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Your Helpful Guide: Yelp’s New Review Solicitation Policy
Yelp recently announced that it will be more aggressively enforcing its “Don’t Ask” policy, penalizing companies that show signs of “organized review solicitation.” Specifically, companies that Yelp believes to be actively soliciting reviews are now at risk of having their pages demoted in the platform’s search results as well as having a “Consumer Alert” warning placed on their Yelp business page. A Yelp spokesperson explained the company’s reasoning for its “Don’t Ask” policy stating, “A business is more likely to ask their satisfied customers to write reviews, and when businesses heavily solicit or offer freebies or discounts in exchange for reviews, that puts other businesses that play by the rules at a disadvantage.” Whether or not Yelp’s policy is a sound business decision is yet to be seen. In the meantime, business owners need to figure out their next move. If you’re working on your own to collect more reviews … Continued
User Reviews are The King
Did you know that positive online reviews produce an 18% average uplift in sales? Or that consumers are likely to spend 31% more with businesses that have excellent reviews? How about that 59% of consumers say that review sites have the most influence on their booking decisions when traveling? Online reviews have become an important part of how consumers make decisions, whether it’s what to eat, watch, buy, or sell. See below for even more industry-specific information and statistics. The facts and impact of online reviews are real. What are some effective strategies you’ve used to garner positive online reviews for your business? Image Credit: Website Builder
What Happens When You Quit Blogging?
Blogging isn’t something that is reserved for only the famous and super elite brands — it’s something that even small businesses should keep up with. But why should blogging be important for a website that’s main goal is to convert users? What if you just cast blogging aside for awhile? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here are the hard-hitting stats about companies who blog: Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average 1,200 new leads per month. Blogs give websites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links. Blogs on company sites result in 55% more visitors. So what happens when a business decides to quit blogging? WordPress developer Robert Ryan took this question to the test by abstaining from publishing new content to his blog for 251 days — and his results were alarming… Organic Traffic Takes a Huge Nosedive When Ryan quit blogging, his overall traffic … Continued
Where Should I Spend My Marketing Dollars?
Investing in online marketing is an important decision for your business, but where is it the most crucial to spend your budget? Take advantage of all that we at The Web Guys can do for you. As digital marketers, we can guide you how to get the most for your budget by selecting the right platform with the best ROI. Google AdWords Learn More Facebook Advertising Learn More Search Engine Optimization Learn More Google AdWords If you want to reach new customers online, then advertising with Google Adwords is without-a-doubt the platform to start. Google AdWords is a robust advertising service that display ads on Google search result pages, Google local pack and its advertising networks. With these amazing features below, it’s easy to see why AdWords is the most used pay-per-click platform in the world: Target Prospective Customers:Google processes more than 1.2 trillion web searches every single year, so … Continued
Using Instagram Stories for Your Business
If you’re not using Instagram for your business, now is the time to start. Recently, the photo-sharing social media powerhouse unleashed its latest feature: Stories. In a similar fashion to the already popular Snapchat app, Stories allows users to post multiple related pictures at once without the anxiety of clogging up your audience’s feed with a barrage of similar posts.
Using “Pokémon Go” To Your Company’s Advantage
The Pokémon Go phenomena has picked up steam quickly and doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, as rumored deals with major players like McDonald’s continue to generate buzz. So, could embracing the game and its players at your storefront be advantageous? And how exactly can Pokémon Go benefit your business? Unlike Magikarp’s Splash, it could be super effective! Let’s take a look…
Should I be Running Facebook Ads? #FAQuesday
There is a slew of different ways to advertise your business online these days. How do you know which platforms are the best bang for your buck? Aside from AdWords, which you should definitely be running, Facebook comes out on top. The audience is far too large and the targeting is much too precise to be ignored completely. Here are three reasons why you should be promoting your business on Facebook. 1. Your Target Audience is Already There Pretty much everyone has a Facebook account these days. No, seriously. There are over 1.6 billion active users currently registered to Facebook. No matter who your target audience is, they are reachable through Facebook advertising. It’s simply a matter of targeting them. 2. Your Money Goes Further Gaining organic traffic through your business’s Facebook page is quite difficult these days. In fact, reaching your entire audience for free is nearly impossible. The … Continued
Google Local Pack Updates Change the Game… Again!
If you thought that removing right sidebar ads was the biggest change Google would make to search results in 2016, buckle up. Prepare for an incoming update — Google’s at it again! Why Does This Matter? This change means that another organic position is being replaced with a paid ad. While the removal of sidebar ads already moved organic positions down the page, this is another push to dominate the top of the search results page with ads. On a mobile device, users will have to scroll past numerous ads before they see any organic results. Below you can see a mock up from Search Engine Roundtable of what the new local pack might look like with an ad in position one. These new ads will likely look very similar to the other two listings in the local pack, but Google hasn’t officially released information about what the ads will … Continued
Your Business Needs Call Tracking
Having your phone ring with a fresh new lead is very exciting. However, not knowing how you attracted that lead doesn’t help your business track what is working to generate leads. Most businesses struggle to properly associate a caller to an ad source as a critical decision-driver behind knowing which of its marketing and advertising efforts are working. How does a business decide where to spend more, less, or nothing at all? With an increase in the number of smartphone users, fewer website forms are being filled out. More calls are being made because of the convenience of the one-click-to-call functions on cell phones and tablets. Other than tracking call sources by manually asking every caller where they found your number, and then putting that into a spreadsheet or by using old fashion chicken scratch, it is nearly impossible to track leads and conversions properly! Couple that with time investments, … Continued
The Web Guys Give Back
We at The Web Guys are proud to announce the introduction of a new program to give back to some of the charities most near and dear to our hearts. With success comes the opportunity to share with others and make a difference to those who need it most. We’ve chosen four non-profit organizations so far that touch all of our hearts. 1. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital The first not-for-profit institution we’ve chosen to contribute towards is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Its mission is to advance cures and prevention of catastrophic diseases for children. No child is denied treatment based on financial standing, race, or religion. Families never receive a bill for treatment from St. Jude because of generous donations. Every dollar matters and makes an impact on the success of this incredible organization. We’re honored to know that our dollars are aiding in cancer research and treatment … Continued
