Tag: blog posts

  • Unveiling the Interworking Relationships of SEO Services and the Power of Monthly Blogging Linked with Ads

    Unveiling the Interworking Relationships of SEO Services and the Power of Monthly Blogging Linked with Ads

    In the ever-evolving digital landscape, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a cornerstone for online success. Whether you’re running a small blog or managing a multinational corporation’s website, SEO services play a pivotal role in driving organic traffic, boosting visibility, and increasing revenue. However, understanding the interworking relationships of SEO services can be complex. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll unravel the intricacies of SEO services, breaking them down into their core components, and exploring how these components interact to enhance your online presence. Furthermore, we’ll delve into the strategic fusion of monthly blogging and advertising and how this synergy can significantly improve your SEO.

    SEO

    Keywords and Content: The Foundation of SEO

    Keywords are the building blocks of SEO, and content is the mortar that holds them together. Keywords are the words and phrases people use to search for information, products, or services online. To optimize your website for search engines, you must first identify relevant keywords that align with your business or content.

    SEO specialists conduct keyword research to find the most valuable and relevant keywords for your website. This research involves analyzing search volume, competition, and user intent. By selecting the right keywords, you can tailor your content to the needs and interests of your target audience.

    Content creation is the process of developing articles, blog posts, videos, and other materials that strategically incorporate these keywords. The goal is to provide high-quality, informative, and engaging content that resonates with both search engines and users. When done correctly, this synergy between keywords and content can drive organic traffic to your website.

    SEO Content

    On-Page SEO: Optimizing Your Website Internally

    Once you’ve identified your target keywords and created valuable content, it’s time to optimize your website’s on-page elements. On-page SEO focuses on making your website more search engine-friendly by optimizing various on-page factors, including:

    • a. Title Tags: Title tags are the HTML elements that define the title of a web page. They should be concise, descriptive, and contain your target keywords.
    • b. Meta Descriptions: Meta descriptions provide a brief summary of what a page is about. They should be compelling, concise, and also include relevant keywords.
    • c. Header Tags: Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) structure your content and help search engines understand its hierarchy and importance.
    • d. URL Structure: Clean and user-friendly URLs are not only easier to read, but also help search engines comprehend the content’s topic.
    • e. Image Optimization: Optimizing images by adding alt text and compressing them can improve page load times and accessibility, which positively affects SEO.
    • f. Internal Linking: Internal links connect different pages within your website, improving navigation and distributing link equity to important pages.
    • g. Mobile Optimization: With the rise in mobile device usage, SEO is crucial to ensure your website is mobile-responsive.

    Off-Page SEO: Building Authority and Trust

    Off-page SEO focuses on building your website’s authority and trustworthiness through external factors. These factors include:

    • a. Backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours. High-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative websites can significantly boost your SEO rankings.
    • b. Social Signals: Social media activity, such as shares, likes, and comments, can indirectly influence SEO by increasing brand visibility and traffic.
    • c. Online Reputation Management: Monitoring and managing your online reputation, including reviews and mentions, can impact your website’s credibility and SEO performance.
    • d. Guest Blogging and Outreach: Collaborating with other websites to publish guest posts or articles can help you reach new audiences and acquire backlinks.
    SEO for Pawn Shops

    Technical SEO: The Backbone of Your Website

    While content and links are crucial, technical SEO is the backbone that supports your entire website’s performance. It involves optimizing the technical aspects of your website to ensure it’s easily accessible and indexable by search engines. Key elements of technical SEO include:

    • a. Site Speed: Faster loading times enhance user experience and positively affect search rankings. Techniques like image optimization, code minification, and content delivery networks (CDNs) can improve site speed.
    • b. XML Sitemaps: XML sitemaps help search engines understand your website’s structure and index its pages more efficiently.
    • c. Robots.txt: This file instructs search engine crawlers on which pages to crawl and index and which to ignore.
    • d. Mobile-Friendly Design: As mobile usage continues to rise, a mobile-friendly website design is essential for SEO success.
    • e. HTTPS: Google considers secure websites (those with HTTPS) as a ranking signal, which is crucial for user trust and SEO rankings.
    SEO Analytics

    SEO Analytics and Monitoring: Measuring Success

    Understanding the interworking relationships of SEO services also requires robust analytics and monitoring. Tracking the performance of your SEO efforts is crucial for identifying what’s working and where improvements are needed. Key metrics to monitor include:

    • a. Organic Traffic: The number of visitors who find your website through organic search results.
    • b. Keyword Rankings: Tracking how your target keywords rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).
    • c. Conversion Rate: Measuring how many visitors take desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
    • d. Bounce Rate: Assessing the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page.
    • e. Click-Through Rate (CTR): Analyzing the percentage of users who click on your website in search results compared to the number of times it’s shown.
    • f. Backlink Profile: Monitoring the quantity and quality of backlinks to your website.
    • g. SEO Audit Reports: Regularly auditing your website’s SEO performance helps identify areas for improvement.
    SEO Blogs

    Monthly Blogging: The SEO Powerhouse

    While the components discussed above are integral to SEO success, monthly blogging introduces a dynamic element that can turbocharge your SEO efforts. Here’s how:

    • a. Fresh Content: Search engines love fresh, relevant content. By publishing regular blog posts, you provide search engines with new material to index, increasing your website’s visibility in search results.
    • b. Targeted Keywords: Each blog post can target specific keywords or long-tail phrases relevant to your industry. This not only helps your content rank for those keywords, but also expands your website’s keyword footprint.
    • c. Internal Linking Opportunities: Blogging creates opportunities to interlink your new posts with existing content, improving your website’s internal link structure and distributing link equity.
    • d. Engaging Your Audience: Regular blog posts keep your audience engaged and informed, reducing bounce rates and increasing user engagement—positive signals for SEO.
    • e. Building Authority: Consistent, high-quality blog content establishes your website as an authority in your niche, which can attract backlinks and boost your SEO profile.
    • f. Long-Term Growth: Over time, a library of well-optimized blog posts can drive steady organic traffic, contributing to sustained SEO success.
    SEO Link Building

    Linking Blogs with Ads: A Strategic Approach

    One powerful way to enhance your SEO efforts through monthly blogging is by linking your blog content with advertising campaigns. Here’s how it works:

    a. Targeted Promotion: When you create a new blog post, consider running targeted advertising campaigns to promote it. This ensures your blog content reaches a wider audience and potentially attracts more backlinks and shares, which can positively impact your SEO.

    b. Keyword Integration: Align your blog content with your advertising keywords. This not only enhances the relevance of your ads, but also strengthens your website’s keyword portfolio.

    c. Landing Pages: Create dedicated landing pages for your ad campaigns that align with the topic of your blog posts. This provides a seamless user experience and can increase conversion chances.

    d. Retargeting: Use retargeting campaigns to re-engage visitors who have interacted with your blog content. This can lead to higher conversion rates and more engagement, both of which are favorable for SEO.

    e. Enhanced Visibility: By linking your blogs with targeted ads, you increase the visibility of your content, potentially leading to more organic shares, backlinks, and user engagement, all of which contribute positively to your SEO performance.

    Conclusion

    SEO services are a multifaceted ecosystem with numerous interworking relationships. From keywords and content to on-page and off-page optimization, technical SEO, analytics, content marketing, local SEO, and more, these components collaborate to enhance your online presence, drive organic traffic, and boost your website’s authority and credibility.

    Monthly blogging is a dynamic addition to this ecosystem, capable of amplifying your SEO efforts by delivering fresh, targeted content that appeals to both search engines and your target audience. Furthermore, linking your blogs with strategic advertising campaigns can enhance visibility and engagement, contributing to improved SEO performance. By weaving these strategies into your SEO strategy, you can harness the power of consistent, high-quality content and strategic advertising to achieve long-term SEO success.

    Pawn Leads Logo

    Pawn Leads, when effectively integrated into your SEO strategy, can provide invaluable assistance in boosting your online presence and search engine rankings. These leads offer a unique opportunity to connect with individuals actively seeking pawn shop services and related information. By optimizing your website to cater to the specific needs and interests of potential customers generated through Pawn Leads, you can enhance the relevance of your content and improve user engagement. Moreover, incorporating Pawn Leads into your SEO efforts allows you to tap into a highly targeted audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions, and ultimately improving your website’s search engine ranking through increased organic traffic and a better user experience. In essence, Pawn Leads can be a powerful tool to supplement your SEO endeavors, aligning your online presence more closely with the interests and intentions of your prospective clients.

  • What Happens if A Pawn Shop Doesn’t Have a Content Marketing Strategy?

    What Happens if A Pawn Shop Doesn’t Have a Content Marketing Strategy?

    What Happens if A Pawn Shop Doesn’t Have a Content Marketing Strategy?

    As a pawnshop business, if you don’t have a content marketing strategy, it is likely you will miss out on potential customers and miss your marketing goals. Without a clear plan for creating, publishing, and distributing content, a business, like yours, may struggle to effectively communicate with its target audience and build a strong online presence. Additionally, the absence of a strategy can lead to inconsistent or ineffective content that fails to engage or convert prospects into customers.

    Content Marketing Strategy

    A content marketing strategy needs to come before your social media strategy. This is because search engines reward businesses that publish quality, consistent content. The content should address issues that potential customers care about.

    Part of the content should push people into the next step of engagement. For example, getting someone to your pawnshop page is only part of the journey. Keeping the person on the page through engaging content will help, and also getting them to take action will help turn searching customers into loyal customers.

    Types of Content Marketing

    There are several types of content marketing, including:

    1. Blog Posts: Blog posts are written articles published on a company’s website or blog. They can cover a wide range of topics, from industry news and trends to company updates and product information.

    2. Social Media Posts: Social media posts are short pieces of content published on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They can include text, images, videos, and other media.

    3. Videos: Videos are a powerful form of content that can be used to educate, entertain, and engage with audiences. They can range from short, shareable videos on social media to longer, more in-depth videos on a company’s website.

    4. Infographics: Infographics are visual representations of information and data designed to be easily understood and shared. They can be used to explain complex concepts, present data and statistics, or share information visually appealingly.

    5. Ebooks: Ebooks are long-form pieces of content typically used to provide in-depth information on a specific topic. They can be used to educate potential customers, establish thought leadership, or generate leads.

    6. Webinars: Webinars are live or recorded events held online, and typically feature a speaker or panel of experts who discuss a particular topic. They can be used to educate potential customers, establish thought leadership, or generate leads.

    7. Case Studies: Case studies are detailed accounts of how a business has helped a customer solve a problem or achieve a goal. They are often used to demonstrate the impact of a company’s products or services and build trust with potential customers.

    These are just a few of the different types of content marketing that businesses can use. The best type of content marketing depends on the specific goals of the business and the preferences of its target audience. By using different types of content marketing, businesses can reach their target audience in multiple ways and improve their chances of effectively engaging and converting potential customers.

    The Buyers Journey

    The buyer’s journey refers to the process that a potential customer goes through to make a purchase decision. This journey typically consists of three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.

    1. Awareness: In the Awareness stage, the potential customer becomes aware of a problem or need they have, and begins to research potential solutions.

    2. Consideration: In the Consideration stage, the potential customer evaluates different options and compares their features, benefits, and costs.

    3. Decision: In the Decision stage, the potential customer makes a final decision about which solution to purchase.

    The buyer’s journey is important for businesses to understand, because it provides insight into the needs, motivations, and behaviors of potential customers. By understanding the buyer’s journey, businesses can create content and campaigns that are more likely to resonate with their target audience and effectively guide them through the purchase process.

    For example, a business might create content that addresses common questions or concerns during the Awareness stage, like frequently asked questions blog, provide detailed product information and comparisons during the Consideration stage, and highlight the benefits and features of their solution during the Decision stage. By aligning their marketing efforts with the buyer’s journey, businesses can improve their chances of successfully converting potential customers into buyers.

    Customers Want to Feel as if They are Connected to Your Business

    Potential customers often want to feel a sense of connection and belonging with your business. This sense of connection can be created in various ways, such as personalized experiences, customer engagement, and brand storytelling.

    Here is just one example: businesses can use customer data to provide personalized recommendations or tailored experiences, and can engage with customers through social media or customer service channels to build a sense of community. Additionally, businesses like yours can use storytelling to share your brand’s values, mission, and history in a way that resonates with their target audience and makes them feel part of something bigger.

    Creating a sense of connection and belonging with potential customers can help build trust, increase brand loyalty, and drive customer engagement and retention. Additionally, by making customers feel valued and appreciated, businesses can create a more positive and memorable customer experience, which can improve their chances of attracting repeat business and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

    Customer Engagement in Marketing

    Customer Engagement as a Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

    Customer engagement is important in marketing, because it helps build a strong relationship between a business, your pawnshop and your target audience. When customers are engaged, they are more likely to remain loyal, make repeat purchases, and recommend your business to others.

    Engagement also helps generate valuable customer insights, which can inform product development, marketing strategies, and other business decisions. Additionally, when customers feel heard and valued, they are more likely to provide positive feedback and become advocates for your services and brand. Ultimately, customer engagement is a key driver of customer satisfaction and helps foster long-term business growth.

    Digital Marketing with Social Media

    Content Marketing Examples for Engagement

    1. Social media interactions – responding to customer comments and messages on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

    2. Email marketing – sending personalized and targeted emails to customers to keep them informed and up-to-date.

    3. Online reviews and ratings – encouraging customers to leave reviews and ratings on third-party websites or on your business’s own website.

    4. Live chat – providing real-time customer support through a chat function on your business’s website.

    5. Content creation – producing and sharing relevant and valuable content (such as blog posts, videos, and infographics) that customers will find interesting and engaging.

    6. Surveys and polls – gathering customer feedback through online surveys or polls.

    7. Interactive elements – incorporating interactive elements such as quizzes, games, or calculators into the business’s website or marketing materials to increase engagement.

    Content Marketing

    How Do You Create High Quality Content as Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy?

    Creating quality content begins with understanding the hows. There are various content marketing tools, like Pawn Leads, LLC, a marketing solution for pawn shops. Here are a few tips:

    1. Define your target audience: Determine who you want to reach with your content, and what their needs, interests, and pain points are.

    2. Set your content marketing goals: Decide what you want to achieve with your content marketing, such as generating leads, building brand awareness, or establishing thought leadership.

    3. Conduct a content audit: Evaluate your existing content to see what has worked well and what can be improved.

    4. Choose your formats: Determine what types of content you will create, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, or podcasts.

    5. Plan your content calendar: Schedule your content in advance and ensure you are consistently publishing new material.

    6. Create your content: Write, design, or produce your content in a way that is engaging, informative, and relevant to your target audience.

    7. Optimize for search engines: Ensure your content is optimized for search engines by including relevant keywords and meta descriptions.

    8. Promote your content: Share your content on your own website and social media channels, and consider paid promotion options to reach a wider audience.

    9. Analyze and adjust: Regularly review your content performance and make changes to improve its effectiveness over time.

    Target Customers

    Do You Know Who Your Target Audience is?

    A target audience refers to the specific group of people your business is trying to reach with your marketing efforts. This group is selected based on characteristics such as demographics, behaviors, interests, and motivations.

    Targeting a specific audience is important, because it helps ensure that your business’s marketing efforts focus on reaching the right people with the right message. By understanding the needs, interests, and challenges of the target audience, your business can create content and campaigns that are more likely to resonate and be effective.

    Additionally, targeting a specific audience helps optimize marketing efforts, improve conversion rates, and maximize return on investment.

    Identifying and targeting a specific audience is crucial to ensure that your business’s marketing efforts are aligned with your goals. The goals need to have the desired impact on your target audience.

    Do Target Audiences Change?

    Yes, target audiences of your business can change over time. Your business’s target audience may evolve as the market changes, new competitors emerge, or your business expands its offerings.

    Additionally, the preferences, behaviors, and needs of the target audience may change, requiring a business to adapt its marketing strategy to remain relevant and effective.

    It is important for businesses to regularly review and assess their target audience to ensure that they are effectively reaching the right people. This may involve conducting market research, analyzing customer data, or monitoring market trends to identify shifts in the target audience’s demographics, behaviors, and preferences.

    By staying attuned to changes in the target audience, your business can ensure that your marketing efforts are aligned with the needs and expectations of the people you are trying to reach.

    Marketing Content with Blogs

    The Value of a Blog Post

    A blog post is a piece of writing published on a blog, which is typically a website that features regular updates in written articles or posts. Blog posts can be about a wide range of topics, and are often used to share information, opinions, or advice with a specific audience.

    Blog posts can be used for various purposes, such as:

    1. Building brand awareness: By publishing engaging and informative blog posts, businesses can increase their visibility and attract more visitors to their website.

    2. Establishing thought leadership: By sharing expertise and insights on a particular topic, businesses can position themselves as leaders in their industry and establish themselves as trusted sources of information.

    3. Generating leads: By including calls-to-action and lead magnets in blog posts, businesses can encourage visitors to take specific actions, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading an ebook.

    4. Improving search engine optimization: By incorporating relevant keywords and optimizing for search engines, businesses can improve their website’s visibility and rank higher in search results.

    5. Engaging with customers: By allowing comments and encouraging readers to share their thoughts, businesses can engage with their target audience and build a sense of community.

    Blog posts are a powerful tool for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience and achieve their marketing goals. Blog content marketing is a powerful type of inbound content that allows for a lot of creativity in terms of their purpose and topic.

    With a blog, a business can promote other internal and external content and blog articles via links, add to social share buttons, and incorporate product information.

    Video Content Marketing

    Video Content Marketing

    Yes, video content can be a highly effective form of marketing. Video is a versatile and engaging format that can help businesses connect with their target audience in a meaningful way. Video content can be used to educate, entertain, and inspire potential customers, and can be used in various ways, such as:

    1. Product Demos: Product demos can be used to showcase the features and benefits of a product in an engaging and visual way.

    2. Customer Testimonials: Customer testimonials can be used to build credibility and trust with potential customers by showcasing the experiences and outcomes of other customers who have used the product.

    3. How-to Guides: How-to guides can be used to educate potential customers and help them solve a problem or achieve a goal.

    4. Brand Storytelling: Brand storytelling can be used to share the values, mission, and history of a brand in a way that resonates with potential customers.

    5. Live Streams: Live streams can be used to create a sense of community and engage with customers in real-time.

    By using video content in marketing, businesses can reach their target audience in a more personal and impactful way, and differentiate themselves from competitors.

    Additionally, video content can be highly shareable and help drive traffic and engagement on social media and other online channels. Overall, video content can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to reach and engage with their target audience in a meaningful way.

    Customers enjoy video content in marketing because it allows them to see and experience a product or service in a way that is engaging and entertaining. Videos can also provide a clearer understanding of how a product works, its features and benefits, and help customers make informed purchasing decisions. Additionally, videos can evoke emotions, making the content memorable and increasing the chances of customers taking action.

    Marketing

    Why is it Important to Have a Marketing Team like Pawn Leads, LLC?

    Having a marketing team is important, because it helps your pawn company effectively reach and engage your target audience. Pawn Lead’s dedicated marketing team is responsible for researching and understanding the target audience, crafting and delivering messages that resonate with them, and measuring the success of marketing efforts.

    Having a marketing team that is experts in the pawn industry allows for specialization and the development of expertise in areas such as branding, advertising, public relations, and digital marketing. This can lead to the creation and implementation of more effective and efficient marketing strategies, which can drive your business growth and success.

    Moreover, a marketing team can also help your company stay up-to-date with industry trends and technology advancements, and can provide fresh perspectives and new ideas to keep your company’s marketing efforts relevant and impactful.

    Digital Marketing

    Who Is Pawn Leads, LLC?

    FOUNDED BY A PAWN SHOP

    Pawn Leads all started in little Boise, Idaho inside of a high school wrestling room. Two coaches, Sam Read and Lex Case, were talking about marketing, business, consistency, pawnshops, tomatoes (yes tomatoes), all while coaching the high school wrestlers. The conversation progressed over the years and resulted in a partnership between Pawn Shop Owner (Sam) and Lex Case, the “click funnel master.”  

    Successful marketing starts with a stable, smooth ecosystem. Having one place to manage it all is key to closing all leads. Founded by a pawnbroker, the system includes everything you need all in one, user friendly CRM system.

    A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is software designed to manage a company’s interactions with customers and potential customers. It typically includes features such as contact management, sales management, marketing automation, and customer service and support, with the goal of improving customer relationships, increasing customer loyalty, and driving sales growth.

    The Pawn Leads CRM system features 2-way texting, reviews, email marketing, website builds, progressive mobile websites that add onto your current site, web hosting, and custom development as needed/required. Pawn Leads offer Google Ads, SEO, and dedicated marketing support.

    Wondering how you will achieve effective content marketing, your answer is Pawn Leads. The Pawn Leads team’s content marketing efforts include blog posts, press releases, on page content, search engine optimization and keyword research, paid ads, social media platform marketing, and marketing tactics that work.

    You will get more value from Pawn Leads as a marketing team, because the team understands pawn shops. Visit Pawn Leads today and see how you can make them part of your content marketing strategy

  • A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words and Increases Webpage Engagements

    A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words and Increases Webpage Engagements

    Indeed, no one is surprised that businesses have to work to keep their followers, customers, and searchers’ interests to keep them engaged. Catching your target audience’s attention is only part of the battle; sustaining their attention is another thing altogether.

    Strategically placed images can help drive more visitors to your website and including images effectively promote social sharing.

    Images aren’t just photos. They can be infographics, cartoons, GIFs, or other visual elements. They need to look and feel fresh and not staged and set up.

     

    Websites with images get more views.

    It’s estimated that websites containing images receive 94% more views than pages with no photos. Why? Because images bring products and services to life, pictures tend to set in action what you as a business owner are trying to say in words.

    For example, someone telling you a story with words can describe the setting of the story dynamically. But once you see an image of the scene, that image will resonate in your mind. You can visualize the image anytime the words are spoken or thought about the picture you saw.

    The same goes for products and services. Include an image that shows someone using your product or service, and the service becomes ‘real.’

    It takes about 100 milliseconds to identify an image.

    When you take the time to carefully chose an image that reflects your product, there’s no more talking about it, the image captures the searcher’s eye, and they want to know more. It’s as if the image is seared in the potential customer’s mind, and they can recall it quicker when they hear a name that suggests your store.

    Horseshoe magnet attracting golden pawns over black background. Concept of inbound recruiting and attracting talents to the enterprise. 3d illustration.

    Images on your site improve conversion rates.

    Google and other search engines like images. There are many reasons why this is the case. Properly labeled pictures with metadata and captions will create more content for search engines to find and index. The value of images can’t be overstated.

    Because search engines use keywords to find your site, they will also use images giving you more ‘bang for your buck.’ Taking quality pictures of your business is a great place to start if the photos are relevant to your shop. Some examples of webpage-relevant pictures could be a pawnbroker showing a customer electronics, jewelry, or a wedding set for a future marriage.

    Social media writers, blog writers, and other websites may want to use your pictures if your image quality is fantastic. Don’t be afraid to share. You can extend your reach by having someone use your images and then backlink them to your site, improving search results from interested parties.

    Having relevant pictures of your merchandise will encourage searchers to ‘click’ on the photo and engage with your site. Let’s do a test. Go to your search browser and put in something you are interested to find out more about.

    The thumbnail images that show up draw your interest, and you are more inclined to click on the sites with the thumbnail images. This results in more engagement with your company.

    Other buttons that include GIFs, pictures, or cartoons to fill out forms to complete a subscription will help with customer engagement. The form will have the contact information of the customer, and this can be used to set up intentional interactions in the future.

    The definition of customer engagement is the relationship between your company and the search user or potential customer. With intentional, consistence nurturing, your company provides long-term value for each interaction. Getting a potential customer to take action improves loyalty.

    The act of being involved with your customers.

    Stores located in or providing services to a particular location can use Google maps to help determined customers find the store.

    Data points can help you as a business owner measure the success of your plan with your marketing team and how to use pictures, keywords used in each sentence on your site, and intentional interaction to cultivate confidence in your customers and brand recognition.

    At a pawn shop, getting items at an affordable price is one of the services offered. Also, obtaining a loan on several things is fast and easy, and money is easily obtained through a secure loan at a pawn shop.

    Pawn shops buy electronics, jewelry, gold, and other luxury items. Defining the process and letting them know your pawn shop is a great place to get a loan and affordable merchandise is essential in getting potential customers to engage.

    Think of a customer and your business as an arrangement that nurtures the customer’s involvement with your company, so the customer feels a part of what you have to sell.

    Customers want to be connected. Using your pictures to market your business is a way to help customers ‘know’ you, and these types of ads contribute to them feeling like the arrangement between you as a business and customers is genuine.

    When you develop a regular process to include phrases, pictures, or a deal when a potential customer asks a question, these things will encourage customers to engage and keep coming back. Of course, the effectiveness of what you say and how you use a word or engagement noun can go a long way in customers participating in your store.

    An engagement noun is a pledge, an appointment, or an arrangement.

    There are different types of engagements in business. There is the engagement of convenience, emotional engagement, contextual engagement, and social engagement. In the past, colors, pictures, and messaging created emotional bonds with customers. This is important because 99 percent of brand buying decisions made by customers are from an unconscious emotional space, emotional engagement.

    The engagement noun of convenience

    Looking at the engagement of convenience, does your business have a quote or chat button on your website, giving customers a ‘convenient’ way to engage? This would be a start.

    The engagement noun of emotion

    Understanding emotional engagement, in today’s world of the internet, web pages, digital images, GIFs, videos, and other digital elements, it is easier to engage customers emotionally and respond.

    For instance, do you post drawings they can enter with a push of a button or blog posts they can read about your store that tells them a story with pictures, so they know you are genuine?

    The engagement noun of context

    Contextual engagement is noise or a ‘buzz’ about your business. Sending a text blast or a push notification that encourages a customer to join an opt-in deal group is very helpful in promoting customers to engage.

    The engagement noun of experience

    Customers are social beings, and they want social engagement. This is achieved through experience. The experience on your webpage, the experience with your brand, and the experience when they visit your store all build positive social engagements. Sending a text message to ask if their questions were answered after they engaged is a great way to use contextual engagement to support the positive social engagement they experienced.

    words spelled out on wall

    Phrases, Words, and Keywords

    Phrases and words used effectively help customers find your business when the user puts the words in their search bar on their browser. Google crawls the web and indexes different sites that have particular keywords so they can use the sites to quickly answer user questions. These words will also help with your ranking.

    There are keywords that need to be used in your content and when you label pictures or start writing content on your pages. You can complete a keyword search to help you figure out the most effective ones to use.

    What would a dose of engagement each week do for customer retention?

    As a business owner, what would customer retention grow if people want to engage and you engage once a week through an engagement with meaning, a picture or GIF, and a response button?

    Pawn Leads Logo

    Pawn Leads CRM System

    After testing the waters and taking a walk down the possibilities of social, contextual, emotional, and convenience engagement through the use of an automated customer relationship management (CRM) marketing system, Sam Reading and Lex Case, owners of Pawn Leads, know what it will take to engage regularly.

    As the owner of two pawn shops and a couple of small businesses, the owners researched and knew what they could expect from the mainstream tools available on the market today.

    Both owners were busy with all it takes to manage a company, employment issues, trying strategic planning and problem-solving, inventory and supply acquisition, and running their ads. They quickly knew how difficult it is to be an owner of stores and do all it takes to generate leads, increase profits, and grow.

    There was no time left at the end of a day to nurture potential customers, new customers, or returning customers.

    They didn’t have time to add pictures to the web pages to improve the number of clicks they were getting or writing context that had meaning for the reader on any device.

    They decided to enter into a joint venture, design Pawn Leads, an Automated Marketing Solution for themselves, and then offer it to others like them, pawnbrokers and small business owners.

    Primarily focused on Pawn Shops in the USA and small businesses, Pawn Lead offers a CRM system (2-way texting, reviews, email marketing, etc…), website builds, progressive mobile websites that add onto your current site, web hosting, and custom development as needed/required. Pawn Lead offers Google Ads, SEO, Press Releases, Blogs, and dedicated marketing support (flyer creating, holiday marketing, etc…).

    Pawn Lead marketing solution is the answer to your automated engagement needs saving you the business owner time while increasing conversions.

    It is the Pawn Lead teams’ job and they take what they do seriously.

    The team wants pawnbrokers and small businesses to buy, sell, and loan on more merchandise, increase the number of engagements, and increase the total interactions and connections, while saving time. This will give more money to pay for other necessary things and develop and grow profits.

    The Pawn Leads team of experts understands what an engagement noun is and how to use different engagement tools like lead magnets, email marketing, text blasts, click now buttons, follow-up text messages, images, and relevant content to keep customers engaged so they become loyal customers.

  • Snippets Are Like Breadcrumbs Leading to the Doorway to Your Website – Real Estate?

    Snippets Are Like Breadcrumbs Leading to the Doorway to Your Website – Real Estate?

    Snippets = A Small Piece Becomes a Big Piece.

    Business owners and marketing teams continue to research and figure out what maximizes website traffic and engagement.

    Search engines use keywords to crawl the web to find the answers to the questions people search for, and the questions need to be quickly answered with relevant content.

    Search results like Google search results display the top three ranking websites, and this is where you want your website to be.

    Search result ranking can be paid search results and organic search results. Either way, being in the top three makes it easy for people to find your page (your real estate).

    The search engine results page tells people what the searcher needed to know and the search intent behind what was asked.

    Walkway next to water facing a mountain

    So How Do You Build a Walk Way to the Door Way to Your Website (Your Real Estate)?

    Organic Traffic

    Organic traffic is defined as users who land on your page from unpaid sources.

    Using the real estate analogy, your site is your real estate, and organic traffic should be someone seeing your house for sale and buying it without any realtor company involved.

    Essentially the traffic to your real estate was free.

    Organic search includes search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

    Organic traffic is essential, and it is targeted traffic to your website, and the search had a very specific intent.

    Using the analogy of real estate again. The passer-by was looking for a house to buy and saw yours. They knew what they needed, wanted, and were willing to accept. They came straight to you, and you provided them with the solution or answer they wanted.

    The same is true for organic searches. The user is visiting your particular website because they have a specific search intent, and you can provide them with a solution or answer their question.

    Organic search results have specific search intent, which leads to increased conversions.

    Paid Per Click (PPC)

    Paid per click is a marketing model where you pay a fee each time one of your ads is clicked. In other words, PPC is a way of buying visits to your site.

    Using real estate analogy, your page is the walkway to your business. You pay for advertising to get people to visit your store, and it’s not like the organic search query with specific intent. Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC.

    PPC is advertising, as the real estate company, and the real estate company must adjust the ads, ad campaigns, etc., to sell the real estate. The same is true for PPC.

    As a business owner or marketing team, adjustments have to be made based on new data that measures how effective a specific campaign was. Data would include monthly search volume and click-through rate.

    Niche List

    The ‘Walkway’ to Your Real Estate (Website)

    Like all business owners, you want to make sure that the search engine results like Google’s search results show that people search and end up on your ‘walkway’ to your ‘real estate.’

    It makes sense that the more site visitors you have, the more customers you may get. But visiting has to be easy.

    When people search and get a quick answer to their questions because your site was ranked in the top three on the search results page is only part of the equation.

    You or your marketing team must create relevant, engaging content and meet the searcher’s need.

    Creating content includes long-tail keywords and target keywords so that search queries pick up your page. But the keyword needs to be based on keyword research that considers keyword difficulty.

    Creating content that reads well and makes sense to the user is equally important. No one wants to read a dissertation when asking when the first day of Spring is, right? Searchers wish to get a brief answer.

    So What is a Snippet?

    A snippet is defined as a single search result within a set of search results. A part of the snippet matches a part of the search query, and the keywords will be highlighted in the snippet description.

    A snippet is a small piece that can result in a more significant part of investment in the user’s time when they are looking for an answer to their question.

    Snippets are like ‘bread crumbs’ on the ‘walkway’ to your ‘real estate.’

    Snippets + Your Company’s site in the top search engine results = Engagement on your website

    Standard Snippets

    A standard snippet is the most basic form of snippets, and it is made up of your title, meta description, and URL.

    Rich Snippets

    Rich snippets enhance organic search results by using microdata on your webpage. Rich snippets give enhanced data that appears in search results.

    Featured Snippets

    A featured snippet that Google shows for specific search queries, particularly; who, what, where, when, and how.

    Types of featured snippets

    Types of featured snippets are paragraph snippets, list snippets, and table featured snippets.

    Featured snippets attempt to make things easier for the searcher by answering the searcher’s question within the search results. Featured snippets are also called answer boxes.

    The answer boxes show up at the top of the search results. Google gets the information for the organic listings on the first page of the search results, and if your page is used, Google will credit you via a link. You have to earn this type of featured snippet with your content.

    Remember to create content that makes it easy for google to make the searcher’s life easier. Google determines theater a page would make an excellent featured snippet to highlight for specific search queries.

    An answer box will contain a summary, page title, link to the page where the answer came from, and the URL.

    Getting featured snippets increases traffic to your page, and the increase will lead to more conversations, brand building, and awareness. Featured snippets increase keyword rankings.

    Structured Snippets

    Structured snippets are a type of ad extension for Google Ads, and these let you add supplementary information to your search ads.

    Structured snippets draw attention to your product, brand, or service details. A header like ‘services’ would include specific examples of the service your service like loans, repairs, etc.

    Google provides a predefined list of header options that you can use for your structured snippets. Some of the headers are amenities, brands, courses, and many more.

    Benefits, word in wooden alphabet letters isolated on colourful background

    Benefits of Snippets

    Standard snippets, rich snippets, featured snippets, and structured snippets increase brand building and visibility. To improve automatically pulled information that results in users finding your product through your page as an answer to a user’s question leads to the credibility of your company and brands expertise.

    Snippets succeed because they give visibility to your site without forcing searchers to waste time looking at information that is irrelevant to them.

    If customers deem the snippets worthy, they will use them. The vast majority of people are busy, and they want quick answers, and you want to make sure that your answers are in the featured snippet spot.

    How Do You Accomplish Snippets, On-Page SEO, Automated Texting and Call Forwarding, Email Campaigns, and More So Your Business Ranks and Drives More Conversions?

    Business marketing is very different today than before, when radio ads and newspaper listings were the means of getting your company’s name out there.

    Now with organic searches, paid searches, what google prefers, what google doesn’t choose, how search queries bring traffic to your website (real estate) and how these searchers decide to engage in your business can be complicated.

    Couple this with competitors and what they know, how competitors’ snippets reach your target audience instead, how search terms lead to search volume, why you should use long-tail queries instead of target keywords, and a business owner like yourself may find themselves with a headache.

    Pawn Leads Logo

    Pawn Leads Automated Digital Marketing for Pawnshops and Small Businesses

    Pawn Leads is a full-service marketing solution for pawnbrokers and small businesses. Pawn Leads is a Customer Communication System.

    Understanding that as a business owner, you are too busy to sit down, let alone follow up on every potential opportunity that comes through your doors, nor do you have time to learn about featured snippets, google search console, link building, regular snippets, organic visibility, PPC, etc. we are the solution you need.

    All communications from your customers are tracked in one convenient place, so you don’t risk losing that Post-It with notes. Custom automated follow-up text, email, webchat replies. Get phone call feedback to help close more deals—integrated Marketing Solutions like Google and FB Ads.

    Our team of experts will help with on-page SEO and improving paid and organic traffic to web pages, improving your organic position.

    Sam and Lex, owners of the company, are both business owners and family men. They recognize that having an approachable team of experts with an automated customer service platform is essential in building their companies. They have worked together to build Pawn Leads as a solution for our pawn shop and small business.

    Contact us today for a free trial, so we can help you grow.

  • A Silver-Haired Blogger Answers “How Do I Write Blog Posts?”

    A Silver-Haired Blogger Answers “How Do I Write Blog Posts?”

    A Silver-Haired Blogger Answers

    How Do I Write Blog Posts?

    I want first to introduce myself, my name is Shell, and I write all of my son’s blog posts for his pawnshops and Pawn Leads. I started writing blogs to help out after I retired from being a therapist for 30+ years. As I began to write the blogs, I had no idea what I was doing nor how to improve. I was a bit intimidated by all the experts writing blogs and how much traffic they received.

    I read about what makes a successful blog, social media, the different main social media networks, social media platforms, paid advertising, blog traffic, guest blogging, blog promotion strategies, and how to encourage readers. Frankly, my head hurt.

    When I was in college, I learned how to research and gather data. These tools were helpful but didn’t tell me anything about how to write relevant blogs for a pawn shop and a pawn marketing company.

    Sam, co-owner of Pawn Leads, said, “it’s easy, mom, just write and use these tools.” It seems Sam can pick up and run a business idea and turn it into a well-oiled machine in no time at all. That is not the case for me. I have to study, practice, and convince myself to take risks. I had so many questions. What were these things called an avatar or target audience, content marketing, keyword research, and links?

    While I was getting my degree, working as a therapist, raising children, and moving to our farm, the language of business changed dramatically, and I was undoubtedly behind the times. So many buzzwords to describe what was going on with the most relevant social networks and social media platforms that I had no idea where to start.

    Being that Sam is my son, I certainly didn’t want to let him down, and I had a vested interest to ensure whatever I wrote was a success so he could continue to succeed with his business ventures, if not for himself, for my grandson, Cruz.

    Let’s talk about Cruz for a minute. Cruz is the light of my life. At eighteen months old and the spitting image of his parents, he reminds me every day how precious life is. He is intelligent, engaging, and social. He is quick to build relationships with everyone he meets, and his little toddler sounds and how he plays provides this Grams excellent content for happy living.

    He’s like a little chubby blog post inspiration.

    I look back over the last year of writing blog posts, and I would say I am no expert, but I am learning, and each blog I write seems to be a bit better. As I write, I learn; as I learn, I grow, and as I grow, I am willing to take more risks.

    Now, on to teaching you how to write blog posts.

    Blog Post Writers

    It is essential to understand the roots of a tree if the tree will flourish, and the roots provide the anchor for future growth. So let’s explore where blogging began and the roots of blog posts today.

    In 1994 Justin Hall wrote the first ‘blog,’ a personal homepage, when he was on a break from college. Wired Magazine was the first commercial web magazine during this time, and he joined HotWired, a subsidiary of the magazine. Justin began his eleven years of personal blogs with Howard Rheingold, critic, writer, and teacher.

    Another early blogger was Jerry Pournelle, who died at 84 years old. J Pournelle was a scientist in operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In one of his best-known blog posts, 1999’s, How to Get My Job, he wrote, “The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot.”

    After reading Mr. Pournelle’s blog post How to Get My Job, it is evident that Sam was on to something, “it’s easy, mom, just write.”

    By 2003, Google launched AdSense as a blogging advertising service, and other major sites followed with their version of blogging advertising platforms like TypePad and WordPress.

    wordpress blog

    WordPress Blog Platform

    WordPress is a free, open-source content management system (CMS), and it is one of the easiest blogging and website builders today. Written in PHP, a popular scripting language that creates dynamic pages, it uses a MySQL database, a powerful open-source database server capable of handling a large concurrent database connection.

    In short, WordPress started as a user-friendly blogging platform that can now be used for many purposes like building websites, web stores, blogging, content marketing, and just about anything else. There are hundreds of themes and plugins available to use with WordPress.

    2022 Blog Post Statistics

    Leep, forward the blog post statistics for 2022 by firstsiteguide.com; you’ll be excited to discover that the blog posts with an average length of 3000 words are more successful.

    Why are you excited? Because this means you get to write more! Remember, “it’s easy, mom, just write.” And, the more you write, the better you will be.

    There are 7 million blogs published each day, and 77% percent of internet users actively read blog posts.

    The most important statistic for the business owner; 61% of online users in the US bought something after reading a blog post.

    The 2022 statistics provide valuable insight into why you want to start writing blog posts and including them as part of your marketing strategy.

    Content Marketing

    Benefits of Blog Posts

    A blog post is one of the most cost-effective and easiest ways to promote your pawnshop or small business. Blog posts with relevant content that include keywords based on keyword research will drive traffic to your website, increase sales, increase potential customers turning into loyal customers, and establish you as an authority in the industry.

    Sharing your blogs to social media accounts like a Facebook group or online communities or sending them to email subscribers will expand your reach.

    The more reach you have, the more traffic you get, the more traffic you get, the more potential customers you nurture, the more potential customers you nurture, and the more paying customers you see in your store.

    Writing blog posts for your pawnshop or small business promote your business because you share more about your company. The relevant content of the blog posts makes your company a real place to do business.

    Blog posts are your direct line of communication in a friendly tone with your target audience. Writing and publishing a new blog post weekly will create an active community of consumers who read your blog posts and convert them into paying customers.

    Why don’t more pawn shops and small businesses write and publish blog posts?

    Business owners are busy people.

    Pawnshop and small business owners are busy taking care of the day-to-day tasks of running a business. They may not have the time to learn to write blog posts, which may be true for you. After you know to write an effective blog post, you may not have time to find images and label the pictures, include backlinks to other sites, internal links to your web pages, and then publish your blog.

    Blog posts take a least two or three hours a week to write, as long as you know the content. Suppose you post a blog post a week, 12 hours of extra work a month. Busy business owners just don’t have the time. Add in a few more hours of research if it is a new topic you’d like to trend on.

    Blog writing requires a consistent approach.

    Most pawn shops and small businesses don’t have a blog post strategy, nor do they have a plan to write blog posts consistently.

    Blog posts posted regularly will boost your sales and generate exposure to your brand, product, and services. Blog visitors see your regular blogs and read them because the blog posts have perked their curiosity or provided them with answers to a question they hadn’t yet asked but had been thinking about.

    Because you have been writing weekly blog posts, your ranking moves towards the top of the search engine results pages. The ranking caused potential customers to see your web page and identify you as an expert in the industry.

    Once on your webpage, you can use internal links in your blog post to get readers to move through your pages as you showcase other products and services you offer. Because you answer questions in your blog, they move from a visitor to a buyer.

    No time to edit.

    You may be one of the pawnshops or small business owners that run on limited time to get things done perfectly. Unfortunately, sloppy, typo-filled blog posts won’t encourage search engines to rank your blog and increase the traffic to your website. Unfortunately, a poorly written blog will impact your company’s credibility.

    Effective writing, editing, and fine-tuning take time.

    Business owners may have to compete for high-priority tasks, and reviewing a blog isn’t that important when a crisis occurs.

    You’ve got style and no time to develop it.

    Social media, email marketing, and blog posts require an online writing style that encourages meaningful conversation with the target audience. Developing excellent content that stands out from other bloggers will promote your blog. Owners can learn to write blog articles from their perspective and style, but like all things, development and practice require time.

    Social media marketing skills.

    Social media marketing skills, understanding social media platforms, how search engines rank your business page, how to promote blog posts, fix broken links, and google analytics may be barriers to publishing and promoting blog posts online. Owners or their teams may be able to write blog posts, but jumping through all the social media skills needed to increase search results and engagement may be a problem.

    Trusting your blog writer with a set of keys to your business can be scary.

    Blogging can be done by a member or members of your team, but you have to trust your blog writer to represent your brand, product, and service online. Sometimes you may not have this kind of trust in your team. You have to decide.

    A team member can write new blog posts with high-quality content, but the content may not support your business’s mission, vision, and values. Blog posts are about engagement and personal and meaningful conversation.

    It could be that the style that your team member used to write the blog isn’t how you would have a conversation with a customer about a topic you would like them to know more about. If you find that you have to read every blog and edit it, do you have the time?

    Marketing Content with Blogs

    Blog Basics – The Anchor to Blog Content and A Way to Promote Your Blog

    First, the blog posts are not for you!

    Blog posts are for your customers. They are for your readers. Like a webpage, blog posts need to consider your target audience and all of the characteristics that make them potential customers of your business. Bloggers who write relevant blogs with meaningful content understand that what they write about is beneficial to the target audience.

    Ideally, clever and engaging blog posts written to solve a problem or provide insight into your industry will meet the needs of your audience.

    Second, the best-made blogging plans will promote your blog.

    You are busy as an owner, and there is limited time to write blog posts and get them published. Having a lack of time is one reason that hinders pawn shops and small businesses from using blogs.

    Planning and making a calendar with a list of ideas for weekly blogs will keep you ahead in the traffic race. Think about the different questions your customers have asked when they are at the counter checking out. These questions convert into ideas for blog posts. Remember, blog posts should solve your customers’ problems or provide insight into your industry.

    keywords

    Third, learn to do keyword research

    Several online tools provide keyword searches. These searches can be helpful to get a list of keyword phrases that people who are searching use to search for your services. Using the keyword phrases you identified in your keyword research will help drive more traffic to your website. Google Adwords Keyword Tool may be a helpful resource for you.

    Fourth, write a blog post with meaningful and valuable content

    To establish your website, the face of your company, as an authority in your industry, write blogs that share valuable insight and content. Well-written, high-quality content will ensure you will build relationships and have readers return for more. The 2022 statistics reported that 61% of online users in the US bought something after reading a blog post.

    Valuable content in one blog will differ from the content in another blog post. Each blog you write will have different topics and expectations assumed for the reader.

    Don’t be afraid to take risks and write about something you remember a customer asking at the checkout counter that hasn’t yet been answered. When you answer questions, readers come back for more.

    maintain consistency

    Fifth, do what you can to maintain consistency

    The frequency of how many blog posts you post is directly related to what you can maintain consistently. Some companies post weekly, others bi-monthly. The key is to consistently give your target audience something to look forward to.

    Google and other search engines want fresh content, and so the more frequently you update your blog posts on your website, the more likely your website, the face of your company, will soar to the top of the search engines rankings.

    Higher search engine rankings mean that when someone searches for your company, product, or services, you will be more likely to be visible in the search results.

    If they can’t find you, they can’t see you; if they can’t see you, they can’t read your blog.

    Sixth, It’s all about the style

    Remember, blogs are not technical reports or dissertations. They are meant to be informal and a personal and meaningful conversation.

    Nothing is more boring than waiting on a slow internet connection or watching glue dry. Don’t write blogs that bore your audience.

    Try to keep the sales pitch down and your style up. People want to connect. Writing in the first person (I and we) and addressing the reader (you and your) is informal yet has connectivity. Consumers want to be a part of your business, and a successful blog will build relationships.

    Connection with your customers nurtures them and increases loyalty. Loyalty decreases the risk that you will have your customers stray off to competitors. Sixty-four percent of consumers say that their loyalty to a brand increases when they feel connected.

    Seventh, less is more, and more is less, and what is the best word count, or is there one, or am I just confused? Oh my!

    According to Wix Blog, an ideal blog post should be between 1,500- 2,500 words, and the magic number is 2,450. This range will help your blog posts rank higher on search engines and get social media shares and backlinks.

    I read this and thought, “golly molly, 2,450 words, no way!” Then I remembered Sam’s wisdom, “it’s easy, mom, just write.”

    300-word blog post

    Shorter blog posts of less than 300 words are not ideal for search engine optimization or social media shares.

    300-600 word blog post

    Blogs with a word count from 300 to 600 words have historically been the standard. With the growth of searches, blogs with this number of words are too short of ranking on search engine results pages. There aren’t enough words to get deep into a topic and show authority.

    600-800 word blog post

    If the range of your blog post is between 600 and 800 words, it may include social media shares and backlinks because they are most common in professional journalism and newspaper articles.

    1,300-1,700 word blog post

    Blog posts are 1,300 to 1,700 words long, and these get more social media shares and have more educational content that gets backlinks. Blog post influencers use this word length to write promotional posts.

    2,300-2,500 word blog post

    “The golden ticket” are blog posts that are 2,300 to 2,500 words long. Search engines like this length of blog posts. A workable format is to use listicles, and Listicles are list posts. These blog posts are written in a list-based format with shortlists of 10-20 items based on specific themes. These blogs are more education and thorough and rank with the potential of bringing in more traffic.

    4,000-word blog post

    4,000-word blog posts are all-encompassing articles covering a topic in extreme detail to build authority.

    How do you determine the ideal “best fit” blog post length for your company?

    As part of your blog promotion strategy, the best solution is to determine the appropriate length of your blog posts, one article at a time.

    Take time to plan. Is your post going to be comprehensive or a summary? Can you answer who you are writing for and the target audience’s characteristics? These are all great questions to ask yourself when you are planning.

    Did you know that the longer blogs cause the reader to stay on the page longer, sending ‘good vibes’ to the search engines? Search engines see your blog as relevant and have meaningful content.
    Longer blogs also get more social media shares and backlinks, which helps to boost your authority.

    Steps to Being a Successful Blog Writer

    Step One: Research:

    Oh, the days of research. A side note story.

    I sat in front of the microfiche machine, painfully looking up newspaper article after article, trying to find the most relevant information I needed to complete my paper with my hands aching from taking copious notes on what I read and then forgetting to write down my sources. I would have to go back, get the librarian to get back out the microfiche, and remember where I got the information from. Tired, I would get out the note cards and organize my notes into an outline. Oh, and then the click…click of the typewriter to pull it all together, hoping I had relevant content.

    Okay, I did just date myself talking about microfiche and typewriters. But there is no denying the first step in writing a successful blog is the same, start with research.

    The assumption is you have a blog promotion plan in place with a calendar listing all your ideas.

    Take one of the ideas and do all the research you can about the topic before starting. The research will make outlining your blog easier it will also spur other ideas you may want to include in your blog post or future posts.

    keyword research

    Step Two: Keyword Research

    Keyword research is essential if your blog will rank and generate more traffic to your business. There are tools available to help you, like Google Keyword Planner, and these tools create words used by searchers to find your company, product, service, or industry. Another trick is to try and use one of the keywords in your title, so your article is picked up and ranked.

    Step Three: Create a detailed outline

    An outline will help you organize your blog. If you use bullet points to identify the sections of your article and what will be covered, this will help you if you decide to write other blogs on a similar topic and link to the main points. Bullet points and a detailed outline will help you remember where to use the keyword phrases you identified from your keyword research.

    Step Four: Clearly Label Headings and Sections

    Because you did a detailed outline in the previous step, you have the tools to label headings and sections clearly. By breaking up your blog into heading and sections, you will encourage readers to stay connected.

    Readers will often skip around when reading an article, taking from the article what they need. Headings will help guide readers’ eyes to the places they want to read and gain information. Headings and sections make the blog ‘user-friendly.’

    The title for your blog should be 60 characters.
    Blog titles that get your reader to think causes engagement. Think about asking a question.
    As a guide, headings need to be between 3-10 words.

    Step Five: Use Pictures/Images to break up paragraphs

    Images tell a story, and one picture can send multiple messages conveying a meaning more effectively than words.

    Images break up long text. Images are creative and bring attention to relevant information. Black and white on a page or screen is black and white.

    The text delivers a message or meaning, but add a picture, and the words come to life.

    A bonus is that images effectively labeled with alt text will help with search engine optimization (SEO). Remember to use keywords when naming your image file. You want your new blog post to end up at the top of the search engine results page so whatever you can do to improve SEO is a plus.

    Step Six: Variety Is Key For Sentence Structure

    A well-written blog should be ‘music’ to the reader. There should be a rhythm, flow, harmony, melody, timbre, dynamics, texture, and form. Your words should be like beats are to music. Sentence structure is like music, with shorter and longer sentences coming together to create a ‘song.’ Sentence structure is key to making your blog posts reader-friendly.

    Step Seven: One, Two, Three…Include Bullet Points and Numbered Lists

    Longer blog posts need to be well organized and simple to follow. Bullet points and numbered lists will help with the flow of your article and get to your point. Bullet points help with clarity and make a blog post more concise.

    Readers who want to skip to the section following a number list and read more about the topic can do so with ease. Ordered lists help a reader follow along and understand steps in a process.

    Another helpful hint is to include a table of contents at the top of your blog post, so the headings and sections help the reader easily navigate through the blog.

    Step Eight: Readable Text in Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

    Short of sounding like an English teacher, here are the basics. Active voice is when a sentence has a subject that acts as a verb, and a verb takes action. Passive voice means that a subject is the receiver of the verb’s action. Verbs have five properties, voice, mood, tense, person, and number.

    When writing a blog post, use an active voice. This doesn’t mean that a passive voice sentence isn’t okay from time to time; this means that the active voice is clear, direct, and strong.

    Readability Score

    According to the Center for Plain Language, the readability score in the United States is at a 7th to 8th-grade level or 12 to 14 years of age. People read differently online than they do when they read printed materials.

    Using shorter words and sentences will present content in a much more user-friendly way and suit how the reader approaches text on a website better.

    Step Nine: Short Paragraphs Reach Higher Levels of Reader Engagement – Paragraphs Need Transition Words to Bridge Them Together

    Paragraphs need to be 100 words or less, and each paragraph needs to cover one idea at a time. A long paragraph might make a reader turn away because all the words seem overwhelming. Each paragraph needs to have transition words or a ‘bridge’ that help the reader move from one point to another throughout the blog post.

    Transitions are like road signs guiding the reader through the blog.

    Most people use their phones to search and read. Think about it. How many hours a day do you carry your phone with you and use it during downtime to check emails, read updates, text people, and search for things you are thinking about?

    A blog post will look really long; I mean really long when read on a mobile device, so make paragraphs short with bridges. Break long blog posts into multiple parts!

    Step Ten: Be You and Add Your Perspective!

    I can’t say enough be yourself. Write your company’s blog post from your perspective. Cover the main points of the topic you are writing about but make sure it is ‘from you.’ The person searching the internet and found your blog came to read your blog, not someone else’s.

    There may be other existing posts about a similar topic with critical points, but they are not from you, your company’s blog writer. New blog posts you decide to write need to be from your point of view. The facts may be the same, but the angle may be different.

    So let’s think about it. At the beginning of this blog, I wanted to understand who I am. I started by saying I was a silver-haired blog writer, someone who had no experience writing blogs, and someone who loves helping people find solutions. I couldn’t have been a therapist for 30+ years if I wasn’t vested in people and their long-term success.

    I am Sam’s mom and admire and think he is one of the best businessmen I know, not just because he’s my son but because he is good at what he strives to do.

    Most important, I am Cruz’s Grams, and all of his little ventures make him my little chubby blog inspiration.

    I wanted to get you to connect with me and understand my perspective. I am, what’s the new word, “a nube” to writing blogs, and have so much more to learn. I by no means know it all, and there are many ways to get started; whether you write them yourself, have a team member write them, use a WordPress blog, or hire someone like Pawn Leads to write them for you, blogs work!

    promote your blog through social media

    Promote your blog by being original, authentic, and you. Readers will come back to read more!

    A Blog Promotion Strategy

    Now you know the steps to get you started writing your first blog. Are you excited? I am for you while you practice. Practice makes perfect, and by the time you write four blogs a month, you will have the process down pat and feel good about the personal and meaningful conversations you are having with your potential customers.

    In your blog promotion strategy, one thing to consider is that a blog needs a purpose and provides something to your audience.

    Through not just words but valuable content marketing with blogs, you can increase revenue, boost conversions and build brand awareness.

    Social media platforms

    For each blog you write, you will need to decide which social media platform you will use to promote your blog. Not all platforms are the same, and researching which social media sites your future customs use the most will help get your blogs in front of them.

    Shine the blog up and use images that meet the look and feel of the social media you’re using to draw attention to your blog.

    Branch out and post a summary of your blog on your Facebook account or in a Facebook group you are a part of, and link it back to the main blog on your webpage. You can use Facebook boosted posts to reach more people as well. Add a blog link to your bio, which is the first thing people see when clicking on your account.

    Do you have a Twitter account? Your Twitter account can be a great way to promote your blog. Twitter is a fast-moving social media platform that is ideal for you to get your high-quality content information to the right audience. You don’t have ad dollars to spend, so that’s even better.

    A few sites like Reddit have thousands of communities of like-minded people engaging in conversation to connect. Whatever topic interests the searcher, Reddit’s online communities are waiting. Being one of the biggest online communities with 17 million users, Reddit is a great blogger outreach opportunity.

    Niche social bookmarking sites serve industry-specific communities. When you share your blogs in these communities, you will engage and connect with more like-minded people. Make sure your blog’s title is a magnet for potential readers so they engage. A few niche social bookmarking sites are Marketing GrowthHackers, Startups, and Business & Growth Hacking Hacker News.

    The more consistent you are with posting and interacting with other users, the more reliable you seem to be. There are reciprocal sharing sites like Viral Content Bee that work with credits that are given if you share other people’s blogs. You will earn credits, and the credits can be used to post your blog, and then your blog will get shared with other users.

    Competition

    Take some time to understand your competition. Competitors provide you with ideas of what’s working and what isn’t. Notice what they are writing about, and think about how you can adjust your style and content so your blogs are unique and gain consumers’ attention.

    Tools like QuickSpout and SEMRush Competitor Research could be used to explore what your competitions are posting and how they are ranking to look at the gaps in their content and use this information to build your blogs.

    Mention Influencers

    What is an influencer? An influencer is a blogger with a compelling writing style who uses videos and images creatively to get connections to their readers. There are influencers in almost every industry, and they maintain online communities of readers wanting to know which are the best brands relevant to their hobbies and lifestyle.

    Getting to know an influencer and managing the connection will go a long way to promote your blog and blog content. Keeping in contact with them will ensure they accurately represent your company, product, and brand.

    To solidify the relationship with your influencers, interact with their content regularly to show your support.

    Influencers are experts in your industry, and they are seen as having credibility. They know what is happening in the industry and promote positive improvements for their followers.

    Vito Wise and Yigal Adato – It’s terrific to know influencers in your industry!

    Two of the influencers I am impressed with and follow on social media and the PHP Facebook group are Vito Wise and Yigal Adato. Both are experts in leadership, business, the pawn industry, and balancing family and work; I have to say I am honored to have them consider sharing and promoting any of the blogs I write.

    Maintenance Keep traffic moving toward your website

    Creating and marketing your blog will take time and effort. Consistency is vital in having a blog reach your audience and your readers returning for more. Planning posts, updating them, repurposing, and republishing them will help efficiency.

    By frequently posting fresh new content to your website, the more relevant Google and other search engines see you, which helps with ranking.

    You can decide what to repurpose and update by auditing your existing posts. If you put stats in your original blog or infographics, you could edit these and repost them.

    Repurposing existing posts by taking out irrelevant ideas or adding new details; thus, improving your blog content will save time because, as I said before, creating a brand new blog post is time-consuming.

    Summary Ideas From The Silver-Haired Blogger:

    Steps For Writing Blog Posts

    1. Create a calendar and fill it with ideas for blog posts.

    2. Choose a topic for your blog and decide what you want to accomplish by writing it.

    3. Do your research.

    4. Research keywords to use so the search engines will pick you up in search results.

    5. Put together an outline with bullet points to design and organize your blog.

    6. Write compelling and relevant content.

    7. Decide how often you will post blogs and be consistent.

    8. Publish your blog.

    9. Evaluate and analyze the success of your blog and decide which ones to repurpose.

    Thank you, Sam, co-owner of Pawn Leads, for boldly and confidently encouraging this silver-haired blogger to take a risk by confidently saying,
    “It’s easy, mom, just write.”

    From me to you, “it’s easy, just write” and Pawn Leads is here for support if you need us.

    Pawn Leads Logo
  • How Is a Blog For SEO & Goldie Locks & the Three Bears Related?

    How Is a Blog For SEO & Goldie Locks & the Three Bears Related?

    How Is a Blog For SEO & Goldie Locks & the Three Bears Related?

    Once upon a time, there were three bears. Early every morning, they would go for a walk. When along came Goldilocks a girl with long and golden locks and then upon the door she knocks (Knock, knock, knock) But no one was there no one at all…

    SEO Blogs

    What is a blog?

    A blog is a weblog, an online journal where an individual, group, or corporation records and report informative posts to online searchers. People want information, and they look to the internet to search and use their favorite search engines to find helpful information.

    Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links.

    The moral of the story Goldie Locks and the Three Bears is the need to respect the privacy and property of others and how your actions could hurt others.

    So how in the heck are blogs and Goldie Locks and the Three Bears related?

    Very put, they aren’t.

    Okay, they weren’t until a search engine found the story of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears when the question was typed in the search bar “What stories teach about respecting privacy?”

    The search query brought up the story of Goldie Locks, another website, and another blog about respect written by Susan McCuistion about Compassionate Business Connections. As part of the Susan McCuistion page, drop-down menus encouraged people who used their search engines and found her blog in the top three results.

    A blog for SEO is an effective tool in a business’s strategy to help rank towards the top of search results.

    It works!

    Coupling a well-written blog post with relevant keywords and content with at least one internal link to your articles and webpages will increase how users easily navigate to other pages. The internal links engage users more, creating contextual relationships between your website pages.

    Four Types of Blogs with Valuable Content

    Personal Blog Posts for SEO Strategy

    In 1994, Justin Hall began personal blogging when he was a student in college. Along with Jerry Pournelle and Dave Winer, who were also personal bloggers. Blogging was a way of putting yourself out there regularly. A successful blog depends on post frequency and good content.

    Business Blog Posts for SEO Strategy

    Business blogging is a marketing tool that uses blogging with valuable content to get online visibility by organic traffic and paid SEO. A business blog is a marketing channel like social media, direct mail, and email marketing, and it makes sense in building business growth.

    Affiliate Blog Posts for SEO Strategy

    A blogger who is the affiliate promotes a business’s product or service by using a unique link that identifies the affiliate’s blog as the traffic source. When the user clicks on the blogger’s link or purchases the promoted product, the blogger earns a commission.

    Using affiliate blogs is similar to paid SEO advertising through Google Adwords, Facebook ads, or buying advertising space directly on someone else’s website.

    Niche Blog Posts for SEO Strategy

    A blog niche is about a specialized topic area, and the relevant content is about a specific idea, product, brand, or service.

    Niche blog posts hone in on users and craft much more relevant content for them. The target audiences get a great deal from the relevant content in these types of blogs, which adds to the ranking factor.

    Digital Marketing

    Blog SEO Tips for Better Google Search Results

    Effective Blog Post Title

    A compelling blog title not only catches the eye of the reader, it asks a question, and it generates a thought process that wants to know more. A compelling blogtitle should make the reader think right from the beginning.

    A compelling blog title helps with search engine optimization.
    • Include the target audience by using a question

    • Complete a keyword search for keywords related to the topic and include these

    • Don’t sound like spam.

    • Use the first personal and meaningful conversation

    • Make the content and value clear – What will I get from reading this?

    • Check the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), which respond to a user’s search query.

    • Follow a “how-to” formula, and these are the ones with the highest-ranking

    • Add brackets [ ]

    • Stress speed – don’t take too much time from the reader

    Readability

    Making a blog easy to read is vital for the ranking factor.

    Using short sentences, smaller paragraphs, punctuation, headings, and bullet points are all ways to help the user get the information they need.

    Images and White Space

    When you put white space and clear images around the text, it makes it easier to read and more appealing.

    White space is space.

    It gives the blog a simple, clean, minimalist look. It helps with convincing the user that the content is digestible and accessible. Use whitespace to your advantage to draw attention to content.

    Keyword Research Tools

    There are several keyword research tools to find relevant keywords. Keywords add to how the search engines find your blog post. Understanding not only the keyword but the competition analysis is essential.

    Low-difficulty keywords are essential to use in blog articles.

    Long Tail Keywords

    A new blog post will do better if it focuses on long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are not highly competitive. Long-tail keywords are three or four keywords specific to your brand, product, or service. They rank well because there is limited competition.

    Don’t Engage in Keyword Stuffing

    Keyword research will help you find keywords related to the informative post you are writing. But don’t use so many keywords, known as keyword stuffing, that the blog becomes challenging to read.

    A difficult blog that is hard to read irritates the blog followers, and Google may penalize you for it.

    Strategically placing keywords based on your keyword research is the key.

    As you decide how to write your blog, if you enter your focus keyword in the Google search and go to the bottom of the page, you will find the results for related searches. Try to include as many of these keywords in your informative post.

    Create Content That Answers Questions

    When writing content, create content that speaks to the user’s needs. To build and maintain a successful blog, you need a content plan. Create content related to future blog posts, and know what you plan to do for publishing schedules.

    Take time to know the characteristics of your target audience.

    Create quality content that will help search engines find the blog, and including internal links will help with website traffic to your site.

    Consider Posting Featured Snippets

    A featured snippet is a short snippet of text that Google search pulls from the search results. These appear at the top of the organic search results. Google will remove text from blog posts and articles and use featured snippets.

    Utilize Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Social Media to Promote Blog Content

    These social media sites have web exposure. Paid ads are helpful to promote blog posts. Use these sites to increase connections with your potential and existing customers. You can repurpose blog content on these sites to hook readers with your informative post.

    These sites are typically not free but may be worth the investment when you look at the google analytics data and determine the risk on investment for the cost per site ranking.

    Paid ads can help optimize your blog posts.

    Search traffic can find your blog post easily because these sites can work with target audience characteristics to improve rankings.

    Use SEO Plugins

    On your business webpage, the page title and meta description appear in the code of your page and search engine results. The meta descriptions and SEO plugins tell the search engines what the page is about. An SEO plugin affects search engine optimization, web analysis, online marketing, and other aspects. Many SEO plugins allow you navigational links to your page, and they are like breadcrumbs and helps users find what they need from your pages.

    Pawn Leads a CRM Automated Platform

    You’ve read through the blog and have made a decision to start writing a weekly blog post to help improve your web traffic through better rankings. You have completed a cursory review of your WordPress site and site speed and you are satisfied that these are in order. You would like to write your own articles with content focused on gold, gold buying and selling, and precious metals. You know that these are all hot items in today’s economy and something you could make a profit on in your pawnshop.

    You read the best blog seo tips above and realize you have a lot to learn but you are willing to try. You even searched respect and what does Goldie Locks and the Three Bears to see what came up just for fun.

    Pawn Leads Logo

    Now what? Writing Your Own Blogs?

    You search for automated marketing solutions for pawn shops. In the search result, up comes Pawn Leads and discover that the business is co-owned by a pawnshop owner and the other owner is a small business owner and is a full-service marketing solution.

    As you look through the site you find that it offers custom automated follow-up text, two-way texting, call recording, email, webchat replies, easy integration with Google and Facebook.

    You fill out the form to start the 7-day trial using Pawn Leads. You set up a time to meet with Sam and/or Lex for a consultation to discuss your goals and identify solutions.

    Sam sent a summary out after you met, and you were able to identify some high-level goals. The expert team at Pawn Leads agreed to set up some follow-up meetings to teach you how to use the software and understand the benefits of using the automated marketing solution.

    You’re excited!

    You sit down and start to think about a blog post with inbound links and recall the following:

    1, 2, 3 Summary – Blog SEO Tips

    How Do You Write A Blog for SEO So It Is Discovered by the Search Engine Algorithms and Appears In the Top Search Engine Rankings?

    Blog SEO isn’t for the faint at heart. It begins with writing a compelling article, blog posts, keeping the user and search engines in mind. Writing optimized blog posts is a skill. The topics that you choose to write abut need to snag the attention of the user and keep them engaged. A well written, easy to read blog with quality content has a good chance of pulling in website traffic and ranking well. Writing a mediocre blog with content that is so so and difficult to read, results in low rankings.

    1. Think and then think again before you write – do some discovery and determine the specific topic you are writing about and the end goal (more traffic, search engine rankings,user conversions).

    2. Answer this, how will the blog benefit your readers and keep them engaged?

    3. Create the structure for your blog. A blog title in the form of a question is engaging, using headings and short sentences and many shortof paragraphs make it easier to read.

    4. Craft completing the “hook ya” title is a vital step in your SEO tactics.

    5. Make sure your title is 55-60 characters long.

    6. It should contain a target keyword that the target audience would use to find it.

    7. Headings are important for readability as well as they help Google search engines and other search engines find your blog and increase your ranking.

    8. Add internal links whenever you write a new blog post but only when it makes sense. Internal linking helps search engines discover new pages on your website, creating options for your users.

    9. Less is more, or maybe the right keywords used effectively will get you the best results. Keyword research will provide you with keywords to use naturally in your blog and add them to the title, headings, content, and blog summary. Don’t use keyword stuffing – the overuse of keywords makes your blog post read clunky.

    10. Blog posts should be no less than 300 words, and remember, longer blog posts perform better. A longer blog post must be easy to read, navigate, and hold the users’ attention. Quality in content is better than quantity.

    11. It takes time to improve your google search results by paying attention to ranking factor tips like listed above.

    12. As you post new blog posts, you need to add them to your hub page, so users and search engines can find them later.

    13. Optimize blog content through meta descriptions. Meta descriptions summarize the blog post that is less than 200 characters. These summaries may be picked up by Goggle as featured snippets and can add to your ranking. They need to be captivating, hold your users’ attention, and informative.