Blood Hound is committed to consistent innovation to provide the safest, highest quality, most efficient and cost-effective solutions for protecting infrastructure and our communities. 

Over 65% of underground utilities are privately owned and do not get marked by calling 811, which locates only public utilities. To keep your jobsite safe and prevent costly damages and delays, make Blood Hound your second call.

Their highly skilled and experienced technicians utilize the most advanced equipment and technologies to locate private and public underground utilities and structures, including those undetectable by traditional locating methods. They identify all risks hidden underground to ensure safe digging.   

Conversion Pipeline was hired to manage all of their paid advertising initiatives across multiple channels as well as increasing their organic presence.

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Debbie started the business in 1988 to provide extra income for the family. What started as extra income turned into a passion. Sarah joined her mom with this passion in 2006, and not only did the mother-daughter aspect bring them together, but so did the passion for their clients. They are a true family owned business! It’s been said that buying or selling a home is one of the most stressful things that anyone will go through in their lifetime. Debbie and Sarah understand this, and are passionate about providing an experience for their clients where we take ALL the stress away!

They have always hired partners to join the team that share their core values! It hasn’t always been easy to find them, but they have found that it is worth the wait to find agents and team members that have the same care and passion that they do! It’s an amazing team!

Conversion Pipeline is proud to provide a full suite of search engine optimization and online advertising solutions for The Reynolds Team. Contact The Reynolds Team for easy home buying solutions!

The Reynolds Team also provides a full suite of Real Estate Services in the following markets:

Atlanta GA

Everyone loves Atlanta for different reasons—whether it’s for our enthusiasm over sports, our soul food, or the great outdoors, one thing we can agree on is that this is the place to be! If our recreational opportunities weren’t enough to convince you, unlike other cities, our endless real estate opportunities in the sprawling suburbs are known for being inexpensive. What’s not to love?

Linde Moore of Linde & Associates has officially merged with The Reynolds Team and have taken on the new Team Name “The Linde & Sarah Group Atlanta GA,” powered by The Reynolds Team, and are ready to help you find the home of your dreams in Atlanta, Georgia!

You may have seen or heard our famous taglines “Debbie Has The Buyers,” or “Your Home Sold Guaranteed Or Debbie And Sarah Will Buy It” on 1140 WRVA News Radio, Zillow.com, Realtor.com, or even, The Wall Street Journal! Our reputation spans far and wide, with many of our friends on these various platforms personally voguing for our services. By popular demand, we expanded our network into Richmond, Virginia, and have brought our commitment to top-notch service with us. Those Guarantees we mentioned aren’t just taglines, though; they are REAL promises we have put into place to stand behind the service we promise, and thus, take away the risk of buying or selling a home.

Richmond VA

Our Expansion into Richmond, Virginia, was our first BIG leap into taking our network nationwide! That is to say, serving the Richmond, Virginia area paved the way for our West Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia expansions, as we learned how to successfully grow and manage a team from afar. We are now the fastest growing and most successful Keller Williams Team in Richmond! It’s safe to say that we have mastered the ins and outs of the diverse real estate opportunities in Richmond, VA, and are experts at navigating through the market. Our Team in Richmond LOVES the widespread art communities and historical ties the city has to the Civil War. Those that live here enjoy the street art (including over 100 mural installations), museums, and historical landmarks!

VA Beach | Hampton Roads

As seen or heard on WNIS 790 AM, 106.7 The Fan, 97.1 WASH-FM, 630 AM ESPN, Zillow.com, Realtor.com, and The Wall Street Journal, Sarah, Debbie, and The Reynolds Team in VA Beach | Hampton Roads live up to our reputation as specialists in the area. Many of our friends on these various platforms personally vouch for our services! With that being said, we attribute our success in VA Beach | Hampton Roads to our in-depth knowledge of the market. Our Team knows how highly-sought-after the real estate is in VA Beach | Hampton Roads.

The Reynolds Team is dedicated to a level of service that goes above and beyond, which is why we provide various Guarantee Programs that take away the risk of buying or selling a home. We can help you take advantage of this market by selling your home for TOP DOLLAR and buying a new one for the right price! For a long time, we have wanted to serve the Virginia Beach area. To do so, we needed to partner with some fantastic people that aligned with our mission! And by popular demand, we are officially expanding our network into Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Sandbridge, and Williamsburg thanks to our partnership with Cristen Treu. We have brought our top-notch service, Guarantees, and compassion for our clients with us and are so excited to share this market with you!

Denver, CO

Gaye Ribble and The Ribble Group in Denver, Colorado, have officially joined forces with The Reynolds Team Network to bring the entire Front Range the incredible signature service and Guarantees we are known for! We love The Mile High City’s architecture and ambiance—it’s a unique place where urban sophistication meets outdoor adventures.

We’re famous for our world-class cultural attractions, chef-driven dining, and red-hot music scene, all comfortably situated in the brimming Rocky Mountains. Our passionate and enthusiastic Denver, CO Realtor Partners are so excited to share this amazing community with you, and are ready to help you achieve your real estate dreams in Denver & The Entire Front Range!

The post Customer Spotlight: The Reynolds Team appeared first on Conversion Pipeline.

For businesses who don’t want their images and videos pulled directly from their Google Business Profile, here are the opt-out instructions.

Google recommends that businesses should upload as many high-quality photos and videos to your Google Business Profile as you can to make your listings show up well in Google Search and in ads. 

The post Google Merchant Images In Local Business Ads appeared first on Conversion Pipeline.

Craig Van Lines’ professional movers provide a complete moving solution for your home or office. This includes break down furniture, desks, beds and reassembly at your new location. Extra padding and secure packing of delicate items and antiques as well as covering your floors and walls for protection.  Their moving professionals demonstrate an exceptional level of care, so you can relax knowing your belongings are safe.

They also provide storage solutions as well as moving and packing items. Your old house is sold, but your closing date on the new isn’t for a few more weeks, you say? They’ll store your items in our private & secure facility! Craig Van Lines offers customizable storage solutions to accommodate any need, no matter how large or small. They also provide moving boxes, packing tape, and answers to any moving questions you may have.

The Craig family is also very active and big supporters of the local youth and high school lacrosse, basketball and football programs in western Prince William County. Fred Craig has spent countless hours volunteering as a youth coach and supporting local leagues and community initiatives.

Conversion Pipeline has provided a complete suite of digital marketing services including SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing and website management services since 2014. To learn more about Craig Van Lines visit:
https://craigvanlines.com/

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How does this happen? Kind of creepy, right!? Surely, your phone must be eavesdropping on your conversations…

Your phone isn’t supposed to listen to your conversations, but with ever evolving digital assistants such as Siri, Google and Alexa, we feel like “they” are always listening. To understand more about how your phone may be listening to you, and what information digital marketing companies use from the data collected by your phone, keep reading!

Virtual Assistants Are Waiting for the Keyword

The most obvious way your phone listens to you is when you want to use the virtual assistant on Siri or Google. With the hands-off feature, simply saying “hey Siri” or “hey Google” can activate your phone. However, while this is a nice perk for when your phone is far away, it also means that Siri and Google need to be actively listening for this key wake-up word in all your conversations.

Since these assistants need to listen to everything you say, they can also gather information based on your searches, requests and conversations. For example, if you are talking about one of your favorite clothing brands to a friend, the actively listening assistant may catch on to that and send you an ad related to that brand.

Virtual assistants are meant to improve your digital experience, but don’t be surprised if the information they gather is transferred to advertising companies for revenue. They must listen if they want to provide you with accurate search results and targeted ads.

Yes, it is legal for phones to listen to you after you give consent by accepting the terms and conditions of software updates or app downloads. Those conditions are usually that we’ll allow our data to be collected so that we can harness all the wonders and conveniences of voice-assisted programs and services.

Unfortunately, your phone can also listen to you illegally if you have been infected with spyware or malware. For this reason, it’s important to have anti-virus software, limit the permissions you provide to applications, and review the terms and conditions of new programs that ask for microphone access.

Analyzing Browsing History, Cookies, and Location Data

Technically speaking unless you activate your virtual assistant your phone should not be continually recording and storing data from your conversations. However, there are plenty of other ways your phone continuously gathers information on your interests and needs.

Browsing History

One way your phone is gathering information about you is by tracking your browsing history. Every time you enter a Google, Bing, or Yahoo! search, that information is stored in your browser and available for consumption by advertising companies.

In the time it takes to load up a webpage, there are hundreds of ad companies looking to fill the vacant spaces on your screen with targeted advertisements that should make you want to click on them. By tracking your web history, these companies can find what you are interested in and products that you will want to interact with.

Cookies

The same sort of concept can be used when you click the accept button on website cookie information. Cookies are small pieces of code that can be really helpful in creating a unique and targeted website experience. They hold information such as login usernames, items that are in your cart, and location settings.

However, these cookies also track what websites you visit and how long you interact with them. Not only do they know the overall brands and information that you look for, but they also know the specifics of what you want from those brands. This increases the amount of targeting that can be put into advertisements which in turn increases the likelihood that you will engage with the ad.

Location

The third most popular way your phone gathers information about you is through location data. Not only does location data track where you go and use that information for product and business advertisements, but it can also track when you go to these places.

For example, if you always go to the grocery store after going to the gym, then advertisements may start to show things like healthy foods and drinks. It creates a detailed persona of who you are for advertising purposes.

Location data can also help to identify similar people who seem to frequent businesses more often. If all these top customers have characteristics in common, then this information can be used to target other consumers who also have these traits but aren’t frequenting the business.

And finally, location data can be used to target the customers of competing businesses. If you are consistently going to a competitor’s shop, then businesses that want more consumers can use this information to specifically target you for advertisements and hope to convert your loyalty.

Why Do Advertising Companies Want This Information?

Advertising companies use the information they gather from your phone for a variety of purposes, but the main purpose is to curate and custom-tailor your advertising experience. By using this information to target ads to your devices you are more likely to engage with the ad and create profit for the company. The whole process happens in the span it takes to load up a webpage.

After gathering all the information about your interests and needs, online advertising companies sell this information to the highest bidding company and put their ads in the vacant spaces on webpages and social media platforms.

How to Stop or Limit the Information Gathering by My Phone

There are a few ways to try and manage the amount of information your phone can gather about you. The first is to turn off your hands-free activation of your virtual assistant. This way you can be sure that they are not actively listening for the keywords and the rest of your conversation.

The second option is to do your web browsing on incognito tabs. These tabs erase any information that you have searched for as soon as you close them. This includes any cookies, login information, or Google searches and websites.

And the third best option for stopping your phone from listening to you is to turn off the microphone access to all apps. You can do this in your settings and app permissions. This includes social media platforms that record videos such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.

However, when you turn off all of these features your virtual assistant, voice commands and the ability to receive custom, targeted search results are eliminated.

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Contact Us Today for Help with Your Digital Marketing Goals

If you want to learn more about how targeted ads can help your business grow, contact
Conversion Pipeline today! As experts in the field of advertising and marketing AI we have all
the knowledge and information you need to be successful.

Contact Us Today!

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Why Should You Sell Your Agency?

There are many different reasons why a business owner would want to sell their digital marketing agency to another individual or company. Whatever the reason, it’s not always a bad thing to have to sell. It’s inevitable that all businesses will have ups and downs, and if you can’t get yourself out of a low spot you might have to sell your business and move to something else that makes more sense for you. Similarly, you might want to switch to something easier or less stressful as time goes on, and you want to make sure your agency is sold to someone who will utilize it well.

How to Sell Your Agency in Three Simple Steps:

1: Creating An Agency Worth Buying

Make it Appealing

No one looking to purchase an agency is going to be interested in a sloppy, chaotic system with no processes and documentation. To make your digital marketing agency a good investment for a potential buyer, you should have a streamlined work system with thorough documentation. It should be clear from the outside looking in that you and your employees know what you’re doing and you do it well.

Make it Repeatable

Your sales should follow the same series of actions every time and be executed as efficiently as possible. It should be simple for a buyer to take over your digital marketing agency and know what to do right away, without having to stumble through things and possibly cause trouble for themselves in the process. Document your sales and operational process so the potential buyer knows you have a scalable process. If your agency is using a CRM (which it should be) then this will help organize customers, prospects and sales forecasts.

Make it Respectable

Even if you aren’t trying to sell your digital marketing agency right now, you should be making an active effort to become well-known for quality services by your customers and clients. If you specialize in a specific vertical, you should aim to stand out as one of the best in that vertical, and your clients should be satisfied with the marketing service you provide. Your employees should be trustworthy and reflect the work of your agency, and it should be clear that everyone involved in your agency is striving for excellence. Having a strong reputation will help in your agency’s intrinsic value.

Make it Profitable

A digital marketing agency with only temporary one-project clients may succeed for a little while, but in the end they can struggle in the long run. If you seek out clients who are looking for long-term contracts, you will be bringing in a more consistent revenue that can continue after a buyer takes over. A recurring source of revenue is ideal for a buyer, because it means they’re already set up for success and it makes their job a little bit easier.

When someone buys your marketing agency, they are buying the business’ future stream of profits. The acquisiton formula is usually some “multiple” of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, & amortization). Digital marketing agencies can realistically sell from anywhere from 1.5X – 10X EBITDA. Of course this is depending on a multitude of factors. Some of the factors are:

• Size
• Project vs. Retainer Contracts
• Revenue
• Debt

Ultimately, your agency’s value is whatever someone is willing to pay for it based on a set of variables. The reality is that you and the the buyer must agree what you are willing to sell your agency for. If you come into this process with unrealistic expectations then you will not only become frustrated quickly but also lose valuable time and money during this process.

2: Finding the Right Buyer

Advertise Well

One great way to get word out there that you’re selling your digital marketing agency is to talk directly to people about it. If you know other people in the digital marketing agency industry, tell them about your agency and ask them to share it with anyone they know who might be interested. Not only is this a good way to spread the word, but it also gives you a more genuine connection with a potential buyer and shows them that you–and by extension, your employees–are willing to do the hard work to make sure your agency ends up in the right hands.

Hiring a professional business broker can also work well, because they have access to a network of people who are already looking to buy a business. And because they earn a commission from the sale, they’ll also be aiming for a higher selling price.

The downside of working with a business broker is that they typically charge around 8% to 10% of the total selling price. That’s a significant amount of money for someone who doesn’t know your business vertical.

Know What a Buyer Will Want

Anyone making an investment as massive as buying a business will want to be certain that everything is in order documentation-wise. When meeting with a potential buyer, you should be prepared with a mutual non-disclosure agreement to share things like your business’s balance sheet, financial records, performance indicators, and client/project summaries. All of these should show that your business has potential to be continued and improved upon by a buyer. As the seller, you should also be open and ready to answer any questions they might have–within reason–with confidence.

3: Selling Your Digital Marketing Agency

Know the Worth of Your Agency

Before you even attempt selling your business, you should be aware of what it’s worth in the current market. Look for the demand for agencies like yours and roughly the price they’re selling for. You should price your agency according to real facts rather than the ideal profit you’d like to make off of it.

Negotiate Well

No matter how much back and forth negotiating you do with a buyer, you should always have a final price in mind from the start. When you do reveal this to the buyer as the price you really want to sell for, you should have a variety of valid, real-life examples to back it up so that they understand your thought process and feel assured that they’re making a reasonable exchange.

Hire a Lawyer Who Fits Your Needs

When choosing a lawyer to represent you in selling your business, you should find someone who is familiar with the process and knows how to make it happen.They should understand the urgency that you’re working with, and they should be able to help you rather than hinder you.

Be Prepared to Train the Buyer

After selling your business, you should be ready to train the buyer and show them how your business functions before you step out. During this process, it’s best to try to stay on the same page with them, and to have a plan in place to make any changes they’d like to make.

How To Sell Your Marketing Agency Conclusion

Whether you intend to sell your marketing agency someday or not, you should always run it like it’s going to be sold. You should be able to see it from a wider perspective and make sure everything is running smoothly, both in large-scale projects and day-to-day work. Building it into the most high-quality and profitable business possible is a great thing for everyone involved.

Have More Questions About The Selling Process? Contact Us

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While you may have a small marketing department with skilled professionals who are managing the day-to-day operations of your company’s marketing, there are people out there who are experts in the field of optimizing a company’s revenue growth.

You’ve probably heard of them. Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are highly trained experts and know everything that there is to know about marketing and business growth. That means that they’re also expensive to keep on staff.

Have you heard of a Fractional CMO? Read on as we explain what a fractional CMO is and what they can do to help grow your business without the long-term commitment.

What Exactly Is a Fractional CMO?

The difference between a traditional CMO and a fractional CMO is that the latter works contractually rather than as a full-time part of a company’s staff. When you hire a fractional CMO, they will sign on to your team for a predetermined period of time. This means that, in the long run, a fractional CMO will end up costing you far less than a permanent CMO.

What Will a Fractional CMO Bring to My Company?                                                

A fractional CMO has so much to offer any growing business. In the short time they are with your company, they can have lasting impact. Here are a few of the top benefits of a Fractional CMO:

Marketing Expertise

A fractional CMO is going to bring the same marketing expertise to the table that an in-house CMO would. These are highly educated and trained professionals who know the best marketing methods, techniques, and leadership that any successful business needs.

Experience

By bringing in a fractional CMO, you will have a seasoned marketing expert at the helm of your team providing direction and guidance on the best way to grow your business. It would benefit your company to take advantage of the time your fractional CMO will be working on your marketing strategy by having them work closely with your existing marketing team will help them create an organized and streamlined plan.

Budget Optimization

When you think about hiring and paying another person, you are probably not thinking about how it can save you money. You need to consider the bigger picture in this instance. Part of what a fractional CMO will do is to work with your marketing department to streamline and optimize your working budget during the time that they are with you so that things continue to grow once they’ve left.

Deliberate Marketing

Many businesses will fall into the trap of throwing whatever they can at all sorts of marketing tactics. When you bring a fractional CMO into the business, the marketing plan and practices that they employ will be specific, deliberate, and targeted to your company’s demographic. Once your in-house marketing team learns the best ways to optimize their efforts, you will see better results. The experience that a fractional CMO brings to the table is key in finding success.

Effective Communication

Few things are as important to a business being successful as ensuring that the team is always on the same page. Communication is a critical factor in your marketing department, and a fractional CMO will be a leader who can instill effective communications practices in your company. The lasting benefits of good communication practices will keep your team functioning smoothly to move you forward in the right direction.

How Much Will a Fractional CMO Take Out of My Budget?

Whether we are talking about a traditional in-house CMO or a temporary fractional CMO, these are experts in their field who will bring your company long-term value that you can’t put a price tag on.

Typically, you can expect that a fractional CMO will charge $200-$300 per hour. When we look at that a little more closely, we come up with a rather palatable figure. If your fractional CMO works 20 hours a month, that works out to approximately $5,000 per month, or $60,000 per year.

With the contracted nature of a fractional CMO, that’s a temporary figure to budget for with an immeasurable, lasting impact on your business. One of the benefits of a fractional CMO is that they go on vacation, you do not have to pay them. You only pay them for the amount of time they work.

Is a CMO Right for Your Company?

As we mentioned above, you simply cannot place enough importance on the role of your marketing department in the success of your business. While you may have people on your team working on specific marketing practices, a professional CMO can take your company to the next level.

When you bring in a CMO, they will invest time in researching your company’s history, status, and long-term goals. This will allow them to help your in-house marketing team develop and grow long term strategies for your company’s continued growth without the long-term commitment of hiring a traditional CMO.

Where Can I Find a Strong Fractional CMO?

The best way to find any employee to bring into your company is to ask around for referrals. If you put out the word that you are looking for a fractional CMO for your company, colleagues and friends will most likely come through with suggestions for who to hire, and in some instances, who not to hire.

You can also post your job opening online. Many of these professionals will be looking online for job postings as they are in business for themselves. If you put the job on platforms like LinkedIn, you should quickly get a response.

Once you have a few potential CMOs ready for the interview process, be sure to ask the right questions to make sure they will make a good addition to your business. Ask them about their experience in your industry and how they intend to grow your business.

What Are the Key Differences Between a Fractional CMO and a Chief Marketing Officer?

At the end of the day, the only difference between the two is the cost of hiring them into your company.

A traditional CMO is a full-time executive member of your staff that will be paid about $170,000 annually plus benefits. A fractional CMO is a temporary, part time contract employee who only works specified hours each month. Even though they charge about the same amount for their services, a fractional CMO costs your business far less money.

Call Conversion Pipeline Today to Take Your Marketing Department to the Next Level

When you’ve made the decision to give a fractional CMO a try, you need to work with Conversion Pipeline. We staff fractional CMOs who are results-driven and ready to take your business to the next level. Call us at 877-877-0542 or contact us online by clicking here.

The post The Benefits of Hiring a Fractional CMO appeared first on Conversion Pipeline.

Read on as we explain the difference between traditional CMOs and fractional CMOs and why you might need one of them for your business.

What Is the Difference Between a Traditional CMO and a Fractional CMO?

Traditional CMO

Traditional CMOs (Chief Marketing Officer) are marketing professionals who are a part of a company’s executive team and lead the marketing department. They head up the marketing team and oversee all things marketing/advertising, PR, market research, branding, pricing, and customer satisfaction.  

Traditionally, CMOs are full-time, executive positions with a salary, benefits, and bonus package.

Fractional CMO

More recently, companies have been taking on fractional CMOs in lieu of a traditional, full-time executive.

Fractional CMOs are more like a contracted CMO who charges a retainer for their services. You can work together on a marketing growth plan with your fractional CMO, and they will then execute those strategies based on a specified time frame. This flexibility allows companies to grow with the expertise of a marketing leader without the full-time expense of an in-house CMO.

How Much Will Hiring a Fractional CMO Cost My Business?

Because of the nature of a fractional CMO being a part-time employee who averages about 40 hours in a month, they will not make as much as a full-time, in-house CMO. A Fractional CMO will usually charge an hourly rate of $200-$300, so you can expect to budget as much for their services depending on the contract time.

If you plan to hire them on for a year, that comes out to $104,000 – $156,000.

What Types of Businesses Need a CMO?

Not every business needs to hire a traditional CMO. This is a full-time salaried position, which means that a company should strongly consider their needs before taking on that type of long-term expense.

If you have a marketing department with several team members but a tight budget, you may not want to take on an expensive contract for a full time CMO.

The companies who need a CMO usually have the following characteristics.

A Traditional Organizational Structure

Of course, this means that your company follows a corporate top-down hierarchy among your staff. This means that each department has its own structure, so a CMO would make sense as someone who can streamline your marketing department.

A Specific Business Model

If you have a targeted business plan in place and you know where you want to see your company in five, ten, and twenty years down the road, then a strong marketing department is essential to meeting your goals. Don’t underestimate the importance of marketing experts on your team. 

A Marketing Team

If you already have members of your staff focusing on marketing but there isn’t an organized long-term marketing plan in place, a fractional CMO would be an excellent addition to the team and could serve as a guide, mentor, and leader for the department.

Marketing Groundwork Has Been Laid

Everything that you do within your company to reach your target customers is creating a marketing infrastructure that will need to be continually maintained and updated as things evolve. A CMO leading your marketing team will have the expertise and experience to refine your company’s marketing techniques and continually grow the department.

What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Fractional CMO for My Company?

By now you know that the true benefit of a fractional CMO is the ability to hire them to perform a specific marketing task and meet predetermined growth goals without the long-term commitment of adding a traditional CMO to your corporate staff.

If you own a medium to large sized company and are considering a CMO to streamline your marketing department and create upward growth for your business, you can’t go wrong by bringing on an experienced, results-driven marketing professional.

The many benefits include:

The Creation of a Strategic & Effective Marketing Plan

A fractional CMO will invest their time in understanding what makes your company tick. They will dedicate themselves to knowing the history of your company, its strengths and weaknesses, and staff.

Once they have a firm understanding of who you are and where you want to take your company, they will make specific recommendations on how your marketing team can meet your goals. They will communicate the methods, tactics, budget, and expectations to you and your existing team.

Refocus Your Marketing Infrastructure

The recommendations that your new fractional CMO makes will encompass your entire marketing infrastructure. This means that you should allow for some extra spending outside of simply paying their salary.

This may include additional or re-vamped branding for your products and services, a website redesign or overhaul, and the use of technology that can boost your website and online presence.

The Importance of a Successful Marketing Team

A successful marketing team may be one of the most important investments that you ever make in your company. Without it, revenue will remain stagnant, and you will miss out on growth opportunities that any company needs to move in an upward trajectory, which, of course, is the goal.

By keeping your marketing department staffed with experienced, focused, and driven team members, you can maintain an environment of consistency and growth through effective leadership and innovative marketing techniques.

Whether or not your company would best benefit from a traditional on-staff CMO or a temporary, fractional CMO is a decision to consider based on your existing marketing team, budget, current revenue stream, and long-term goals for your company.

If you just can’t seem to decide which track is best for your business, it’s probably a good choice to opt for a fractional CMO on a trial basis before getting into a long-term commitment by adding a new executive to your team. Sometimes what looks good on paper doesn’t always translate in the job.

If You’re Ready to Hire a Fractional CMO for Your Business, Call Conversion Pipeline

You’ve made the decision that you want to bring in a fractional CMO for your growing business. It’s an excellent choice that you will not regret. If you are ready to boost your company’s bottom line with organized, forward-thinking marketing goals, call Conversion Pipeline today. Our experienced fractional CMOs are here to help you streamline your marketing department. You can call us at 877-877-0542 or contact us online by clicking here. 

The post What Is the True Cost of a Fractional CMO? appeared first on Conversion Pipeline.

Online advertising has become more effective and widespread in the 21st century. It is becoming an increasingly easier way to market your business than traditional methods. It allows you to market your business online in many different ways from going after a large group or targeting a smaller, more specific market. So, what is Pay Per Click (PPC) and how does it work? Search Engine Journal posted an article that explains the basics of PPC:

“Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertising model that lets advertisers place ads on an advertisement platform and pay the host of the platform when their ad is clicked. The goal of the ad is to lead the user who clicks to the advertiser’s website or app, where the user can complete a valuable action such as purchasing a product.

Search engines are popular host platforms as they allow advertisers to display ads relevant to what users are searching for.

Advertising services like Google Ads and Microsoft Ads operate with real-time bidding (RTB), where advertising inventory is sold in a private automated auction using real-time data.”

Source: SearchEngine Journal

What Does PPC Do?

The primary goal with PPC advertising is to get someone to click on your ad and then for them to do something on your website or app. Whether it is buying a product, starting a subscription, or filling out an information form, all of these are positive actions created by PPC. These actions are called conversions because you are converting the click on the advertisement into something beneficial for your business. The next piece of PPC advertising is how to acquire advertisement spots:

“Every time there is an ad spot on a search engine results page (SERP), an auction takes place for the keyword instantaneously.

A combination of multiple factors, including bid amount and the quality of the ad, decide the winner who will appear in the top position.

These auctions are what keeps the gears of PPC moving. They begin when someone searches for something on a search engine.

If there are advertisers interested in showing ads related to a user’s search query, an auction is triggered based on keywords that are bid on by advertisers.

The ads that win the auction then appear on the search engine results page.

To get involved in these auctions, advertisers use accounts on platforms like Google Ads to set up their ads and determine where and when they would like those ads to appear.”

Source: SearchEngine Journal

Keywords

Another aspect of PPC advertising is keywords. Keywords are used to match up with search queries in order to align them with accurate ads. Keywords are essential in PPC because they act as the connecting pieces between business advertising and potential conversions. Some ways advertisers use keywords are:

“For example, advertisers can choose to match keywords with search queries exactly or to allow for variations such as different orderings of the words, different spellings, or the inclusion of other words.

It is also possible to have negative keywords, which will prevent ads from being triggered by search queries containing those keywords, to avoid irrelevant traffic.”

Source: SearchEngine Journal

Categories

Along with keywords there are PPC themes that each campaign has. A theme is the overarching subject. For example, the theme could be “White T-Shirts” and then the branching categories, known as ad groups, could be “100% Cotton White T-Shirts , Athletic White T-Shirts, Custom Fitted White T-Shirts”. Lastly, there needs to be a monthly and daily budget for what a business is willing and able to spend on PPC advertising. This is done by using budgets at a campaign level and bids at the ad group or keyword level. Some basics of PPC budgets are:

“Budgets are set at the campaign level and can be exceeded daily but will not be overspent monthly.

Budgets should be set according to the overall account strategy, but bids are a more precise way of controlling spend.

All ad groups must have bids, but keyword-level bids override ad group level bids.”

Source: SearchEngine Journal

There are a lot of moving parts with PPC advertising. There are budgets, keywords, queries, targeting, conversion tracking, and much more. But if a business secures a solid, strategic plan to go after their target market in an effective way they should expect to see a lot of conversions.

The post Pay Per Click Advertising | How Can it Help You? appeared first on Conversion Pipeline.

How Do I Get Started Building Links?

The crux of a good link building strategy is creating high-quality digital content and forming relationships with relevant websites that can backlink to your content. Your business should create a cohesive content marketing strategy that places various types of media across your channels to engage with your audience. Whether the content is blogs, videos, or whitepapers, you will need to build up your online presence before moving on to your link building strategy. Some content strategies for building quality links are:

• Whitepapers
• Blogs
• Case Studies
• Guides
• Interviews
• Infographics
• Local PR Campaigns
• Videos

How Do I Build Links?

Once you’ve placed some content online, you can begin working on link building. There are four main ways to build links: Add, Ask, Buy, and Earn.

Adding Links

Rather than adding your website on every business directory, stick to well-known and credible sites. Stay away from link farms which the whole purpose of those websites is to publish links of websites. Posting content as a subject matter expert sharing a link to your content can also be a good way to jump start your link building. You can even work with other, non-competitive, blogs and websites who may want to publish your expert content.

Certain types of websites will allow you to manually add a link to your content. Business directories, social profiles, blogs, and other types of forums are an easy opportunity to get links. However, you should use this tactic conservatively. While these links can be beneficial, having too many links on one domain could cause your links to be flagged as spam.

Asking For Links

A great way to build up high-value links is through outreach to websites and bloggers who may be interested in your content. You’ll need to offer them a compelling reason to link to you, and there are several ways to make the link mutually beneficial.

One tactic to try is guest posting. Reach out to a website or blogger in your industry and offer to write a guest blog on their site. This helps them populate their own site with useful content, and you can include links back to your own site in the copy. You can also offer to create a testimonial about their product or service in exchange for a link to your content.

Additionally, you can reach out to bloggers and websites who have mentioned your brand and ask them to make the mention a clickable link. If a site is using your original image, you can ask for credit in the form of a link. You can also comb pages on websites with content relevant to your business and check for dead or broken links, then offer a link to your content as an alternative.

Most websites and bloggers will want to know that you are willing to share their content if they agree to using your link. Be prepared to offer shares on your social media accounts or inclusion in email marketing and newsletters. Overusing outreach or offering money or goods in exchange for links can violate Google’s search engine guidelines, so be cautious with what you agree to do.

Buying Links

Buying links to your content is an option but not recommended. In fact, most SEO experts would advise against buying links. Most paid links are low-quality links that have very little, if any, impact on your page rankings. Having too many “bad” links to your page can harm your page rankings and push your site further down in the search results. Buying backlinks is also against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. That means you could face a penalty if you get caught. A paid backlink penalty could severely hurt your search engine rankings. Buying links is easy, but the benefits do not outweigh the cons. Avoid buying links for your SEO strategy.

Earning Links

You can earn links when a website or blogger links to you without an ask or exchange. This can only happen if the website comes across your content organically. Your content needs to be of great quality with high visibility, and it doesn’t hurt to invest in promoting the content with paid placement to expand its reach. Earned links are the most valuable but require a significant effort.

What Is a Good Link?

Search engine determinations of a good link versus a bad link can seem arbitrary. However, there are some generally accepted strategies to keep in mind when building quality backlinks.

First, page authority can greatly impact the quality of your link. Authority is scored on a scale of 0 to 99, known as Domain Authority. An older, more established website with moderate to high monthly traffic is seen by search engines as stronger than newer sites, and therefore has a higher domain authority. However, links to newer pages may increase in value over time as the page accumulates high-quality links.

In addition to page authority, the relevance of the site linking to your content is important. For example, if your business is a coffee company, you’ll get more benefit from links from other coffee or food-related sites. A link from a blog on construction would have no relevance to your content.

Finally, the placement of your link on the site and the destination of the backlink can affect the value of the link. More prominently placed links, like those contained within the content rather than a sidebar or footer, will have a higher value. When your link is placed, be sure to have it direct back to a specific and relevant page you’d like to boost in rankings.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the words that are hyperlinked, anchor text, need to be relevant to the page you are directing traffic to via a backlink. If you’re backlinking to your webpage for your coffee shop’s signature coffee blends, you want the words to be relevant to coffee or other coffee shop food and drink essentials. The backlink anchor text is the anchor text used by other websites linking to your website. The anchor text of these backlinks help search engines determine the most relevant keywords a web page should rank for. Make sure the anchor text matches what you want that page to be associated with.

What Tools Are Available to Help Me Build Links? 

Taking on a link building strategy can seem overwhelming, but there are many tools available to help you build the links you need. Backlink research tools can examine a competitor’s site for links, giving you a list of targets for outreach. SEO content research tools can use keywords and phrases to churn out a list of content topics and potential websites that could be a good fit for your site. 

Check out sites like SEMRush and Moz. But fair warning – these sites come with a hefty subscription price. So if you aren’t sure what you are trying to do or what you are looking for – it might be best to seek out a white label link builder who already has a subscription to these SEO tools. 

Ready to See Success With Your Link Building?

If you’re in need of professional link building services, Conversion Pipeline is a click away. Contact us today to get started.

The post Link Building 101: Everything You Need to Know to Boost Your Content Rankings appeared first on Conversion Pipeline.