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When it comes to search engine optimization, there are dozens of different metrics to keep track of.

If you’re new to the world of SEO and marketing strategies, it can be hard to make sense of all of the numbers, and what they mean specifically.

Today, we will be looking at a metric, developed by SE Ranking, called Domain Trust. As you might have guessed, there exists a misconception that this metric actually means nothing.

Today, we will take a look at it, why some people think that and why this isn’t actually the case.

But first, we have to answer a rather simple question.

Online marketing goes by several different names, digital marketing, inbound marketing, or content marketing. Regardless of how you refer to it, you know that you should have some sort of content marketing plan for your small businesses. However, you need to understand who you are targeting, and this is where buyer personas come in.

HubSpot defines a buyer persona as “a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

In a 2017 study by Content Marketing Institute, only 89% of B2B marketers have integrated content marketing. It continues to say that only 37% have a documented content marketing strategy, and only 22% consider their content marketing plans and overall approach to be highly successful.

Buyer personas are a critical foundational element. You need to have a deep understanding of what it is, why you need it, how to build one. 

As a small business in a rural area or small town, you know you have unique challenges. When it comes to marketing in general, there are several things that you can do to differentiate yourself from others and be found. One of the easiest and cheapest is to up your online marketing game! 

When it comes to local business online marketing, we have numerous unique challenges. As someone who grew up and still lives in a small town in a rural area, I get it, and it makes it even more difficult when I see businesses struggle. The main reason it is so difficult is that the search engines don't understand us.

Let’s look at several definitions of what is considered a rural area.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is often a term thrown around by web designers, digital marketing agencies, or anyone with a basic understanding of the web. But what does it really mean?

According to Google, SEO is “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.”

Search Engine Land defines SEO as:

the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.

For the purpose of the post, we will use the definition by Search Engine Land to describe the process better. But I do want to expand on it as well. SEO can be broken down into a three-legged stool, with each leg or part being On-page, Off-page, and Technical SEO.

I am sure you know that video killed the radio star but did you also know that video has taken over the internet? Whether it’s for entertainment, information, or both, people consume video. In a recent Cisco Annual Internet Report, they reported that by 2022 more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic would be video, which is up 15 times from that in 2017!! Given that video has become a king of online content, here are five reasons it should be a part of your content marketing strategy.

1. Higher SEO Value

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential component of any digital marketing plan.

Focusing on your SEO should be a vital part of your digital marketing strategy. According to Moz, “SEO is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.” In comparison, Search Engine Land defines SEO as “the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines.

The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.” Regardless of which definition you want to use, the more engaging your online content is, the more prospects will come to your site, resulting in a high ranking in a Google search result. Video is one of the best ways to engage your prospects because it immerses and holds their attention more than images and written content often can.

2. Increased Conversion Rates

Conversion rates or the percentage of prospects who take the desired action grows exponentially whenever a video is present, and these rates help your small business’s SEO skyrocket. 

“In some cases, the boost in conversion was over 80%, and the client was able to enjoy a return on his investment in video within the first week of the video going live.” (Source: EyewideDigital (PDF))

According to Video Explainers, video can increase email click-through rates by 250% and conversions by 30%. 

“Including the word, “video” (in their subject line) increased (their) open rates by 6%!” (Source: SuperOffice) 

“Video can increase open rates by 19% and click rates by 65% while reducing unsubscribe rates by 26%.” (Source: Campaign Monitor)

Next time you want to send out an email newsletter, try it and see how well your open and click-through rates are compared to past emails.

3. Improve Your Online Presence

With today's technology, maintaining a consistent content-rich online presence is just as critical as offering a high-quality service. The accessibility and authenticity of videos contribute to that online presence. Prospects who visit your website want to know who you are so that they can relate to your content. Including videos on your website, whether it's a "how-to" or an identity film that showcases who you are, helps sell your services tremendously. Each small business has a message to convey, and developing your internet presence through video is an excellent way to do it.

4. Boost Your Social

There are really three big players, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, when it comes to video and social media. Let’s look at a few key statistics about each.

Facebook and Instagram

I am lumping both Facebook and Instagram together since they are almost one and the same.

• In 2020, 15% of all content on Facebook was video content (Source: Social Insider)
• Video posts have the highest organic engagement on Facebook (Source: Ever Increasing Circle & Hubspot)
• 75 million people visit Facebook’s video platform Facebook Watch daily and spend an average of 20 minutes (Source: Ad Week)
• 49% of consumers engage with branded video content on Facebook. Almost double of any other social platform. (Source: Ever Increasing Circle & Hubspot)
• 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound (Source: Instagram)
• Instagram has seen an 80% increase in users spending time watching video on the platform since June 2017 (Source: Instagram)
• 60% of Instagram videos on Stories are watched with the sound on (Source: Instagram)
• Video posts on Instagram receive twice as much engagement as compared to other types of posts (Source: Search Engine Journal)

YouTube

One reason video is clearly being on the rise is that YouTube has technically managed to become the second-largest search engine in the world, second only to Google; however, both are owned by the parent company Alphabet. It also happens to be one of the most popular social networks.

Here are a few key statistics about YouTube you should know:

• YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month. 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute. It’s bigger than Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, and AOL combined. (Source: Mushroom Networks)
• YouTube viewers world-wide are now watching more than 1 billion hours of videos a day, threatening to eclipse U.S. television viewership, a milestone fueled by the Google unit’s aggressive embrace of artificial intelligence to recommend videos. (Source: Wall Street Journal, February 2017)

5. Build on Emotional Connections

Millennials look to develop emotional relationships with organizations they buy from more than any previous generation. Video is unique in its ability to evoke emotions that no other medium can mimic. According to Simon Sinek in both his book “Start With Why” and his TED talk, “Start With Why,” “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” 

Video helps you to quickly explain your "why" and authentically connect your small business with your clients and prospects.

Final Thoughts

Video can achieve a greater degree of digital marketing effectiveness by creating engaging, sharable, and memorable content for small businesses to utilize in all kinds of communication.

Now the question is, are you ready to start working on videos that will influence your company? If you’re prepared to create impactful video content for your small business, then take the time to reach out to us. We will be happy to talk to you about your needs and see if we are a good fit.

If you want to make your small business more successful than now, one of the most efficient things you can do is load your website with unique content. I simply cannot stress the value of content and what it might signify for the future of your business.

If you know how to create your own content, you should get started right away. Alternatively, if you are not a content production specialist, you should employ an agency to helhttps://www.thebalancesmb.com/search-engine-optimizp or hire content writers to handle the content writing for you.

Either way, your small business will benefit from adding more content to your site in various ways. Check out these ten reasons why you need to generate great content in 2022 and beyond.

My family has lived in the Wilkes and Alexander counties area for eight generations (including myself). Therefore, I think that I am somewhat of an expert on living in a rural area along with the people who choose to live and own businesses here and in rural areas. For the most part, I would say people are honest and hard working. If something needs to be done, we tend to do it ourselves. In other words, we typical personify the DIY mentality.

What happens when people like that have to write the content for their small business website? 

Unfortunately, not all of them are excellent writers, but with our DIY mentality, many will try to write the content themselves, to their detriment. The thought of hiring someone else to write about their business makes them feel a bit awkward at best. I get it, after all, who understands your small business better than you? While some of these people believe that having an outsider write on topics close to their hearts is practically "cheating."

When I was younger, my family owned a small logging business. While there were many things that we could do ourselves as far as repairs, there were some things that we knew were better off left to the experts. One such expert was Jerry Metcalf. You could call, and he would show up when he said he would, and before the truck was hardly in park, he was grabbing tools to get started. Yes, we could have possibly fixed whatever issue we were dealing with, but when you are a small operation and have a breakdown, everything stops. It was much better to bring in the expert and get us back working than to waste days trying to figure it out ourselves. Therefore I ask you, was that cheating?

So when it comes to content for your small business website, is it “cheating” to use a professional writer? Absolutely not! It may appear to be the same as being back in high school and asking someone to write a paper, but it is not.

Here are three reasons why getting help with your content is not only acceptable but very reasonable:

As a marketer trying to help grow your business, you need to have an effective marketing strategy in place. Sit down with your team to prepare a plan for effectively reaching prospective clients. 

Even if you are only a small business on a shoestring budget, you need to have a marketing strategy that highlights: 

• Your value proposition.
• Your brand message.
• Highly targeted approaches that help you avoid spending resources on audiences that cannot help you expand your business. 

If you do not have a marketing strategy in place and you need help, consider hiring experienced digital marketing experts to map out a plan for you. 

Here are marketing ideas to grow your business – both digitally and offline. Craft the perfect plan together with a marketing agency using these strategies. 

Your website should be a true representation of your small business. As a result, whether your existing website is in need of a facelift or you are just getting started with the idea of developing a website for your small business, keep that overarching aim in mind.

The design of your website has a significant impact on how effectively it converts prospects to clients or persuades visitors to contact you, fill out a form, or book an appointment. Design influences 94% of first impressions, and it takes visitors less than half a second to evaluate whether or not they like your site. In essence, your website has a lot riding on it.

While colors, images, and graphics are essential elements of website design, the layout significantly influences user experience and conversions.

The Internet is by far one of the most effective tools you can use to help your small business grow. After all, you can't expect to maximize your reach if no one can find your business on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Therefore you need to have high-quality content on your site to boost your authority and visibility.

However, there are numerous aspects of quality content that you may be unaware of. Let's look at what you should know:

There were two young farmers, Amos and Rufus. Both were just starting out, and neither could afford to buy their own land. They had heard a large landowner, Frank Booker, was letting farmers like them rent land for free. They spoke with other farmers and realized that it was indeed the case and that they to could use the land for free.

Amos and Rufus were given identical spots side by side. They were the perfect spots to boot! They were close to the main road with plenty of parking, and they could sell their crops directly from the field. Time went by, and our faithful farmers started to become more successful.

You have heard it time and again – content marketing will help grow your small business. 

It may sound redundant, but until companies focus on making relevant website content, it bears repeating. Content marketing is at the heart of many successful sales and marketing campaigns of small and large businesses alike.