http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/rss/feedsWeb and SEO agency for Small BusinessFri, 01 May 2026 23:30:43 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/this-is-how-canyon-crest-creative-gets-your-reviewshttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/this-is-how-canyon-crest-creative-gets-your-reviewsThis is How Canyon Crest Creative Gets Your Reviews Reviews are the modern-day word of mouth. They’re how people make buying decisions these days and are any of us surprised? When’s the last time you bought anything or did business with anyone without first checking out their review situation? Unfortunately, we’re coming up blank too. We know it isn’t enough to sit around and hope for customers to offer their 5-star reviews, but how do you ensure you’re getting a consistent stream of recent, high-quality ones? You let us take care of it for you! Our platform is built to make collecting those stars easy – automatic, do-it-in-your-sleep, set-it-and-forget-it, type easy. Here’s how we do it: First, we make sure you’re found everywhere. Before we can even consider collecting reviews, we need to make sure you’re listed on all prominent review platforms people use. No use collecting reviews if you can’t be found everywhere! We add you to the top 40+ platforms. See a list of them here. Some may call it overachieving; we call it being thorough. We ensure your listings are consistent across all platforms so your business info and branding are on point. NOW we’re ready to start raking in reviews. We integrate with whatever tool you use to manage customers. We know you don’t have time to send individual review requests to every customer you receive, and besides, isn’t automation a lot more fun? Our platform integrates with whatever CRM or billing system you’re using to automatically send a review request to your customer based on the interaction of your choice. HubSpot, Stripe, Square – we’re integrated with more than 400 tools, so this process happens seamlessly. We send customizable review requests. So your customer makes a purchase. We can instantly trigger a review request to send them via text and email (we recommend sending both). The messaging on your review request is customizable so you can speak directly to your customer. Now the ball’s in their court. However they decide to leave a review, we provide a frictionless experience that takes 10 seconds or less. They select what platform they want to leave you a review on, write their thinking, and they’re done. We automatically share top reviews. You work hard for your fantastic reviews! So we make sure they’re seen by the most people possible. We automatically share top thoughts on your social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. Just pick which star ratings you’d like us to share, and we’ll do the rest. So now your reviews don’t just live in one place but in multiple places online for all to see. We make sure your excellent reviews are super visible on your site. We want your reviews to stand out on your site. So any thoughts you collect are added there – no manual updates are required. That way, your site always has the latest. We use a few different layouts to display, but our favorite way to show off reviews is with our live stream – a pop-up that says on every webpage and scrolls through your most recent reviews. We like it so much that we even added it to our website. Visit [website] to see it in action! If you’re a current client who hasn’t enabled review collection yet, you’re not making the most out of your subscription with us! So instead, call 208-749-9364 or message us at social@canyoncrestcreative.com. Just say the word, and we’ll set up an automatic review collection for free. Are you interested in joining the thousands of small business owners growing their businesses online with Canyon Crest Creative? Email social@canyoncrestcreative.com to get started.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:22:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/how-canyon-crest-creative-gets-small-businesses-found-onlinehttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/how-canyon-crest-creative-gets-small-businesses-found-onlineHOW CANYON CREST CREATIVE GETS SMALL BUSINESSES FOUND ONLINE It’s no secret that SEO has changed a lot recently. The days of traditional SEO and a keyword-only approach are dead, but what’s taken its place? Read on if you’re wondering how Canyon Crest Creative is getting you found (or can get you found). Spoiler alert: Our entire platform is built to ensure you are located and chosen online. 1. We go beyond the website. Websites are powerful, but they are not where consumers make buying decisions. Gone are the days when we’d go to Google, search, and get a list of the best websites on the first page. See for yourself! Try searching for a local business in your area. On the first page of Google, you’ll see 33% is Google Ads, 45% is Google My Business local listings, and 22% are directories that prioritize results based on reviews. This is the new way to get your business in front of customers. Don’t get us wrong. We still build websites according to best practices for on-page SEO. But if you want to be a first-page result, we must focus on Google Ads, local listings, and directories. 2. We guarantee a spot at the top with Google Ads. Spending money on Google Ads is the best way to guarantee you’re topping first-page results. We strongly encourage our clients to spend at least some money here. Heck, chances are it’s because of Google Ads that you know about Canyon Crest Creative! Yep, we take our advice. If you’re thinking, yeah, but people always skip over ads and go to organic results, then think again. Clicks on paid search listings beat organic clicks by nearly a 2:1 margin for keywords with high commercial intent in the US. Overall, paid results get fewer clicks than organic ones, but when people are ready to buy, Google Ads seal the deal. And if you’ve seen a Google Ad recently, you know they’re cleverly designed to look almost precisely like organic results. We know launching Google Ads can be confusing, so we give clients our A.I.-powered Google Ads tool that makes getting started easy. Learn more here. 3. We add you to Google My Business and other key directories. Next up, we focus on getting you listed with every local directory people are using, and that starts with Google My Business. Remember that GMB listings dominate the first page. We bring you there with a listing that includes as much information as possible, so your profile is extra clickable. While we’re at it, we add you to 40+ other local directories because we like to cover our bases. Also, remember that other guides make up the last section of the first page results. We have technology that syncs all these listings so you can change them from one place. It keeps your listing info consistent, which is essential. Inaccurate listings are a big no-no when trying to make a first impression. Learn more about what we do here. 4. We keep you ranking high in directory results with 5-star reviews. It isn’t enough to create many profiles and hope for the best. If you want to make an impression, you need to have reviews. GMB and others rank results based on review count and quality. We know that when it comes to requesting reviews, it needs to be fast and a no-brainer for you. So we built our platform to integrate with whatever tool you use to manage customers, like your accounting or POS system, so that a review request is triggered via text and email every time you close a customer. “Set it and forget it” is our thing… Learn more about the easiest way to collect 5-star reviews here. These steps are just the beginning. The Canyon Crest Creative platform includes tools and services for reputation management, social media posting, competition tracking, and much more. Please email us at social@canyoncrestcreative.com or call 208-749-9364 to learn how we can help you get found and chosen online.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:20:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/our-top-6-review-collection-tipshttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/our-top-6-review-collection-tipsOur Top 6 Review Collection Tips Reviews are a big part of your business. You can’t leave them up to chance. Therefore, every company should actively seek and collect customer reviews – they’re your bread and butter! We’ve put together our top review collection tips. Follow these to make scoring 5-star reviews a no-brainer. 1. Don’t do it all yourself. Maybe you still rely on signage or face-to-face conversations with your customers to ask for reviews. If that’s you, know there’s a much easier and more effective way. If you want accurate results, stop doing it yourself. Our review collection platform helps you collect reviews automatically. Select whatever customer interaction you want to trigger a review request, and we’ll send them one instantly via text and email. It’s frictionless! And super easy for both you and your customer. 2. Make sure your messaging speaks to your customers. You want your customers to be excited about recommending you to others. So definitely don’t make leaving you a review sound boring, or worse, like a lot of work. Whether you’re requesting a review via email or text, make sure your tone resonates with your customers. Let your customer know their feedback is essential to you. Thank them for their time, and let them know it will only take a few seconds. Don’t forget that with our platform, you can customize your review requests to speak to your exact customer. 3. Focus on the platforms that matter. You need to make sure you’re collecting reviews on the right platforms. Google, Yelp, and Facebook are shoe-ins, but what platforms are the most important to your specific industry? If you’re in home improvement, you might want to focus on platforms like HomeAdvisor or Angi. If you’re a realtor, Zillow or Realtor.com might be more your thing. Whatever review sites you’re focused on, remember that giving your customer too many choices might feel overwhelming. Just choose the most important ones. 4. Trigger review requests at the right time. We usually recommend sending a review request to your customer immediately after interacting with you – like when they make a purchase. This ensures their great experience is still top of mind when they review you. 5. Make sure your latest reviews are displayed on your website. Visitors to your site want to know you’re the real deal, so making your most recent reviews prominent is essential. The easiest way to do this is automatically adding reviews to your site. Our platform lets you do this, so you never have to manually add your latest reviews to your site and manually display them as a dynamic pop-up, so they’re impossible to miss. 6. Share your reviews on social media. You work hard for your great reviews, so we must ensure you get the most visibility out of them. Sharing them on social media is the perfect way to spread the news about how awesome you are. Our platform lets you do this automatically, so your social audience never misses a thing. If you’re a current client without taking advantage of our review collection solution, you’re not making the most of your subscription with us! Call 208-749-9364 or message us at social@canyoncrestcreative.com. Just say the word, and we’ll set up an automatic review collection for free. Interested in joining the thousands of small business owners growing their businesses online with Canyon Crest Creative? Email social@canyoncrestcreative.com to get started.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:19:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/8-reasons-why-you-should-be-running-google-adshttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/8-reasons-why-you-should-be-running-google-ads8 Reasons Why You Should be Running Google Ads Whether you can spend a lot or just a little, we encourage all our clients to spend some money on Google Ads at least. Why? Because Google Ads are the only way to guarantee a spot on the coveted first page of Google. The bottom line is, if you want to be the most visible, it will cost you (Google’s no dummy). The good news is that even a little ad spend can make a difference, and if you think running a campaign is super-duper complicated, think again. As Google partners, we can offer our clients a complete ads management solution that gets you up and running fast – no guesswork required. Still on the fence? Here are some reasons why Google Ads pull their weight. 1. Google Ads convert 50% better than organic traffic. People who click on a Google Ad are ready to buy and do so quickly. That high intent to purchase means that these searchers are more likely to convert than your average organic searcher. They see your ad prominent in results, and they’re ready to take you seriously. That’s the kind of traffic Google Ads attract. 2. You can work with any budget. Sure, the more you spend, the more clicks you’ll get. But there’s no minimum amount you need to pay to get your ads started. Instead, we recommend starting small while learning what works and doesn’t. A little can go a long way if you choose the right keywords, have strong ad copy, etc. Then, of course, you can constantly adjust and readjust your spending. 3. You only pay for results. With Google Ads, you pay per click, so there’s not much risk. You’re paying when your leads take action (a click to your site, a click to call, etc.), and if they don’t act, you don’t pay. 4. You can advertise anytime and on any device. We’re not talking about a TV or radio spot that runs once; you’re done. With Google Ads, you can advertise anytime you want – even 24/7, 365 if that’s your strategy. You’re also able to reach people on all devices, and that’s important, especially with mobile. For example, since most people use their mobile devices to search, Google Ads help you meet them where they are. 5. You can control the days and times your ads run. With Google Ads, you’re in control, which should give you peace of mind. If you’d instead run your ads during business hours only, or if you want to avoid certain days, you can do that. Being strategic about dates and times will improve your results in the long run, so keep an eye on your analytics to see what works best for you. 6. You can reach more of the right customers. With audience targeting, you’re not just taking shots in the dark. Instead, you can control who sees your ad, whether it’s people in a radius around your business or people searching in specific areas. That means reaching more people who are most likely to buy from you. 7. You can see results fast. No waiting to see if your latest marketing tactic is working. With Google Ads, you can track results as soon as your ads are live – and axe the waiting game. 8. It’s easy to measure and optimize. Every part of your campaign is measurable, so it’s easy to monitor and adjust if things aren’t working. Track your conversions, costs, clicks, visits, and more. If one of your ads isn’t doing well, it’s easy to pause and move that budget elsewhere. If you’re a Canyon Crest Creative client, our Google Ads Manager is included free in your subscription! Just log in to your dashboard to get started. If you need help, message us or call 208-749-9364. Are you interested in joining the thousands of small business owners growing their businesses online with Canyon Crest Creative? Email social@canyoncrestcreative.com to get started.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:17:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/15-stats-that-prove-reviews-are-your-bread--butterhttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/15-stats-that-prove-reviews-are-your-bread--butter15 Stats that Prove Reviews Are Your Bread & Butter We can’t say it enough: Reviews drive people’s purchasing decisions these days. You only need to look at your buying habits to know it’s true. When was the last time you bought anything without looking at reviews? Or visited a restaurant before seeing how they stack up? We’re all seeing stars, which means your customers are too. Still not convinced that reviews pack all that punch? Here are a few of our favorite stats that say otherwise. 97% of consumers report that the customer reviews they read influence their purchasing decisions. Nearly nine out of ten consumers read reviews before making a purchase. 94% of consumers report that positive reviews make them more likely to use a business. Customer reviews can increase conversions by 270%. Customers are willing to spend 31% more at a business with excellent reviews. 94% of consumers say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business. 79% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends or family. 92% of consumers are less likely to frequent a business after reading negative reviews. Consumers read an average of 7 reviews before trusting a business. Every 1-star increase in a Yelp rating leads to a 5–9% increase in revenue. Only 48% of consumers would consider using a business with fewer than four stars. 73% of consumers only pay attention to reviews written in the last month. Businesses that claim their profiles on at least four online review sites gain 58% more revenue. Businesses with a star rating between 3.5 and 4.5 gain the most revenue. Displaying reviews on your website can increase a company’s conversion rates by 270%. If you’re a current client without taking advantage of our review collection solution, you’re not making the most of your subscription with us! Call 208-749-9364 or message us at social@canyoncrestcreative.com. Just say the word, and we’ll set up an automatic review collection for free. Interested in joining the thousands of small business owners growing their businesses online with Canyon Crest Creative? Email social@canyoncrestcreative.com to get started.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:16:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/10-tips-for-sending-better-marketing-emailshttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/10-tips-for-sending-better-marketing-emails10 Tips for Sending Better Marketing Emails Creating a marketing email might sound like a piece of cake, but a lot goes into it. Between catchy subject lines, eye-catching graphics, and a short and snappy message, you’re likely to get overwhelmed along the way. That’s why we’ve put together our top 10 tips. Breeze through these, and you’ll be on your way to writing emails that get better opens and clicks. 1. Put lots of thought into your subject line. Whether writing a subject line is the first or last thing on your to-do list, you will want to put a lot of thought into it. This is your chance to make an excellent first impression, which means the difference between an open and an ignored email. Use words that inspire your recipient to open up and take action. Here are a few options to noodle on Your/You New Special Sale Offer Introducing Update Important % off Exclusive Deals Hurry. Try to keep it short and sweet. Think less than nine words and under 60 characters. And one more thing to remember: Don’t use too many punctuation marks. Using lots of special characters (like !, %, #, and &) can trigger spam folders. Don’t forget you can A/B test subject lines too! 2. Use but don’t overuse emojis. Some brands find that adding emojis to their subject lines means higher open rates, so they’re certainly worth a try! After all, they’re how lots of us communicate these days. Just don’t overdo it. We suggest using no more than one. 3. Don’t forget preview text. Your email’s preview text appears right after your subject line when your recipient sees your email in their inbox. It’s easy to skip, but it’s a valuable space that helps them learn more and put your subject line into context. Use this space to your advantage, and thank us later! 4. Make it personal. Personalized promotional emails have 29% higher unique open rates and 41% more unique click-through rates. Lesson learned: Your email is more likely to resonate with your recipient if you use their name (either in your subject line or in the body of the email). We just happen to like things more when they seem personal! So take advantage of those First Name tags. 5. Get to the point. People just don’t read long emails. Make sure everything you say in the body of your email has a clear purpose; if it doesn’t, cut it out. Your text should also be easy to skim, so break any long paragraphs into 2–3 sentence chunks. 6. Settle on your CTA. After reading your email, the CTA or action you want your recipient to take should be clear. Do you want them to visit your website, call you, or book an appointment? Whatever it is, keep it simple and place it in a super visible spot in your email (usually at the bottom so your recipient can see it after they’ve read all you have to say). And make it look like a clickable button (what people are familiar with works best here). 7. Use templates, but don’t forget to customize. Most email platforms come with built-in templates that you should take advantage of. Just make sure your email doesn’t come across as too template-y. Throw in a few unique graphics! Canva is a lifesaver for stuff like that. 8. Make sure you’re mobile friendly. 47% of people check their email on mobile devices, so don’t forget to see how your email looks before you send it. Some platforms (ours included) guarantee responsive emails that look great on every device, so be sure to look for that feature if you’re shopping for platforms. 9. Send your emails at a good time. The best time to send emails varies, primarily based on your industry. Generally, you want to hit send when people are most likely to check their emails. The best time for this is usually mid-morning (10 am), when people are checking their email before bed (8 pm), or when people are checking out of work mode in the afternoon (2 pm). 10. Send your emails on a good day. Most people agree that the best days to send emails are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Don’t forget to track your analytics to see when exactly your emails get the best traction. Canyon Crest Creative’s all-in-one email marketing platform is included in every subscription. With real-time analytics, personalized segmentation, and drip automation, this is the tool you need to send more thoughtful emails—email social@canyoncrestcreative.com to learn more about our Growth Tools.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:16:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/8-reasons-why-you-need-to-be-emailing-your-customershttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/8-reasons-why-you-need-to-be-emailing-your-customers8 Reasons Why You Need to be Emailing Your Customers It would be best if you were regularly communicating with your customers, and one of the best places to do it is in their email inboxes. If you don’t think email is an effective way to reach customers, remember that many of us check our email before we’re even out of bed. How’s that effective? Forget about email marketing being for big brands only. Small businesses can benefit from even a simple strategy. And with tools at your disposal, running an email campaign is probably far more accessible and cost-effective than you think. Here are the top reasons you should get on board with email marketing. 1. Your customers love email. Sure, email has been around forever, but people still love it. The average person checks their email 15 times a day. People are glued to it, and it’s how they want to communicate with you. Of course, a phone call is hard to miss (even harder if you’re calling a millennial), and a social media post can get lost in a feed, but an email will indeed get delivered. 72% of consumers prefer to receive promotional messages through email, so why not give them what they want? 2. It’s an easy way to get personal. People respond better to a message when it has a personal touch, and with email marketing, this is easy to achieve. With audience segmentation, you can send highly personalized content your customer will respond to, unlike a one-size-fits-all marketing message on social, mailers, etc. 3. You can reach your customers on their mobile devices. We’re attached to our phones, which means your customers are too. 47% of people check their email on mobile devices, so email is one of the best ways to reach people where they spend their time. 4. It’s simple to learn what works. People either open an email or don’t. They either click on your CTA or don’t. With email marketing, success is pretty cut and dry. This makes it easy for you to see what works and needs improvement. In addition, if your email marketing tool offers real-time analytics, your performance will be easy to track. No waiting to see if what you’re doing is working. 5. It’s a pivotal way to build relationships with customers. You need to make sure your business stays top of mind for your customers, and that means regular communication. Don’t let them go weeks and months without being reminded why they love you. A company newsletter, a sale, an exciting new product – sharing what’s new means you’re never old news with your customers. 6. You can offer valuable information. Not all your emails have to be about your latest and greatest sale. Since you’re an expert in your industry, you have a lot to offer your customers! Use email to educate and share information they can’t get anywhere else. It’s a great way to build trust and credibility with those who matter. 7. It’s cost and time effective. Unlike other marketing channels, think pay-per-click, direct mail, video marketing, etc., email marketing is fast and cheap. You’re not shooting a video or printing flyers, you’re creating an email, and email marketing tools make that pretty dang easy. With drag-and-drop templates, audience segmentation, and the like, building an email is probably the easiest on your to-do list. 8. You’ll get a good return on your investment. Because there aren’t significant cost barriers to sending a marketing email, you’re sure to get a good ROI. And the best return you can get? Increased revenue. Consumers who purchase products through email spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers. So how’s that for an incentive to start emailing? If you’re looking for an email marketing platform that helps you engage customers, try ours! Visit [Website] to learn more about our all-in-one solution. Are you interested in joining the thousands of small business owners growing their businesses online with Canyon Crest Creative? Email social@canyoncrestcreative.com to get started.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:15:00 -0700http://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/keywords-and-google-reviews-a-case-studyhttp://www.canyoncrestcreative.com/blog/post/keywords-and-google-reviews-a-case-studyCase Study: How We Helped a Local Cleaning Company Rank Higher on Google At Canyon Crest Creative, we recently completed a project for a local cleaning company to help them rank higher on Google. Our goal was to get them more visibility and increase organic search engine traffic. We started by researching the most effective keywords for their industry, then optimized their website content with those keywords. This included rewriting existing content, creating new pages with relevant content and backlinks, and improving meta tags and descriptions. Why Keywords are Essential for a Digital Marketing Strategy When it comes to digital marketing, keywords are essential. They help search engines rank webpages and content more accurately, allowing users to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. But optimizing your website with keywords is only the first step: you also need to ensure all aspects of your website are optimized and SEO-friendly. This includes rewriting existing content so that it contains relevant keywords, creating new pages with relevant content and backlinks, and improving meta tags and descriptions. All of these elements combine to help search engines better understand what each page is about – meaning potential customers can discover them more quickly and easily. At CCC, that’s exactly what we did for a local cleaning company. We researched the most effective keywords for their industry, then optimized their website content with those keywords. The result? An improved ranking on Google and increased visibility among potential customers alike – proving just how important keyword research is in any digital marketing strategy. The Importance of Google Reviews for SEO Next, we turned our attention to getting Google reviews. Reviews are an important part of ranking higher on Google as they give potential customers an insight into the quality of service they can expect from the business. We created social media campaigns to encourage customers to leave reviews, reaching out via email and providing incentives such as discounts or gift cards in exchange for reviews. Google reviews are a crucial part of any digital marketing strategy as they are a direct reflection of the quality of your service and can have a positive impact on SEO. When customers review your business, search engines take that into account when ranking websites. This means that if you have more positive reviews, it is more likely that your website will appear higher up in the search engine results – giving potential customers an insight into the quality of service they can expect from you. At CCC, we understand how important Google reviews are for businesses wanting to rank higher on Google. We applied this knowledge to our project with a local cleaning company, creating social media campaigns to encourage customers to leave reviews while also reaching out via email and providing incentives such as discounts or gift cards in exchange for their feedback. How Google Uses Reviews to Place Businesses on the First Page of Search Results Google has long been using customer reviews as a factor in its search engine rankings, giving higher priority to websites with more positive reviews. This is because reviews provide valuable insight into the quality of service and customer experience – giving potential customers a good indication of what they can expect from each website. So when users search for a product or service, websites with more reviews appear higher up in the results – making them more likely to be seen by potential customers. To ensure that these sites remain on the first page of results, businesses must continually collect customer reviews and maintain their ratings. For this reason, digital marketing teams should always pay attention to customer feedback and take full advantage of Google’s review system. With this strategy in place, businesses are much more likely to appear on the first page of search results – meaning greater visibility and ultimately more conversions. Google reviews are an essential part of any digital marketing strategy and can have a major impact on SEO rankings. By encouraging customers to leave reviews, businesses can not only improve their ratings but also boost their search engine visibility. We understand the importance of leveraging customer feedback and applied this knowledge to our project with the local cleaning company. Within two months of the launch of their social media campaigns, the number of reviews had almost doubled – demonstrating the power of online customer reviews in boosting SEO rankings. By taking advantage of this powerful system, businesses can increase their visibility on Google’s search engine results page – meaning more potential customers and ultimately more conversions. The strategy worked for our client, the number of reviews skyrocketed, increasing almost five times within two months. The company's website also rose in its rankings over the same period, appearing near the top of search engine results for their desired keywords and phrases.Tue, 07 Feb 2023 14:59:00 -0700