Monthly Archives: February 2016

How Customers Find Your Business: What Is Rated Most Trustworthy?

online-trust-authorityWhen planning marketing campaigns online or when planning a traditional marketing campaign using a combination of technology and tried and true marketing strategies is there really a difference? Do customers see some forms of finding a business more trustworthy than others?

Research by the North American Technographics Media and Marketing Survey from 2008 indicates it really does have an impact. Surprisingly, some of the areas your business may be focusing on the most have the least reported level of being a trusted referral source.

The Lowest Ratings

This result is a bit of a surprise as blogging is seen as such an important part of branding; but it is not a great part of building trust. Apparently consumers see it is branding as well as only 16% of the people surveyed in the United States reported they trusted the information found on company blogs.

Another interesting finding was that social networking company profile sites were not that much more trustworthy according to the study. Only 18% of people trusted these online sites as a source of accurate and correct information.

While the specific reasons weren’t listed in the results, it isn’t hard to put it together. People see company blogs, social media sites and profiles, online classified, direct mail and emails from a company as the least reliable sources of accurate and truthful information, all coming in at under 30%. Instead, they see it as marketing, which is what it really is.

What is Trusted: Online Content Sites, Search Engines and Personal Referrals

So, if all these company and business directed sites are seen than less than trustworthy, what are the trusted information sources?

Emails from people you know are the number one most trusted source at 77%. Getting your customers to forward emails is, therefore, a great way to turn a lower level trust marketing option into the highest level.

Independent consumer surveys, reports and reviews were the next highest at 60%, followed by search engine results at 50%. This is interesting as it shows the power of moving your website up the search engine rankings to tap into that 50% trusted source number.

Additionally, having your products reviewed with ratings on your own site or through independent sites is also a top decision. When you allow customer ratings for products on your site, you can double dip into this trust level, creating a true win-win situation for everyone.

Hallmarks of Trustworthy Sites

Making a website more trustworthy is essential both to move up through the search engine ranking as well as to give searchers that immediate sense of confidence when they hit your landing page.Trust

Trustworthy websites provide accurate and honest information about the products and services they are offering. They don’t make wild promises, and they use unique, original content, not cut and paste information off other sites.

Today’s consumers are savvy when it comes to spotting websites that are outdated, not using top encryption and security, and that don’t appear to be authentic. Enhancing your website will not only add to the time customers spend on your site, but it will also help with organic search engine results.

Let us help you get started in building your website as a trusted source on any search engine result page. Give us a call today at 212-686-0806, as a top NYC marketing company we can provide results.

 

Beyond Google With Bing And Yahoo

google-seo

As a business owner, you already know the importance of keeping your options open and marketing to the widest possible customer base possible. Today, many SEO companies and consultants stress the importance of optimizing a business website for Google while failing to talk about the importance of Bing and Yahoo.

The Reality of Google

google-seo-marketing-benefitsThere is no doubt that Google is the overwhelming leader when it comes to a search engine. Around the world “googling” is now a recognized term used to indicate an online search, and this creates a lot of increased brand recognition for this search engine.

According to Statista, Google is the overwhelming favorite as a search engine, accounting for just over 88% of worldwide searches. In the UnitedStates, it accounts for about 67% of online searches, with Bing a distant second at just under 18%. Following in third place is Yahoo at about 12% of online searches, and these numbers are fairly steady on an annual basis.

What this means is that Google should be a primary focus when website optimization is considered, but about 25 to 30% of people finding your site, or almost one in four, will come from Yahoo, Bing or another search engine.

The Connections

While it may seem difficult to try to optimize for three different search engine systems, they are really not that independent. In fact, Bing and Yahoo are actually powered through Microsoft. Bing is also the search engine used for Facebook, which is why if you search for a business on that platform and don’t find a site you are directed to the Bing search results by default.

The Benefits

The algorithms used by Google and also by the grouping of Bing and Yahoo, are very different. While the actual formulations are very complex and constantly evolving and changing, Google tends to be more challenging to keep on top of while the other search engines tend to be more easily optimized.

To rank higher for Bing and Yahoo consider the following:

  • Focus more on tags, including meta and title tags, as the source of your keyword use. This doesn’t include a big change; just make sure your primary and secondary keywords are used in the headers,titles, and meta tags.
  • Link your social media sites to your website and use keywords consistently between the platforms. This will add to the opportunity to be seen through Bing with a Facebook search.
  • Make sure you have effective links to your website and link to reputable, recognized sites.
  • Don’t be afraid to use a small amount of Flash media on a site, but realize Google won’t read or index the content. However, Bing, and hence Yahoo, will.
  • Have local information and local specific keywords. Bing and Yahoo are going to provide a priority for local companies and businesses over the online giants selling the same products and services.

In many ways, SEO strategies for Bing and Yahoo are more traditional, but they can easily incorporated with the newer and more advanced algorithms used by Google. Our NYC marketing company will be able to assess your website and ensure it is optimized for all three search engines, give us a call today at 212-686-0806 and let’s talk about how we can help.