How to Correctly Brand Your Business Online

As you prepare for re-branding or a redesign of your website, consider evaluating your complete online identity to ensure your online presence is consistent across all platforms. This includes each social media account you have established, each directory listing, and any online ad campaigns you may be running through Google AdWords or Yahoo! Bing ads.

CONSISTENCY COUNTS
When it comes to your working business name, make sure that your business is listed uniformly in all of your directory listings, social media platforms, news articles, and blogs. Not only does this help your SEO campaign by remaining consistent with NAP Data (Name, Address, Phone), it provides users an easy path to find you. This also prevents browsers from assuming they're viewing conflicting or competing businesses.

CLAIM YOUR NAME
Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest, allow you the opportunity to personalize your web address. This is called a vanity url, and it's the unique link that will lead a visitor directly to your dedicated page on a social media network. Since many of the major social media platforms are well established, you may find that other businesses may have grabbed your username already, so take some time to research a username that will allow your business to stay consistent across all platforms. If your business name is already taken, consider using derivations with an action word in front of your business name. For instance, @GoXYZCompany or @HireXYZCompany.

Overall, make sure that your social media handles relate to your business. Before you commit to a particular url or handle, do your due diligence to make sure that handle is available on all platforms.

Looking for more insight? Allow CC Communications the opportunity to evaluate your digital marketing needs. We proudly serve the Charlotte, North Carolina area and the entire Southeast. Reach us today at 704.761.4676 or by emailing Marketing@CCCom.com.

5 Ways to Impress Your Website Visitors

You rock at search engine optimization. You can blog with the best of 'em. Your social media is on point. You notice that your website visits are growing... but don't celebrate, yet.

Building a website is much like maintaining your computer. You have to allow for system updates, edit what's hosted on your computer, and clean out unused space so your computer will run optimally. So what can you do to make an impact to keep your visitors coming back for more?

MIND YOUR DESIGN
Dated designs are easy to spot and could influence visitors to think that your website has not been updated in some time or that your company is not staying up-to-date. Think of your website design as the state of your home. If you were having a dinner party or inviting company over, would you want to present your home looking its best or when it's rather 'lived in'?

MINIMIZE ERRORS
Make sure to consistently check your website for dead links, formatting issues, and bad re-directs. Not only can these issues negatively impact your SEO, they can be a hub of frustration for your visitors.

MAKE IT EASY
Sometimes webmasters and marketers design websites for what looks best and not always what is most user-friendly. Take a moment to objectively look at your website from the eyes of a first time visitor to your website. Would you encounter navigation frustration attempting to find what you're seeking? It's easy for visitors attention to be pulled many different ways that they become frustrated and confused, leading them to navigate away from the page. Impress your visitors by keeping your website uncluttered and allows their attention to flow naturally.

SET YOURSELF APART
All businesses have a competitor in some form or fashion... Are you blending in with the pack or are you standing at the forefront of your industry? Want to really make a lasting impression with visitors and potential clients? Offer a service or amenity on your website that your competitors don't - This could be a complimentary consultation session or white paper, a complimentary gift, or extended customer service. Offer more and do more to show your web visitors and clients how much you care and appreciate their business and trust.

A GOOD REASON TO COME BACK
Aside from intensifying your SEO presence, updating your website on a consistent basis adds urgency to return to your website, as new content, products, or services, given your business line, are added regularly. This gives your visitors extra incentive to return and become a loyal visitor or client.

Is your website craving a web re-design? Are you in need of making tweaks to your website and need assistance? The CC Communications Team is always here to help!

We're Thankful For You!

From all of us at CC Communications, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please note our offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday in observance of the holiday. We'll return on Monday, November 30, 2015.

Your Mobile Guide to Christmas Town USA

CC Communications Launches A Mobile App Full of Holiday Cheer!

Photo courtesy of Christmas Town USA

This week our team put the finishing touches on a new mobile app, just in time for the holiday season. It's called Christmas Town USA Mobile Tour and it's designed to guide you through the streets of McAdenville, North Carolina, during their beautiful holiday light show. This annual display showcases thousands of twinkling lights, which you can view for free along a driving tour through the town. It's one of the largest and most popular holiday light shows in the state, and our app, which is also free, is a perfect companion to download before you drive.

The Christmas Town USA Mobile Tour app provides you with an enhanced experience when visiting our holiday light display. A map of the area highlights can't-miss points of interest, and includes information about parking and wait times from key locations leading into McAdenville at different times of the month. Notifications within the app tell you when that day's light display is nearing the end, and notifications from organizers let you know of important, up to the minute information about the festivities within the app.

Download the app for free, here:

Is Your Email Marketing Considered Spam?

It's said that the average person receives about 105 emails per day. Anyone else feel like this number is severely deflated? In any case, estimates suggest 300 billion emails are sent every day worldwide, and out of those, nearly 90% are considered spam.

As a business, email marketing is one of the most effective sales conversion tools you can use, but do it wrong and you'll see the number of unsubscribes grow, or worse, they'll hit the dreaded spam button. So how do you market your businesses via email without people hitting the spam button?

DON'T ADD CONTACTS WITHOUT PERMISSION
If you've ever received an e-newsletter from a company you've never done business with, then it can make you take pause. How exactly did they get your information? If it seems suspect, it's because it is. Occasionally marketers will buy or rent lists of leads and load them into their database. This is a surefire way to get yourself blacklisted by the search engines. Focus on building quality leads through signup forms on your website or social media channels, and require a double opt-in for good measure.

IS YOUR SUBJECT LINE FULL OF WIN?
As people sift through their inbox they use the subject line to determine whether your email is worth opening. You've got 65 (or so) characters to impress so make it count. You should be personable and tease the e-mail content in a way that drives click-through. For example, "Don't miss out on our 24-hour flash sale" - Using pronouns like "our," "you," and "we" make it personable, and the limited time offer entices people to click now instead of later. Notice the absence of an exclamation mark in the example. Using those can get you flagged by spam bots so use sparingly. Also don't substitute numbers for letters. If you've obtained first names in your database, then by all means use them in the subject line. Most email marketing service providers have this feature built in and it helps when trying to catch someone's attention.

GET TO THE POINT
Have you ever opened an email and immediately deleted it simply because your mind is boggled by the sheer amount of text? Nobody has time to read an email novella. Keep your content brief with a clear call to action. When designing your email layout, work to find the proper balance of images & text. A good rule of thumb is to ensure recipients can understand the point of your email within 3 seconds.

Interested in learning more online marketing tips from CC Communications? Sign up for our e-newsletter below!

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

Copywriting for SEO - Why it's Still Crucial for your New Website

There are many things to consider when your company is gearing up for a website redesign. You have to consider every little detail - from the new site map, to your navigation, to ensuring your web pages are redirected properly. And the list only gets longer from there. With so many details to manage it may be tempting to attempt shortcuts, lifting items from your current website to integrate into your new website. Don't allow your content be one of those shortcuts!

When a website redesign action plan is put into place, most concentration is placed on making sure that the website is visually appealing, mobile responsive, and user-friendly. Yes, those facets are extremely important, but no matter how attractive a website looks, if the content on the website lacks, so too will the traffic generated from search engines. Start your website off on the right foot and make some serious updates to your website content. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind:

Content Comes First
Don't put website copywriting off until a later date. Make an effort to implement your new website content when your website is first launched. We all get busy, and though you may have the best intentions to write your website copy, often times this crucial update is placed the back burner. Don't let this happen to you. There is likely to be a lot of attention when you launch your new website. Make sure that you put your best foot forward!

Mind Your Tone
If your website content was created in-house, chances are the content was written in an internal tone and voice, using insider, or fast-track, knowledge of your product or service. Chances are your website visitors do not share this same knowledge so make sure that the tone and language is not written in a way that would turn off or confuse website visitors. Also avoid using industry jargon, acronyms, or initials.

Writing for Robots
Your website content isn't just read by humans, it's also crawled by search engine bots to determine the subject and context of your website. Since these bots can't read or see websites as humans do, they scan your website structure, keywords, and layouts. It's important to note that as we enter a new era of semantic web, search engines are starting to recognize the intent behind our content, and keywords, while still important, are playing less of a role in search results. Your best bet is to write high-quality content that is relevant to your business or services and you will be rewarded with strong search results.

Keep it Fresh
Writing your website content is an ongoing process. To keep your website 'crawl-worthy' on a consistent basis, update your website regularly. This shows that your website is evolving and offers new content, which is a key tactic to maintaining SEO health. Make small tweaks to your home page copy, add new blog posts, or update your company news section on a monthly to quarterly basis to gain the most benefit from this strategy.

Do you need assistance evaluating your website content? Are you in the midst of a web re-design and need help to get your website content in tip-top shape? Email the CC Communications marketing team or call us at 706.761.4676. We're here to help!

Happy Halloween!