Topic: Uncategorised

From Cave Drawings to Al Gore – Why Content Marketing Matters and How to Do it Right

As human beings, we have a long and storied history of using the written word to spread a message. It’s basically in our DNA. Neanderthals took to the cave walls of modern-day Spain and shared stories of their hunting conquests. Eventually, we discovered marketing and advertising. It turned out that writing really interesting stuff could help companies drum up more business. The term advertising is actually derived from the Middle French word ‘avertissement’, meaning a written statement that draws attention to something.

John Deer is arguably the brand they are today because they decided to publish a quarterly magazine with really great content about farming, their latest equipment and of course advertising. It probably wasn’t cheap to produce, but it worked really, really well. Eventually, Al Gore invented the Internet and then everything changed, right?

Like with fashion, vinyl records, and Pet Rocks (maybe someday); sometimes old can become cool again. Marketing has seen a lot of change over the last decade and a bit with the introduction of the Internet and now mobile marketing. 2018 is the year of content marketing but so was 2017 and probably 2019 too. In the past (long before Facebook and fake Russian news), the news was transmitted through telegraph lines, the term the ‘newswire’ was coined to describe this process. It was worse than trying to use dial-up Internet back in the 90s’, telegraph lines would fail often and it wasn’t unusual for content to get only partially transmitted back to the newsroom. It was a pain, but things are much more reliable today.

Brands have been telling stories for decades. Today we can instantly post content on a blog, share a story on Snapchat, or even broadcast a live 4k video stream on YouTube. With so many marketing distribution channels it can be easy to forget that the most important thing we can do as a brand is to share interesting and noteworthy content. Forget going viral, content marketing is all about staying memorable and relevant.

Content marketing is more than a buzzword, and it’s not going anywhere. A good content marketing strategy keeps your current customers engaged with your brand and attracts new customers to interact with your marketing. Today’s consumer isn’t afraid to shop around, they are spending time researching for purchases large and small. The best way to capture today’s consumer is to build a sense of trust with your audience and content marketing can establish your brand as a source of information. Well-written content that’s posted on a regular basis will make you a trusted authority in your market. There’s a reason why people pay attention to Don Cherry when he talks about hockey during the intermission; people turn to experts to answer questions. When you answer their question they trust you, regardless of what your suit looks like.

You know your why your business is great and how you can help people through your products or services, but most people have no idea what you do. Content marketing gives your brand a microphone to share your story with the world. Video, social media, blogs, web pages, white papers and various other digital marketing tools can instantly broadcast your content to a local market and beyond. Google also wants to find experts and they are constantly reworking their complex algorithms to present useful content to searchers. Regularly posting fresh and relevant content will also help you rank higher organically in Google, this is an excellent way to gain free and highly-qualified traffic. Good content will make other websites link to you. Not only will this instantly get you more qualified traffic, it will help you rank higher in Google. Sure, there are some technical SEO strategies that can help you rank higher, but the best way to stay relevant in Google search is to constantly solve real-life problems for real-life people through your content marketing.

Getting more traffic to your website or more Likes on your Facebook post is great, but it doesn’t necessarily lead to gaining more business. Every marketing campaign needs to eventually generate leads. Content marketing is unique because it enhances all your other marketing efforts by educating people on the work you do. That’s why it’s important to understand your audience and pump out content that addresses their needs. You want your content to captivate people to the point where they will remember your brand when it comes time to buy something. Try to produce content for the various stages of your customer’s buying process, this will help keep your brand top-of-mind throughout the entire cycle. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, don’t be afraid to mix it up and try posting different types of content. Tools such as Google Analytics can give you some excellent insight into how people interact with your content.

The best content marketing converts customers into advocates of your brand. By nature, people are thankful when you solve a problem for them and they are happy to pass along the information to others. That quick video you created on your phone could get shared across social media if it solves a common problem. People are proud when they find something interesting online and they are not afraid to pass it along if they think it’s worthy.

You really don’t need a DeLorean to understand that regularly producing good content will be essential in achieving positive marketing results in the future.  A strong content marketing plan will establish your brand as a leader and trusted source in your industry. Producing content can take a lot of work, but it’s one of the best marketing investments you can make. We get to work in the Golden Age of Marketing, but some old school thinking can really improve the bottom line. The platforms may change over time, but people will still seek the advice of experts when shopping. Why shouldn’t it be you?

To read more about our Content Marketing Services please click here.

WordPress Website Maintenance

A Guide to Keeping Your WordPress Website Running Smooth and Safe

Are you like millions of other website owners out there and have a WordPress website? It was a great decision, you have access to one of the most innovative and secure website platforms out there. It’s estimated that there are over 74 million WordPress sites online right now; that’s almost 19 percent of the Internet.

You’ve probably invested a lot of time and money into your WordPress website. It makes sense; your website is a core part of your online marketing and without it your business could be losing a lot of customers.

Most website owners do not really put a lot of thought into the maintenance of their site. You’re not alone if you think your website should simply be online and be fine after it’s launched. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s a really boring chore to maintain your WordPress-powered site.

WordPress is an excellent tool and we’ve built a lot of websites using the tool throughout Markham, Toronto and surrounding areas. Without regular maintenance, a WordPress site can be hacked. A hacked website is not fun to deal with. Typically your site will go down and will be replaced with malicious links and content. It’s a bad experience for your customer-base and it can have a really negative effect on your SEO ranking if it’s not dealt with right away.

Planning ahead is a great first step to prevent your site from being hacked. When you set up your site you’ll want to have strong logins. Do not use your company name as a login and avoid using common passwords.  Try using passwords with a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. It will be a pain to remember but it will help protect your website and content. There are lots of plugins that will automatically update your WordPress theme and plugins such as Installatron (that’s the big one right now), stay away from these tools; they cause more problems than they are worth. Also, be careful about what plugins your install on your site, always read reviews.

Many websites are hacked due to malicious code left in a post’s comments section. Comments can be a great way to interact with your online audience, but if you don’t plan on utilizing this WordPress function you should disable it.

We have a lot of experience with WordPress, we’ve using it to build website since the beginning. Like a car, regular WordPress maintenance is the best way to keep your website running smoothly for years to come. In addition to understanding WordPress inside and out, we also know how vital your website is to your business. With our WordPress Maintenance and Updates Package, we’ll do the following to your website.

  • Take care of all WordPress theme and plugin updates
  • Schedule ongoing backups of your entire site
  • Track your site’s uptime, ensuring that you know if your site goes down
  • Ongoing malware and performance scans
  • Perform all of your website updates and make sure everything’s working afterward
  • Provide you and your team with regular reporting

Keeping your WordPress website healthy means keeping hackers out and it keeps your site running at a high level. Common issues such as high downtimes, slow loading pages, and broken links can cost your business customers. Regular WordPress maintenance is time-consuming, but leaving to us will give you the peace of mind that your website is doing its job 24/7. Learn more about our WordPress Maintenance and Updates package by contacting us.

INSITEFUL SOLUTIONS CELEBRATING 15 YEARS!

Insiteful Solutions is proud to celebrate 15 years of collaborating with amazing clients to bring them strong return on investment for their online marketing spend.

Thank you to all our clients for the opportunity to continue to assist you in growing your business, using online channels for targeted internet results.  Over the years we have had the pleasure of developing strong relations with our dynamic customers. Whether it be developing websites, enabling ecommerce so your customers can shop 24/7, creating effective search engine and content marketing campaigns, or developing customers for you through social media; we have been and continue to be delighted to help.

As a thank you to our loyal clients, who have made the last 15 years of Insiteful Solutions possible- and fun- and to new clients who will make the next 15 years great, we would like to offer a 15% discount on any new service booked in the month of June.

Many thanks for your support and best wishes!