Google My Business (GMB) is definitely a must-have when it comes to operating a business at any level, but there’s also a level of strategy that needs to be considered when doing so. There is really no end to how strategic you want to work GMB into your digital marketing plans for 2020, especially with voice search optimisation now a major player. So, ready player one? Let’s start with the basics to get you thinking on the right track.

Claim it

Every business that operates offline or online should have a Google My Business listing. We say ‘should’, because, more surprisingly, you will find that more than a quarter of local businesses are yet to be claimed. A Google study in 2016 told us that 56% of local retailers haven’t claimed their Google My Business (GMB) listing. By 2019, this number would drop, but not drastically as you’d expect.

If you’re local, you’re definitely going to want to be seen in those map listings that appear in Google search.
It’s important to note that if your business is claimed, it will look well-maintained. Updated information, great photos, accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) etc.

If it is not claimed, it may not even appear in a local search. If your business does pop-up in the search engine, like in our example, but you haven’t claimed it, it will say at the bottom of the map listing ‘’claim this business’. You’ll then be redirected to the Google My Business page to get started.

#TIP

Check first.

Google search your business name and see if it appears right of screen like in the example below. As you can see, the business name has been entered in the search bar, and if your digital marketing is managed well, your search should look something like the image below.

Mapping & NAP

Note that on the Cutri & Co. Barber Shop example, the information provided should be consistent with all web domains, social media accounts and e-commerce sites representing the brand. By keeping everything the same, Google will award you points, and this can improve your web ranking. The critical information of your business is known as the NAP (Name, Address, Phone) and coupled with Google reviews, will preference your business amongst local competitors when a generic search takes place.

Example in this case, if you were to search ‘’Barber Rozelle’’, the business example should appear in the top 3 recommendations, if not the overall number 1 top pick by Google matching with your search.
As you can see, this has been achieved by the marketers in this screen-grab below.

Mapping is much the same to NAP. Google Maps tend to be the preferred navigation option to consumers. If your information isn’t updated regularly, this can effect your overall web ranking and mapping visibility to Google. As Google are constantly doing changes to improve functionality, not to mention keeping up with all the changes to roads/traffic conditions, you will be solely responsible for maintaining this aspect, and advising Google of changes to your business listing and any factors that may hinder a consumer reaching you & your services.

Need help with your Google My Business (GMB) strategy in 2019?

Reach out to us at GYA today for your complimentary consultation and free GMB audit.

• A real breakdown on how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works.
• What you can do to navigate heavy fees from agencies.
• Most importantly, learn to compete as businesses begin the race to leverage Voice Engine Optimisation (VEO) in 2019.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO embodies techniques, tools and strategy that allows the information you publish on your website to be discovered, improving and maximising reach. Your web content is later ranked against similar websites on search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing etc.
Keywords and phrases are the bread & butter to SEO, and this works cohesively with your webpage content.

Example:
Google search Chiropractor Leichhardt, and you’ll more than likely see the first 3-5 or more results all displaying the commodity & location you searched in a blue page title link. These keywords can also been seen in the text below the title. Adding related keywords & phrases to your content such as; Back-pain, Sharp Pains, Best Chiropractor Sydney, help immensely. Makes sense right?

By implementing the above, you have a greater chance of driving people to your website to check out your information & content.

The Digital Farmer’s Market

If you’re new to the marketing world, or well-immersed in it already, chances are you’ve heard somebody coin the term “Organic growth”.

Organic growth in the marketing world is a win by most standards. Essentially, the aim of the game is to make your web content easy to find and search friendly for your core target market.

The reasoning behind the organic term is to simply imply that you’re “discovered” and “found” by the customer, as opposed to something more direct, like an Ad Pop-up window jumping across your page.

As you’re by now aware, ironically, there is nothing really organic & natural about this process. It’s also very well reported and analysed by teams to change strategies accordingly.

Head’s Up!

For the record, you can make a report do anything you want if you have an agenda. Unfortunately, this tends to be the case for most agencies that aren’t invested in your long term goals.

We’ll tell you what signs to look for in a sec, but first, let’s breakdown what SEO embodies and encompasses.

Why You Need Great Content & Creditability To Succeed With SEO in 2019

The cool kid threw all the parties because he wanted to be popular, and so do you, right?! Well, maybe not you, but your business certainly does if it wants to survive in a competitive market.

Your website ranking is tallied by search engines when websites provide links to your page and your website as a whole.
To companies like Google, links from external websites are considered a vote of confidence in usefulness & relevancy to your content.

Shared links from highly reputable websites have far more pull than lesser known sites. Typically, the more links you gain from reputable websites, the better your website will rank.

Heads Up!

A great way to leverage the “cool kid” theory is to approach a business dissimilar to yours, find something to offer their customers they cannot, (while keeping it relevant to their brand) agree to a cross promotional marketing event or tactic at a low cost to your business to maximise the return on investment, (ROI) and support each other via the digital channels you operate in the lead-up, during, and post-period to the partnered strategy.

Content is KING.

If you aren’t invested in your online content, you will lose in the marketplace.

Content has become so pivotal to your product, now more than ever in 2019. Heavy discounting, supply chain conglomerates, overnight shipping etc, are just a few of the reasons why you need your brand to standout and be reputable amongst your core demographics.

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is now one of the most powerful platforms to embody a SEO strategy. It’s important to consider SMO when formulating your SEO plan for 2019-2020.

Create a lifestyle for your brand, know your target market, and when implementing SEO tactics for your business, remember to humanise your approach as much as possible without coming across lazy.

When looking for the right strategy to boost your online traffic it’s important to be realistic, open-minded and importantly, creative. No two strategies will ever be the same if marketing team are doing the good correctly.

Tell us how you would like to Generate Your Audience?

You Can’t Measure Effort But You Can Measure PPC

PPC is a great indication, not only that you’re meeting deliverables and KPI’s, but it’s pretty easy to read & evaluate if your content, campaign, or communication sucks.

How Much Is PPC Advertising?

The actual pricing of PPC can be called CPC — Cost Per Click. CPC is what you pay, however it’s no set-rate, it can vary depending on who you’re advertising with, what you’re advertising for, and how in-demand the advertising space is.

The average spend of your CPC will be $1-2 USD. It can increase to as much as $50 per click and more. As stated, it depends on the variables mentioned.

Another metric to look at is the Cost per thousand, AKA Cost Per Mille.It’s a marketing term used to denote the price of 1,000 advertisement impressions on one webpage. If a website publisher charges $2.00 CPM, that means an advertiser must pay $2.00 for every 1,000 impressions of its ad.

FACT: Helpful hint to remember the formula; Mille is Italian for 1,000. Grazie Mille = Thanks so much. You’re welcome, Marketeers!

PPC IS TARGETED

PPC is great because it can be as targeted as you like. Create ad-words based on your audience, their location, sex, hobbies, language, age, interests, keywords, even their device type.

It enables you to more accurately measure what’s actually engaging your audience and what they could care less about.

That’s not all.
As 98% of initial traffic doesn’t buy your services or product, you get the opportunity to display another ad to that customer who wasn’t impressed the first time round. This is called re-marketing. It’s surprisingly efficient and cost effective.

#TIP

A handy webpage to use is called crazyegg.com
Crazy Egg allows you to truly see what you’re audience is clicking by using their heat map technology. It also gives you insight into where your audience starts and stops scrolling throughout your webpage.

The great thing about PPC is that you start seeing definitive ROI almost straight away. It can take a few attempts to get your content right, but why waste time and money when you can have the team at GYA do it for you?

Let’s Generate Your Audience with PPC.

Firstly.

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce is short for electronic commerce. Also known as EC. EC is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C) or consumer-to-business (C2B).

The online world we live in.

What defines an online marketplace?

“An online marketplace is a website or app that facilitates shopping from many different sources. The operator of the marketplace does not own any inventory, their business is to present other people’s inventory to a user and facilitate a transaction.” – Forbes

Why You Should Use Online Marketplaces to Sell Your Products

Using established online marketplaces such as, Amazon, for example, is the most cost effective way for anyone looking to sell their products online and through a trusted network.

Sites like eBay & Amazon allow you to set-up your online business with a simplified and guided approach, at the same time reducing your own workload. For startups this can be a great place to start in the e-commerce world.

What’s the catch?

Like everything in life, there are some downsides.Using an established online marketplace induces low flexibility when it comes to your product’s personalisation.
As mentioned, the fees aren’t necessarily expensive, though, if you were to invest in establishing your own online platform to sell from, you would be reducing your spend drastically.

Keep in mind you would start seeing results over the long-term, and unless you’ve got a heap of investment capital backing you, it will be difficult to manage ongoing website and supply chain functionality. Perhaps it’s best to leave the online trading to the big fish?

#TIP

If you’re just starting out with online sales, practice for a while as a 3rd-party seller on some of the already established online marketplaces.
Take a look at the recommended list we’ve created for you.

Online Marketplaces to Sell Your Products in 2019

1: Amazon
Amazon is the biggest e-commerce company in the world with separate retail websites for 16 countries, including; the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, China, Japan, Australia, India, Singapore, Mexico, and Turkey.

2: eBay
eBay is an American global e-commerce corporation that has 24 country-specific websites strengthening its presence in the following countries: the United States, Canada, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

3: Etsy
4: Zibbet
5: Walmart
 
 
If you’d like genuine advice on wether-or-not it’s time to move your business online, talk with us at GYA. At GYA, we’ll also be able to give you exclusive insights from some of Australia’s highly-regarded leaders in retail.
Together, we’ll go the extra mile for you. We want to see your business win in the marketplace.

By now, you clever marketeers have already established a sound understanding of Digital Marketing & all that encompasses it.

So, we’ve taken some time to outline and highlight key strategic focuses to pay attention to, and incorporate, into your digital marketing plans for 2020. Take a look at what’s trending in 2019 to get you there quicker.

#TRENDING

Voice Search

It is estimated by Klick that by the year 2020, 30% of the web browsing will be done without touching the screen. In addition to this, estimates 50% of searches will be conducted through voice commands.

Voice Search will play a major role in future and how we evolve as a society. Voice queries make sense, as they allow you to multi-task like never before, whether you are unable to type while cooking or remember that last minute item you need to order while driving.

Whilst developing your marketing strategy, it’s important to play into voice search deeper than you have previously. As the technology becomes stronger and faster, we too, as people, become better multitaskers. Many argue this could make us, as a human race, dependent and less intelligent, though, we argue that, as we take on more information at rapid speed and on-demand, we will be smarter for it.

If you’d like to understand how voice search can be optimised for your business, click here to be taken to our piece on Voice Search Optimisation (VEO).

#TRENDING

VIDEO MARKETING

Video is becoming so paramount to every business. In fact, in 2020 we’ll start to see businesses solely focus their bi—tri-yearly agendas based around their video content.

Video CAN be the highlight of any marketing endeavour. Video is a great way to distribute the message effectively while providing entertainment to the viewers. Video has the lowest skim-rate of all advertisement, so, if you’ve got sharp content that sells a dream, you’re on your way to the bank to make some deposits.

Video content does not have to be high cost!
With technology rapidly evolving, we now have the luxury to pull out our smart devices and film in 1080p & 4k resolution.
Reasonably priced editing software such as, Apple’s Final Cut Pro X and Adobe’s Premiere Pro CC, will allow you to edit video at industry standard.

PS: Always check with a publisher like APRA AMCOS, BMI or ASCAP when using music in your clip. If it’s copyright protected and/or you haven’t paid the fees, your video will be blocked and repercussions for your webpage may be sanctioned.

#TRENDING

CONTENT

At GYA we believe content is the most powerful tool to any business. Content can be the key to unlocking new customers, relaying your mission statement, driving brand awareness, and switching to-and-from campaigns with added flair.

People are putting far more trust in reputable content instead of relying on advertisements.

#TIP

Simply put, the more engaging and informative your content is, the better your chances are to be noticed online.
When forming your content try to think who your audience is, what you want them to feel— when they watch or read your content, and also, how is this content relevant to the long-term campaign?

It has to all tie-together.
Take the time to sit down with your brand & marketing teams to create the “Hero campaign”. This can last 1-2 years, and ultimately, it should compliment your company’s agenda.

Then, figure out the “sub-focus” campaigns. Sub-focus content is a mini-campaign that sits within the hero campaign. You can create as many sub-focuses as you like, but a good number to start with is four. One for each quarter of the year.

The more your resources, the better your team, the more you can achieve greater brand awareness to your target market. Look to GYA for content marketing solutions that speak to your customers with sincerity, professionalism and care. We tailor digital campaigns that suit any business and budget.