LOCALiQ | Columbus Marketing Blog

Start With a Digital Foundation

Before you start to get overwhelmed with optimization, mobilization, engagement, and other “zations”, take a breather and think simple: build your digital foundation. Think of a foundation for a home or building. It’s pretty boring. It’s got no bells or whistles. Nothing special to look at. It doesn’t catch your eye. Yet without it, you can not have a structurally sound house or build off of it with aesthetic and functional elements.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your digital presence, start here:

The world of business is growing increasingly more competitive with each passing day. It’s more important than ever to have a solid plan in place to capture the attention of new customers, get them to stick around, and turn them into loyal repeat customers. In this article, we’re going to walk you through the three stages of the customer lifecycle and proven strategies you can implement to build a loyal following.

1. Love at First Site (Acquisition)

The consumer market is a rapidly evolving animal that you need to constantly stay on top of to gain the upper hand over your competitors. Your brand’s first impression is one of the single most important experiences in the customer lifecycle, and here’s how to make the most of it.

If you want your website to be a lead generation tool for your business, you need to drive traffic to it. If you want to drive traffic to your website, you need to give it a prominent presence on the web. Here are ten steps you can [and should definitely] take to make sure your website stands out, gets noticed, and helps to grow your business.

1. Get Search Engines to Notice Your Website

SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic (unpaid) search results. SEO is a vital component to your website’s success and must be planned properly to grab the attention of the right people.

Utilizing specific keywords and content throughout your website will be one of the primary ways to help you succeed at SEO. Conduct some keyword research to find which words and phrases you should be using. Also, be as specific to your product or service as possible to ensure you’re only pulling traffic that actually wants what you’re selling.

For example:
Option 1: Personal trainer

Option 2: Personal trainer for women in Boston

Obviously, option 2 is going to attract a specific demographic so you won’t be getting men from Arizona calling you for your training rates, and that’s a good thing.

There are other technical tips to improve SEO like optimizing your page to load quickly and revisiting your site’s navigation and internal links structure. If you have a webmaster, you should definitely be putting this on the table for discussion.

As a blog and business owner, you want to ensure that all your efforts aren’t being wasted on non-essential tasks. If you are seeking to make an income from your blog, you need to be sure that your efforts are paying dividends. Using conversion hacks can help you increase not only your web traffic, but also your number of email subscribers, and paying customers. Learn the top conversion tactics that will help you transform your blog into a profitable business. 

Understanding Conversions

Conversions are a necessary part of any successful blogging strategy. No matter whether you are just starting out as a blogger or already have an established online presence, conversions are the key to success. Understanding what a conversion is can help you to develop your income strategy.

A website conversion is the most important factor to the success of your online marketing strategy and goals. It means getting your visitors to do what you want them to do, whether that is to buy your product, sign up for your newsletter, or fill out a lead/contact form. Having a marketing website is useless if it doesn’t present the opportunity to close sales or generate leads. You can create these opportunities by using lead generation software like optinmonster.com/ which enables you to create lead capture forms through an easy to use drag and drop builder tool where you can create aesthetically pleasing opt-in forms that are optimized for the highest conversion rates.

If you are looking to run a profitable blog you need to know what motivates your site visitors so that you can convince them to take the action you desire. Ultimately, the goal is to have their actions result in profit for you, whether it is through ads or referral revenue, or service or product sales.

Take back your weekend with these five strategies.

Vicki Salemi, Monster Career ExpertEveryone in the workforce looks forward to the end of the workweek: When 5 o’clock rolls around on Friday, liberation commences!

Well, until Sunday morning, that is.

In theory the whole weekend should be your time, but most Americans spend their final 24 hours fretting about their jobs. According to a recent poll by Monster, 76% of Americans report having “really bad” Sunday night blues—generally defined as depression over the fact that one night’s sleep stands between you and a new workweek.

Maybe that’s because here in the United States our identities are intrinsically wrapped around our occupations. We have become what we do for a living, and we live to work instead of work to live. We could be leisurely enjoying a three-hour Sunday night dinner with family or friends, but instead we’re quickly devouring dinner, logging in and immersing ourselves in work mode to get ahead before Monday morning hits.

Want to avoid the dread? Take hints from the other 24% of Americans who are enjoying their weekends to the fullest :

Your caffeine-and-sugar fix isn’t cutting it? Nosh your way to a productive workday with these healthy snacks and foods.

Moira Lawler, Monster contributor

For busy working people such as yourself, it’s easy to think of food in terms of what it helps your body stop doing: It quells stomach growls during meetings and suppresses the hangry feelings that put you this close to blasting off a snarky email to co-workers.

Scratch that approach and start thinking about what your workday lunch (and every other meal, too) can do for you and your brainpower.

If you eat smarter, the healthy food you put into your body can actually act as a brain booster and might just improve your workplace performance. Need lunch ideas for work, or some healthy snacks to stock up on? These foods can help keep your brain at its prime.

Originally Posted on Monster.com By: Reva Nelson

You can’t go more than few days without a major headline about opioid addiction and the massive toll it has taken on families, communities and our society. What is less discussed is that opioid addiction at work is also a serious concern for employers. 

Across the U.S., prescription painkiller abuse is costing employers somewhere between $18 billion and $25.5 billion a year, due to missed workdays, lost productivity and medical expenses, according to recent analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study and a study by Castlight Health. 

As many as 71% of U.S. employers say they have been affected by employee misuse of legally prescribed medications as such opioids in a 2017 survey by the National Safety Council, based on more than 500 interviews with HR decision makers.