Ask JSL Marketing & Web Design - Grand Rapids a Question

These are the words you choose (after we send you a list of researched words with high search volume, low competition, and industry relevancy) that your campaign will focus on and optimize your site around. Keywords are the things your clients are searching for in order to find you, and therefore, they are the roads that lead to your site via search engines. The better the keyword, the better the road, the more traffic you’ll get and the more revenue you’ll gain.

Blackhat SEO involves tactics that try to trick Google or Search Engines into ranking them higher. Whitehat SEO is when you truly make a site better so Google, users, and potential customers like it and therefore choose to use it. Blackhat was easier to do at the beginning of SEO, when the search engine’s algorithms could easily be tricked with keyword stuffing or spammy backlinks. However, now they are so advanced (and updated daily) so Blackhat tactics will ultimately get your site penalized and dropped quickly, even if you see a quick, short-lived climb. JSL Marketing agrees with your parents – don’t cheat, win the right way – with Whitehat SEO.

We recommend you check out reviews and meet with every company you consider, whether in person or via an online meeting. Make sure they are willing to answer your questions in plain words, and are transparent about their pricing, services, and results. Also, it stands to reason that they should be able to do for themselves what they claim to be able to deliver to you – such as being on the first page of Google for many high-volume searches, queries, and keywords – which we are. In fact, we bet that’s how you found us, and that’s how we’ll make your customers be able to find you.

We really are your full-service digital marketing and web design agency. Anything digital, we can help!

We have offices in both Dallas, Texas, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, but we have clients from all across America. From New York to New Mexico, California to Georgia – we can work from anywhere and we can work for anyone.

We sure do! We have a team of creative geniuses who can help create your ideal branding, naming, messaging, colors, fonts, and more. Call to learn more!

Content marketing is when you use content creation to help your marketing efforts. For example, if you create blogs, videos, or social media posts that are meant to be seen and shared, then you are technically working with content marketing. However, creating content that will ultimately help your digital marketing plan is where it can get tricky. This is why having a content strategy is important and understanding your keywords, semantically related keywords, and the voice and mediums your audience prefers.

The short answer? Often. First, you don’t want your website to be outdated looking, or have outdated content on it (like Christmas lights in June), and second, you want search engines to see your site isn’t stagnant. This means blogs, GMB (Google My Business) posts, social media posts, content updates at least monthly, etc.

This is any form of marketing that lives online – anything from social media ads and Google ads (SEM and PPC) to SEO, blogs, content marketing, email marketing, etc. Think of the progression of advertising and marketing – it started with word of mouth, then signs, then newspapers, ads, and fliers, then radio, television, and now it’s online (digital).

We have SEO packages for (just about) every price point. Don’t have a huge budget? Try one of our technical SEO packages which will provide fixes for errors and warnings, as well as minor monthly content edits. Want blogs, social media, copywriting, and more? Talk with us and we’ll find the perfect SEO + Content Marketing package for you. Have unique needs? We can custom-create a proposal for your desires and work within your budget. From 5 keywords to over 30, our packages and custom SEO proposals can meet you where you are, anywhere from $500 to $5,000+ a month. Beware the SEO packages that some offer for pennies, as they will likely do nothing for you and simply collect their check each month.

Even if you have a wonderful website, great services, or amazing products, you won’t be successful if no one can find you online. SEO makes you easier to find (higher on Google’s results page) and therefore more likely to be chosen by your customers. After all, they can’t choose a company that’s buried beneath the thousands of other companies online. Think of Google as a competition and we are the trainers who will whip your website into shape so that you can win that race and be seen and known by your potential customers. So, yeah, SEO is pretty important.

SEO is kind of like climbing a mountain, and it can take about as much time. We recommend at least 6 months with your keywords, and 12 is even better. Let’s say you’re #44 for ‘best digital marketing agency near me’ – do you really think Google, the all-knowing, all-powerful search engine will boost you to that coveted number 1 spot after a week? 3? 6? No, it will be a gradual climb. You will certainly see jumps right away, and maybe you will even get to that number one spot in 3-6 weeks, but we want consistency, we want to make your site an authority, and we want to get more than just one keyword to that top spot. How’s that saying go? Ah yes, if it’s easy, it won’t be worth it, and if it’s worth it, it won’t be easy.

SERP stands for Search Engine Ranking Page, and it is the page that pulls up when you search something, or ‘Google something’.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is a way to make Google (or other search engines) like your site more. Essentially SEO is the stock market for words that your customers are searching online. We start out by researching phrases and words that your customers are searching (like, ‘best digital marketing agency near me’), you choose the keywords you want (from our researched recommendations) and then we optimize your site around those keywords. This (plus over 200 other ranking factors that search engines look to) can make your site climb the search engine ranking page (SERP), meaning your site might be #13 for ‘best digital marketing agency near me’ which is the second page of Google’s search results – but after SEO you could climb to #3, which will get you considerably more traffic, more clicks, and more clients. And more clients mean more revenue.

Our web design process takes anywhere from 8 to 16 weeks (think 8 weeks for a smaller site and 16 weeks for a large or fully-custom site). This includes a prep phase where we get to know your needs and get the needed copy and images, a research phase where we learn your industry, the first design phase and editing phase, and our testing and launch phase.

Yes, absolutely. If you aren’t a natural wordsmith, or if you want the help of a professional, SEO, or technical writer, then we can absolutely create copy that speaks to your industry and customers as well as the search engines. Need photos? We can either go mining with our software and tools for relevant images or provide commercial, team, and product photography services for your website, social media, and more.

This is a great (and common) question – and unfortunately, the answer is pretty varied. Do you want a 3-page site? Then your quote will be considerably less than a 30-page site. Are you working in e-commerce, or do you require specializations, extensive custom-coding, multiple forms, portals, and platforms? Then your quote will be considerably higher than a simple informational site. The long and the short? A (good) website can cost anywhere from $3,800-$30,000.

Web design is hugely important, but do you know what else is important? Choosing a web design company you can trust, that listens, responds, and is willing to learn about you before they just jump in making promises and wild claims. Learn about JSL Marketing & Web Design here, our web design process here, or simply contact us to set up a consultation. Fill out a form and we’ll get back to you within a business day.