voice search

Guest Post: 2019 SEO Trends That Every Small Business Should Make Use Of

2019 will be the most significant year yet for search engine optimization (SEO). As in years past, SEO continues to serve as an invaluable stepping stone for small enterprises keen on competing with large corporations online on a near equal footing.

As part of their overarching digital marketing strategy, small companies need a coherent, consistent and well-thought-out SEO plan. Small enterprises must strive to appear in local search results. We are already halfway through 2019 but it’s not too late to take a look at the most popular SEO trends sweeping the market today.

1.    Voice Search

Voice search is certainly not making its entry in 2019 but it hasn’t yet made as big an impact as one would expect it to. 2019 looks like the year that will start to change. Google’s speech recognition technology is fast approaching 100% accuracy and is the bedrock on which Google voice search is going to run on especially since mobile internet use is surpassing desktop use.

But what does voice search mean for SEO? Voice queries tend to use more complete sentences or conversational keywords as opposed to text search where users will simply type in the 2 or 3 most relevant keywords.

2.    Content Matching User Intent

Someone wants to find information on a given subject. So they do a quick Google search and click on one of the websites that show up in the results. But it turns out that the content they find isn’t what they were looking for so they have to return to the search results and click on a different link.

Sometimes, this is because the keywords the person searched for weren’t the most relevant in the first place. Often though, it’s because a website’s content isn’t consistent with the keywords it’s optimized for. In 2019, small businesses are paying greater attention to how their content matches their keywords as a means of boosting user experience.

3.    Rapid Delivery

There’s arguably never been a time in human history where customers have had higher expectations of businesses than they do today. Online users aren’t willing to wait even a couple of seconds longer than they expect to. One study found that 2 in 5 internet users will abandon a web page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

Delivering content quickly has always been a big deal for SEO but 2019 is seeing the standards of rapid delivery rise even higher. Whether users are accessing it on a desktop computer or a smartphone, businesses must ensure their website loads in the shortest time possible. That may be achieved in multiple ways including getting rid of apps, plugins and elements you don’t need.

4.    Social Presence

Social signals play a major role in SEO. A quick look at the top 10 most popular websites and mobile apps in the world shows why. Facebook is the largest social networking app and has more than 2 billion active users. WeChat, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger each have over a billion users. About a dozen other social apps have hundreds of millions of users.

With users spending ever more time on social media, small businesses can create active social media business pages and direct the traffic they receive on these pages onto their websites via inbound links. Social media marketing and optimization isn’t new but 2019 will see a clear distinction emerge between the small businesses that take social media seriously and those who are happy to just get by.

5.    Longer Tail Keywords

If you search for the words ‘commercial bank’ or simply ‘bank’ on Google, the first page results will feature well-known local or international banking brands. Typically, large established businesses have huge marketing budgets and can afford to target generalized keywords.

Small businesses cannot compete on these keywords. They can however find opportunities for growth in more conversational long-tail keywords. So instead of ‘commercial bank’, something more local or niche like ‘sacramento small business banking’ would have less competition and still deliver relevant leads that have a higher likelihood of getting converted.

6.    Online Reputation

For many people, the Internet is the first place they check when they are thinking of making a purchase. That is irrespective of whether they intend to make their purchase online or at a brick and mortar store. In this regard, making sure your website ranks highly on search results is important.

But this won’t matter if your business or product has a bad reputation. A good reputation all starts with having a good product. After that, keep an eye on customer complaints and seek to resolve them quickly and conclusively. Provide excellent service consistently as that’s what will keep your Google and Facebook reviews highly positive.

Ride these trends through 2019 and give your small business the edge over your competition.

 

Ashley Lipman is an award-winning writer who discovered her passion for providing knowledge to readers worldwide on topics closest to her heart – all things digital. Since her first high school award in Creative Writing, she continues to deliver awesome content through various niches touching the digital sphere.

Era of Revolution in Digital Marketing

digital marketingDigital marketing doesn’t simply envelop the online business websites and applications but additionally social platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and more. Consequently, the new age of digital marketing enables you to connect will all sorts of audience organizations around the globe. Consumer behavior today has helped break language, geography, and demographic limits.

In the previous two years, the quantity of clients even in the age gathering of 50+ has expanded by almost 85%. For the youth generation, the numbers are completely liberal. If you have been searching for a more extensive target market, your clients will be online.

Here Fullestop has laid out some digital marketing trends to look out for in 2019.

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Guest Post: Social Media Marketing Trends

A business with good brand management strategy can take off way past its contemporaries and increase profits using social media marketing trends that match your audience and budget.

Most marketers will certainly focus on local targeting but they will affect your business either way. Here are some of the social media marketing trends that may come through in 2018!

Artificial Intelligence Dependency

While AI is not entirely new, its relevance in the social media marketing scene has steadily grown this year. In fact, 57% of social media marketers already use AI in their campaigns. It is set to exceed to grow tremendously in the next two years.

Live Video and Viewership Reach

The popularity of live videos on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat will continue to soar in 2018. While it is not a new concept, it will grow exponentially and its usage in influencing and engagement reach will be significant next year. People love watching videos and that is a fact. 80% of the users like watching clips than reading a post. Facebook has also divulged that live videos get thrice more exposure than any other media in their platform.

Live videos can be used to provide a sneak peek for an event or a product reveal, do a sales pitch, introduce your followers to your clients or promote exclusive sales to your audience.

Mobile Video Consumption

The rise of video marketing was apparent in the past year but with its synergy with mobile technology, we will see the ascension of mobile video consumption. Thus, websites should be mobile-friendly. It is expected that mobile video consumption will increase by 25% so planning a revolutionary mobile video social media marketing strategy would be an awesome kickoff this year

Get ready for everything mobile as it is the most popular method to surf the internet. In 2017 alone, 70% of searches are done in mobile devices – it is expected that the remaining 30% will follow through.

Customer Experience Marketing / Reviews

Digital word of mouth and reviews of products and services will get its traction in 2018. The best part is there are various media platforms that can be used for these reviews. Focusing on customer experience is vital as it reflects the image of your company to your entire audience. It exposes the perception of the customers of your brand from the experience they had with you.

Loyal customers can be acquired if the primary focus on customer marketing experience is done. Maintaining good reputation in social media through positive reviews will surely give you the advantage over similar services and competitors with bad reviews.

Content Marketing Resurgence

In 2017, content marketing may have taken a step back but it is a social media marketing constant that will be there eternally. Quality content is important because 70% of the people said they would more likely be interested in a company learning about it from an article than just an ad.

2018 is the year to get even more creative with video content, graphics, and blog posts! Sell your business well with eye-candy content filled with quality information.

The Emergence of Voice Search

It is projected that in three year’s time, 50% of searches will be voice enabled. Voice search optimization tends to use long-tail keywords and conversational phrases that people are likely to blurt out. Content marketing will make it quicker and easier for voice search.

TV Advertising in a New Light

The rise of Netflix and Hulu have changed the way people watch shows. TV streaming produced shows have been winning awards and now people can watch with their mobile devices. There is more to come in 2018 now that Facebook, Youtube, and Amazon have their own TV series now. The future of TV advertising will also change as it migrates to the digital world.

Generation Z

Strategic social media will be the best chance to reach the target audience. With the changes in algorithms and updates in social media, businesses must be equipped with the weapons to fight for social presence.

Marketing in 2018 will center on the Generation Z. Get started now in order to stay on top. The foundations of your marketing in 2018 will be the pillars for the marketing you will do in the next two decades as one generation spans 20 years at least. 

Brand Trust and Transparency

The name of the game in the coming years is genuine and sincerity. Transparency and trust are very important for consumers. Everyone reads reviews and they search your pages and profiles. The internet is a big stalking world where they would know everything they can possibly know before coming to your business.

People leave their feedback and the internet has caught up by adding extra verification layer. More and more methods to verify and prove transparency will open opportunities in 2018 and this will give you the chance to beef up your brand reputation. Always show human element that can easily relate your marketing methods to your audience.

Garret is the founder and CEO of Healthy Business Builder and through his company, remains dedicated as ever to use his training and real life business experience to meet his passion to see the business succeed through disciplined management, creative marketing and committed client service.