Category: Uncategorized

I really liked this week and wish we had more of them! I liked working with the Google Analytics demo and trying to find answers to the questions. It was very interesting to me and helped me better get to know Google Analytics.

We are counting down just a handful of days til we are done with this class. It is crazy to think how fast it has gone.

I have learned from my studies that the more diverse you make your content and links the better it is. There are several different ways to create a great SEO link building that is successful and lasting. Original and putting spin on things is another great way to be stand out. We are going to create a blog to start out with, and post each week. We have to find material that people want to read and explore. We have to also research competitors blogs and websites and see what they are doing to be successful. We are also starting more social media accounts and advertising on them.   The links can be gathered several different ways. The top ways we are going to try first are guest blogging, comment on blogs within our niche, put links on images, share documents, and get more social in social media.

I am going to be talking about our future social media plan and some concepts I found in my studies this week that I really liked!

To start off, I’m going to talk about my social media plan for 2019. I want to create Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter accounts. The first and obvious step is going to be setting it up. We already have our YouTube channel set up, but the others I need to take the steps to set it up. I am not on any of these social media platforms personally and do not know much about them, but I need to just do it.

Next, I need to discover what media my customers want to see. Is it how to put guns together? Is it just everyday life in the shop video or media? This is what I am struggling with right how… what do people want to see, learn, read about, etc. I know most of our customers are into hunting… do you they want to see how to butcher certain animals? Do you want to see the hunting videos?

Final step is I need to make this media and start posting it. I just need to get customers viewing , talking, and sharing it with others. This is where the business is really going to grow, when customers share it with their friends. This is my plan for 2019.

To finish off this week’s journal, one of the concepts I discovered in my studies this week is from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/07/seo-strategies-social-media/ by Marcia Johnston. She said to make social media content:

1. Segmented: This means that you make sure all your content addresses the needs of your customers.
2. Searchable: This means that you use the words your customers search for, you can do this by using Keyword Planner in Google Adwords and some other tools she shared.
3. Snackable: This means you make your writing scannable, well-organized, chunked and labeled.
4. Sharable: This means you create material that people can share easily. The material that is the most shared, resonates the most.

This week we focused on keyword targeting and SEO. I got some really good things from the discussions with the other students. One of my favorites:

• Navigational, where users search for a particular website.
• Informational, where users search for the answer to a question.
• Investigational, where users search for information that may eventually lead to transaction.
• Transactional, where users are ready to buy.

It makes it so easy to categorize and remember good SEO. When I am reading the material I understand it, but I don’t connect with it. This week was good because I felt like I really connected with the material and was able to make really life connections. I feel like this is going to help me be more successful and be better at picking keywords and SEO.

I really like this as well and it helped personally to optimize my own site for search engines?

• Install Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools
• Use your Network – Generate Backlinks and track them
• Keyword Integration – Page Titles, Meta descriptions, Image Alt Text, Head Tags
• Ramp up Blogging
• Internal Linking – Internal linking is how search engines know which of your pages should be grouped together.
• Audit your Website Content
• *NAP* Listings – Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) are simple elements you certainly don’t want your users being confused about.
• External Linking – Linking to high-quality websites is an added trust factor because you’re establishing yourself as an educated, informed resource.
• Stay in the Know… Be aware how Google and Yahoo’s Algorithms work. Learn how SSL is important to website information.

I started this week to go one by one down this check list and start to do each of them for my business. The ones that I have done, I have already seen a jump in my website viewers.

This week we focused on getting our Google Ads up and running. I absolutely loved this week. I could seriously spend hours and get lost in all the information, changes, and statistics Google has out there. This is a whole new world to me and it loved digging through it. What I wish we could do is go through each students business and just learn specifically on each of the major things in Google Ad words and Analytics. I have a very severe need to make these things not be a mystery. I know that I am not going to get it all in one shot but I want to know it all now! I know it takes step upon step, principle upon principle, but I still feel like when I look at the websites it all just mush and jargon. It is not words to me yet. It makes sense, but I don’t KNOW it yet. I think this is why I have loved this week so much. I get it, but I want to know it like the back of my hand. I feel like the more examples we see and the more we talk in depth about it, the more I will understand it. There is just so much more to learn but I feel like our time is winding down and I am not going to be able to understand and learn to the depth I want to understand it.

This week we focused on improving our Google Ads, learning about Google Analytics, and installing it on our websites. I really think Google Analytics will be a good thing because it:

1. Free of charge:
   • Seriously!! The more I think about this, the more I feel incredible blessed by Google’s gift to businesses. How is it free? Why is it free? They could easily get people to pay a monthly fee for this service. I understand the more businesses use Google Analytics the more data Google gets too, which in turn gives them even more data to work with. I also know there in limit of statistics it gives you, and you can buy into the Google Analytics 360. Which I have read, this is serious business and can cost up to $150,000!
2. Show how visitors found your website:
   • This is a nice feature because you can see which advertisements are working the best. Therefore, you know where to invest your money.
3. Find out which pages customers visit most and how much time is spent on each page.
4. Identify new/returning visitors, topography and referral sources:
   • This is really nice because it lets you know your target market. With this information you can set goals, and find new ways to spread and open up to your target market and get more customers.

This week we discussed our individual Google Ads with others in the class and also learned how to improve them.

I liked this link the best out of all the different things that were offered as help.

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1704392?hl=en

I learned from Google some key things that make a great ad. These are:

1. Highlight what makes your business special. Why are you unique? Who do you compete with other companies in the same field?
2. In your ad you should include things like prices, promotions, exclusives, phone numbers, or a call to action. With the call to action, you want to empower your potential customers to act and to buy. Tell them what they can buy, or call to get a quote, come and browse, or buy in title of ad.
3. Match your ad to the landing page. For example, if my ad is talking about pricing, then I would want my landing page to be the pricing page on my website.
4. Everyone uses mobile phone to buy products! Make you ads mobile friendly with location and phone number easily available.
5. Experiment with your ads. You can edit and change things if the ad is not doing well. You are never stuck in it.
6. Make sure your ad has no text mistakes! This is annoying and unprofessional. Do NOT do it.

This week I really liked this video:

I liked this video because it helped me to figure out how to create great keywords on Google Ads. In summary it talks about how you need to first think like your customers. This really sparked a creative thought process for me. Before I watched this video I was really struggling to recognize what keywords would be good for X-Ring Custom Gunsmithing. Google does not like or promote business that have to do with “GUNS” and a long list of gun related things. So all the keywords I would have picked, are invalid do to this rule by Google. But when I really thought of our services, we offer so much more than just guns. So thinking like our customers and see our business from outside my business analytic mind help me think simple and straight forward.

Another suggestion it gave was to organize your ad campaign by themes. The idea behind this was instead of just doing an ad for shoes, get specific like basketball shoes. This helps raise sells in certain areas and draws customers in. You need to be specific when setting up keywords.

The rest of the ideas are to use negative keywords and use the keyword planner. Both of these really helped me come up with better keywords that would benefit my ad campaign.

This has been a crazy week! Very busy and I did not even start from scratch. I already had all my licenses and website kind of set up. It needs a lot of work still and I’m going to continue to work on it. Here is my “To Do List” for my website:

• Do better “Meet the Team” page by adding pictures and info on gunsmiths and me.
• Better “Our Work” page and better pictures of gun work
• We are doing a photo shoot of our new building on Monday and I want to update those new pictures on the site
• Testimonials page with real clients and guns. This might take a while, because I am going to collect it each day. We have some from Facebook, but I want everything have a pattern and look similar.
• Add social media links

I have a double major in Accounting and Finance and have always LOVED international business, taxes, and laws. It has been fascinating to read the international student’s responses to about their businesses. This is much better than reading a textbook and I have really learned a lot. I love to learn the raw details and facts of how other countries work. This has been my favorite week so far.

Essential 2017 Web Design Trends

https://diffusion.digital/a-beginners-guide-to-building-an-e-commerce-website/

https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/web-design-best-practices/

The first two links came from our reading in the class and the last one I found while reading an article and I really liked it. From these articles, I compiled a list of things that are important to my business. They are as follows:

1. Branding consistent- like in the color scheme, pictures, design, etc.
2. Always entice the costumer to complete some type of action- so if it’s filling out a get to know you form, contacting us, buying something, etc. 
3. Fast loading time for website! There is nothing more annoying than sitting and waiting for a site to load. NEXT!
4. Search engine optimization
5. Mobile friendly
6. Website design makes for easy navigation
7. Connecting with customer- email, social media, through pictures, anything that will help them be more loyal to you. 

One of the biggest comments that struck me this week is the importance of professional, sophisticated pictures. Even silly pictures can still be professional and sophisticated. Pictures say a lot about you and can break you if not done right.

In my studies this week I came upon the idea of an intuitive website. At first I want confused by this term. It seemed so weird, the idea of an intuitive website. After some research, I found out this was exactly what was important to me. I wanted to make sure I had an intuitive website.

I just love the info off this website, it made sense, and has become very important to me. Here is the link-  

https://www.webdesignrankings.com/what-is-intuitive-web-design/

So in my words, the website communicated this to me:

1.  Target Audience: I need to know my target population’s age, gender, likes/dislikes, profession, home life, family, location, etc. The more I know about my target, the better.
2. Make website Navigation Simple: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Again, know my audience and capture their attention, but keep it simple.
3. Check Web Speed:  Fast loading site! Period.
4. Write Compelling Content and Copy: content should always have search engine optimization (SEO)
5. Get Feedback from visitors