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If you’re ready to grow your business online you’re going to need more than just a landing page. What you need is a website that turns casual visitors into raving fans. With all the DIY methods and hacks out there, it’s tempting to think building a website is a simple, straightforward process. While you don’t need to know how to code to use some website builders, their drag-and-drop tools can still be tricky and confusing. There’s a learning curve to these platforms, and that’s something they never mention when they talk about building successful websites with their software. And why would they? The truth is, building a website on your own can become a major time-suck and cause a great deal of stress. You might have every intention of building a simple website, but if you’re not careful, you can end up going down rabbit holes that cost your business precious time, money, and resources. This is especially true if you’re planning to build a professional-looking website that visitors will enjoy using. It won’t be as easy as choosing a template, uploading photos, and providing text. The good news is : building a website from scratch doesn’t have to be a headache. When you have a clear picture of the scope of work it takes to build a website, you can make an educated decision about what’s right for you. That’s why we’ve broken down what the actual cost of a website is – from sheer time to technical skills. When you use this guide, you’ll be equipped to choose the best process to build a website that converts casual visitors into buying customers. Building a Website: The Scope of Work Building a website isn’t as simple as dropping some headlines into a WordPress template. It actually takes a massive scope of work to create a website that grows your business. When you’re building a website, you’ll need: Branding Copywriting Web Design Web Development Images and Graphics Technical Support Depending on your website’s specific needs, you could get into a whole list of other add-ons. For example, setting up an ecommerce store or enabling online booking can require some heavy-lifting from a tech standpoint, which will add time and money to your bill. The process can be pretty intense, so you must determine exactly what you’re looking for before you begin your website journey alone. Should You Build Your Website On Your Own? If you need a website, you have a choice to make. Do you build your website on your own, or do you hire someone to do it for you? Let’s take a closer look at how much time and money it will actually cost you to build a website on your own. If you choose to build a website on your own, you’re going to reap the benefits of full customization. You get to handpick the fonts, words, design, layout, and functionality on your own. At the same time (unless you’re a tech-wizard), you’re signing yourself up for months of frustration. You’ll have to resize images, build graphics, create compelling copy, and you may even end up having to learn to write some code! Building a website on your own is doable, for sure; you can learn virtually anything you need online. But the entire experience can become a bit of a nightmare, and the technical difficulties that you will inevitably encounter can become overwhelming. Let’s compare the costs of using some of the most popular website builders right now.

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Digital marketing can help your business grow and thrive. Learn how email newsletters are an effective marketing tool for restaurants.

In the fall of 2007, Apple released the iPhone 1 and kickstarted a new era of mobile technology. The following year, Google launched the Android 1.0 with an operating system that quickly overtook many third-party competitors. These devices revolutionized the way people consume content and browse the internet. Up until this point, digital advertisers had primarily relied on cookies to track users’ activity through the internet and to show them highly relevant and targeted advertisements. However, these professionals soon discovered that although cookies could be used on mobile devices, their reach was limited and not conducive across different apps and browsers. Finding a modification for cookies became increasingly important as mobile devices soared in popularity. Which brings me to the purpose of this blog post, the mobile-friendly supplement to traditional cookies: advertising ID’s. These ID’s are a series of unique numbers and letters that are assigned to a device on which a specific operating system (OS) is installed. These mobile advertising ID’s work together with traditional cookies and desktop tracking. Here is everything you need to know about the top 5 codes used for mobile ad tracking. Currently, there are two main types of advertising ID’s. They are known as AAID’s and IDFA’s. 1. AAID “Android Advertising ID” This term is also commonly known as GAID or “Google Advertising ID.” This code is exclusive to AndroidOS devices and is comprised of a series of numbers and lowercase letters that are always clear (unhashed). In relation to advertising, the AAID of a device can be tracked and recorded in a bid request (along with the standard included information: platform, time of impression, pixel tags, cookies, and the IP address) that Google Ad Exchange can then use to sell an impression. 2. IDFA “Identifier for Advertisers” This code is exclusive to Apple iOS devices and consists of a series of numbers and uppercase letters that can appear either clear or hashed. Both of these codes have the same purpose : to assign a unique value to a device and to enable advertisers to track data such as installation of apps or clicks. By identifying the device where the action takes place, advertising professionals can create a clearer picture of their target demographic. Also, the user can control the amount that their AAID or IDFA tracks their preferences by either periodically resetting it or enabling a setting called " Limit Ad Tracking " (LAT), which prevents advertisers from utilizing the code for behavioral advertising. The only significant difference between AAID’s and IDFA’s lies in the distributor: Google or Apple. Before advertising ID’s were launched, there were three fixed codes that advertisers used to track users’ activities and preferences: an IMEI and a MAC address. 3. UDID “Universal/Unique Device ID” Before the IDFA code was created, advertisers could track actions on iPhone iOS with an UDID code . This was helpful for advertisers because it could not be disabled or modified by the user. However, in 2012 with the release of iOS6 , Apple transitioned to using IDFA’s to allow users increased control and privacy over their information. 4. IMEI “International Mobile Equipment Identity” This term refers to a 15 or 17 digit code that is assigned to any phone (iPhone or Android) operating on a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) network. It can be commonly found on the sim card, in the settings app, or sometimes engraved on the back of a device. An IMEI code is considered a permanent method to identify a device. 5. MAC Address “Media Access Control Address” This term refers to a code comprised of six sets of two digits or characters, separated by colons. It can be found on a computer’s (smartphone or desktop) network interface control (NIC). Like IMEI codes, it is unable to be reset by the user. Both Google AndroidOS and Apple iOS privacy policies prohibit apps from transmitting IMEI, UDID, or MAC address codes with AAID’s and IDFA’s. This is to protect the users’ right to privacy. Unless advertisers have explicit consent, they are unable to track behavior by using both advertising ID’s (AAID’s and IDFA’s) and permanent device identifiers (IMEI, UDID, or MAC address codes). For example, it was major news in 2017 when Uber’s iOS app was discovered collecting a variety of non-resettable device identifiers. Apple CEO Tim Cook threatened to have the app removed permanently if they did not abide by their privacy policies. Google’s Play Store takes the same stance when it comes to protecting the privacy of their users. So, whether you are a seasoned advertising professional or a business owner venturing into the world of digital ad tracking, these codes are vital to understand. You will undoubtably encounter both IDFA and AAID codes because the market is split between Apple and Google users. And, in order to understand the functionality of modern advertising ID’s, it is important to have a basic knowledge of their predecessors: UDID, IMEI, and MAC address codes.

In 2016, the number of people browsing the internet on mobile devices and tablets surpassed the number of people browsing on desktop computers. Fast-forward to 2020 and this trend has only continued to increase, with no signs of slowing down. Currently , the average American spends roughly 3 hours and 15 minutes consuming content on a mobile device. In order to stay competitive, companies need to optimize their online presence to BOTH desktop and mobile devices. Here are the top four must-have ad sizes to reach your audience on all devices. 320 x 50 “Mobile Leaderboard” Google Adsense names this ad as one of their top performing units and it is also an IAB Mobile standard unit . This banner is designed to specifically flourish on smartphones. The “ Mobile Leaderboard ” can be most commonly found at the top or bottom of a screen, integrated into apps, or placed within browsers themselves. Because it is one of the smallest ad sizes, it is one of the least expensive options. However, this also means that you have to get creative with what you include in the limited dimensions. Our advice is to focus on keeping your message concise and the call-to-action memorable in order to make the most of the space. 300 x 250 “Medium Rectangle” Like the 320 x 50, the “ Medium Rectangle ” is a standard IAB Mobile unit and highly rated within Google Adsense . This ad size is crucial for any campaign because it works on smartphones, tablets, and desktop browsers alike. This banner can be embedded within a website’s content to blend seamlessly and cause the user the least amount of annoyance. This ad is so versatile and popular that it tends to be the most expensive to digitally place. The substantial dimensions of this banner allow for diverse creative aesthetic. It can include images, gifs, text, or even a combination of the three. Our advice to you is to focus on increasing CPM by seeking out rental ad space that is above the fold. This refers to the advertising space seen whenever a web page is initially loaded, without the user scrolling. Ads placed above the fold often outperform similar sized or larger ads placed below-the-fold. 728 x 90 “Leaderboard Banner” This ad size is also commonly referred to as the “Horizontal Banner.” This type of banner ad is typically found at the top of website, directly in the users’ eyeline. It is optimized for both desktop and tablet browsers. Leaderboards can get expensive because they typically need to occupy space above-the-fold in order to get quantifiable impressions. Some websites do offer space for Leaderboards below-the-fold; however, this placement is risky because many users do not scroll to the bottom of a page. Thus, they may never see the advertisement, much less click on it. Our advice is to spring for the above-the-fold placement over expensive creative. Elaborate gifs and a catchy slogan won’t matter if the user never sees the banner 320 x 480 “Mobile Interstitial” It is also known as the “Vertical Rectangle.” This type of ad is designed to take up the entire screen on smartphones. It was originally derived from the original iPhone specs . Despite the significant changes in iPhone dimensions since 2007, the 320 x 480 persists as a popular ad format. An interstitial ad is shown right before the content a user is seeking out. The user clicks on a link and is either briefly diverted to a separate ad page or the content they were seeking out is covered by a floating advertisement. Our advice is to use this ad size sparingly (to limit user annoyance) and to have a specific goal in mind. Because they are so functional for mobile devices, the “Mobile Interstitial” is useful to have in your arsenal for a well-rounded campaign. Banner ads are one of the most widely used ad formats today. They are an excellent option to unobtrusively showcase a brand. Why are the dimensions so important? With the prevalence of online scams, modern-day users are inherently more cautious when it comes to clicking on advertisements. An ad might look completely normal on a desktop browser, but when viewed from a mobile device it suddenly appears warped and sketchy. It is important to invest in a variety of banner ad sizes to ensure that your campaign is an effective, persuasive, multi-channel experience. Engaging with your consumers across multiple devices cultivates strong brand recognition. Digital Treehouse has over 10 years of experience navigating the digital advertising field and would love to collaborate on your next campaign. Check out our services here .

Due to the spread of Covid-19, people are stuck inside spending more time online and scrolling through social media than ever before. This sounds like a digital marketing dream, yet companies have been pulling back their ad spend on platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Why? With an increasingly uncertain outlook for the future, companies are cutting costs by slashing their marketing budgets. Most major companies, like those in the travel industry, have little to no reason to pay to promote their products or services during these times, so they are choosing to reallocate their marketing funds. Since companies are decreasing their spending by pausing their online marketing efforts, prices for digital ads are down. This means that digital ads are cheaper now than they ever have been before . Google, Facebook, and other major digital channels have hundreds of open ad spots that need to be filled. With so many companies cutting their internet advertising, these digital marketing channels are forced to cut their ad costs in order to fill as many spots as possible, even though web traffic has soared. Now more than ever your audience is looking for you to keep them feeling connected, updated, entertained, and intrigued. Now is the time to spend money on digital advertising. With the drop in online ad prices, the increase in web traffic, and digital marketing channels scrambling to fill ad spots, your potential reach through Facebook Advertising and Google Ads has never been bigger for a fraction of the cost. If you still don’t believe us, check out the data we compiled from one of our client’s online marketing efforts.

If you are a local restaurant owner or staff member and fear the consequences of COVID-19 and are unsure of what to do, it may be time for a little innovation. Maybe you’ve thought of signing up for a third-party delivery platform or start your own delivery service and just never did. Well, now is the time! We know that restaurants operate on tight margins on an everyday basis, let alone during an ever-evolving global pandemic. Because of this, a lot of people are trying their hardest to support local businesses right now. So, if you are a restaurant owner or staff member here are a few ways to make it easier for your customers to continue to support you, and to generate revenue during the COVID-19 shutdown. Curbside/Pickup Services One way to keep generating revenue is to offer Curbside/Pickup Services for your customers. It’s a sort of drive-thru for restaurants that don’t typically do that. This may seem like an easy fix to the COVID-19 shutdown, but it does come with its limitations and hardships so be sure to do your research before starting. Here are a few helpful tips from the National Restaurant Association that you should consider, like carefully structuring your staffing, investing in the appropriate packaging, and setting up the correct POS system for payment. Check out this article from Entrepreneur on ‘Why Curbside Pickup Is the Right Thing to Do’ and to learn more about how to successfully start curbside-pickup services. Get Started with ToastTab ToastTab (Toast) is a restaurant platform that offers everything from a point of sale (POS) system to payroll management to online ordering directly from your restaurant. Today, you can get Toast Now for 3 months free with no hardware or POS purchase required. Toast Now allows guests to order directly from your restaurant with Toast Online Ordering where you can access thousands of potential guests, offer e-gift cards, and allow customers the ability to opt for pickup or contactless delivery. There is no third-party delivery platform, so there are no commission fees, but means that you have to supply the delivery drivers which could be good news for your staff looking to continue working. Toast is also offering a full list of resources that will help you, your restaurant, and your staff during this trying time. Be sure to take a look at their ‘Resources and Relief Programs Available to Restaurants During COVID-19’ for a full list of helpful information. Start Offering Delivery through DoorDash or GrubHub Want the ability to offer delivery without hiring delivery drivers? Think about signing up for DoorDash or GrubHub. Using a third-party delivery service is great for restaurants that can’t or do not want to shoulder the cost of starting their own delivery service. DoorDash is currently offering free sign up with zero commission fees for 30 days and a commission relief and marketing support package to help partner restaurants generate additional sales this year. GrubHub has created Supper for Support to give restaurants $250 to use as promotional dollars. This move is to help restaurants boost orders through daily promotion inclusion and high value marketing. Working with a third-party delivery platform may seem overwhelming, but it does help to keep the orders flowing in. We recommend that you do as much research as possible to ensure you work with a company that you are more than comfortable with. Sell Gift Cards Now for Customers to Use Later This may seem like a no brainer, but have you thought about selling gift cards for a lower amount than they are worth? Sell a $125 Gift Card for only $100 or sell a $250 Gift Card for $200. That may sound strange especially today, but it does give your customers an incentive to buy more than they originally would. It also ensures that customers do indeed come back when this is all over. Check out Rally for Restaurants Powered by Toast We don’t mean to keep coming back to Toast, but the resources they are offering are endless. Rally for Restaurants is an easy way for people in or out of your community to support you. This platform allows customers to decide how they want to give back. Customers can order takeout, buy a gift card or just donate money. Rally for Restaurants makes it easy for restaurants to sign up and even allows customers to add their favorite places onto the platform. They are also offering even more resources on what the CARES Act means for restaurant owners and staff . Be sure to take a look to see how it may help you. Let’s Go Order Takeout We’re not experts in the restaurant industry, but we do love food and our local restaurants. If you are a restaurant owner, we encourage you to do the research for yourself and take advantage of the many different programs out there trying to help. If you are a staff member, bring these recommendations to your owners and sit down and discuss what you can all do together. If you are like us, and just love food, now is your time to truly support local. If you are able, we encourage you all to go to your favorite restaurant, buy a gift card, order a meal for takeout or just donate. We’re all in this together and we’ll get through this together! #SupportLocal

How to work from home during Coronavirus from professionals with DigitalTreehouse who work from home. Create your own personalized plan that will help you stay productive and maintain your mental well-being.

Facebook Lead Ads allow us to create higher converting marketing campaigns that we struggle to find through various avenues. We are able to capitalize on the vast amount of Facebook users to gain better conversions rates, meaning that we are able to target specific audiences to generate better, high-quality leads. You may be familiar with how Facebook Lead Ads work, but what you may not be familiar with are the 3 Phases of Lead Generation within Facebook Advertising. Below, we will go through each phase, point out tips to implement when setting up your ads and the overall cost of getting through each phase to continue on to the next one. Let’s start at Phase 1: The Learning Phase In order to begin, Facebook recommends setting a budget of $25 a day to properly “learn” how to best serve your ads to your audience (potential leads). Why $25? Basically, this gives Facebook enough daily budget to experiment with and slowly start converting leads. As Facebook learns more about your audience, your few conversions, your ad set and your ads, they collect more and more data. With this data, they are able to better learn who best to show your ads to and capitalize on gaining those crucial conversions, or leads. As Facebook learns more, they are able to target users to generate high quality leads. In the Learning Phase, your typical cost per lead (CPL) is estimated to be around $25 to $50. This may seem pricey, but because the ad campaign is still in this learning phase, performance is less stable and the cost per action (CPA) is usually worse, meaning that costs are higher. You will go through the Learning Phase until you have at least 100 leads. At this point you can create a Custom Audience through Facebook which you can then use to create a Lookalike Audience, a group of targeted users that share similar characteristics with your Custom Audience. We know that the price to get through the Learning Phase is a bit much, especially if you are looking just get more newsletter subscribers but trust us it is worth it! Cost to get through Phase 1: $3,000 Phase 2: The Growing Phase Now that you were able to create a Custom Audience from those first 100 leads received in the Learning Phase and you’ve created ads targeting your Lookalike Audience, your CPL should begin to come down. This is called the Growing Phase and it’s where Facebook uses its own knowledge of those first 100 leads to find the best people to show your ads to, your Lookalike Audience, generating even more leads. The CPL in this phase is typically $10 to $20. You will be in this phase until you generate at least 1,000 leads through your Facebook Ads, the magic number to generate high-quality leads through a Lookalike Audience. Be sure to check out our latest post on The Rule of 1,000 to better understand Custom and Lookalike Audiences and why this phase is very important to generating leads that convert. Cost to get through Phase 2: $10,000 to $20,000 Phase 3: Maturity Phase After reaching 1,000 leads through your Facebook Ads, you can now create a new Lookalike Audience that will further expand your targeted reach. In this phase, Facebook will have much more data to use to optimally target your ads to the appropriate users, users that have the best probability of converting to new leads. In Phase 3, the Maturity Phase, you will get more leads for the same budget that you are currently using. At this point your CPL should be under $10. This is the typical CPL range where most (if not all) businesses are comfortable. With that being said, it can take some time and money, usually $13,000 - $23,000, to get to this preferred CPL range that is generating the most high-quality leads. During this phase, your ads are about as intelligent as they can be and should no longer be changed as part of your optimization strategy. That said, you can continue to tweak your ads (using various images, videos and text) to see which performs best. At DigitalTreehouse, we recommend using Budget Optimization at this point to let Facebook decide which ads to show for optimal conversions Cost to get to Phase 3: $23,000 Facebook Ads can be pricey and seem overwhelming, but in the end, they do work if done right. That is why we are here to help you navigate all your social media advertising fears. Contact us today to see how we can take the burden off of you and generate high-quality leads that convert.

One of the issues we’re running into with building smarter audiences on Facebook is the problem that Facebook can’t actually see and fully process the lead data. We can make our targeted audiences smarter by telling Facebook to only show ads to the type of people it “thinks” are more likely to submit our lead form through Custom and Lookalike Audiences, especially if you receive at least 100 leads . From there, Facebook is able to capture someone’s response when they fill out a lead form, generating a new lead, or user, for us to further target. But, if the people submitting the lead forms are not the type of people that we actually want, then you could be optimizing your ads towards the wrong people – and it will only get worse as the ads and audiences get smarter. Sometimes we run into this issue when generating leads for wealth management companies . For example, sometimes we get leads coming in that don’t qualify in terms of the amount of wealth that they have. This means, these people are filling out the form, but are not the users that we are hoping to hit, i.e. their wealth is not above a certain threshold. Facebook doesn’t see this because they are not digging into the data within the submitted lead form. In reality they may see this data, but they haven’t designed an interface where we can optimize our audiences based on how people actually answer the lead form. In other words, Facebook has not designed an interface that allows us to optimize our audiences based on lead form answers. For instance, if our client is a wealth management company, and our lead form has a qualifying question that says, “Is your net worth over $1 million or under $1 million?”, and we really only want to target people that will submit over $1 million as the answer, it would be nice to tell Facebook to optimize the audience towards people that will only select that option in the form. But, because Facebook can’t see that option or doesn’t take the form responses into account to allow us to customize audiences based on form responses, we are unable to create a smarter audience based on lead form responses. So, what do you do? What we typically do is review all the leads that have come in over a period of 2 to 3 months, see which campaign, ad group or ad is generating the highest percentage of lead form responses that we want (over $1 million in the example above), and turn off the campaigns, ad groups or ads that are generating high percentages of lead form responses that we don’t want (below $1 million in our example above). Because worst-case scenario is that Facebook starts to optimize the campaigns, ad accounts or ads to get more leads from the people that we don’t want.

What is ‘The Rule of 1,000’ and why is it so important? How can you use it to target users who are most likely to engage with your business? In order to understand ‘The Rule of 1,000’, we have to understand Custom and Lookalike Audiences that you can create to target through Facebook Ads. Custom Audiences , also referred to as match or source audiences, give you the power to build your reach by targeting people who have already interacted with your business. Custom Audiences can be created from customer lists like newsletter subscribers or past customers, website traffic, or people who have already engaged with your business on Facebook or Instagram. Most importantly, Custom Audiences can be used to create Lookalike Audiences. Lookalike Audiences can include new potential fans, followers, and customers who share key characteristics with your existing following, your Custom Audience. With Lookalike Audiences, you are able to target people, or leads, who are most likely to be interested in your business, engage with you through Social Media and become loyal customers. When compiling data for your Custom Audience, you must always remember ‘The Rule of 1,000’. When creating a Custom Audience, you must have at least 100 users. Again, those users can be your newsletter subscribers, past customers or people who have liked your Facebook page. With an audience that size, your Lookalike Audience will more closely match your Custom Audience but will not have the impacted reach you were hoping for. The same thing can be said for the opposite. If you create a Custom Audience made up of every single user, say 50,000 leads, that has interacted with your business, then you will have a larger reach but your rate of engagement will decline. In order to obtain high quality leads and increase the probability that you will reach an audience who will interact with your business, buy your products and in turn help spread awareness, your Custom Audience should be made up of 1,000 of your best and most engaged users. ‘The Rule of 1,000’ ensures that your Lookalike Audience shares a certain level of similarity to your Custom Audience, which will lead you to better results and a higher engagement rate. It will also allow you to minimize your ad spend and maximize your return on investment (ROI). So, when you want to reach new potential leads with Facebook Ads, start with creating a Custom Audience made up of at least 1,000 of your current followers. Then you can create a Lookalike Audience that shares key characteristics and will in turn engage with your business and become loyal customers. Always remember ‘The Rule of 1,000’, an easy way to generate new high-quality leads for your business! If this was helpful and you want to learn more, be sure to check out ‘10 Steps to Boosting Email Newsletter Subscriber Lists with Facebook and Instagram Advertising’ , to learn how to create even smarter Lookalike Audiences and gain even more high-quality leads.

It's that time of year again, the holidays! Along with all the food, family and friends comes the tradition of getting into the Christmas spirit with a few holiday movies. Here's our picks for the top 10 Christmas movies to watch yearly. Don't agree with out list? Let us know your top 10 in the comments below! 1. Christmas Vacation 2. Home Alone 3. Love Actually 4. A Christmas Story 5. Die Hard 6. It's a Wonderful Life 7. Elf 8. Scrooged 9. Four Christmases 10. How the Grinch Stole Christmas Runner Ups... Miracle on 34th Street White Christmas Gremlins The Holiday The Family Stone Edward Scissorhands Bad Santa Jingle All The Way Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

According to Edison Research, over 51% of Americans have listened to a podcast AT LEAST ONCE (probably Serial ) . And for many people, podcasts have become a part of their daily routines. So if you or your business have the content, it’s clear that podcasting can be a powerful way to reach your audiences in a new, highly popular way. In this post, we’re going to dive into: The specifics of how to start a podcast How to get listed on platforms like iTunes and Spotify And the equipment you’ll need to get started If you think your business might benefit from a podcast, our team at DigitalTreehouse would love to help craft your strategy and offer more tips on podcast production and promotion. Why should you start a podcast? (Not just because everyone else is doing it!) Podcasting is a great way to create content for your business and build an audience that may not have engaged with your brand otherwise. Developing that content also doubles as a way to position yourself as an authority in your industry. Additionally, podcasts offer another avenue to drive traffic back to your website because every podcast directory includes a link that can direct your listeners to learn more. Podcasting has surpassed other audio sources such as music streaming and AM/FM radio, according to Edison Research. Not only is it the primary form of consumer audio , but podcasting is projected to grow as underserved niche topics gain steam. If your industry happens to fall in one of those underserved areas, you may have the chance to become an early adopter and industry leader in the podcasting space. How to choose a topic The first task in starting any podcast is to identify your topic. For some businesses, the topic might be obvious, but for others, it could be time to get creative. For example, if you’re a custom frame shop, it could be difficult to create a podcast on such a physical activity as how to frame a piece of artwork. However, you could interview artists in your community or customers who have an interesting story about a family heirloom. When it comes to topics, it’s all about the angle. To vet whether or not your topic offers enough potential content, try coming up with a list of ten to twenty episodes. If you’re thinking about starting an interview-format podcast, ask yourself if you have access to a network of potential guests. If you’re thinking about a narrative-style podcast, ask yourself if your business has enough interesting stories to tell. Building a show description and artwork Once you’ve fleshed out your topic, it’s time to come up with a title. For many businesses, that could be the name of the brand plus “podcast,” but you do have the chance to add a few words you may want to rank for in iTunes. It’s important to note that iTunes and other podcast directories are search engines. Still, don’t overdo your keywords, and try to keep the title as natural as possible. You’ll also need a host name and description. The host name can either be your name or the name of your brand, and the description should outline the purpose of the podcast and include relevant keywords for the show. Lastly, you’ll need a square image to represent your show. Your podcast’s artwork will be the first thing listeners see, so it’s important to make a good impression that’s both eye-catching and descriptive. Let us know if we can help you with some custom design work . Currently, the maximum size for Podcast artwork in iTunes is 3000 x 3000 pixels , but keep in mind that most podcast directories shrink artwork to 300 x 300 pixels or 150 x 150 pixels. A good rule of thumb is if it’s legible and eye-catching at 150 x 150 pixels, it should work across the board. Gathering the necessary equipment and software Most people assume podcasting is expensive. However, an entry-level microphone, boom stand, pop filter, and shock mount will offer quality production for less than $125.00. You’ll also need recording and editing software, but luckily, most near-professional level software is free. Check out GarageBand (Included on Mac) or Audacity (Free for Windows, Mac, and Linus). Finally, every podcast needs a place to host its audio files. You don’t want to host your podcast on the same server as your website since most web hosts don’t have the bandwidth or speed to download or stream your hosted MP3s. Luckily, there are numerous affordable online hosts such as Libsyn, Buzzsprout, or Blubrry which also automatically submit your show to top listing platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. Building your audience After you’ve recorded, edited, and published your first episode, you’ll want to promote your show to your existing audience and optimize it for new listeners. Encourage your followers to subscribe to your podcast on iTunes or follow your show on Spotify with social media posts or email reminders. Include a link to your podcast in your email signature. Also, make sure to ask your listeners to subscribe or visit your website within the intro and outro of each episode. ~ As you can see, starting a podcast isn’t as complex as you may have imagined. For a relatively small investment, you can begin producing quality content and developing a brand new audience. If you’re interested in learning more or are curious about how podcasting might fit within your marketing strategy, reach out to our digital marketing team today. Source(s): https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-podcast-consumer-2019/, https://www.podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/

This process uses Facebook’s algorithm to create “smart audiences” based on data you initially provide them… Step 1: Take your current newsletter subscriber list (emails) and upload it to Facebook. Facebook will then match your newsletter subscribers with actual Facebook and Instagram accounts. This is called a matched audience. Facebook owns Instagram so they can match on both networks. Step 2 : Once Facebook has “matched” your list of emails to its actual users, you can then create what’s called a “lookalike” audience. This is where Facebook finds its members that are very similar to the people in your matched list. Basically, Facebook is finding all the people that would want to subscribe to your newsletter but aren’t yet subscribed. Step 3 : Create a compelling advertisement (image or motion graphic) explaining the benefits of joining your newsletter. Feel free to create a few different versions so you can test which one works best. See examples of motion graphic advertisements here. Step 4 : Run this advertisement on Facebook targeting your new lookalike audience with the Facebook goal of LEADS. Ensure that you EXCLUDE your matched audience as you don’t want current subscribers to see the advertisement (since they are already subscribed). The ad will automatically run on Instagram as well since its part of the Facebook ad network. Step 5 : Link your Facebook Ad account with your newsletter subscription software so new people that sign up via Facebook (and Instagram) are automatically subscribed. This can typically be done with a “ZAP” from Zapier . Step 6 : Now smile and watch the subscribers start automatically pouring in! BUT WAIT…DON’T STOP THERE! Step 7 : Once you have 100 new subscribers (LEADS), you can create a NEW matched audience on Facebook. The difference is that this audience will be matched only to the people that (a) have seen the ad + (b) clicked submit on the form to subscribe. What does this mean? You’ve now created a matched segment of your original lookalike audience but now it’s only the people that have seen your newsletter advertisement and clicked sign-up. Step 8 : Using your new matched audience from Step 7, create a NEW lookalike audience of people who are most likely to sign up for your newsletter after seeing an ad. This is your SMARTER LOOKALIKE AUDIENCE. Step 9 : Change the audience in your ads to your new smarter lookalike audience from Step 8. Be sure to exclude both your original subscriber list AND the matched audience from Step 7 (as these people are already subscribers). Now you’ve created an optimized audience of people that are most likely to sign up for your newsletter when seeing an advertisement on Facebook and Instagram. Your ads will be shown only to these people and anyone who clicks sign-up will be signed up for your newsletter. Plus, Facebook will continue to update your matched and lookalike audiences to improve them as more leads come in over time. Step 10 : Ask for a promotion because you’ve just created a newsletter subscriber generating machine.

As much as this statement will anger many, I believe it’s true. At least from a content perspective. Here's why… Search engine optimizers (SEO’s) are constantly searching for ways to boost their clients’ websites in search results. Years ago it was somewhat easy since you could stuff keywords throughout a website and build backlinks through business citations, social bookmarking and blog comments. #1 Way Google Is Making the Internet Better: Websites Content Must Improve Then Google made it more difficult by eliminating much of the value received from those mostly outdated techniques. Google’s algorithm changes started to require a website to actually have its own unique content. So SEO’s helped their clients by creating custom content for websites including page copy, articles and blog posts. The hope was that Google would index the content, read it as quality content and boost the website in search results. The website could now be ranked higher because it had “fresh” content and that content could actually rank as well on it’s own (because Google doesn’t rank websites, it ranks pages of websites). #2 Way Google Is Making the Internet Better: An Army of Content Creators But then everyone started creating content covering every topic possible in order to get their website to rank better. SEO’s helped content creators, webmasters and business owners by telling them what topics to cover that had lots of search traffic and low competition (meaning not many web pages had covered that topic yet). So Google now had anyone who wanted their website to rank better in search (which is pretty much anyone who profits off people finding their website), creating good content to answer any search topic (whether related or not). #3 Way Google Is Making the Internet Better: A Proper Article, Image or Video for Every Search Now we seem to be approaching a time when every possible topic is covered by an article, blog, infographic or video that has been uploaded to the web. Google has harnessed the power of creators all over the world to populate the web to answer its search queries. And it rewards these creators by ranking the content higher in search. How does it judge the quality of the content? By the amount of websites that link back to the content. So hopefully if you create great content and share it, people will link to it and you’ll rank higher in Google due to the backlinks received. But now what… #4 Way Google Is Making the Internet Better: Continuous Improvement of Each Article, Image or Video So what happens now when the searches you want to rank for have already been covered somewhere else by great content? Well...You make the content even better! SEO’s now are researching which websites are linking to pieces of content covering certain topics for which they want to rank. Then they review the content in question and work hard to make it better. (The average blog post now takes 3.5 hours to write not including data research and custom image/video creation). No more spending 30 minutes to an hour making a great post about the history of hairless cats for a pet shop. You now need to spend three to five hours or more to provide an article with more value (meaning better research, newer data and more insight) to stand a chance that the website linking to the previous post on hairless cats will change to your post. So that’s the work of SEO’s, working to create even better content to replace less-valuable content so that websites will link to this new content over the old content (that's a lot of "content"). Google has now forced us to continually rewrite the internet with improved content that is more valuable than the previous content. And we do it because we want to provide value to our clients. Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so as long as the content being created IS actually valuable and improves upon current content holding the top spots. What’s Next? Is there a time when this will end? NO! Because content can always be improved. Data changes, stats change, trends change and mediums for delivering information change as well. A blog post about hairless cats can be turned into a beautiful infographic. An infographic can be turned into an explanatory GIF or short motion graphic video. Going even further, you could create a short film or full feature film about a topic to improve the content even further. Is that the peak? NO! Someone else can come along and create an even better film. I mean, just look at how many times Batman and Spiderman movies have been remade. So there is always going to be room for improved content on the web. And as long as Google rewards us for creating better content by ranking highly “linked-to “content and web pages containing that content higher in search, people will continue to improve upon it. Ps. Does anyone know any hairless cats available for a short film I’m working on?

Is it OK to ask for online reviews? Can you only ask people that will give positive feedback? What's the best way to ask?

WHAT IS CONFERENCE GEOFECNING? Recently I attended a conference in Vegas at the Venetian. The conference was hosted by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and is the biggest conference of the year for Orthopedic Surgeons around the world to connect and learn more about their trade. I was attending the conference because I run an online reputation service for physicians to help them manage their online reviews. The conference ran for three intense days with little time for breaks in between meetings, events and sales pitches. I returned home the day the conference ended, exhausted. Then the next day I noticed something strange. I kept seeing advertisements on my phone that were targeted to Orthopedic Surgeons. The ads were trying to recruit surgeons for a hospital group that was hiring. That’s when I realized I’d been GEOFENCED! I was familiar with conference geofencing at the time but had never experienced it myself. Geofencing a conference means using advanced advertising software to run ads on mobile devices when located inside a particular location (the conference center) during a certain time frame (the dates of the conference). Because about 90% of mobile devices always have location services turned on, the location of the phone is constantly being reported by the apps on the phone. This is so the apps can provide a better user experience while also serving up location-based advertising. This is one of the main reasons many mobile apps are free to use. But what happens after the conference ends and why did I keep seeing the ad…? Oh, retargeting! CONFERENCE ATTENDEE RETARGETING The most powerful aspect of a conference geofencing campaign is that you can continue to deliver ads for many months afterward to mobile devices that were detected attending the conference. That’s why I saw the Ortho ad even after I was back home in Nashville. This is the “Retargeting” portion of the campaign. Conference retargeting can be a great way to continually place your company’s message in front of people who attended a conference you were sponsoring. HOW ARE ADS DELIVERED You can call it display advertising, banner advertising or programmatic, but basically your ads are delivered on mobile apps and mobile websites as images, GIFs or videos. Any mobile app or website that delivers advertising could potentially be open to showing your ads. The key is determining your precise location. Only mobile apps can tap into the phone’s GPS system to gather latitude longitude coordinates. When this happens, the geofence can be extremely tight meaning within a few feet. Mobile websites are unable to determine this precise location unless they prompt you to allow the website to know your location (like the Google maps web application does). BENEFITS OF CONFERENCE GEOFENCING Any conference in the world can probably be geofenced as most major buildings and addresses have been recorded in online databases. Your company can have a presence at a conference, even if nobody attended from your company. Your company can boost its presence at a conference by delivering ads during the conference showing which booth to visit to learn more. You can retarget people who attended a conference months after the conference has ended, continually reminding them about your product or service. The cost to geofence and retarget people at a conference can be MUCH CHEAPER than actually attending the conference yourself (though its probably most beneficial to attend and geofence at the same time). GETTING STARTED If you see the potential in geofencing conferences, like I did, then I’d love to talk with you about implementing this service either for your own company or as a service you can resell (white-labeled of course) to you clients. Just shoot me a quick message via the contact form on our website or call (800) 980-7116 and ask for Scott.

So you’ve entered the cannabis business, and now you want to leverage some digital marketing for growth. A quick online search will bring up themes such as CBD licenses, ad restrictions by state, and a plethora of digital marketing acronyms like SEO, SEM and CPM. It can be a lot to wade through, but we’re here to cut through the jargon and point you in the right direction. The Do’s and Don’ts of Cannabis Marketing Businesses, especially those that are new, require effective advertising to grow. With the current status of cannabis in flux for a majority of the United States, business owners are likely to find themselves navigating a maze of restrictions put in place by state legislators. For a small business or startup, it can feel even more overwhelming as the limitations start to add up. Thankfully, we’re committed to assessing these regulations in-depth, so you don’t have to. So what are the first steps to ensuring your advertising is both effective and legal? Don’t : Advertise in Unauthorized States for THC Based Products It sounds obvious, but there is a constantly evolving chain of information surrounding which states allow which types of cannabis advertising, with a wide variety of restrictions based on medical usage, recreational usage, and THC percentages. At the time of publication, we’re allowed to freely serve ads in the following states: Alaska California Colorado Maine Massachusetts Michigan Nevada Oregon Rhode Island Vermont Washington Arizona, the District of Columbia, Minnesota, and Oklahoma also offer conditional cannabis advertising. For example, dispensaries in states that allow medical marijuana for serious illnesses can bypass some advertising limitations. Additionally, products with less than 0.3 percent THC , such as CBD oil, can freely advertise in all fifty states and Canada, provided they are a licensed producer, seller, or distributor. Do : Craft Your Brand With Care Decades of stigma and opposition have left deep-seated, negative feelings in the minds of consumers when it comes to cannabis. Your business could have a powerful impact on upcoming generations’ views of cannabis. As you’re developing content, take extra care to avoid derogatory or limiting messaging that perpetuates stereotypes about cannabis customers. While it may seem clever or fun, this type of messaging can have a crippling effect on the attraction of new consumers. Additionally, a wide range of legal restrictions exists regarding specific ad messaging. A key element to keep in mind is to always promote your business’ brand over the actual product. Don’t : Use Unacceptable Creative Your creative content must fit within the parameters of your advertising platforms. If your ads attempt to do the following, whether explicitly or implicitly, they may be flagged: Attempt to influence adult non-consumers to try cannabis Display, reference, or use cannabis brand elements to sponsor a person, entity, event, activity, or facility Target young/underage persons ( a BIG no-no ) - so no cartoon camels on your packaging! Communicate a testimonial or endorsement Suggest that cannabis has therapeutic or health related effects ( wait, doesn't it? ) Instead, focus on messaging that highlights the benefits of your organization, such as same-day delivery or promoting your overall brand, rather than product details, pricing, or location. Do : Look Into Advertising on Platforms outside Facebook and Google Google, Facebook, and Facebook-owned Instagram have strict criteria that could either impact your advertising performance or not allow it altogether. It’s beneficial to look beyond these main platforms at options like premium websites or apps that specifically allow cannabis-related advertising. DigitalTreehouse is well-versed in Private Marketplaces (PMPs) which allow advertising access to inventory not available on the open exchange. This method allows greater control over ad placement and buoys your overall ad performance. We can also help craft a message that abides by the guidelines of major digital advertising platforms, while prioritizing less-utilized platforms to effectively reach your audience online. Want to GEOFENCE dispensaries and advertise to mobile devices in that area - WE CAN DO THAT! The cannabis industry in the United States and Canada is growing rapidly. This is not the time to get "smoked" by the competition. If you’re a business owner looking for someone to guide your cannabis digital marketing efforts and connect you with new cannabis-loving customers, we want to have a conversation. Our team of digital marketing experts is well-versed in the legislative red tape surrounding this controversial topic, and we’re ready to guide your cannabis business to success. Reach out today to start the conversation .

Have you ever received a letter from a company called Dun & Bradstreet ? I recently did and decided to call the number and check into it. Typically, I would throw this type a letter away because it seemed like junk mail, but I was actually somewhat familiar with Dun & Bradstreet from a previous experience. A few years ago I was working with some friends on a fitness app start-up. The app was ready to put into the Apple Store but we hit a snag. We were unable to get an Apple Developer’s Account because we didn’t have this mysterious Dun & Bradstreet corporate number that Apple required. I feel like I tried for months to get that Dun & Bradstreet number created for our start-up company, which was formed as an LLC, had a bank account, and everything else you think would be necessary. I was never able to get the number and therefore never able to get the app launched in the App Store. Our start-up pretty much fizzled out from there (mainly because a competitor app raised $150 Million and crushed us). So when I received a letter showing my digital agency HAD A DUN & BRADSTREET NUMBER , I was ecstatic because I knew what a pain it can be to acquire that number! WHAT DID IT SAY? The letter basically said I had recently received a credit check from another company but my company profile was incomplete. It included a number to call to "update" my company's information. WHAT DID YOU DO? So I called the number of course! A very nice account rep quickly answered and here’s what he had to say. Dun & Bradstreet is basically a service that monitors corporate credit much like Equifax and Trans Union monitor individuals' personal credit. So if your company needs loans or is hoping to take on investment or even looking to do business with another company on credit terms, Dun & Bradstreet is probably the first place others can inquire about your company's credit worthiness. It seems it's also a way of just checking if a company is legitimate or not ( thus why Apple wants your D&B number to let you upload apps ). The Dun & Bradstreet rep mentioned there were some paid services for companies looking to expand their profile but I probably didn't have a need for these services (yet). So he referred me to a simple website address where I could update my business details with Dun & Bradstreet: www.CompanyUpdate.com . What a great domain! It's basically just a redirect to the company update page on D&B's website. SUMMARY So quick summary, if you get a letter from Dun and Bradstreet, at the very least write down your Dun and Bradstreet number because it’s kind of like your business' Social Security number. At least you'll have it on file when you're ready to launch your billion dollar mobile app in Apple's store!

If there’s one thing all business owners know, it’s that customers have questions. “What are you selling?” “How much does it cost?” “What are your hours?” Without questions, we couldn’t move the needle. Engaging with our customers helps make sales and raise awareness about our businesses. The problem is, whether you’re operating a small business or a large company, answering all those questions takes time. And as a business owner, time is always at a premium. Besides, this isn’t just happening Monday through Friday. Thanks to technology, businesses are able to connect with people across the globe and around the clock. These important questions might be coming in 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, how can a business stay on top of responding? This is where chat bots come in. Chat bots function on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but they can also be implemented on websites. They exist to funnel customers’ questions through a series of filters, to either provide the answers customers are seeking or direct them to the most relevant source of information. Best of all, thanks to new technologies chat bots are simple to set up, and they provide immense value. If you’re the owner of a popular coffee shop, imagine how much time you could save on the phone or online if a function existed that could tell customers your hours of operation, what coffee's you serve and how to get directions. With chat bots, it’s truly that simple. Our team at DigitalTreehouse can work with your business to assess the most common questions customers ask, and determine how chat bots can either answer the questions directly or bring customers to the most relevant web page or phone number. Additionally, the messages sent from chat bots can be customized to fit your business’ branding and voice. Your customers will feel like they’re talking to a helpful employee, not some lifeless robot. Beyond custom wording, you can also set up multiple bot conversation templates for your business. While only one will be active at a time, you can implement a different conversation if you need to communicate something new during a particular season or time period. So, what does a typical chat bot conversation look like? When a customer opens up your business’ social media page, a new chat window will automatically pop up, saying something like, “Hi there, thanks for reaching out! Choose one of the following options to learn more about our business. A) Hours and Location, B) My purchase/order, C) Provide Feedback, D) Other.” After choosing the appropriate option, customers will then be guided through a few more questions to determine what they need to know. It’s that simple. Businesses of any size can benefit from the use of chat bots, as both a time-saving effort and a positive customer engagement tool. Are you ready to implement chat bots in your business or organization? DigitalTreehouse can help. Reach out to our team today with any questions or to get started.