VIDEO: Local Search Optimization and What to Do About “Hawk”

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local search listings google

The recent release of Google’s Algorithm update, “Hawk,” has raised some questions about the best practices for local search optimization. Businesses need to make sure they are properly optimizing their web sites for local search. With Hawk, a basic correction for 2016’s Possum changes, business can take advantage of local search optimization strategies. The video below goes through some of the high-points of the recent update as well as offers a handful of local search optimization and organic search optimization tips and best practices. If you’re properly maintaining your Web site with good, on-site content, utilization of best practices for

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Good SEO and Our Godly Misconception of “Time”

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You want what? In less than a week? Give me a break!” — God. Alternate title: “An Act of God Can’t Get You To The 1st Page of Google Any Quicker.” Okay, duck and watch out for stray lightening bolts…  Here we go. I blame God… yes, GOD for the misconceptions of time so prevalent in the business word today. Seriously, stay with me here… If God can create the Earth, the wind and sun, the plants and animals, and all we see, feel, and touch in 6 short days, why can’t your marketing team do something about getting you

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4.5 Tools To Get Digital Marketing Right

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This is the industrial age of digital marketing. What’s hot today will soon be yesterday’s cold fish. It seems like just a short 12 months ago, we were working on Vimeo engagement strategies and backing off email campaigns. And now, well, email is back on the table and Vimeo is no more than a greasy skid mark on your iPhone. Digital is fickle at best. But as new tools and new technologies are developed, the opportunities to build customer connections are better than ever. Digital marketing is still marketing. It’s just a variety of new tools that make it different

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Finding The Right Digital Marketing Agency Partner

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Is partnering with a digital marketing agency the right choice for you? Call it what you will, Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing; unless you have experience in marketing and specifically navigating the digital landscape, do you have the time to do your job AND build / manage an acceptable digital footprint? With the ever-evolving nature of digital marketing, as a partner the right digital marketing agency (web agency, social media marketing company, search engine marketing company, etc.) can focus on emerging trends and technologies where your brand can best be presented and engage the customers you want

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A Day of Brand Marketing and Digital SEO Discovery

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Branding, Education and Training, Marketing, SEO, SPOKE News  
andrew b. clark spoke communications des moines iowa

Boy, did I miss the days of frequent public speaking. At one time, I had as many as 2 speaking engagements booked for each month of the year (2005, 2006, 2007). While I was starting up SPOKE Communications (previously CreateWOWMarketing), it was a great way to hone my marketing and branding processes through “Live Engagement and Research” and build a resource for client development for the business. Of course, it’s a true testament of the love I have for what we do at SPOKE when I get to stand in front of a group to share marketing communication tips, tricks

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VIDEO: Quick SEO Tips for Speedy Ranking Success

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SEO tips marketing des moines iowa

Are there SEO tips for better search rank that actually work? For a lot of marketers, search engine optimization (SEO) is a mystery. From small businesses looking to make a bigger impact through SEO to mega-corporations doing their best to dominate search position, just HOW to achieve better search rank in Google, Bing and other search engines is often a challenge. SPOKE Communications works with clients to achieve the best success possible through content marketing strategies and organic search engine optimization. We’ve seen some tremendous successes as well as experienced the challenges mentioned above, but through some tried-and-true SEO practices,

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Three Strategic Factors to Successfully Integrating Video Marketing

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digital video marketing strategy des moines

Video marketing has become the hottest trend in communications strategies. With the world turning to live streaming and video conferencing during the pandemic, it’s no wonder video has become the smart marketers’ communications tool of choice. Video’s intrinsic entertainment value and increased engagement potential is an audience’s most natural connection to you and your brand outside an actual face-to-face meeting. Now is the best time to kick off that video marketing program. So, how do you get the ball rolling integrating video marketing into your marcom strategy? While you may be a fantastic communicator, quickly adapting to social media, integrating

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Happy GOOGLE Mobile-Friendly Day!

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Mobile-friendly? What, you say? Yes, over night, the powers at Google changed their algorithms for search to require all sties to be “Mobile-friendly” or be excluded from mobile search. You can read more about their changes here: http://cre8wow.me/1yLU6XM This change is a great advantage to you and all of those that keep their sites current with search compatibility best practices. As Google enacts these changes, sites NOT mobile-friendly will no longer be indexed for mobile search results. Yes, you heard right… NON MOBILE-FRIENDLY SITES WILL NOT SHOW UP IN MOBILE SEARCHES AFTER TODAY! While standard desktop search will not be

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Website Redesign – Finding Opportunities Where You Least Expect Them

By on   /   Blog, Brand Marketing, Branding, Design, Interactive Media, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, SPOKE News, Spoke Portfolio, Strategy  
website redesign west des moines

We normally don’t feature client work in the blog, but we’re really excited for the Website redesign we just finished, and we consider the process we took for this client one of the most important learning experiences we’ve had in a long time.  When it comes to Website Design, you may find opportunities where you least expected. {The Client} hadn’t asked for the site updates nor did we expect to just walk in with a project and have the client say “Sure, we’ll spend some money with you! What the hell?” Canine Craze Performance Center, a professional dog training and

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SEO Landing Pages Need To Be Laser-Focused

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Last week I worked up a quick post to prove a point. It was a simple demonstration that, with laser-focused SEO, results can be achieved MUCH FASTER than expected. Often times we hear, “With time and patience, we can get you to the first page of search engines within a few months…” Yes, in most cases, I have to agree, but, who has a few months to wait?!? For certain terms, broad-based and popular, getting results on search engines does take time. But think about your brand. Think about the specifics that make you unique to your target audience. If

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