What Is a SERP? What Does SERP Stand for?

New marketers often ask: What does SERP Stand for?

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page and refers to a page which contains a list of websites (search engine results) that is normally produced by a Search Engine website after a users enters a search.

This is an example of a search engine results page

This is an example of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

Search engine results page contain many common elements. A scientific paper published on Penn State University explains SERPs in more scientific detail. In this article we’ll cover the basics.

What are the different parts of a search engine result page (SERP)?

• Ads for websites which pay for the placement
• List of relevant websites produced by an ‘organic’ algorithm
• Featured Snippets
• Maps
• Videos
• Local business listings
• etc.

This Screenshot shows a Search Engine Results Page with all the different parts labelled

Where are the different Ads That You See in Search Results?

Google and other search engines place their paid ads at the top of the search results pages. Google’s advertising search engine advertising is known as Google AdWords.

Some Google searches show unique ad formats that don’t appear on other types of searches.

Businesses and Non-profits will often hire an Search Engine Advertising company in order to assist them in buying, and improving their advertising on Google

Local Business Ads on Google

Recently Google began showing a carousel of ads featuring local businesses. If a business wants to appear in this section, they must advertise on Google AdWords by targeting a local geographic area. There isn’t a particular setting or option to appear in this section. Google will place advertisers who are bidding on local keywords and link their Google Business page to their AdWords platform.

Google Local Business Maps Ads

Another ad format that is really popular with people selling products online is known as Google Shopping campaigns via Google AdWords.

Google eCommerce Ads – also known as Google Product Listings Ads or Google Shopping Campaigns

Google Ecommerce Ads “Shopping Campaigns”

Google Shopping Campaigns were formerly known as Google Product Listing Ads (Google PLAs). These are special advertisements that feature a product image, pricing information and product name in the same ‘spot’ as a normal Text ad.

These ads use the same keyword bidding auction system as Google AdWords, but the design of the ad unit is much more limited. Businesses provide a data feed or upload their products to Google Merchant Center, and from there Google AdWords consumers the GMC data to produce these ads.

To learn more about how this works, we recommend a podcast that Hayk Saakian spoke on: Getting Started With Google AdWords for eCommerce business owners; with by Bob Dunn, the owner of BobWP.com.

Traditional Google AdWords Text Ad Units

Traditional Ad Units (Left) with Shopping Ads on the right hand side

These Text Ad Units are the most commonly known ads that people see on Google.

Google’s Organic Search Results

Organic search results are the listings that are produced via Google’s patented Search Algorithm. Google scans the entire internet for new web pages, and shows results linking to those pages for keywords which are relevant and authoritative for whatever someone searches.

Some of the organic search results are maps listings from Google’s map database, while others are more traditional text and simple links.

What are “Traditional” Organic Search Results?

These results are simple links to websites which include a Title and Description to help users decide which results to click on.

Here is an example of Organic Search Results

The Title and Description that you see in Organic Search Results is often times written by the website owner. Website owners will specify a ‘title tag’ and a ‘meta description’ in their website code. Sometimes Google will show those two pieces exactly as they are specified. Other times, Google will replace the Title or Description that the website owner wrote with one of their own.

Google Search on mobile devices, and Google Voice Search draws from the same database as “traditional” organic search.

Aside from ‘normal’ search results, you can also see Organic maps listings in Google searches. These listings use the data that you would see in Google Maps by performing the same searches. To improve their rankings in search engines, local businesses will often hire an SEO company.

What Are Google Local Listings? Google Organic Local Listings Example:

Google Local Listings are Google Maps search results which are presented directly inside a normal Google.com search, often in the form of a ‘3 pack’. The 3 Pack usually includes an interactive map on top, along with information about the 3 most ‘relevant’ businesses for a particular search.

Businesses can provide their information to Google using the Google My Business platform. “Google My Business” is very similar to Yelp and other review websites, and competes with them directly.

Example of Google Local Business Maps Results

These maps listings will often times show up ahead of links to businesses’ websites. Yelp and other competitors have complained that by giving preferential treatment to Google My Business data, Google is behaving like a Monopoly.

What are Google Featured Snippets? [Updated 2017]

Google Featured Snippets are short answers that are shown directly within Google search results. The information in Featured Snippets is extracted from 3rd party web pages that Google crawls every day. Paragraphs, Lists and Tables are three of the most common types of snippets.

This is an example of a Featured SnippetFeatured snippets are highly coveted because they tend to attract the most attention and the most clicks compared to any other feature in a search engine results page.

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If you found that this article was helpful, please tell us in the comments. I intend to expand it to explain every other type.

• Click to Call Ads on Google
• Videos in Google Search Results
• “People also Ask” box
• Recipes in Google Search

If you have any questions about search engine results pages, on Google, Yahoo, or Bing we’re happy to help. Ask in the comments section below, and one of our experts will answer.

If you have a question that you would like to ask privately, feel free to email us, contact us on Facebook, call us, or fill out our contact form on this website.

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Shopify vs WooCommerce: What You Need to Know

Thinking about venturing into the world of e-commerce or making the switch between Shopify and WooCommerce? We break down some key differences between the two.

Online business, or e-commerce, has turned the world into a global community. Connecting with people from all over the world has become easier than ever, and that same connectivity is true for online stores.

There are a number of platforms for e-commerce, each with its own pros and cons. Your decision on which to use needs to be based on a variety of factors including security and management, ease of use, and SEO, to name just a few.

Let’s compare two of the biggest platforms: Shopify and WordPress plugin WooCommerce.

Shopify

Shopify assists users in creating their own storefront without the need for any coding or design skills. This platform offers the user a place to sell anything from physical goods to digital products and services and is often used for “drop shipping.”

Shopify offers a range of features like offline use, a unique Shopify URL, responsive design, customizable preferences, blogging capabilities, expandable limitless bandwidth, and unlimited product listings. In addition, Shopify supports over 700 modes of payment globally; it supports global taxation, allows for shipping options and hosts a 24-hour support service.

Themes

Shopify offers users a wide variety of themes among free, purchased, or third-party options. The majority of these themes offer responsive design, pull-down lists, a newsletter service integrated into the theme, allow products to be sorted into sub-categories, and a zoom function that ideally suits the images. Themes are each created carefully to fit specific industries, such as photography, sports, recreation, gaming, jewelry, health or electronics. Popular themes include Storefront Pro, Vintage, and San Francisco.

Extensions

Shopify offers an array of apps on their specialized Shopify app store. These allow you to customize both the form and function of your store at varying levels of cost.

Advantages

• Easy to get started
• Simple to use
• Shopify is responsible for updates and security
• Shopify membership and toolset is expandable

Disadvantages

• It can become costly over time
• The user lacks direct ownership of the site
• It is operated by a single host
• It is not as customizable for unique products
• It does not integrate well with blogs and other content strategies
• People can spy on top Shopify stores (including yours)

WooCommerce

Rather than a stand-alone platform, WooCommerce is an open source plugin for WordPress that allows a site to function similarly to an e-commerce service. Use this plugin to handle payments, inventory, and shipping without affecting your site’s normal functioning. Features of this plugin include working well with all themes available on WordPress, allowing unlimited amounts of products in the store, supporting numerous payments and shipping methods, making coupons and taxes easy, and a robust reporting service.

Themes

The themes available for WooCommerce can be bought or are available for free use, and work very well with this plugin. Notable themes include Storefront, Estore, Styleshop, and Divi.

Extensions

Anyone can expand the functionality of WooCommerce with extensions. There are 320 extensions available in a variety of categories depending on the industry and sections of the store. For a quick rundown of some of the best extensions available, check out “6 WooCommerce Extensions That Make Your Life Easier.”

Advantages

• Highly customizable preferences
• Expandable for many different functions with extensions
• Entirely free plugin
• Supports various channels of payment
• Owner of the store has actual ownership rights for the entire site
• Uses WordPress, the most powerful and ubiquitous website creation tool available

Disadvantages

• Requires WordPress development skills and persistence to customize properly
• Not as easy to create a functional store compared to Shopify
• No guarantee for maintenance and security

Comparison between Shopify and WooCommerce

Looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each is a good starting point for choosing the right tool. The most basic difference is that Shopify is a standalone e-commerce tool and WooCommerce is a plugin. In terms of hosting, Shopify is a hosted platform while WooCommerce is self-hosted. This means that with WooCommerce the user will need to seek out their own hosting service.

Shopify is easy to operate, with software updates, maintenance and security being handled by the Shopify service itself.

Difference between the inception and usage of the two platforms

With Shopify, you can sign up at Shopify.com and follow the setup procedures and nothing else is required. With WooCommerce, you need to go through a longer and more difficult process before the store is ready. First, you need to purchase web-hosting and a domain, followed by integrating social media, SEO, and a theme. Then you can integrate WooCommerce into your site, followed by setting up the payment methods, details of the store and adding products.

In terms of support and security, Shopify provides these while WooCommerce does not. In terms of hosting, WooCommerce is self-hosted, allowing more flexibility as compared to the limitations experienced with Shopify. Self-ownership is another positive aspect of WooCommerce that is not possible with Shopify. In terms of expandability, both options allow for expansion through extensions with WooCommerce and apps for Shopify.

Conclusion

After comparing Shopify and WooCommerce, the user must choose which will be better suited to the business type, client base, and purpose of the store. Both options are good for an e-commerce site, and the choice of which to use will depend on the characteristics of the business model and personal preference.

Need to build your e-commerce business? Having trouble with organic search visibility or converting visitors into customers? Logic Inbound is an SEO and web design marketing agency with e-commerce expertise that can help drive real sales with unmatched ROI. Fill out our discovery form and find out what we can do for your business.

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3 Email Automation Strategies That Will Save You Time and Money

Email is a technology that has revolutionized the way people communicate both personally and professionally  Exceptional email marketers now utilize a variety of different email marketing platforms to personalize messages for their audiences, such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact.

Huge Growth Opportunities

For those not yet using email marketing, you could be missing out on huge potential to grow your business.  According to Statista, the number of email users is projected to increase to 244.5 million by the end of 2017.  And that number isn’t expected to slow anytime soon.  By 2010 that number is forecasted to grow to 254.7 million.

While email is certainly a time and money saver, especially when compared with traditional “snail mail,” there are some important must-know automation tricks that can save you even more time and, as a result, more money.

Create Workflows by Topic

When planning out workflows within your email marketing software of choice, you can find yourself listing what seems like endless numbers of automations.  Of the many different types of email workflows you should be using, topic workflows are on the top of my list.  Topic workflows are a simple but highly effective way to engage the recipients of your emails. Organize your email content into different groups, such as “Product Reviews” or “Equipment.” For each topic you designate, create an email workflow to accompany it. By utilizing this feature, you can send out email content to recipients based on “triggering events,” such as a reader who views a blog post on one of your “equipment” options, then signs up for your free e-book on the same subject at the bottom of the post. This recipient can be targeted by specific content within your organized topic workflows. This is more effective and preferable than sending emails on topics that have no interest for the reader. By utilizing email marketing automation tools, you can create marketing automation workflows that identify subscriber interests, then automatically sends them more personalized content. 

Your Blog Could Be a Powerful Asset

Blogs are an easy-to-use, yet powerful marketing tool. While blogs are a standalone technology, they can take full advantage of email tech

nology in a powerful way. Blogs can allow readers to sign up for email notifications, such as any time you post a new blog or on a particular topic of interest to the reader. Within the context of your blogging platform, you can use your email automation software to identify which blog topics generate the most interest from your subscribers. Armed with this knowledge, you can send these subscribers more content on that subject. You could also send new blog subscribers a welcome email which gives them the opportunity to inform you of their preferred topics of interest, which can then trigger an email funnel focusing on them.

Pay Attention to Your Audience

When engaging in e-commerce, your email is the main line of communication between you and your clients. When a client purchases a product or service, you should have an automated email that, at the very least, conveys your gratitude for their purchase. The message should use an effective call to action and offer them a way to re-engage with your website.  It is a good idea to include customer support and contact information as part of this process. You want your customers to feel like they are getting the best customer service and treatment, and that their purchase from your business was a good decision.

An automated email to your customers can also include access to an “exclusive members club” with special offers or offer a place for your customers to write a review of their purchase and/or experience.

As you take advantage of the many automation tricks available through your email platform, you will find that your business benefits from it with minimal time and energy put in on your end. Utilizing automation tricks, like the ones above, will save you time, money, and help drive engagement for your business.

Article provided by Fremont College School of Digital Marketing

About the Author

Chris Foerster is a digital marketer with nearly a decade of experience helping businesses improve their online visibility.  In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar or gawking over classic cars.

 

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6 WooCommerce Extensions That Make Your Life Easier

WooCommerce offers a great platform for building and managing e-commerce websites that are powered by WordPress. With this platform, you have a set of tools that can simplify all of the basic functions that are necessary for running an online store.

It makes it easier to create and manage product posts, it has tools for shipping and payment processing and it has features that can assist with reporting and taxes. By using this platform, it not only makes running e-Commerce sites easier, but it can also help you to provide a better online shopping experience to your customers.

While the WooCommerce plugin can provide you with all of the basic features that you will need to manage a simple online store, it also has a range of extensions that can expand the available features and improve the overall user experience. In this post, we provide you with some tips for using WooCommerce that can save you time and expand your options for managing your online store.

MailChimp

MailChimp is a great service for marketing automation, and with the MailChimp extension, you can integrate these services into your online store. It can help with collecting customer information for your mailing list and it is a versatile tool for developing a variety of

different types of emails for digital marketing campaigns.

If you are trying to upsell or encourage follow up sales, you can use it to send automated emails that are related to the past purchases of customers. It offers a wide range of options for segmenting and targeting customers and it also offers an array of features for sending e

mails that are triggered by different customer behaviors.

Along with the features for building your email list, targeting customers and sending automated emails, it also comes with tools for tracking your results and measuring ROI. If you want to streamline your email mark

eting, this extension can work well with any online store that runs on the WooCommerce platform.

Keep in mind when writing any marketing emails that you must properly understand how to create an effective “Call to Action”.

Yoast SEO 

With the Yoast SEO Extension for WooCommerce, you can improve the search engine marketing results for your e-Commerce site. This powerful plugin can assist with keyword optimization, URL generation, internal linking, customized control of breadcrumbs, text readability and more.

You’ll still have to perform some tasks manually, but the Yoast SEO extension can take some of the work out of search engine optimization and it can help to improve the results that you are getting through search engine marketing.

If you’re looking for more information about SEO marketing services that can manage your website’s SEO strategy and implementation for you, take a look at the SEO services Logic that Inbound offers. You can see some examples of our results with previous clients that prove the high return-on-investment of SEO marketing.

Putler Connector 

For an easier way to track your sales data, the Putler Connector Extension is a real time-saver. This extension can integrate with your WooCommerce site and it will track all of your sales. It can sort data from different types of devices, and all of the information is laid out in a convenient dashboard view.

With this range of reporting features, you can see sales based on different date ranges, track your best selling items, see the number of visitors in the date range, see the average amount of money spent per visitor and track information about products and pages that are underperforming. It’s an easy to use add-on that should provide most users with all of the analytics that they need.

AfterShip 

The AfterShip Extension is designed to make it easier for you and your customers to track their shipments after an order is placed. Providing the customer with the shipping details and tracking number is a great way to improve the customer experience, and this extension makes it easier.

This extension works with all of the most popular shipping options that you might use, and it integrates the shipping details into your WooCommerce site. By adding it, you can display the tracking number on the order history page, and you have the option to add a tracking button that will display tracking details on the page.

Smart Manager 

Managing an e-Commerce website can be time-consuming, but with an extension like Smart Manager, it takes much of the time and effort out of the process. It has an easy to understand spreadsheet interface, and it can be used for managing customers, products, and orders.

Through the spreadsheet interface, you can create new listings, make updates to listings, delete products and more. The Smart Manager also has batch functions that can allow you to make changes to multiple fields and products in much less time.

Facebook 

Social media plays an important role in the online shopping and digital marketing realms. With the Facebook extension for WooCommerce, you can make it easier to achieve your social media marketing goals and you can add useful shopping features to your Facebook page.

The Facebook extension comes with features that can help with creating Facebook ads and it also has features for tracking the results. It has features for listing and showcasing products on your Facebook page, and with this extension, your listings are synced between your WooCommerce site and your Facebook page. That means that any changes made on the site will automatically get updated on your Facebook page.

If there is one final tip for making your WooCommerce experience easier, it is to check out more of the top extensions. You can find extensions that will help with your digital marketing goals; add-ons for improving the customer experience and you have a variety of tools that can really take the work out of managing your e-Commerce website.

Need to build your e-commerce business? Having trouble with organic search visibility or converting visitors into customers? Logic Inbound is an SEO and web design marketing agency with e-commerce expertise that can help drive real sales with unmatched ROI. Fill out our discovery form and find out what we can do for your business.

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5 Highly Effective Calls to Action + Ideas for Your Website CTA!

“Act now, and save 30% off your order!” Click here.

This is just one example of a simple “Call to Action.” This straightforward marketing tactic appears on website homepages, inside stores, in company newsletters, social media, and even spam emails. A “Call-to-Action” or better known as a CTA is just simply that: a call for you, the consumer or viewer to immediately act upon something that is being offered to you, with the prospect of reaping some immediate benefit. You see them all the time on websites across the internet. Here are just a few common CTA’s that you could use on your website:

• Click Here
• Learn More
• Call Today
• Take a Tour
• Sign Up
• Try (INSERT COMPANY NAME)
• Subscribe
• Join (INSERT SERVICE)
• Get Started
• Donate
• Give (INSERT COMPANY NAME) a Try
• Contact Us
• Send Me (INSERT DEAL)
• Claim Offer
• Watch Video
• Click Here To Get Started
• Let’s Start
• Play Free
• Give a Gift
• Find Out More
• Search (If you’re a mainly search website)
• Download The eBook (INSERT TITLE OF EBOOK HERE)
• Read More

And this is still not a comprehensive list! 

Although some CTAs can appear as simple links, you or your designer need to find a way to catch the users’ attention almost immediately upon arrival to your website. Do your best to make it big, obvious, colorful, and have the understanding that if people aren’t clicking on it, it needs to change! Here are a few examples of CTAs that we have found to be effective:

Free Trial

The above homepage is taken from a startup SAAS company called due.com. They are revolutionizing the way we integrate invoices with a simple, easy-to-use platform. Their business model is successful when a user goes onto the website and tries the software out, getting a good feel for the website and ultimately using the product to send an invoice. No matter what page you go to, you will see a call to action that says “Try Due for Free” or “Get Started.” This is important because it catches the user’s eyes multiple times as they decide whether they’re interested, asking them the question at multiple steps of the marketing funnel. When creating a CTA for your own SAAS company, it’s important that no matter where your CTAs are, they are prominent on the website. It must be easy for the users to sign up for whatever it is that you’re selling.

 

 

Watch Video

When the socially-conscious shoe company Tom’s first started their incredible journey to fame and success, they were just a normal shoe company. When Tom’s founder Blake Mycoskie first traveled to Argentina, he was obsessed with helping those who were not fortunate enough to have shoes. He traveled for months to determine how he can solve this problem. Throughout the entire trip he documented the whole thing by taking pictures so one day he could share the story of Tom’s.

When he came back to the United States, he sat down with a group of friends and showed everyone the shoes that he’d like to create. When he just showed the shoe itself, no one really cared. They passed the shoe around the table, with little to no enthusiasm. But the minute that he took out the photos that he took during his journey, his group of friends were immediately “bought in.”

The call to action “Watch Video” allows your users to be “bought in” to learn your why. As you know, storytelling is important. Due to the engagement power of video, it’s essential to not only incorporate it but to use it to explain why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Visit Site

See the “Visit Site” button? That’s an example of a call to action, and it’s displayed on the home page of Nintendo’s website. They’re advertising the recently released purchasable downloadable game content (“DLC”) for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild, and as an avid gamer myself, I’m interested in finding out more about the new content that was added to the game. Nintendo made it easy to click the button to learn more about what was included.

“Visit Site” is a simple yet effective CTA to drive potential customers forward through the purchasing process while they want to learn more information.

Donate

For non-profits, it’s essential to not only share your story but to also raise awareness about your cause. For this website in particular, the “Donate Today” or “Donate Now” buttons are highlighted with a heart to differentiate each navigation item on the website. As you hover over the call to action with a mouse, it also animates slightly to give the user that extra feel of responsiveness to move forward in clicking “donate.”

By adding the highlighting and animation onto the website, they have seen an increase in donations of 30% within the first week of launch!

Phone Number

If you’re a small business or organization that is dependent on leads/sales, it’s important to make it crystal clear how your customer can get in touch with you. This insurance organization relies heavily on getting calls and quotes. This design was created to give the user options to do what is needed for them in that moment. The phone number call to action gives the user one click to reach a sales rep. With the Get a Quote call to action, it takes the user 2 clicks to obtain a quote.

Creating less friction allows the potential customer to submit a quote with ease and gives them fewer opportunities to leave the process once they’ve followed the call to action. Professional web design and conversion rate optimization services can ensure that a website reduces these friction points as much as possible.

 

Calls to action are essential to a business’s success particularly if that organization is investing in digital marketing. It’s important to have a call to action featured prominently on your website or landing page. It’s also critically important to reduce amount of friction to convert the users.

As stated in this article, there are different types of CTAs. Use them wisely, think about what it is you want your customers to do, tell a story and make sure your copy is well thought out.

 

About the Author 

Johnathan Grzybowski is the co-founder of Penji, a dependable on-demand design service that helps marketing teams receive custom design at an affordable monthly cost. Johnathan also runs a podcast that helps entrepreneurs who may be temporarily blind in business to become profitable. Check out a recent episode of The Blind Entrepreneur Podcast for posts every Monday.

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