Improving your click through rate (CTR) has the potential to drastically improve your overall conversion rate as they play hand-in-hand. A low click through rate signals that there can be a wide variety of issues with your ad from creative to ad copy. Optimal click through rate for text-based ads should hover around 2% while display ads will be much lower in the .04% - 1.4% range. The click through rate is the rate at which users are clicking on your ad in reference to the impressions being delivered. Watch this episode for a few quick tips on how you can optimize your CTR right now. 

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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Get More Sales By Improving Your Click Through Rate

What is SEO and is your website search engine optimized? In this episode we go over what SEO is and how to optimize your business to be optimized both on-page and off-page. This is a surface level overview covering some of the most important Search Engine Optimization items to look for in your website and how to make it as easily crawled as possible. If your website has high authority on the web, major search engines will rank it higher than competing businesses when a user queries phrases related to your products or services.

On-page ranking factors include page load time, slug format, heading hierarchy, keyword density, image naming, alt tags, internal linking, and so much more. Off-page ranking factors include backlinks, directory listings, social media account formats, and more.

SEO is a long-term strategy that can take 6 months to a year until the fruits of your labor are received. It is important to be patient and continually optimize your website and other channels as often as possible to increase your visibility and overall presence on the web. Unlike paid advertising, once a website has become visible on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), there is no out-of-pocket cost associated with clicks on your listings, making this a cost effective channel to grow your business on. A lot of times new entrepreneurs and start-ups overlook SEO and hire agencies to execute costly paid advertising campaigns to make money fast. Increase your margins with Search Engine Optimization and start building a long-term strategy to beat your competitors right now!

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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What Is SEO And Is Your Website Search Engine Optimized

If you're wondering How to Make Google Ads and you are looking for a Beginners Tutorial, you are in the right spot. Google Ads is a fully loaded platform that allows your business to advertise on Google through partner networks, search networks,, display only networks, or just on Google itself. In this episode we focus on making a search ad that will display in the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This is a very surface level tutorial, so if you have used Google Ads before, you might not find as much value here. Visit https://heystackmarketing.com to see how they can help develop and execute a robust & effective online advertising plan for your business.

Step #1: Setup a Google Ads account and enter your business/billing information. Click on the option that references having previously used Google Ads to get all of the features required in this tutorial.

Step #2: Add your first campaign by selecting the blue "plus" sign. You'll need to select the "Search" option and unselect the Display network.

Step #3: Enter the URL that you will be driving traffic to. this should be a page that is relevant to the ad copy and the product or service that is being sold. Relevancy is key not only to improve your cost-per-click (CPC), but also to increase your overall conversion rate. Part of the Google Ad scoring system is focused on the relevancy of your ad copy to the content within the page it is directing users to.

Step #4: Set the campaigns budget. This should be focused on the average cost-per-click (CPC) for the primary keyword that you will be targeting. Use the "Keyword Planner" tool to determine this figure. If the average CPC is $2.00 and you are forecasting a 5% closed conversion rate, you'll need a minimum budget of $40.00/day to see 1 closed lead /day from this campaign. 

Step #5: Create Ad Extensions. Ad extensions are a wide variety of attachments that not only help your ad take up more real estate on the SERPs, but also ad value to the user conducting the query for your products or services. At the very least, add sitelinks which link out to pages of value to the consumer on your website in addition to callout. Callouts can include phrases such as "Free Shipping", "Best Customer Service", "Organic", "Family Owned", etc. In addition to these extensions, you have the option to add an address to your ad, reviews, phone numbers, promotions, and so much more.

Step #6: Create your ad copy. The ad copy should use the primary keyword that the landing page in which the ad is being pointed to uses. If the page is leveraging a primary keyword of "Best Restaurant In Orlando, your ad copy must include this identical phrase. In Google Ads, you'll have the option to add 3 headlines with a maximum character count of 30 per headline in addition to 2 description lines with a maximum character count of 90 per line. You'll want to fill these up as close as possible to the maximum character count to leverage as much real estate as possible on the SERPs. In addition to your primary keyword, use urgent phrases and social proof phrases to help attract more clicks such as "Limited Time Offer", or "Trusted By Hundreds". Make the ad copy relevant to the product or service being offered and build trust with the user. 

Step #7: Launch and track your ad's performance. Pay close attention to the click-through-rate (CTR) in the beginning. The CTR is the rate at which users are clicking your ad after it is served to them on the SERPs. A low click-through-rate for search ads is anything under 2%. the click-through-rate performance can be directly attributed to the content of the ad rather than the page it is directing to. Modify the ad copy when seeing a low CTR to make it more relevant to the search terms being conducted by users. A high CTR with little to no leads can be attributed to a pricing issue, UX on the landing page, lack of a call-to-action (CTA) on the landing page, or overall landing page performance from speed to aesthetics.

How To Make Google Ads Beginner Tutorial

If you're like me and built multiple online businesses from the generously unpaid tools that major platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter offer, you might be wondering what has been going on with the algorithm these past 6 months. In this episode I explain that organic reach is dead based on my own experiences and the post insights provided by these platforms to measure the performance of your content. So what does this mean? It means that it is a pay to play world now where native ads are king and engaging creative, copy, and targeted hashtags are more important than ever. 

Organic reach to accounts who weren't following you used to be in the ballpark of 20-30% prior to 2018, meaning you were reaching more customers with potential interest in your products and services. This allowed brands to build a following of engaged users and stay connected with them through creative content that peaked their interest and paused their scrolling thumbs to click or read more. Now, the only way to penetrate new customers' feeds as consistently as possible, is to give these platforms money in exchange for placement. 

Was this all a set up from the beginning? Most likely. But we can't complain about a free platform's shift in kindness. Instead, there are a few things you can do to maximize organic reach while learning how to create effective native ads that work. 

First: When posting, keep an eye on the engagement you see and immediately interact with those users. When you are interacting with users, these platforms see that you are delivering a better experience to those users, meaning the platform as a whole is now offering a better overall experience to the user. User experience is at the core of major social media platform's agenda. User experience keeps their audience active on the platform, allowing them to deliver more ads, and therefore generate more revenue.

Second: Use every tool that the platform has to offer. On Instagram, leverage IGTV, Stories, and feed posts. On Facebook stories, groups and feed posts. On Twitter tweeting, retweets, media uploads, etc. When you are leveraging the tools they provide, social media platforms see that you are adding content to their database. More content in their database means more content for their users, and again, a better user experience is the catalyst to more ad revenue for these platforms. 

Third: Make sure to target the correct audience when tagging and using hashtags on these platforms. If you have a photo with a baby in it, #bigbaby might not be the best tag as that can be a wife speaking about her husband. #cutebaby is more specific and targeted, so anyone interested in cute babies will see this image and hopefully interact at a 1-6% rate if you're lucky. If you are delivering content to users who aren't interested, they won't engage and the platform will suppress the post. 

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Why Social Media Organic Reach Is Dead And Native Ads Are The Future

In this episode of Self Boss Marketing Tips we discuss How to Create A High Conversion Landing Page Design. This is a general overview explaining the how and why behind our high-converting page layout that we have built for dozens of clients. The layout is effective whether you are building the page through a drag and drop third party provider, or coding it into your existing website. 

The landing page is the last wall separating your customers from your business so it is important to make this wall paper-thin with multiple doors following these concepts:

Concept #1: Make sure that the landing page has messaging which is relevant to the initial ad or listing the user saw before coming in and that the message is above the fold. The fold is the portion of a website or web page that is visible to the user upon entering your site regardless of the device they enter with. 

Concept #2: Make sure to include a Call To Action (CTA) at the top of the page above the fold. The CTA should bring the user down to a contact form that lives at the bottom of the page. A lot of marketers include this form above the fold, but this is an invasive approach that will deter most users from scrolling down to learn more about your products or services. By adding a CTA which reads "Let's Talk" that auto-scrolls the user to the bottom of the page where they can fill out a contact form, we are providing the user with a less invasive experience and triggering a higher browse-time where the user will scroll to learn more if they are interested or leave if they are not. Above the form, add a code snippet div id="form"></div> and point the CTA in the banner to href="#form" to activate the auto-scroll feature. 

Concept #3: Add relevant content below the fold in bulleted format to allow the user a mode of quick content consumption that will help aid in their decision to ultimately provide contact information to your business. Entice the user with your top selling points here and add supporting keywords so that if the page is hosted on your website, it has the opportunity to gain some organic traction in the SERPs. 

Concept #4: Add an alternate CTA half way down the page. Make the CTA another mode of contact such as a phone number. If you do not have a 24/7 answering service, choose a third-party call scheduling software and link the CTA to it so that the user can schedule a call and you can field the call at the scheduled time. 

Concept #5: Add an image to the page preferably above the fold so that the user can see the product, service or place they are buying into. This will help establish trust with the user and will improve the user's overall experience when landing on the page. 

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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How To Create A High Converting Landing Page

This episode answers the question of What Are Marketing Touchpoints And where Can you Create Them through a breakdown of 4 channels - Google, Social Media, Email and Websites. 

A Marketing Touchpoint is when your brand, product, or service reaches the eyes of a targeted customer through digital or traditional channels. Any time that a potential consumer realizes a brand, that brand has gained one touchpoint with that consumer. On average is takes just over 20 touchpoints to move a consumer down the marketing funnel and into a closed conversion/sale, so managing the marketing budget along the way is critical to profitability and overall ROI.

The first channel to acquire touchpoints is through Google. Available options for reaching potential customers include the following:

1. Search campaigns that target relevant search queries being conducted for your products or services.
2. Shopping campaigns through a Google Merchant account both paid and organic.
3. Display network advertising to serve visual ads to users through the display network.
4. Organic search engine results pages if your website is optimized for SEO.

The second channel to acquire touchpoints is through Social Media. Available options for reaching potential customers include the following:

1. Engagement campaigns that use native ads to increase interaction rates.
2. Conversion based ads to move the user further down a sales funnel.
3. UGC which is short for User Generated Content. This is when a user tags your products or brand after they purchase and their personal audience is reached giving your brand a cost effective way to capture more touchpoints. 
4. Organic impressions when proper hashtags, messaging and creative is used which resonates with a target audience to the fullest. 
5. Retargeting users who engage with your brand through any other touchpoint channel. 

The third channel to acquire touchpoints is through Email. Available options for reaching potential customers include the following:

1. Email Blasts are a great way to initiate an automated email campaign.
2. Automated email campaigns can target users and serve relevant emails based on the actions the user takes after being served the initial blast. This allows for multiple touchpoints with granular targeting. 

The fourth channel to acquire touchpoints is through a website. Available options for reaching potential customers include the following:

1. Newsletter Sign Up Pop Ups are a great way to bring your user into your marketing funnel. They are an effective touchpoint that aids in targeting through additional channels.
2. Upsells on a website allow your business to serve product suggestions and promotions to a customer who is almost ready to purchase.
3. CTAs throughout a website that callout to an end goal such as a purchase or rewards program signup are an excellent touchpoint within a marketing funnel.
4. Flash sales with a count down are a great touchpoint that encourages a user to take action when they are towards the bottom of your sales or marketing funnel.

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

What Are Marketing Touchpoints And Where Can You Create Them

Should You Hire A Marketing Company For Your Business? In this episode I barely touch the surface on why you should or shouldn't hire a marketing company for your business. For businesses with little to no capital, the answer is clear, but is spreading yourself thin the only way to go? A lot of times small business owners focus their hours on developing their marketing funnel, but in the end their sales process, product development, process transcription, bookkeeping and more all suffer. 

The first question a small business owner should ask themselves is, what are they good at? If the answer does not point definitively to digital marketing, then this might be better left outsourced in the early stages of business development. A small business owner looking to take on the role of marketing specialist to save on overhead might also consider the following:

Do you have an idea of what CTR is and how to effectively improve CTR when it is too low?

Do you have an idea of what a bounce rate is and how to effectively improve bounce rates when they are high?

Do you have an idea of what the Average CPC is for your industry and how to decrease the CPC of your campaigns if they are too high?

The aforementioned topics are only a few of dozens of KPIs that a comprehensive, outsourced marketing team monitors daily. 

A lot of eCommerce platforms such as Shopify have teamed up with major social media and search engine channels to bring easy-to-set-up campaign tools that allows novice users the ability to create and launch campaigns for their products or services. The issue is that you do not have full control overt the optimizations of the campaign or full access to the powerful tools the advertising platforms provide when executing directly in the platform itself. This means that competitors who are leveraging a marketing team or in-house marketing specialist will always have a leg up and will perpetually be spending less for the same of more closed conversions than your business.

Hiring the right marketing team or in-house specialist is a great investment to help your new business thrive in the early stages of its life. Even a tenth of a second can win a race on the track, the same goes with competition against rival businesses on the web. Whoever has the most optimized campaign will win, and surface-level marketing tactics might make beating your competition that much more difficult when performed by yourself to save on overhead in addition to removing your attention from sales, process development & more. 

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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Should You Hire A Marketing Company For Your Business

If you're new to marketing or business you might be asking yourself, What Is A Marketing Funnel? a marketing funnel is a simple concept that is the foundation to most complex digital marketing plans. The Marketing Funnel is used in both the traditional and digital marketing channels. All potential customers can be moved through this funnel from users who have never heard of your brand and aren't in-market for your product/services to users who have an intent to purchase and are at the end of their journey, ready to buy. The funnel is divided into the following three parts:

Top of the Funnel (ToFu) - The top of the Funnel is where potential customers who might not be in the market for your products or services, and may or may not have an interest in them, reside. These potential customers are less expensive to target than potential customers who reside further down the funnel. Engagement campaigns are a great way to target these users and initiate their journey through your funnel. 

Middle of the Funnel (MoFu) - Users who reside in the middle of the marketing funnel have seen your brand and are in-market for your product or services. These users are slightly more expensive to target, but because they are more educated and ready to purchase vs. ToFu users, you should see a higher conversion rate which justifies the increase in spend. Retargeting campaigns, display, or search campaigns can be used to serve ads to these users and work them further down the funnel.

Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu) - Bottom of the Funnel users are ready to purchase your products or services. These users are either on your website or have interacted with your brand's products/service multiple times to date. These users are the most expensive to target so it is important to have an effective campaign with a high conversion rate to close the deal. These users have worked their way down the funnel, making your BoFu campaigns a critical component to your marketing plan, and targeted/relevant ad copy & creative more important than ever. 

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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What Is A Marketing Funnel

1. Transparency - The first "T" in TVT represents Transparency. It is important to be open with your client or yourself on where you weak points lie, unknowns you have in the process, ulterior motives you might have with a business partner, etc. Transparency is healthy and allows for additional questions to arise that will help manage the expectation of a particular outcome when performing a service, selling a product, or accomplishing a goal. Transparency is essentially a comprehensive view of a problem, and the honesty required before kickstarting an objective.

2. Variables - The "V" in TVT is for Variables. Variables are the most likely component to derail you from reaching an objective. Variables are anything that change which are outside of your control. Variables are anything that is not "fixed" or absolute in the process. Ad development, copywriting, creative development, hiring, firing, process development, etc, are all within your control. Total revenue, search volume, injections, etc. are all outside of your control and considered to be variables. Because we cannot control variables, it is important to factor in a lot of buffer for pivoting variables in your process. Forecasting variables can help manage expectations and allow for you to present a wider margin of error in the expected outcome making both yourself or your client aware.

3. Time - The second "T" in TVT is for Time. Forecasting time correctly can make or break a project or accomplishment of a goal. It is important to have an objective perspective on the time available. A granular scoping process can help make sure that all components to delivering your service or accomplishing a goal are thoroughly accounted for and factored in to the total time estimate. This can include work hours, prep time, injection forecasting, Quality Assurance, and so much more. 

Managing Expectations using TVT refuses to deliver promises and refuses to make assumptions. Delivering absolute promises when variables are present can lead to an unhappy client, or mentally exhausted self should the promises be broken. Estimates are acceptable, but it will not be possible to manage expectations when promises are made. Assumptions are the single most detrimental thing when it comes to managing expectations because they assume a component to an objective is an absolute when in reality it is in fact a variable. Assumptions are the result of negligence when planning an objective, and because assessing all variables in TVT is required, assumptions will not be present in an accurate TVT process that will help manage overall expectations. 

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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How To Manage Expectations Using TVT

This is a great start pointing when asking yourself How To Improve SEO Through Accessible Web Design. For more information, be sure to visit https://w3.org or contact us at https://HeyStackMarketing.com. WCAG is short for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. there are 3 levels to being WCAG Compliant which are Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA each with their own requirements. Not only will having an accessible website help vision or hearing impaired customers browse your site, but it will also add a ton of organic SEO value. Search engines have one goal, and it is to deliver the best possible experience to their users as they leverage the tools provided to them. Because major search engines do not discriminate, it is important that the website they serve to their users are accessible and can be easily used in addition to providing relevant content pertaining to the user's search query.

In this episode we cover a few of the minimum requirements needed to be Level A WCAG compliant. These include:

1. ALT Text on all images. The ALT text provides a description of an image that will be displayed should the image not load or should a screen reader be used. The ALT text should relate to the primary keyword of the page and the title of the image that the ALT text is attached to should reflect this keyword as well. 
2. Videos, whether hosted on the website or through a CDN such as YouTube, should have captions enabled. This will allow vision impaired individuals the ability to consume the content within the video. 
3. The website should have various features that allow it to be Navigable. This includes a wide variety of components including heading hierarchy. Heading hierarchy makes is easier for screen readers to navigate the content and makes the content easily navigable by major search engines. H2's should be sub topics of H1's. H3's should be sub topics oh H1's and so on. A user should be able to tab through all of the elements within the website without the need of a mouse. This allows for better overall UX and makes the website more accessible to a wider audience. 
4. Every piece of the website should be distinguishable. the contrast ratio of text to background should always be at least 3:1. If white text is on a light yellow background, it will be very difficult to read and the website will not be considered accessible. there are a ton of contrast ratio checkers online. Enter in the hex codes of the text and background colors to see if it has a ratio of at least 3:1. The minimum font size site wide should be 16px. The minimum spacing between tap targets should be at least 8px to prevent major search engines from assuming your website is trying to trick users into inadvertently clicking other elements. 

Run a surface level audit of your website right now to see if it is partially WGAC compliant by inspecting an image for the ALT tag, a title for the h tag and the body copy for the minimum font size. If any of these requirements are not met, your website was not built with WGAC compliance in mind as these are surface-level requirements for Level A compliance. 

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How To Improve SEO Through WCAG Accessible Web Design

Mike Siciliano from HeyStack Marketing has compiled 5 Small Business Marketing Tips To Dominate In 2020 based on current trends and forecasted trends from a large data pool reflecting a wide variety of industry verticals. 

1. Website Optimization (SEO) - Website Optimization continues to make the list year after year and that is because search engine results pages are here to stay and remain valuable real estate for not only typed queries, but increasingly for voice search queries as well. DIY website builders don't allow for complex SEO structure to be implemented into a website from schema markup, to heading hierarchy control. Without the ability to have full control over a website's optimization, it is very difficult to outrank competitors in the search results. The website needs to be fast through various code optimizations, aesthetically attractive, and SEO friendly congruently. Because the following 4 marketing tips for 2020 all funnel users to your website, it is important to run an audit and check your website for optimization if you'd like to have an edge.

2. Google My Business - While not as important to eCommerce stores, Google My Business (GMB) optimization is critical to any service based, or local business that serves customers at their location or has them come to the business location. Various platforms pull their data from Google Maps and if you don't have a GMB listing you won't display on the map. Optimizing a GMB listing can be achieved through proper headline copy, description, service listings, product listings, image naming, and so much more.

3. Search & Display Ads - Search and display ads place your business at the very top of the search engine results pages and within the content that your target audience consumes the most such as YouTube and news outlets. Search ads help your brand gain valuable real estate for keyword phrases such as "private party venue in orlando", or "best chinese food near me", meaning you'll increase visibility and as a result, conversions. Display ads are visual ads that entice the user to take action through strategic CTAs based on the content they live in. Its important to look at the industry average cost per click and cost per acquisition of your products or services to make sure that your gross margins can support paid advertising in 2020. 

4. Social Media - Content remains king in 2020. Choose 4 platforms that suite your business and generate content that speaks to the users on those platforms. Cross-channel posting can be leveraged but keep in mind that LinkedIn is a business platform, TikTok has a younger group of users, instagram is visual and great for products, Twitter tends to lean more on the business side, etc. Put an hour aside every day in 2020 to produce content for at least 4 platforms and your social presence will drive visibility to your brand over time. If you aren't producing content in 2020 you will lose, it's that simple. 

5. Direct Marketing Online - Email automation in 2020 will continue to increase the lifetime value (LTV) of your consumers, building a strong base that will make new customer acquisitions icing on the cake. Create an email sequence that targets the user's actions every step of the way. If the user clicked on a particular button but did not make a purchase, have an email lined up that is designed to draw them back in. Retargeting existing customers or customers who have engaged with your brand is a direct way to convert any outliers and retain your current base for years to come. As marketing shifts to "Brand" in 2020, direct marketing tactics will be key to stay top of mind. 

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5 Small Business Marketing Tips To Dominate In 2020

A Brand Guide is a critical component to small businesses and enterprises alike. The Fundamentals of A Brand Guide And Brand Consistency are the key to fostering brand awareness and portraying a professional image that will build trust with new potential customers. A brand guide consists of 6 core components that can be as granular or vague as desired by an organization's marketing team. Brand Guides can be as short as 9 pages or as long as 220 pages depending on the detail that goes into them. The 6 core components that every brand guides should have are as follows:

1. Brand Intro/summary, mission statement - This should be the first section in a brand guide and should paint a picture of a company's mission, culture, core philosophies and more. This is a great place for third parties working for your brand and using the guide to gain a sense of who your business is which will aid them in creating content, either digital or print, that presents your brand in a consistent way to potential customers through all channels. 

2. Logo Outline & Usage - This section of a brand guide displays your company's logo in the acceptable formats whether they be vertical variations, horizontal, word marks, icons, etc. This section should also outline the do's and don't in regards to logo usage. For examples, a white logo should not be used on a light background because it does not contrast enough. If a logo should not be presented with stroke, a drop shadow, particular color variations, and more, this can be presented within the logo outline section. Anything stated in this section should have a graphic that illustrates the stipulation. 

3. Color Palette - The color palette section of a brand guide will include a map of the primary brand colors in addition to the secondary brand colors if they exist. The color palette should use both printed colors and codes to identify the exact matches. Colors for both digital and print should include RGB, CMYK, Pantones, and any other identifier that your team sees fit in keeping color consistency across multiple channels for both digital and print. 

4. Typography - The typography section should include the particular fonts that can be used for your brand. This can be broken down into headlines, sub headlines, body text, and more. This can be as granular as to specify the kerning, line height, sizes and more, or as vague to simply state sans-serif fonts only. Font usage examples should be included within this section for reference. 

5.Imagery - The imagery section of a brand guide should outline the characteristics of images that are permitted and/or not permitted in company collateral, marketing collateral, etc. If your company has a fun, comedic voice, then vectors might be the only acceptable form of imagery. If your brand has an outdoors, wildlife image, then outdoor photography with vibrant colors might be the only suitable form of imagery. Examples of all requirements should be included in this section.

6. Brand Collateral - This section provides examples of brand collateral for your company from pens and mugs, to email templates and website landing pages. Brand Collateral examples should include both digital and print designs. If T-Shirts are a requirement, examples of acceptable T-Shirt designs with logo placement should be mocked up and included in this section.

After the brand guide is made, it is important to utilize it to the fullest and not drift away from the stipulations within it. By using a brand guide to improve brand consistency, you are stabilizing your brand awareness, as consistency helps with identity. In addition, having a brand guide will help your business achieve a professional look that is sure to make potential customers feel comfortable before doing business with you.

The Fundamentals Of A Brand Guide And Brand Consistency

Schema is a universal vocabulary that major search engines leverage to understand the contents of a web page. There are over 614 Schema types to choose from which can all be found at https://schema.org. This episode answers the question of What Is Schema And How Does It Help With SEO through a few surface-level explanations and examples. This episode is a great starting point for web developers , marketers, and business owners alike who are looking to use Schema to improve their organic reach. The video is broken down into the following topics:

1. What is Schema? Schema is a universal vocabulary agreed upon by the internet’s largest search engines to identify elements within a web page, making the content easier to crawl and understand. This enables the search engine to deliver the best content possible to its users. A full list of the available Schema properties can be found on the Schema.org website and documentation for implementation can be found through various sources throughout the web.
2. How Can Schema be implemented? Schema can be implemented through JSON-LD injected between the head tags of a website, or inline through micro data. JSON-LD is independent of the content within a page while micro data attaches to the elements signaling them as properties to major search engines. There are benefits to each, but there is a clear shift towards JSON-LD being noticed across the web.
3. Types of Schema - Types of Schema include items such as “Thing”, “CreativeWork”, “Event”, and much more. Each of these Schema types have properties within them that are associated to the type. Structured Snippets can be generated from the Schema markup creating a robust listing in the SERPs. Some tools such as Yoast, a popular SEO plugin, automatically generate basic organizational schema and article schema, making it easier than ever for new developers to have schema within their website. 
4. Inline Schema markup starts with the Itemscope with the Itemtype which wraps the properties associated to the type. The itemprops are attached to the html elements that they reference. For example the “headline” itemprop would be attached to the article’s title, which is generally wrapped with an H1 tag (if proper SEO hierarchy is executed on the page).

Schema aids major search engines in creating structured snippets to be displayed in the SERPs. These structured snippets can display event dates, reviews, address information, media content, and so much more. Once the appropriate Schema has been implemented into a webpage, it is important to run it through Google’s Structured Data analyzing tool to make sure there are no errors.

Self Boss Tips is a product of HeyStack Marketing in which Mike Siciliano, a serial entrepreneur, provides new entrepreneurs and small business owners with little to no capital tips on how to develop a digital marketing plan that is both efficient and effective. This channel dives into the topics of Local SEO, Paid Search, Retargeting, Proper Web Design practices, Email Automation, Social Media, GEO Fencing, sales process development, building a funnel, product development, efficient order fulfillment practices, small business setup, and so much more. Self Boss organizes tips into episodes, providing an in-depth look at effective tactics to increase relevant traffic to your storefront or website. Self Boss, HeyStack Marketing, & Mike Siciliano do not guarantee that you will see results after executing the topics discussed on this channel and are not liable for the results you experience.

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What is Schema and How Does It Help SEO

In this episode Mike Siciliano from https://heystackmarketing.com breaks down the fundamentals of a Buyer Persona, how to create a buyer persona, and how to use it to target high converting users to maximize the efficiency of your paid advertising spend. A buyer persona can be broken down into 5 parts as outlined below:

1. Identify the product/service being sold - The persona of a buyer cannot be identified without first identifying the product/service being sold. If multiple products are being sold, Mike recommends having a buyer persona outlined for each to segment the targeting. An example of this can be seen when the product is identified to be an item such as a computer. A computer that is built for gaming and a computer that is built for light business use have entirely different buyer profiles. 

2. User Demographics - The next piece of the buyer persona must outline demographical information relating to buyers who are the most likely candidates to purchase the item/service. Demographics can include gender, age, ethnicity, income, location, parental status, etc. A garden hose customer can be male or female, between the ages of 26-65+ (homeowners with a yard tend to use garden hoses and homeowners are typically not under the age of 26), and must be located in a region that typically has homes with yards. 

3. User Interests & Behavior - It is important to outline our buyer's potential interests and behavior while they are online. Interests can include hobbies, sports, music and more while behavior can be a user who is browsing particular websites such as Wayfair which signals that they have a space to decorate. When selling tickets to a comedy show, our target audience will have an interest in similar comedians to the main act, or might be interested in "date nights".

4. Identify The Platform - The next piece when developing a buyer persona is to identify the platforms they are most likely using. A user who is in the market for a trendy men's t-shirt cares about their appearance which signals that they are more visual than audible or scripted. This user is more likely to be on Instagram than they are to be on Facebook or Twitter as Instagram is a visual platform with a younger, & trendy audience. A female in the market for wedding products might be more likely to navigate to the Pinterest platform where they can find ideas for wedding theming & photography. A business professional is more than likely on the LinkedIn platform. Identifying the platform satisfies the "where" component in the buyer persona. 

5. Create A User Story - Lastly, it is important to create a story for the buyer with the information outlined above. Ex: Jane Smith is a female, 24 years of age located in Orlando, FL. Jane does not have kids and was recently engaged. She is planning a wedding for next September. Jane enjoys modern art and home furnishings and is a frequent online shopper who is not an Amazon Prime member. Jane spends a majority of her social media time on Facebook and Pinterest.

By painting a comprehensive picture of a potential buyer, we are able to construct campaigns that hyper-focus on users who only fit the profile. In doing this, our reach is to middle of the funnel and bottom of the funnel users who are the best candidates to become customers. The buyer persona is a foundation to build ad copy and creative on that identifies with the target audience to promote a higher conversion rate.

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How To Create A Buyer Persona To Target High Converting Users

We’ve said it time and time again, the website is the foundation of any business in today’s mobile world. One of the most critical questions a new business owner is faced with is How To Choose The Best Platform To Build Your Website On From Wordpress to Shopify and More. Each platform offers different functionality and benefits from design to SEO to functionality to user experience, and so much more. Choosing the wrong platform can cost a new business time and money if it is not an informed, well thought out decision. 

In this episode we have grouped content management system (CMS) candidates into three groups and discuss the strengths of each.

1. Weebly, Wix, & Squarespace - These CMS platforms don’t require the need to code meaning anyone can go in and start creating a website for their new business. They have very large code bases to support their robust drag and drop editors, meaning they are clunky and difficult for major search engines to navigate. SEO options are limited on these platforms. Although advances have been made to include the ability to edit critical SEO components, many remain unavailable and the code base is not accessible to add them, meaning your competitors who are running on Wordpress or Shopify will already have an advantage. These platforms have made an effort to integrate commerce systems into their websites which is great for users who are just starting out, however the platforms are limited in their organic reach potential, not capable of being customized, and not very scalable to grow as your demand grows. These platforms provide free themes, but customization to improve overall user experience (UX) is limited to the visual editors capabilities as the code base cannot be fully accessed on this type of CMS.
2. Wordpress - This platform provides full-access to the code base and is used by many Fortune 500 companies to present their brand to consumers on the web. Minor coding knowledge is required to maximize the overall design that the free and paid themes have to offer when first starting. A theme can be built completely custom from the ground up on this platform which is why many marketing & web development companies provide designs to their customers before building the site (if they do not, they are probably utilizing a generic theme). With the Yoast and similar plugins, businesses can leverage full SEO implementation when building their site. Outside of the coast plugin, Meta data, hierarchy, internal linking, Schema markup, and much more can be generated to maximize visibility and improve positioning in major search engine results pages. With a proper initial build, Wordpress websites can be fully scalable by developing post types and posts to dynamically display in various locations across the website. This allows for efficient coding, minimizing the base, and making the website more navigable by major search engines in addition to promoting a more consistent design. 
3. Shopify - Shopify is the world’s number 1 commerce platform and is used by both enterprise level and small businesses alike. Shopify provides full access to the code base. They provide free themes are the option to create a theme completely from scratch as does WordPress. Minor coding knowledge is a plus to maximize the website’s usability and aesthetic appeal, but is not required. SEO is slightly more limited than that of Wordpress when using the platform out-of-the-box, but with the help of a developer or marketing agency, full SEO is achievable. Shopify is the world’s favorite CMS to integrate with for marketing, meaning there are thousands of marketing tools at your disposal making it a developer and marketing company favorite. Shopify does not allow the ability to use global components across multiple templates, meaning the content within the component is local to the component itself and not the template making it difficult to scale the informational side of the website.

How To Choose The Best Platform To Build Your Website On Including Wordpress, Shopify, And More

In this episode Mike Siciliano from HeyStack Marketing provides a surface-level overview of why marketing is a compounded effort that takes time. In the episode, he explains that a business should not initiate a marketing strategy to get out of a hole, but rather should implement a marketing strategy at break even to create a solid foundation that will prevent the business from falling into the hole. The end-goal of any strategic marketing effort is a conversion, but this should not be confused with the short-term immediate goals which can be anything from reach, to CTR, to awareness and much more. 

Marketing compounds over time as audience profiles are built, data is accounted for, and reach begins to grow across multiple channels. If a marketing agency or internal marketing team are implementing effective strategies, there is a lot of setup time, adjustments based on data mining, and spend that is required to build a plan that yields a return.

Having data aids in painting a picture, so without it, marketing plans are executed in the dark. If a marketing agency or internal marketing team has not set up tracking effectively, a business can lose a majority of their spend with little to no return to show for it, ultimately leaving to an unhappy client and a bad reputation for the agency. 

Proper setup to maximize data mining starts at the website level. Not only should the website offer an optimal User Experience (UX), but it needs to be coded correctly to be easily nav gable and legible to major search engines such as Google. Once the website is optimized, various tracking pixels and analytics tools should be implemented to see the actions that users are taking when visiting and to capture critical demographical information on the traffic coming in. Next, the website should be indexed in the Google Search console so that Google recognizes the pages within the site and can navigate them appropriately. Lastly, the business should be listed in off-page directories including Google My Business and social media profiles should be optimized to work together in creating the “Social Voice” of the company. 

Optimizing the website and seeing up the appropriate data mining tools are only a small piece of the battle. Campaigns should be built that attract a wide array of different micro audiences under the umbrella of the company’s target demographic. Copywriting and creative on multiple platforms that those audiences utilize in their everyday life should be developed to speak to each segment. This can sometimes mean 60-70 different ad variations for one campaign. The setup time is usually about 2 weeks for a campaign that is canvasing for the highest converting audience. 

Through this process, mentions of a business online will start to occur, various directories will begin crawling and posting the business on their platform, customers will link to your platform and refer to their friends, the brand name will acquire greater reach as search engines see the business growing throughout the web and will ultimately rank it higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), and the marketing effort will begin to compound.

Through this compounding reach, trust is built with various users that enter the site because the brand is now top-of-mind and a network is visible on the web built around the brand. This trust and established image will lead to higher conversion rates over time, and eventually LTV (Lifetime Value) of a customer will come into play adding to the businesses bottom line revenue. 

So, what are you waiting for? Start building your marketing plan NOW, not later.

Self Boss

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