Cougar Digital Marketing

I'm glad you asked. Citations are a natural part of the data ecosystem on the internet. Simply put; they are any listing of your business information out on the web. They often boil down to the three core components of Name, Address and Phone number. Citations are important for local seo as Google uses them to triangulate information about your business. In general, the more citations you have that are all consistent in the information the better trust message you send to Google.

Good question! It's going to depend heavily on your goals for the site and the needed functionalities. We focus on building robust websites that are going to have opportunities to rank for keywords in their niche, which takes a considerable amount of work. But we do offer a free consultation to sit down and see if we'd be a good fit to help build your business.

Ah, yes, the uncertainty of online paid advertising. There’s no straight answer but we can tell you, the better the keywords, the more effective your online advertising. You don’t, however, need to focus your ad dollars on the most expensive keywords. You can target, let’s say, 100 less expensive keywords and get just as much bang for your buck as the money words. This allows almost any business to experience the power of paid advertising. The effectiveness of online advertising can be measured in many ways, not all of them monetary. For example, online advertising can be used to drive traffic to your site and build brand awareness, well-targeted online campaigns can create brand influencers and reach complementary audiences, and targeted online display ads can improve both recall and engagement.

Updating a website can be a daunting task. Which is why small businesses don’t update their websites as often as they should. Here’s a few things to consider in determining if your website needs an update: Have consumers complained about your website? Has it been more than four years since your website was updated? Does your site take a while to load? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to consider an update. If you answered no to any of the above questions, congratulations! You may, however, want to consider a refresh. A refresh can be as simple as adding a new blog post, adding a new service page, or updating website content. There are a lot of good reasons for updating or refreshing your website including, search engine optimization, keeping users engaged, and demonstrating that your business is active and alive. It takes time and money, and is well worth it to help consumers find you, stay engaged, and, ultimately, promote your business for you.

Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. When you Google a company’s name, it’s that panel of information that shows up to the right of the search results. By verifying your information and taking advantage of the multiple opportunities presented with the Google My Business panel, you can help customers easily find you, provide them with a quick view of relevant information, answers questions they may have, showcase customer reviews, and tell them the story of your business. It’s a great resource for businesses and it’s free! We offer a service built around helping business owners leverage this tool and stay on top of it’s evolving set of features. Ask about our Google My Business management service.

Digital marketing is simply using online strategies to communicate business-specific information to an audience in order to illicit a response. It can include optimizing content on your website to improve search results, building a presence on social media platforms such as Google and Facebook, online press releases and advertisements, posting videos online, and email marketing. All with the goal of increasing brand awareness, driving traffic and ultimately converting more leads into sales/conversions.

Social media presents great marketing opportunities for businesses of all sizes. A social media presence allows you to reach millions of people, gives you the ability to target particular groups, allows you to communicate on a personal basis, can help improve your standing for online searches, and is free or low-cost, fast and easy. There are, however, risks to social media use. These include wasted time and money for little or no tangible return, the rapid spread of the wrong kind of information about your business, and legal problems if you don’t follow privacy and the laws regarding spam, copyright, and other online issues. When done right—with a social media strategy—social media activity will help drive traffic to your website and help position you as an industry expert. But if you don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to an active social media presence, it might be best to do nothing at all so you don’t end up with a bunch of ghost town accounts with tumbleweeds rolling.