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Website design trends

Web Design & Marketing Trends Blog

The world of responsive website design & digital marketing is constantly changing. Google makes huge changes to Google My Business every week! At LDR Design Agency, we encourage our clients to stay on top of website edits and social marketing. (We'll do the hard stuff, of course!) 

- Enjoy Our Web Design and Marketing Trends Blog -

 

Writing the Perfect Blog

Whether you run a multi-millionaire enterprise or a small online bakery, content marketing works for everyone. The spending budget for content marketing for brands has exploded in recent years as most of the audience opts for content rather than paid advertisements. However, content marketing may fall short without proper search engine optimization since it doesn’t reach the targeted audience properly.

To reach your target audience with fantastic articles and blog content, you need to ensure your content follows the SEO tips mentioned below:

One H1 Tag per Page

SEO Tips to Write the Perfect BlogEvery SEO expert will advise a novice to use only one H1 heading in blog content. For those who don't know, H1 is an HTML tag that is one of the most important among all six headings. Consider your H1 heading the blog title. When you use a catchy H1 tag containing a long-tail keyword related to the content, search engines will crawl your website to check for relevant content.

If there are multiple H1 tags on your blog, you are focusing your content on too many keyword phrases. It won’t confuse the search engine but will impact the importance and effectiveness of a single H1 tag.

Add Image Alt Attributes before Posting

Your website images are just as important for search engine optimization (SEO) as your content. More than 30% of Google’s search engine results pages display images in response to your search. Therefore, by adding image alt attributes to your images, you could be losing out on a potential customer. Image alt attributes can help you attract interested traffic to your site and create a better user experience.

Optimize Images

Optimization of images is necessary to ensure that your content is more attractive, accessible, and engaging to all users. Image tags help search engines find relevant information on your website and help in speeding up page loading. The lesser time a page takes to load, the higher the chances that a visitor may stay on the page and enjoy their experience on the website.

To optimize your website images, you need to choose the correct size of images, pick the suitable image format, select the perfect compression rate, optimize image file names, use relevant alt tags, optimize image titles, use unique images, and utilize site maps. All of these practices will help increase page speeds and improve user experience.

Research and Use Appropriate Keywords

To cut through the clutter of your competitor’s content, you need to add relevant keywords to your articles. Utilize expert keyword research tools to find phrases and words your potential customer is searching for. However, keyword research must be done periodically to ensure that you aren’t missing out on ranking opportunities.

For a fully optimized page that reads well, don’t force keywords in or stuff them. Too many keywords can oversaturate a post and take visitors off your website, indicating to search engines that your blog does not meet their needs.

Writing Blogs Is A Powerful SEO Strategy

entrepreneur writing perfect blogWhat is your website content strategy?

People love to read quality content that helps them find the answers they are researching. If you are asking yourself - what quality content looks like, read more about standards that define the quality of the content. When you are done, optimizing your blog with good SEO is the only way to unlock the full potential of content marketing.

For If your website is not on top of the SERP, visitors may not be able to find your blog content and discover your business or brand. Fewer visits to your website may mean fewer customers and lesser revenue. Writing the perfect blog using search engine optimization can help bring in interested traffic and retain them for a longer time.

With the SEO tips mentioned above, you can write winning content that attracts your target audience and helps them find your content much more easily. It is more than keywords - content is still king.

Take advantage of the growing power of blogs. Be the expert and become the resource your best clients are looking for. 

Seeking help with the SEO part of writing a blog? 

We have content marketing plans that are just up your alley! Write blogs that educate your customers, blogs that brand YOU as the expert. Then the LDR team will add the SEO elements that are Google smart. Ready to outsmart your competition with a powerful content strategy put into action?  Schedule a Zoom meeting with an SEO Expert at LDR. 

Powerful About Us Pages:

6 Tips to Tell Your Brand’s Story

Are you building a new website or thinking about revamping an existing one? If you’re contemplating the idea of rewriting and redesigning your About Us page, you’re already on the right track.

Although sometimes neglected by website owners with its link is hidden away at the bottom of the website, or worse, featuring copy that reads like an afterthought, this supporting page is essential for building trust and long-lasting relationships with your target audience.

Writing an About Us Page: Things to Remember

This page is where the company and its employees can say, “This is who we are,” and give the audience a chance to get to know the people behind the brand, the brand story, and the unique attributes that set the brand apart from competitors.

If you’re not sure about how to write an About Us page, the following will help you get started:

1. Answer All the “Whys” on Your About Us Page

Answer all the questions starting with “why” that your target audience might have regarding your company or brand. For example, you could add in the brand story and include details of how and why it started.

This will help the target audience connect with the brand at the root level. Instead of focusing on why they should buy your products, focus on explaining why they should buy from you and not from someone else.

2. Add a Smashing Headline

As with any other webpage, the banner copy or page title and all the headers should be attention-grabbing and something that your specific target audience can relate to and connect with instantly.

Take a look at your competitors’ About Us pages to see what they’re doing to create a bond with their target audiences through headlines, and try to incorporate ideas you think will work for your brand identity and voice.

3. Build Authority

You and your employees might have garnered several years of experience in your particular industry, and you should flaunt it without shame. The About Us pages are perfect for building authority and trust by sharing tidbits about your expertise and experience.

You can also provide information related to any nominations, awards, or certificates that you or your team members have received in the industry and highlight any content that showcases your authority in a specific niche.

4. Add Benefits for the Target Audience

Although this supporting page is there to highlight the brand’s story and background, it’s crucial to make your target audience the center of attention for all your web pages, including the About Us pages. Your copy should include the benefits your clients will receive through the brand.

As mentioned earlier, these benefits are not so much about the products but highlight why partnering with you, in particular, will prove advantageous for the target audience. Focus on the strengths of the brand, the value-added elements, and the overall benefits of working with your team.

5. Add a Touch of Personality

If you look at a few excellently written and designed About Us web pages, you’ll notice that most brands use this space as an opportunity to get up-close and personal with their audience. However, this does not mean that you have to drift away from your existing brand voice to do so. Do not hesitate to tell your story! So often company leaders are so humble in talking about how things got started, but this is where real interest aside from selling gets to live.

Your brand personality should be consistent with your target audience, and it should convey messages in a way that’s the most relatable for them. Customers are more likely to purchase from a brand if its personality matches their own personality. They are seeking a company they "know, like, and trust" that is they want to feel good about their decision. 

6. Add Images and Videos

In addition to written content, you can also build trust, convey messages, and share the brand story with images and videos. However, if you want your brand to be perceived as authentic and genuine, you might need to steer clear of stock images and videos and choose personal photos and videos. 

With a few behind-the-scenes images and videos of your company, the processes, and its people, you can instantly create a strong bond with the target audience.

Concluding Remarks

The About Us page is a great place to speak about your staff being experts in their fields. So give yourself credit, and stand out!

These were some of the many tips and tricks to make the About Us page stand out among competitor websites and help you create a long-lasting bond with your target audience. It’ll be best to take a look at some About Us page examples and take inspiration from the ones that you like.

Seeking support with writing and publishing a powerful About Us page for your business?  Speak to the LDR Content Development team about options. We're here to take your website to the next level. Let us impress you soon! 

quality content writer

How to Write Quality Content

Website content is ranked by a lot of factors. One big one is quality! That is why Google is a household go to for any type of search, whether it’s finding a place to eat or someone to fix the drywall. We’ll go over some quality content practices you can integrate into all of your website pages to get them ranking better!

What Does Quality Content Look Like?

No matter your outlook on Google or any other search engine, their primary goal is that of helping the public find what they are looking for. Beyond that, these companies really strive to give you the most qualified search results possible. Google and the like depend on certain algorithms that help them list the most “quality driven” pages possible.

There are a few standards to keep in mind when trying to aim for your quality content to rank.

Be Helpful.

If your header and URL read “Tips for Straining Pasta” then your content should be all about that. If your page is found to just be click-bait so that readers will want to buy your pasta, you will find yourself on page 30 in no time. The overall goal is to be helpful, addressing the problems readers face.

Be relevant.

Quality posts and pages rank best when the topic is something that is currently trending in a search. If you are addressing an issue from 10 years ago, you're not really speaking to today’s browsers. This also means you will have to go through old content on your site from time to time and update it. That’s a good thing though, because search engines like newly updated sites.

Be accurate.

If you are falsifying information, you are doing a disservice to your readers and yourself. Search engines will catch on and penalize your URL. Being in Google jail could be a death sentence for your brand.

Be readable.

This means avoiding legalese or talking over the typical reader’s head. Your aim is to have an 8th grade reading level at the highest. Any higher than that and you’ve lost the reader and search engine ranking. Make sure your content is also easy to digest. This means break up long paragraphs and sentences, use subheadings, and use consecutive sentences.

Read more: How to Write Quality Content

7 Ways to Change Up Your Marketing

Does it ever feel you are making the same moves in marketing and getting no response? Your social media seems stale and your ads just aren’t working. There is no secret formula for getting more attention, but there are ways to change up your marketing that will make a difference.

1. Research the Competition

It’s not cheating to look into what your competitors are doing. It’s actually a recommended move to make when you are a local business. See what the other local businesses and even big box stores are doing right. Sure, it can be intimidating to try comparing yourself to a big conglomerate, but you might get some ideas.

2. Network with Your Centers of Influence

Networking can be a powerful tool, if you do it right. Before you go out to meet others, set a standard. Talking to everyone will just waste your time and energy. First, find out who your centers of influence are. These are other businesses who share your type of customers and are most likely to refer you. For example, a payroll service would be a great center of influence for a tax auditor, provided they don’t offer the same services.

3. Research What is Working

Constantly plugging away at something that is not working... well, won’t work. If your social media is unsuccessful, figure out why. You might be on the wrong platform. Making sure you’re getting your content in front of the right audiences is crucial. Not all businesses are going to market the same. Local business pages make sense on Facebook, but not as much sense on LinkedIn.

Remember the reason you market – to make the phone ring! While you are answering the calls, ask the potential client how they found you and keep track of it. Then you will have a sure-fire answer to what is working for you currently.

4. Spend Money

change up your marketing

Once you’ve figured out what is working, don’t be afraid to throw money at it. Spending money doesn’t have to be expensive. You can boost a post on Facebook for $20 or put an Ad on Google for $100. Don’t forget though, the competition will also be throwing money around. Spend yours wisely and don’t go crazy trying to compete with a big entity.

Read more: 7 Ways to Change Up Your Marketing

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