Auckland manufacturing firm, Cabjaks makes kitchen cabinets. They worked with Creative Agency Secrets for 3 months to improve their keyword natural search results, SEM and on-site keyword SEO.
Cabjaks Manufacturing kitchen cabinets
Summary of outcomes: Adwords results
In January when we started they sold a small amount of goods based on clicks from Adwords.
By March the revenues from Adwords clicks were up by 413%.
April is performing even better.
Cabjaks is becoming a strong brand on Google properties too
There have been 6 Five Star reviews in March (the previous one was September 2015).
We are now on page 6 of local search (up from 20+) and importantly a competitor is falling off the second page.
The YouTube optimisation has gained a 13% increase in views.
And Analytics confirms a 12% increase in website visitors over the past 30 days.
A “zero to hero” response in just three months demonstrates the success of our work with this manufacturing brand.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/zero-to-hero-cabjaks.jpg341845Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-05-20 10:58:072016-08-24 12:41:23Case Study: zero to local hero for manufacturer
There are only five things that you want a business website to do.
get found natural search
answer questions
bring in enquiries
get prospects to reveal their identity
showcase expertise
What this means is that an effective website should be shortcutting the amount of time it takes to get a new customer.
Three tests to do now
So how can you tell if your current website is performing? Here are 3 tests you can run which are free and will take you around five minutes to do.
Hubspot Grader – Hubspot has a website grader tool which can easily appraise your current website using publicly available information. This is not perfect but it gives you a score out of 100 and then explains where your website could be improved. Remember this is a marketing tool designed to sell the Hubspot service. https://website.grader.com/
WooRank –This is a Chrome Browser extension which does a similar job to Hubspot and can be used to double check your own website in a similar manner. I find it very useful.https://www.woorank.com/en/p/developers
Google Page Analytics. If you have Google analytics installed on your website and you are logged into the service you can open up your own website and using the Page Analytics chrome extension appraise exactly the % of people who have clicked on each hyperlink. I like to start with the homepage and to see which links are performing well.
This was what told me that many home page sliders are not working well for our clients.And has led me to recommend discontinuing using them.Go check yours out.
Now let us have a look at how are your website displays in natural search on Google.
Firstly Google looks at four aspects of your site: Words, Pictures, Video and Maps. Of course having all of these is the best way to be – but if you only have one, you should plan to add others.
Search for your business by name in your local Google. You should see a listing on the left hand side of the page and a map and logo listing on the right hand side which includes a Google Streetview if you have an address listed. Here is an example of one of them.
Natural Search Listing on Google
If the information is incorrect. It is urgent that you correct it.
I was searching for a Real Estate agent recently and got given the wrong office phone number from my search. You can imagine how annoying that must be!
Change how your business displays in Search
You can edit the display listings on Google search by registering your website in Google My Business. https://www.google.co.nz/business/You must get verified before you can do the edits but it is very simple.
In the tool you can link your Google analytics account, maps, YouTube account, reviews and G+. This means that Google has an accurate, integrated record of everything your business adds. You can see how important this is as Google dominates search in New Zealand.
Tips for editing your business description
The first 3 lines are the most important part and so you must put both a short description of your organisation, one line about your services or products, and how to contact you. This last should be a hyperlink so you can send visitors to the correct page on your website.
Getting Search to give you insights
Google analytics is your friend because once you have an Analytics account you also get a Search Console account. This was formerly called Google Webmaster Tools. By associating the two accounts you can then help your analytics to display additional useful information. It’s very important to have a sitemap and then you can display insights inside your analytics account for your marketing team.
In the old days Google allowed you to see what search terms were being used that brought visitors to your website. They stopped doing this because it cut into their advertising revenue. Now you can see search phrases and the number of times your website has been displayed for each phrase. It is less specific then before but it still gives you a good general idea. In our e-book how to Get My Website Working For Me we explain how to edit the six pages that Google displays underneath your business name.
You should consider which of these six pages is the most important and the order in which you want to display them. You can “Demote” a page so that Google displays an alternative.For example you should have your contact us page on the listing but you may choose not to have a list of clients.
Setting the page priority levels is done using your site map this determines the hierarchy of pages. However you may have several pages at the same level on the ‘family tree’. You can switch these around inside Google Search Console based on your needs as I explained above.
So how did your business website perform in your tests?
These simple tools will give you the means to demonstrate to budget holders the importance of prioritising your website improvements and how it displays in search.
Improving your local SEO is an important part of your business marketing. It’s all part of Getting your website working hard for your business [there’s a free ebook telling you how].
Read more blog posts about Profile Raising by clicking the icon below. It’s one of the steps in our 8 Step Methodology
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Creative-Agency-Google-listing.png984942Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-04-07 10:35:482020-01-24 01:44:59Google my business. Do you know how to test your website is working correctly?
If you’re a TweetDeck user, get ready for a shock: Twitter is deprecating TweetDeck.
What’s the good news?
If you don’t know about Hootsuite already, you can set up a free account. Hootsuite is very much like Tweetdeck in its appearance and I would recommend migrating to that. You can continue to manage your Twitter conversations with Hootsuite, keep track of retweets and mentions, etc. You can also manage your other social media profiles with Hootsuite, like LinkedIn. And there’s the Autoschedule function which puts your Tweet in the queue to post when the majority of your followers are actually on and looking at Twitter so they’re more likely to see it.
Althought Hootsuite would definitely be an easy migration for current TweetDeck users, I’m a big fan of Buffer because you can set up schedules for when your posts go out. Also, they show you a graph indicating when the best time to post is using their Optimal Schedule (much like Hootsuites Autoschedule, but they don’t have a pretty graph). But you can’t manage conversations through Buffer just yet. They’ve come out with a Beta program called Respond which also looks a lot like Hootsuite but right now Buffer and Respond are two different social media management tools as opposed to Hootsuite, which is literally the two in one.
Besides that, they both allow you to connect a few social media profiles for free. If you went with either of them, it’s likely you would not have to pay for the service. But, really, check out Hootsuite, TweetDeck users, the transition will be smooth, I promise!
It’s frustrating when you search for a business and get the wrong answer. Did you know that you can edit how your business listing is displayed in Google search results? It’s called Google My Business.
This short slide deck shows what you can do in the tool and then how to use it to improve how your business is listed.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/How-to-use-Google-My-Business-to-improve-SEO-Creative-Agency-Secrets.jpg441600Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-03-23 13:50:012016-03-24 09:41:45How to use Google My Business to improve SEO
Yet again, Google has changed its search page layout – the right sidebar went last week…. Now, does that matter for your business or not?
The old sidebar had adverts in it and now adverts only appear at the very top of the search listings.This is a “reduced real estate” situation in the lingo.Where 8 adverts used to appear, there are now only 4.That means that competition for advertising space is doubled – prices may rise.What that means for most business owners is that if advertising gets more pricey, you can choose whether to adjust your budgets.I recommend spending on natural site search as an alternative.Every recent Google algorithm update has hit the ‘game-the-system’ players hard and rewarded websites with strong on-site content.Put your money into your own website rather than into Google’s pockets.
Local Search Matters
So first, let’s check your business and how it shows up in the Google local pack.This is the map and associated listings with pins showing locations.Google are showing a map of local businesses into your search results.This allows the physical location of a business to influence whether prospects choose you or not.So it’s important to get listed accurately.Go first to Google My Business https://business.google.com and start registering and verifying.
Local google search showing map and address
Is your information accurate?
Step one is to clean up your NAP citations.NAP is the acronym for Name, Address and Phone data. This clearly tells a visitor that a business is local.You should claim your business and get listed accurately.Be consistent, don’t shorten words like Street or use different variations of ST. St, and Street.[Did you see the comma and full stop there?]
Now, what about other citations?
Do a broad search for your business name, owners names and all possible variants as well as geographic searches.List every website where you can be found.There may be many as most directories are aggregators of others’ content and so mistakes get flicked on and on to more websites.
In the good old days every business was on Yellow Pages and I still think that’s a great place to start your directory listings.But Yelp is increasingly important..go and search for your business on yelp.co.nz and ‘claim’ it.Then you can log in and edit the details.
Yelp claim your business
When you claim your listing, be very careful to select the correct category for your business. And please, be consistent – write down a standard short and medium length text description which you can use everywhere.Also write one about your products or services.And another about the business owner(s).
Now here’s a list of the local directory sites where it is worthwhile “claiming” your business listing and this is the process I recommend you run through for each one.
see if you are already listed
is the information NAP accurate?
edit or insert for the first time as necessary
keep a record of your logins so they aren’t lost to the business when you leave
set a future diary date every 6 months to review and update the listing.
Please share your tips for other directories as we can all learn more!
This article was first published on
Improving your local SEO is an important part of your business marketing. It’s all part of Getting your website working hard for your business [there’s a free ebook telling you how].
Read more blog posts about Who You Are and Profile Raising by clicking the icons below. Each is a step in our 8 Step Methodology
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-03-09 13:04:422022-12-19 11:57:14Have you forgotten about directory listings for local search?
Business websites cannot be static “set-and-forget” marketing assets. Learn how to work your website so that it pays back the investment to the business. A well-run website should:
CCH Learning Webinar
Show up in natural search
Answer visitors’ questions
Bring enquiries, leads or sales to the business
Persuade visitors to reveal their identity
Showcase the expertise of the firm
This is a practical training webinar which will show you how to assess your website’s effectiveness and give you a checklist of what you can do to improve.
Included is a free eBook detailing 5 ways to improve how your website shows up in Google, what search terms your site shows up for, how to use title tags and meta descriptions.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CCH.png8722368Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-03-03 16:41:112016-03-03 16:41:31Get Your Business Website Working for you - Webinar Date
Leads are defined as an enquiry that brings business revenue for you.
What form it takes of course varies, it may start with a casual conversation in the pub or might be a phone call to you; it might be a business card that someone has collected from a networking event.
Many business owners find that they have a feast or famine situation and it comes to new business enquiries. Like a
rollercoaster that either rising up and you are swamped with Leads and enquiries for new business or down low and you are desperately hoping for even one enquiry. This predictable repeating cycle is a reality for many many businesses. Yours might be like this as well.
The rollercoaster happens for one reason and one reason alone:
You do not have a reliable process for creating leads.
Many businesses will never overcome the rollercoaster because they do not have the skill to follow a process and stick to it.
If you’re reading this today and you know that you experience this rollercoaster situation, what is it worth to you to change the habits of your business?
Why would you want to get off the rollercoaster?
Look back back through your business accounts over the last three years and see if you can find a time when you had a strong revenue stream. Count up the number of new clients you started invoicing in any given quarter or three month period. And then go back to find out how this client found you. What were the circumstances that led to this good period for you? Ask your business colleagues or your partner as well. They may remember things which you have not recalled.
The good news is it is possible for you to get off the rollercoaster and to create a steady flowing river of leads that can lead to new business.
The bad news is that 90% of the people reading this will not be able to make a regular recurring stream of leads because they cannot be disciplined enough to set up the process that is needed.
Creative Agency Secrets will teach you the secret way of creating leads on a regular recurring basis.
I will tell you because we’re utterly confident that it works.
This is the number one reason and if it works for us we can make it work for you. And the second reason is perhaps a better illustration of why our process works. This is because the 10 percent of you who will interact and take our advice; from these nine people will not be able to do it on their own. They will be people like you who have busy organised business lives and love what they do. Yet if you’re being strictly honest you will say
“I am not a salesman, I am not a marketing expert, I find new business development a challenge. This is not how I prefer to spend my time.”
And so for these reasons Creative Agency Secrets is going to share with you our methodology of how to generate leads every single month of the year.
We’re hoping that you are the nine people who are going to take our advice and hire us to work with you. And if you’re the 10th person who can execute without assistance, then congratulations, you’re probably already very good at sales and this is just a top-up advisory session for you to check there are any new tricks that you don’t already know.
For everyone else, we want to be your new collaborator.
We want to show you exactly how to make this work. We know how to adapt the method to suit the needs of your business, your marketplace, and your preferred clients. Today I’m going to show you exactly how we do it for ourselves and this will give you the template that you need to do it for yourself.
First some marketing honesty
But I need you to make one thing abundantly clear to yourself. In a moment of honesty, ask yourself am I ready to make this change? Am I ready to make a commitment that is fundamentally different from anything I’ve ever done before in my business?
Because you know what the rewards could be, but until they happen I also know that you will be nervous, anxious and will feel that this is a high risk to take for your business.
I will give you reassurance and I will give you confidence that you can do this yourself. Are you are you ready to come on the journey?
Let’s begin.
Tomorrow I’ll show you what the new business process is.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/rollercoaster.png466950Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-02-25 15:04:152016-02-25 15:05:21What are New Business Leads?
When you’re new, or growing, and need social proof to prove your worth to the world
So, you’re starting out your business and you know you’ve got a good thing going. But something you don’t have yet from your clients: their endorsement of you and your brand or your product. Sure, they’ve told you they liked working with you and, of course, that made you feel good on the inside. But, with the interwebs, you need to have hard proof that says someone used your services and liked it enough to write it down in a social internet space. Like Google Reviews. Or Facebook. Or even just in an email and with your clients’ blessing. Okay, so, how do you do it?
As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, or deduced from the title of this blog post, we’re talking about testimonials. Or reviews. Either or, they can be one in the same, if they contain ratings and words as friendly companions in whatever social app you’re using. There are multiple ways to get those testimonials so that, when a new possible client happens to Google you, lo and behold, they see other people like you and have used you and have provided their friendly feedback. Well, we rolled out with a fun and ‘give-back sort’ of way to request from our clients and those that have worked with us in the past. I think you’ll like it.
Before the holidays, our Chief in Command, Rebecca, came across a non-profit organization called StarJam. Briefly, I just want to let you know that what they do is amazing. Through music and performing arts, StarJam lifts kids with disabilities up, helps them to learn new skills, and gives them confidence. Just take a look at the photos they have on their website, every time I do I just want to be a part of that! Anyway, back to the story. Rebecca wanted Creative Agency Secrets to be able to give to StarJam. We also, you guessed it, wanted to get testimonials. Testimonials in one hand, giving to a good cause in the other… hmm. There’s got to be a good way to put these two together.
And SMASH!
It’s the holidays, right? We can send out a good will email to our clients! WE will donate money in your name to StarJam if you can write a few words on Google about your time with Creative Agency Secrets. So, we reached out to StarJam to get their permission, find out if they felt comfortable with our plan, requested a few images to use and then started crafting an email.
Key items we made sure to have in our email
Make your headline engaging
Make your text interesting to read
Tell the reader what you’re doing or what you’re asking them to do
4. Hyperlink to wherever they need to go or whatever you’re referring to
5. Use images
The main thing we wanted to make sure to do was inform our followers HOW to submit a review. Some people don’t have Gmail. I know, crazy world, but we had to come up with a foolproof way to say ‘This is easy! Here, we’ll show you’.
Voila! We created this easy to read image with everything needed to tell our audience how to do what we were asking them to do.
Then what? Well, we could wait around with baited breath. But, by this time, it was Christmas and we decided we’d come back to it in the New Year with fresh eyes and suntans.
And when we did… no reviews! We could have been sad and wallowed a bit but that’s now how you get good reviews. So we sent a follow-up email. Sort of a, “Hey, we know you were busy over the holidays, but…” reminder. Good idea, right? Of course.
But when you’ve asked the same way twice and you still get no response
You try another tactic. This time, we called, or in some cases walked over to, those who had worked with us in the past to ask them, oh so kindly, to provide us with a review while we donated to a good cause in their name. Sometimes it just takes the glimmer in your eye, the inflection in your voice, or just good ole human contact to make the connection you need.
And now we’re on the MAP!
Tips to those using Google reviews!
For one, you need 5 reviews to be able to see your star rating.
For two… even if you have 5 star ratings for all 5 of your Google reviews… somehow you still only rate 4.8 stars
Number two will remain a bit of a mystery.
I hope this helps any startup businesses out there looking to get on the map as well with testimonials and reviews. As they say, right now, the BEST way to get business is by word of mouth. And online rating systems like Google, Facebook, and others are the next best things with the worldwide web!
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Be-Innovative-with-How-You-Get-Testimonials.jpg393800Creative Agency Secrets Teamhttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgCreative Agency Secrets Team2016-02-25 11:00:002020-01-24 01:44:59Be Innovative with How You Get Testimonials
So to add insult to injury, Ontraport sends me a feedback form – but once the ticket was closed by the agent, I can no longer submit my (negative) feedback.
Wads.
Ontraport does not want user feedback
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2016-02-16 09:03:252019-08-06 08:48:30Ontrapot 'lip service' to customer feedback
