Category: Web Design

The Click Experts: Your One-Stop-Shop for all your Tech Needs

Online marketing and software development encompasses many areas such as SEO, e-commerce, pay-per-click management, app development, web design, etc. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar shop or a digital marketplace, online marketing is the key to acquiring customers and powering sales. 

In an age where everyone has immediate access to a laptop, smartphone, or tablet, your business should be visible on these mobile advertisements.

If you’re in charge of your business’s online marketing strategies, you might be juggling between hiring an online marketing firm and learning the skills yourself. 

What will you do? 

If you want to make a huge improvement in your marketing investment and grow your business, consider hiring the right digital professionals. 

Why The Click Experts?

We’re tech professionals.

Our digital company works with different types of businesses and industries. Each business community operates differently. This exposure has helped us develop various innovative and successful advertising strategies. 

We’re able to apply our industry-specific expertise to help grow your online presence. Our vast tech capabilities help us tap into your niche’s expertise and insights. We use this knowledge to build targeted and effective solutions.

Our tech expertise includes (but not limited to):

  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • Data Analysis
  • Software Proficiency

We’re your one-stop-shop for all digital marketing and software development services.

The digital marketing campaign you run will change as it passes through different times of the year. For instance, at the start of the New Year, your focus will be on SEO and branding. 

Your attention will shift towards paid advertising and social media during the festive sale and Christmas. It’s expensive to retain and manage all these professionals under a single roof.

This is where The Click Experts is your best choice. 

Our team includes:

  •  SEO experts
  •  E-Commerce website development
  •  PPC campaign set-up and management
  •  Software and App development
  •  Onsite technicians

Our team has the expertise and skillset to seamlessly meet and exceed all your campaign objectives.

We’ve got the experience!

Digital marketing is a competitive arena where the virtual atmosphere is constantly changing. Wouldn’t you feel more confident leaving your campaign in the hands of an experienced team? 

Our company has more than two decades of experience in developing, planning, and executing marketing campaigns. The Click Experts is a versatile, multi-person engine that will work in unison on your campaign. 

We’ve got PPC, SEO, web development, and software development experts on our team.

We’ve got the track record to prove our skills and talents.

We’ve built a stellar reputation in our industry, but don’t take our word for it. 

Check out what our customers have to say about our work! 

Most of our clients are either repeat customers or referrals. In fact, we’ve got some patrons who’ve been with us for over a decade. 

Now, you can see our work first-hand in Featured Projects.

Outsourcing your digital marketing and software development needs is a recipe for a flexible, cost-effective, and successful marketing campaign. 

Get in touch with The Click Experts today for all your online marketing and technology needs.

SBA Presentation by Ben Elias: Tuesday 3pm in Downtown San Francisco

Powerful Technology & Marketing Solutions…For Small Businesses ONLY

Benjamin Elias from The Click Experts will be giving an instructional work shop for the Small Business Association (SBA) on 17 tips, tools and tricks for powerful marketing in today’s fast paced business world.

Benjamin Elias with Michael Gerber

Gerber

Benjamin has consulted and absorbed the best practices from industries such as: technology, financial services, import/export, software platforms, manufacturing, healthcare, staffing, database agencies, food service and real estate.
Are you looking for fresh ideas, practical information and proven strategies to grow your business and increase your profitability?

Ben_presentation

Come join us!

DATE AND TIME

Tue, September 12, 2017

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM PD

San Francisco SBA

455 Market Street, Suite 600

San Francisco, CA 94105

For free tickets to this even, please click on the following link.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/powerful-technology-marketing-solutionsfor-small-businesses-only-tickets-37497368639

Four Tips to Improve Your YouTube Marketing

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#1: Just as it’s true with a written blog post, or, indeed, any other form of advertising, content is king. That means that your YouTube video must tell an original and interesting story. People are simply not going to have much patience with a boring or conventional video. Engaging your audience is key, and it’s not always important for your content ideas to relate directly to your product or business. This is particularly true if you’re in an industry that’s hard to get people excited about. What sometimes is more important is linking your business with content that connects your product or service with a positive emotion. Think outside the box and remember to keep it interesting.

#2: While nobody expects your video to be Hollywood quality, it’s still important for it to be watchable. That means it must be clearly seen and heard. Make sure your camera is in focus and correctly aimed on the subject you are shooting. Also, be sure that your lighting is sufficient. In addition, understand that bad audio can tank your video within seconds. Even the most polished visuals will be wasted if the sound is too low, or there is too much interference or background noise. Viewers have come to expect a credible level of technical expertise. Don’t disappoint them.

#3: Make sure your video is find-able and that it reaches its intended audience. Focus on the title, the description, the tags, and the keywords. It’s important to remember that people who find your videos on YouTube are usually in the discovery stage of the buying process and not yet ready to make a purchase. For this reason, it’s important to choose keywords that are relevant to people who are looking for new information and to provide video content that educates them based on those keywords. Remember: the goal of your YouTube video is to warm up and qualify prospects. So, use your video as a call to action and make sure it’s easy for viewers to link back to your website, where you can continue the selling process.

#4: Sad to say, in most cases, one video, however brilliant, will usually not be enough. In other words: volume wins. Publishing consistently on a regular basis creates a “cadence” with your audience. Instead of stumbling on your videos, sometimes just by chance, they begin looking for your content and make a habit of checking your channel, looking for your next YouTube gem. And it’s this cadence that you ultimately want. The more times your loyal viewers come back, the better. The best advice for creating a content cadence is to set the tone from the beginning and let your audience know what to expect. Make your first video an introduction to what sort of content you will be publishing, and how often—and then whatever cadence you set for yourself, make sure you follow through. If you don’t, your audience will leave.

Software Development Programs

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Computer software, also known as a software program, is a set of instructions and associated documentation that tells a computer what to do or how to perform a task. Everything a computer does is done by using a computer program, from its basic operating system to any one of a myriad number of applications designed to accomplish a specific undertaking.

For example, this article was created using a word processing software program called Microsoft Word that was loaded onto a personal computer running the operating software program, Microsoft Vista. It was originally stored on a program called Trello, which is a collaboration program that organizes projects, and then it was uploaded to WordPress, which is an online, website creation tool. The finished article can then be accessed by a reader using a web browsing program such as Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari that is used to view web pages on the internet.

Software development is the process of writing and maintaining the source code that underlies all operating systems and applications. It includes all that is involved between the conception of the desired software through to the final manifestation of the program and may include research, new development, prototyping, modification, reuse, re-engineering, maintenance, or any other activities that result in software products.

A software development program is a tool that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. They include scripting languages such as .NET, C/C++, Java, COBOL, Ajax, HTML, Ruby, PHP, Basic, CSS, SQL, Python, GitHub, jQuery, and many, many more. A software development kit (SDK or “devkit”) is typically a set of software development tools that allows the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar development platform.

Many schools, colleges, and online universities offer programs and courses in software and application development. Software developers are in high demand; they’re employed in a range of industries, including computer systems design, electronic product manufacturing, and finance. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 19-percent employment growth for software developers between 2014 and 2024, which is much faster than average for all occupations. In that period, an estimated 135,300 jobs will open up, with a median salary of $98,000 per year.

The Importance of Online Marketing in 2017

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Ecommerce continues to grow and competition will ramp up, as well, in 2017. This means that customers will be harder to win, easier to lose, and fussier on price and user experience. The low barriers to entry and the fact that consumers can switch from brand to brand with the touch of a button, means that those who fall behind when it comes to customer experience and pricing strategy will lose out. So, the savvy online marketer will have to keep up with the latest trends in order to stay ahead of the pack.

Here are some tips for online marketing in 2017:

 Influencers are becoming increasingly important because they are considered credible and, unlike classic advertising, their opinion is trusted. To be successful in 2017, you will need to cooperate with bloggers, YouTubers, etc., and win them over with your products and services.
 Just as influencers need be enlisted, so must users. Users who are convinced of something are an ideal marketing instrument because they transfer their conviction to the wider market.
 Customers will have to be better informed and more inspired; it’s no longer enough just to offer products that are accompanied by a description. Shoppers want more. Products must be accompanied with ancillary information and collateral subject matter. The inspiring and informative incorporation of products and services into offers will influence purchase decisions and increase visitor numbers in 2017.
 Chatbots are small programs that function like a real chat partner. For this reason FAQs can be found on practically every internet site. But clicking through a long list of questions is often frustrating. Chatbots can perform these tasks considerably better. The user can ask his questions and the software answers interactively. Interested parties as well as customers arrive at their answers quickly, and receive the desired assistance in short order. So Chatbots will make customer service and customers’ lives easier in the year 2017.
 Live video is becoming increasingly important. With live streaming, the interested party feels more connected to what is shown. It’s an especially powerful tool to introduce a new product or service.
 Old SEO tactics are becoming outmoded. For example, beginning in January, advertising that customers are unable to bypass will be used as a criterion by Google to rank a site lower. So in addition to inspiring content in order to rank high, websites will have to put the user first. Say goodbye to annoying pop-ups.
 Native advertising is gaining importance. This includes articles in blogs, portals etc. that have not been created by an editorial team, but by an advertising agency or a company’s marketing department. Good native advertising is characterized by high-quality content. The reader is encouraged to read the article, although it is still advertising. (Native advertising should always be identified as such; otherwise blogs and advertisers are gambling with their credibility.)
 Virtual reality and augmented reality will make completely different marketing measures possible in 2017. They allow the user to be involved, and not just to stare at a screen.
 Platform as a Service is now one of the hottest trends in ecommerce. Just look at the incredible success of Platform as a Service businesses like Uber, Spotify, and AirBnB. The smart online marketer should consider selling anything that is used or consumed regularly via a subscription model. The high disposable incomes of today’s Millennials means plenty of cash for subscriptions, but their low wealth means there is never much in the bank for big one-off purchases. So, there really has never been a better time to sell your product via a subscription model.
 Mobile devices now make up over half of all web traffic and continue to grow in importance. However, mobile (phone and tablet), while accounting for 59 percent of all sessions by device on ecommerce sites, count for just 38 percent of revenue. In 2017, the smart online marketer will understand that mobile is king for research, but desktop is still where consumers do their buying.

How important is AdWords to New Businesses?

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The U.S. Census Bureau reports that approximately 400,000 new businesses are started every year in America. But according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only about half of them survive more than five years. And the Small Business Administration estimates that 50 percent of new businesses actually fail during their first year, alone.

There are a lot of reasons why businesses, especially new ones, don’t make the grade. But it is safe to assume that one major reason is simple enough to deduce: not enough customers. It’s no secret that in order to get those customers a business must advertise – and a new business must advertise even more intelligently, if not more extensively, because . . .well, it’s new. Nobody yet knows that it’s out there.

One challenge for any new business is that it is likely competing with more established operations that are more well-known and more experienced in the advertising side of things. Another challenge is monetary; start-up costs often eat up a large percentage of a new business’ budget and there may be scant funds left over for a major marketing campaign.

The good news, though, is that today, the internet has helped level the playing field. And one of its best tools is Google AdWords. Whenever a prospective customer is looking for a product, service, promotion, or anything from anywhere in the world, they’re likely going to search for it on Google. And Google AdWords can get a business found. With Google AdWords, on even a moderate budget, a new business can compete on the same level as the more established firms, no matter how long it’s been around.

When a business buys an ad on Google AdWords, with a link to its website or other content, and the chosen keywords match what people are looking for, the ad appears on Page One, above or alongside the organically ranked websites in the same category. That means it gets seen. But more importantly, it gets seen only by potential customers who are already interested in what that business is selling or offering.

In addition, unlike other marketing strategies, the business only gets charged when people click on its ad. That makes Google AdWords extremely cost-effective. That’s especially important to a new business because it can determine how much it wants to spend – a budget can be set from ten dollars to thousands of dollars a day.

Google AdWords also gives a business targeting options, so a locally-based business, (such as a neighborhood restaurant), a regional company (such as a state bank), or even an e-commerce site (with, say, country shipping restrictions), can geo-target its most promising, potential customers. And it’s not wasting ad dollars on those who aren’t in its area. By using Google Places in conjunction with AdWords, a business can even show a map of its brick-and-mortar shop, if it has one.

And since new businesses, in particular, have to watch every penny spent, with Google AdWords, every single aspect of a marketing campaign is measurable – right down to the number of clicks, the number of impressions, the click through rate (CTR), the number of conversions, the conversion rate, the cost per click (CPC), the cost per acquisition (CPA), etc. So it’s very easy to measure the return on investment (ROI).

Google AdWords also helps with follow-up. When interested visitors have clicked on an ad and visited a new business’ website, they get a cookie from a code that exists on the site’s back end. When they leave, the ad can be targeted to follow them on the Google Display Networks, or Google search.

With all of its advantages – its relatively low cost, its potentially wide reach, and its broad menu of options – Google AdWords can be a hugely successful method of driving traffic and gaining new customers. Which is why every new business should consider using it – especially if it wants to wind up in the 50 percent range of those businesses that ultimately do get to stick around.

Your Customers are Looking for You, but Can They Find You?

These days, more than ever, it’s not enough just to be good at your business – you have to know how reach your customers and potential customers where they live. And, today, more and more of them are living online. So, if they can’t find you on their computers, tablets, and smart phones, then you are probably losing them to your competition. Here are some tips that will help them find you when they look:

1.You must have a professional looking website that is highly functional and easy to navigate. If your customers can’t get the information they are seeking within seconds, they will hit the back button and go looking somewhere else. Make sure that your website meets current usability standards and that it is optimized for use on a mobile phone; that the information is correct and up-to-date; and that it is easy for a potential customer to do business with you.

2. Concentrate on your local market as most consumers still prefer to do business with those nearby. Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing provide business owners with a free way to get businesses listed ahead of all the search results via their default map systems.

3. Get listed on review sites. People want to know that others have done business with you and have had positive experiences.

4. Attract buyers by blogging. Blogging not only elevates your professional profile, it can help raise your company website to the top of the search engines pages.

5. Use social media. People buy into you before they buy from you. Social media lets you connect with potential customers without coming on too hard as a salesperson. By having an open, interesting dialog with people who may be interested in your goods or services, you stay in their minds. Then, when they are ready to buy, they are more likely to remember you.

6. Use online press releases. Think about all the new and interesting things going on in your business and write an article about them. Embed a few links back to your website, and send the release to the most appropriate online press release services.

7. Shoot a video and upload it to YouTube, or any of the other video sharing sites, and be sure to link it directly to your website. Then promote the video with social media to increase your online presence.

8. Send out regular email newsletters to current customers and anyone else who has contacted you in one way or another. By sending out fresh, new content on a regular basis, you’re reminding your customers that you’re still out there.

9. Content is still king. Create useful content and give it away free to your customers on your website. There are many types of online content: white papers, articles, reports, case studies, and webinars, for example. In addition, the more useful and original your content, the higher your site will rank on search engines.

10. If your budget allows, pay for online ads with Google Adwords and/or Bing Adwords. Paid placement will get your business on the front page of their search engines when customers are surfing the web. Get some professional advice, though, before you spend a dime. Doing it right can help your business thrive; doing it wrong can wreck your bottom line.

Remember the old conundrum: If a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, if your customers are looking for you, but can’t find you, can you really do business with them?

Finding New Ways to Reach Customes Online

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While the media used to reach customers may have changed dramatically over the last several years, there are some things that haven’t changed in the world of marketing: before you can sell your product or service, you first have to engage your target audience. And in order to engage that audience, you must reach out to them where they live. And today, the vast majority of people live online.

It’s axiomatic that every business must have an attractive, well-organized, and well-structured website rich in information. It must contain the relevant keywords so that it can rank as high as possible on all search engines, and it needs to have as many inbound, outbound, and internal links as possible.

Most important, it must include useful and original content that will resonate deeply with its intended audience. By maintaining a blog that targets potential customers’ interests, a business can position itself as a thought leader and expert in a particular industry. Finally, every website must be optimized for mobile and tablet usage, with as much video content as practicable.

In addition, to having a website, many businesses prosper with the use of paid channel advertising, specifically Google AdWords. Buying ad space on Google, or on another search engine, such as Bing, puts a company’s website on the engine’s first page, where most web surfers begin, and often end, their searches.

But in order to really reach the present generation of shoppers and consumers, a business, today, must know how to leverage the many social networks that people now use to communicate with one another. While the average person might only spend 15-30 minutes per day on social networks, many others spend multiple hours each week. That suggests that any strategic marketing plan must include a steady dose of social media.

The most widely-used social network is, of course, Facebook. Facebook provides an opportunity to showcase products, share company news and milestones, and present pictures and blogs that can engage and entertain the Facebook universe. It is an excellent way for people to see new content with every post. Facebook has a simple sign-up process that can establish a business online in minutes and it’s fairly easy to customize how a company can represent itself to its users.

Of course there are many other social networks that can be utilized to engage its users. Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc., all have possibilities for the savvy business owner to exploit. The most important thing to remember is the importance of finding out where one’s potential customers are spending their time and then maximizing the relationship opportunities better than the competition.

Remember – regardless of the type of media used, the most important factor in getting and retaining customers is keeping them interested and engaged in your company’s product or service. We may talk to each other via many different electronic media, but keeping it human and personal is still the key to business success.

The importance of Auditing your Google PPC Account.

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Your Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign needs to be constantly updated if you want it to help you achieve your marketing goals. Some businesses crate a PPC account and then make the mistake of thinking it can run on automatic, not realizing that it has many moving parts and plenty of places where problems can arise. An account audit is simply systematic way to review your account to determine areas that could benefit from anything from a minor tweak to a major overhaul.

Remember: the purpose of an audit is to match your PPC account’s goals with its desired outcomes and to maximize the impact of your ad campaign and, ultimately, your costs per conversion and return on investment (ROI). So, at the very least, you should perform an audit on a yearly basis and then whenever you think it necessary to address any known or suspected performance issues. Most experts recommend that you have an outside agency do the work so that your account can be examined with a fresh eye and from an unbiased perspective.

There are many different audits that you can complete to help ensure that your account is operating at its peak performance. Here are some things to consider:

• Account Structure and Organization Audit – The purpose of this audit is to review and ensure that you are targeting the right location, users, and keywords. Check for duplicate keywords, variations in the ad text, and keyword match types. Make sure there are no issues or missed optimization opportunities; that there exists an adequate negative keyword list to prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant queries; and that conversion tracking is set up to track the most important actions a visitor could take. Check for any approval issues. Review your budget; if the budget is maxed out, consider lowering your bids in order to reduce your cost per click– you just might get more clicks for your money.

• Ad Audit – The purpose of an ad audit is to find out which ads are under-performing and which are driving a positive response. Check for typos and spelling issues. Make sure your ad has a call to action. Examine any custom display URLs and ascertain their effectiveness.

• Landing Page Audit – Make sure your landing page works and sends traffic to the right page(s) of your website. Pause ads for any products or services that are no longer being offered. Optimize the landing page for conversions, and make sure it has the proper privacy policy and terms clauses on it.

• Extension Audit – If your account has site link extensions make sure they are correctly configured to include quick links to any top pages and are appropriate for your business. For example, brick and mortar businesses should always have working location extensions. Pause any under performing extensions and replace them with other variations.

Be thorough and methodical. Auditing your pay-per-click account is one of the most beneficial things you can do to improve its performance, lower cost per clicks, and increase click-through rates and conversions.

Once these and any other audits are completed, you will need to prioritize any necessary re-working of your PPC account according to what is going to affect your bottom line the most, or according to the amount of time it will take to complete particular tasks.

Steps to a Google-friendly Site

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There is no point in having a website unless people visit it. And people won’t visit it often enough, if it first doesn’t please Google, who, like it or not, is the most important arbiter of how your website will be ranked. So, while you are indulging in your creative fancies, trying to make you site the most beautiful and technologically sophisticated in the land, you also need to pay attention to grabbing the attention of Google – your new, best friend.

Number one on the list of creating a Google-friendly website is realizing that content is still king – not clever meta tags or sneakily inserted and endlessly repeated keywords. You have to provide unique content that is worth reading, viewing, or listening to, and that is updated regularly. And make sure that your content is original. Google is particularly annoyed when you lift content from another site and try to fool it into thinking that it is truly your own.

The good news is that if you provide unique and useful content, other sites will link to yours. Google likes that and attaches a lot of importance to inbound links. Again, don’t try to fool the Google algorithm; inbound links that are the result of schemes or link farms are a no-no. Google’s algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural ones.

Also, don’t try to out-maneuver Google by creating multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with duplicate content, or stuff pages with key words that don’t actually relate to the content therein. If your site contains pages, links, or text that you don’t intend visitors to see, Google considers those links and pages deceptive and may ignore your site, altogether.

Now, for the more technically minded, here are some other hints to making your site more Google-friendly:

• Ensure that your URL is optimized for organic search because its structure is important to its crawlability. Eschew unnecessary parameters and irrelevant characters.

• Test your page speed using Google’s own tool.

• Make sure that you’re not linking to non-essential pages in order to maximize your PageRank filtration

• If you’re using JavaScript, ensure that you’re coding it correctly so that it can be accessed by search engine spiders.

• Don’t use images to display important names, content, or links. Google’s crawler doesn’t recognize text contained in graphics.

• Use ALT attributes if the main content and keywords on your page can’t be formatted in regular HTML.

• Remember to create a Google Webmaster Tools account for your website so that Google can communicate with you directly.

A final word about the basics: Create your website for people, not search engines. The more usable your website is to humans, the more appealing it will be to search engines, anyway.

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