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Part 2 of Our 5-Part Series

Welcome to Part 2 of our 5-part series on Finding the Right Digital Marketing Agency for Your Business. If you missed Part I, you can read it here: Finding the Right Digital Marketing Agency.

Found the perfect agency partner? Great! Before you roll up your sleeves and get down to work, there are areas to explore together.

What To Do – Evaluation Questions to Ask

Many companies neglect to ask questions that can truly help them understand how their chosen marketing agency works. We’ve narrowed the list down to five key questions that every business owner should ask their marketing agency. More importantly, we’ve explained why you should ask these questions, and potential ‘red flags’ to watch out for during the conversation.

1. How would you approach our marketing?

Come to the meeting with the marketing problem clearly identified and discussed with the agency. Don’t expect them to lay out the full solution in your getting acquainted session, but do ask plenty of questions about their approach to solving marketing problems.

We suggest listening carefully to their approach to problem solving. Do they take time to do their due diligence, investigating not just your company but also the activities you’ve tried to date and the results achieved? Do they ask about the data – Google Analytics and other data that can help inform their marketing choices?

Red flags to listen for include companies that immediately launch into a service pitch, trying to get you to buy into the notion that by doing just one marketing activity, your problems are solved. Chances are good that they excel at that marketing activity (or perhaps only offer one type of marketing solution!) and thus they pitch it at every opportunity. There’s an old saying that to a hammer, the answer is always a nail, and unfortunately, for some agencies, the answer may be solely “paid search” “paid social media” or “Facebook advertising.” Look for a process, an approach, rather than a one-size-fits-all response.

2. Can you describe how you will work with us if we engage you to handle our digital marketing activities?

This is where the agency should describe in detail their working process. It may include deep-dives into analytics, content, website metrics, or multiple meetings to better understand your products and services.

Every digital marketing agency is unique, and there’s really no one-size-fits all model. Some agencies schedule weekly check-in calls, while others prefer to do the work and then meet to present it. Find a method that you are comfortable with and be sure you understand how they work to see if their method aligns with your working style.

Red flags include agencies who can’t describe how they will work with you. If they don’t know, they don’t have a set process for client engagements, and this may lead to a bumpy ride as you onboard with them.

3. How will you evaluate our project results?

A good digital marketing agency focuses on KPIs and ROIs. They want to know whether or not they’ve hit a home run or struck out. They should focus on quantifiable methods of determining campaign successes. They should be able to present to you a list of metrics that provide measurable results.

Red flags include agencies that waffle about how to measure results or who focus solely on marketing output rather than results. Output means they focus on what they produce for you instead of the results they produce for you. If they’re focused on generating 10 blog posts a month and 30 social media posts, but they cannot say how they will evaluate the results of the blog posts or social media posts, you may want to consider another agency. Although output is important, it’s results that count – and the leads and revenue that digital marketing campaigns generate for your business.

What NOT to Ask

There are a few things we would caution you not to ask of your digital agency partners, too.

• Can you share the analytics of other campaigns you have worked on? Although many agencies provide case studies to share results, some cannot. Depending on the industries they work in, they may have strict confidentiality agreements on file that prohibit not just sharing results but even sharing the names of past clients. Ask more questions about process, approach, and solutions in such cases and be respectful of agencies that decline to share results of specific client campaigns. They may not be able to share the data.
• Will you work on a percentage of sales? In any marketing campaign, there are too many variables for any reputable agency to work purely “on spec’ or on a percent of revenue basis. An agency may welcome a bonus if they hit specific revenue or lead targets, but asking them to essentially work free with the promise of potential future revenue isn’t an acceptable practice in the marketing industry.
• Can you copy the campaign/website/social media posts of XYZ? It’s unethical, impractical, and probably not worth the time to copy someone else’s marketing. Why be a pale copy of an original when you can be an original? Besides, you don’t know whether or not their marketing campaign is generating the desired results. Just because you like it doesn’t mean it is a good fit for your business.

Other Questions to Ask

Depending on what’s important to you, you may wish to ask a few other questions:

1. How long have you been in business?
2. Who is the team who will be working on our account? Can you share their credentials and work experience with us?
3. If we need services which your company does not offer, how do you fill this gap?
4. What payment methods do you accept?
5. How do you define a successful client engagement?

We trust that these questions will be helpful to you. In our next article, we’ll share with you what to expect once you hire a digital marketing agency.

If you have any questions for us drop us an email. We’d love to get to know your business and help you determine whether or not we’re the right agency partner for you.

Call Dashboard Interactive Marketing at 763-242-2454 or contact us via email.

A Five-Part Series from Dashboard Interactive Marketing

This is Part 1 of 5 in this series.

Welcome to an all-new series from Dashboard Interactive Marketing: Finding the Right Digital Marketing Agency for Your Business.

In this series, we’ll be tackling everything from finding the right marketing agency to help you achieve your business goals and the nuances of effective working relationships with agency partners, to roles and responsibilities in the agency relationship and how to handle sticky situations (which we hope never happens to you!)

We would love to hear from you if you have any questions or comments about these articles.

Part I: Choosing the Right Marketing Agency

At some point in the evolution of your business, you’ll find yourself wondering if you should hire a marketing agency. Perhaps sales are slow – or you’d just like to increase the number of leads or sales coming through your website or other digital properties. Or you’re finding it challenging to come up with monthly blog topics, social media posts and the myriad other demands of content marketing.

Maybe you’ve tried to set up a Google AdWords campaign and left the setup portal feeling like you’ve just faced high school trigonometry class all over again (we hear you: it can be confusing.) No matter what the reason, you’re busy typing “marketing agencies” for your industry into your favorite search engine and scrolling through countless links.

Three Steps to Narrow Down Your Online Marketing Agency Search

How do you find a marketing agency that’s a great match for your business needs? Here, we outline three ways to find an agency that’s a great fit for your business.

1. Determine the type of marketing assistance you need.

Marketing is the discipline of matching consumers (clients) to products and services that meet their needs. How that is accomplished may influence the type of marketing agency needed to accomplish the goal.

Agencies may offer only one, highly specialized type of marketing assistance or an all-in-one shop approach that provides multiple methods of marketing through one central agency.
Ask yourself the following questions to narrow down your choices of agency services:

• What is the marketing problem that you need to solve? Is it generating qualified leads, product sales, building brand awareness, reaching new customers or engaging current customers?
• Do you currently perform your own marketing services? If so, is there a gap that needs to be filled by people with specialized knowledge? For example, you may have a website, but it isn’t attracting the volume of traffic needed to support your sales goals. Conversely, you may attract plenty of traffic but convert only a handful of site visitors into leads or sales. List any gaps you believe need to be filled.
• Do you only promote or sell to a local market? Or a national or even international market?
• Do you need an agency that understands special nuances of an industry, such as e-commerce, SaaS technology, healthcare, consulting or manufacturing?
• What is your timeframe? Is it an urgent need, such as promoting an upcoming event, or are you looking for a long-term solution?

Examples of various types of marketing agencies include:

• Branding agencies – these agencies help you build your brand personality and create a visual brand identity. These agencies create logos and color palettes, and make recommendations on how you can infuse your brand personality throughout every aspect of your business.
• Digital marketing agencies – that’s what we are! We’re a digital marketing agency specializing in helping small to mid-sized businesses generate leads and sales through online marketing. Digital agencies focus on website development and digital (online) marketing tactics such as SEO, digital advertising, social media marketing and similar online tactics.
• Content marketing agencies – a content marketing agency is a niche marketing agency focused on producing content for digital marketing campaigns. Content agencies may specialize in written content and SEO content, such as blog posts and case studies, or they may include audio content (podcasts) and video content (videos).
• Social media agencies – social media agencies specialize in generating leads through social channels: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and so on. These agencies are experts at social advertising as well as building and sustaining a social media presence and following.
• Public relations agencies – public relations agencies focus on creating media buzz and awareness by developing stories and pitching them to journalists and online media sites.

These are not hard and fast definitions, and many marketing disciplines spill over into others. For example, many PR agencies now offer social media marketing because social media is an excellent channel for sharing newsworthy stories. Content marketing can cross into all disciplines, since content can be used to build brands, educate consumers to respond to offers online, boost social media content, and more. But the main “problem” you need to solve should guide your choice as to which type of agency you contact first.

2. Evaluate agencies based on merit, not size.

As you peruse the websites of marketing agencies, it’s tempting to shortlist only those that seem to be part of larger, well-known marketing groups. However, don’t overlook smaller, local, specialized agencies. These agencies often understand the nuances of local marketing better than their larger, national competitors. They may also have a personalized approach that fits your company’s needs better.

As you review agency websites, think about:

• Do I want to meet with the agency in person? Or am I okay with virtual appointments?
• What marketing problems does the agency solve? Does it meet the needs I’ve outlined in step 1, above?
• Does the agency share information on their website to help me make an informed decision? For example, do they share information about their teams, services and solutions?
• Are they willing to provide a free consultation or introductory call?
• Do they include monthly performance reviews in which they provide performance data along with recommendations to improve performance?

Ultimately, you need an agency that’s “right-sized” for your business with the staff to handle your marketing needs and respond to you within a reasonable amount of time. Get to know the agency during the interview phase of your research. Learn about their team, their approach to problem-solving and their scope.

3. Ask colleagues for referrals.

Hands down, asking trusted business colleagues or friends who they are using for their marketing services is a great way to begin your search.

• If you are part of a local business organization, ask among the organization’s members.
• Look through college alumni directories for fellow alumni in your industry and contact them for referrals to agencies.
• Ask local friends and business colleagues who they choose for their marketing.

Once you’ve received several names and email addresses or phone numbers, you can begin to do your own due diligence and evaluate the agency’s professional services.

Next Step: Evaluating Agencies

In our next article, we’ll talk about evaluating marketing agencies on your shortlist and the questions to ask to find your best match.

Until then, we invite you to peruse our website, discover fresh information in our blog, and share this with a friend.

Dashboard Interactive Marketing is a full-service marketing agency specializing in helping small to mid-sized businesses generate leads and sales. We offer website design and build services, search engine optimization, Google AdWords assistance, social media planning and advertising, and much more. Please call us at 763-242-2454 for more information.

Now is the Time To Update Google Analytics to GA4 – Google Sets Drop Dead Date for GA Universal

Last year, we shared the news that Google was rolling out an update to its analytics platform – GA4. Now, the time has come for site owners to update their Google Universal Analytics account to GA4 or miss out on important website data.

It’s a deadline that site owners should pay attention to as the search engine giant is now ready to discontinue use of the existing Google Analytics platform in July 2023. There is also a learning ramp and the sooner you begin transitioning to GA4, the better.

Here’s what you need to know.

What Is GA4?

According to Google, GA4 is a new kind of Property, one which will capture data and utilize artificial intelligence to analyze it. It does not rely as heavily on cookies as the older Universal platform and uses an event-based model for measurement. It also doesn’t store IP addresses, a move that will help the platform’s users comply with stricter privacy regulations across the board.

The new platform, like the old one, is available through a Google sign in account and is offered by the company at no charge.

Why Move to GA4?

If measuring your website’s performance is important to your business then it’s important to utilize the latest Google tools. Next July, Google will sunset the classic Universal Analytics edition, and you will lose all that data you’ve worked so hard to capture.

The new GA4 platform promises to integrate better with Google’s online advertising platforms, which will enhance data capture and utilization for its money-making venture: ads. Remember that Google is a business. While it is a powerful and useful search engine used by millions of people worldwide every day, in the end, it is a company seeking to maximize profits.

To do so, it needs to integrate plenty of data into its advertising platform to ensure that advertisers receive the best results they can from their ads. And, to do that, they need more data…which GA4 will help them capture in ways that are compliant with many privacy laws.

There is also a learning curve for GA4, as with many complex software programs, so the sooner you make the switch the more time you have to run both programs in parallel.

How to Move to Google Analytics 4

If the thought of updating Google Analytics causes angst, call Dashboard Interactive Marketing and we’ll do the heavy lifting for you. We have the team and the know-how to transition your analytics from the older platform being sunsetted to the new GA4 platform without a hitch.

You have until July 1, 2023, to make the move, but we recommend taking action now to ensure that any wrinkles on Google’s end can be ironed out in plenty of time to ensure your data is clean and ready to use.

The new platform may be accessed through the Editor function on your current Google Analytics account.

Search Is Changing

Search engine marketing is constantly changing, and Google’s move to GA4 is just another reflection of shifting demographics, internet use and search patterns.

The older version of Google Analytics was created at a time when most searchers used desktop computers to find information. Now, with so many users grabbing a mobile device to find everything from pizza to plumbers, it makes sense that new metrics should be tracked and older ones set aside.

Although shifting from the current Analytics platform to GA4 is about as welcome as a trip to the dentist, it’s also equally as necessary for your website (and business’) overall health and wellness. Be sure to take action now, either by calling Dashboard Interactive Marketing at 763-242-2454 or reading up on the transition to avoid losing data.

I remember the first time I heard the word Facebook. I was on a webinar learning all about this new-fangled experiment called “social media”. It sounded intriguing, so I signed up for an account.

Over the next several years, clients saw amazing results from organic posts. They’d share pictures of products from their stores, and the pictures would be shared among their customers, and the next day, they’d sell a ton of them. Or they’d share tips from their business-to-business perspective to their current or potential customers and find new inquiries and leads in their inbox the next day. And yes, this was all from organic (non-paid) posts on Facebook.

It seems like Facebook quickly realized they had a good thing going and began offering advertisements. What was a modest ad here or there mushroomed into the ubiquitous seemingly every-other post is an ad situation we see today.

Gone are the days of organic posts reaching your entire audience. Today, Facebook determines who will see your posts, what they see, and when they see them. The average organic Facebook post today reaches just 0.07% of people you’re connected with – that’s less than 1%!

And, unfortunately, that’s not often…or frequently enough…to make much of a difference.

The rules have changed, and today, it’s paid social media advertisements that rule the day.

But should you pay for Facebook ads?

Facebook Advertising: What Business Owners Should Know

First, the facts:

• Facebook reaches 2.91 billion active monthly users. To put that number into perspective, that’s slightly more than 38% of the world’s population.
• People spend an average of 33 minutes a day on Facebook, which means they spend time looking and interacting with the platform – another factor that may convince you that Facebook advertising is worth the money.
• Meta, the parent company that owns Facebook, collects an extraordinary amount of data on its users. And they can put that data to work for their advertisers, enabling them to focus on very specific niches. If you need to reach northern Minnesota men who enjoy riding ATV’s and fishing – both hobbies – Meta can probably help you target ATV riding fishermen in northern Minnesota.

Given these three eye-opening facts, you may be convinced your business should not only advertise on Facebook, but it should be on it right now. But wait – before you click off this article, look at the reasons why you may want to begin testing the effectiveness of your ad dollars on additional channels.

• Facebook isn’t magic. Many business owners believe that if they just post to Facebook and boost their posts to get more views of it, they’ll instantly and magically convert those views to sales. It doesn’t work like that. It takes a catchy ad, a good offer, and the right targeting to have a chance at converting views into leads or sales.
• Groups and communities may help you improve organic reach. However, if you’re going to run a group or community on Facebook, be prepared to invest a great deal of time and energy into it.
• Facebook displays what its algorithm deems to be in its best interest. This means that it selects content based on what its algorithms believe will keep people on the platform longer. Currently, the algorithm favors “Reels” and short videos. According to Facebook, people spend about half of their time watching Reels. If you can invest in short videos, it may help organic reach.
• As an advertising channel, Facebook might not be the best or most cost-effective way to reach your potential customers. Many business-to-business companies find that other social media channels such as LinkedIn make it easier for them to target their potential customers and advertise to highly specific business demographics.
• There are other, more cost-effective ways to generate leads. This includes but is not limited to Google Pay Per Click advertising, other social media channels, display advertising, and more.
• Philosophical objections to the platform or its parent company. Yes, I know that sounds old-fashioned, but hear me out: some people still object to companies collecting every bit of data on their lives, and they don’t want to be on Facebook, period. They still search the internet, however, so you may be able to capture their attention with paid search, organic SEO content placement, and other digital marketing methods. Bear in mind that all digital advertising channels – search engines, social media sites, and more – collect some form of digital data on their customers.

Facebook used to be a great place to post your content and gather organic interest, views, leads, and sales. Today, however, most companies need to pay for advertising or be prepared to invest in time needed to build and engage with groups to be seen.

If you have the budget and would like to see if Facebook advertising is still a good option for your business, call Dashboard Interactive Marketing. We are experienced digital marketers who understand the various social media platforms. We can assess which ones can help you effectively reach your target audience and we also track the metrics to explore the ROI of the campaign. Call us at 763-242-2454 for help with social media marketing and digital marketing expertise.

Often when companies face a problem with generating inbound leads, they blame conversion optimization. Conversion optimization is the art and science of increasing the number of actions customers take on a website, such as completing a lead form or purchasing a product.

There’s a science behind conversion optimization that utilizes techniques such as direct and digital marketing, creative design, user experience, and more to maximize the number of conversions on a web page, online ad, or marketing email.

However, if your problem is lagging sales, the answer may not be conversion optimization. Here’s why.

The Importance of Lead Tracking

Think of the typical marketing funnel. A website or landing page is created and optimized around specific keyword search phrases. Digital ads run across multiple platforms, perhaps a social media site and a high-traffic search engine, to capture attention and hopefully a click. When people click on an ad, they land on a web page, and are encouraged to take an action. They complete a lead form. Bingo! Traffic to the website has converted into an action, in this case, a lead form.

But what happens next? Where does the lead go?

That’s the million-dollar question. In some companies, the marketing team is responsible for screening and qualifying leads. All inbound leads go into the sales pipeline and are distributed among salespeople responsible for following up.

However, at this point, several things can go amiss:

• The sales manager responsible for lead follow up may be on vacation, out sick, or just not able to follow up in a timely fashion
• The sales team may be understaffed and unable to follow up with the volume of leads generated by the market campaign
• The salesperson may not receive notification of a waiting lead, and by the time he or she checks the software, the lead grows cold

Now, in all three cases, the conversion of web page visitor to lead was successful. The company achieved its marketing goals. But it did not translate into a measurable sale.

Does the Marketing Department Communicate with the Sales Department?

Many things can go amiss between the time a customer completes a lead capture form and a closed sale. Customers often download free giveaways or attend webinars to learn more about a particular problem. Smart companies utilize content marketing to educate and inform customers along the buyer’s journey so that even after they arrive at a landing page or attend a webinar, they continually receive information that helps them understand that the product or service being offered is indeed the best solution for their problems.

The marketing team may be completely distanced from the sales team, sometimes even at odds with one another, competing for dollars or resources. Depending on how their productivity is measured, they may even be working towards different goals. Marketing may be judged on the quantity or quality of leads produced while sales is judged solely on dollars produced. In that case, the sales team may focus their attention on their current customers who are more likely to buy again. It’s less effort to gain a sale from an existing customer than to court a new customer or follow through on a lead from a marketing campaign.

In such cases, the company’s executives may wonder “Where are our marketing dollars going?” while the sales team erroneously believes that “marketing doesn’t work”. In fact, it’s not the marketing isn’t working. Their conversion rate may be great. It’s that the sales team isn’t following up on leads.

Identify and Solve the Correct Issue

The bottom line is this: conversion optimization works, but it may not be the problem you need to solve.

If you’re serious about marketing campaign ROI, then examine all aspects of the situation including:

• Are tracking codes correctly installed on the landing page or web page?
• Is phone tracking set up?
• Have you put in place the mechanics that enables you to accurately measure the effectiveness of your ad spend – soup to nuts?
• Can your system track leads across the entire sales cycle, or do you have separate marketing and sales dashboards?
• Is there someone responsible for following up on the leads generated from your marketing campaign? Can you identify and track leads throughout the entire sales cycle?
• Do you identify the lead source in the sales dashboard to examine which lead sources (i.e. industry type, service, product) are more profitable to your company?
• Are you monitoring ad spend against leads, quantity of leads, quality of leads, and most importantly – how much revenue did it generate?
• Can you calculate a true ROI on your ad spend based on the revenue generated by the leads it produced?

These questions can help you identify the source of the problem.

We believe wholeheartedly in conversion optimization across the entire sales capture continuum. We provide expert insight and guidance into enhancing your digital marketing campaigns to improve lead generation, conversion optimization, marketing channel and ad spending alignment.

But if conversion optimization isn’t the problem…and the problem is processes, systems, or understaffing…then you need to adjust your focus to the root of the problem before adjusting the sales funnel and lead conversion process.

Dashboard Interactive Marketing can help you with conversion optimization, generating leads, landing pages, content marketing, social media marketing and more. Call us at 763-242-2454 for more information or assistance.

No, not that kind of evergreen…although we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

We’re talking about the importance of evergreen content: material that never grows old.

In botany, an evergreen is a plant whose foliage remains green and productive year-round. Evergreen content borrows this description to refer to online content that remains useful and does not grow stale or outdated.

Many companies focus on special events, unique products, or holidays to create and distribute content. Even though such a timely focus may be appropriate for your industry, it is not always the best digital marketing strategy.

A strategy based around evergreen content provides useful text-based pages that search engines can find, rank, and continually show to potential customers year-round.

3 Reasons Why Evergreen Content Is Essential

Whether you have a website, a blog, or both, ensuring that the content is evergreen is important. Here are our three top reasons why having evergreen content on your digital properties is essential for good organic SEO.

1. Potential for more web traffic

Evergreen content offers better potential to generate long-term, steady website traffic than dated or timely topics. Typically, this type of content is longer and contains more in-depth information than the typical blog post or web page. As such, Google may rank it higher than shorter pages.

Additionally, because the content is online for a longer period of time, it is likely that more people will see and click on it. This, in turn, signals Google that it is a worthwhile page, and they may rank it more favorably than newer, shorter, or dated pages.

Remember, the first link that appears in organic search engine results can gain as much as 80 percent or more of all clicks. Adding evergreen content to your blog or website helps increase your chances for first position in the SERPs. Investing time or resources into an evergreen post pays off in long-term traffic.

2. Build brand awareness

Evergreen content tends to go more in-depth into topics than any other type of content. Lists, topic overviews, in-depth discussions of important concepts related to your industry all tend to be shared more over time than short, dated posts. They also tend to gain links back into your website over time, which also boosts brand authority. Having several thoughtful, well-researched and written evergreen content pieces on your site can create an excellent branded platform that demonstrates your leadership in your industry.

3. Less effort

Creating content takes time–time to develop ideas, research keywords, write the first draft, edit, revise, add backlinks, create images, set up the item in the content management system — you get the idea. One well-written content piece can take hours to craft, refine, and publish, not to mention the time and effort added to share it across various social media platforms.

Imagine if that one piece could achieve the work of two, three, or four pieces. One high-quality longform evergreen content piece may achieve the traffic goals of two, three or more quick, dated pieces. Investing more effort upfront into high quality content results in less effort over the long term to manage a blog or website.

Save Time and Effort with Dashboard Interactive Marketing’s Content and Social Media Marketing Services

Where should you begin when considering evergreen content? A website or blog audit is the first step. During an audit, the professionals at Dashboard Interactive Marketing will review your website’s performance, analyze the data behind the posts, and help you determine which pieces may lend themselves to an update as evergreen pieces.

From there, we can create a strategy with measurable milestones to create and promote your branded evergreen content. Our content marketing expert and social media strategist can help you build your online presence, establish and promote your brand, and gain website traffic.

For a consultation, call Dashboard Interactive Marketing at 763-242-2454.

The Importance of an Internal Linking Structure

Have you ever thought about the internal structure of your house?

I’m not talking about things like the walls, floors, and ceilings, or even things hidden inside the walls like plumbing and electrical wiring.

I’m talking about the bones of the house that give it a structure. The 2 x 4s lining the walls, hidden beneath the sheetrock that frame the house. If you could trace these hidden supports, you would connect every single part of your house in a seamless flow. Not one single part would be disconnected from another. Somewhere, somehow, each joint links another piece, giving your home its characteristic architecture: Colonial, Cape, Victorian, Modern, and so on.

Like the timber framing your home and giving it a unique architectural style, your website’s internal linking structure gives it a unique shape and form that alerts search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo to your site’s content and purpose.

A good internal linking structure can be an important key to unlock higher search engine rank. But many inadvertently hide pages, even entire sections, of their website contents from search engines. Here’s why internal linking is vital to healthy SEO and the common mistakes website owners make with their internal linking structure.

What Is an Internal Link?

An internal link is a link from one page on a website to another page on the same website URL. Good internal links point from anchor text, or descriptive text that accurately and succinctly describes the content of the destination page.

The Importance of Internal Links to SEO

To fully grasp why internal links are so important to organic search traffic, take a step back and consider how search engines operate.

Search engines send robots, called spiders, to crawl websites. These automated bots crawl sites, following links within the site from page to page, sending back important data to the search engine’s database about the page’s contents, when it was last updated, and so on.

This information is archived in the search engine database. When a person types a query into their favorite search engine, the search engine attempts to match the query with the page it deems the best response to the question.

A good internal linking structure within a website gives the robotic spider a web, a network or framework, to crawl. If a page is missing from the overall internal linking structure – an “orphaned page” in marketing parlance – the spider won’t find it on the first crawl. It may find it later, but it can take a very long time, and it is much, much easier to get a page ranked on a search engine if it can be easily crawled.

5 Common Internal Linking Mistakes

There are many internal linking mistakes, but the following are very common and easily fixed.

1. Not linking a new blog post or page to an existing page: Many website owners who add blog posts to their site forget to link new posts to existing pages. The posts end up as orphaned pages, sitting on the domain’s URL without any other page pointing to them. After they’re posted and perhaps shared to social media, the posts languish without traffic.
2. Forgetting to add new pages to the site’s navigation: Another common mistake is adding new pages to a website and forgetting to add them to the site’s navigation.
3. Linking from weak anchor text: In the good old days of the internet, it was common to link from phrases like “Click here” and “Visit our page.” But like the horse and buggy, such anchor text phrases have gone out of fashion. Linking from weak text does add an internal link but doesn’t help the search engine understand what your site or page is about. Instead, link from keyword phrases that accurately describe the target page: “We carry 14 brands of air conditioners” on the home page can link to a secondary page listing and describing brands of air conditioners, for example, rather than say “Click here for a list of brands we carry.”
4. Link pages: Another big “no-no” in SEO today is the infamous “link page.” These are pages that just contain links – dozens and dozens of links. Such pages were once quite popular, but today are frowned upon and can negatively impact search results.
   Links hidden in javascript or other coding: Java and several other codes used to build websites can hide links from search engines or make them difficult to find. That’s why we recommend having a professional website developer, working in conjunction with a search engine optimization expert, to conduct a technical audit of your website as part of a site optimization project. This helps uncover any old coding or extraneous coding that can hide links from search engines.

As you can see, there’s a lot to learn when it comes to best practices for internal links. If you’d like a professional to examine your website’s internal linking structure with an eye towards improving your page ranking in organic search results, call Dashboard Internet Marketing at 763-242-2454 today.

When I was heading off to college, my parents purchased a used Pontiac for me to drive to school and work.

“Here,” my father said, handing me the keys, “this car is now your responsibility.”

My dad showed me how to pump my own gas, how to check the air in the tires, and even how to jumpstart a car’s battery safely. What he forgot to teach me, however, was the importance of general maintenance, such as routine oil changes and tire rotation.

It wasn’t until a friend pointed out my bald tires that I drove to a service station and timidly asked about maintenance. Fortunately, the mechanic simply handed me a list of things that needed routine maintenance on my old car; he didn’t try to sell me new brakes and a muffler in the bargain!

Once I understood the importance of routine maintenance on my vehicle, I was a bit fanatical about it and never missed an oil change, lube, or tire rotation. Perhaps that is why I clocked over 130,000 miles on that old Pontiac and today drive a 14-year-old car in excellent condition except for the slightly dented bumper. (Blame the dented bumper on a post that jumped out at me in a parking lot.)

Like automobiles, websites need routine maintenance, too. They are never ‘set it and forget it.’ Unfortunately, many business owners, like the young driver I once was, just don’t know this fact. They build a website and pay their hosting bills and never check “under the hood.”

What’s “Under the Hood” of Your Website?

Websites consist of a domain name (the URL), the platform that hosts the files, and the actual files themselves that contain the images, text, and other components of the website.

If your website is built in WordPress, the ‘gold standard’ of websites today and what Dashboard Internet Marketing uses almost exclusively to build websites, you may be running special sets of computer codes called plugins on your site. Plugins are often third-party applications that perform specific tasks on a website. Some provide unique image features, such as creating a slideshow of images, while others help your site run faster.

Like all computer software, the platform hosting your site, any attendant plugins or added code, and any third-party software is updated periodically. These updates aren’t just for show. Often, they are in response to known security faults in the software reported to the developers. The updates close these loopholes or help your site run more smoothly.

No Maintenance Spells Trouble

This is where many site owners get into serious trouble. If they ‘set it and forget it’ with their website, they may find that:

• Parts of the website are outdated, such as the theme or plugins, leaving a possible security breach
• Google’s search engine crawlers cannot access pages properly, resulting in delisting pages (and possibly the whole site)
• Over time, the site’s search engine rank drops because Google and other search engines perceive the site as abandoned

Frequently updating the site’s content, tweaking text, and ensuring that all components of a site are properly updated can help prevent many problems. Some updates may be easily undertaken by the site owner, but many require a professional’s touch to ensure that the update does not jeopardize the site’s search engine potential.

Possible SEO Roadblocks from Poor Site Maintenance

Site owners often do not understand that you cannot simply delete a web page, for example, without potentially experiencing some SEO consequences.

Deleting a webpage isn’t just like removing a book from a library shelf. The gap left in the shelf, so to speak, signals the search engine crawlers that something is wrong with the site. If the message sent by the website back to the search engine crawler is incorrect, the crawler may move off and ignore the site. And that means your site’s rank and traffic, and possible leads and sales, drop too!

The Importance of Professional Website Creation and Maintenance

This is why we often stress the importance of professional website development and maintenance to our customers. We have seen many times how a neglected site becomes infected with viruses or malware or drops in search engine rank. Trying to fix a long-neglected site often leads to frustration and may even reach a point of no return. It is like trying to change the oil in a car whose engine has seized from dirty motor oil. If you neglect oil changes for years at a time, just doing one oil change won’t fix the seized engine. The car may need a whole new engine.

Old code can often reach the point where updating it is impossible because the interim updates to bring it from version 1 to 17 (or whatever version it’s on) are no longer available. Or there may simply be too many updates to run without compromising the site’s appearance or functionality.

Regular maintenance on a website includes such things as updating code, checking for broken links and missing pages, and so on.

It’s time consuming, but as we’ve mentioned, well worth it for your site. A well-maintained site runs smoothly and loads quickly, which search engines love. It returns the appropriate messages to the search engine bots, so it communicates in the language that the bots understand. And, perhaps most importantly, it has the latest patches against security breaches, keeping you and your customers safer.

Dashboard Interactive may be able to help if your website hasn’t been maintained in years. We don’t judge or criticize. We assess and will do all that we can to assist you with your digital marketing initiatives. Give us a call to discuss your website challenges: 763-242-2454.