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You are here: Home / Archives for Search Engine Optimization

BBB & SPARKS! Present SEO Webinar

SPARKS! and BBB Present SEO WebinarSPARKS! and the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland will be teaming up on Thursday, April 20th at 8.30 AM to present “Search Engine Optimization: Simple Strategies to Improve Web Performance“. The event is part of BBB’s Trusted Advisor Series designed to provide business owners and their employees with current information about a variety of topics.

To register and learn more visit the BBB’s website.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

What is search engine optimization?What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Many organizations have invested in designing a beautiful website only to have it lost in the forest, er, Interwebs. So what is Search Engine Optimization and why is SEO important?

Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) important? If a website launches on the internet and nobody sees it does it make a difference? [Tip of the cap, George Berkeley]

SEO is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal of SEO is to improve the visibility of your web content to users when they are searching. It is a fluid journey, not a destination, that involves a lot of different factors technically, logistically, but more often, logically. Let’s look at the two main elements of SEO; on-page and off-page.

On-page SEO involves optimizing the content – text, images, and code – on a site to make it easier to be crawled and indexed by search engines. At a minimum, it is making sure the keywords and primary topics of a web page are properly formatted and in sync with the technical elements. These are things like meta tags, coding that the search engine sees that are invisible to the reader, structure, navigation, and page speed of the website..

Off-page SEO is a way of improving the site’s visibility by securing links (“backlinks”) to its content from external sources. These can include social media pages, online directories, and other authoritative websites like news and industry blogs. It can help validate a site, just like getting a referral from a high-profile customer.

We’ll share more in the coming months about the myriad other aspects of SEO. But the key takeaway is that SEO is an important tool in the digital marketing toolbox that can help your website perform and help you to grow your organization.

SPARKS! can help you learn how your website is performing in search and create ways to boost your visibility.

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BBB & SPARKS! Present Digital Marketing Seminar

BBB & SPARKS! Present A Digital Marketing PrimerSPARKS! and the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland will be teaming up on Thursday, April 6th at 8.30 to present “Reaching Your Customers Online: A Digital Marketing Primer”. The event is part of BBB’s Trusted Advisor Series designed to provide business owners and their employees with current information about a variety of topics.

To register and learn more visit the BBB’s website.

What Is Digital Marketing?

What Is Digital Marketing?So, to answer a question we often get at SPARKS! – “what exactly is digital marketing?” – here’s a quick-and-dirty summary of the key elements.

Businesses and organizations must rely on some type of marketing in order to grow. Traditional tactics – advertising and trade shows, for example – are stalwarts and an important part of the overall recipe. But a key element that many small businesses overlook is to optimize what is perhaps the easiest gateway to their audience: their digital assets.

Digital marketing refers to the use of online (aka digital) channels, such as search engines, social media, email, mobile apps, and websites, to promote a product or service. It is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of techniques and strategies, all of which are designed to reach and engage with a target audience in a digital environment.

For most organizations, an informative, engaging, mobile/user-friendly website lives at the center of the digital universe. But what about the other spokes in the wheel? Digital marketing can be broken down into several different elements, including:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO involves optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google and Bing for relevant keywords and phrases.
  • Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): PPC advertising involves placing ads on search engines or social media platforms, and paying a fee each time a user clicks on one of your ads. These ads can reach a prospect at the most important time of the sales cycle – when they’re searching!
  • Social Media Marketing: Social media marketing involves promoting your brand or product on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But the world does not run on posts alone. Social advertising can be an effective, low-cost method of reaching your targeted influencers, users, and decision makers.
  • Email Marketing: Email marketing involves sending targeted messages to your customer and prospect databases with the goal of driving engagement and sales. We could write articles that delve deeper into the specific strategies, but the most important is to motivate the recipient to take action – visit the website for more info, follow on social media, or make an inquiry.
  • Content Marketing: Content marketing involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and engaging content with the aim of attracting and retaining a clearly defined audience. And creating a “clearly defined audience” is critical – know your audience and provide relevant and authoritative content.
  • Analytics: Often overlooked, capturing some type of data is the only way to measure effectiveness and ROI. Free platforms such as Google Analytics, Search Console, and some CRMs are the easiest way to track traffic, user behaviors, referral sources, and measure user interest. This information can guide the strategies and execution of your digital marketing plan.

Is digital marketing a part of your overall marketing strategy? If not, SPARKS! can help inform, guide, and assist you with developing and implementing a plan that’s best for your organization. Let’s connect!

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Google+ to Begin Deleting Accounts and Pages on April 2

google plus shutdown

It’s been anticipated for months, but now Google has announced an official date for the shutdown of Google+.

On April 2, users of the consumer version of the platform will lose access to their accounts and pages. Starting February 4, users will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities, or events.

Users who wish to save their content will have to download it before that date arrives. Applications like Takeout and Google+ Exporter will come in handy for those who wish to go that route. Downloaders will be given additional data starting in early March 2019.

The complete shutdown timeline includes the Google+ feature for website comments being removed from all sites by March 7, with Google+ comments disappearing from view on April 2. Google+ sign-in buttons will stop working in the next few weeks, but many will be replaced by a Google sign-in button.

The news of a shutdown date comes in the aftermath of a report from The Wall Street Journal that detailed the company’s decision to stay silent despite data from 500,000 Google+ users getting exposed over a three year period.  Then, Google made it public that a bug had exposed the personal information of more than 52 million Google+ users. This sped up the platform’s demise, moving the shutdown date up from August 2019 to April 2019.

When Google+ initially announced a tentative April shutdown last December, they recognized “challenges involved in maintaining a successful product” and “the platform’s low usage” as the primary reasons behind its dismantling.

This doesn’t signal the complete disappearance of Google+ from the technological space, however. It’s only the consumer version of the platform that’s being put to rest, not the business version. “While we bring consumer Google+ to a close, we are continuing our investment in Google+ for the enterprise,” wrote David Conway, a product manager at Google. “This means that for those of you who use Google+ as part of G Suite, your accounts will remain active.

The death of Google+ has been imminent for a while, but that doesn’t make it any less inconvenient for frequent users who relied heavily on the platform. Unfortunately, the only avenue that exists for them now is to download their data and take it someplace else.

 

WordPress Will Usher in the Era of “Happy Publishing” in 2019

It’s been many years since WordPress was simply a site used for blogging, and in 2019 the software language of the company will finally reflect that reality.

With the introduction of WordPress 5.1, the word “publishing” will replace any mention of blogging throughout the platform. The language will be updated in wp-config-sample.php this year. So long, “happy blogging”. Hello, “happy publishing”!

Once upon a time, blogging was the central function of all WordPress sites, but the software’s capabilities have expanded dramatically, and the platform is more dynamic than ever. “WordPress is no longer a simple blogging platform,” wrote Gutenberg and WordPress core contributor Gary Pendergast. “It’s now a comprehensive publishing solution.”

WordPress is a popular and heavily relied upon open-source content management system due in part to its versatility and ability to serve multiple functions. Although it can still be used for something as simple as publishing blog content, it also allows users to perform functions like set up an affiliate shop, create real estate listings, and fundraise. Even better, these functions are accessible to people regardless of whether or not they know how to code because of the software’s user-friendly setup.

That’s not all that WordPress has in store for 2019, though. WordPress core contributor Matt Mullenweg laid out the platform’s priorities for the new year. Allowing users to opt-in to automatic plugin and theme updates, upgrading the widgets-editing areas, creating a block for navigation menus, and making it possible for themes to visually register content areas are all upgrades that WordPress expects to make within the next 12 months.

By changing the website’s language, WordPress is simply making clear what was already true a long time ago. There’s no shortage of functions that the platform can be used for, and its capabilities expand so far beyond simply blogging. Without WordPress, 32% of the web would cease to exist, and as its uses continue to grow and expand, so does the vernacular we use to talk about them.

Why Your Business Should Be On Google+

bigstock-A-lot-of-plus-one-at-Google-Pl-23456561Let’s start off with a quick vocab lesson for this blog…

Google+ (G+)  Google’s social networking platform.

+1  This button is often found where the social media platforms are showcased on a website.  If you give a website a +1, Google will share your endorsement with friends and contacts when they search.  It’s similar to the “Like” button on Facebook. 
Now let’s begin! [Read more…]

What You Need To Know About Google’s Newest Algorithm, Hummingbird

What you need to know about Google HummingbirdWhat’s the buzz?  Here’s what you need to know about Google Hummingbird.

So you’re not tech-savvy person, but you keep hearing all about Google’s newest algorithm, Hummingbird, and how it is affecting the future of search engine optimization (SEO).  If you’re like most people, you really don’t need to understand how it all works; but you do need to know about how it affects your website’s performance.  Let’s try to break it down in simple terms: [Read more…]

Understanding Google Panda: Changes To The Latest Search Engine Algorithm

Google Panda is a giant that will never be captured!

Probably theBaltimore web design and SEO tips from SPARKS! most important panda in the world right now is not Jack Black’s kung fu friend.  It is, however, from a town a ways north of The San Diego Zoo called Mountain View (a.k.a. “Googleville”).

Rather than explain what we know – or don’t know for that matter – about Google Panda, we’d thought we’d share a little, er big, graphic from our friends at SearchEngineLand.com that offers some eye candy into our little friend.  It’s suitable for framing; go on… you know you want to! [Read more…]

Is Your Site Getting Hits This Holiday?

If a tree falls in the woods but nobody hears it, does it make a sound?

The real question should be: if a website has great content and important information, but nobody finds it, does it make a difference?

Most businesses realize the importance of timely, accurate, and interesting content for their website, but many don’t actually take the time to see how their site performs, and, subsequently, if their content is seeing the light of day  …er… computer screens. There are easy ways to learn about two important “V’s” in web world: visitors and visibility.

Search Thyself

Want to know how you are viewed on the web? Then search thyself! Search your company, your competitors, even yourself. Where are you in the results? Are you on the first page or lost in the nether region? What about your reputation?  Has someone posted a negative review of your business? Or, worse yet, has that picture from the office party made it onto someone’s social network account? Those results can help you develop an effective web strategy and get in the game!

Batter Up!

Prepare your site before stepping up to the ‘virtual plate’. Just like a baseball player needs quick reflexes, good eyes, speed, and muscle, you’ll need tools to make sure your site is ready to perform.  Why? You both need hits to win! Good content and a site that is optimized are a must. This very deliberate process is called SEO, or search engine optimization.  Web analytics are the way to keep score (and find out about your visitors). It won’t hurt to have a good third base coach (say a certain web, media, and marketing company!) to guide you along the way. And, unlike an athlete, you can “juice” your performance by adding some well planned internet marketing too!

The first question of the New Year should be: ‘Has your site been optimized to get the most hits possible’?

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Many organizations have invested in designing a beautiful website only to have it lost in the forest, er, Interwebs. So what is Search Engine Optimization and why is SEO important?

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What is Search Engine Optimization? - SPARKS! 410-244-5111

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What is Search Engine Optimization? - SPARKS! is an award-winning marketing communications agency based in Baltimore, MD. We offer web development and design, SEO, social media and digital marketing s...
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Where is your business showing up in your customers’ search results? Are you in the top results? Greg Pierce has the answers to get your business to break into the top positions.

Through the Better Business Bureau Greater Maryland webinar series, Greg will discuss:
- Fundamentals of SEO
- Tips to improve your website's ranking on search engines
- Using analytics to monitor performance

Search Engine Optimization: Simple Strategies to Improve Web Performance
Thursday, April 20th | 8:30 - 9:30am

Register for FREE online!

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Search Engine Optimization: Simple Strategies to Improve Web Performance

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See ‘behind the curtain’ and learn ways to have your website rank higher in search-engine results
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Seven years ago today - it seems like only yesterday! Happy SPARKS! Anniversary to our own Lauren Pierce! ... See MoreSee Less

2 months ago
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Wonderful anniversary! Keep up the great job!!!!

Happy Sparks anniversary to my very talented granddaughter!💕

Congratulations Lauren

Congratulations Lauren!

Happy anniversary!

Congratulations!

The best 7 years!

Congratulations 🎉

Perfect VIBE!!!

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