We understand the pressures your business faces over speeding up the process to make it to the top of Google, but we want to caution you over some new spam attempts circulating the internet. Have you gotten emails trying to sell you a “Get to the top of Google” scam and you were skeptical whether it was spam?

They may have claimed that they can scan your site and provide you with information that only experts can provide. They also may have claimed your website not being up-to-date, missing information, or lacking speed. These emails or calls may be full of promises about your business being able to leverage this success overnight and gain a large quota of sales quickly!

Tempting.

We know.

These scare tactics can convince anyone to jump in on the investment, but before you hand over any private or financial information we wanted to provide you with some valuable tips to help you recognize spam, as well as reasons as to why you should stick to the experts.

How to recognize spam:

• Unsolicited emails and/or comments left on your website from random companies or contacts that you have never had contact with before. These are often full of exaggerated promises that seem too good to be true – because they are.
• Consider the email address. For example, are they sending you an email from an unprofessional email address or a free service such as @gmail.com or @hotmail.com?
• Research their company and consider the professionalism or the lack there of, their website, social media accounts, and email addresses provided.
• Requesting private information too soon. For example, are they requesting your private or banking information simply after your first interaction? If they seem pushy at all – RUN.

Why you want to use SEO experts instead:

• You will be better off because the experts are not out to trick you, but actually want to see your company succeed. Our success is directly correlated with your company’s success!
• You will save money by not trying to find a quick fix that doesn’t work and results in you needing to start ALL over again. Invest your money the right way the first time and avoid detours along the way to your SEO success.
• Your company will grow when you avoid the shortcuts.

Bottom line, trust your SEO success with the experts. SEO isn’t an overnight fix. It’s about promoting your site and overtime beating your competitors in the Google race.

Remember: slow and steady wins the race.

The post SEO Spam: How to Recognize and Avoid It first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The Buzz

Drones are creating quite the buzz these days–literally and figuratively. Because they can capture such stunning content, they are becoming the tool of choice for many photographers and videographers. First seen mostly in genres like extreme sports and action film, drones have now brought their very specialized set of skills into the business world.

Smart business owners and entrepreneurs recognize the immense value of compelling video and photo content in marketing themselves and their products. Now, through the use of drones, the value of that content can literally take off! Here’s why drones are the new secret weapon of effective marketing.

1. Aerial Perspective

The most obvious value of drones is that these little guys can fly. Aerial video and photography have an impact that nothing else does. You now have the ability to give your customers a unique and powerful perspective on your business and products. You can literally fly your audience down your street and into your front door.

2. Endless Angles

Flying high isn’t their only skill. Since they are so small and agile, drones can shoot from almost any perspective you can imagine. Shoot from underneath tables, fly through hallways, windows, or tunnels. Outdoors and indoors as well, the possibilities are almost endless.

3. Exceptional Quality

As camera technology advances, video quality elevates. Drones now shoot video in full HD and even 4k resolutions. This means that even at significant heights and distances, your image is clear and crisp.

With image stabilization, the camera movements in drone videos can be smooth and seamless. This takes a level of skill, of course. Make sure you hire a skilled and experienced videographer to produce your marketing videos.

4. Limitless Applications

If you own a business, I’m sure you’re already dreaming about your next drone video. We have lots of ideas as well. Here are just a few examples of how we’re using drones to create impact for our customers.

Roofing Company

Home Builder

Day Spa & Salon

Showroom

5. Emotional Impact

Most of all, videographers use drones because of the emotional impact they can produce. All the tricks and creative ideas have a purpose. That purpose is to move people. This is especially true in marketing.

Marketing is first and foremost about impact. The goal is always to deliver a message that connects with people and moves them to act. Drones can help create the emotional impact that gives your marketing content the power to do just that.

6. Unforgettable Content

Like it or not, marketing is more than just storytelling. Marketing is a competition. Whatever your business, you need messages that help you stand out from the crowd. Just having the right information isn’t enough. You need content your audience literally can’t forget.

This is why drones are such a valuable tool. With the right creative team behind it, a drone can be the key to making your marketing content sparkle. Whether it’s video, still photography, or both, the drone can make your content unforgettable.

7. Brand Power

If there’s one thing business owners want for their businesses, it’s brand power. You want people to remember you and think about you first. Lots of things go into creating brand power. You have to do an exceptional job at what you do, have integrity, and maintain good customer relationships.

Once you have those things in place, effective marketing is the next step in empowering your brand, and drones can play an important role in that. Through video and photography with creative perspectives, exceptional quality, and emotional impact, your content can be powerful and memorable.

At McWilliams Media in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we specialize in brand power. Through web design, branding, social media, and professional photography and videography, we help you build your dream. Contact us today and let us show you how drone video and photography can be your new marketing secret weapon!

The post Not Just For Spies Anymore. The Drone: Marketing’s New Secret Weapon first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Starbucks has been winning the marketing game for a long time. From a single store in Seattle in 1971, the coffee behemoth now boasts over 28,000 locations worldwide. Their success is due in part to the quality of their products to be sure. However, without their savvy marketing, they would not be where they are today.

A recent announcement in Business Insider reveals yet another example of the company’s marketing acumen. Starbucks has decided to release its Pumpkin Spiced Latte a week earlier this year. On the surface, this may seem insignificant, but there’s a lot we can learn from this subtle but powerful move, and from how they’ve marketed this little gem over the years.

1. Tasty Timing

Since Starbucks introduced the PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) in 2003, it has become their most popular seasonal beverage of all time. Its creation was in response to the success of their Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte but has proven even more successful. Why? Well, for one thing, timing.

The flavors of fall are distinctive and nostalgic, and perhaps no flavor says fall like Pumpkin. Americans, in particular, have a strong emotional connection to the season. The childhood memories, nostalgia, family, and friendship associated with fall holidays are all big emotional buying triggers. Add to that the feeling that the beverage will warm you as it gets cold outside, and you have one powerful seasonal offering.

As marketers, we do ourselves a dire disservice if we fail to consider the timing of our offerings. How popular would the PSL have been if it had been introduced in June? It would have been foolish to try. In the same way, our marketing strategies must include a well-thought-out timeline. Don’t just consider who, what, why and how, but also when.

2. Staying Clear of the Crowd

This example may also seem to be about timing, but it’s actually more than that. Starbucks is releasing this Fall favorite about a week early this year. Why? To stay clear of the crowd of fall products that are about to flood the market.

Starbucks is using timing to stay clear in this instance. But they stay clear in many other ways through the year. They keep their brand and message clear and unique. For example, they have remained a “second wave” coffee brand in the face of the “third wave” artisan coffee movement. This has helped them stay distinct when many brands might have shifted too heavily with the trends.

In the same way, we need to design our marketing to keep us clear of the crowd. Strategic and effective marketing always takes into consideration what other messages prospects and customers will be hearing. Timing can be an important part of the response, but that’s not all.

We must know who our competitors are, but more importantly, we must know who we are. We must stay unique, distinguish ourselves clearly, and stay true to our brand. Do that well, and you will never get lost in the crowd.

3. Stay With What Works

Pumpkin Spiced Latte is a fifteen-year-old product. After a decade and a half, it is outselling all their other seasonal beverages. They haven’t changed it or discontinued it. Why? It works.

Wise marketers are aware of trends and try to anticipate when to change something. But if something works well, to change it is anything but wise. While trends may change, people tend to change very little very slowly. Since we market to people, certain things may work very well for a very long time. “If it ain’t broke…” well, you know.

4. Know Your Customer

Starbucks didn’t invent pumpkin spice. All they did was take advantage of its popularity. They found something many people already liked and capitalized on it. The combination of the flavor and the season are almost magically inviting to Starbucks customers. Year after year, they continue to employ these mystical powers to lure us in, and we keep coming back!

Good marketers know how to take advantage of these natural forces. Associating products with things people are already drawn to is a big part of what we do. So it pays to get to know your prospects’ likes and dislikes. Then you can market to them much more effectively.

5. Create Anticipation

Every year, lots of fanfare accompanies the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. And the company plays on the drink’s popularity to create anticipation by announcing a reveal date. By the time you can get one, you already want one, and this is a powerful sales booster.

What do you do to create anticipation? When launching a product or service, do you take steps to warm up your audience to expect something great? Have a strategic plan for your launch that builds in time to get your customers ready. Create a buzz. Engineer some hype. In a way, this is creating your own season.

Professional Digital Marketing

At McWilliams Media Inc. in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, we are experts at strategic digital marketing. We are passionate about helping you achieve your goals and realize your vision. Through the power of web design, videography, social marketing and more, we help you get your message out to the right people at the right time. Contact us today.

Image Copyright: <a href=’https://www.123rf.com/profile_larryratt’>larryratt / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

The post Pumpkin Spiced Latte: What a Fall Favorite Can Teach Us About Strategic Marketing first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The Google-net

How did this happen? Seems like Google owns the internet! I thought the whole idea of this thing was that no one could ever do that, but here we are! I know, technically, the internet is still free and owned by everyone. However, sometimes it feels like it’s the “Google-net.”

Part of that is the “Kleenex factor.” Even when people are searching on Bing or AOL (yes, that’s still a thing…I just looked it up!), they say they’re “Googling” something. So other search engines do exist. But the reality is that if you’re going to get seen by the most people possible on the internet, you have to be seen on Google.

But Google’s dominance is not just helping them, it’s helping us, too! Their analytics, AdWords programs, and other goodies can be invaluable tools to grow the exposure of any business! And one of the best tools out there is Google reviews.

Why Your Business Needs More Google Reviews

Well, the most obvious part of the answer is just that. We live in the age of Google. But what does a Google review do for you exactly? The first is simple: it’s a review from an actual customer.

Reviews, in general, are the most powerful type of advertising available. Which would you rather have, a postcard in someone’s mailbox, or a neighbor telling them how great you are? Of course, you’d rather people hear about you from someone with personal experience! That’s the power of reviews. Online reviews are no different.

Online customer reviews are the new neighbor conversations. Your customers go online and “tell their neighbors” about you. And it really, really works! Here’s what current research says about your prospects and online reviews.

• Up to 90% read online reviews before visiting a business.
• About 88% trust them as much as personal recommendations.
• They spend about 31% more on businesses with “excellent” reviews.
• Over 90% will use a local business if it has at least a 4-star rating.
• Over 70% will take action ONLY if they find positive reviews

Getting Google Reviews

Online customer reviews are now one of the most powerful tools we have for converting prospects to customers. Over 70%…that’s the number of people who WILL NOT click through, call, or visit unless they read a positive review! So how do you get reviews on Google? And how do you keep them fresh and positive?

According to Google my Business Help,

“Reviews on Google provide valuable information about your business to both you and your customers. Business reviews appear next to your listing in Maps and Search, and can help your business stand out on Google.”

How to Keep the Reviews Coming

Encourage your customers to spread the word about your business. Here are some tips on how to get them sharing!

• Verify your business so your information is eligible to appear on Maps, Search, and other Google services. Only verified businesses can respond to reviews. Learn how to verify your business
• Remind your customers to leave reviews. Let them know that it’s quick and easy to leave business reviews on mobile devices or computers.
• Show them How! Yes, in the digital age, there are still lots of people who don’t know how to leave reviews. Become an expert at it and help your customers get started. Learn how to leave Google reviews
• Create and share a link that customers can click to leave a review.
• Reply to reviews to build your customers’ trust. Your customers will notice that your business values their input, and possibly leave more reviews in the future. Learn how to read and reply to reviews

What You Shouldn’t Do

According to Google, “Reviews are only valuable when they are honest and unbiased. (For example, business owners shouldn’t offer incentives to customers in exchange for reviews.) Read more in our review posting guidelines.”

While you don’t want to violate their policies, and you certainly don’t want to be dishonest, you can do some things to protect yourself from negative reviews.

How to Keep the Reviews Positive

• Read all your reviews. Or have someone do it for you, at least once a week if not more! This may not be a good practice for an actor, but it’s indispensable for a business owner. You must know what your customers are saying.
• Remove inappropriate reviews. If you see a review that’s inappropriate or that violates Google’s policies, you can flag it for removal.
• Reply to reviews to build your customers’ trust. Your customers will notice that your business values their input, and possibly leave more reviews in the future.
• Respond immediately if a review is negative! We all make mistakes, and sometimes customers just aren’t happy for some reason or another. Responding quickly to a negative review is the best way to correct the situation. Learn how to read and reply to reviews

So let’s get going! Whether it’s managing reviews, social media, SEO, or website design and hosting, McWilliams Media is here for you! We are passionate about helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses! Our expert team can give you everything you need to thrive in the online marketplace! Contact us today for a free consultation!

The post Getting Google Reviews: Why & How? first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Never Having to Say “I’m Sorry, We’re Closed”

It’s February, the month of love! In this season, I am reminded of a strange old saying: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Well, I’m not sure how I feel about that one. However, here’s one I know is true and I’m sure you’ll agree; in business, love means never having to say “I’m Sorry, We’re Closed!”

Because business now takes place not only face-to-face but also in the digital world, you never have to close! You can always have access to your customers and prospects. More importantly, they can always have access to you! 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, you can be always open!

So with all this access, you’d think success in business would be easy, right? Not so. Although the internet is an incredibly rich marketplace, its sheer size makes it a challenging one. If you really want to be “always open,” it’s not enough just to have a website. You have to have the right website and the tools to go along with it.

Businesses That Never Close

To make your digital presence effective, to actually “never close,” here are some things you must have.

1. A Great Website

Your Personality
Design your website around who you are and who your prospects and customers are. That’s the personality of your business. Get this right, and you’ll naturally stand out in the marketplace.

Your Functionality
Create a site that does what you need it to do. Make it interactive. Make it sell. Make it easy for your target audience.

Free website consultation
Even if you have to hang a sign in the window occasionally, your business can always be open if you have a great website! Just because you’re not at work doesn’t mean that your website isn’t at work for you. Call us for a free consultation on what a new site can do for your business!

2. Great SEO

Effective SEO
Search engines can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Effective SEO keeps you at the top of the list as much as possible. This may be the most valuable service we offer.

Dynamic SEO
Just saying you have SEO may not be enough. Engines constantly change and update their rules, so your SEO has to be able to keep up. Make sure your SEO is dynamic, that it is performed regularly and stays up-to-date!

Get 3 Months SEO—FREE!
Once you have a great site, you need to make sure it gets seen! This month, for qualifying new website sales, you get three months of SEO (or 3 months of Facebook posting) FREE! Call us today!

3. A Great Social Media Strategy

Engaging
Make sure you’re posting content that gets people responding to you or better yet, talking to their friends about you!

Targeted
Design your posts around who you want to talk to, not just what you want to sell. Target your audience!

Consistent
It’s important to post often enough to keep people thinking and talking about you and your products and services. Posting that is too frequent or sporadic tends to be much less effective.

Get 3 Months Facebook Posting—FREE!
Because over 70% of the population is on Facebook, that means 70% of your potential clients are there too- that’s why you need a strong presence on Facebook. Get 3 months of Facebook posting (or 3 months free SEO) FREE with any qualifying website purchase during February.

At McWilliams media, we specializing in helping businesses “never close” by creating great websites, performing great SEO, and providing great social media strategies. Call us today and take advantage of these special FREE offers this February!

The post Never Having to Say “I’m Sorry, We’re Closed” first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Americans love coffee these days…or rather, we love great coffee! Truth is, we’re much more particular about our daily dose(s) of caffeine than our parents were! We have many more choices, and much more refined taste (sorry, Mom, just saying). So what does that have to do with your business media strategy? Everything!

21st-century Americans are just as particular about media as coffee…maybe more! We know that a great cup of coffee is the result of excellence in several processes at several stages. In the same way, there are several important processes in a media strategy for your business, and you need to get all the steps right in order to get results!

So here are 5 ways your media strategy is like a great cup of coffee.

1. The Beans.

This may sound silly, but the first thing you need to do is to find your product. Many businesses fail because they try to do too much. Make sure you have a clear direction for your win. Just like a coffee grower has to decide what kind of beans will grow best on his land, you have to decide what you really do best and focus on that.

2. The Harvest.

Once you know the focus of your business, you need to refine your message. When he harvests his crop, a good grower selects only the best beans to go to the roasters. You need to make sure you say only what you want to say. Take time to know yourself as a business so that your message can clearly communicate the value you bring to your customers.

3. The Roast.

Once you know what your message needs to be, you have to give it the right personality, just like a roast gives coffee its unique flavor. Your media should have a flavor that is true to who you are and attractive to your target audience. We call this finding your “voice and tone,” and it’s one of the most powerful steps in creating effective media messages for your business.

4. The Grind.

This is the strategy itself. Where and how often do you need to communicate with your target audience? Does your business require a few big messages a month or hundreds of little ones, or is it a combination of the two? You need experts in media to help you navigate the landscape of web design, social media, video, blogging, and any other outlet you want to use.

5. The Pour, or…

There are lots of ways to serve coffee, and people can be very picky about how they get it. And let’s face it, our audiences have become a lot pickier about the messages they receive from businesses, and how they receive them. Send the wrong message, or the send right message in the wrong way, and you can get lost in the noise or lose them altogether.

At McWilliams Media, we are experts in helping you find your message and deliver that message to the right people at the right time. From custom websites to graphic design to video and digital marketing, we can help you reach your target audience and keep them engaged to grow your business!

Photo by Nolan Issac on Unsplash

The post 5 Ways Your Media Strategy is Like A Great Cup of Coffee first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The social media revolution has changed the way that successful small businesses interact with customers and reach out to new markets. It’s a so-called “trend” that continues to stick around and grow year after year.

According to Statista, 81% of the U.S. population uses social media platforms. Estimates say the number of social media users across the world is 2.34 billion, and expected to jump to 2.94 billion by the year 2020.

As social media continues to increase it’s online presence, it’s becoming increasingly beneficial for business to utilize this free and easy-to-use resource.

Here we lay out six of the many benefits to using social media for your business:

1. It’s Free

Social media marketing is perhaps the most cost-efficient advertising strategy for a business. Creating a profile is free for almost every social media platform, and paid promotions beyond the initial free sign-up are still very affordable in most cases.

These promotions are a great way to take your social media marketing to the next level. They increase the number of people seeing your posts beyond just your followers, increasing the chances of new customers seeing your content.

2. It Increases Brand Awareness

Every opportunity you have to release new content and increase your online presence is valuable. Your social media networks are just new channels for your brand’s voice. This simultaneously makes you easier and more accessible for new customers, and makes you more familiar and recognizable for existing customers. For example, a frequent Twitter user could hear about your company for the first time only after stumbling upon it in a newsfeed. Or, an otherwise apathetic customer might become better acquainted with your brand after seeing your presence on multiple networks.

3. It Improves Brand Loyalty

According to a report published by Texas Tech University, brands who engage on social media channels see higher loyalty from their customers. Another study published by Convince&Convert found that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media are more loyal to those brands.

4. It Improves Conversion Rates

Social media marketing results in higher conversion rates in a few distinct ways. Perhaps the most significant is its humanization element: the fact that brands become more humanized by interacting in social media channels. Social media is a place where brands can act like people, and this is important because people like doing business with other people – not with companies.

5. It Increases Inbound Traffic to Website

Without marketing your business on social media, your inbound traffic is limited to your usual customers. The people familiar with your brand are likely searching for the same keywords you already rank for. Without utilizing social media as part of your marketing strategy, you’ll have much more difficulty reaching anyone outside of your loyal customer circle. By marketing on social media you can effectively open your business to a wider variety of versatile consumers all over the world.

6. It Improves Search Engine Rankings

To give yourself the best chance of ranking better through social media, create high quality content that integrates your targeted keywords. Content such as blogs, infographics, case studies, business information and employee photos will make your business’s social media profile intriguing and credible. Although social media doesn’t directly increase search engine rankings, posting content that showcases your keywords will revolutionize your traffic and create more opportunities for potential customers to learn about your services.

The post 6 Benefits of Using Social Media first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

A good social media campaign is essential to a business’ success. However, marketers often get stuck in some common writing pitfalls on social media.

Follow these tips to make sure your social media presence is successful, clean and intentional:

Ditch Promotional Posts on Facebook

In late 2014, Facebook cracked down on promotional posts. This simply means that organic posts that sound too much like ads (or worse, outright SPAM) will be demoted in the newsfeed.

If your posts sound too much like a paid advertisement or a sponsored post, it will quickly be lost in the newsfeed of your “friends”.

Here’s an example of a promotional post from Facebook:

Although this example isn’t a paid advertisement, it feels like an ad. This is not the type of content that catches people’s attention.

This post directly pushes users toward a link to buy a product. Try to avoid this in your posts in order to keep your content from being another sell-out ad!

Here’s another example:

This example is similar; it’s pushing users to download an app. Even as an advertisement, there’s nothing interesting or engaging about it.

Don’t Cross-Post

Under some circumstances, you might be able to reuse post copy from one network on another. In general though, we’d advise against this. That’s because best practices and audience expectations differ on each network. Your short and punchy Facebook post might not do as well on LinkedIn for example. And your hashtag-loaded tweet certainly won’t play well on Facebook.

Make Sure Your Copy Aligns With Your Images

Fluidity in your business’ copy and visual content is important. When done well, the orchestration of copy and visual elements can take your social media content from good to great.

Tip #1: Placement Matters

According to an eye-tracking study done by Eyetrack III, images located above headlines engage visitors better than images that come after. Also, make sure the image is on top of the page, so they don’t have to scroll to find it.

Tip #2: Put a Caption on it!

The same eye tracking study found that smaller text promotes focus. Visitors will better retain the information located in the caption, instead of skimming through it like they do if the text is bigger.

Tip #3: Direct Your Audience’s Gaze

Not only can you use images to grab attention and keep people engaged, you can direct their gaze to where you want it.

If everyone in an image is looking in one direction, your viewer will too.

The post 3 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

What’s Pinterest and Who Is It For?

I ran into someone the other day who told me, “Oh, Pinterest… that’s just for women.” If you’ve ever looked at Pinterest, you might agree. But that would be shortsighted.

Pinterest is a photo sharing site that allows you to create your own boards – like a bulletin board where you can pin images of a certain topic. You can create any number of boards under your own profile.
Just for the purpose of explanation, let’s imagine a young woman who is engaged to get married, who wants to have kids. She creates a profile and then adds separate boards for wedding dresses, wedding rings, hairstyles for her wedding, baby nursery ideas and so on. She selects images of dresses, rings, baby clothes and such that she would like to refer to later. It’s sort of a “wish list.”

Business Applications? You Bet!

The use of Pinterest and other image-sharing sites has a much wider application than a young women dreaming of her wedding. Let’s look at some of the applications for small to medium size businesses.
Try this. Visit www.pinterest.com and use the search window in the upper left corner to look for images in the categories I talk about below. And then think about how you might be able to use images from your own business on Pinterest and similar sites.

Custom Cars:

If you want a real treat, go to www.Pinterest.com and do a search for images featuring custom cars. You’ll find custom paint jobs, custom bodywork and some cards that are so unique they are unrecognizable. Even a search for “engines” will bring you plenty of results.

Landscaping:

If you’re a landscaper, this is a great place to showcase your work. Homeowners will be looking in this category to get ideas for their yards.

Kitchens:

If you’re a remodeler, place some pictures of your finished projects on Pinterest.

Fitness:

If you’re a fitness instructor or have a gym, try a search for “fitness” and see how many results you get. Post pictures from your classes some “after” shots or images that contain your fitness advice in a text format.

Photography:

Give classes or lessons in photography? Post examples of shots your students took in your classes.
For categories like hairstyles, jewelry, clothing, furniture and similar subjects, it’s easy to see how posting pictures of your work can reveal your talents.
Even a company that builds trade show booths can display their work on this site.

Why Post Images?

There are three reasons.

1. Business can come directly from the image. Someone likes a necklace they saw on Pinterest. Within a couple of minutes, the necklace is ordered- simply by following the link that was posted with the image.
2. Promotion. Someone who sees your work can track you down if you add your web address to the comments field. If your business is localized, add your city and state to the description field.
3. Strengthening your website. Google and other search engines take your other social media accounts into consideration when they are ranking the strength and authority of your website. If you have a strong Facebook page with plenty of “Likes” and your Pinterest images get “Liked” and shared by plenty of people, this popularity will strengthen your business website.

Photo sharing is part of the bigger world of social media. And taking advantage of the promotional opportunities in social media is part of the bigger world of search engine optimization. Here’s a link to our Pinterest boards. Take look and get inspired to do this for your own business!

The post Pinterest- Not Just for Women first appeared on McWilliams Media | Website Design | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Entrepreneurs are known for having their hands in lots of things at once. That is, of course, what makes them so great. They are always thinking outside the box to grow their business and their influence.

McWilliams Media has a hand full of these awesome people that are continually using their entrepreneurial skills for you. We’re always coming up with innovative ways to make your business succeed. Here’s a look at what we do for our clients.

Web & Graphic Design

First and foremost, we are a website company that designs, maintains, and hosts WordPress websites. We start with a blank slate and build the site from the ground up to ensure that our clients get exactly what they want.

Once the site is built, we do training with the client on how to use their site and make their own updates. In many cases the client has no desire to do any work on the backend of their sites, so we do that for them as well.

Our graphic designs can be as simple as a graphic for a newsletter or as complex as an entire promotional set for an event. We produce high-quality graphics you can use online or for print. Need a logo? We can do that. Need a baby shower invitation? We can do that too. Need a banner for your store’s grand opening? Yep-we do that too.

Online Marketing

Marketing is a vast subject. Although we mainly specialize in the online aspect of online marketing, we will help with anything to make your business succeed. Let’s touch on a few types of marketing that we focus on.

Social Media

When we say social media, that’s what we mean. A form of media that is social in nature. It’s relational, informative, and generally a quick-hitter. There are tons of platforms you can “be social” on, but we focus on the most commonly used ones. We’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, and YouTube. Each platform has its own unique audience and companies can make great connections on the appropriate platforms.

Not only do we start each of these media channels for our clients, but we can also maintain them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If our clients prefer to do their own social media we train on the best practices for their type of business.

Why is social media such a huge part of our client’s success? Because “everybody’s doing it.” Last time I checked the stats, 88%* of your potential clients are online, and that’s just in the USA. Guess how many of those people are on social media? We’re talking over 70%*. That’s a pretty big market. And you can reach them all from your computer in your PJ’s.

The key to social media success is consistency. That’s proven to be rather difficult when our clients are entrepreneurs themselves. McWilliams Media has people on staff that are designated to be on social media all day for our clients.

Newsletters

This online marketing tool is a good fit for both current and potential clients. In some cases, a newsletter carries more weight than other marketing avenues because people voluntarily gave you their email addresses as a way of saying “I’m interested in you and your product.” You know they are already “all in.”

Our team creates email marketing campaigns for our clients. We can put together the entire newsletter or design a template that the client can use to plug in their own info. Either way, we’ll help capture more emails, design an eye-catching newsletter and stay consistent with our clients’ branding.

Search Engine Optimization

Let’s face it, if people can’t find you online, you’re not making money. You might have the best invention ever made or a product that will save people a ton of time, but if they don’t know you exist, it’s not helping anyone.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is what makes sure you’re being heard in a world of online big-mouths. We hear things like “we need to be at the top of Google,” or “we want to show up when people search best spas in Dallas.” It’s our job to make that happens. Our team spends hours of behind-the-scenes time working a multitude of avenues to ensure that happens.

Blog Creation

Blogging is no longer for the stay-at-home-mom who wants to share tips on how to keep a clean house. The reasons for business blogging are quite vast these days. Blogging helps drive traffic to your site, it increases your number of leads and increases your area of influence in your niche market. This article is a good read on why blogging is so important in business.

Our writers stay in communication with our clients and come up with excellent content that reflects our clients’ brand and message. McWilliams Media can handle all the aspects of blogging for our clients or simply set them up with a template and they do the rest.

Odds & Ends

Video

As I stated earlier, we are a Jack Of All Trades when it comes to the online world. We offer other services that complement what we do. For instance, a client may ask for a testimony video for their website. In that case, we will shoot and edit a custom video to enhance the site. We’ve done commercials and full TV shows for some of our clients too.

Audio

A church in Illinois contacted us to set up their website and create a page where they could put their messages online. Not only did we do that, but we also went on location to set up the audio and train their volunteers on how to use the equipment, as an added bonus we also got to see their beautiful church building and grounds.

Event Promotion

We helped in planning a community Easter Eggstravaganza for one of our clients. We did everything from door hanger invites to videos for their event. You can see the promotional set here.

Email Integration

A great way to market and have more continuity in your company is to have email addresses for your employees. An email address for Landscaper Pros that looks like “sambarnes@yahoo.com” doesn’t carry near as much weight as “sambarnes@landscaperpros.com.”

McWilliams Media is ready to take you and your business to the next level. And when it comes to cost, you’ll find we’re very reasonable too. For a free quote that is customized to your business, contact us any time.

*Reference links
http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/us/
http://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/

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