Mistakes Most Businesses Make When Choosing an SEO agency

Businesses make some fundamental basic mistakes when they choose an SEO agency and this always results in problems with their Google rankings.
The biggest mistake they make without doubt is choosing an SEO agency purely on price. This is really easy to do and the amount of people I speak to who have been absolutely massacred online because they went with the cheapest option is amazing.

There are far too many domestic and offshore SEO firms all offering bargain basement SEO packages and for the majority of business owners this is often too hard to resists. When they speak to the sales people at the other end of the phone it all seems very legitimate; they are polite, they can offer a few testimonials and above all they are bloody cheap. So why wouldn’t you go with them. It makes perfect business sense.

The issue here is these companies will either do nothing with the monthly budget provided or they will buy a few worthless links that are actually toxic and will do damage to your website. It’s this type of SEO behaviour that gets your website either penalised by Google for non compliance or your rankings simply go no where. What do you really think would happen with the pittance your paying. These guys are going to take your money and run.

If you are going to have anything to do with SEO, you need to have a realistic budget based on the competitive nature of your keywords. Being frugal with your internet marketing is actually going to harm your business. If your not committed to spending money on your SEO, don’t even contemplate starting.

What the issue here is, when businesses decide to move on they still look online for the cheapest option. It’s a never ending cycle until it’s actually broken by someone who realises the value of a page 1 ranking. Until then, it’s hit the repeat button.

The other serious mistake is falling for the insanity of believing SEO companies when they say they will guarantee that they can get a certain percentage of your keywords on page 1 within 90 days. This is a really common sales ploy and in the unregulated SEO market, cowboys, ‘shonksters’ and scam artists use this to sign you up. Yes they do rank some very useless keywords but they will have absolutely no impact on bringing traffic to your website. Once they have proven to you that they have fulfilled their end of the deal (basically an infant could rank those keywords and in 9 times out of 10, they are already ranking), you are locked into their contract. From that point onwards nothing happens. They have you where they want you and there’s really no point spending their time or money on your SEO. Remember you are in a contract with them now.

This type of behaviour is rife and rampant in the SEO space and for the naïve business owner they keep falling for slick sweet sounding sales pitches time after time. Again, a continuous loop of poor rankings based on either the business owners unwillingness to learn from their mistakes as well as their inability to spend money on marketing.

Another mistake that is made is the start/stop approach to SEO. Businesses tell me that they stopped their SEO because they were on page 1 and they were not seeing a return. A very common mistake made as they feel that they have spent all this money to get to page 1 and it’s enough already.

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The issue here is that getting to the bottom on page 1 is a lot different to the top of page 1. Position # 10 gets roughly 10% of the inquiries where as position 1, 2 and 3 will receive about 80% of inquiries. To make the leap from 10 to 1 takes a lot of serious effort, back linking and SEO strategy. Stopping once on page 1 is a grave mistake. You need to keep pushing harder and out perform your competition if you are going to get to the top. SEO is continuous. Even if cash flow is tight you should try to work out some type of solution with your SEO agency rather than a complete halt in work.

The last mistake is when businesses expect super fast rankings for competitive keywords on new websites. If you cannot pull a rabbit out of your hat and somehow get them to page 1 within a month for words like: travel insurance, home loans or cosmetic surgeons, they think you are not doing SEO properly and move on. It’s this chopping and changing that starts to have an effect on all your marketing especially the way in which Google values your website. Keep this in mind.

At Hopping Mad Designs we take pride on our SEO performance and on our ability to rank really difficult keywords and sustain these rankings month after month.

If you are serious about your SEO and are tired of hopping from 1 agency to the other please give us a call as once you use our service there will be absolutely no excuse to leave. Modern day SEO is really competitive even more so for SEO in 2016, don’t keep on repeating the same mistakes you’ve been making over the past couple of years.

The Future of Digital Marketing and the Digital Agency

Why do you need a full service digital agency?
To answer that you need to understand what a digital agency actually is and what they can do for you. The word digital, from a design, marketing and communications perspective can mean hundreds of different things, making it hard to define what it is and why you need it.

Digital begins with websites, emails, blogs, search engine optimisation and search engine marketing and is positioned alongside agencies and services that provide traditional communications. But now a digital agency can encompass everything that you need to kick-start your business and help grow your business online. At Hopping Mad, we know that content marketing, encompassing social media and forward thinking design are the best way to succeed in the digital sphere and what we use to help our clients achieve goals for better returns on their marketing spend.

Previously, agencies would be hired to make a stunning advertisements and help you put it in front to the right audience, now with the emergence and growth of digital, media placement and creative have become seamlessly intertwined and content marketing has become one of the most effective methods.

Content is growing at an unparalleled rate and by doing so has disrupting traditional advertising. Audiences are responding to entertaining content rather than advertising. Content marketing often seems like it doesn’t have a particular view or purpose, but brands are definitely getting return on investment. Content marketing spans from engaging social media posts to viral videos and it is often about more than just a product of service to inspire and engage the audience. It’s all about getting in front of your customers where ever they are looking online.

 

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It is most effective when users find it on their own accord rather than have it presented to them- like traditional advertising. Audiences are seeking useful, inspiring content making content marketing a must in the future of digital and digital agencies.

SEO has become an aspect of content marketing, with Google making it increasingly difficult for manipulative SEO tactics to be successful, so what does this mean for digital marketing? It means that the quality and importance of your content is crucial for successful rankings. This also means incorporating SEO best practices into our content marketing strategies.

Digital Agencies will always need to have a focus on creative and design and what is coming next in design. Responsive design is at the forefront, with consumers browsing across multiple devices, often almost simultaneously. Websites need to be designed for compatibility and constant change to be able to keep up with changing technology. The key area of focus in responsive design is navigation and is a key to the accessibility of the site and instinctive user experience. The changes and advancements in digital will always need to be reflected in design for success, yet since digital is constantly changing and evolving, it can be hard to keep up.

Much like design, digital is becoming simpler and anticipating the needs of the consumer – whether it’s a relevant remarketing advertising or a suggested television show on Netflix. Digital stays relevant by forever reinventing itself to become something simpler. The evolution of digital over the coming years will come down to individual experience, in which every action a user takes will be dependant on the users personalised data.

Ultimately the content will seek out the user rather the user seeking out content. The ultimate goal is to get to a place where the user takes a few steps as possible to achieve what they want. This is beginning to happen in data driven news feeds, which eliminate the need to click or search, the user is simply shown content that is relevant to them. More and more are shifting to this method. Facebook has been using user based algorithms to create personalised news feeds over a couple of years now and recently twitter has also switched.
This means that your news feed, now on both twitter and Facebook, automatically sorts the content from what it thinks you will be most interested in.

Instagram is the exception to this style algorithm as it still ops for an unfiltered feed, yet over the past 6 months they have rolled out an email digest called “highlights” featuring the most popular and relevant content from your feed.

This is why at hopping mad we place a large emphasis on content marketing and by predicting future trends in the digital space we’re helping your business stay relevant and inevitably reach more customers on a more regular basis.

5 Reasons why you need to update your logo

1. Your Company has changed and evolved.

Businesses are becoming more and more flexible in the way they do business and offer services. Nowadays you have companies that deal with all aspects of an industry under one roof as well as companies that are niche and specialize in particular aspects or products. Either way, it’s important to have a logo that reflects who you are and what you do. For most businesses, it makes sense to evaluate your visual identity and make sure that your business is reflected in the most advantageous way. Changing your logo signifies your willingness to embrace your new direction and a newfound enthusiasm for your business. If your brand is unwilling to adjust to changing circumstances, then it’s going to fall behind. The new consumers, millennial’s and Gen Y, are found to be increasingly unpredictable when it comes to brand loyalty and will start to look at competitors if your brand image is not meeting or exceeding the standards of the market.

Related post: Tips for choosing a creative graphic design agency

2. Your graphics are outdated.

If your brand has been around for more than a decade, the chances are, your logo is starting to look a bit outdated. Your current logo might not be optimized or flexible enough to work well on a website, social media, or digital advertising. It might have looked great on a sign or in a newspaper ad, but now it’s important that your logo works well across all mediums. This could be as easy as creating a simplified version of your current logo or as challenging as creating an entirely new one. Google recently updated their logo, still using the same colours but the traditional serif typeface has changed to a bold sans-serif. On their official blog, they explain that the reason for the logo change is to reflect the way people use google across multiple platforms. The original logo and branding were built for a single desktop browser page and have now been updated for “a world of seamless computer across and endless number of devices and different kinds of inputs (such as a tap, type and talk)”  In recent years, large online brands such as Yahoo and Facebook have also chosen bold sans-serif fonts for mobile optimization and device compatibility.

3. Impressions and higher perceived value.

Logos make the first impression on clients and potential clients. Before you send an email, someone calls you or your car pull us, customers consider your logo and visual identity and decide if you are someone they can trust.

You need to be sure that your logo conveys a sense of trustworthiness and confidence. As much as we are told not to judge a book by its cover, we still do. A logo that speaks quality will give potentials a higher perceived value of your brand, this means that when you have a great, well-designed logo you can easily justify your prices and maintain your profit margin.

4. For better recognition and growth.

If your logo is not recognizable in your industry then how will you differentiate yourself from the competition and how will new customers and clients remember you? A new logo can help you stand out and be memorable and increase the likelihood of repeat business and recommendations. Forbes tells us that Brand perception is never set in stone. With every new generation of consumers and changes in the markets, a customer’s view of a well-reputed brand has the potential to change – for better or for worse.

5. Revitalising your company.

If you’ve had some bad press or things have taken a few wrong turns, it could be a good idea to rebrand. A fresh look can help change customers’ perceptions and help transform your brand in a positive way. It can help you reposition yourself in the market and can be used as a way of handling increased price competitiveness.

Things to keep in mind when redesigning your logo.

There are a few things to keep in mind when redesigning your logo, the first and most important is to keep it simple. A simple, yet effective, logo should be easily recognizable, versatile, and memorable. It should also be effective across all mediums from print to signage to digital. Your logo should also have some sort of meaning behind it, something that embodies the company’s values or goals. One of the best things you can do when redesigning your logo is to try and make sure it’s timeless. Think about how it will look in 10 years’ time, this will save you time and money in the future.