With platforms like Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace, they make it incredibly easy to build a website that looks great. There’s no denying that, but the question you need to ask yourself is, “Does my website perform?”
Your website should do two things:
- It should show up in Google search results for keywords that are relevant to your business
- It should turn those clicks into customers with a powerful sales funnel
If your website does not do those two things, then is there really a point in even having a website? I don’t believe so.
No matter how great your website looks, if it doesn’t show up in Google, your company won’t be viewed by potential prospects. Also, if your website shows up in Google, but does not have a powerful sales funnel, then you’re not turning clicks into customers and generating an ROI (return of investment- investment being the time you spent building the website).
Schedule A One on One Strategy Session!
While the look and feel of your website are absolutely crucial, the most important thing for any website is its SEO. SEO (search engine optimization) is the process in which you optimize your website to show up in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Think about when you search for something in Google, you will typically click on the very first thing that Google shows you past the ads section. The same goes for all of your potential prospects.
SEO is not sexy by any means. It’s a pretty long, boring and grueling process (especially for the person doing it), but in our business, it has proven to generate the best ROI for almost all of our clients. Which is why it’s so very important. SEO goes hand in hand with your website design and development. In fact, the best way to rank for your keyword or phrase is to build your entire website around it. The initial optimization is very important to the success of your website!
Search Engine Optimization gives you three things:
- More exposure to quality prospects – when prospects search for something in Google they are looking for a service to fill their need. This is the warmest lead your business can get.
- More credibility – you’re more likely to trust a business ranked #1 on a Google search result page
- A steady flow of new leads every single month – new people are searching for that keyword or phrase every month. Being the first company they see will generate new leads for you every single month.
Domain & Keyword research also play a large role in your search engine optimization. Your domain should have research behind it. Ultimately, you would like to use an expired domain that has a great history with Google. New domains take more time to rank in Google, while expired domains, typically, have a history with Google which means there is already trust established between the domain and Google’s Search Engine. It is essential to doing the research about the domain before you use it for your business. A bad domain could mean your site will never be indexed in Google, and a good domain could mean your business ranking for your keyword or phrase in record time! Domain and Keyword research is absolutely crucial to the success of your website in SERPs.
Schedule A One on One Strategy Session!
Our research includes domains with the best domain authority possible related to your business. According to Moz, the leader in SEO research, “Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). Domain Authority is calculated by evaluating linking root domains, the number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc. — into a single DA score.” It will also include keyword research to determine the best keyword or phrase to build your website around according to the number of people searching for that keyword or phrase every month.
The Different Types of SEO to Consider when Building Your Website
There are four different types of SEO:
- On-site SEO – this is the SEO that takes place on your website. Optimizing image ALT Tags, H1 tags, H2 tags, Title Tags, and keyword optimization.
- Technical SEO – this form of SEO takes place in the code of your website. This ensures your website loads fast and is easy for Google bots to crawl. No broken links and is mobile friendly.
- Off-site SEO – arguably the hardest portion of SEO but the most important. Off-site SEO entails link building, content building, and working anchor tags into other high-quality websites.
- Local SEO – the best for Local Businesses. This is optimizing your Local Google My Business listing to show up in the top three for search results. This listing is the three listings that show up under the map of a Google search. Think if you search “Restaurants Akron Oh” the three listings that pop up first that allow you to call or get directions.
Schedule A One on One Strategy Session!
Why Should You Hire a Marketing Agency?
You should hire a marketing agency to build your website because they understand the entire scope of your entire business. The agency should understand how the website works with your social media strategy which will help with your SEO, and how all of that plays into your sales funnel and sales process. The understanding of all of that is crucial to the success of your website and future of your marketing campaigns. I know at NextGen, I take a great pride in knowing how your business works and implementing a compelling website that generates organic results, but I also understand that marketing doesn’t stop there. So, the websites and optimization are built with the knowledge that you will bring prospects from places other than Google. Our processes allow us to understand how everything in your business works to ensure we deliver you the very best results possible! You should find that in the agency you are looking to hire as well.
The marketing agency should also be able to put a great sales funnel on your website that turns clicks into customers. They should understand sales funnels that have worked in the past and be able to implement something similar in your business. A qualified marketing agency will also be able to get the best results from your on-site and technical SEO. They should know how to optimize for certain keywords and phrases that will send the most customers to your business. They will also be able to research the most effective and efficient keywords for your business to get the best results. A marketing agency will also be able to offer services like off-site SEO and local SEO to drive new leads to your business. They should have connections to local and nationals publishers to help build your backlinks which will give your website a better Domain Authority. Ultimately, ranking your website higher in search results.
At the end of the day, the marketing agency should generate new leads and new customers for your business. A continued optimization of your website is necessary for ranking your website over all of your competitor’s websites. The agency should take a genuine interest in helping your business grow, and they should be able to deliver results. That’s what we pride ourselves on at NextGen, and we firmly believe that all agencies should have the clients best interest in mind at all times.
Schedule A One on One Strategy Session!
What to Look for When Hiring a Marketing Agency?
First, and foremost, they need to have a good portfolio of previous websites. Ask for their previous work, look at the websites to make sure they look great and are mobile friendly. Then, ask the agency about the results they’ve generated for their clients. After all of that looks good, ask for their pricing. There’s absolutely no reason you should pay more than $2,500 for your website to be built. I have heard of some companies paying over $20k to have a website built. I find that absolutely ridiculous. Don’t fall into their trap. Unless you need a specific functionality built into your website, $1,500 is a good price to pay for a website.
At NextGen Marketing, we charge $1,300 to build a new website. That includes the entire website designed and developed, an optimization of your on-site and technical SEO, and ensuring your website is built around the best keyword and phrase for your business. We believe that’s a fair price to build a new website. With our knowledge of web design and SEO, you’re really getting a bang for your buck.
You should also make sure the marketing agency is knowledgeable. They shouldn’t confuse you with technical SEO terminology. Don’t get me wrong, SEO can be very technical, but they should be able to put everything into a language that you can actually understand. At NextGen, we like to teach the client as we go along. You should understand what is on your website, what is taking place on the backend of your website, and our process for optimizing your website. You should also play a large role in the process of building the website. We don’t beat around the bush, you know your business way better than we do, and we don’t pretend to know it. We expect to have your input in the process. You need us to build and optimize the website, and we need you to assist in the professional content creation. It’s a win-win scenario.
If you have any questions about SEO or website design or if you want to know more about our pricing structure and what we can do to help your business grow, I’d be more than happy to hop on the phone with you and discuss more and in greater detail! Just shoot me an email @ nick@nextgenmrkt.com and as the subject just write, “Need Help from a Marketing Agency”. I get a lot of emails every day so that will help me get to yours faster! I look forward to hearing from you!
Schedule A One on One Strategy Session!
Have a great rest of your day and always remember that we are here to help!
Nicholas Wolf
CEO of NextGen Marketing
Nick@NextGenMrkt.com
NextGenMrkt.com
Why NextGen Marketing?
We’ve been around the block when it comes to Digital Marketing. This isn’t our first rodeo. In fact, you’re probably on our website right now because we’ve pulled you from some form of Digital Marketing channel. Whether it be Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or any of the other Digital Marketing Platforms, we can help your business. We haven’t only ranked our website and turned our social media channels into lead generating machines, but we’ve done the same thing for dozens of our clients. At this point, I’d say we know what we’re doing. If you still want to see reviews of our Akron Digital Marketing Company, we have plenty of those reviews as well. [View Here]
The best thing about our Akron Digital Marketing Company is that we have all of the resources right here in house! Web developers, copywriters, content creators, research analysts, social media specialists, and soon to be video producers, we have it all covered so that we can best serve you and your business! Digital Marketing is something we take very seriously because it has the opportunity to completely revolutionize your business! Let’s work together! Schedule A One on One Strategy Session!