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Dream Big, Plan Small and Grow in 2017

It is the start of a brand-new year and while a few may still be enjoying a well-deserved break, many of us are back at work or at the helm of our business.

By this stage, most of you have likely taken some time to strategise and plan for 2017, but for those of you have not got around to it yet, I thought I’d offer a few tips to help get you going. These are not going to be “7 Essential Components to Effective Planning” type tips, but rather broad strokes taken from the approach I took this year. Of course, if you own a good book on the topic, you should refer to it.

Environment

My environment plays a major role when it comes to creativity. While this may not be true for everyone, I find that because my office is the place I spend time working in my business, it is difficult for me to switch off from the tasks competing for my attention.

I recommend that you find a space where you are removed from your working environment and all the distractions that go along with it. For me, that space was under the trees up on a mountain, close to a dam with no cell phone coverage. I packed in a picnic blanket, some yummies to eat, plenty to drink and said ‘goodbye’ to the real world back at the office.

How Much Time To Set Aside

This is very subjective and will vary greatly from one business to another. For some businesses, there are just far more complexities than others. I would recommend that you set out a full day at least.  Anything less than this will keep you watching the time and can force you to cut your planning short, which is the best way to get the least out of this exercise. If you find that you’re done before the day ends, you obviously have the freedom to go back to your office, but this should happen because you are ready to implement your strategy, not because you have to get back for something.

If you have a business that requires a few days to get through strategising and planning for the year, I suggest that, if possible, you stay over somewhere for that time.

Reflect

A good place to start your strategy and planning session is to reflect on 2016. Think about what worked well, the challenges you experienced and the successes you enjoyed. Were there lessons you learned that could aid your growth this year or help you avoid some pitfalls? Can you identify areas where you might have grown faster if you had certain resources in place. What processes and actions would be good to emulate going forward and what should be discarded?

Take your time reflecting. The more detail you identify here, the better you will be equipped for the year ahead.

Dream Big

Do you remember when you were a young child and you would say, “One day when I grow up…”. As a young child when you dreamed about what you could be or do, there were no limitations. This is the way I dream about my business. If there were no limiting factors, then one day when my business grows up… This is not a 2017 dream, this is a ‘one day’ dream.

Think about what your business will look like and what it will represent. How will it be perceived? Would you like to be a boutique business or a large corporation, or something somewhere in between? There are no right or wrong answers here. This is your dream.

Consider who your client base will be, what type of income your company will produce, what your staff compliment will look like, the products and/or services you will offer, the type of marketing you will do… You get the picture. Dream big! No one ever achieves more than they dream.

Back to 2017

Now that you have a detailed picture of what your business will ideally look like one day, it is time to decide where 2017 fits into this dream. For instance, if your ideal business has 20 staff members performing various functions, and you currently have 2 staff members, how much staff can you add in 2017 and what resources as pertains to office space, salaries, sales, etc. would you need to have in place to achieve this goal? Also, what value will these additional staff members allow you to realise in your business in 2017?

It goes without saying, but as you strategise and plan for 2017, plan for growth and make sure that your planning helps to move your business in the direction of your Big Dream.

Plan Small

Now don’t misunderstand me here. I don’t mean that you must plan for small growth or hardly plan at all, but rather that you should plan in detail. You know what you would like to achieve in 2017, but until you can break it down into actionable steps, it will always just be a dream. To attain it, you need to have a specific plan of action that you and your staff can execute.

Write out a road map of how to get from where you are now to the goals you have set for 2017. Mark the big events or milestones on a calendar and create a weekly planner that clearly shows what needs to be done. Create timeframes for various actions and checklists so that you can stay on track with your progress. This will take some effort from your side, but if you can do this well, you will be well on your way to achieving big things in 2017.

Go for a Swim

Now that you have completed your strategy and planning session, you can go back to the office or go for a swim. Wondering what I did?

The water was refreshing.

I will leave you with this encouragement. 2017 Has started and will be gone in a little over 11 months from now. You have no control over that. You do, however, have a good amount of control over the way you will experience it. Since you’re in it anyway, you may as well make it a great year.

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/tips/dream-big-plan-small-and-grow-in-2017/

Our Web Design Page – Live at Last

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Our Web Design page is live at last!

We have been offering web design and web development for some time now, but have only just got around to adding some of our work to our portfolio. Feel free to visit our page and click on the images to see the websites firsthand.

To visit our web Design page, click this link: https://www.imapplied.co.za/web-design/

If you are in need of a fresh website, simply complete the form at the bottom of the page and we will get back to you shortly.

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/web-design/web-design-page-live/

Get The Online Exposure Your Company Deserves

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The post Get The Online Exposure Your Company Deserves appeared first on IM Applied.

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/seo/seo-services/online-exposure/

Google 3 Pack Maps Listings Optimization

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Getting Found in the Google 3 Pack Maps Listings

What is the Google 3 Pack?

The Google 3 pack, also referred to as the Snack pack is simply the Google Maps Listings. An example of this can be seen in this image.

There was a stage that Google showed up to 7 of these local maps listings on page 1 of Google, but in a recent update they reduced these results to 3 listings across the board.

There is a lot of speculation around why Google has reduced these listings from 7 to 3. Perhaps one clue is found in the fact that Google has been testing Sponsored ads for Maps Listings in certain industries in San Francisco recently. It would make good sense to reduce the listings down to 3 to make space for these new ads listings sometime in the future. The benefit of this is that companies can opt to bid for a local placement. The obvious disadvantage is that some companies that were featuring in the 7 Pack map listings previously may need to spend extra money on Google Ads in order to be found in the search results.

 

Who Could Benefit From an Optimized Google Maps Listing?

The 3 Pack Listing is beneficial to any local business. This includes businesses that operate from a single location as well as businesses with multiple locations like corporations with local branches or franchises with franchisees that are located in different areas around the country.

Is It Important to Show Up in the 3 Pack if My Business Already Ranks Organically?

Even if your company has invested in local SEO services and enjoys an organic listing on page 1 of the search results currently, it would still be very beneficial for your company to show up in the 3 Pack listings.

One of the main reasons for this is that in today’s age where the majority of people have access to a smart phone or mobile device, more than half the searches for local business services or products are from a mobile device. Google displays the 3 Pack above all other results and also have a ‘Call’ button right next to the listing. With more than 84% of all smartphone owners regularly making use of Maps applications, being listed in the maps listings can result in increased traffic to your website or have your phone ringing more frequently.

How do I get My Business Listed in The 3 Pack?

As you can imagine, with many local businesses and only 3 maps listings that show up on page 1 of Google, getting your business into the 3 pack is by no means guaranteed. However, here are some steps you can follow to get a local Google My Business listing which is an important starting point. After all, you will need a business listing if you want to compete in this space.

Setting Up Your Local Business Listing

If you do not have one yet, start by setting up a Gmail email account. Once you have this, you will be given the option of setting up a G+ profile. Go ahead and do this. Log into your G+ profile. From the left margin you can select pages. When setting up your page, be sure to choose ‘Location’ and not ‘Brand’. ‘Brand’ pages do not display locations and are better suited for companies that require National SEO, where local footprints are not relevant. Complete as much of the information as possible, taking care to include a description that will entice your prospect. Be sure to include a few photos too. Once you have completed your address field, Google will send you a postcard to verify that your address is correct. This should take no longer than 2 weeks to reach you according to Google, but it really depends on our local postal service.

When you receive the postcard, follow the instructions to verify your local listing. Only once you have completed this verification process, will Google index your business page.

Just like organic listings, Maps listings consist of many pages of results. Your listing may take a little while to show up. If you have a well optimized maps listing, this will already help to move it up the search results, but it is going to take a good bit of ongoing SEO activities to get it into one of the top 3 results.

You can either go about these activities yourself or, if you prefer, you can have us do the activities that will get you to the Top 3. As an Internet Marketing company, we understand exactly what is required and how to go about implementing it without risking any penalties from Google. Simply call us or complete our form in the sidebar and we will be happy to meet with you for a discussion around this.

The post Google 3 Pack Maps Listings Optimization appeared first on IM Applied.

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/seo/seo-services/3-pack-maps-optimization/

Global SEO Services

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The Global Market Opportunity

The world as a global marketplace has become more accessible now than ever before. With ever increasing breakthroughs in modern technology, we are living in an era where a brand new technology is developed every 30 days. The ability to engage in high video conferences makes it easy for your business to undertake negotiations with a company in another country from the comfort of your office. Reputable courier services offer reliable delivery of goods globally with the added peace of mind that comes with both you and your client being able to track the whereabouts of these goods at all times. There has never been a better time to build a worldwide brand or, at the very least, to promote your products and services to a global audience.

Our Global SEO Services

Global search engine optimization (SEO) is, in all simplicity, the marketing of a website to a global audience for terms (or keywords) that this audience would search for online. While National SEO focuses on ranking keywords in google.co.za (local), Global SEO focuses on ranking keywords in google.com (international) for the most part. Global SEO can be broken down into 2 segments:

 

1. Global SEO Footprint

The global SEO footprint is for companies that would like to appeal to a worldwide audience on a global scale. Thus, the optimization is focused on positioning a site for a global reach. Great examples of global sites include Amazon.com, Adobe.com and Apple.com This does not mean that if your site is not up to standard with these sites that you cannot rank in the global market. However, while ranking in the global market will attract visitors from around the world, the content of your site should be both appealing and compelling if it is going to convert online visitors to customers.

 

2. Worldwide Local SEO Footprint

Where the Global SEO Footprint aims at engaging a global audience, the Worldwide Local SEO Footprint focuses on drivingLocal SEO in different countries. So as opposed to optimizing a keyword for google.com (international), it seeks to optimize keywords for local search engines around the world like google.co.uk (UK), google.co.nz (New Zealand), etc. This is best achieved by either optimizing multiples local websites targeting associated countries or a ‘multisite’ website where each ‘sub-site’ targets a different country. The latter is generally easier to manage and maintain. The former could make sense if you plan to sell off locations in the future and plan to include the local website in the sale.

The post Global SEO Services appeared first on IM Applied.

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/seo/seo-services/global-seo/

National SEO Services

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National SEO is the correct choice for your company if you are looking to either promote to national audience or to clusters of local audiences throughout the country.

A good example of a national SEO Footprint opportunity would be that of an online florist that delivers country-wide. One of the main keywords for this this company would be ‘online florist’.

SEO for Corporate Branches

On the other hand, if this florist was a company with branches in major cities and wanted to rank locally in all the major cities where they were located, they would want to include the city names as a modifier at the end of their main keyword. So, the main keywords in this case would be, ‘florist Cape Town’, ‘florist Johannesburg’, ‘florist Pretoria’, etc.

This is not to say that this company could not choose to rank for a term like ‘online florist’ as well and then send enquiries to the relevant branches. Just understand that this would be appealing to a different audience and would not automatically cover enquiries from local prospects.

Feel free to contact us to discuss the best possible marketing campaign for your company. We will tailor our corporate SEO services to ensure the best ROI blueprint for you.

Franchise SEO

SEO for franchises is very much the same as for branches. The key differences lie more in the type of agreement than the processes that we follow to achieve results. Depending on the internal agreements between franchisor and franchisees, this could impact on whether or not all franchised areas will be optimized, if the billing will be centralised or each franchisee will be billed separately, etc. We cater for all needs. Naturally, pricing is influenced by the model that is chosen. Simply contact us for a chat where we can consider your requirements and look at how we can best package a Franchise SEO solution to meet your specific needs.

The post National SEO Services appeared first on IM Applied.

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/seo/seo-services/national-seo/