How to Create an Infographic Quickly and for Free

Last Updated: November 9, 2016

If you’re at all familiar with what it takes to increase your business’s visibility online, then you know two things:

Informative content matters.
High-quality images matter.

What if we told you there’s an easy way to make content and images work together for your benefit? Combining the value of an informational blog post and the instant appeal of a brightly colored image, we give you: the infographic.

What’s So Special About Infographics?

Infographics are images that contain short, simple, easy-to-digest pieces of information. They help you provide valuable information to your audience while typically requiring less than a minute’s worth of reading. Grabbing attention and then delivering useful, actionable information? No wonder infographics are the perfect images for businesses to share on social media!
Luckily, infographics are relatively easy to create. You can take advantage of online tools that offer free templates so you don’t have to build them from scratch. This is particularly helpful for business owners without much spare time or many design skills.
In fact, to show you how easy it is for beginners, we had one of our writers create an infographic for this blog post. Keep reading to discover how she did it and how to create an infographic of your own.

How to Create an Infographic

1. Choose a Topic.

The subject of your infographic should be something you’re knowledgeable about, something relevant to your business, and, most importantly, something your audience wants to learn about. Ultimately, it must add value to their lives before they’ll want to share it with others.
Topics can be anything related to your business that will provide your audience with information they can actually use. They’re often tutorials, explanations, and presentations of data. Some examples:

How to change your furnace’s air filters
10 things to know about tax deductions
What to expect during your first Swedish massage
5 most popular car accessories
3 reasons to floss your teeth every day

The possibilities are endless.

2. Keep It Brief.

Remember, since this is a visual representation, all your text should be short, sweet, and to the point. Organize your ideas ahead of time into bullet points and short sentences so you can get all your ideas across succinctly.

3. Use a Striking Layout.

Eye-catching design is what makes your infographic stand out. The idea of designing one from scratch may seem daunting if you’ve never done it before, but don’t worry: There are plenty of free templates online that you can take advantage of.
For our infographic, we used Piktochart, a company that offers an assortment of free (as well as paid) template options. This platform was super helpful because it allowed easy customization. Changing background colors, writing our own text, and swapping out graphics were all simple to do. The thorough tutorial at the beginning certainly helped, too.
Another option available to you is to download free templates from companies like Hubspot. While they don’t have a whole program to assist you in creating your infographic, they give you a variety of templates you can use with Microsoft PowerPoint and customize on your own.

4. Share the Finished Product.

Now that you’ve created an attractive infographic you’re proud of, it’s time to share it with your followers. Upload it to a page on your website, then share it with a link in your social media post. (Including the link may encourage especially interested parties to click over to your site.)
Now that you know how to create an infographic easily and affordably, you’ll be an infographic-creating machine in no time. Good luck!
Here’s our finished product, made possible by Piktochart.

Are You Trashing Your Online Marketing Without Knowing It?

Last Updated: October 19, 2016

Now that you’ve hired an online marketing team to help your small business, your work is done, right?
Not quite.
It’s really tempting to want to hand your marketer the keys and never think about your website or Google again. However, that’s not how it works.
During the initial weeks and months of working with your online marketing team, you’ll need to help out by providing them with lots of information about your business and even giving them access to your online listings (including Google).

The Biggest Mistake You Can Make…

…Is not providing your marketer with the information they need. That includes your company history, service categories and details, up-to-date contact information, and even login information.
Don’t believe us? Keep reading to find out what can happen when your online marketing team is left with missing information and only half the picture.
Let’s jump in!

“I Want to Help, But I Don’t Have Time!”

Many business owners find themselves grappling with this dilemma. But the hard truth is that you must make the time.
Of course you’re busy running a small business. We have the utmost sympathy for your chaotic schedule and even more admiration for your work ethic.
However, your marketer has a job to do, too. And when they’re having trouble communicating with you and they aren’t getting the information or resources they need, they can’t do the job you’re paying them to do.
Your marketer will have time-sensitive questions about your website and campaign that will need to be answered quickly. They’ll need as much information as possible in order to create the most accurate representation of your business.
And when we talk about “information,” we’re not just talking about your company background. Your marketing specialists also need your login information for Google and other accounts so they can optimize your listings and overall web presence.

“But I Don’t Give Out My Information to Anyone!”

We get it. Everything you’ve ever learned about the Internet tells you never to give out your username or password. It’s a scary world out there, and you don’t know who you can trust.
However, this is an exception. You’ve hired your marketer to act on your behalf. This, by definition, requires them to log into your business accounts… as you!
This level of trust is why it’s so critical to thoroughly vet a marketing team before you hire them.
To put your mind more at ease, we have a simple solution. It allows your online marketing team to access and manage your Google account without ever knowing your real password. Here’s how it works:

You change your password right before giving it to your marketer. Switch it to something easy, like, “marketing123.”
Your marketing team uses this password to log in and make themselves “manager” of your Google account.
Once they’ve been assigned as manager, they will be able to use their own Google account to access and update your listing.
As soon as they’re finished and logged out of your account, you can change your password right back to what it was before.

This lets them go in and do their job without requiring you to give up any privacy.

So, What Happens When Your Marketer Doesn’t Have Enough Information?

You’re paying your online marketing team with the expectation of satisfying results. Why make them perform with one hand tied behind their back?
Think of it like hiring a contractor to build your house.
If you don’t tell them how big your family is, how many cars you have, how many bedrooms you want, or even what your favorite colors are, you’re probably not going to get the house of your dreams. Not even close.
The same goes for your website and online marketing campaign.
If you don’t give your marketer an accurate picture of your service offerings, company history, or even what you want your website to look like, they won’t be able to effectively promote you online. It’s that simple.

You Don’t Have to Do the Heavy Lifting…

You just need to spot them.
Online marketing campaigns aren’t “set it and forget it” machines. They’re constantly evolving organisms. So while your online marketing team is doing most of the work—writing your website’s content, designing the layout, and promoting you all over the Internet—they’re going to need a little bit of support.
In order to tackle the fluid nature of local search, they need ready access to information about your company in case any pressing questions or issues pop up.
Your business’s contact person doesn’t even need to be the owner. It can be an office manager or anyone else who is knowledgeable enough to answer questions and provide login assistance if your marketer needs it.

Bottom Line? Make Time and Be Supportive!

Now you understand why your marketer is calling you with questions so frequently. In order to be an effective online marketing team and successfully grow your business, they need lots of information from you. There’s no way around it.
So the next time your marketer calls you and asks you to expand on one of your services or verify something with Google, remember: They’re just doing their job. Let them.

The PPC Metrics You SHOULD Be Focusing On

Last Updated: October 13, 2016

If you’re handling your own PPC with AdWords or Bing Ads, hats off to you! It’s not an easy undertaking. However, it’s certainly doable once you become more familiar with industry vocabulary and best practices.
Learning the right terminology and approach can take time, though. One common stumbling block, even for experienced DIYers, has to do with metrics. Oftentimes, business owners are focusing on the wrong PPC metrics and therefore aren’t getting the most out of their campaigns.

Look Beyond Traffic-Based Metrics

At the end of the day, what’s the goal of your PPC campaign? Our guess: profit.
For this reason, our first suggestion is to stop focusing so much on traffic-based metrics. These metrics are all that’s included in the simplified AdWords dashboard, which is why so many business owners don’t look beyond them. These include:

Impressions
Clicks
CTR (click-through rate)
Average CPC (cost per click)

To be clear, it’s not wrong to look at these metrics—it’s just limiting to your overall understanding of your campaign. These traffic-based metrics only tell you how often your ads are being viewed and/or clicked. And while traffic is definitely something you want to pay attention to—after all, you need people to see your ads in order to interact with them—it doesn’t paint a full picture of how well your campaign is actually doing. Maybe you’re not getting a ton of clicks on a certain campaign, but if you’re getting a lot of paying customers out of it, who cares?
That brings us to what you should be focusing on.

Related: The Four Most Commonly Misunderstood PPC Metrics

Track Your Ads’ Conversion Rates

When you want to measure how well your ads are performing, look at the conversion rate. This is the only way to tell whether your campaigns are actually helping your business make money. It’s one thing for people to click on them, but that’s not enough: you also need to be converting those clicks into leads. Clicks alone aren’t going to help your business grow (unless, of course, your only goal is to create brand awareness).
You can set up conversion tracking on Google AdWords and Bing Ads yourself. Then, just sit back and check the reports as they develop.
Conversion tracking will show you the following metrics:

Cost per conversion: How much each conversion costs (on average).
Conversion rate: How often a click leads to a conversion.
Value per conversion: How much each conversion is potentially worth (you fill this out yourself).
Total conversion value: The total value of all conversions.
Conversion value per cost: How much each conversion is worth compared to how much they cost.
Conversion value per click: Total conversion value divided by total number of clicks.

And don’t forget to track phone leads in addition to online leads (newsletter signups, form submissions, purchases, etc.). For many businesses that provide local services like accounting, massage therapy, HVAC, and so on, the phone is the primary way customers contact them.
If you’re banking on phone calls, then you definitely need to incorporate phone tracking into your conversion monitoring. Assign a unique call-tracking number to each campaign so you can identify which ad generated which lead.

Go a Step Further and Calculate ROI

If you really want to be a PPC rock star, then you can calculate the ROI of your campaigns. Doing so will tell you which ads are actually generating money for your business (as opposed to just traffic or leads).
Calculating ROI is rather complicated, and there are several different methods you can use. One helpful tool is a customer relationship management (CRM) software that tracks all of your leads and sales data. A CRM will prevent you from having to record everything manually.
Regardless of where or how your sales data is stored, you can calculate your ROI by comparing how much you spent on each campaign (including cost per click and cost per conversion) and how many sales dollars it generated. The result is a concrete number that tells you which PPC campaigns are most contributing to your bottom line.

All Metrics Fit Together

There’s no single metric that tells the whole story on its own. Likewise, there’s no metric that you should just flat-out ignore, either. Look at all of the metrics together like pieces of a puzzle.
For example, you can tell if something is wrong with your landing page content if you have a high CTR (meaning lots of people are clicking on your ads) but a surprisingly low conversion rate. Clearly, people are interested in your ad but are then turned off by your landing page. Now you know it’s time to make that content more compelling so your visitors will feel motivated to fill out a form, contact you, or take whatever action is your goal.
When you put all of the above information into practice, you’ll be in a much better position to maximize your conversions and get more bang for your PPC buck.
Still unsure of the best strategy for weighing your PPC metrics? Would you feel more comfortable in the hands of a professional? The team at Prospect Genius offers effective pay-per-click marketing management and transparent pricing. Call now to find out how we can help.

Enrich Your Local Business's Google Profile by Adding Images

Last Updated: September 22, 2016

We’re always harping on business owners to up their photo game. Websites with photos simply perform much better than those without. Plain and simple.
But did you know it’s just as important to have photos on your business’s Google profile, too?
This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, it’s only been in the last year or so that Google and Bing have been displaying images and logos in their local search results. They made this move as users increasingly want to see photos of whatever they’re searching for.
As of right now, images aren’t automatically displaying in search results for every business—only for businesses in certain categories. However, as images in search results are bound to become an expectation rather than a bonus, it’s likely they’ll be automatically generated for all categories before long.

Add Images to Your Google Profile

That’s why, regardless of your industry, your best bet is to set up your Google profile with high-quality images sooner than later. In his latest article on Search Engine Land, Wesley Young gives some great advice for optimizing Google profile images. Check out some of his suggestions:

Take control of which images appear on your listing. Don’t let Google set a default profile photo by selecting one of your images at random. Go to Google My Business yourself and select your own profile photo.
Make sure the image is cropped and sized to fit perfectly.
Make sure your profile photo is a high-definition image: no graininess, no visibility issues.
Don’t use blatant stock photos because they’re usually pretty easy to detect.

Want more? For Young’s full list of suggestions, head over to his article on Search Engine Land: “8 Tips to Make Sure Your Google Profile Images Boost Your Local Search Results.”

Why All the Smartest Small Businesses Have a Custom Domain

Last Updated: September 15, 2016

Here’s a word of advice you may not hear from other marketing teams: Own a custom domain for your small business.
We’ve seen too many small business owners get burned by not having one. The best way to preserve your web ranking, presence, and overall marketing efforts is to purchase your own, custom domain that contains your exact business name.
In this post, we explain the importance of owning your custom domain and the hazards of not doing so. We also offer suggestions for what to do when you can’t get your own domain. Let’s dive in!

Domain vs. Website

First, what’s the difference between a domain name and a website?
A domain is another word for a web address, while a website is the collection of files and pages that appear when you visit that domain. For example, “bobsappliance.com” is a custom domain, which visitors type into the URL bar in a web browser to view Bob’s Appliance’s website.
Here’s a simpler way to look at it: Think of your domain as your street address and your website as your house. The street address tells visitors where they can find your house, but it’s not the same thing as the house itself. Likewise, the domain tells visitors where to find your website, but the website is an entirely separate entity. Make sense?

Owning Your Domain Is Ideal

Now that you understand what we’re talking about when we talk about domains, we can get into the nitty-gritty of how to handle yours.
The most important thing to know? Owning a custom domain is ideal. It provides protection from competitors and makes you look like an established, successful business.
And here’s the thing: You don’t even have to do anything with it! Just by owning the domain, you’ll keep others from taking it (which is especially useful if there are any other businesses nationwide with a similar name). You could also opt to just use your domain for your e-mail address so you appear more professional.
Or, if you’re already working with a marketing team that has created a separate website for you, you can simply redirect your custom domain so it leads to this preexisting site. No need to create a whole new website for your custom domain if you already have one!
If you don’t know how to register and purchase your own domain (although it’s simple to do online), have someone else do it for you. This person could be your marketer, a trusted employee, or a tech-savvy family member—as long as they’re competent and trustworthy.

PRO TIP: Have a custom domain but not sure if you own it? Check if you have a username and password for it. If you’re able to access and log-in to your domain, then it’s yours.

What If You Don’t Own Your Custom Domain?

We hate to sound like we’re fear mongering, but we need to emphasize how critical it is for you to own your own domain.
If you don’t own your custom domain, then it’s up for grabs. That means it could potentially fall into the hands of one of your competitors. Here’s what could happen as a result:

Your brand starts sending traffic to your competitors. People go to your domain (bobsappliance.com) looking for your business (Bob’s Appliance), but they don’t realize they’re actually connecting with a different business.
With control of your custom domain, your competitor can also pose as your business on Google Maps. Google will believe it’s you because the domain contains your business name.
If your competitor is particularly nasty, they’ll be empowered to write incorrect or overtly negative things about your business on the website attached to your domain. So people will visit your website looking for you, only to read bad things about you, instead. We’ve really seen this happen.
If you can’t regain control of your custom domain, you may have to start all of your marketing over from scratch. This includes getting an entirely new business name and domain, since your current one is now associated with a totally separate entity.

How to Prevent Domain Disaster

Want to avoid the nightmare scenarios above? Registering your own, custom domain name can save you a heck of a lot of stress, money, and lost business. Annual fees for custom domains can be anywhere between $10 and over $100, and they’re worth every penny.
However, what if, for some reason, you can’t have a custom domain? For example, some marketing companies may not let you have your own, or another business with the same name in a different state might have already claimed it. So what should you do?
When owning your custom domain isn’t in the cards, these are the next best options:

Get assurance upfront (in writing, ideally) from your marketing team that you will be permitted to take your domain with you after your contract ends. This is absolutely crucial if your domain contains your business name.
If you can’t take your domain with you and you cannot have ownership of it, then you must use a generic domain that does not contain your business name. A generic domain will look something like, “electriciantexas.com,” which you can easily move on from because your business name isn’t attached.

Act Quickly!

The bottom line? If you currently do not own a custom domain for your business, buy one now. Owning a custom domain not only makes your business appear more established—it also secures your business’s web presence.
If someone else does have control of your custom domain, they essentially have control of your entire web presence. You need to move fast and reclaim it before any damage is done. Reach out to them and try to work it out. If they refuse to return it to you, check with your state’s laws to see if there are any legal actions you can take. And if you cannot own your custom domain, make sure you take the necessary precautions to protect your business’s brand.
The longer you go without owning your custom domain, the more immediate the risks facing your online ranking and presence can become. You can’t afford to wait.

Prospect Genius