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Unleash the Power of Forms to Amplify Your Strategy

Welcome to the ultimate guide on amplifying your marketing game! Today, we're diving deep into a tool that might seem modest but packs a mighty punch: forms. Yep, you heard that right! We're about to explore how forms can be your secret weapon in elevating engagement, gathering insights, and driving conversions like never before. So buckle up and get...

Do Credit Unions Utilize Digital Advertising?

In short, the answer is yes!  But, to get a good look at what works and what doesn’t, let’s take a deeper dive into how much they are spending, and what they are spending that money on. According to TheFinancialBrand.com, Credit Unions spend between $9.92 – $14.83 per member on advertising.  Now, that number can vary depending on the size of the Credit...

How Do I Get Renewals From My Clients?

If you’re asking this on your way in to get a renewal, you’re already too late…. First, let’s look at some of the most common reasons renewals DON’T happen: 1. You didn’t hold a proper Customer Needs Analysis meeting because you don’t have access to the end client. 2. You assume what the client’s goals are without discussing it with them. 3. You...

Opinion: My Love/Hate Relationship with Google’s “Walled Garden”

As Google has advanced as a search engine, it has rolled out many features aimed at getting users information as fast as possible.  Included in Google’s search engine results are things like the Google Knowledge Graph, which appears if a business has an updated Google Business listing, showcasing information like the address, phone number, business hours, reviews, and even...

Are You Looking For More Quality Conversions?

Conversions are pretty much the pot of gold for digital marketing.  Increasing your conversion rate is fundamental to your client's return on investment and make the most of your digital marketing budget. Vici manages thousands of campaigns and is constantly on the lookout for industry updates on the subject.  Here are some tips to increase your client’s conversion rate:               Include A Clear...

2017 SEO Trends for Small Businesses

As reliable as New Year’s Resolutions, so are the articles about 2017 trends.  This year is no exception with entries from all walks of life, from catering to Social Media and all points in between.  For small businesses and SEO, 2016 was a year of great change, and 2017 promises to offer even more change.  Below are my thoughts...

Improve Your Online Presence with SEO & Reputation Management

Last week, our very own Laura Ostrowski wrote an excellent article about why, as a business, your online presence is important. I would definitely recommend reading it here: Why Your Online Presence is Important. Her main points centered on the fact that the majority of consumers will do some “research” about your business before choosing to engage with it....

User Explorer: Google Analytics’ New Tool to View Individual Website Interactions

Google has begun releasing a new feature (currently in Beta) which allows website owners the ability to view individual, anonymized, interactions up to the minute. User Explorer, as it’s being called, began showing up in Google Analytics dashboards a few weeks ago and those who have had a chance to really dig into it have given the new tool...

How I Explain SEO & Pay-Per-Click To My Mother

I think Search Engine Optimization is one of the hardest things to understand and even harder to explain to small business owners. Now, Google is making all kinds of change to their Search Engine Results Page (SERP), making it more confusing than ever. I’ve learned to run things through my “Mom Test.” If I can explain a digital product in...

Free Ways To Boost A Website’s Organic Search Ranking

One of the things I get asked about by our clients is how they can better the search engine ranking of their website - especially on Google.  Of course, one way is have a company (like Vici!) undertake a Search Engine Optimization campaign for you.  But there are also a number of free things you can do as well....

A Tool I’m Totally Geeking Out Over Right Now: Hotjar

Having been in the digital marketing business for quite some time I've tested out a lot of different tools: SEO tools, website auditing tools, keyword creation tools, pixel finding tools, traffic monitoring tools, etc.  I recently stumbled across a tool that I find completely fascinating and is helping to improve the efficiency of our website called Hotjar. In a...

Call Tracking: The Hidden Gem of Digital Advertising

When putting together a digital campaign, it is always important to figure out how you will track, monitor and evaluate them.The most common way is to look at a campaign report which will give you all sorts of useful data. However, there is one tool that is can help make the evaluation of your campaigns even more comprehensive. Call...

Mobile App or Mobile Website?

Over the past few years, the number of people who own an internet capable mobile device has risen dramatically. According to the Pew Research Center, 64% of American adults own a smart phone and 42% of American adults own a tablet. These are very significant numbers that will only continue to grow. With the increase in mobile device adoption comes an...

How Many Leads Will I Get From My Digital Ad Campaign?

In last week’s post we tackled “What will my traffic/clicks be from my digital ad campaign?” and now we will cover the follow up question that advertisers usually have… “How many leads will I get from my digital ad campaign?” This question is basically asking, what ROI can I expect from my digital advertising? Well, you need to have an...

What will my traffic/clicks be from my digital ad campaign?

There are two questions advertisers typically want to know about their advertising campaign:  how much traffic will my website get (aka how many clicks will I get) and how many leads will I get from my digital ad campaign.  If you’re a digital salesperson, you should be able to answer these questions, and if you’re an advertiser, you should...

Change Your Business Hours on Google

When you Google yourself, what do you see? Your customer's are doing searches everyday looking for business information, and if they aren't seeing your address, business hours, aggregated reviews, and directions to your location you are missing valuable leads.  Nothing is more frustrating then driving to business that is closed- or even navigating to the wrong address because your...

Does My Business HAVE to Blog? Yes.

As a business owner, you may have asked yourself- What is the point of blogging?  What do I blog about?  Do I HAVE to blog? Yes. Not only do you have to, but you want to. As of May 2015, there were more than 47 billion Web pages indexed on Google.  Instead of letting the 47,000,000,000 other pages intimidate you, educate...

Three Free Tools to Better Understand Your Website’s SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a incredibly powerful digital marketing strategy.  The more organic traffic to your website, the more leads, and better site navigation means more leads turning into business.  No website is the same, so it can take many different combinations of statistics and information to gain the most insight on how to run the best SEO...

How Do I Install My Mobile Redirect on My WordPress Site?

Your mobile optimized site is complete!  You’ve beat the April 21 Google deadline and your mobile site is ready to ensure your customers the most user-friendly website experience of their lives, right?  Not so fast.  Now it is time to make sure your site visitors are properly redirected from your desktop site to the mobile optimized site. Redirect scripts are...

Reputation Management and SEO, Two Peas in a Pod

“If you lose money for the firm, I will be understanding.  If you lose reputation, I will be ruthless,” said Warren Buffet. Reputation management  has become a necessary component to many successful businesses in the internet age where any customer can say anything about their experience with a company's product or services.  A company’s reputation can be permanently tarnished with...

Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly by April 21 or Lose Traffic

You've heard it here: mobile devices are the hottest platforms for effective digital marketing strategies.  Not sold on the mobile marketing trend yet?  This may change your mind,  because for the first time ever, not having a responsive or optimized mobile site can negatively impact your businesses' success. Starting April 21, Google will be penalizing websites that are not optimized or responsive to...

Unknown Social Media Sites for Your Business.

No doubt about it, we are in the social media age.  It is common and almost necessary for businesses to have a Facebook page, a Twitter page, and a LinkedIn page since it is one of the easiest (and least expensive) ways to publicize your company.  However, there are a world of social media sites just waiting to be...

Desktop Reigns Supreme in Ecommerce Traffic and Revenue

You have probably heard a lot about new digital marketing trends for digital devices.  It seems like every week a new research study proves which digital device customers prefer for shopping and browsing. With all the trends, statistics and competition among devices, it is easy to get overwhelmed trying to keep up with the dozens of ways to attract a customer...

Lifecycles to Lifestyles: Why You Should Get to Know Your Customer

When was the last time you walked, drove, sat or went anywhere without seeing handfuls of people with their faces glued to their smartphone screens?  Between distractions like internet browsing, social media, emails, texting, and phone calls, how can you capture your customer's attention? Get to know them individually.  Understand their consumer habits.  Become an integrated part of their lifestyle. Marketing...

So retargeting will cause my ad to follow people? CREEPY!

There is a fine, fine line between being creepy and being, let’s say, involved. Marketers love the idea of retargeting. It’s personalized advertising! You are following someone around online who recently visited your website and showed an interest in your product. What could go wrong? Well, to those who don’t have an understanding of retargeting, it can be a...

Put and End to Pinching and Zooming With a Mobile Optimized Site

As mobile internet use continue to skyrocket among the large population of digital device users, it becomes more difficult for brands to maintain their websites to keep up with the ever-changing and developing new devices.  While having a user-friendly site is a benefit to web users, it can be a burden to web developers and business owners who struggle...

Want More Conversions? Offer Less Options!

Giving people too many options or asking them for too much information can quickly reduce your conversions. For example, a study found that by reducing the number of options on your website’s “contact us” form from 6 to 3, you can increase your conversion rate an average of 66%.  Even changing something like the “submit” button can increase your...

Mobile Window Shopping: Look but Don’t Buy

As smart phone usage increases rapidly in America, the technical abilities of new phones become more and more advanced to add convenience to their users’ lives.  The smart phone population realized that their phone is essentially a mini desktop computer that allows them to fulfill any task on the web without the constrictions of desktop computers or even Wi-Fi. Despite...

Are Facebook And X (previously Twitter) Worth Your Company’s Time?

“So few people actually see posts from top brands on Facebook and Twitter that focusing heavily on those networks can be a waste of time, money and resources.” This quote is from vice president and principal analyst Nate Elliott of Forrester Research in a new research report. He goes on to say that their research showed, “It’s clear that Facebook...

Your 2015 New Year’s Resolution: Effective Marketing

The end of another holiday season also marks the end of a new year and the beginning of new opportunities in 2015.  Although you might have a list of important resolutions that you promise to keep this year, the fact is you may only keep them for 2 weeks, or through the entire month of January if you’re lucky. ...

Quick- How Many Pages Are On Your Website?

It's a fact: Google loves content creators.  And the more credible, keyword rich content on your site, the better Google ranks your website.  So how many pages do you have indexed in Google? It's easy to check! Step 1: Go to Google.com Step 2: In the browser field type "site:http://insertyourwebsite.com/" (no spaces, don't forget the colon!) Step 3: Google it! And voila! The...

Desktop is Not Dead! The Evolution of Desktop and Mobile Marketing

Desktops computers soared to popularity in the 1990’s and became a household item, like a microwave, or a television.  In the 2000’s a new normal revolutionized on the go technology with mobile phones.  The evolution of mobile phone technology ultimately lead to the status quo of the smartphone, which are ultimately monopolized by Android and Apple.  Easy access to...

If Your Mobile Site Doesn’t Load in 3 Seconds, Your Customers Aren’t Happy

Ready or not, the holiday season is upon us.  While some of us are already planning on procrastinating holiday shopping until Christmas Eve and some of us are still in denial that it isn't July anymore, the most avid shoppers have had their credit cards ready since the first leaf of the season changed.  But this year, instead of...

What Did Your Website Look Like 10 years ago? Take a peek!

Step into our time machine and travel back to September 4, 1998 when Google was founded. This is what their website looked like:   That's Google in Beta test mode and trying out their new colorful logo.  Let's travel back a bit further, to July 5, 1994, when Amazon.com was founded. This what their website looked like:         Scads of sports stuff? A...

How to Track Your Conversions on Google Analytics!

So if you read our little cheat sheet on Google Analytics (if not, you can read it here!), we're going to jump right in and show you how you can track your conversions.  Remember, conversions are some action that your intended audience takes to push them further down the funnel - such as completing a purchase or filling out...

Your Google Analytics Cheat Sheet (Example)

Are you maximizing your company website, blog, and Facebook page?  Are they optimized for the best performance to fit your needs and for organic search results?  Google Analytics is one of the most popular web visitor tracking tools.  It adds a small snippet of code that is placed on all the pages of your website.  Google Analytics reports can...

What the heck is a DO FOLLOW, dofollow, do-follow…

I had a client the other days ask a question about his website, asking if it would be a "do-follow" site.  This question is SO CLOSE to being a legitimate question, but also kind of funny. Here's why: Essentially you have two terms: "dofollow" and "nofollow".   This tells search engine spiders to crawl, or not crawl, a website. The...

Googles Search Revenues Shift

Nearly seven in 10 marketers say Googles Product Listing Ads (PLA’s) perform better than paid search ads. Performance of Products Listing Ads (PLA’s) in relation to Paid Search, Q1-2014. Slightly Better than paid search- 43% Much better than paid search- 26% About the same as paid search- 14% Much less than paid search- 8% Google is seeing a shift in revenue sources as a result...

Simply Explained

Online marketing can feel overwhelming.  There are a lot of acronyms: CPM, CPC, PPC, SEO... when really all you care about one acronym: ROI, your return on investment!  There are a lot of places to be online from Pay Per Click, to organic search, Google, Yahoo, and Bing search engines, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube... what business owner...

10 (FREE) Websites No Small Business Should Live Without

Small business owners know that the cost of operating can be downright expensive.  Whenever there are programs out there that can help eliminate costs, while still maintaining a professional image, you should take advantage of them! Here are the websites that top my list: MadMiMi.com “Simple and beautiful email marketing” – Mashable.  MadMimi gives you customizable email templates that are not only...