One of the most common struggles marketers face is communicating the value of their efforts. How many times have you heard "But what am I getting out of this?" from your boss? Attaching a return on investment (ROI) to digital marketing is often challenging, but a good way to communicate value to more dollar-minded bosses. What is Marketing
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7 Horrible Mistakes You’re Making with Your Website
You may be setting your website up for failure without even knowing it. Many business owners make these common mistakes with their website that kills their conversions and success. Are you guilty of some of these website blunders? 7 Horrible Mistakes You're Making with Your Website Your website loads too slowly - Visitors are only willing to
Google My Business Changes May Impact Your Page
Early in September, Google began rolling out changes to Google My Business that may impact your page. They announced that they are removing distance-based service areas from all Google My Business profiles. How Do I Know if This Impacts My Page? You may have received an email from Google with the subject line of: “[Business name], review
20 Years of BizzyWeb: A Look Back
Happy birthday to us! This year, BizzyWeb turns 20. Here's a look back at where we've been: Thank you to everyone who has supported us on our journey. Here's to 20 and more years of BizzyWeb! * * * Let's Talk Don’t worry, we’re not asking you to commit to anything. We just want to talk and see what we can do to help you Generate Buzz
What I Wish I Knew a Year Ago About Growth-Driven Design
You may have noticed that Growth-Driven Design (GDD) has taken over BizzyWeb. Our latest webinars, our most recent blogs and a good chunk of our social media posts have been spent fawning over this new methodology. I would be lying if I said that my relationship with GDD has always been so rosy. Like any new process, it takes some time to iron out
How to Set SMART Goals [Free Template]
You've heard the old adage "work smarter, not harder." Be honest: how often does that actually apply to your marketing efforts? We know as marketers that we should be strategic, but when we're bogged down in the minutia of every day we often end up working harder than we need to be. The best way to save yourself effort down the line is
How to Get More Traffic to Your Website
If a button sits on a website but no one is there to click on it, does it even exist? Having a great website doesn't amount to much if no one is visiting it. Getting website traffic is a common goal for our clients, and there are a few simple steps you can take today to drastically increase your monthly traffic. 1. Use On-Page SEO Ranking when
The Best Growth Hacks for 2020
"Hacking" conjures to mind the image of someone dressed in all black, furiously typing away at a keyboard. But hacking isn't all negative or relegated to cheesy '90s flicks - it can also be a tool for exponential growth. That's where growth hacking comes in. What is Growth Hacking? The original term "growth hacking" was coined by startup advisor
How to Convince Your Boss to Choose GDD Over Traditional Web Design
For those of us in the trenches of marketing and web design every day, it's easy to see the benefit of new technologies. But it's sometimes difficult to communicate those benefits to the boss writing the check. If you know that your website strategy needs to change but aren't sure how to convince your boss to try a new system, this guide will give
Growth-Driven Design for the Manufacturing Industry
In the manufacturing industry, having a functional, beautiful website has historically been an afterthought. It was a "nice thing to have" but not a priority. However, with the rise of smaller shops and more tech-savvy customers, a functional manufacturing website is now a necessity. But why does it have to be such a headache to redesign a
How to Improve Your SEO with Growth-Driven Web Design
Everybody wants to rule the world, but only a select few will rule Google. Ranking on first page in Google search results is a digital marketing goal for every company, but it can be a challenge. We previously gave you tips on how to integrate your inbound marketing campaigns with your SEO, but there is another approach if you aggressively want to
Avoid the Summer Slump: Grow Your Marketing with Growth-Driven Design
Summer is the time for pool parties, outdoor grilling and watching the clock until the end of the work day. It's hard to stay motivated through the summer when business typically slows and your mind is elsewhere. But it's important to keep your momentum going through the summer, instead of falling into the dreaded summer slump. HubSpot asked three
5 Signs It’s Time to Break Up With Your Marketing Agency
It's not you, it's me. No, wait....actually it is you. Sometimes a relationship can seem perfect on the outside, but it's a toxic mess behind the scenes. This is true for agency-client relationships as well. Is your agency giving you what you need? You may not know it, but it may be time to break up. Look for these signs that there's trouble in
Google vs Facebook: Where Should I Run Ads?
You know your customers are online, but how do you reach them? Online advertising is a fantastic way to reach many people quickly, but where should you advertise online? And which is better: Google or Facebook? What are the Differences Between Google Ads and Facebook Ads? The main difference between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads is how ads are
How to Use Instagram for B2B Marketing
Instagram is the land of selfies and food pics, but is there a place for B2B? It may seem like Instagram is only useful for consumer-oriented brands to post cute photos of their products, but B2B brands can also utilize Instagram to generate more business. HubSpot's team at their B2B Marketing Lab created a simple-to-follow guide on how to use
Why Search Intent Optimization is as Important as SEO
How often has this happened to you: you search for a recipe online, click on one of the first results you see in Google... only to be met with a massive wall of text and photos? What do you do? Do you scroll down until you find the actual recipe? Or do you go back to Google, find a link that starts out with the recipe, and use that instead? This
How to Create Inbound Marketing Campaigns that Convert
Anyone can slap together an inbound marketing campaign. But a campaign that actually works? One that consistently brings in high-quality leads? That's a challenge. Creating inbound marketing campaigns that convert requires more planning and maintenance than just throwing everything on the wall and seeing what sticks. But high-converting marketing
How to Build Eyeball-Worthy Emails
Nobody likes an ugly email. If I click into an email and see walls of text, no color, no images, no buttons and not even one shred of bolded text, it's booked itself a one-way ticket to the trash. Are your emails facing a similar fate? With the vast amount of emails we all receive daily, it's important to create eyeball-worthy emails that command
5 Ways You’re Sabotaging Your Landing Pages
Landing pages are the bread-and-butter of inbound marketing. But most landing pages are a burnt piece of toast. It's easy to create landing pages, but creating landing pages that convert is much more of a challenge. There are some basic mistakes that sabotage your landing pages before they ever have a chance to be successful. If your landing pages
Walking the Buyer’s Journey
In the days of print marketing, marketing efforts were broad paint strokes. You sent your fliers to as many mailboxes as you could, knowing a small percentage would actually reach out to you. Marketing wasn't tailored to different buyers, it was general to appeal to as many people as possible. Today's consumers expect a different kind of process.
How to Set SMART Marketing Goals in 5 Steps
It pays to be smart - SMART about your goals, anyway. If your current marketing goals are just "I want to make money," it's time to sit down and come up with some tangible goals. Defining goals is the best way to track your marketing success and get the most bang for your buck. And the best type of goals are SMART goals. What Are SMART
The Only Inbound Marketing Campaign Checklist You’ll Ever Need
Are you ready to get started with inbound marketing, but aren't sure what your first step should be? It's ok - take my hand. Follow me through this easy checklist of what you need, and you'll have your first inbound marketing campaign off the ground in no time. What Is Inbound Marketing? Inbound marketing is customer-oriented and
What is Inbound Marketing and Why You Should Care
Show of hands: who likes being told what to do? In the age of information, customers have more power than ever before to educate themselves and make their own informed choices. Traditionally, marketing was a spray-and-pray method: you told as many people as possible why your business was awesome through marketing pieces like fliers
Google+ Is Shutting Down – Here’s What You Need to Do
It's been on the horizon for months, looming for years, but now it's finally time - Google+ is no more. Google announced a few months ago that its struggling social network would finally be retired, but a recently-revealed security breach moved their final days from August 2019 to April 2019. Here is everything you need to know and do now that
SEO: Expectations vs Reality
Often when clients come to us for SEO work, we hear the same request: "I want to rank on the first page." This is a seemingly simple request, but once you start to unravel it, it becomes very complicated. What keywords do you want to rank for? How many keywords do you want to rank for? How quickly do you want to rank? What marketing
5 Easy Inbound Marketing Ideas
Once you've decided to take the plunge into inbound marketing, you have to face your toughest question - what will your content offerings be? The cornerstone of inbound marketing is offering valuable content your audience wants to engage with. Creating that content is a challenge, especially for first-time inbound marketers. Below are some
How Google Ranks Websites
Ever wonder exactly how Google analyzes every website and ranks it? Behind their incredibly complex (and secret) algorithm are a few surprisingly basic tenants that dictate all website rankings. Google recently shared their approach to search engine optimization (SEO) on their Think With Google blog, and it's a great time to make sure your
How to Use Facebook Ads with Inbound Marketing
Facebook, I'd like you to meet inbound. I think you two will really hit it off. Facebook ads are a great way to quickly get your business in front of many new people, but if you aren't strategic, you might as well just kiss all your money goodbye. Integrating your Facebook ads with an inbound marketing strategy is an easy way to see better
Why Email is More Important Than Ever in 2019
Q: Is email still relevant in 2019? A: Yes. Well that was easy! See you all next week, folks. ... Alright, I guess I should go into more detail. It's easy to defend email as a lasting power when email marketing continues to be one of the marketing channels with the biggest return on investment. Email allows you to reach people in a
How to Use Clickbait (Without Being Annoying)
He pressed "publish" on the blog post. What happened next will shock you. In an age where attention is a valuable commodity, clickbait is the currency of the internet. You've certainly seen clickbait titles while scrolling through Facebook: "Can we guess what [Character From Popular TV Show] you are based on you order at [Fast Casual
What the Most Searched Words of 2018 Tell Us About Consumers in 2019
While the rest of the country waits for the ball to drop on New Year's Day, we at BizzyWeb anxiously await another end-of-the-year-event: Google's Most Searched Words. Each year, Google looks back at the top search trends and we couldn't be more excited. Besides being really, really cool (in our professional opinion) the top searched terms tell us
WordPress 5.0: What You Need to Know
The times they are a-changing. In the beginning of December, WordPress began rolling out the new version of their editor, which drastically changes how the interface looks. If your website was built in WordPress you may not have seen the change just yet, but it's expected to roll out on every website within the next few
Why You Should Use Topics, Not Keywords
Conventional wisdom says if you want to rank on Google, you need to focus on keywords. But is that really the case anymore? Are keywords still important? The truth is that Google is shifting away from keywords and toward topics. What Are Keywords? Keywords are exactly what they sound like - key words that you want to rank for on Google.
5 Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas
By now, the holidays are in full swing - it's time to make your list and check it twice: Baked cookies ✓ Hung the stockings by the chimney with care ✓ Set up a holiday marketing plan ✖ Oops! Don't put yourself on the naughty list just yet - there's still time to pull together some last-minute holiday marketing. 1. Use Your
How to do Keyword Research (And Why It Matters)
How do you find what you're looking for online? Would you type into Google, "floral plants with petals" or "florists near me?" Language is important. With our florist example, the "right" language is obvious, but more often than not it isn't that clear cut. The closer you are to a business, the harder it is to look at it from an outsider's
Inbound Marketing Cheat Sheet
Marketing doesn't come naturally to us at BizzyWeb. Yes, we know it - we live it, we breathe it, we occasionally dream about it - but like any other skill set it requires diligent learning and years of study. If you've done any marketing or research on your own, you've probably come across some terms that, frankly, seem like another language. Our