As a partner of Riverside Concerts, MLT Group is proud to sponsor the upcoming Gear Daddies performance! The Americana/Rock band originating in Austin, MN, has traveled all across the country in the past 30 years, producing iconic songs such as “I Wanna Drive the Zamboni” and “Stupid Boy.” They’ve even performed on The David Letterman Show and at the South x Southwest Music Festival. Gear Daddies, who were highly influential members of the Twin Cities music scene in the ‘80s, are coming to Rochester! They’ll be performing at the Mayo Civic Center on Thursday, February 15th at 7:30 p.m. Get your tickets now before they’re gone! MLT Group is proud to support local community events.
Top 6 Ranking Factors for 2018
- Content keyword relevance & content based metrics – To rank well, your page content must show that it’s relevant to the search being done. This is about publishing original content that is accurate to your services or products using the key phrases and geo-targets that are searched by the people you want to find you.
- Quality of online identity info – Lots of online directories publish information about your business, and they may have gotten it wrong. Claiming your business on map results and optimizing your business information across these directories is important to consumer confidence and to the search engines’ view of your businesses reputability.
- Responsive design / mobile optimization – If you want your site to rank in mobile searches (from smart phones and tablets) you have to have a mobile optimized site. Responsive design is the new standard. Businesses without mobile sites in 2018 are well behind the curve.
- Original and relevant content – Search engines don’t want to return results filled with the same-old-same-old content. Your site must be filled with original content that speaks to your offerings and the user’s search.
- Page load speed – Google is comparing the load speed of sites and returning results for searchers heavily influenced by how fast a site loads. Even sites built just a couple years ago can probably realize load speed enhancements in 2018 by implementing new coding techniques.
- Backlinks – Good quality backlinks are the single biggest ranking factor, but link building is an arduous process. It’s difficult to get other sites to link to your site and it can be extremely time consuming. However no other ranking factor has a bigger impact. The better the quality of the backlink, the higher its value to your ranking, leading many SEO leaders to concentrate on expensive but effective PR backlinks (links from high quality sites that must be gained through public relations and relationship building).
Are you ready to improve your website’s ranking? Contact the SEO, paid marketing, and web development professionals at MLT Group today at sales@mltgroup.com or 507.281.3490.
Twitter Doubles its Character Count- What it Means for Your Social Media Strategy
Twitter has always been a great marketing tool for businesses to use for communicating brief messages. Now the popular social media platform has announced it’s doubling its character count to 280. Whether you love or hate it, the controversial move has left small businesses wondering how this affects their social media strategies.
Well we have good news. This shouldn’t hurt your current social media strategy in any way, but it’s a great chance to take a step back and reevaluate how you can use the expanded character count to your advantage.
Remember Your Multi-Lingual Audiences:
One of the leading factors behind Twitter’s character expansion was user’s difficulty communicating based on their language. Twitter cited that users tweeting in English, Spanish, or French aren’t able to express as much per character as users tweeting in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. If you have a multi-lingual customer base, this means tweeting just got easier!
Keep Content Strong:
It can be tempting to max out each tweet, but instead of making your tweets longer, make them more detailed. One of the biggest fears about this change is that it will clog users’ feed with wordy posts. With strong, relevant content, your audience won’t get sick of your tweets, even if you do max out your character limit.
If It’s Not Broke, Don’t Fix It:
Are you killing it on Twitter? Then don’t worry about redesigning your social media strategy. That being said, if your strategy on Twitter isn’t garnering the results you want, you’ll want to reexamine it, regardless of the character expansion.
Don’t Forget the Basics:
While the new character limit offers more opportunity, don’t forget what has made your social media strategy successful. Continue to include strong visuals, properly utilize hashtags, and maintain your business’ voice. Whenever you make a change to your social media strategy, first ask yourself, ‘how does this help me achieve my business goals?’
Regardless of how you feel about the character expansion, it seems its here to stay. As with any change, it’s those who adapt that survive.
Do you have a social media strategy? Is it garnering the results you need? If not, contact the experts at MLT Group. We’ll help you develop and implement a comprehensive social media strategy that will help you see real world results. We also provide other importance services like search engine optimization and search engine marketing.
Schedule your free consultation today at sales@mltgroup.com or 507.281.3490!
5 Lessons Your Business Can Learn From Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Video & How to Use Them in Your Own Commercial Video
Every business would love their commercial video to go viral and that’s exactly what happened with Dollar Shave Club’s first online commercial. Video is a great channel to use for either organic or paid marketing. While your next video may not go viral, there is still a lot we can learn from DSC’s video that will benefit your business’ next production.
1. Brand Consistency: Dollar Shave Club’s first video set the tone of their brand. They are to the point, aimed at younger people, and don’t take themselves too seriously. This tone is consistent throughout all of their subsequent videos. When producing videos for your business, first, determine your brand’s persona. Second, don’t deviate from that persona. If one video is over-the-top and outrageous while the next is serious and somber, viewers will have difficulty getting a read on your business and understanding who you are.
2. Don’t Get Lost in Your Own Video: Do you remember the commercial about the WWI Christmas Truce? The commercial had plenty of people tearing up and the message is clear- Christmas is for sharing. But do you remember who the commercial was promoting? Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s is a U.K. based grocery chain, so perhaps U.S. viewers are at a disadvantage, but it’s hard to remember when the business’ name only appears briefly at the end. If you’re a small business promoting yourself through video, you can’t afford to get lost in your own video. Dollar Shave Club tells viewers who they are and what they do in the first 10 seconds of their video and keeps the focus on themselves, so there’s no mistake. This is especially important as they were just starting out and didn’t have the same brand recognition they do now.
3. Hook You Audience: In the first 17 seconds of their video, Dollar Shave Club hooks viewers. “Are our razors any good? No.” Instantly, viewers are intrigued, with the real hook coming as the founder drops an F bomb. From there on, the video gets progressively more outrageous until it climaxes with dancing with a bear in a money shower. Audiences’ attention spans are only shrinking, but hooking their audience right away ensured that viewers would stick around for the whole minute and a half video. You don’t have to be crude or over-the-top to hook your audience. Learn what’s important to them and address that right away.
4. Have a Clear Message: The beauty of Dollar Shave Club’s video is that, even with all of its eccentricities, their message is clear and consistent. The focus is always on the founder speaking about the service’s benefits and why you should switch. Identifying your commercial video’s message early on will help you remain consistent and clear throughout.
5. Know Your Audience: Dollar Shave Club’s videos appeal to a younger audience that spends a lot of time online, enjoys funny videos, and are likely to share content with their social networks. This style of video wouldn’t be as effective with an older audience, who might see it as absurd or may not see it at all if they aren’t spending time online. Knowing your target audience is key to producing a commercial video that will appeal to them and choosing where to broadcast it.
Are you ready to produce a commercial video promoting your business? MLT Group offers professional videography services and is licensed for commercial drone use. Contact us at sales@mltgroup.com or (507) 281-3490 to get started today!
Backlink Boot Camp: Why Your Site Needs Them to Climb to #1
Competition for the top spot on Google is fierce and your site could use every advantage. Your site is optimized for search engines, your online identity is consistent, you’re running pay per click ads, and you’re regularly getting positive reviews, so what’s left? Backlinks are an important part of any digital marketing strategy and can help your website make it to page 1.
What is a backlink?
A backlink is a link from another site to your site. Backlinks from quality sites improve your rankings on Google and other search engines, making it an essential part of any SEO strategy. It’s almost as if another site is vouching for yours. When it comes to backlinks, quality trumps quantity. 100 low quality backlinks won’t have the same impact as a few high-quality ones. In fact, too many backlinks can seem spammy and actually hurt your SEO!
What makes a good backlink?
There are a few factors that go into a quality backlink.
- Relevance- Backlinks should be related to your site and your business. If you provide carpet cleaning, you won’t want backlinks from a trucking site.
- Domain Authority- Domain authority measures how reputable a site is. Backlinks from sites with high authority will be stronger than those from a site with low authority. You can use tools like the MozBar to evaluate a site’s domain authority.
How to get Backlinks:
Look for Broken Links: If there are certain sites you’d like backlinks from, search it for broken links. For example, if you’re a doggie daycare and you find a broken link on a pet blogger’s site, you can contact them, let them know about the broken link, and suggest replacing it with a relevant link to your site.
Ask: If there’s a site you want a backlink from, simply ask. This works best if you’ve formed a relationship with the site’s owner. Perhaps they’re a prominent blogger in your field? Follow their content, engage, and work on building that relationship before you ask, and you’ll increase your chances of getting that backlink.
Track Mentions: Services such as Google Alerts will track mentions of your business across the internet. If those mentions aren’t linked back to your site, you can email the publisher and request a link. For example, if your business was mentioned in the local paper’s online publication, Google Alerts will notify you and you can email the writer to link the article back to your site.
Are you ready to get quality backlinks for your website? Contact the experts at MLT Group at sales@mltgroup.com or (507) 281-3490 today! We’ll develop a backlink strategy to get your website high-quality backlinks to help your site climb in rankings.
4 Industries Benefiting From Drone Videography
Drone videography has quickly become a staple in big budget films and it’s not surprising as to why. Drone videography makes getting aerial shots quicker, easier, and cheaper than traditional methods. This isn’t just good news for Hollywood, but for other commercial industries! Commercial drone video is being used in a variety of industries in some creative ways. Learn how these 4 industries are utilizing drone videography and how you can too!
1. Real Estate
When looking at residential or commercial real estate, it can be difficult to get an accurate picture of a property from a few pictures online. Drone videography allows real estate agents and sellers to present a property in an entirely new way. Aerial shots can give potential buyers a better picture of large plots of land or the layout of a property.
2. Outdoor Attractions
If you have an outdoor attraction, such as an amusement park or nature park, there’s probably a lot to see! Drone video can give you the eye-in-the-sky shots you need to really show off what your attraction has to offer. A drone can fly above the trees or to the tops of rides, giving viewers a unique perspective.
3. Special Events
Are you looking for a unique way to promote your fair or festival? Drone videography may be the solution. Drones can cover a wide area in a short amount of time. If you have a reoccurring event, you can reuse footage for future promotions. You can even use drone videography to live stream events!
4. Farming
Farmers have been quick to adapt to the growing capabilities of drone videography. It has proved particularly useful in surveying the land, checking on the growth of otherwise inaccessible crops, and monitoring for disease. This doesn’t only save farmers time and money, it helps them be more efficient in their growing.
The commercial applications of drone videography are wide reaching and only growing as drone technology advances. For fully licensed drone videography, rely on the experts at MLT Group. Our drone videographers are certified by the FAA and Minnesota Department of Transportation to fly for commercial use.
We also provide other expert marketing services like SEO and PPC.
Contact us at sales@mltgroup.com or (507) 281-3490 to schedule your shoot today!
How to Write an Effective Call to Action for Your Landing Page
When writing landing page copy for or your business’ site, nothing is more important than a strong call to action. Whether you want readers to click, call, or sign up, without a strong call to action, your conversion rates will suffer.
Even if you write a brilliant piece of copy, it will be rendered useless without a good call to action. But how do you create a strong call to action?
Use Command Verbs
Your call to action is all about being direct. Using strong command verbs will let your readers know exactly what you want them to do. For example, ‘buy’, ‘shop’, ‘download’, or ‘find out how’ are all concise and strong.
Reduce Risk
When a visitor finds themselves on your landing page, they’re probably not ready to sign their life away. Including language like ‘no obligation’ or ‘FREE trial’ puts the visitor at ease, making it easier for them to follow through.
Keep it Brief
The longer your call to action is, the more likely you are to lose the reader’s attention. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. “Click now to increase your site traffic today!”
Have a Deadline
It’s easy for visitors to think ‘I’ll just come back later.’ Including a deadline will encourage them to act sooner rather than later. “Limited time only!” “Sale ends soon!”
Entice Your Audience
Have you ever been to a site that immediately asks you to enter your credit card info? How likely are you to jump right in? Not very. Instead of asking your visitors to buy right away, consider enticing them first by offering a free trial, directing them to a video, or a demo. This eases them into the decision to buy and allows you the opportunity to educate them on your product or service.
Get Creative
You never know if something will work unless you try. Don’t be afraid to have fun and get creative with your call to action. Having a unique call to action will catch more attention than something generic. You can always change it if it isn’t working. Here’s a great example from the dating app, okcupid.
By following these tips, you can write a stellar call to action for your landing page. But what about the design and hosting? For a truly killer landing page, to use in your marketing campaigns contact the web development experts at MLT Group today at sales@mltgroup.com or (507) 281-3490.
5 Benefits of Adding Professional Video to Your Website
When a visitor comes to your business’ website, you have about 7 seconds to capture their attention. If they are faced with nothing but a huge block of text, your chances of keeping them on your site are slim, which is the opposite of what you’d want from a successful SEO strategy. But how can you capture a visitor’s attention quickly and keep it? Adding a professional video to your site may be the answer. 
How Professional Videos Improve Your Website
- Increase Engagement: Visuals are more engaging than plain text, meaning you can hook your audience right away with a video.
- Easily Communicate Your Message: A video on your home page or your company blog that explains who you are, what you sell, and what you do is a quick way to introduce new visitors to your business, saving them from scrawling through text to try and find the answers themselves.
- Make You Memorable: People retain information better when accompanied by images. This means visitors are more likely to think of you when it comes to making a purchasing decision.
- Improve SEO: Having a video that is optimized for search engines will boost your site’s overall SEO. Make sure the title and tags incorporate keywords and geotargets relevant to your business. If you have multiple videos on your site, optimize them for different terms and geotargets for additional reach.
- Give Your Business a Face: Did you realize that the human face is powerful? People are able to better empathize with human faces than other images. Videos are a great opportunity to give your business a face. Whether it be the founder or a spokesperson, utilizing people in your video will help your audience better identify with your business and see themselves using your product or service.
Including videos on your website is a great way to get your message out there and engage your audience. Ready to step up your website with a professional video? Contact the videography experts at MLT Group! Whether you need animation, drone footage, or a commercial, we’ve got you covered. For a free quote, contact us today at (507) 281-3490 or sales@mltgroup.com.
5 Web Design Strategies to Maximize Conversions for Your Site
Your St. Paul business’ website has one mission- get visitors to act. Whether that be making a purchase, joining your mailing list, or downloading content, if visitors aren’t following through with your desired action, your site isn’t doing its job. Your site’s design plays a significant role in driving conversions. Learn how you can boost conversions with your web design alone.
- Highlight Your CTA: Your call to action (CTA) is the ultimate tool in generating leads. It tells visitors exactly what you want them to do. “Sign up now!” “Get your free demo today!” “Start shopping now!” But if your CTA isn’t prominently displayed in your site’s design, visitors may not follow through.
- Test Your Site: When a new visitor comes to your site, how will they respond? Will they be able to easily navigate your site and find what they’re looking for? The best way to answer these questions is to ask someone who is unfamiliar with your site and your services to test it. Have them go through your site and take the desired action, recording their questions or any issues they run into. This will give you great insight into what your visitors experience and how you can adjust the web design to make their experience easier, better guiding them to take action.
- Use Negative Space to Your Advantage: Negative space is any empty space on your website. This can be space between large visual elements or even the space between paragraphs. Using negative space appropriately will make your site easier to read, benefiting the user. You can even use negative space to draw the reader’s eyes exactly where you want. For example, if you want your readers to be drawn to a particular area, make it stand out by using negative space around it.
- Utilize an F-Layout: Users naturally look at a page, starting at the upper left-hand corner, moving to the right, then working their way down in an F shape. But why isn’t this an E shape? Because oftentimes, readers won’t get all the way through. They are just looking skimming for important details. This means the area of the page that gets the most exposure is the upper left-hand corner, while the lower right-hand corner barely gets any. Placing the most important information in the upper left-hand corner will ensure users will see it. Otherwise, if it’s in the lower right-hand corner, it may not be seen at all.
- Use Personable, High Quality Images: Images are an important design element of any website. They promote your brand and make your site look professional, but did you know they can also increase your conversions? Using images that feature people that are representative of your target audience helps visitors to better identify with your business and services.
Does your St. Paul website follow these strategies? If not, you could be missing out. MLT Group offers custom web design for desktops and mobile. Contact our expert web design team at sales@mltgroup.com to learn how to maximize conversions on your website today!
5 Ways to Build a Facebook Following for Your Business
You’ve set up your business on Facebook. Now it’s time to sit back and watch the likes roll in — or not. Building a social media following takes time and effort, but it allows you to better connect with your audience and generate leads. Looking to build your Facebook following? Check out these 5 tips for growing and maintaining your audience!
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Leverage Existing Content:
Creating content doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Do you have a blog? Are you taking pictures of staff around the office or work on job sites? Share these on social media! It will build your image as an expert in your field and make finding unique content easier. Just think carefully about what you share.
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Engage with Your Audience:
Social media is, well, social! Don’t be afraid to engage with your audience beyond posting content. Did someone ask a question in the comments? Reply! A client left a review on your Facebook page? Thank them! Don’t leave your audience feeling like they’re talking into the void. Engaging with your audience shows that your business cares about what clients have to say and is accessible.
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Post Frequently:
It used to be that if someone liked your Facebook page, your content would always appear in their newsfeed. However, when Facebook updated their algorithm to prioritize content that would be more relevant to individual users, pages saw their viewership drop. Now, only about a third of your content populates on your followers’ newsfeeds. To maximize your reach, posting frequently is essential. We recommend a minimum of 3 times per week, ideally once per day to build your Facebook following.
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Run a Like Building Campaign:
While it will take more effort on your part to develop and run a like building campaign, it’s a great way to gain followers quickly. A campaign can take many forms, but is usually a type of contest which encourages users to like your page, the post, and/or comment to enter for a chance to win a prize. The prize should be related to your business, (e.g. 20% off services) and the details of the contest should be clearly stated in the post. It’s important to follow Facebook’s rules regarding contests. Otherwise, your contest may be removed by Facebook.
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Boost Posts:
Do you have a stellar piece of content or an offer you want to reach more people? You can pay to boost a post to a targeted audience. The amount you spend depends entirely on how long you want the post to be boosted and how many people you want to reach. This makes it easy to customize your budget and reach a wider audience outside of your existing audience.
Don’t have time to build your business’ Facebook following or not sure where to start? We can help with that. Contact MLT Group at sales@mltgroup.com or (507) 281-3490 and ask about our social media campaign services!