Still considering whether your business website needs a blog? Let us save you some time and trouble by telling you right now: a blog is a must-have for your website.
Why Your Business Website Needs a Blog
Despite the widespread popularity of video marketing and its omnipresence on your social media feeds, blogging remains a highly visible and popular content marketing strategy. And data supports this fact. In the U.S. alone 42.23% of people from the ages of 18 to 49 read blogs and there are over 440 million blogs on the internet. And considering how there are currently 1,702,064,883 (and counting) websites, competition for an online audience continues to be fierce. Blogging provides another tool in your arsenal to help potential customers find you.
When you build out and add fresh blog content to your website, you’re enhancing your website’s visibility and helping to better connect with your target audience. Keep reading to find out exactly how a blog can help your business.
Blogging Increases SEO Performance
A standard small business website may only consist of approximately 7-10 pages. While that may be enough to get your point across, it might not be enough to attract potential customers to your website. That’s where blogging comes in. Search engines rank web pages individually – not entire websites. So, adding a blog to your website is a simple way to help your website rank higher in Google rankings. A blog also allows you to insert keywords and links—the hallmarks of effective SEO—which send traffic to your site. If you’re interested in learning how to add SEO keywords to your website pages, our article Why SEO Keywords Increase Website Traffic covers the topic in depth.
Blogging Establishes Industry Credibility
Blogging offers your business a place to share its insights, news, and awards. It also allows for greater transparency between your business and your customers. Blog articles that include behind-the-scenes information about your business—or your thoughts on the latest news in your field—help your business establish itself as authentic, trustworthy, and an authority on subjects related to your industry. Plus, if you establish your website as a go-to source for industry information, more people will click on your articles, other websites will start linking to them, and your website will rank higher in search engines.
Blogging Creates Content for Social Media
A consistently updated blog offers a wealth of content that can be shared easily on social media networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Fresh, information-rich content creates additional opportunities for sharing. This, in turn, develops inbound website traffic which can lead to new customers and increased sales. Blogs can also be promoted via email campaigns, advertisements, and even linked to at the bottom of an email signature. They can also be used as visual content on Instagram and Pinterest. Simply share your main blog image, overlaid with the post title or a quote from the post, and add a caption.
Blogging = More Time to Convert Website Visitors into Customers
Picture a prospective customer perusing your expertly designed, meticulously crafted website. This person may want to know a little more about your business before they are ready to make a purchase or get in touch with you. They may want to gauge your expertise, learn more about your services, or verify that you are still in business. If you are updating your blog with new and relevant information, they will continue to stay engaged with your website instead of clicking over to the competition.
Blogging Can Improve Your Email Marketing Strategies
An active blog with useful, engaging content may entice people to:
- subscribe to your mailing list just to read your blog posts
- stay informed about your industry and/or
- keep up to date with your latest news and updates
And, if people are reading your blogs, your business will stay on their radar and potentially convert them into customers. By adding an email subscription option on your blog, you can build a steady stream of regular visitors for your website. Plus, an email subscription option provides another avenue for people to consume your blog content. This is especially valuable for marketing to people who don’t use social media and therefore don’t see your shared posts.
Blogging Can Offer Big Benefits for Any Business
Adding a blog to your website can make a huge difference for search visibility, leads, and sales. But blogging success doesn’t happen by accident. It begins with a smart content marketing strategy and a consistent, deliberate approach.
At Millennium Agency, our team of blog writers will take the time to learn about your business, evaluate your competition, and perform keyword research before we begin writing blogs for you. If you’re interested in learning more about our blog writing and content marketing services, give us a call today.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!
Linda Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Manchester, NH, and Boston. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected].
Display ads are really good at grabbing your attention. You’ve undoubtedly seen a display ad before; they are like billboards — but for the internet. One of the incredible benefits of display advertising is that it enables you to target your ideal customers based on their browsing behavior and other demographic data. But what makes them different from other types of ads?
When combined with other strategies, display ads can be an even bigger boost for your business! Keep reading to learn the best display advertising benefits you can use to capture attention and drive results.
What is a Display Ad?
A display ad is an advertisement that appears alongside website content. Display ads are usually displayed above or below an article or blog post. The most common type of display ad is the banner ad which appears across the top of a website. These ads are often used to promote products and services. Display ads often make use of imagery, logos, animations, buttons, rich media, videos, or other graphics to communicate a message. Unlike text-based ads, display ads show on websites, apps, and social media platforms—not in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). They help promote businesses or brands when people browse online, watch YouTube videos, check their email, or use mobile apps.
Benefits of Display Advertising
Although display ads typically have low click-through rates (CTR)–just 0.35% across all formats and platforms—their effectiveness is not easily measured by CTR alone. When other metrics are considered, display ads boost brand awareness and intent to purchase significantly.
Still not convinced? Here are five advantages of display ads that will make you reconsider.
1) They are eye-catching and visually appealing.
Display-style ads made with graphic content and designed in the style of your business or brand. With display ads, you can be as creative as possible. The use of bright colors, large text, video, audio, rich media, or even animation are all ways to make your display ads stand out. The goal is to draw viewers’ attention towards the content you want them to see and move them in the direction you want them to go.
Display ads, like paid search or pay-per-click ads, include a headline, text, and URL. However, display ads also contain some type of graphic, video, or audio element which makes them stand out. In addition, regular SEM (Search Engine Marketing) advertisements include character counts, limiting your messaging opportunity. Display ads allow for catchy messaging, plus graphics, video, and your company’s branding to stand out and attract attention.
2) They familiarize your intended audience with your brand.
While search advertising influences an audience with an intent to purchase, display advertising helps create initial interest. In fact, a recent study found that brand awareness increased by 21% in campaigns that utilized digital display ads. Display ads have a wide reach and are popular on websites that receive potential customers frequently. For example, running a campaign using the Google Display Network (GDN), which integrates your ads into carefully chosen websites, will place your ads in front of targeted audiences across the globe.
Let’s say a customer is on a website for gardening ideas. An example of a display ad that might appear is an advertisement for a garden center or landscaping supply shop. The customer may not have known about the store being advertised. They may not even be looking to make a purchase. But the ad would let them know about a nearby place to shop the next time they need gardening supplies. This shows how effective display advertising can keep your brand front of mind for potential customers and convert them when the time is right.
3) They allow for remarketing opportunities.
Remarketing allows your business to position targeted display ads in front of a defined audience that has previously visited your website as they browse elsewhere on the internet. Once a potential customer knows about your product or service, a well-placed display ad can remind them to make a purchase.
Remarketing is a smart way to connect with potential customers who may not have made an initial purchase or inquiry. There is a high degree of targeting flexibility and the Google Display Network also allows you to filter your targeting to show only on specific sites or exclude specific sites. You can even showcase display ads that include a brand message or a specific product that your potential customer viewed while on your website.
4) They give you the ability to track and monitor your ad engagement and the success of your campaign.
The Google Display Network and Facebook Advertising offer detailed reports that include which display advertisements have the most clicks and what the value is for those clicks. In addition, the GDN has what is called a view-through window, which monitors anyone who has seen your display ad in a specific time frame and whether or not they converted into a customer or lead.
GDN’s view-through window shows you if your display and video ads are contributing to conversions. Plus, the view-through window is an important tool because research has shown that an ad being seen has a greater conversion than an ad being clicked.
5) They are a less expensive advertising option.
Unlike other advertising channels such as television or radio, which require large investments in production, it’s relatively inexpensive to start running display ads. With only an image and some text, you can start creating display ad campaigns that will help you drive traffic back to your website.
Display ad pricing is inexpensive as well. Typically calculated according to “number of impressions” (with one impression equivalent to a single page view by an internet user), rates can go as low as 50 cents per one thousand impressions (CPM) for highly targeted campaigns. This means that for 50 cents, your ad can be seen 1000 times.
After discovering how beneficial display advertising can be, it’s clear that this marketing strategy is an excellent way to increase brand awareness, drive traffic back to your website, and ultimately, improve conversions. Millennium Agency offers a variety of display advertising options as part of our larger digital marketing services. Want to get in on the display advertising action? Contact us to plan your online media buying strategy today.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!
Linda Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Manchester, NH and Boston. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected].
Want to engage your audience while sharing your deepest insights and best content in real time? Add live video to your marketing strategy.
It’s no secret that people are now watching billions of hours of video daily on platforms like YouTube and Facebook. While pre-recorded video still dominates the video marketing landscape, its live counterpart is catching up. Live videos are meaningful and personal, and they produce more engagement and impressions than pre-recorded video. In fact, Facebook video viewers will spend three times longer watching a live video than a produced one.
The Newest Trend in Video Marketing
Live video has a widespread user base and growing popularity. It’s extremely popular among millennials (63% of people aged 18-34 watch live streaming content regularly) as well as internet users of all ages.
People prefer to receive the greatest amount of information in the shortest amount of time. They would rather watch a video to see what a product can do instead of reading about it on a website product page. In fact, 80% of consumers prefer to watch live videos from a brand rather than read a blog.
Increased Views, Traffic, and Engagement
Live video offers the potential to reach thousands of new customers. Most social media platforms have integrated live streaming, making it even easier for businesses to connect to customers. Live videos on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram allow audiences to engage with those filming with “likes,” comments, questions, and reviews. According to Facebook, people comment 10 times more on Facebook Live videos than on pre-recorded videos. These direct audience responses provide instant feedback that businesses can leverage to improve their videos immediately or in the future.
Getting Started: Determine Your Objectives
What do you want to achieve with your live video(s)? What are your key messages and core brand objectives? Although live video is less polished than a commercial or a pre-recorded video, it still requires thoughtful consideration of its content. Take time to think about what your live video is about and what you want to say or do in it.
Decide What Type of Video to Create
What type of live video(s) are right for your business? Here are a few of our favorite ideas:
- Live events such as conferences, expos, sales, fairs, concerts, or other places you think that your audience would want to get a glimpse of in real time. Share your experience at these events live—and don’t forget to engage with the audience while you are filming.
- Interviews and Q&A sessions with your company’s CEO, clients, employees, or other key people in your industry. Live video interviews are authentic and allow for greater transparency. Plus, you can encourage your audience to participate throughout the video and ask questions that you can answer in real time.
- Behind-the-scenes at your office, warehouse, showroom, manufacturing facility, or anywhere that is typically “off-limits” to customers. Share how you create your products, what goes into a “typical day” at the office, or what the team is working on.
A few weeks before you begin your video, inform your audience about when and where they can watch it. Cross-promote and publicize your video on all of your social media platforms, not just the one you are using to host the video. Once you create your first video, think about releasing future videos on a regular schedule so people can make tuning in part of their routine.
Remember that viewers want to watch captivating, information-rich videos in real time. And although any businessperson with an iPhone and a social media account can broadcast live, that doesn’t make for the best quality viewing experience. For companies wanting a more professional investment in live video, give the video marketing experts at Millennium Agency a call today.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more.
Linda Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Manchester, NH, and Boston. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected].
Pay-per-click advertising, also known as PPC, is a form of online advertising in which advertisers accrue costs when users click their ads. PPC ads appear on Google above the organic search results, which makes them the first results users see. Advertisers bid on the value of a click in relation to targeting factors such as keywords, platforms, demographics, location, and time of day.
Why Should You Use PPC?
Given the wealth of online advertising space, PPC is a direct and effective way to reach customers and has many advantages over SEO. Statistics show that 46% of clicks go to the top three paid ads on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). With that in mind, let’s take a look at why pay-per-click advertising should be part of your overall marketing strategy.
PPC Gets Quick Results
Pay-per-click advertising will send customers to your website within hours of setting up a campaign, whereas quality SEO results can take months to generate. In addition, SEO requires constant maintenance and attention to sustain the results.
PPC Allows for Better Tracking
Pay-per-click advertising providers allow you to closely track results and provide detailed insights into the financial performance of your campaigns. This way, you can make sure to use your budget wisely and ensure you aren’t paying more per click than what you are earning from a new lead.
PPC Provides a Positive Financial Return
In most cases, pay-per-click advertising will help you achieve a positive financial return on your marketing spend. Click-throughs from PPC results convert at a 1.5 times higher rate than organic clicks.
PPC is Ideal for Local Businesses
Big businesses like national insurance and mortgage companies have likely bought a large amount of PCC advertising, driving the average cost-per-click prices up and making it nearly impossible for small companies who sell the same product or service to compete. However, companies who are targeting local communities online are very likely to receive a profitable ROI from pay-per-click advertising.
When used in conjunction with other marketing strategies, pay-per-click advertising can drive a much greater number of customers and sales to your website. However, PPC requires a strong understanding of how Google Ads and other PPC providers work. At Millennium Agency, our developers have experience in advanced pay-per-click campaign management—and keep up-to-date with the latest PPC updates. Don’t wait to start your pay-per-click advertising campaign—give Millennium Agency a call today.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!
Linda Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Manchester, NH and Boston. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected].