advertising - 5 Horizons

Why SEO Isn’t One-and-Done

December 12, 2023

There isn’t a single person in marketing who hasn’t heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or taken steps to implement an SEO strategy into their organization’s or business’ efforts. However, most people get stuck thinking that SEO is an item you can check off your to-do list. Instead, SEO is an ongoing process––a strategy that requires continuous attention, tweaking, and improvement.

What Makes SEO an Ongoing Process?

Changes in User Behavior

In the past, it was challenging to keep up with the most popular keywords or keyword phrases. Now, that task is made even harder by Google, which is not just looking for keywords anymore—it is also reviewing the intent behind the search by compiling a user profile. Understanding the “why” behind your audience’s search is a long process but one that will tremendously help your SEO results.

Evolving Marketplace

New technology, products, media, trends, etc. are constantly entering the marketplace, shifting the trajectory of the audience’s interests, hobbies, and likes. Anticipating these changes is difficult, but you can learn to adapt, pivot, or enhance your strategy and language in accordance with the market demands.

Algorithm Updates

To avoid search engine results page (SERP) manipulation, search engines frequently update the way they evaluate and rank websites when it comes to search results. These updates can have an immediate effect on your strategy’s performance, heightening the importance of promptly incorporating the current best SEO practices into your efforts.

How to Keep Up with SEO Over Time

Generate High-Quality Content

Populating your website with content that is relevant to your audience requires constant content generation. Uploading a few blogs to your site when implementing an SEO strategy and never writing another one again will make you rank lower on the SERP and prevent people from engaging with your website. That’s why it’s necessary to keep creating content that your prospective customers, clients, or students would want to interact with on a regular basis.

Maintain Your Website

On-page SEO is easy to keep in mind when you start optimizing your website. But as time goes by and you create new pages, you might forget to write meta titles and descriptions, making it harder for search engines to index your content. Continuously keeping your site organized will help your page rank higher.

Monitor Trends and Competition

Staying in the know of the new approaches search engines and your competitors take when it comes to SEO will help you adjust your own strategy if needed. Learning from the victories and mistakes of others is just as important as learning from your own, and it will help you stay afloat when search engines inevitably release updates that can affect your rankings.

It is vital to keep your SEO fluid and flexible to help your operations thrive and gather as many viable leads as possible. At 5 Horizons, we offer continuous SEO services that ensure your organization, business, or school reaches your target audience. Contact us today to learn more and follow along on our Demystifying SEO journey.

Google’s Changes to FAQ and HowTo Results: What Website Owners Need to Know

October 10, 2023

As of September 2023, Google reduced the visibility of FAQ and HowTo information in its search results. If you haven’t seen the impact of this decision on your website’s traffic yet, here is everything digital marketers and website owners should know if considering rethinking their strategy.

FAQ Results

Google now limits the regular display of FAQ-rich results to well-known and authoritative websites, primarily in the government and health sectors. Google’s algorithm will determine which websites fall into these categories.

HowTo Results

Attempting to simplify search results, Google no longer shows HowTo rich results on desktop or mobile devices. For this reason, this search result type has significantly lost its value.

What Changes Do You Need to Make

If your site features structured data, you don’t have to proactively remove it. Though it has no visible effects in Google Search, it’s not going to cause any problems either. FAQ and HowTo Schema markup may also continue to be useful for other search engines, aiding in content indexing and rich result display in SERPs.

Impact on Website Traffic

Google doesn’t consider this global update a ranking change, so the effects of FAQ’s and HowTo’s reduced visibility remain to be fully felt. Most likely, the removal of these sections from SERPs will lead to more search results displayed on a single screen, increasing the competition for clicks. Website owners who currently employ FAQ and HowTo Schema markup should prepare for potential traffic fluctuations, which may vary based on context and the type of website you have.

Staying up-to-date on Google’s updates and closely monitoring your website’s performance can help you effectively adapt to the evolving search result dynamics. And with 5 Horizons, you can always stay on top of digital marketing industry trends.

10 Things We’ve Discovered Running a Digital Marketing Agency in 10 Years of Business

September 6, 2023

This September, 5 Horizons is excited to celebrate 10 years of business! This last decade has been full of growth and learning. We’ve worked with nearly 100 clients in over 10 different industries.

From higher education and senior living, to real estate and healthcare, we have delivered cutting-edge websites, strategic campaigns, and eye-catching designs. Our team has grown into a powerhouse of data, strategy, and creative experts, constantly pushing the boundaries of modern aesthetics and techniques.

With a decade of experience, we’ve compiled a list of our top 10 lessons that have kept our company strong:

1. Always Keep Learning

Technology and media are always changing, so it’s important to keep an eye on new software, tools, and trends. There will always be something new to learn, test, or explore. Don’t let complacency stop you from growing.

2. Keep An Eye On The Trends

Knowing your audience and what is catching their eye will help you jump on the trends that will make the biggest splash. What works for the masses may not always work for your business model, but it’s smart to keep an eye on what trends are taking center stage. Specifically, pay attention to the content that resonates most with your unique audience.

3. Blaze Your Own Trail

On the other hand, trends come and go every day. Never be afraid to try something new or push the boundaries with new techniques. Your brand, voice, style, and quality of work are what set you apart from your competitors. Don’t be afraid to take the road less traveled.

4. Client Communication is Key

The key to successful client relationships is clear and consistent communication. Honoring the partnership you have with your clients will always pay off with trust and loyalty. Digital marketing isn’t magic, but establishing a healthy client partnership will allow you to work together to find success.

5. Lean On Your Community

As a company that has grown from four employees to 20, our community of friends, family, and professional colleagues have been our foundation for success. We are proud to be located in the greater Boston area, nestled in the South Shore city of Braintree. This local pride gives us a deeper understanding of legacy and commitment that many of our clients relate with.

6. Never Stop Building Your Network

You never know where you’ll meet your next client. Be kind, courteous, and open to new connections wherever you are. Don’t shy away from talking about the company, the work, or the team culture––you could be speaking to a future client, referral, or employee.

7. Play the Long Game

Some clients take years to manifest from casual encounters to dedicated partners. You never know when a brief conversation could loop back around years later to become a lucrative connection. Stay in touch when you’re able and let them know you’re always open to a conversation when they’re ready.

8. Be Authentic

We all work in marketing. We know a gimmick when we see one. Which is why authenticity is the greatest skill you can offer your clients, your employees, and your community.

9. Rely On Your Team

Shifting our focus from a small start-up to an established agency meant hiring the right people and growing a strong team of experts to rely on. With more voices at the table, our quality of work constantly expands with fresh ideas and new skills in a collaborative environment.

10. Have Fun

5 Horizons is a business, but at the end of the day we are a team of human beings. If we’re not enjoying what we do and who we are working with, then it won’t be sustainable. We are a hard working team, but we also encourage adding a healthy dose of fun to every work day.

We are thrilled to hit the one decade mark as a digital marketing agency. And we’re thrilled to enter the next decade of business with our dedicated clients and talented team of employees.

– Pat Riley & Ben Sandman

Inside 5 Horizons: Internal Linking Best Practices

June 1, 2023

Our Tech Team’s guide for identifying and implementing effective internal links in your website.

A well-built and maintained website makes it easy for users to find what they’re looking for. Internal links are critical for guiding navigation, building authority, and increasing keyword visibility.

Identify focus keywords for important pages.
Use those focus keywords as anchor text to link to those pages from other pages or content pieces.
Add links selectively and strategically.
Document content strategy, including anchor text and internal links, to avoid cannibalizing rankings from other pages.
Review page performance and then adapt and optimize according to fluctuating page rankings.

This guide explores important considerations for identifying and implementing effective internal links.

Why Internal Links Matter

Your site’s domain authority is directly impacted by how long visitors stay on your site, how many pages they visit, and how deep into the site architecture they go.

Every time you add a new page or post to your website, consider the interconnection between all of the pages on your site. Be sure to identify opportunities for linking to internal site pages. These links help site visitors access valuable content on your site rather than looking elsewhere.

Create and Maintain a Clear Content Strategy

A well-documented and maintained content strategy helps you define what you’re going to write about when, specific keywords to include, and opportunities for internal linking. Documenting the keywords that pages are targeting can help you avoid cannibalizing rankings.

Be intentional when deciding what links to add to any given page, and make sure that the included links are relevant to other page content and utilize keywords as anchor text.

Think About User Experience

While you don’t want them simply clicking in circles for the sake of clicking, you do want to provide them with easy ways to find what they’re looking for, as well as valuable information that may enhance their experience.

When your site visitors click on a link, they’re trusting you to reward them with valuable content. Therefore, the anchor text used should align with what they’re going to find on the other side.

Avoid page-stuffing with unnecessary or unrelated links. Not only will that negatively affect user experience, but the search engines are sophisticated enough to know that’s what is being done.

Be Selective About When to Link

There’s no need to make every instance of a keyword linkable. In most cases, this means only hyperlinking the keyword or phrase (e.g., program name) the first time it appears in the piece.

But consider the context when deciding which instance to actually link. For example, in a piece exploring the differences between MBA programs where each program has its own section, we’d suggest linking each program name as it appears in its section heading. This would extend to MBA as well, rather than hyperlinking the first occurrence in any intro copy.

Add Value to Your Links

Hyperlink text that only says “click here” or “learn more” are meaningless to search engines and forfeit opportunities to build domain authority. Instead, try to use keywords as the hyperlink text.

Rather than using “click here,” lead in to your hyperlink with text that adds value such as “download our brochure about [Program Name]” or “sign up for our [Program Name Infosession]” or “complete our inquiry form to learn more about [Program Name].” And rather than hyperlinking that whole sentence, put the hyperlink on the text that aligns closest to your focus keywords.

It’s worth noting that this is not talking about call to action (CTA) buttons, especially when it comes to “learn more.” CTA buttons are usually concise and adjacent to contextual copy.

Connect Users with Supporting Pages and Content

Internal links provide opportunities to guide users to information that may not be highly visible in the navigation. When you’re writing a content piece, think about other pages, content, and topics that might be relevant to the reader. Start by optimizing the content and meta data to try to attract more organic traffic.

Then you can add links to other relevant pages directing traffic to the less visible page using focus keywords. Also consider adding content pieces that highlight the keywords associated with the page you’re trying to highlight.

The Inside 5 Horizons series includes stories and perspectives from our amazing team. Get a glimpse into our company culture each month by hearing from the unique voices of our copywriters, strategists, project managers, and more.

Using HTML5 for Animated Banner Ads

May 22, 2023

GIF vs HTML5—which one do our web developers use to create banners and why?

Animated banner ads can be created in GIF or HTML5 formats. What’s the difference between the two?

A GIF file consists of a series of frames that play in a sequence, creating a looping animation. HTML5 banners, on the other hand, are programmed with multiple lines of code and images. 5 Horizons’ Front End Development team thinks HTML5 ad banners are superior to GIF ones for these three reasons:

1. Interactivity

Developers use different scripts such as CSS and JavaScript to create HTML5 banners. This gives them creative freedom to build engaging online HTML5 banner designs. GIFs, however, are looping animated images, which means they lack interactive elements and smooth transitions.

2. Size

GIF banner ads are bulky, which can pose major complications when uploading to the clients’ platform of choice. Whereas HTML5 ads are small bits of code that load quickly and stay under the required platform file size. For this reason, HTML5 is the preferred file size for most vendors.

3. Color

It’s no surprise that the 8-bit GIF file is slowly becoming obsolete in the digital ad space since it offers a low range of only 265 colors. Comparing that to HTML5 banners, which can display about 16.7 million colors while still loading faster than GIF files.

HTML5 banner ads are vibrant, dynamic, and their technology is improving day by day, while GIF ads are slowly falling by the wayside. Digital marketing experts at 5 Horizons stay up-to-date on industry standards, trends, and innovations. Contact us if you want to place high-quality banner ads or have any other advertising needs.

Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

April 27, 2023

The future of AI and its effects on optimizing marketing services.

With ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) being the new buzzwords of the year, it’s impossible not to wonder about the future of AI, particularly its relationship to marketing.

People all over the world could not get enough of ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by OpenAI, ever since its launch in November of 2022. But with the fascination over the new technological advancement, came fear. Concerns rose over AI’s safety, ethical implications, and, of course, jobs.

The reality remains that the current job market will likely change, but not in a way people might expect. Instead of AI taking over people’s jobs, many roles will evolve into working together with artificial intelligence in a mutually-beneficial, somewhat symbiotic relationship.

We predict marketing to become one of the industries that will see a lot of AI-driven rapid change. Here are some examples of exciting possibilities for incorporating AI into aspects of marketing:

1. Optimized Workflow

With so many moving parts, advertisers can benefit from AI at different stages of the process. Copywriters and art directors especially can use AI to expedite their research before starting work on any campaign or creative project. A more precise and targeted supplement to search engines such as Google, ChatGPT provides detailed, tailored information that directly answers users’ queries. Moreover, AI can optimize consumer segmentation and forecast people’s behaviors, which results in delivering more constant and customized communications and ads to customers.

2. Content Marketing

One of the biggest attributes of working together with AI is its ability to optimize content creation. From determining the odds of a particular piece of content going viral to suggesting what content visitors would like to see, AI can serve as a never-ending source of strategy-driven ideas for content marketing. Over the recent months, machine learning engineers have been working to further optimize ChatGPT’s text-to-video and text-to-audio capabilities, which can further help brands and marketers customize their content to specific viewers and capitalize on the popularity of interactive visual media.

3. Social Media

As an ever-popular facet of marketing, social media can also be automated with AI. Beyond determining which content gets seen, AI can help brands by matching products and services with people who have already cultivated the desired targeted audiences. Playing such an essential part in influencer marketing, AI can further analyze those audiences, recognizing which ones will result in quality engagement. Results in general, from campaign metrics to ROI, are other tasks that can also be handled by AI, evaluating campaign performance and learning from the outcomes.

Artificial intelligence and its partnership with marketing will continue to evolve. With an array of future possibilities, we hope that such a relationship will continue resulting in more streamlined and optimized advertising efforts, benefiting brands, clients, marketers, and consumers.

What is A/B Testing and How to Use It?

April 12, 2023

A beginner guide to A/B testing and achieving quick results.

What is A/B testing?

A/B testing, sometimes referred to as “split testing,” is a user experience research method that compares two versions of something to learn which performs better. When it comes to ever-evolving digital advertising, A/B testing is extremely important, as it helps us learn new strategies to improve our campaigns.

Benefits of A/B testing?

A/B testing can help you implement long-term strategies and solutions for your brand or your clients. A/B testing is highly customizable to fit everyone’s individual needs and goals, but here are some common benefits of A/B testing:

Make data-backed decisions

A/B testing takes the guesswork out of your advertising and marketing campaigns, enabling you to make informed choices when it comes to optimizing your content.

Reduce bounce rates

With A/B testing, you can try out different tactics of retaining your leads and audience on your website longer, increasing the likelihood of them interacting with your content.

Quick results

In a fast-paced world of digital marketing, quick and reliable results are crucial for increasing campaign effectiveness. Even a relatively small A/B test can provide significant, actionable results that allow for low-risk modifications and improved campaign performance.

How do you start A/B testing?

Carve out a portion of the budget to test with (percentage allocation will depend on the overall client budget). The remaining budget should be prioritized for the highest-performing campaign.
The A/B test campaigns should always run at the same time. The only variable that should be different is what’s being tested—everything else, such as flight, budget, and audience should be the same.
The testing period should be set for about 2-3 weeks, no matter which of the two tests (or both) you decide to move forward with.
The key performance indicator (KPI) of A/B testing for lead generation campaigns should be Leads/Cost-Per-Lead (CPL), and the KPI for brand or traffic campaigns should be website traffic or clicks.

Want to learn more about A/B testing for specific social media platforms? Read our blog on the importance of LinkedIn A/B testing or contact us to learn how our team can help your content stand out.

What Does it Mean to be a Google Premier Partner for 2023?

March 14, 2023

This St. Patrick’s Day it’s not luck, it’s hard work.

5 Horizons has been named a Google Premier Partner for 2023. Many of our clients come to us for Google Ads assistance. Becoming a Google Premier Partner takes a lot of time and hard work.

“We’re excited to recognize your company as a 2023 Premier Partner and for being in the top 3% of partners in your country. Achieving Premier Partner status is an accomplishment worth celebrating, and distinguishes your company as a Google Ads expert to clients and the industry.” – Google

As a Google Premier Partner, 5 Horizons has achieved and exceeded all requirements, while demonstrating continuous success with:

Certifications
Ad spend
Performance

Our team is constantly looking to improve our skills with Google Ads and this recognition is proof of it.

How Does That Help Our Clients?

As a Google Premier Partner, we receive a variety of benefits from Google, allowing us to provide additional services for our clients.

Benefits include:

Dedicated Account Management
Google Partner Search Listing
Client Event Support
Networking with Other Agencies
Executive Business Trainings for Our Employees
Dedicated Support Representatives & Teams
Annual Partners Summit & Review
Google Partners Badge

Ready to Work With Us?

As Google Premier Partners, we know how to achieve success with Google Ads. Reach out to us today if you’re looking to improve your advertising strategy.

Make Your Google Slides Presentation Pop

February 16, 2023

Tips for crushing your next visual presentation.

A key element of a captivating slide show is its aesthetics. Making your visual presentation stand out can help retain your audience’s attention and share your information in a digestible and easy-to-follow manner. Here are six tips you can implement in your next presentation:

1. Use presentation templates to save time and keep your design streamlined

Google Slides comes with 20+ default templates to choose from, which can help you save time and energy on design. Of course, if you want your presentation to be tailored to your business, consider spending some time designing a new template that follows the guidelines of your brand or building off of an existing one. Once you design the template, it can be reused for future presentations, keeping your style streamlined and coherent.

2. Stick to brand colors and fonts for professional representation

Whether you are using your brand’s custom template or not, a clean aesthetic can be achieved by following your brand guidelines when it comes to colors and fonts used in your presentation. A consistent slide style can help the content shine, without too many colors and fonts distracting from the main information you are looking to convey.

3. Match fonts to your topic of discussion

Just like the subject matter, fonts have their own personalities. The key to making a good impression with your font is to make sure it matches the topic of your discussion, so keep that in mind when debating between using a serious or a more playful font.

Extra tip: Don’t mix more than three fonts in one presentation. Just like when it comes to colors, you should prioritize consistency and brand style to keep your slides looking straightforward and not too busy.

4. Use transitions in moderation

Transitions are a great tool for visualizing moving from one thought to another within a presentation. Just like the majority of Google Slides features, transitions are best used in moderation. Save them for when you are switching topics or include one at the end, when you are offering an opportunity for your audience to ask questions or share feedback.

5. Utilize infographics to make data more digestible

Nothing makes eyes glaze over faster than long blocks of text on every slide. Infographics and charts are great visual tools you can use to highlight the necessary information and data in a streamlined and digestible manner. Making heavy material accessible to your audience is an important factor in a successful slide presentation.

6. Don’t be afraid to get creative: videos, gifs, memes, and 3D images are all eye-catching

All of these visual forms of media can help your audience relate to and connect with your presentation better, further capturing their attention. Of course, as with everything else, moderation is key, but embedding videos and other creative content can make your presentation stand out. And there is nothing quite like a context-fitting gif to liven up your slides.

As insightful as your content might be, the way you present it can make or break a presentation. Incorporating the tips above into your Google Slides will ensure your audience remains engaged and involved in the information you are sharing and helps you make a lasting impression.