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2018 Year in Review

2018 Year in Review

by | Jan 3, 2019 | Branding, Content Creation, Website Design

2018 was a busy year for us – and an exciting one at that. We’ve introduced new Spyders to our team, renovated and expanded our work-space (our “web”, if you will), added more businesses to our already awesome list of clients, and spent many hours doing what Spyders do best: writing, designing, and marketing.

To celebrate this incredible year, we have compiled a list of some of our favorite 2018 projects for your viewing pleasure. But first, a word from our fearless leader and CEO:

Our ten year anniversary as a company is this year — April 2019 — and it’s pretty remarkable to take a look at how far we’ve come and how much has transpired in those ten years. We started out of a home office with two clients.

When I look back, I see the huge mistakes we’ve made and tried our best to learn from and I see a landscape of beautiful and impactful work — but most of all, I see the relationships we’ve built over the years and continue to build. That’s why we do this work. Because we love to serve others and help other businesses grow and have successes of their own.

I want to take this moment to say thank you to all of you who have trusted UplinkSpyder — and the Spyders that work here — with your website, design, marketing and content needs. We have big plans for the next year. I’m really excited. I never thought of myself as a business owner, much less a successful one, but God has graced Emmanuel and myself with many extra chances to learn and grow. Employing others is one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences of our lives and I’m so very grateful I continue to have that opportunity.

Please take a look at a very small sample and a few cool statistics from the last year of our first decade. And stay tuned for more awesome to come…

Happy New Year!
Deanna Rivera, CEO

2018 at a Glance

13,506+

Hours Creating Awesome

In 2018, our Spyders spent over 13,500 combined hours working on your website, blogs, social media, newsletters, and more – and guess what? We loved every minute of it. We find joy in creating a website with a beautiful, mobile-responsive design that wows both your customers and search engines. When we see your keyword rankings improving, or a Facebook ad generating tons of clicks to your website, we literally high-five each other for a job well done. Your success is our success.

183,000+

Words Written *Since June

Just over the last 7 months, we’ve written over 183,000 words to help increase website traffic and pull customers in based on careful SEO research. This is done through your website’s “normal” content outlining your services, but also through our new content marketing packages for blogging, which…not to toot our own horn or anything…are pretty freaking great. We can’t stress how important it is to regularly post blogs to your website. Don’t think your business needs a blog? We’d love to tell you why that’s not the case.

439+

Newsletters Sent

Over this past year, we have sent over 430 newsletters for our clients, and that doesn’t count the additional efforts we make to ensure each of those newsletters get opened and clicked on. This includes automated emails (triggered by contact forms, pop-ups, etc.) and newsletter re-sends, with new subject lines, to people that didn’t open them originally. With email marketing, and all of your marketing efforts, consistency is key! We help our clients stay in their customers’ inboxes through well-crafted newsletters, helping grow their audience along the way.

+53%

Average Website Growth as Compared to 2017

Our existing websites, that we maintain and update regularly, experienced an average of 50% growth, compared to 2017. That’s because we don’t just launch a website and then wave good-bye. We become business partners with our clients, constantly helping them discover new ways to grow their business. When you work with UplinkSpyder, you work with a team of individuals that become your friends, and treat your business like our own.

23 Websites Launched

2018 was the year of experimenting with new design methods, further content analysis, and improved user experience. Through all of the 23 websites we built and launched in 2018, we were able to create something unique, which we are very proud of. Your website is the heart of all your marketing, so if it doesn’t truly reflect your business, has false information, or doesn’t show up properly on a mobile device, it’s not benefiting you at all. In fact, it may be hurting you. Luckily, we happen to know a group of talented Spyders (not the creepy, crawly kind) that can fix these issues for you.

25 Brands Created

When a new business owner comes to us and says “I don’t have a logo yet,” or “I don’t have a brand yet,” – it’s music to our ears. Our favorite projects are the ones that we help you shape from the beginning. In 2018, we helped 25 businesses find their identity. Check out some of the highlights below.

Thanks for reading all of that,
but the proof is in the pudding.

Check out a few highlights from our web design and branding of 2018:

5 White Hat SEO Techniques Anyone Can Do

5 White Hat SEO Techniques Anyone Can Do

by | Aug 15, 2018 | Search Engine Optimization

While the terms and practices aren’t new to us, you’ve probably never heard of them. However, in a day and age where more and more businesses are being sold a lie when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, we’re finding it’s important you (the business owner) know about white hat SEO techniques.

So why are we talking about headgear accessories? What does it mean in terms of search engines? Fortunately, white hat (and its opposite, black hat) are pretty simple terms, but they cover a comprehensive attitude toward SEO and a variety of techniques geared toward that attitude.

For the record – UplinkSpyder is strictly White Hat SEO – we don’t even dabble in that grey hat that everyone else seems to. Read on.

What is White Hat SEO?

what is white hat seo

In a nutshell, white hat SEO techniques are the good guy method of Search Engine Optimization. White hat SEO follows the rules, such as Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, while still maximizing the search engine rankings of a website.

Quickly defined, “white hat” is any practice that will improve search rankings AND maintain the integrity of your website AND follow the search engine’s rules.

Why are White Hat SEO Techniques so Important?

what is white hat seo

When a webmaster, or your amazing digital marketing firm (hint hint), delivers quality content with integrity in a fast, user-friendly format, that is white hat SEO. Marketing firms that employ white hat SEO make content easy to find through the use of descriptive keywords and meta-tags.

White hat SEO is important if you want to maintain a good relationship with Google, and thereby get better rankings and standing in search engine results. If you follow the rules, i.e. the Webmaster Guidelines, and keep the search engines happy, you can climb rankings, please customers, and not get banned by Google.

Why do People Use Anything Other than White Hat SEO Techniques?

white hat seo techniques

It’s always a temptation to pick the “quick and easy” path to meet your goals, even if it leads to breaking some rules or using dishonest redirects, cloaking, etc. What a lot of people don’t like is that white hat SEO takes time. It’s natural and can be a slow process (especially for industries with lots of competition). Black hat SEO likes to speed up that process by using unethical techniques. It’s so common, unfortunately, that there’s even what some people call, “grey hat.” Grey hat is pretty much still black hat but deemed ok because “everyone else is doing it.”

Big Bad Black Hat

black hat seo techniques

Black hat SEO is the practice of using tricks and manipulation to bump up traffic and engagement but doesn’t follow quality guidelines. Black hat practitioners think that by using underhanded methods, they’ll trick users into engaging with their content or giving them traffic; they consider fast and dramatic results are more important than building a loyal customer base or a strong brand.

Digital marketers who use black hat SEO don’t consider the risks or take them seriously. What’s really heartbreaking about this is innocent, hard-working business owners will hire these marketers and pay too much, only to have their site flagged by Google. And these days a website that can’t be found online can mean death for a new business.

Some Common Black Hat SEO Tactics are:

  • Keyword Stuffing: We just don’t do this. It’s dumb. Your target keyword should only be used as it fits in the content naturally.
  • Duplicate Content (stealing it from other successful sites): We use industry-standard tools to ensure every.single.word we write for you is absolutely nowhere else on the internet.
  • Splogging: This is where so-called writers or SEO experts throw keywords in a program that spits out “content.” If you’ve ever seen content that literally makes NO SENSE – that’s what happened.
  • Paying for Backlinks: Backlinks are your friend. But paying for backlinks is like paying for friends. Just don’t do it.

Google takes extreme measures against any form of spam or dishonesty; they may block part or all of a website, or merely drop that site’s rankings in search results. This is clearly not ideal.

5 White Hat SEO Techniques

5 white hat seo techniques

At this point, hopefully, you see the advantages in knowing what the guidelines are for white hat SEO. Read on to learn the top 5 best techniques for practicing white hat SEO so you know what to look for when hiring a digital marketing firm.

1. Provide Quality Content

This is the obvious one, and the most difficult. It’s tempting to pull content from other websites or throw thin, quickly-researched content onto your site just so you have something for users to look at. Putting the time and work into creating and curating quality content for your users will reap the most benefits in the long run.

2. Research Keywords

Keywords are the best tool for finding the right demographic for your business and website. When users run a Google search for their keywords, you want the right users to find your content. In other words, the users who are most likely going to benefit from and engage with your content because they are the ones that are most likely to convert. Google’s Keyword Planner tool is extremely helpful for keyword research and your white hat SEO techniques.

3. Create Easy Navigation

Develop your website so that it is fast and easy to find specific content. Also, make sure to speed up your site’s loading times as much as possible so that users don’t have to wait impatiently. Making your site mobile-friendly is imperative so that you can engage with all of the smart device users. This will help you keep users who stumble on your site because it’s not difficult or time-consuming for them to use.

4. Follow Search Engine Policies

As mentioned earlier in this article, following Google’s Webmaster Guidelines will keep your website safe from penalties and is the mark of good white hat SEO. You and Google have this in common: you want your website visitors to be happy and to keep coming back. Following guidelines will help you do that.

5. Post Frequent Content

The more consistently you update and post on your website, the more you will build a loyal consumer base because they know they can depend on you for up-to-date and fresh information, whether it’s a blog, formatting updates, or new events or products.

So that’s the scoop on white hat SEO techniques and how you can use them to build a reputation for integrity and honesty online. UplinkSpyder can assist with any of your business’ web development or internet marketing needs. We are a full-service provider and dedicated to making our clients successful.

5 Steps of Brand Building Every Business Must Know

5 Steps of Brand Building Every Business Must Know

by | Aug 2, 2018 | Branding

When it comes to the steps of brand building it can often be overwhelming, whether you’re a startup or simply rebranding. That’s why we decided to give you 5 steps in the brand building process that you can begin doing right now. So what is this branding thing all about? What does it mean for your business? How do you develop a unique brand that will not only draw customers in but keep them?

What Exactly is a Brand Build?

In an article written by Deanna back in 2015, she describes the building of your brand as “not one thing. It is the TOTAL experience you provide, either to your clients or your employees. Everything someone sees, smells, hears, touches or tastes, as it relates to your business, is a part of your unique brand.”

A recognizable brand is worth its weight in revenue. You want customers to think of your brand first when a specific need comes up, or to associate your brand with a positive business trait, such as friendliness, speedy service, or honest quoting. Building your business’ brand is an essential phase in creating a strong business presence, great marketing, and a devoted customer base.

However, how do you go about building a successful brand like that? Read on for our top five steps in the brand building process so that you will be ready to develop your own business strategically.

The 5 Steps of Brand Building

1. Research The Target Market for Your Brand

brand building

You need to make sure you know who you are selling to before you can strategize further on what you are selling them and how. With that in mind, you need to:

  • Identify your target market
  • Find out what they need
  • Brainstorm the best ways to meet their needs

Determining your market and finding out what makes them tick will help you understand what your short- and long-term goals should be. You want your ideal customer to feel appreciated and satisfied with the product or service that you’re providing them.

One helpful exercise for this step is to brainstorm “buyer personas” for your potential customers. What kind of person would be interested in your product? Your research should inform you of your target market’s geographical location, economic status, age, and gender.

2. Write a Mission Statement for Your Brand

This should address all of the following areas:

  • Your brand’s personality and voice. Is it sassy? Clever? Sensible?
  • Your brand’s business image and style. Is it professional? Informal? Thrifty? Top-of-the-line? What is your business aesthetic in advertising? What style of writing will stand out as belonging to your business?
  • Your brand’s specific strengths. What is your brand better at than anyone else?
  • Your brand’s unique place in the market. Why should customers choose you over others?

Answering these questions will allow you to set specific goals for your business to maintain consistency with your brand’s mission statement. Once you do this, you can make decisions based on whether an opportunity or idea matches your mission statement. This clarity will also help keep your business consistent, which will help you build a reputation as being reliable to customers.

3. Strategize Your Advertising

brand build

Promotion is essential to starting and maintaining a thriving business. Whether it’s online, in person, or on a billboard, you need strong advertising to remain consistent and thereby help your brand. Today’s digital age all but demands social media and a blog for your business.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the “Big Three” social media platforms that you should make a part of your brand building in order to maintain a presence online. A blog for your business is good, but not if you can’t update regularly. Consistent content online will keep you in the front of your existing customers’ minds and bring you to the attention of new customers. If you can afford other advertising, utilize the avenues that will be consistent with your brand’s mission statement.

4. Figure Out Your Pitch

This goes hand-in-hand with Step 3 but is geared more for fellow industry professionals and investors. Keeping your mission statement in mind, practice an “elevator pitch” for what your business is all about. This pitch will come in handy when you make contacts or develop relationships for your business. Along with a pitch, make sure you can quickly write or verbalize your brand’s strategy. You want to clearly and concisely interest them in getting involved or investing.

5. Network, Network, Network

brand build

Got your pitch ready? Good. This step is all about making friends and getting people interested in your brand. If your business has a blog, make a list of potential companies that might be interested in co-branding. Don’t look for companies precisely like yours; look for businesses that offer something that can complement but not replace your service or product. Reach out to them and see if they’re interested in linking to you (you can link to them in return) or teaming up on advertising.

Also- get away from the desk and computer and join your local networking groups. BNI is a popular one throughout the nation, and most towns have networking groups unique to them.

Following these five steps to brand building will provide positive results for your business. Besides that, however, it will make your work a lot easier: The more specifics you have nailed down for your brand, the less time you waste figuring out which direction to go or whether an idea is right for your business goals.

Most importantly, the better hold you have on your brand, the stronger it will appear to your customers, and the more they will remember it.

If you don’t have the time or resources to strengthen your brand yourself, consider hiring someone to help. Our team is equipped and ready to begin the steps of brand building for your company. Contact us today to set up an appointment.

Humor in Marketing: 3 Reasons Why and 3 Ways to do it

Humor in Marketing: 3 Reasons Why and 3 Ways to do it

by | Jul 9, 2018 | Marketing

We’re not saying you need to be Jimmy Fallon funny, we’re just saying it certainly wouldn’t hurt if you were. That’s because more and more studies are coming out confirming what we kind of already know – humor in marketing works.

However, we don’t just want to tell you what to do, we want to show how effective humor can be, especially humor in marketing strategies. Let’s take a look at a company that has mastered humor in their marketing and see what lessons we can take from it.

ChatBooks- Humor in Marketing Perfection

ChatBooks. Yep – you heard us right.

Chatbooks – those plain square books that pull your pictures from Instagram and categorize them all by the tag you choose, then print out the month’s pictures in a nice book – all for 8 bucks. If you go to their website, it’s expected. In fact, it’s kind of “ok cool, another automated something I could just do myself and save 8 dollars a month. That’s 2 Starbucks!”

Go on, check the website out.

Now watch the ad below. We’ll wait.

Humor in marketing perfection. Absolute perfection. We know you’re LOTI (laughing on the inside) and thinking,“PRAISE THE BABY JESUS WHERE HAVE THESE BEEN MY ENTIRE LIFE?” 

“And only 8 bucks! Take.my.money.”

All of a sudden, something you weren’t willing to spend 8 bucks on is something you now can’t live without and have to have. So what changed? Do you suddenly need to have these photo books? No. Not even close. We all grew up with those photo albums with the sticky backs and plastic covers from the 80’s just fine, thank-you-very-much.

Do you all of the sudden just lack the desire to make the memory books yourself, like you would have five minutes ago?

Nope, you’re still just as capable as before.

So, what in the world changed?

1. Humor Proves The Brand Relates to its Audience

Chatbooks related to you. On a seriously personal level, but in a way that made you laugh, because of #life, amiright?

Chatbooks took something that, deep down, all Moms (working or not) felt: the overwhelming exhaustion over the huge responsibility of raising kids and oh, by the way, don’t forget to write down everything because time is so fleeting – and turned it into pure comedy. And what most people miss about this: You can’t truly be funny unless you actually GET IT.  

Deep down, that’s what people want: to be deeply understood.

Now, all of a sudden, you want these Chatbooks. These Chatbooks won’t only give you pictures in hard copy to look at it, but it’s somehow going to relieve that stress and help you just exhale and feel, maybe for the first time, understood.

And how do we know that? Because it already did, just by making you laugh.

2. Humor Tells the Audience it’s OK to Need Help

Isn’t that what we want all our clients or customers to know? That it’s OK to need your service or product? That they can’t, in fact, do everything on their own? Of course, that’s what we all want, and humor does this in a non-offensive way.

Nothing is worse than feeling like you have to keep up with a world where you take time to smell the freshly pressed, organic, free-range leaves, on your handmade photo album. Who has time for that?

Chatbooks not only relates to its audience with humor but uses it to say, “hey, if making photo books sucks the life out of you, it’s OK.” What’s brilliant about this is that there’s no fancy jargon here. No big words, and even, to be blunt, some slang. Chatbooks calls it like it is because it’s true. There’s zero shame. None.

By the brand having no shame, the target audience is given permission to also have no shame as they click, “order now” and get on their merry way.

3. Humor in Marketing Builds Brand Loyalty

When we share something as intimate as a laugh with someone, way in our brain and nervous system, all the happy chemicals are released. These happy endorphins are the same ones released when a mother has a child, when people exercise, or even when an addict uses street drugs. And the entire purpose of those happy endorphins is to create a bond, a need, an addiction of sorts.

Or, in the world of business, loyalty. Not only does a brand want to win new customers, but they want to keep customers, too. We could get all into the science about it, but we’ll spare you (you can thank us by sending wine or coffee).

Chatbooks, by getting you to laugh and releasing those endorphins, is tying that happy feeling to those books. So now, just by looking at the books, your brain will immediately go back to that feeling you had when you first experienced Chatbooks. A feeling of happiness and of being understood and relieved of meaningless stress.

Forking brilliant, Chatbooks. Brilliant.

How to Use Humor in Marketing

So, now what? How the heck do you infuse humor in your already-there brand? How do you make sure you’re taken seriously but still, you know, not? How do you be funny in a virtual world?

1. Blogs

Blogs, by nature, are always more casual than website copy, so there’s a lot more freedom to just have at it. Blogs allow you to take the readers through a story where you can have them laughing in one minute, and converting in the next. Blogs make humor in marketing easy and natural and should be started as soon as you possibly can. 

Here Are a Few Tips to Ensure There’s Humor in Your Stories:

  • Talk about something funny that happened, and tie it to what you want the reader to know.
  • Use relatable gifs or memes to drive home a point.
  • Refer to something trending and poke fun at it in a very nonchalant way.
  • Don’t forget to use those funny blogs in your email marketing, too!

Fun side note: We’re really stepping up our blogging and content services, as we’ve seen how vital high-quality content is to the success of our clients (that’s you!) so if blogging isn’t something you have time for, but know you need, give us call.

2. Facebook and Twitter

Facebook and Twitter are great ways to humanize the brand to consumers with humor. Don’t take things too seriously with these platforms and instead use it to poke fun at yourselves and show that lighter side.

While showing that more relaxed side of the brand does many good things, the most important thing it does is make the business far more approachable, far more “human.” This is that final push that people still in the informational gathering stage need to get up and walk through your door (or to click that call to action).

Here Are a Few Actionable Ways to Humanize the Company and Brand with Facebook or Twitter:

  • Skip the professional graphics from time to time and get a candid one of you, the team, the office dog, or the sink that decided to overflow (oh no!)
  • Do live videos. Forget about how you look and just do them. Don’t plan. Don’t script. Just get in front of that phone camera and educate your followers on how to use your product or service in a fun and light-hearted way. Bonus points if you’re like everyone else and have to hide in the supply closet to get one second without interruption. 
  • Share funny and related memes that always seem to float all over FB and Twitter, and do so with a quick and witty caption.

3. Know That You Can Have Professionalism and Humor in Marketing

There seems to be this mindset that anything work-related has to be boring and “professional.” Yes, professionalism matters, but not to the point that the brand is forgettable and dry. Chatbooks does this perfectly – their website is professional and easy to use, but their ads are brilliantly funny and relatable. You can, and should, have both.

While we want to finish this off in a clear, professional way, we’re going to just leave you with another video ad that we find to be a-freaking-amazing in how it uses humor. Marketing in humor for-the-win (for more funny ads, just watch all the Old Spice commercials)!

Enjoy. Laugh. And don’t forget we’re here to help you navigate all things digital and funny.

 

Top 4 Social Media Tips for Business Owners

Top 4 Social Media Tips for Business Owners

by | Jun 11, 2018 | Social Media, Strategy

Recently, our CEO, Deanna Rivera, hosted a small 2 hour marketing workshop for mother owned businesses. The focus, after polling attendees about their largest concerns, was primarily on social media tips. The day to day care of social media can be an overwhelming subject for most business owners, particularly those who are “doing it all on their own”.

Summarized below are what we feel were the most important takeaways from that conversation. UplinkSpyder may host more of these workshops in the future, so please let us know if you’re interested in attending.

1. Social Media should be used first and foremost as a branding tool for your organization.

Facebook, Instagram and the like provide a way to give potential and current customers consistent information that help to tell your story. Most people won’t buy from your business page directly and your individual posts are only seen by a small percentage of your total audience, so what you want to think most about is the overall impression your page is leaving. If someone were to scroll through all your posts and photos, what feeling would they be left with? Is that feeling consistent with your brand? A great way to influence that feeling is through strategy (see #4 below).

2. Social Media is also a directory.

When looking for you online, your social media channels will be listed along with your website, so it’s important that when people visit you, the information is current and correct and looks its best (and is consistent with your website, other social channels, business cards, and materials.) Note: It’s also important that when you put your business name in to a Google Search, that you personally visit each and every one of the listings that come up with your information and if possible, control the content listed about you.

3. The most successful companies are those that can effectively engage their audience.

This can be done with welcoming questions and comments and interacting online. One of the best ways to do this is through video. Video can especially help to differentiate you from others in your field as it does something no logo or static post can…adds in personality, warmth, and charm. Video can be used in so many ways and always attracts more attention than any other type of post or information.

4. The most important takeaway is about strategy.

If you are posting each day and not thinking about the bigger picture, you’re not only missing the opportunity to craft the impression you’re giving, you’re wasting time. Plan out a week or month of posts at a time. Sitting down once, instead of once or several times daily, and scheduling or planning posts, saves a lot of time that a busy business owner needs. You’re also less likely to forget something and you’re more likely to hit people during peak hours when your posts will make the biggest impact. If video is part of your strategy, create a month’s worth of video posts at once and schedule in when you’ll go live instead of trying to find moments within the busy week.

We discussed much more than this…differentiation between social channels, how to reuse posts, how best to use ads, and a bit about content marketing. The most important thing to remember when marketing your business is that all of these things are tools. Just like you wouldn’t use a hammer before knowing what you want the project you are making to look like…don’t use social media without goals and a vision of where you’re going and how your goals fit into a bigger strategy. Need help with any or all of that? That’s what we’re here for.

Readers’ Choice Awards: How We Help Our Clients Succeed

Readers’ Choice Awards: How We Help Our Clients Succeed

by | Apr 17, 2017 | Marketing

Our team of Spyders had a great deal of luck this year helping our awesome local clients gain a bit of extra recognition. In our local city of Eugene, OR, there is a yearly contest called the Register-Guard’s Readers’ Choice Awards. Businesses are nominated in one or more categories during phase one. Then, the Top 5 nominated businesses move on to phase 2: the voting phase. Once voting is over, the Top 3 businesses are announced as the winners. Your business can gain a lot of exposure if you are nominated, and even more so if you “win”.

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