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.

Rebranding: When, Why, and How

Defining Your Business From the Inside, Out

A rebrand is more than just a new look, it’s an opportunity to make fundamental improvements to your business. Nothing great remains the same. If the times are changing, your brand should be, too.

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve

How you look should be about who you are. If you don’t know who you are, it will show in your brand. If you look at your brand and something feels off, take that as a sign that you need to revisit who you are.

Your business is not the same as it was 10 years ago. By redefining your mission, vision, and values, you can reconnect with yourself and the people you serve. As a result, a rebrand will just make sense—elements like a new logo, website, and mission statement will simply fall into place.

At Fortress, our new look was motivated by our new mission. When our mission changed, so did we. Our daily operations have improved, the way we interact with clients has changed, and how we view ourselves has evolved. A new logo and website is only an outward expression of that.

Nice to Meet You, Again

Your brand not only represents you, but it represents your audience. If you fall out of touch with what your audience wants, you’ll lose them. Once again, this is about more than just visual appeal. Your ability to connect with your audience ultimately comes down to your ability to serve them.

That means that a rebrand is also a great time to take a look at the services you provide with a magnifying glass.

Ask yourself what services are still relevant to your audience and which are not.
Determine how the services you provide can change and improve to better serve your clients.
Identify any new services that you are capable of providing and that your customers will benefit from.

The services you provide your audience will help to shape how your brand looks, feels, and sounds. As a result, you will be placing your customers at the foundation of your brand and will connect with them on a deeper level.

Don’t Wait for Your Brand to Come Back Into Style

Your brand is not like fashion, it won’t come back into style no matter how long you wait. If it’s been more than 5 years since you’ve revisited your brand, you might want to change that. If it’s been more than 10 years, you must change that.

Not every brand will need to make drastic changes, but frequently checking in with your mission and audience gives magnetic confidence to your brand. Even if it’s changing something small like a line of copy on your website or the images that you use in your monthly newsletter, when your voice comes through in every detail, people will gravitate toward your brand.

Take a client of ours, Walner Law, for example. Jon Walner has been representing Chicago people for nearly 60 years. Over that time he became well-known as one of the city’s best personal injury lawyers. The problem was that his brand did not represent that rich history. Walner Law had used the same logo since 1988, and it was no longer resonating with the firm’s audience—the people of Chicago.

With the help of Fortress, Jon Walner was able to rebrand himself as “Chicago’s Personal Injury Lawyer” with a brand new logo, one that symbolized the firm’s commitment to Chicago, and a powerful ad campaign that communicated Jon’s passion and experience.

Regardless of the amount of success your business has had in the past, it can still benefit from a rebrand. You may discover a new audience, new services, or a more powerful voice—everything it takes to keep growing your business.

How to Rebrand, Step-by-Step

1. Revisit and redefine your mission.

2. Get in touch with your audience and seek out new audiences.

3. Reevaluate your services and add new services to better serve that audience.

4. Let the “new you” speak for itself through web design, logos, content, and social media.

In reality, the redesign aspect of your rebrand is the simple part. That is if you put in the work to truly know yourself and define your goals. Still, we know how important amazing design is to communicating that story you have worked so hard to develop. That’s where Fortress comes in.

You are the hero in your story, let us help you tell it. Start a project with us today, or explore more of the brand transformations we have helped our clients achieve.

What is Google’s New Marketing Platform and What can it Do for You?

Earlier this week, Google hosted a live web broadcast announcing their new ad service rebrand. AdWords has become Google Ads, DoubleClick has become Google Analytics 360 and they all fall under Google Marketing Platform. A lot seems to have changed but, being a copywriter, I don’t interact much with the backend of advertising and most of the broadcast went right over my head. I sat down with our Director of Digital Strategy, Eric Lucas, for a simplified breakdown of Google’s new services.

What exactly is the update?

Google’s new “Google Marketing Platform” will act as an umbrella service to house: Google Ads, Google Analytics 360, and Google Ad Manager. This is a one-stop-shop for all the front-end and back-end marketing services that Google already had in place including: the research, setup, measurement and optimization of a campaign. Now, marketers won’t have to integrate the separate features to make them work together, but, instead, Google Marketing Platform will allow them to easily toggle between features and allow the features to “talk to each other.” In addition to the bundling of their services, Google Ads will now have “smart campaigns” which use machine learning to optimize ad headlines and descriptions (which are getting a character boost too).

What does this mean for marketers?

Marketers like Eric will now be able to do their job better and faster. With all of Google’s suite of marketing tools in one place, the research, set up, measurement, and optimization will all be in one place. Google Marketing Platform will cut down on set-up time so that marketers can start delivering reports faster and be able to see how effectively your ad budget is being used. There will be better visibility of where the budget is going and what returns on investment are coming back to you.

What does this mean for brands?

Ad campaigns will be much more effective. The new platform will cut down on set up time which and reduce errors that could have occurred before from integrating separate platforms. Measuring and attribution will be easier because the services are better connected. The clarity of results will also improve significantly. For smaller businesses who don’t have a huge ad budget, they may require less long-term professional help. If you don’t have a marketing background, you still might want to consult an agency like Fortress. Business owners will be able to more clearly see what the results are saying about the success of their campaign. The responsive ads that use machine learning will help you to optimize your budget by more quickly assessing which campaigns are working and which ones aren’t. While the platform is more streamlined, if you don’t have a marketing background, you still might want to consult an agency like Fortress.

Will consumers see any change in their ad experience?

The biggest change will be the ability to turn targeted ads on and off. Google will still show you ads, but your data won’t be used to decide which ones you see. Eventually, search ads will become more relevant to you (if you allow targeted ads). Google is allowing marketers to use more characters in the headlines and descriptions which will give you a clearer idea of what the ad will lead you to. This may result in search ads giving you more relevant results than before.

Overall, Google’s marketing rebrand will make life much easier for marketers by integrating all their services into one platform. And, although Google has streamlined the process of paid ad marketing, you should still consult an agency. We’ve taken over several campaigns where the client started it themselves and couldn’t clearly see their results or wasted their budget trying to figure it out. In either scenario, we could quickly overhaul and revamp the campaigns to run more efficiently and maximize their budgets. Google has been the leader in paid digital advertising for a long time and is only getting stronger. Check out the recording of the broadcast here if you want to learn more in-depth about the changes happening in the world of Google Ads.

Customers Talk. So Jump On Referral Marketing

Word of mouth is what helped Airbnb and Dropbox grow quickly into the well-known brands they are today and you should be doing it too.

As a potential client, you may ask your friends about their opinions on a specific product or place, and as an actual customer, you’ll probably give out a recommendation yourself. In the business world this is known as referral marketing, and it’s one of the best forms of marketing when it comes to making sales.What makes it especially successful is its accuracy in targeting specific audiences since people tend to know what their friends like.

Customers will always talk between themselves so it’s important to ask yourself one question when providing different services and products and that is “What do customers want?”. When clients receive a great product or consistently great customer service from your business, they are likely to spread the word about it and that increases your chances to grow your business. Thus, the foundation of building up a company is based on referrals. There are many benefits to referral marketing and they include:

Transferred trust and implied endorsement

The first thing needed is for a buyer to trust a seller. People don’t like risks so when someone refers you to a buyer there is immediate credibility since the person who referred you is someone the buyer already trusts. Your most loyal supporters are more likely to give positive recommendations to their friends so the potential risk for loss is lowered. An added bonus is spreading a good word about your company has a huge potential reach today since people are hyper-connected to others through social media, apps and blogs.

Cost-effective client acquisition

When customers refer you to their friends and family, you’re essentially getting a tailored message to a specific audience. Because people recognize what their friends like or are willing to spend money on, referral marketing has high success rates for target audiences. A HUGE plus is you’re not putting time or a dime into referral marketing like you would have to with cold calling when you’re starting out or SEO when you’re more established so it’s free advertising—cha-ching!

Reduced sale cycle and closing

With referrals, you don’t have to spend as much time selling yourself because the trust between you and your prospective client has already been established. As a result, you can focus your time on creating a customized solution for the potential client.

Incentive to spread the word through benefits

If you can come up with a valuable two-sided referral program that benefits current clients and prospective customers, it will encourage existing clients to share your business with others because there’s an incentive. Benefits make current customers happy while alleviating the risk for new clients, and that has a major impact on your conversion rate.

Referral marketing, especially in the beginning, is the foundation for many companies, and it’s what helps grow businesses into distinguished brands overtime. So whether you’re starting out or better established, jump on the referral marketing bandwagon. Customers who are naturally inclined to recommend your business to their friends are big opportunities for you to increase your sales rate.

Email Marketing: Pros and Cons

Email marketing, if done correctly, is a great way to reach new audiences and potential customers online. But like any marketing campaign, understanding the pros and cons of email marketing can mean the difference between successful and failed campaigns. Below are the good and bad sides of email marketing.

Pros:

Brand awareness – Consistent email marketing helps consumers remember who your brand is. This can result in consumers sharing your material if they think it’s good, which further promotes your brand, and it helps people to recall your brand when they are ready to make a buying decision.

Easily share information and advertise – Email marketing allows you to share content that demonstrates your knowledge and expertise in your specific industry or field, but it also gives you the opportunity to promote a new product, service or limited time special offer.

Open, targeted dialogue – Email marketing creates the opportunity to build conversations around topics consumers are interested in. Because opt in/out services are available in email campaigns, people who are genuinely interested in your products will receive your emails and you’re able to build targeted campaigns around this group.

Fast to produce – Email marketing campaigns don’t require the hours of design and printing time direct mail campaigns can take with the variety of free or low cost email design service sites out there.

Cons:

Difficult getting attention – It’s very much possible that your marketing email may never be opened by consumers. Bulk emailing programs are unpredictable because your marketing email could be seen as unimportant and be deleted or caught in the spam folder and never be seen by consumers.

Bad reputation – Unsolicited emails can leave a bad taste in a consumer’s mouth and make a person consider your company less than reputable. If everyone on your list hasn’t opted in or if unsubscriber requests aren’t taken care of immediately, your company’s image can be tarnished.

Relevance – Sending relevant information to a large group of people is difficult to accomplish. Consumers want quality information that is pertinent to them. If there isn’t a clear and appropriate call to action based on your targeted group, they’ll move on to the next email.

Content planning requires time and thought – From the body content and call to action to even the email’s subject line that gets people to click on the email, creating quality content that consumers are interested in is very time consuming.

So there you have it. Like any marketing campaign, there are pros and cons to email marketing that should be considered before planning an advertising strategy. But if you do it right, email marketing can be very effective.

Interview With Joel Mathew

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.”

Instagram = Instabrand

Participating in social media is a must for building brands these days, and while Facebook and Twitter are the common platforms to partake in, Instagram is on the rise as a major tool for where social media users spend a significant portion of their time.

People don’t access the internet the same way they used to 10 years ago. With mobile media surpassing online media consumption for the first time, most mobile media activity comes through an application. And the data specifically surrounding the Instagram app is staggering.

According to an article in Fast Company, there are over 100 million active users, 1.6 billion likes, 40 million uploaded photos and 20 billion shared photos per day on Instagram. If your business is targeting millennials, the numbers are even better since Generation Y smartphone users spend an astonishing 439 minutes per month on the photo app.

So the question is why is Instagram so popular? The answer is simple: Instagram is an easy and convenient way to share stories, reactions and experiences through photos. For businesses, it’s a way for consumers to window shop—to get a taste of your brand—and easily share your products and services with others. In other words, Instagram is unique to other types of content because it visually highlights storytelling. Not to mention, Instagram has a newsfeed similar to Facebook’s, but the photo app’s is even better since 100% of Instagram posts appear on a consumer’s newsfeed whereas Facebook’s feed doesn’t necessarily show all the posts on a page a fan follows. Instagram also has the benefits of Twitter with the use of hashtags to target brands to people who are interested in your specific market instead of wasting efforts on those who are indifferent.

As Instagram continues to rapidly grow—there were 50 million new members in the app’s first six months, 200 million users in 2013 and 300 million users in 2014—the key lesson to take away is if you’re not on Instagram, you’re missing out on a valuable marketing opportunity.

Showcasing Images On Your Homepage

So you want to display a striking image on your company’s homepage that really catches the viewer’s attention, but don’t know where to begin. Let’s start with the basics.

First and foremost:

Size matters.

If having images on your website—especially your homepage where first impressions truly count—is important to you then make sure the photos aren’t too small that you can’t see them, or too big that you have to scroll down the page to view them. Large background photos are a nice visual experience if they’re done right, but generally you want the whole image to fit on the screen without scrolling so as not to disrupt eye movement.

Always aim high.

Make sure all images, especially logos, are high resolution photos. Humans are naturally visual beings—show them what your company has to offer through rich, crisp photos that get the message across as clearly as text would. Linking images on your homepage to additional works or different websites (partner companies, for example) is a plus. Note: Always link your logo on other pages back to your homepage.

Last but not least:

A is for appropriate.

Make sure the images on your site are relevant. Everyone likes pictures of flowers and sunsets, but unless you own a gardening company or a beach resort, don’t use them simply because they look “nice.” The photos you use should be as specific as possible to reflect what your business does or what it is trying to accomplish.

Let’s say you own a roofing business in Chicago and have the skyline as an image on your homepage. Yes, it would be eye-catching, but it wouldn’t reflect who your business is or what it does. On the other hand, having a photo of your employees working on a roofing project would. Focus the images you use and, if possible, personalize them. Viewers are looking for companies that brand themselves in a unique way.

The basics are obvious, but they can be put on the backburner in the excitement of creating a website. By applying these simple suggestions to your homepage (and any page using images for that matter), you’re on your way to creating a visually-friendly website!

Five Benefits to Working With FCG

We often hear “bigger” and “better” in the same sentence. Dream for bigger and better things. Every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. Bigger is always better.

But when it comes to finding the right integrated marketing company for you, smaller definitely has its advantages.

If you’re on the fence about what type of digital or integrated marketing firm to choose—corporate or boutique—here are five reasons why choosing a boutique firm could mean bigger returns for you in the long run.While the ideologies are geared toward us, the same principles apply to other independent digital marketing firms.

Partnerships — If you partner up with a boutique agency like FCG, it will not only happen at a faster rate than corporate (mainly due to the fact big companies require several sign-off processes), but consider the SEO advantages you could have. Being able to start a new campaign more quickly means that we’re able to start helping your rankings increase more quickly as well. We create cost-effective ways to advertise your business, we give lasting results in your competitive niche market and reach new ones, and we uphold a steady flow of leads to your cyber doorway.

No Middleman — Working with an independent company means more direct and clear communication between you and us. Without a middleman, you not only save money, but the ideas and messages you want to communicate won’t get lost through a game of telephone.

Personalized Attention — We are a growing company, but we believe that specializing in a few things thoroughly is more important than spreading ourselves too thin. We work hard for our clients and, through our expertise in digital media, advertising and web services, we build and support brands that are made to last.

Creativity — Large corporations are naturally risk-management-minded because they have far too many stakeholders to consider. On the other hand, boutique agencies like ours have the advantage to create original and compelling ideas. We embrace our individuality and look for clients who are open to new ideas and fresh ways to develop their businesses. We believe that making our clients shine will help us shine as a byproduct.

Customized Quality — We assess your wants and needs and provide you with high quality work, constructing unique plans to further your business instead of having a couple of standardized strategies to get by. And it’s within an affordable budget.

We bring decades of experience to the table. Above are just five of the many insights we’ve witnessed as an independent integrated marketing company. What are some other benefits? We’d love to see your comments!

Don’t Be Everything to Everyone

Very early on in business there is a struggle to provide anything a client may ask for, even if it lies outside the realm of your expertise. We were no different. We were hungry (and still are, under the right circumstances) for any piece of business that we could get our hands on. You need a call center set up? We can do that. You need your network security tested? We’ve got this. Even though those requests were well outside our core competencies, we still figured that we could get the job done, add a new client to our list, and help—our bottom line.

As our client list grew, and we could show some selectivity with the projects we took on, we learned an extremely valuable lesson: it’s better to do a few things exceptionally well than do several things average. Clients want to work with exceptional people that do exceptional work and have an exceptional knowledge of their craft.

Our experience in advertising and marketing along with our expertise and technical capability in digital media provides us the ability to do exceptional work for our clients. There are plenty of digital media and web service firms that do great work. There are also a plethora of ad agencies hungry for your business. What we found to be exceptional (and our clients can attest to this) is the ability to bridge the gap and go beyond simply launching a website. We actually help create viable and sustainable brands.

Tag: marketing