JUMP START Blog and Online Community

Still not sure what Google's E-A-T guidelines mean and how they affect you?

Check out Neil Patel's video below to learn more.

What does this mean for you?

Catch up on what you've missed with the latest digital marketing news for December 2019. Here's a recap of some of the most shared, liked and discussed digital marketing content during the last month.

What is an Inbound Marketing Strategy: The Important Things to Know (Social Media Examiner)
Our friends at Social Media Explorer explain the basics about inbound marketing, including why personas and content are so important for success.

Page load time and crawl budget rank will be the most important SEO indicators in 2020 (SearchEngineLand)
Max Cyrek shares his thoughts about the most critical technical factors you should monitor and resolve in order to see success with SEO in 2020.

So you haven't created a 2020 digital marketing strategy yet? Never fear...we've got your back!

Here are five things you should keep in mind as you're developing your strategic plan for 2020:

1. Keep it simple. Don't have time to create a full strategic plan that includes all digital marketing tactics you need to implement this year? Start small and create a high-level summary.
2. Set goals. You absolutely must have clear, measurable and specific goals in mind as you head into the new year. Think about what your primary goals are for 2020...do you need more traffic, better leads or higher conversions (i.e. more customers)? Document those goals, including progress you plan to make by month or quarter.
   

So you've probably heard a lot about digital marketing during recent years, and you may have even heard some similar terms like online marketing, inbound marketing or integrated marketing. But what does digital marketing actually mean?

We've looked into this for you and gathered some of the best definitions of digital marketing on the web from some of the biggest names in the industry. Check out our video below to learn more:

It's that time of year...the snow is falling here in Chicagoland, everyone's rushing to spend time with family and friends at various holiday gatherings, and the clock is ticking toward the end of the year.

If you're like most of our clients, though, you're also rushing to figure out what you're going to be doing in 2020 to get better results from your digital marketing. Well, we have one way to make that a little bit less stressful...

Are you starting to panic when you think about all of the things on your To Do list for the rest of the year? You're not alone!

This time of year, we always start getting a ton of calls from stressed-out clients who are worried that they're not going to get everything done AND have time to prep for the holidays and relax with their families before the end of the year.

Did you know that page speed is a major ranking factor in Google's algorithm?

It's true...if your web site's pages are loading too slowly, it could wreak havoc on your site from an SEO and ranking perspective. (Translation: you'll get less traffic and fewer visitors who will convert into leads and customers.) And that makes sense when you think about it...your site's visitors won't stick around if your site loads too slowly...would you? Of course not.

Are you confused about how to use HubSpot's prebuilt email sequences for your sales and marketing drip campaigns and workflows? Or are you not even sure what drip campaigns are (if so, you're not alone!).

Drip campaigns, or the process of continuing to nurture prospects and leads in a systematic way via emails, are a key part of moving cold leads and prospects more quickly through your sales and marketing funnel with less manual effort, time and resources.

In the market for a new CMS, marketing automation platform, email marketing tool or other marketing software?

Our handy new Marketing Software list, which we'll be continually updating, will help you narrow down the list of tools that you should evaluate more closely. Whether you're looking for a new tool for the first time or replacing one of your existing platforms, you can't go wrong with this list of software if you implement them correctly.

Not getting as much traffic as you need to meet your marketing goals or grow your business? Here are five ways that you can start to drive more traffic to your website without a ton of effort.

1) Blog more
Don't like blogging? I don't want to hear it! This is, hands down, THE best way to get more traffic quickly and easily — but the key is that you shouldn't write long, "salesy" blog posts that push your products or services. Instead, offer helpful tips, ideas, news or content that helps your prospects solve their problems and provides real value to them.