Traffic Archives | 2Stallions

Google’s core business is continuously improving its algorithms to predict and rank the most relevant organic search results to show to you. Today, it has grown to a mega-sized corporation that includes YouTube, which it paid $1.4 billion for in 2006.

As of April 2017, YouTube is the second most popular site in the world according to rankings released by Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis company. Over the years, Google has brought the same approach to ranking videos on YouTube, with marketers increasingly using it as a business promotion tool. So, what’s in it for you as a business? At its simplest – the more views your video gets, the higher you rank on YouTube. However, those views can translate into the following benefits for your business:

Appearing not just on YouTube, but also Google search results
Higher traffic to your website or online store
Greater brand awareness amongst your audience
Increased trust in your brand
Higher sales
A wider reach for your brand

In addition to that, Cisco predicts that the by 2030, 70% of the Internet will consist of videos and 30% will be a mix of other things. Psychologically speaking, most people would prefer to watch a video rather than read a lengthy article about a certain topic. Hence using video will improve readability. But, there is a limit. You should stick to a length of 3-10 minutes per video to improve retention rate. As you can see from the Wistia graph, engagement drops off badly from the get-go for videos longer than 10 minutes.

Video also plays a huge part in the buying process. Most people look at product reviews before making a purchasing decision. In fact, Google says 68% of YouTube users watched YouTube to help make a purchase decision. What’s better than a YouTube video to show products in-action rather than leaving it up to the imagination of the reader?

Steps To Rank Your YouTube Videos Higher

If you’re convinced to take YouTube videos seriously as a driver for your business, then read on to learn about how you can dominate Google through the use of YouTube videos.

Step #1 Create the video

Creating a video is the most obvious step when it comes to ranking your YouTube video but it also presents the highest barrier to entry. The longer the video, the more expensive it will be. A minimum charge of US$250 is standard for a 90-second explainer video amongst freelancers, with the usual trade-offs of quality versus price.

You can also try creating your own videos if quality is not a major concern and you have time on your hands. There are apps such as Powtoon that help you to create your own professional looking videos. Just remember to make it short and sweet.

Step #2 Create a YouTube channel

Using your Gmail account, you can create a YouTube channel for your company. Be sure to have your brand name within the name of the channel.

Step #3 Upload Your Video

When uploading, make sure you fill in a description and add appropriate tags. I recommend you write around 200+ words for the description and add at least 10 tags that consist of targeted keywords and related keywords.

Step #4 Optimize the Video

You can further optimize the video by changing the “location,” “language,” and “upload date” from the advanced settings page.

Here’s an Example

Let’s assume you own a powerlifting gym in Hong Kong called Strong Culture Gym, and you want to promote it online. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to use YouTube videos.

Before you start investing in videos though, find out which keywords you should target. The best tool to use for this is the free Google Keyword Planner. You can find out more about using it here.

Below is the step-by-step process on how I ranked Strong Culture Gym:

First, I researched keywords for gyms and decided to go with “best powerlifting gym in hongkong” as it is specific and likely to provide the best ROIs from viewers despite lower search volume
Next, I created a 3-5 minute video about powerlifting
Then, I created a YouTube channel named “StrongCulture Gym” – using the brand of my gym
Finally, I optimized the video on YouTube
I added several appropriate keywords about the gym, together with related keywords, to the description and tags
You should also add annotations to your video to create clickable links directly on the video but since that requires having a website, which this hypothetical gym does not, I decided to make do with a phone number in the description to allow viewers to contact the company

And voila! Upon publishing, I see a near instant result directly on Google HK search results

Not all examples may yield instant results, especially for very high competition keywords. And sometimes, after an initial surge, the result may also disappear from the 1^st page if it doesn’t generate sufficient engagement.

However, for many businesses, YouTube still presents a massive opportunity to generate awareness. Google’s algorithm tries to show structured snippet results on the 1^stpage search results, and videos are a great type of those that deliver better click through rates (CTRs) for Google.

Quick FAQ To Dominate On Google With Videos

We’re used to minds racing when we explain the potential of YouTube to businesses we work with, followed by some quick fire questions. We decided to save you and ourselves some back and forth by answering some of the most common questions asked to dominate Google using YouTube videos.

Will this method always work?

No, it depends a lot on your keyword research and video optimization. The key is to find niche keywords that get you the targeted traffic. Don’t just aim for search volume.

Will my videos also give me instant results like your example above?

Yes and no. If you try for very high search volume keywords that convert, you will have a harder time ranking those keywords. Having said that, not many companies are using this technique yet – so you can use this to get a jump on them. You can maximize exposure with a well-thought out content strategy and uploading videos regularly that add value while targeting different keywords.

Will it bring my company more sales/leads?

In the long run, yes! This is another online marketing channel you can utilize, but it is also more suited to mobile – which is where the world is headed – and YouTube stats show that more than half of their views come from mobile devices AND YouTube mobile users are 2X as likely to pay close attention while watching YouTube compared to TV.

Will my video stay on the 1^st page forever once it is there?

We both know the answer to that. The 1^st page of Google search results is the most volatile, and it requires a sustained effort to keep your videos there – similar to SEO for your website.

While we hope that our short primer on how to dominate Google through video provides most of you with food for thought, and spurs action in some, we cannot stress enough that optimizing videos to rank on Google can be time-consuming so don’t get discouraged.

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Blogging is a term that is frequently brought up online. As a business owner, you may not think it is important. You probably even think it’s just an online lingo. But a ‘blog’ is something you need to be familiar with for the sake of your business. In fact, you’re probably thinking – “I already have a website for my business. Why do I need a blog?”

Before we tell you why a blog is vital for business growth, let’s figure out what a blog is. Literally, a blog is defined as information published on the Internet as discrete entries or posts displayed in reverse chronological order. While blogs first started off as personal journals, businesses have capitalized on this to reach out to their clients and keep them engaged.

Think about this blog post for instance. We can reach out to you and provide you with important information that you can read in your own time and leisure. That way, we can connect with you without being in your face.

We’ve looked through the internet and come up with a complete list of reasons you should be blogging to successfully bring your business online. If these doesn’t convince you, nothing will!

Website SEO & Traffic Effect From Blogging

For an online business, search engine optimization (SEO) and ‘traffic’ (defined as the number of people who visit your website) are two performance indicators that you are familiar with. Let’s explore how blogging would affect them.

1. Grow Immediate Organic Traffic

According to a Hubspot report, 46% of people read blogs more than once a day. Meanwhile, Quicksprout claims that most people read 5 to 10 blogs a day. When you share a blog post content to a relevant audience on social media, they will proliferate and bring in more traffic to your site – all without you paying for it. SMW states that once your blogging hits 51 posts, the traffic on your blog increases by 53% and with 80% of daily blog visits being new, i.e. visitors who have never visited you online before.

2. Drastically Improve Your SEO

Google tends to index websites with blogs more frequently than those without due to the constant new content production. Also, websites with a blog tend to have 434% more indexed pages than those without. As you may be aware, Google happens to be the starting point on the Internet for users looking for something. The relationship between writing blog posts and having your brand found by Google users should be an easy one to deduce due to the fact that organic search has a 14.6% close rate while outbound marketing has a 1.7% close rate.

3. Drive Long-Term Results With ‘Evergreen’ Topics

An evergreen topic is something that remains relevant even in the future. A news article, for example, is not considered evergreen. Writing about ‘Why Your Business Needs A Blog’ is. Why? New businesses come online all the time, and many of them will not know about blogging and whether they should do it – so they will search for information on the topic. Once I write a good piece about it, there is a good chance that Google will show my blog post in the search results to these businesses. This, in turn, will help drive traffic to my website and business even years after I first published it.

4. Build Backlinks Quickly

Google has placed a lot of importance on trusted backlinks. Backlinks refer to links coming to your website from other sources. A backlink is trustworthy if it is coming from a source that Google deems relevant and ranks highly in its algorithm. When your business has a blog and you write well-researched articles that are relevant and useful to readers, 2 things happen. Readers will share the link on social media (backlinks) and other bloggers may write about similar topics and reference your article (backlink). Over time, the number of ways other users can find you increases AND Google will trust your site more. If this happens, your website’s ranking will improve because these other people linked back to you.

How A Business Blog Helps Branding Online

Branding has been seen as a key component for any consumer-facing business and it is equally key for a B2B business too! Getting the message to people and having them recognize your brand and what it stands for is something a lot of businesses spend tons of money and time on. Blogging can help your business brand itself online.

5. Improve Your Brand Image

QuickSprout’s research showed that 31.1% of consumers on the Internet consider a brand’s blog to be the 2^nd most influential factor when it comes to making a purchase. When your business blogs, people may have already come across your brand before visiting your website through their social news feeds or search results. This means, when they do land on your site, visitors tend to trust your brand more and be more open to accepting your messaging, especially after reading your blog and finding themselves aligned with your message. To top it off, 72% of marketers feel that branded content online is more effective than magazine advertisements according to Kapost and 60% of consumers feel positive about a corporate brand after reading their blog.

6. Establish Yourself As An Industry Expert

82% of consumers enjoy reading relevant content from company blogs and what it leads to is greater levels of trust in your business. When your business blogs quality content that helps or educates readers, they tend to become advocates for your brand. When they have an actual need for services, they will think of your brand first because you’ve already helped them and have presented yourself as an industry expert through your blogging efforts and high-quality articles.

7. Build A Community

When you write articles consistently and build up a readership, you are effectively building a community of users interested in what you have to share. They can interact with your brand through two-way communication channels like blog comments and social media. If they feel connected to your brand, they become brand advocates to others when someone is in need of your services.

8. Share Your Brand Story And Voice

70% of consumers tend to learn about a company through their blog rather than their ads. This means that blogging can give your business the perfect platform to share the story and voice of your company and be able to reach out to the audience that you want.

Using A Blog As A Marketing Tool

Marketing is what helps pull visitors to your business. On top of Pay-Per-Click (PPC), a business blog can also serve the role of a marketing tool.

9. Blog is Central To Online Marketing

This is a bold statement, but if you have read our previous article on Online Business Strategy, you will notice that the business website is where all your online activities flow through. Your business website’s blog is an integral piece of this.

10. Build A Targeted Mailing List

You may not be aware of this but the average return on an email marketing investment is $44.25 for every dollar spent, according to Kapost. That is an amazing ROI. The best way to build a mailing list that delivers that sort of result is through a blog. When readers sign up to your mailing list, they do so because they have read what you published and found it compelling enough to want to receive more from your business. They end up qualifying themselves as potential customers for your services.

11. Save Marketing Costs

The only thing you need for blogging is your time. For penning thoughts about your industry every day or week or month, you can attract new visitors (see Reason 1 above) without having to spend a single dime.

12. Gain Insight Into Your Audience

Analytics on your business blog will allow you to gain an understanding of your readers. It will provide you with information regarding their reading habits, and their conversion rates for specific topics which will allow you to make better-informed decisions for your business long-term.

13. Free Advertising

When you create a blog post, readers will share this across social media if they find it useful and relevant. This will increase the reach of your content and provide you with free word-of-mouth advertising which has the best conversion rates amongst all forms of advertising.

14. Generate Qualified Sales Leads

Kapost states that B2B businesses with blogs generated 67% more leads PER MONTH than those without. The mailing list you build can be cultivated into a lead generation system. It converts customers for you through constantly blogging a high level of content and slowly introducing readers to your services. If what you write resonates with someone looking for that information, there is a better chance of conversion.

Thought Leadership Through Business Blogging

Thought leadership establishes your business as the go-to for the industry. Blogging about your business can help you achieve this and has additional benefits for your business.

15. Attract Top Talent

One offshoot of blogging, not often considered, is that it can help attract the right talent for your company. Top talents tend to keep up with their industry and they may be followers of your company blog long before they decide to apply. When they do, the fact that they have been reading your articles greatly helped with their decision to pursue a career in your company.

16. Sharpen Your Business Focus

Your business may have plenty of services to offer, but sometimes you don’t know have a clear idea which services perform best. Through blogging, you may realize that you’re seeing more conversion for specific services or that you enjoy writing about a specific niche more than others. This can help you to focus your business better for the long-term.

17. Generate More Ideas

Blogging and constantly thinking about industry topics will, over time, help your business to innovate. By exploring the same topic from different angles, interacting with your community, and idea sharing, your business blog may open up new perspectives and avenues for your business in the future.

18. Be Inspired

Blogging for business should never be a solo effort. Your entire team should be involved in writing about different aspects of your business. The growing readership and feedback from readers will be a source of inspiration for your team and for your collective vision. Not to mention that it establishes your entire business as a thought leader.

Business Blogging As A Reference

When you have a business website, you want to make it succinct, since visitors have a very low attention span. The purpose and use of a blog as a long-form content source can prove to be vital.

19. Reference Content For Future Posts

When you write a blog post, you can reference older content if you are repeating the information or carrying forth a discussion into its own post. By having all your thoughts in one place as a reference, it helps to improve your future writing.

20. Go Deeper Into Topics From Your Main Website

If you visit the 2Stallions main website, you will notice that the content is short and sweet. This is because our aim is to describe our services rather than explain every single service in detail. The latter is why we started blogging. We wanted to hel business owners understand our services and the online business landscape better. On our business blog, we write in-depth articles about the same services we offer as well as different aspects of the web industry.

21. Use Your Blog As An Extended FAQ

The blog post content you write can be an FAQ source for your customers. Your detailed blog posts on specific topics should be more than enough to answer the usual questions.

Having read all of the above, you may be raring to go ahead and start a blog right now. Hang on just a second – while we encourage your business to start a blog, it may not be for everyone. Before you begin, ask yourself the following:

Do you or your staff have the time to develop content every day or week or month? Can you make this commitment?
Does your business have the resources to hire these content producers if your answer to the first question was negative?
Do you have the patience to be successful with blogging for your business as it can easily take upwards of 6 months to see any gains from your blog?

If your answer is a yes, then go start blogging! If not, you may want to review your position a few months from now. Do remember that it is important to set aside the budget for this commitment as it is easy to let this slide down your to-do list.

Do you already have a blog for your business? Let us know how it has or hasn’t helped your business! Don’t’ have a blog but have a question about blogging – ask us anything in the comments.

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