by Francois Muscat | Apr 15, 2019 | SEO
The focus of SEO has been on website design and content marketing for a while now. Because of this, many of us tend to forget just how valuable SEO optimised images can be when it comes to rankings and boosting traffic on our websites. Did you know that images which have been SEO optimised also have faster loading times, ultimately improving user experience? It’s true!
Here’s how to go about it…
Pay Attention to Image and File Size/Format
Remember that PNG, JPEG, and GIF are all great file formats for web images (most experts suggest using JPEG for colourful images and PNG for images that are a bit simpler). You will also want to avoid using high-res images on your website as these can extend page loading times and lead to a higher bounce rate. The secret is to compress high-res images to reduce their size without affecting their overall aesthetic quality. Photoshop works well for this, as do other tools like Affinity Photo and Pixlr.
Name Your Images Strategically
“Image_0974536” is doing you no favours. Boost your SEO tremendously by naming each web image with descriptive keywords – preferably the same keywords that you use in your content – for best results. Separate each keyword using hyphens rather than underscores (search engines cannot recognise these).
Utilise Alt Tags
Alt tags help search engine spiders to ‘read’ your images – so be sure to keep these descriptive too. It’s important to avoid keyword stuffing, however, and to aim to include no more than 15 words per tag.
Say No to Stock Imagery
Using stock imagery may be a cheaper alternative to having your own professional photos taken, but doing so can hurt user experience and your SEO. Other websites are bound to be using the same images, which is why your website is likely to take a knock in terms of its rankings.
When it comes to all forms of SEO and website design and development, WSI OMS can assist you in optimising your efforts. As leaders in search engine optimisation, content marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, website design, and website development, we’re your all-in-one digital marketing solution. Contact us today to learn more.
by Francois Muscat | Apr 9, 2019 | Online Reputation Management
SEO reputation management is a service that companies are increasingly turning towards out of necessity. If negative search results are causing you grief, damaging your brand, or impacting sales, it is time to take action.
In today’s world of negative media consumption, one negative article, news story or bad customer review can impact your business. Too often, we see this type of content reach the top of Google’s search results and completely wipe out a company’s growth.
Over 90% of consumers research a company, product or service online before they make a purchase. Once they have honed in on a product, company or the CEO of a company, they search for that specific name. When they do, you better hope that there is no dirt on that name. If there is, you could also consider that lead, customer or fan lost forever.
Whether you are an athlete, consultant, celebrity or an Average Joe, you are still subject to online reputation damage. DUI’s, court cases, lawsuits, dud photos – all of these things could have your digital name stamped on it and this information can be presented by search engines to the world.
You need a solution for cleaning up your online reputation. Your strategy should be proactive and, in some cases, aggressive. The challenge is that most of the content can’t be removed from the internet because you can’t control the websites that the information has been posted on. With WSI’s help, however, you can work towards ensuring that the bad, horrible and even sometimes dirty content never gets found if they are searching for your name, your company or your product.
Contact WSI OMS for more information about how we can help you use SEO and other digital marketing services to improve your online reputation.
by Francois Muscat | Apr 3, 2019 | E-mail Marketing
What’s the point of spending hours crafting the perfect email only for your hard work to land up in your clients’ spam folder? Unfortunately, this is the case for a number of businesses. And, this is one of the reasons why many business owners believe that email marketing as a form of content marketing is a complete waste of time. The good news is that the problem can be easily rectified and the value of email marketing redeemed. Here’s how:
Emails are more likely to be labelled as spam if they do not include an ‘unsubscribe’ link or if they use misleading subject lines.
It saves time and is endlessly more convenient, but sending out bulk emails is a one-way ticket to the spam folder. Prevent this by sending out your emails in smaller batches every hour.
The majority of spam emails contain lots of exclamation marks, make use of the word ‘free’ a hundred times and tend to have longer subject lines that are often written out in upper case letters. All of these practices will signal to your clients’ mailbox that the email is of a spammy nature.
- Monitor Your Engagement Rate
The number of times clients actually open your emails and read them matters when it comes to deciding your ‘spam’ status. With this in mind, it is wise to clean out your email marketing list on a regular basis. Remove all email addresses that look fake as sending emails to these addresses, which obviously remain unopened, can have a detrimental effect on your overall engagement rate.
Need help mastering the art of email and content marketing? Look no further than the digital masterminds at WSI OMS. We specialise in content marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, website design and website development. Contact us today to learn more.
by Francois Muscat | Apr 1, 2019 | Search Engines
It is no secret that video marketing has become one of the biggest and most important aspects of digital marketing over the last few years – and it shows no signs of slowing down in 2019. Below, we draw your attention to a few recently released YouTube stats to help drive your digital marketing efforts; both now and into the future.
- 75% Of Adults Report Watching YouTube On Their Mobile Devices
This is a stat that proves not only the popularity of video content, but also just how important it has become to focus on mastering the art of mobile marketing.
- 46% Of Millennials (25 To 34-Year Olds) Have Increased Their YouTube Usage Since Last Year
In other words, if your target audience is millennials, YouTube, and video marketing in general, is a great way to target them and see results.
- YouTube Is The World’s Second Largest Search Engine
As business owners, we are taught to focus our efforts on SEO, website design and website development in order to improve our Google rankings. While this is obviously imperative, so many of us are forgetting to dedicate time to improving our standing on YouTube. Seeing as though it is the world’s second largest search engine, it would definitely be time well spent!
- Over One Billion Hours Of Videos Are Watched On YouTube Every Day
In other words, people are not only constantly consuming video content, but they are also constantly looking for more. If the goal is to get the attention of your potential consumers and deliver a message, there couldn’t be a better way in which to do it!
- “Relaxing” And “Feeling Entertained” Are The Top Two Reasons Viewers Watch YouTube
This is a good statistic to know as it can help to improve the type of video content that you are creating.
- YouTube Mobile Ads Are 84% More Likely To Hold Attention Than TV Ads
Never mind the fact that mobile marketing and social media marketing are also much more affordable and easy to monitor/manage.
Need help with your company video marketing and enhancing your YouTube presence and following? WSI OMS is here to lend a hand! As content marketing specialists, we will help you to reach your digital marketing goals whatever they may be. Contact us today to learn more.
by Francois Muscat | Mar 27, 2019 | Social Media Marketing
Social media platforms are being launched each year, but not all of them get the traction among users that they expect. Vero, for example, was expected to be the main competitor to Instagram, but relatively few people are using it. Other up-and-coming social platforms include Amazon Spark, Anchor, Caffeine and Facecast.
What Should Your Game Plan Be?
Stay informed with what is happening on other social media networks, but don’t go chasing new, shiny objects. What we mean by this is that you shouldn’t go chasing trends. Just because you hear there is a new social network (and trust me, you will), it doesn’t mean you need to rush onto it and create a profile for yourself or your brand.
Many digital marketing ‘gurus’ recommend that people go and land-grab whenever a new social media platform is launched. The problem with this approach is that you will most likely be engaging with the same people who are already following your content on your existing platforms.
Instead of chasing the newest platforms, focus on working within your existing social media infrastructure. You have access to over 2 billion Facebook users and over 1 billion Instagram users. LinkedIn and Twitter offer equally impressive numbers. These are networks that I can assure you will give you more value and more immediate reach than any social media network that you can jump on.
WSI OMS specialises in social media marketing and digital marketing. Contact us if you want to make more money online.
