7 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs Digital Marketing in 2021<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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If you\u2019re not on that wavelength yet, then lucky for you that we\u2019re here. We\u2019re here to help you and your business move toward an intentional digital marketing path that\u2019ll revitalize your company message and outreach.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Step 1: Social Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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You may have a Facebook account that you post on every other month and an Instagram account that you\u2019ve forgotten the password of. You might say, \u201cEh, good enough. We\u2019re out there, aren\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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No, dude. Not good enough. If you\u2019re not posting on those accounts consistently and intentionally, then you might as well not be posting at all. (Harsh, we know\u2014 but it\u2019s the truth.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Know Your Social Media Demographics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Social media is an easy, free<\/em> way to do some semi-organic marketing for your company. Everyone and their mother has some form of social media these days, whether it\u2019s Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest\u2014 whatever. Funny that we even mentioned your mother, because according to basic demographics she\u2019s most likely on Facebook\u2014 considering that about 40 percent of Facebook users in the US are 45 and older.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sidenote, it\u2019s important to understand the varying demographics (especially of age) across each social media platform. This knowledge will help you in cross-referencing between the key demographics you know you already reach and the key demographics that you believe you have a potential market in; alongside the social media platform that they\u2019re most likely populating, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Make Social Media Work for You for Free<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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For example, let\u2019s say that you run a small and quaint Mediterranean restaurant that\u2019s locally known for the wonderfully authentic experience in the food and indoor atmosphere you provide to the clientele. Of course, Covid then went ahead and took away half of that equation from you\u2014 if not more. No indoor atmosphere, no real experience aside from ordering takeout. What do you do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Well, utilize social media to address your strengths. Mediterranean food is famous for being healthy, aesthetically pleasing, and (of course) delicious. This is the part where you turn to Instagram and work on your amateur photography and copywriting skills to creatively reach both existing and potential customers on the internet through engaging posts, captions, and hashtags.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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On top of that, you can even motivate followers to interact with your content by advertising randomized meal giveaways or gift cards\u2014 on the condition that they tag three friends in the comments section or repost the original post on their story. This is a great way to encourage direct messaging and interaction with a growing customer base.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Step 2: Build Your Website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Okay fine, we\u2019ll admit it\u2014 this step sounds a little intimidating. And sure, it has some \u201csub\u201d-steps to it. But we promise you, it\u2019s as straightforward as it gets. And it\u2019s the natural progression from the stepping stone that social media represents. Besides, we can just break it down to the bare basics for you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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1. Choose and buy an awesome<\/em> domain name.\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What\u2019s that<\/em>, you ask? It\u2019s just the part of your website address that follows the \u201cwww.\u201d part. You know, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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www.awesomedomain.com\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This then translates into your awesome professional email address, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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bigboss@awesomedomain.com\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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(Tip: The most awesome domains are short, easy to remember, and include a keyword that best represents your business!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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2. Plan your new and awesome<\/em> website.\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What kind of website is it? Do you offer services, products, or both? Do you want to take the time to build your brand? Your voice? Do you want to inspire? Do you want to be informative?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Are you looking to merely showcase what products you carry in-store, or would you like potential consumers to buy directly off your website? (The latter requires an e-commerce setup, which is a subject we\u2019ll save for later.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The more specific your objectives are, the better your website\u2019s layout will be.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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3. Design your new<\/em> and awesome<\/em> website.\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sadly, we\u2019re not all born with magical graphic design and website-building superpowers\u2014 but that\u2019s okay! You\u2019ve got plenty of options.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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You can go with an easy, DIY website builder\u2014 there are so<\/em> many out there that lay out all the steps for you as easily as 1-2-3. To be honest though, we do recommend hiring a professional <\/em>website designer (ahem, ahem we\u2019ve got a few of those). Sure, you might feel a teensy<\/em> ding in your pocket\u2014 but man, it\u2019ll be worth the investment when you see how many more people stay on your website because of its blend of artistry and professionalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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4. Content is KING, baby.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Fine, you may not know what that means\u2014 yet. <\/strong>But we digital marketers sure do.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The key to reaching your key demographics (and beyond) lies in the skill of storytelling. You might be scratching your head right now, thinking to yourself, \u201cBut I do landscaping, dude. Plus, I totally failed English in high school.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Okay fine\u2014 you might not be a skilled writer like the person who typed this very piece into existence, but everyone\u2019s<\/em> got a story. So\u2026 what\u2019s yours?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What’s Your Story?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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- How\u2019d you start your business?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- What gets you excited about your industry?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- What makes you different from everyone else?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- Why should people go to you, and not the other dude 5 miles away from you?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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Every entrepreneur has a flame of passion for what they do and something that makes them unique. The more compelling your story, the more effective your website will be.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Hell, you could even grab the best writer you know to help you fill your website\u2019s pages out. All you have to do is give them your vision and the basics of what you do.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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5. Pair the King up there (^^) with his bestie, SEO, so that actual people<\/em> can find your actual website <\/em>(wooh, that’s exciting!)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It\u2019s complicated, but it\u2019s not. You could have the coolest, dopest, most gorgeous website on the planet\u2014 but if you\u2019re not incorporating SEO into it, your site is as good as dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What\u2019s SEO, You Ask?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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SEO = Search Engine Optimization.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This is the process of specifically tailoring and refining a website in order to organically <\/em>get higher rankings on the big, bad SERP (search engine results page) and visitors to your site. (When we say organically, we mean without the use of paid\/sponsored search engine placement.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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How Does SEO Work, You Ask?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Well, after you or your techy friend have done all the fun backend stuff on your website (you know, like connecting to Google Search Console or whatever) to alert the search engine bots that your site is alive and running; they scan it, index all the information on your web pages, and analyze your content (ahem, the King!) to determine how valuable and relevant said content is\u2014 and ultimately decide how high on the SERPs your website should be displayed with each given query.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Don\u2019t let the bots scare you. Regardless of what search engine they work for, they\u2019re all scanning for the same things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Relevant content.<\/strong> Take care of the King, and the King will take care of the bots and, well, you.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- Keywords. <\/strong>Use tools like Google\u2019s Keyword Planner to figure out what exactly people who might be interested in your website are searching for these days.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- Get meta, dude.<\/strong> Meta tags are essential\u2014 they\u2019re HTML tags full of information that help search engines figure out what your site is about. (They\u2019re the small text under your website\u2019s hyperlinked title that helps describe your website in the SERPs.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- Give some direction with your sitemap.<\/strong> A sitemap is essentially a bridge between each page on your website and the search engine. It helps guide the search engine bots in navigating your website via the names and locations of the pages. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Covid-19 hit us all very hard in 2020\u2014 shifting virtually the entire world as we know it out of place. Businesses big and small quickly had to pivot from the everyday hustle and bustle of offices and storefronts to the safe sterility of virtual operations from home. This translated into daily Zoom meetings in sweats, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ceemi-academy","category-ceemi-agency","category-digital-marketing","category-social-media","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6694,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6691\/revisions\/6694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.ceemiagency.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}