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How to Bring Local and Contextual Search Together

Local search and contextual algorithms are two of the most important search engine optimization trends to have developed in a long time. But, while a lot of marketers are aware of them, many internet marketers aren’t using these features to their fullest potential.

Local search, of course, just means using geographic keywords within your pages to attract buyers from your area. And contextual search refers to Google’s ever-increasing ability to go beyond simple keyword matches to determine searcher intent.

A smart way to make the most of these features is by using them together and offering subtle clues about geography on your website. For example, instead of just mentioning the name of a city for a city-specific service page (like Milwaukee), your pages could integrate the names of landmarks (like the Avalon Theater), individual street names (like Howell Avenue), and specific neighborhoods (like Bay View) into your content.

These kinds of content tactics help Google (and real-life searchers) understand that you truly know and work in a certain area. It can resonate with website visitors and it may also separate you from competitors who have optimized one or two page titles in an effort to siphon customers from your city, but who aren’t truly local.

Local and contextual search are both now more heavily emphasized by Google than ever before. But does your site use them together for maximum internet marketing effect? Call 414-208-0700 or fill out our contact form today to find out.

By Brew City Marketing|2016-04-16T06:14:46+00:00April 16, 2016|

Get Answers to Your Most Important Marketing Questions

Ever wish you had your own personal panel of advertising experts that you could tap for insider-only insights on how to market your business online, in print and via direct mail? Well, now’s your chance: Our own Mark Dalnodar will help lead an advertising panel discussion on January 27th at the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin office in Milwaukee that will include advertising industry experts across a wide range of advertising distribution channels.

Seating is limited, so RSVP here soon for the opportunity to ask any advertising or marketing question you like from experts in the following fields:

direct mail
big screen advertising
print advertising
Hispanic marketing
SEO marketing (that’s Mark!)

Tickets are only $10 and include lunch.

Want Mark All to Yourself?

Book Mark for a private speaking engagement and he can help you and your team understand the many marketing mysteries of web design, social media. search engine optimization, and more. Better yet, Mark can work with you to create a customized program that speaks to the unique needs and challenges of your organization.

A regular guest speaker at Marquette University College of Business Administration and SCORE SE Wisconsin, Mark has extensive experience speaking before large groups. Call us at 414-208-0700 or contact us for more information.

By Brew City Marketing|2022-09-28T16:26:05+00:00January 7, 2016|

3 Local Business Marketing Trends for 2016

The new year is here, so if you haven’t already shored up your local marketing business plan, now is the time to tick that box off your to-do list. As the buy local movement continues to grow, so does the need for a smart local marketing plan that engages your consumers where they are: online.

Here are three of the biggest internet marketing trends we see affecting local businesses in 2016. Some may seem like oldies, but that’s because they’re goodies, and the fact that they keep popping up proves that they’re here for the long haul.

Content Marketing Quality Will Rise

As more local companies recognize the benefits of high-quality content marketing, more will understand the need to invest in targeted content marketing that is interactive, engaging and shareable. Not sure how that works? Follow content marketing masters like IKEA, Birchbox, and Home Depot.

And, as you build out your content marketing for 2016, don’t forget to put together your social media marketing plan so you can maximize the SEO crossover benefits.

The Search Universe Will Expand

New technologies with skyrocketing adoptions rates (think wearables, digital assistants, and apps), means search can no longer be confined to traditional search engine functionality. The importance of social media (yes, 1.55 billion active users per month is a lot), the popularity of useful wearable technology (amazeballs: about 80% of Apple Watch users use Apple Pay to pay for things), and the need for voice-based queries (so Siri can find what you need), mean search (and SEO) will continue to change and expand.

It’s Mobile All the Way

Mobile payments for local businesses will continue to be a hot topic in 2016. As more businesses and technologies adopt mobile payment functionality, more consumers will expect it. And those consumers are going to expect easy-to-use, fully functional mobile websites and apps that make it easy to window-shop online too, not just pay.

Master these three areas in 2016 and your business is sure to steamroll 2017. Call us at 414-208-0700 or fill out our contact form today for a free consultation on how the Brew City internet marketing team can help.

By Brew City Marketing|2022-06-23T14:44:22+00:00January 5, 2016|

New SEO Means Getting Back to Basics

Somewhere along the way, some local internet marketers forgot that they had to keep up with the ever-changing rules of SEO to stay competitive. For them, the old days of carefully calculated keyword percentages is still in full effect, even while their page rankings continue to slip.

Web marketers who’ve paid attention to the changing rules of the game, however, realize that those old-school SEO tactics don’t work anymore. Instead, businesses need to focus on delivering usable websites that make an impression. Only then will their websites stand out, rank well, and convert.

In many ways, this brave new world of SEO is really just about integrating some basic marketing techniques with standard search engine optimization principles. It’s about aligning the back-end technical tactics with the front-end consumer-focused content. It’s branded SEO, basically.

So, if your website is due for an SEO tune up, here are a few things you’ll want to think about:

How can you focus more on usability? Usability is how easy (or hard) something is to use. Typically, websites that score well for usability are useful, engaging, fast, look good, and are easy to use and navigate. If you’re not sure whether your website is usable, check out Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. The guidelines cover everything from design and content to technical guidelines.
How can you differentiate your business? Whether you’re marketing your biz online or offline, it’s always important to define and use your unique selling proposition (USP). Not only will leveraging your USP help build your brand, it can help you create unique content that’s great for SEO.
How can you educate your audience? Another basic marketing principle that somehow got lost in the heady days of old SEO is the importance of audience education. Whether it’s educating people on your company’s product, service, or expertise, creating informational content is a time-tested way of selling without making it obvious.
Would you use your website? Seriously. Instead of visiting your website as an owner, visit it as a customer. Can you find the information you want to learn about the company, make a purchase, or find a store? Does your business look legit, or does it seem a little faceless?
Is your website optimized for viewing on any mobile device? Statistics show that two-thirds of people use their mobile devices to go online and 60% of them will immediately abandon a website if it isn’t mobile friendly. Are you willing to give up that much traffic?
Is it time to get rid of your stock images? It’s hard or your business to stand out when the graphics and images on your website are the same as your competitors or, worse yet, are used by multiple other businesses. One of the easiest ways you can visually differentiate your business is by using one-of-a-kind imagery.

If you’re ready to make your website better, call 414-208-0700 or fill out our contact form today. Our internet marketing team has the technical expertise and online marketing chops to help your Milwaukee-area business rise to the top.

By Brew City Marketing|2015-12-15T07:00:22+00:00December 15, 2015|

What To Do About Negative Reviews

When you’re building a business, every online review counts. And, the smaller your business, the more painful each negative review feels (and looks). So, how should you cope with bad online reviews and negative social messaging? Here are a few tips:

Have a plan in place to catch issues early.
If you get a bad review, you should address it as soon as possible. That means having a plan in place to detect bad reviews quickly. Whether that’s using a reputation monitoring service or taking the time to inventory all of your social media accounts on a weekly basis, reputation monitoring should be part of your social media checklist.
Respond promptly and politely.
The last thing that you want to do is get into a “shouting” match with a disgruntled customer online. While it may be hard not to take an insulting review or social media message personally, it’s exactly what you need to do. Instead, remember to empathize, apologize, and try to find a solution. For instance, phrases like, “I can understand why that would frustrate you” and “I’m sorry” may feel like eating a little crow, but they can go a long way to defusing a potentially ugly exchange.
Control the conversation.
As any good politician can tell you, you can’t control what questions are asked of you but you can control how you answer. When it comes to responding to a bad online review, it’s essentially the same thing. Sure, you can’t control the complaint, but you can control the trajectory of your response. (Or, as Forbes calls it, you can “flip the script.”)

For instance, if you got a bad review for a delayed gift shipment, instead of just saying “So sorry, but you should have expected delays around the holidays,” you could instead respond with something like, “I’m sorry to hear that it took so long for your purchase to get to you. I’m proud to say that 99% of the time, our shipments arrive on time, but sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control that delay shipment.”
Take the conversation offline.
If the nature of the review lends itself to a more personal intervention, ask if you can contact the reviewer privately via email or phone to get more information and to more adequately address his or her situation. This can sometimes help keep potential escalations defused and out of the public eye. Plus, if necessary, it can allow you the opportunity to offer a small gift to appease a complainer without having to make the exchange public knowledge.
Get the complaint removed.
Although this is not typically an option, in rare circumstances review sites may allow you to have untrue or particularly egregious complaints removed. For instance, Yelp’s content guidelines call out threats, harassment, lewd language and hate speech as being content violations. So, if any of those are in a review that you feel unfairly targets your business, you can ask to have it removed for ToS (terms of service) and/or content violations. In any event, it can’t hurt to try, right?
Get positive.
If you have a system in place to maximize the number of positive reviews you get, the less visible the occasional bad review will look. Not sure how to get more good reviews? Ask! And ask often! Sending a thank you email after work is complete or asking for a review via your sales receipt are two easy ways to ask for reviews when customers are most likely to give them.

Need some other ideas on ways to get more good reviews? Call 414-208-0700 or fill out our contact form today to see how our Milwaukee internet marketing team can help. We offer a full suite of reputation monitoring and social media management services.

By Brew City Marketing|2022-01-17T19:14:51+00:00November 17, 2015|

Ready for Smartphone SEO Using Digital Personal Assistants?

As smartphones continue to become more complex and more important in our day-to-day lives, more users are turning to digital personal assistant apps (think Siri, Google Now and Cortana) to help them manage all of the information and possibilities that the latest phones make possible. In fact, according to Thrive Analytics, the use of personal assistants increased by 87% over the past year.

One of the most important ways that consumers are using these digital assistants is for searching online. Instead of entering search terms into a search engine the old fashioned way, people are now “outsourcing” these tasks to their assistants. So, what does that mean for SEO? Does that mean SEO is dead? Not a chance. If anything, it’s smartphone SEO, and it just means that businesses and organizations who want to maintain their visibility during this new technological shift will have to use new tactics to make sure that their websites are findable.

For more information on how you can make sure the most popular digital assistant apps know where to find you, call 414-208-0700 or fill out our contact form today.

Photo Credit

By Brew City Marketing|2023-01-23T16:10:35+00:00September 15, 2015|

What Local SEO Could Mean for Your Business

Did you know if you have a brick-and-mortar store or offer local services, local SEO could be the single most important aspect of your small business website? It’s true. If your website isn’t properly optimized, you could be missing out on one of the biggest benefits that your website has to offer. And what is that? The ability to connect instantly with new customers looking for exactly what you have to offer.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is how a website is optimized to rank for specific geographical regions. Suppose your website sells plumbing services in Green Bay. Well then, it certainly won’t do you any good if your website ranks well for searches of “Hales Corners plumbers.” That’s where good local search engine optimization comes in. Using on-site and off-site optimization techniques, search engine specialists work their magic. They will make sure your website ranks well when it’s most likely to be effective.

Because it encompasses so much, local search engine optimization isn’t just one thing. Instead, good geotargeted SEO includes:

On-site optimization
Off-site optimization (like directory listings and citations)
Social media indicators (Twitter/Facebook/Instagram profiles)
authority indicators (like reviews and Google+ listings)

If good SEO is a recipe, then good local SEO is the special sauce that makes it all come together.

The Many Benefits of Local Optimization

If you have multiple stores or service offices, there’s just no substitute for having a separate webpage for each location. In fact, Google SEO guru Matt Cutts has been saying so for years. Here’s why:

Good local SEO means higher page ranks, which nearly always means more leads and better ROI.
People who are searching online for information about a business or service are looking for local information. Some studies even put the percentage of American Internet users who research online before buying a product or service at over 95%.
Search engines like Google often factor in location data. This is because they know that is what most consumers want. Someone with a plumbing emergency in Milwaukee certainly isn’t interested in seeing websites for Madison plumbers. Search engines are getting much smarter at using directory listings and citation services to remove irrelevant search results.
Local optimization allows you to capitalize on non-branded searches. If someone in your area is searching for the services you offer and none of your competitors have optimized their websites for local SEO, you’re giving yourself an apparent advantage. It makes you the only shop on the block!
Since geographic targeting is important when it comes to mobile advertising, it shouldn’t be any surprise that local SEO appears to increase response rates for mobile users.

Let Brew City Marketing Optimize Your Website

If you’re looking for SEO shortcuts that promise big results with little effort, know this: even if those cheap “black hat” techniques pay off in the short run, they will eventually come back to bite you. Instead of risking Google’s wrath, we’ll give your customers an optimized site that is chock full of what they’re looking for: information about your small business and what you have to offer.

Our local SEO experts can:

Create state/city-specific pages if you have multiple locations or offices
Plan, build and populate your website to maximize your local search results
Build keyword phrases for your business that will help you get found
Handle your citation services (for better search and directory results)
Prepare Google+ listings for your different locations
Add schema and structured data information to your website to help you rank above your competition

For more information about our Milwaukee website design and online marketing services, contact us today.

Photo Credit, Photo Credit

By Brew City Marketing|2022-01-14T21:40:24+00:00October 13, 2014|

We’re Flushing Away the Competition

When Alpine Plumbing decided it was time to update their six-year-old website with the new services they now have to offer, we showed them how a modern, dynamic website could really set them apart from their competition. Now they have a new website that’s ready to flush away their competitors by showcasing their services, experience and capabilities. They even have a YouTube channel to chronicle their work. Check out Alpine Plumbing’s redesigned website, and see how we managed their:

Website redesign
WordPress content management
Brand building
Social media linking/integration
Website writing/SEO optimization
Mobile website design

By Brew City Marketing|2014-09-29T07:00:48+00:00September 29, 2014|

Where Could a New Website Take You?

After 5 years with their old site, Paper Transport knew that it was time for a change. They also knew that they needed a solid design team to give them a clean, easy-to-use website that was just as usable for customers as it was for potential employees. That’s where our Milwaukee web designers came in:

With a brand new look and smart, responsive design, Paper Transport’s new business website looks amazing, is a breeze to navigate, and incorporates an easy online application process for job-seeking truckers. Talk about kicking into high gear: When job-seekers click on the careers page with a mobile device, the new website automatically drives them to a mobile page that makes it easier for them to use and apply. Awesome, right? We know!

Check out Paper Transport’s new website here, and see how we’re driving action and making traction. Here are just a few of the skills we used to create their new site:

WordPress content management
Website design/redesign
Responsive web design
Social media sharing

By Brew City Marketing|2022-01-18T16:17:29+00:00September 22, 2014|

2014 Small Business Internet Marketing Checklist

It’s never too late to put together an internet marketing plan that will help customers find you online, and a good internet marketing checklist can help.

If you’re unsure of the current state of your online presence, look at the website, SEO and social media checklists below. Answering these questions can help you get a handle on what you can do to improve your online marketing strategy in 2014.

Website Marketing Checklist

Does your website incorporate SEO?
Does your website have social sharing widgets so that it can be shared on social media platforms like Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn?
Do you know why customers visit your website and what they want to find there?
Does your website have product and service content that visitors will find informative, interesting or useful?
Does every page of your website feature a compelling, easy-to-find call to action?
Does your homepage clearly communicate what your company does, and does it set you apart from your competition?
Do you update your website’s content to keep it interesting and high in the search ranks?

Search Engine Marketing Checklist

Have you researched who your top competitors are on the search engines?
Do you know what words and phrases customers use to try and find your business online?
Is each page of your website optimized for search engines?
Do you have an aggressive and proactive link building program in place?
Is your business listed with as many business directory listings as possible?
Do your filenames, directory names and titles include targeted keywords?
Does each page of your website have keyword-rich content?

Social Media Marketing Checklist

Are you creating and sharing content that is useful, informative, entertaining or in some other way engaging?
Do you post at least once a week to your blog? (You already have a blog, right?!)
Do you have a social media calendar to remind you of when to post to social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+?
Are you responding to online reviews and customer feedback?
Are you monitoring your reputation online, and reaching out to any negative reviews you get?
Are you thanking customers for reviewing you, sharing your content, and choosing you over your competitors?
Are you using social media to share specials with your followers?
Are you using social media to take advantage of trends and current events?

If you find yourself answering “no” to many of the questions above, contact us today or visit our website. We can help you build a Milwaukee internet marketing strategy that will have you saying, “yes, yes, yes!” in no time.

By Brew City Marketing|2014-02-05T07:30:44+00:00February 5, 2014|

How to Bring Local and Contextual Search Together

Get Answers to Your Most Important Marketing Questions

Want Mark All to Yourself?

3 Local Business Marketing Trends for 2016

Content Marketing Quality Will Rise

The Search Universe Will Expand

It’s Mobile All the Way

New SEO Means Getting Back to Basics

Ready for Smartphone SEO Using Digital Personal Assistants?

What Local SEO Could Mean for Your Business

What Is Local SEO?

The Many Benefits of Local Optimization

Let Brew City Marketing Optimize Your Website

We’re Flushing Away the Competition

Where Could a New Website Take You?

Take Action. Get Results.

(414) 208-0700

TESTIMONIALS

Mike L., Owner

Sarah P., Owner

John S., Wauwatosa

WISCONSIN

OUR SERVICES

OUR SERVICES

Milwaukee SEO

Want Mark All to Yourself?

Content Marketing Quality Will Rise

The Search Universe Will Expand

It’s Mobile All the Way

What Is Local SEO?

The Many Benefits of Local Optimization

Let Brew City Marketing Optimize Your Website

Website Marketing Checklist

Search Engine Marketing Checklist

Social Media Marketing Checklist

Take Action. Get Results.

TESTIMONIALS

Mike L., Owner

Sarah P., Owner

John S., Wauwatosa

WISCONSIN

OUR SERVICES

OUR SERVICES