business profile is accurate and consistent with your website and other online platforms, such as Facebook.

Develop a rhythm for soliciting client reviews. There are a variety of reputation management tools that make it simple to request client reviews, much like the example at the beginning of this post. Google also provides a Google Reviews link you can use to send clients directly. The old adage “quality over quantity” doesn’t necessarily ring true here. In the case of Google reviews, it’s more accurate to say “quality AND quantity”. A good rule of thumb is to gather more reviews than your highest-ranking competitors. If you are just starting out, don’t flood your profile with a ton of reviews at once. Google may consider this a sign of fake reviews, even if this is not the case.

Respond to client reviews. There is evidence that Google factors review responses into your ranking, so take a moment to thank the reviewer for sharing their experience. Research also suggests that consumers will consider how you respond to reviews – especially negative reviews – when making a buying decision, so kindness and empathy are key, even if you feel like the reviewer is unreasonable or communicating false information.

Client reviews can be an invaluable tool in your SEO arsenal, giving consumers confidence to engage with your business and Google evidence to increase your ranking position. Alive Media offers comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) services, to help your business achieve and retain visibility in search rankings. Contact Us today to learn more.

*https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/

 

Site Design | Growing Together Family & Children

Growing Together Children & Family is a new business that offers group classes and individual and couples coaching designed to help reunify families and communities. Alive Media with the Growing Together team to design a logo and website that informs prospective clients about Growing Together and its services, using copy written by the Growing Together team. The result is an information-rich website optimized for both mobile and desktop.

According to statistics published on Social Media Today, 46 percent of Google searches are seeking local information*. This means almost 50 percent of people are searching for local events, restaurants, businesses, and other community information. When they do, make sure your business or organization is visible. Let Alive Media show you how.  Contact us today!

Site Design | Braithwaite Timmerman

The attorneys at Braithwaite Timmerman have more than 50 combined years of experience in personal injury law. Based in Aiken, they are proud to be the local choice for personal injury law in SC and GA. We completed a comprehensive website redesign for their law firm, including a website expansion that included service-specific pages (helpful to both prospective clients and search engines), copywriting for all website pages, search engine optimization, mobile readiness, and a modern look and feel. 

If your current website needs an update, but the process feels overwhelming, Alive Media can help. We guide your business through every phase of the website design process – from planning to launch. We offer on-going SEO and maintenance services as well! If it’s time to delegate your website, contact Alive Media today.

 

 

Site Design | TMAG

Tactical Medical Assets Group (TMAG) offers both training and executive protection services for individuals and organizations facing high-threat situations or environments. Since TMAG offers two distinct services, Alive Media designed a clean homepage with a contact phone number and two click-thru options: training and executive protection services. This design allows site visitors to quickly find the information that fits their needs, without being overwhelmed with irrelevant content. Once a visitor clicks on one of the two categories, a more robust web page and navigation menu is visible, with information about both TMAG and the specific service. 

At Alive Media, we listen to the needs of your business and client base, to help you determine the best approach to website design for your organization. Each website is designed with both mobile friendliness and search engine optimization in mind. Drive more potential customers to your business with a professionally designed website and a full suite of optional digital marketing tools, along with a level of personal customer service and insights unmatched by online do-it-yourself website design platforms. Reach out to the Alive Media team today.


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Site Design | North Augusta Forward

North Augusta Forward is a local organization dedicated to providing the best possible quality of life for the community of North Augusta, SC. Alive Media worked to create a completely revitalized North Augusta Forward website design, featuring all-new branding developed for the organization through their participation in the Main Street South Carolina program. 

Their new site features detailed information on their organizational initiatives as well as local area information designed to give site visitors “a taste of” all North Augusta has to offer, brought to life by a modern design and crisp, bright photography and drone footage. From navigation, site layout, and copy writing to final live site results, Alive Media helped North Augusta Forward design a website that highlights the organization’s past successes and future goals. Let Alive Media help you! Our team is available to help your business with all its digital marketing needs.  Contact Us Today!

The Benefits of Using Google My Business

More and more businesses are discovering the benefits of Google My Business for sales, conversions, and organic online presence. Let’s explore what this tool is and why you should be using it today to complement your other digital marketing efforts.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a tool that Google provides for free to any business. If you sign up and “own” your business listing on Google, you can appear in search results and on Maps. Google My Business shows the most important information about your business to searchers, including your hours, your address, reviews, and updates that you choose to share. You can also link to your business website. Online presence through this tool can be very positive for your business.

Why Should I Use Google My Business?

Increase Your Online Reputability

If you own your Google My Business profile, you increase your authority online. To an internet user, having the profile (and keeping it up-to-date) makes you and your information even more trustworthy than if they had to navigate to your website to find you. Google says that “Businesses that verify their information with Google My Business are twice as likely to be considered reputable by consumers.” That’s a big number.

Make it Easier For Customers to Find You Through:

Direct Calls

Customers who searched for you can use the Google My Business profile to call you directly. If you include your business’ phone number in your profile, they can click on it and call your business for more information, to make a reservation or appointment, and more. Not only does this increase your potential clients’ engagement with your business, but you can also track which calls came from your Google My Business profile.

Website Visits

Your Google My Business profile can be another organic way to get click throughs to your website, even if you’re not ranking #1 on Google. A great Google My Business profile will now appear at the top of relevant searches as a “local listing” — above organic results. By linking your website to your profile, you can capture even more visitors and convert them on your site.

Maps and Directions

By providing an internet user with your business’s street address quickly and simply, as well as linking directly to Google Maps, Google My Business allows customers to visit your business more easily.

Manage Your Reviews

Customers can leave your business reviews on your profile, making it easy to respond to them and also making them accessible to future customers. If you have a restaurant with good reviews on Google My Business, someone searching for a restaurant like yours can easily find those reviews and make the decision to visit your restaurant.

Engage With Customers

Posts and photos make it easy for you to engage with your customers. You can post updates, sales, special offers, events, blog posts, and more so your customers stay connected to your business. Make sure to include photos, as this increases engagement.

Verify Your Account Now

You can verify your business’ profile today, and then discuss ways to optimize and improve your Google My Business profile with Alive Media for more leads and sales.  Contact us today!

Site Design | Granite Countertops Unlimited

Granite Countertops Unlimited is a countertop store in Elberton, GA, that specializes in natural and artificial stone countertops, including granite and quartz. We worked with the Granite Countertops Unlimited team to redesign their website to improve usability and better reflect their business aesthetic. 

Remember – an attractive website design is irrelevant if visitors cannot find the information they need. If your business has a large inventory of products to showcase, your site’s navigation and design becomes even more crucial. Let Alive Media help you create a mobile-friendly website that effectively communicates the breadth of your business portfolio. Let’s get started.  Contact us today!

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Site Redesign | Midcoast Properties Inc.

Midcoast Properties is a commercial real estate firm that specializes in self storage facilities. Alive Media and Midcoast Properties began working together on web design initiatives in 2014, and this is the second website design Alive Media has completed on behalf of Midcoast Properties. Alive Media is proud to maintain a long-term relationship with many of our clients.

As expectations for usability, mobile friendliness, accessibility and SEO change, we remain on the forefront of effective web design. The Alive Media team is ready to help you with your website redesign today. All of our client interactions can be executed over the phone, by email or via video conferencing. Contact us today.

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Site Design | Mark Farmer Photography

Mark Farmer Photography offers photography for weddings, senior pictures, family, professional, commercial and model portfolios to families, individuals, and businesses throughout the CSRA. To keep up with the pace of his business growth, Mark was ready to move to a professionally designed site to fit both his artistic vision and the needs of his business. Alive Media designed a website that highlights the beauty of his images and also organizes his images into relevant categories – beneficial for both potential clients and search engine optimization.

Your website is your online portfolio. Contact Alive Media today, and let us help you create a website that gives clients confidence in your business. 


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