SEO Is Complicated: Here are Four Common Mistakes Brands Make

With some aspects of digital marketing, winging it might – just might – get you by. For example, social media is a space for bold experimentation and can be left up to each brand’s discretion, and the same could be said for some types of email marketing. With those, driving home a compelling narrative is more important than individual word choice. However, when it comes to SEO, you are dealing with a whole different beast – Google. Google, and other major search engines, have the power to determine whether or not your site will be visible to potential users. According to Ahrefs’ recent study, 90% of sites don’t receive any visitors from Google. At all.  Ensure that your site will be part of the 10% by avoiding these common SEO mistakes.

 

SEO Mistake #1: Using Too Many Highly Competitive Keywords

As a web user, when was the last time you did a Google search and scrolled past the first page of results? It’s probably been a while, if ever, right? The second page of results is not where you want to be as a brand, and, oftentimes, a site ends up there because there are too many high-competition keywords on the page and not enough niche ones that make your website unique.

This is not to say avoid competitive keywords like the plague – because they are competitive for a reason – but without the right balance, you risk drowning in a sea of websites that look too much like yours in terms of keyword use.

The best way to avoid this mistake is taking advantage of the many search engine optimization resources available like Google Analytics, Keywords Everywhere, SE Ranking, and more. These services often feature metrics that will tell you how difficult it is for a specific keyword to rank on the first page of Google, thus increasing your organic traffic. It will be well worth your investment, especially if you own a site with a low domain rating.

 

SEO Mistake #2: Overlooking Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions

Metadata is crucial in helping your web page rank high on search engines. So what exactly is it? Well, the root “meta” refers to “the self.” Essentially, metadata is data that references or describes other data. It is the text that informs the reader about what they are about to read if they click onto the site. You’ve seen it before. Here’s an example of what effective metadata looks like:

 

 

So why is it important to make sure you include and optimize metadata in your SEO strategy? The answer is user convenience. You can see how Fortress strategically uses keywords in its meta descriptions, informing interested readers about what we do. These descriptions are important because they not only build up our credibility but also introduce readers to our distinct voice, right there in the search results. The goal with these descriptions is to simultaneously answer initial questions a reader might have, such as “Who in Chicago can help me get my brand developed?” as well as invite them to peruse the site in full. Once they’re in, you’re in business.

SEO Mistake #3: Not Integrating Social Media with SEO

The year is 2022. The reality is that some of the old rules of thumb regarding search engine optimization have lost some of their relevance. Namely, brands can no longer get by without pairing their SEO strategy with social media. Building up social media profiles by creating consistent and unique content is absolutely essential to driving up traffic. It establishes your reputation. It increases visibility. Here’s proof: research was recently conducted by CognitiveSEO that revealed a link between the number of engagements on social media and site ranking.

While there is no direct link between social media and SEO, that does not mean brands can ignore the clear indirect link social media has in boosting site traffic considerably. 

SEO Mistake #4: Neglecting the Mobile Experience

Search engines take into consideration how mobile-friendly your site is when determining its ranking. When we talk about SEO evolving, this is a huge part of that, because everyone knows the most common way we access sites is on our mobile devices. Whether it’s ordering a Lyft, browsing for a new apartment, or quickly perusing a restaurant’s website before deciding to dine, we are attached to the convenience of our cell phones.

The way to avoid this mistake is to constantly remind ourselves that SEO is not strictly a conversation about keywords. Staying on brand is just as important. Websites with high-quality design are engaging in more ways than simply with their written content will perform better. Unequivocally.

As you read these mistakes, make note of them and how to avoid them, but most of all remember the general rule of always keeping your user in mind: UEO – User Experience Optimization, if you will. Your customers and clients will thank you.

When Facebook Falls, Don’t Let Your Business Go With It

October 4th’s Facebook Outage Shows Businesses the Importance of a More Diverse Digital Marketing Strategy

 

Love it or hate it, Facebook is one of the best places to advertise and grow your business. 3 million businesses advertise on Facebook to an audience of over 2.14 billion people, and a lot of these users are customers who use Facebook to find information, ask questions, and stay connected to businesses. Nearly 67% of Facebook users will visit a local business page at least once a day looking for information. With numbers like that, Facebook has become essential to most businesses, especially small and local brands. 

 

It may be tempting to put all of your eggs into Facebook’s basket, but what happens when Facebook is no longer accessible?

 

On October 4th, 2021, Facebook (and Facebook-owned Instagram) shut down for almost 7 hours. It might not have been a big deal for you personally, but for the millions of businesses that rely on those social media sites to conduct business, 7 hours can cause a lot of damage. 

 

If it happened once, it can happen again. Is your business able to stay operational without platforms like Facebook and Instagram? If your answer is “no”, or even “maybe”, it may be time to focus some of your marketing efforts elsewhere.

 

A Facebook Page is NOT a Website

Somebody had to say it: a Facebook page is not a website. 

 

If the most important information about your business is only found on social media, you are missing out on potential customers. 

 

While Facebook—or any major social media platform—has remained a tremendous tool for growing your brand and reaching new customers, you would be shooting your business in the foot by relying on it as your sole internet presence.

 

Social Media Drives Business, Websites Do Business

Billions of people have a Facebook account, but that doesn’t mean they are using it to make buying decisions. Most people will Google your business looking for a website to back you up. If the only thing they find is a Facebook page, your brand loses both credibility and professionalism. 

 

During an outage like Facebook’s, you’re abandoning the audience you already have and giving them no way to find information about your business. This is why websites for your business are essential. With a website, as long as your customer has internet access, they have access to your business. 

 

This is not to say you should ditch Facebook altogether—you certainly should not. However, any social media should only be a supplement to your digital presence. Facebook will help you to grow an audience, but a website is where you build brand recognition, credibility, and conversions. 

 

Diversify Your Marketing Strategy

A smart investor would never place all their money into a single stock. So why would you conduct business on a single, volatile platform?

 

Facebook offers a large audience, but it is not a fully comprehensive one. To reach a more diverse and complete audience, it is important to diversify your marketing strategy.

 

Allocate some of your marketing budget to other platforms such as Google and YouTube. You should also consider email marketing which can help you stay connected to the audience you already have, and gives you a means of communication during Facebook blackouts.

 

Get Noticed

When you finally get your business’s website up and running—or if you’re looking for ways to improve your existing website—make sure it breaks through the noise. Fortress provides a free marketing audit, which will identify areas of improvement within your website’s SEO, social strategy, Google rankings, and overall marketing performance.

 

Don’t have a website yet? We can help with that, too. Start a project with us, and let’s work together to set your brand up for success in an ever-changing world.

Interview With Joel Mathew

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Fortress Consulting Group President Joel Mathew always knew he wanted to start a business from a very early age. With a degree in operations management and information systems and years of advertising experience in radio and television with Comcast and CBS, Joel saw the need in the market for an agency that bridged the gap between digital and traditional media. He knew starting a firm with the technical expertise of a web services company and the creativity of an advertising agency would have a great impact on his clients.

 

What is your background?

“I went to school as a computer science major at Northern, and when I took my first programming class, I realized I didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk coding all day. As much as I didn’t want to be a career programmer, I always valued it and this experience proved to be very useful in the early days of FCG when I had to develop some of the first projects myself. Where my passion truly lies is in creating new ideas and strategies for our clients and interacting with them on a daily basis. When I started the company, it was really the advertising and marketing side that carried us the first year. The second year was search engine optimization and other digital services. The third year it was web design and development. In our fourth year of business, it was app design. Every year we’ve gotten stronger in a new area and adapted really well to the needs of the market.”

 

Who is the Fortress team?

“We’ve had some good growth over the past few years and that’s all due to the team that we have in place. I’m really proud of the people I work with, and I’m inspired daily by their creativity and perseverance through any problem. I really wanted to create a team atmosphere where each person is accountable and valued, and I feel like we’ve done a good job establishing that. I love the competitive nature of sports, and I take that same approach with work where we’re all on a team together striving for a common goal that’s achieved by hard work and passion.”

 

What are Fortress’ specialties?

“We love the clients that come to us with an idea but aren’t sure how to execute it. One example that I love to showcase that really tells a good story of what we do is one of our real estate clients. This client came to us with an idea for creating an upscale real estate brand in Chicago that would help generate more leads, put him on the map, and help sell more property. We started off creating the company name and doing all of the branding work. From there we built a really beautiful, engaging website where we then did SEO on. Within 4 months, we had him on page 1 in Google and, within the first year and a half, he sold more than 4 million dollars in property through leads coming from his site. This started off as just an idea, evolved into more and more responsibility for us, and ultimately new ways to help grow a business. We love the partnerships that start off as one seemingly simple task and then grow into larger projects that include services on both the advertising / marketing end and also the digital side of our company. Ultimately, our specialty is in building brands for our clients through our diverse areas of expertise.”

 

How is Fortress funded?

“When I started the business, I challenged myself to not put a dollar of my own money into it and not accept any outside funding. I wanted it to grow on it’s own organically from the very first project. I wanted everything to be generated by the company and stay in the company. That’s why we try to keep our overhead as low as possible—we don’t have too much expense other than office, payroll and marketing, and everything we do goes back into the business.”

 

What are Fortress’ goals?

“I want Fortress to be known for doing amazing work with amazing people all over the world.”

 

Where does the name “Fortress” come from? 

“The Fortress name came from a verse in the Bible that I like a lot. It’s from Psalms 62:6 and it says ‘God is our rock and our fortress. I will never be shaken.’ This verse means a lot to me in that I’m not doing this alone or for myself. I feel that the Fortress name really represents strength and stability and the values that our company stands on.”

 

What lessons have you learned from starting your own company?

“It’s hard to just say one, but there is something that stands out. Every day is a learning process and that is an exciting thing about being an entrepreneur and running a company. Even when you feel like you’ve figured something out or you’ve had a good week or month or quarter or year, there’s always some curve ball you’re trying to work through. But the biggest lesson I learned from very early on is to respect and appreciate money. Working for someone else or working for a big corporation and getting paid every two weeks, you just take it for granted. You think it’s this never ending fountain of funds, and you can go out and do whatever you want because you know you’ll get more money in two weeks. Starting a business showed me just how hard it is to make money and not take it for granted. At the same time though, I don’t put making money as the number one goal. The goal is to do great work for our clients and money is just a byproduct of doing great work that you love.”

 

Any advice for future entrepreneurs? 

“I still consider myself new after four years in business, but my advice would be to just do it. Jump into it. Put your all into it and don’t half ass it. Because you will surprise yourself—how resilient you are and what you are capable of. Don’t worry about five years from now or 10 years from now. You don’t have to have it all figured out right now, but you do have to get started.”

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