Shoreline Media Marketing is a full-service web design, social media marketing and search engine optimization company.
Here’s what Joe Sernio had to say about the company and the future of digital marketing:
For those who aren’t familiar with you and your company, please tell us a little more about your company
Shoreline Media Marketing is a professional website design, social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) company. We concentrate on what the other agencies do not. Leads and conversions. The company was built on Honesty, Quality and trust. We strive to do just that. We have offices on both coasts so we can support all clients needs. With in house developers, SEO and social Media experts Shoreline Media Marketing focuses on the clients goals to help increase leads and focus on higher conversions.
Do you think the future of SEO depends only on interactive content ?
I believe content is key in most cases but not the main link to having perfect SEO. Is the website developed correctly. Does it have unique content, no duplicate content. Does it have strong titles, descriptions, etc. There are other factors involved. Your visibility online, responsiveness of your site, listings, non spam back links and more.
The role of SEO keeps on changing after every Google update. Do you think SEO is the right term anymore?
I think SEO has changed over time yes but not with every update that google implements. SEO is so much more than what i used to be. It can be used for APPS, Social Media, etc. Sites now have responsive designs. Do your call to actions work well with your SEO ? Are you pointing potential buyers or clients in the right direction. Is your site listed correctly. First impressions are so important. Are your Organic listings saying what you want them to say and attracting who you want them to attract. We take a lot of time to be sure that every single client has an exact plan for their exact business. Keyword tracking is great… Seeing where you are ranking on Google is important but where are the leads, what is the conversion rate.. Are they contacting you….
The Google algorithm has evolved over the years. Do you think it really benefits small businesses?
Yes and No… Should they hire a large SEO firm NO. Should they push out a ton of money for an adwords agency. Not really.. Get EVERYTHING organized first.. Site especially. Small businesses have the advantage of a lot of tools that are available to them via Google. Google maps, web tools, forms, surveys, etc. They can handle a lot on their own for their business. A good website strong content with few pages in some cases work very well for their business. Be sure to claim your local listings and enhance where needed. Make sure the NAP is correct across all.
I recently spoke at a franchise convention and it was amazing the amount of business owners that did not even have a maps listing. These days there are so many platforms to add your location to. Get your site setup and then claim your directories. Orginization is key in almost all cases.
How do SEO clients behave these days? Do you think their knowledge and awareness of SEO increased?
Most of our clients have a very good idea of how the SEO works. Some do not. We make it a point to explain everything we are doing for our clients. We allow them to track our tasks, rankings and more. We have implemented multiple areas where they can contact our team with a click of a button and have a response in minutes.
Their knowledge increases as we help rank their business higher. There are a lot that also have this misunderstanding with SEO. It has gotten easier for agencies to improve searches (If they know what they are doing) but it still does not happen over night… But for the most part the knowledge some clients have is much more than some did a few years back for sure. If you train them to understand how you work then it makes your job a lot easier.
There are now only four Ads on top of the SERPs. Do you think Adwords is the only way to appear above the fold? What are your thoughts on the Google Monopoly?
No. There are Google Maps and local listings. If these are enhanced correctly they work wonders! – The knowledge card is amazing. If we can direct a client on how to enhance and work toward getting positive reviews as well as enhacning content, hours, images, etc. this is a great above the fold space.
BUT having a top organic listing is the most important. Don’t go for the cheaper SEO agency.. Spend the money and do it the right way. It should not cost an arm and a leg but a good SEO company will supply you with multiple reports, reputation management, enhanced tracking, directory listing management and creation and more….
There is a ton that you can do to help. If you are running adwords your organic listings should be below those ads on page one results. We deal with multiple franchises and corporate businesses that run both adwords and organic as well as social media. With this a very very strong network of lead generation can be built and tracked.
