Tone/Voice:

• Peruse the client website for other blogs to get a feel for tone and voice.

Keywords:

• Use the keywords at least once.
• Try to get the primary keyword in the first paragraph; do so naturally if possible.

Format:

• Primary keyword phrase, if applicable
• Title
• Text.
  • Use headers, bullet points and lists to break up the content and make it more readable.
• Include a call to action at the end of the article that links the information in the article to how the client can help (a relevant page on their site).

• Save the blogs as the Blog Topic
• Please put Clicks & Clients in the email subject line.
• Send completed articles to [email protected]

local link building

Grow Your Business with a Local Link Building Strategy

It’s no secret top ranked sites on search engine results receive more web traffic but driving curious visitors to your home page requires planning and patience. If you aren’t satisfied with your current SEO results, it might be because you’ve underestimated the importance of a local link building campaign.

Most link building strategies tend to focus almost exclusively on creating backlinks from other high ranked sites with a similar information or focus. While a topical approach certainly defines your niche and builds your authority, overlooking the importance of local links leaves your site under-marketed.

The Reason Why Your Local Links Are Important

Regardless of how you tend to think about your company, the fact is your business exists in a multifaceted market. Whether you realize it or not, geography plays its role too. The physical location of your company impacts your position in the market just as much as your authority as an expert in your industry.

There is a tendency to think about web businesses as global, but customers still tend to search for services and products closer to where they live. Local links help search engines direct visitors to your site based on geographic parameters. This makes your site stand out as the expert in the local area and helps to generate better quality sales leads.

How to Source Your Local Links

Local link building strategies might include networking and direct interaction with potential sources. Instead of gathering links from across the world wide web, target websites related to your community:

• A Local Blogger – Ask a writer or local journalist to reviews products or feature your business.
• Business Networking Groups – Get your company listed on your site on a meetup page.
• Directory Sites – Register your business with the Yellow Pages or Chamber of Commerce.
• Advertise Specials or Discounts – Offer special rates for community promote sales locally.
• Sponsorships – Support your local sports teams, performing artists, and special events.

Local SEO link building is all about associating your site with a geographic area. Combine your web network with your in-person business networking activities. Ask your contacts to mention your company’s web address on their site or blog and offer to return the favor.

A Basic Link Gathering Strategy

Collecting high-quality backlinks is an artform. Be prepared to experiment and learn from mistakes. While there really is no standard solution, certain habits and tactics have been proven to produce results.

This typical strategy for developing your link building system often works:

• Goals – Start by establishing your goals and time frame for your link building campaign.
• Research – Identify those companies and sites you would most like to receive links from.
• Prioritize – Use SEO assessment tools to determine which sites are the best fit for your plan.
• Strategize – Determine how to approach the most highly valued targets on your list.
• Negotiate – Offer something in exchange for the links you need.
• Review – Evaluate your performance of your link building campaign.
• Repeat – Cycle back through your list and steadily increase your collection of backlinks.

A local link building campaign is all about establishing the geographic location of your business. Avoid restricting your targeted link strategy to sites directly related to your business. It’s okay to network more with general business and information sites so long as they focus on the same community.

Partner with Clicks & Clients

Like with all things, SEO links are a lot of guesswork and trial and error. Depending on the size of your company or your budget, you may need some assistance building your collection of backlinks. At Clicks and Clients, we want to help. Schedule your discovery call and find out how we manage your link building campaign for you to get the most out your website.

Advertisers Probably Won’t Leave Facebook

The Facebook scandal with Cambridge Analytica is continuing to make shockwaves across the headlines. With such a huge controversy, will advertisers start to flee the social network? While there are a lot of concerns over Facebook’s data practices, it’s unlikely that there will be a mass exodus of marketers. Here’s why this storm is likely to blow over with hardly any advertisers taking their ads from Facebook.

Advertisers Didn’t Leave YouTube

Remember all the problems with YouTube last year? Brands threatened to pull their ads from the video-streaming website because extremist content was running amok. Companies didn’t want their ads to appear alongside political or religious extremists who were preaching violence and hatred. Here’s what happened next:

• Regulators wanted answers.
• Google’s stock plummeted.
• Many advertisers suspended their YouTube campaigns.

However, despite this drama, YouTube experienced a recovery. In fact, brands started up their ads again within a few weeks. We’re only at the beginning of the backlash of the Facebook scandal. While Facebook is facing a lot of questions and demands, the most probable outcome is that they will recover and brands will continue spending once the controversy dies down and some fixes are made. As Mark Zuckerberg makes his apology tour and makes some fixes, it only makes sense that brands will stay.

Consumers Aren’t Leaving

Sure, there are some big names who are leaving Facebook, but not everyone is going to follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak. People love being connected and everyone suffers from the fear of missing out. Most people are probably going to keep using and signing up for Facebook so they can see what their friends, families, and favorite celebrities are up to.

The social network will likely lose a few users here and there, but the site is projected to have an exponential growth. Unless a huge chunk of the site’s 2.1 billion users delete their accounts and no one else signs up, the money from advertisers is going to keep flowing.

Facebook Ads Work

The truth is, advertising on Facebook is well worth the money spent. Implementing a strong ad campaign can bring more sales and leads to your business even though there’s some controversial stuff about the site in the news. People are still using Facebook and you should be too. In order to effectively reach people, you should consult with a marketing partner to target the right customers, use the right image, and write compelling captions.

Learn how Clicks and Clients can help you with Facebook marketing.

How to Keep Your MailChimp List Under 2,000

MailChimp is an amazing way to generate revenue for your business, but what happens when it stops being free? The Forever Free plan only lets you have 2,000 subscribers on your mailing list. Once you hit this mark, you need to start a monthly subscription. But before you start forking out some extra cash to keep your email campaigns going, read our guide for staying under 2,000 subscribers.

Delete Inactive Subscribers

Chances are there are quite a few people who never open the emails from you. These people are only making you go over the limit of 2,000 without giving you any revenue. You can save money and lower the number of subscribers by removing inactive users from your list. Removing subscribers is easy. Here’s how:

• Go to the list you’re concerned about.
• Choose “Create a Segment.”
• Click “Contacts match” and then select “all” in the drop-menu.
• Filter the subscribers by selecting “Campaign Activity,” “did not open,” and “Aggregate Campaigns.”
• Create a new filter by clicking “Add” and selecting “Campaign Activity,” “was sent,” and “Aggregate Campaigns.”
• Select “Preview Segment.”
• Select the box next to all the subscribers you want to delete. You may need to utilize the bulk unsubscribe strategy.
• Select “Actions” and choose “Unsubscribe” in the drop-down menu.
• Click “Confirm.”

This is just one way to keep your list full of people who are engaged.

Remove Subscribers With Low Ratings

Another strategy for keeping your MailChimp plan free is deleting inactive contacts who have low ratings:

• Go to the list you’re concerned about.
• Choose “Create a Segment.”
• Click “Contacts match” and then select “any” in the drop-menu.
• Filter the contacts by selecting “Contact Rating,” “is less than,” and “2 stars.” This creates a segment of subscribers who have a one-star rating.
• Select the box next to all the subscribers you want to delete. You may need to utilize the bulk unsubscribe tool.
• Select “Preview Segment.”
• Select the box next to all the subscribers you want to delete. You may need to utilize the bulk unsubscribe strategy.
• Select “Actions” and choose “Unsubscribe” in the drop-down menu.
• Click “Confirm”

This will remove all your subscribers who barely engage or don’t engage with your campaigns at all.

How to Unsubscribe Members in Bulk

Rather than selecting each individual email address you want to remove from your lists, you can do this after you create your segment:

• Choose “Export Segment.”
• Select “Export as CSV” to get a spreadsheet file of the email address.
• Before you open the file, choose “Manage contacts” then “Unsubscribe addresses.”
• Open the CSV spreadsheet, select all the email addresses, and copy them.
• Go back to the “Unsubscribe page” on MailChimp.
• Paste the email addresses and choose “Unsubscribe.”

This method is especially useful if you have hundreds of inactive subscribers.

What to Do If Your List Is Still Over 2,000

If your newsletter is growing and successful, you may still be over 2,000 if you delete your subscribers or quickly get back to this problem. First, you should be excited that you have so many people who want to stay connected to your campaigns! If you’re experiencing this issue, you can choose to upgrade your MailChimp account and work to offset the monthly fees. By monetizing these subscribers with effective email marketing, you can easily make back the $25 or $30 you’ll pay for an upgraded account.

Increase Your Engagement

Managing your email list can get frustrating. If you’re having trouble keeping your subscribers active or making enough sales to cover the costs of a MailChimp upgrade, you need a marketing partner. Clicks and Clients provides advice and marketing strategies that will make your email campaigns be more lucrative than ever. Learn how we can take your mailing list to the next level.