The next installment of our TOP 11 series will introduce you to a few things you really need to know about advertising with digital video.

1 – VIDEO QUALITY AFFECTS RESULTS
We've all been exposed to both ends of the spectrum when it comes to digital video ads - you've seen beautiful videos that were extremely relevant to you, and you've seen videos that look awful and left you wondering why you were served that video and if you could possibly get your last few minutes back.  Is it worth it to invest in high-quality video from someone with a proven portfolio and a reputation for always having the latest and greatest in software and equipment?  You bet.  The quality of the video you use in your digital video advertising will directly affect the results of the ad campaign.  You get what you pay for, and it's always important to make sure that your video production is from a true professional with a proven track record.

2 – AD NETWORKS GIVE TREMENDOUS REACH
Ad networks, like Google (through their AdWords platform), Facebook Audience Network, and Yahoo! Gemini, give you a huge reach.  When you post a video on any or all of these platforms, your reach instantly covers millions of websites and mobile apps.  Welcome to the new world of marketing.

3 – AD NETWORKS HELP YOU TO TARGET
Ad networks have a ton of data available to help you to effective segment your audience and be very specific in who you target.  Getting the right message (video) in front of the right person drastically improves your likelihood of gaining a new customer.  The more targeted you are, the more effective you'll be.

4 – AD NETWORKS TARGETING ISN'T ENOUGH
To effectively target your audience in a very granular way, we get into a lot of additional data that 1) isn't available without significant investment, and 2) very few, if any, marketers are willing to invest in (probably because they think it's enough to just use the default settings).  This data helps understand not only your business, but your ideal future customer, in a whole new way.  There's a reason the average online marketers consistently only get 2-4% of the clicks that we do - DATA.

5 – IT CAN BE INEXPENSIVE
We had a client that opened a new location and posted an awesome grand opening video on their Facebook, garnering a couple hundred views.  Two weeks later, the same video was posted again with minimal investment, and quickly had 10,000 views and great engagement.  If done right, digital video advertising doesn't have to be a pricey endeavor.

6 – IT ISN'T THE BEST PLACE TO START FOR EVERYONE
Different brands in different sectors with different budgets need different things.  Just by saying that, I just stepped on the metaphorical toes of a lot of other advertisers who think what they do is the be-all end-all of marketing.  It's important to evaluate where you are as a business, where your audience is, and what's truly necessary to expand your business.  For many businesses, focusing on Search Engine Marketing or SEO to begin with is actually the smarter thing to do.  It all depends on what the data tells us.

7 – IT'S MEASURABLE
The big question for any marketing is "is it working?"  Yet so much of marketing results are only available through anecdotal evidence - something like "do people stop you in the store to say they heard you on the radio?"  Ultimately, results from other forms of advertising is evaluated by asking "do you think it's working?"  And that's it.  Everything we do is trackable.  We can track your customers from the moment they see your ad until the time they make a purchase.  Emphasizing analytics holds us accountable while also allowing us to continually refine our approach.

8 – IT CAN AND SHOULD BE ACTIONABLE
Not to keep picking on traditional advertising, but no advertising out there is as easily actionable as digital.  Through your digital video ads, your future customers can act immediately.  With one click, they could be on the phone with your sales department, be navigating your website, or even open directions to drive to your store.  Making it easy for customers to take action results in higher conversion rates and awesome ROI.

9 – EVERYBODY'S DOING IT
Huge companies such as Mondelez (that amazing company that blesses the world with snacks like Oreos) have been actively shifting most of their budget to digital.  Why?  They report getting twice the return for half the cost.

10 – VIDEO CAN BE RECYCLED
High-quality video is truly an investment.  Your marketing budget is precious, and dedicating a portion of it to video shows true commitment to this strategy.  The video you get should therefore be used as much as possible - use it in your ads, use it on your social media profiles, and use it on your website!

11 – IT'S THE BEST WAY TO CONVEY A MESSAGE
Digital video is so flexible and multi-dimensional.  No other medium is as effective in conveying a rich message to a specific audience.  If your brand is truly worth knowing about, and you have a specific audience you want to reach, digital video advertising is the way to go.

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​​About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

Here is a helpful guide of things you should avoid doing on social media.  Mistakes you’re making on social media will diminish your current audience and prevent you from growing any meaningful audience in the future, so be sure to avoid these points when creating and managing your social media plan:

1 – POSTING TOO MUCH
Some types of businesses really should not post very often.  Some sectors simply do not require a very active social media presence, so not only does a hyper-active presence waste your time and money, but it also causes information overload that will cause you to lose audience.  Sometimes, simply keeping the cobwebs down on social media is adequate.

2 – NOT POSTING ENOUGH
While some businesses simply don't need to emphasize social media very much, others have a lot to gain from being active on social media.  Engaging with your audience often in a deliberate and positive way can help greatly in turning your social media followers into raving fans that become a serious source of business.

3 – SHARING IRRELEVANT CONTENT
That funny cat video or joke isn't winning you friends.  More on this in an upcoming post, but the social media rule of thirds could be helpful here in knowing where you could start - a third of your content could be about your actual product, service, or promotions; a third of your content should share industry tips and news (for example, a realtor sharing tips on home maintenance or landscaping tips for curb appeal); a third of the content should be based on building your personal brand, perhaps through conversations and interactions with your audience.

4 – NOT PROMPTLY RESPONDING
Every conversation is an opportunity to develop trust and win a new fan.  Listen and respond when spoken to.  Whether the conversation is regarding a positive or even a negative experience, you have an opportunity to develop good will with that person as well as countless others that may witness the conversation.  Don't let questions, concerns, or comments go unnoticed or unresolved for long.

5 – INCONSISTENT POST FREQUENCY
Who hasn't seen one of those blogs that hasn't been updated for months or years?  Consistency is essential for developing a loyal following.

6 – INCONSISTENT BRANDING
Your brand is something that's taken a lot of time and thought to develop, yet a common pitfall is a disconnect between the branding of your social media presence and the rest of your business.  Ensure a homogenous brand through consistent theme, voice, appearance, etc.
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7 – SPEAKING TO WRONG AUDIENCE
Before creating any content, think about exactly who you want to be reaching.  Peers, clients, potential customers, and even micro-segments of your audience, will be reached differently, so putting thought into it will be very helpful in getting the engagement you want.

8 – BEING ON THE WRONG PLATFORM
Different businesses have more to gain by being active on different platforms.  Again, this has much to do with what audience you want to reach and how you want to engage that audience. Your audience as well as your message will affect which platform you're using - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.

9 – SPEAKING OVER YOUR AUDIENCE
Again highlighting the importance of truly understanding your audience, speaking over your audience (being too wordy, using industry jargon that customers wouldn't be familiar with, etc) can make your followers feel alienated or even make them feel as though you are being condescending. Again, always put thought into who exactly you are trying to reach.

10 – FORGETTING VISUALS
People are very visual learners, and quality graphic representations of your messaging will help you greatly in conveying your message. Whether showcasing your product or simply using an infographic, visual aids can help you engage with your audience as well as increase the shareability of your content.

11 – BEING FAKE
Be yourself. Be genuine. It's possible to keep up a charade for a while, but it can not only be exhausting, but people can tell when they're being lied to. Keeping it real on social media will help you build trust and work towards establishing your brand. 


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

​Success in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), otherwise known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, requires a great deal of knowledge and experience.  That's not to say that it's impossible to figure it out if it isn't in your background, but it certainly isn't something you can pick up in a day.  Here's a few things that you need to know about SEM that will help you to begin to understand it better:

1 – IT'S COMPLICATED
The first thing to know about SEM/PPC is that it's no simple endeavor.  There's some excellent study materials here, and of course our team here at Level 11 loves to help people learn about it, but honestly, there are many things that you'll need to know and understand in order to know how to make the most of your SEM efforts.

2 – IT'S A SCIENCE
Knowing how to find AND interpret data is critical to SEM success.  Any PPC campaign can have hundreds and even thousands of moving parts, and knowing how to make everything work together for your good requires a lot of work with numbers.  Drilling down on the details will be the key to your PPC success.

3 – IT REQUIRES MAINTENANCE
SEM is constantly evolving and requires babysitting.  There is no "set it and forget it" solution.  Not only is technology constantly evolving (there's constantly big news from Google and others about PPC and the tools involved), but even your PPC campaigns will require regular (weekly at the very least) maintenance in order to optimize the investment you have in SEM.  This is a huge reason behind the management fees that are typical with running PPC campaigns - success requires constant upkeep.

4 – GOOGLE IS THE PLACE TO START
In the world of search, Google is the elephant in the room, and so Google AdWords is the place to start.  Reports vary, but Google has about 2/3 of the market share, and Bing is in second place with nearly 1/3 of the market.  This means that if you need to do something somewhere, Google is almost always the answer.  However, some search traffic does admittedly trend more heavily towards Bing, so as always, check the data before doing anything.

5 – NOT ALL MANAGERS REAP EQUAL RESULTS
PPC management is not commoditizable.  What this means is that if you were to give your budget to 10 different managers, you'd get 10 very different results.  In taking over management for some clients, we've seen thousands of dollars in budget completely wasted on horrible targeting and irrelevant keywords, and we've seen click-thru-rates (CTR) that were far below the average across Google.  For comparison, Level 11 often achieves a CTR for our clients that is about 500-800% higher than the average across Google.  We really are quite good at what we do.

6 – IT BRINGS YOU NEW, QUALIFIED TRAFFIC
A well-executed PPC campaign brings you traffic that likely wasn’t even looking for you specifically, and because you can establish parameters for qualification, you can know that the traffic coming to you already has a high likelihood of converting to paying customers.  Would you rather spend your day talking with 100 random people in hopes that a handful will buy from you?  Or is it more worthwhile to spend your day talking with 10 people that are vetted and ready to make a purchase?  That's what effective PPC does for you.

7 – THE LITTLE THINGS MATTER
As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.  An Ad that you create on AdWords, for example, only has so many characters you can use and so many extensions you can use.  Knowing exactly what you want to say and what you want prospective customers to do means you need to be very judicious with everything you say and do.  Again, this is why we excel at Level 11 - we've established processes that ensure efficiency and maximize customer engagement, leading to more money for our clients.

8 – IT CAN BE INEXPENSIVE
All different forms of online advertising come with very different costs.  SEM can be an excellent way to dip your toe into the water and start figuring out what works.  It certainly is possible to achieve measurable success from a PPC campaign using only a small budget.

9 – IT CAN BE EXPENSIVE
All due respect to #8, but the primary objective of PPC is to make money, which means that if you perform well with a small budget, you'd be silly to not increase that budget.  When you know you're netting significant income from a specific marketing effort, and it's all proportional, would you not be inclined to keep growing?  You know you have a well-executed PPC campaign when you want to keep increasing your budget.

10 – INDEPENDENT THRID PARTY AUDITS HELP
Just to ensure that everything is doing as well as it should, an audit can be very helpful.  Having performed audits for many clients, we come across areas of potential improvement often.  Similar to having an outside accounting firm audit your books, a PPC audit can be helpful in making sure that everything is in ship shape.

11 – IT IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE BEST FORM OF SEO
Effective SEO takes time, as you can see here and here.  That being said, many thought leaders in the industry have said that PPC is now the best form of SEO.  Being trackable and extremely targetable, PPC has many strengths that can truly help you increase traffic to your site, and ultimately increase your revenues, immediately.  Yes, SEM can be very complicated, but it can be a huge boost to your bottom line today.  Luckily, we're RIGHT HERE ready to help you!

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About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

Knowing what to look for when deciding on a digital marketing agency is critical to ensuring future success.  Much like hiring a new employee it's critical to be certain that the fit is right and that enough value is being brought to the table to justify the investment.  Here's a few great places to start when evaluating your future potential marketing partner (and yes, this will be largely self-promotional, because we're geniuses and we're excellent at what we do!):

SIGNS OF A SMART DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY

1 – THEY RECOGNIZE EVERY BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT
Here's a shocker... every business is different.  Because of this, it's important to know that your marketer is able to provide what your business requires to grow right, while also being able to adjust to your ever evolving needs.  There is no marketing solution that is one-size-fits-all, so one-trick ponies (classic example could be a social media guru who thinks every business type needs to be super active on Facebook, while other examples are radio, newspaper, or TV reps) aren't able to adapt to individual business needs.  And remember, WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE - your marketing strategy needs to evolve over time, and a truly smart agency will be able to have a long-term point of view in order to anticipate the changes that you'll need to make over time.
 
2 – THEY WANT TO LISTEN
If a marketer comes to you with a prepared solution before getting to know your business, run.  Just as a doctor can't diagnose an illness without extensive testing, a marketer can't tailor a solution for you without getting to know you, your business, your goals, and your audience.  Only once there's an intimate understanding can a marketer provide an optimal solution for you.
 
3 – THEY RELY ON DATA TO DETERMINE OPTIMAL SOLUTIONS
A smart marketer knows that in order to intimately understand your business and your audience, data is hugely important (personally, we're crazy about it - it's part of every aspect of our operation, and we don't do anything we can't track).  Digging into the troves of data and analytics that are available will allow a smart marketer to distill all that data into a strategy that will play an important role in the future growth of your business.  If someone tries to downgrade the value of data, or insists that data isn't essential, it's time to say goodbye, because they'll cause you to miss out on a lot of future opportunities.
 
4 – THEY CONSTANTLY MONITOR CAMPAIGNS TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS ON THE FLY
How hands on is this marketer?  There is no set-it-and-forget-it in marketing.  If your marketing campaigns are not your marketer's version of fantasy football, again you'll miss out on future opportunities.  Just like an international flight, a marketing strategy is a long long journey.  If a pilot is off target by even a few degrees, the plane will end up miles and miles from the desired destination.  Small adjustments along the way will spell the difference for your marketing campaigns, and only a very engaged marketer will be able to recognize when small adjustments are needed.
 
5 – THEY REGULARLY HAVE CONSTRUCTIVE MEETINGS WITH CLIENTS
This should be a given.  All too often, we hear of businesses who have gone months without substantial contact with their marketer.  How successful can a marketer be if they're unaware of what's going on with their client?  If meeting in person isn't possible, at least communication - phone calls, email, etc - of some sort needs to be happening , and certainly that marketer shouldn't be hard to reach.  Don't allow your marketer to be anonymous.
 
6 – THEY ARE TRANSPARENT
Your marketing budget is precious, and you have every right to know what's happening with it.  The data and results from your online marketing efforts should be freely available.  Success must be measurable, and a marketer that isn't willing to be forthright with data isn't trustworthy.  You should have and be able to understand the results that your marketing efforts are creating.
 
7 – THEY ADMIT WHEN SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE, AND THEY DO IT
It's true that sometimes, something isn't working.  A marketer that deflects responsibility or who doesn't fix something that's wrong is lazy.  We once had a client for whom we had an extensive campaign running across Southern California, and the campaign was targeting men and women of a certain criteria.  We found within a week (when significant data was available) that women were not responding to the campaign nearly as well as the men.  We immediately made the necessary adjustment and the campaign had great success.  Change was needed, and we didn't miss a beat.
 
8 – THEY RECOGNIZE WHAT THEY’RE GOOD AT
Everybody has strengths, and your online marketing partner should be comprised of experts.  Meet the team!  Get to know them!  In reality, a truly professional agency attracts and nurtures the best talent.  Unlike an individual marketer, such an agency can offer their client the advantage of a team of multidisciplinary specialists, who can work together to formulate a well-rounded marketing strategy.  At Level 11, we've grown by bringing together people who have already established themselves as leaders in their specific discipline, and our clients have been spoiled by having the best of the best at their fingertips.
 
9 – THEY DON’T RECOMMEND UNNECESSARY SURGERY
We were once approached by someone seeking SEO help.  With a very niche product and an extremely narrow potential audience, we knew that they certainly would need to excel in organic rankings in order to grow.  As we performed our free audit, we found that this business was actually doing quite well.  Well enough, in fact, that even significant investment would not move the needle for them.  We simply gave them our report and advised them on a couple minor adjustments they could make to make incremental improvements.  Not a single dollar changed hands, because there wasn't need in the area they were looking at, nor were any other areas prime for improvement.
 
10 – THEY ARE NIMBLE
Your agency should be able to shift quickly with changes in your market, business, or marketing plans.  Nothing stays the same in businesses or marketplaces for long, and the nimble agency not only is aware of changes, but anticipates them with an eye to the future.  The nimble agency is ahead of the trends in digital marketing in general and in their client’s business in particular.  Your online marketer should be abreast of the changes and new tools and strategies that are constantly becoming available.  A successful online marketer keeps a pulse on the future, as hockey legend Wayne Gretzky famously said, “skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”  The most valuable agency for you isn’t simply aware of coming trends, but it communicates those regularly to you, and is bold to make suggestions based on those projections, to ensure you stay ahead of your competition.
 
11 – THEY MAKE YOU MONEY
This is incredibly self-explanatory.  A successful online marketer will give you more chances to do what you do best, which translates into your business becoming more profitable.  Especially over time, you'll know whether or not your marketer is worth keeping around, just by following the dollar signs.  Every day, we prove our worth to our clients, and by making our clients more profitable, we become not only a hired partner, but a critical piece of our clients' businesses for years to come.


​​About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

​Digital marketing is a discipline that already attracts more than it's fair share of snake oil salesmen. Resellers, middlemen, and pretenders abound (about 90% of SEO companies are resellers, by some counts), which leads to tons of broken promises and unfulfilled agreements. Within digital marketing as a whole is Search Engine Optimization, or SEO (go HERE to learn more about what SEO is and why it's valuable). Simply put, SEO is all about attracting people to your site by having 1) quality website construction and 2) quality, relevant content. If your site is up to par and has what a person is looking for, search engines like Google will be more likely to refer people to you.

SEO companies are often amateur, 1-man shows that are "side projects" at best, where the so-called "expert" claims to know the secret sauce needed for a #1 ranking, when in reality they have no idea how SEO works. What we want to accomplish in this post is to empower you with 11 things you can look for to know if your current or prospective SEO agency is full of it - a relationship doomed to fail.

1 - THEY PROMISE INSTANT RESULTS
The most common irresponsible claim of "SEO companies" is that they can get you to the top overnight. These companies are spamming the heck out of businesses trying to prey on owners that don't have an understanding about SEO. There are plenty of people out there who believe the hype and want to fast-track themselves to the top of the organic search rankings. Sure, there's bound to be some keywords that you could rank for relatively quickly, and your company name should rank #1 with a few things done right, but true SEO results take time. It's not uncommon for results to take months, if not years, to happen. It's a very naïve to think that you can have instant results, especially considering all of the variables that impact SEO. Don't fall prey to the false promise of a SEO agency promising you the world.

2 - THEY HAVE SPAMMY LINKS DIRECTED AT THEMSELVES
Ahrefs, Open Site Explorer, and other backlink analysis tools will help you evaluate an SEO company's site. Maybe 10% of SEO companies will have solid ratings that indicate they're good at what they do. The rest? Busch league. If an SEO company has no links or poor quality links, how could they help you?

3 - THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE SUCKS, OR IS NON-EXISTENT
Today, you have to be on social media in some way, and SEO agencies certainly need to have a strong presence there. It is a display of their ability to create quality content and engage with an audience. Your SEO agency needs to be able to do just that for you, so why work with them if they cannot do it for themself? An under-the-radar agency that avoids social media isn't looking for legitimacy or long-term impact, it's looking to make quick money and sell out fast before doing it all over again.

4 - THEY GUARANTEE A #1 RANKING FOR SPECIFIC KEYWORDS
Understand that there will always be demand for specific keywords. Strong brand keywords like "iPhone" or "weight loss" will always be nearly impossible to own. There is simply too much demand and authority already in place that your SEO agency won't slay that dragon. Guarantees are impossible to make in the first place, so guaranteeing a ranking for a specific keyword is insanity. What is possible is incremental progress and local authority. Don't sign up with an agency that promises the world.

5 - THEIR BLOG IS PATHETHIC
If creating quality, relevant content is an essential component of SEO success, and a SEO agency has a blog that's full of bad content, or worse yet, they don't have a blog, look elsewhere for SEO help. Imagine what drivel they would create for you if they can't even do something good for themself!

6 - THEY WON'T OR CAN'T EXPLAIN WHAT THEY'RE DOING
There is NO secret sauce, voodoo, magic, trick, or back door to SEO success. Shady, fly-by-night companies use this talk all the time in order to avoid explain what they are, or more often aren't, doing with your SEO. We already know how to achieve SEO success: quality website construction, quality content, and good relationships with other sites that result in quality links. If your current or prospective SEO agency isn't transparent, you should walk away.

7 - THEY DON'T DISCUSS GOALS BEFORE STARTING
How will they take you where you want to go if they don't know where you want to go?! Is your objective to generate leads? Push traffic to your web store? Gather e-mail addresses? This is the very first thing that needs to be known. Your goals will dictate keywords, content strategy, campaign execution, etc. To accomplish anything worthwhile, your goals must be clearly defined, and if they don't ask about your goals, you should say goodbye.

8 - THEY'RE CHEAP
For possibly some select businesses, a website could maybe be ranked for a few hundred bucks a month. Let's think about the numbers for a moment - content will be a few hundred bucks; links are easily each hundreds of dollars; and we still haven't mentioned labor and overhead expenses. True, legit SEO agencies are often in the range of $3k - $10k per month. If it's too good to be true, it's not true.

9 - THEY CLAIM TO KNOW A GUY ON THE INSIDE
This bursts the bubble of a bunch of SEO agencies, but there isn't ONE SEO company that knows the secret algorithm or that knows a guy that works in Google that skews results in their favor. For Google, SEARCH IS SACRED, so they will never allow anyone or anything to interfere with the integrity of the search results.

10 - THEY'RE UNREACHABLE
it's unfortunate, but many SEO companies are actually side gigs of the operators. These people want some income on the side, but aren't willing to invest the necessary time to master their craft, and therefore, more often than not, leave dissatisfied and disillusioned ex-clients in their wake. To see if you're dealing with a company that's more of a full-time SEO agency, test them with e-mails and calls. If they don't answer or are delayed in responses, that's your red flag.

11 - THEY TALK AUTOMATION
Back in the early 2000's, content scrapers, link building software, and other automation tools were commonplace. These days, those tools will get your website penalized faster than you can say something that doesn't take very long to say. Many SEO agencies will claim their automation is key to their low prices. Curating quality content is not an automated task. And ask for a sample report - you can check the links they've built to see if they look like they were made by some automated software. Mention of automation should ALWAYS immediately remove an agency from contention.

Conclusion
There will always be bad apples out there, but this list should help you avoid being taken for a ride with SEO agencies. NO agency ANYWHERE can guarantee results, because there are simply too many variables out of anyone's control. Your website should be one of your best salesmen, if not THE best, so don't leave it or your SEO up to amateurs. Make sure beforehand that you're dealing with a company that will do honest work, not try to game the system, and is willing to help you understand what SEO strategy they're employing. Of course, we here at Level 11 do SEO for many of our clients, so we're more than happy to answer any questions you may have, and show you what we've done for our clients.


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

Today is the birthday of the man himself, John Wayne.  As a legend of the silver screen, The Duke was equally known for his grit as well as his spoken word.  Few actors have the timeless quotability of America's Cowboy, and there's so many classic quotes that apply perfectly to business and online marketing in general.  Here, we'll reminisce on 11 of John Wayne's greatest quotes!  Happy birthday, John!

TOP 11 JOHN WAYNE QUOTES (ABOUT ONLINE MARKETING!)

1 - "That'll be the day." — Ethan Edwards in "The Searchers" (1956) 
Yeah, it may be hard to imagine how some of the crazy, complex, new ways of marketing can help you grow your business.  But as our clients can testify, we take online marketing to a new level, where you finally see that return on investment you've always dreamed of from your marketing budget, and you no longer have to put off your goals 'til "someday."

2 - "Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from." — Ringo Kid in "Stagecoach" (1939)
Believe it or not, this internet thing is here to stay, and it's time to stop being threatened by it and start treating it like an asset - a true full-time salesman.  Unless you're optimizing your online presence and using all the awesome tools available to market your business, you're missing out on huge growth opportunities.

3 - "Young fella, if you’re looking; for trouble I’ll accommodate ya." — "True Grit" (1969)
Face it, your competition would love to win every head-to-head battle against you.  There are so many battlegrounds online - websites, social media platforms, search engines, etc. - so there's immediate need to have someone working for you that can not only go toe-to-toe with your competition, but who has the expertise to win for you every single time.

4 - "Whoa, take 'er easy there, Pilgrim." — Tom Doniphon in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962)
We often see businesses who really overdo it.  Success comes with consistency and a high degree of excellence in execution, and those who try to run a marathon on day one will undoubtedly burn out quickly with nothing to show for their effort.  We take a methodical approach that will best serve your business in the short term as well as the long term.

5 - "Where I come from we don't shoot horses when they get ornery; we tame 'em." — John Drury in "Ride Him, Cowboy" (1932)
There's no doubt you've had marketing blunders in the past, or you feel like there's a challenge in marketing your business that you can't quite get your arms around.  What we want to do is saddle up and help you get the control that you need to not only avoid wasting your precious marketing dollars, but making the most of the ever-evolving opportunities that online marketing can offer businesses of all sizes.

6 - "Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!" — Wil Anderson in "The Cowboys" (1972) 
The answer to the question of when a business should be marketing, is YES!  There are things that you can do by yourself today to grow your bottom line tomorrow.  And of course there are tons of things we can do to help you get your business where you want it to go.  Procrastinating your online marketing leads to costly missed opportunities - string together enough "I'll-do-it-tomorrows", and you'll just be left with a lot of empty yesterdays.

7 - "All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be someplace else." — Captain Rockwell "Rock" Torrey in "In Harm’s Way" (1965) 
We get it - most people have put off tackling their digital marketing so long, simply because they don't understand it or are scared of losing precious time and money.  Our personal, consultative approach will give you instant confidence and will get your mind spinning with all the awesome things you can do to grow your business.

8 - "Don’t say it's a fine morning, or I'll shoot ya." — George Washington "G.W." McLintock in "McLintock!" (1963)
Your audience is looking for a specific message, and simply putting your finger in the wind won't be enough to determine which direction things are going.  There's so much data available to make online marketing incredibly efficient that you never have to worry about whether you're getting the right message to the right audience.  There's a reason typical online advertisements only get 2-4% of the clicks that ours get - we put your brand in front of your ideal audience and communicate the perfect message to them.  That makes your new potential customers happy, and that makes you more money!

9 - "Hey, stupid! Where do you think you're going? Get back there with the herd, you muttonhead!" — John Wyatt in "Westward Ho" (1935) 
Being analytical and precise is the only way to begin marketing.  Deviating from your goals, or not having goals in the first place, will leave you in no-man's-land and will cause disarray in your overall branding.  Know what you want to do before you start doing it, and if adjustments need to be made along the way, you'll already have a goal that's worth striving towards, making your marketing efforts far more efficient.

10 - "You left a boy out there to do a man's job!" — Cole Thornton in "El Dorado" (1966)
Here's some shameless self-promotion... we're the best at what we do.  Abraham Lincoln once said "whatever you are, be a good one", and we are the best dang strategic marketers anywhere.  From local businesses to national brands, our team has seen it all, and our experience is what leads us to cleaning up the messes that other marketers cause (messes that lose businesses thousands of dollars).  The long-term success is certainly not child's play, so it pays big time to bring in the heavy hitters.

11 - "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday." —Interview (1971)
Effective, aggressive marketing requires vision and agility.  A "set-it-and-forget-it" mentality is what causes many failures in marketing.  Don't fall into the failed line of thinking that your past success will lead you to future success.  WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE.  If you're not learning from the past and improving in the future by taking advantage of new tools and techniques, past failures and marketing blunders will simply be sunk cost.  Let's turn the past into an investment, and take all the data and knowledge available to us, combine it with our years of experience, and take your business to an entirely new level.  Level 11 Online Marketing is the best tool you can find to make the most of tomorrow.

Thank you so much for coming to LEVEL 11 Online Marketing to learn more about us and how we can help you succeed in growing your business through the awesome world of digital marketing! Questions? Comment below or click on the contact tab.

Search engine optimization is a constantly evolving practice. As one variable is assumed to retain more value by search engines that variable soon becomes exploited by poor SEO’s. So, how do you approach SEO? Often times it ends up being a well balanced portfolio of various fulfillment tactics. At other times, “slow and steady” with establishing proper structures within your website never seem to go wrong.

1 – Diversity

By far, the biggest issue that SEO’s face is diversity. All too often, a website utilizes the same keywords and phrases too many times. What this results in is Google (or other search engines) flagging the website as being spammy, which means your website won't show up when a search would otherwise result in your site being deemed relevant.

2 – Title Tags

Title Tags have been through some serious trends. Found many times throughout any given website (they tell search engines what each page is about), Title Tags have been over- and under-emphasized over the years. Amazingly, during consultations, we'll often find both extremes: attempts to cram too many words in, and even completely empty Title Tags.

Our recommendation is to approach Title Tags as if they were an abbreviated, one sentence summary of what the page is about. That way you focus on what is most important to represent in the Title Tag, which helps limit saying too much. While Title Tags play a huge part in search engine algorithms currently, advances in technology may render them less meaningful over time in terms of importance in search rankings, but they can still help generate clicks. By displaying a summary of what the page is about, it increases the possiblilty that someone will click on that text if your page shows up in the search rankings.

3 – Fluff

Unnecessary fluff is everywhere on websites. From the excessive title tags mentioned above and unnecessary meta tags, to scraped content and old Flash, websites are going through a rebirth. Stuff from a few years ago is now often considered tacky. Much more importantly, a lot of the items from years ago use outdated and slow processes.

How does this impact SEO?  As older things like Flash is slowly overtaken by HTML5, and other coding improvements come along, a lean, mean, quick-loading-website machine is what search engines want to see. User experience means a lot to Google, so if your site loads slower than a competitor whose site has the exact same information, your site will lose because your competitor's load time is better.

4 – Scaled Images

A big issue with pages loading slow is that the images are often not served at proper size. A good example would be if a business owner wanted to display a 500px x 500px sized image of their storefront. They'll take their own picture, download the pic to their desktop, then upload it to their website and scale it to 500px x 500px. However, they didn’t resize it - they just scaled it. Now their website has to load a 3500px x 2500px picture, but display it at 500×500. Even though it is displayed smaller it still has to load the full size image. Why not resize it before loading so the website can quickly serve the smaller image instead? 

5 – Compressed Images

Another fix for images is to take advantage of lossless image compression. This method of compression retains the quality of an image while downsizing the actual file size by as much as 90%. Either compress images individually or use available plugins for popular Content Management Systems, like WordPress. There are also API’s available from popular compression tools for those that would like to integrate compression into custom website backends.

6 – Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URL’s

While it may be true that dynamic url’s/pages should get indexed with no problem, that doesn’t mean that pages with search engine friendly url’s won’t rank higher. All popular Content Management Systems like WordPress these days have the ability to enable search engine friendly url’s. Use it.

7 – .htaccess

The .htaccess file is a text file that is in the root of a website’s hosting directory. This is pretty technical stuff that only those who deal in the nitty gritty of web dev will totally follow, but it's still important to be aware of. This small, single file can literally make or break a website. With just a line or two of code it can help you add redirects when necessary, set caches and expires headers for quicker page loads, mitigate hacking, block IP addresses, all sorts of goodness. Or, it can crash you entire website because someone accidentally left an extra comma on a line. Use the files when you feel comfortable doing so, but don't push it. 

8 – Understanding your own site’s structure

This is basic housekeeping, but is often neglected. You need to keep up on what's actually in your website. Running a thorough audit with a program like WebMeUp will help webmasters know how many pages their website has, what pages have gone missing, where broken links are, what pages have empty Title Tags, etc. The simple task of understanding (or better yet, fixing) a websites structure can be one of the easiest to fix, because you can run audit programs, but is often one of the most rewarding for search engine gains. Treat this like Spring cleaning - occasionally take the time to check on the state of your site.

9 – Content

Unique content isn't just a fad. In fact, it’s always been important. The issue that website owners face is knowing what to write about and how frequently. There is no right answer that applies to everyone. We'd be happy to help you figure out what's right for you, so feel free to reach out for a little guidance. Creating compelling content to generate returning visitors is more important than keyword stuffing.

10 – Outreach

Now that you've got an awesome website and you've began to generate content, how do you spread the word? Outreach. Outreach is one of the slowest, yet most rewarding parts of SEO. Get involved in the local community. Go to business conferences. Offer free tutorials. By getting involved you will generate outreach without all of the awkwardness. Plus, you usually end up feeling good about getting involved with your peers. Be wary of those so-called SEO experts touting getting you backlinks quickly. It's usually just garbage you'll end up with. Developing mutually beneficial connections with partner websites (businesses with similar clientele as you, against whom you don't directly compete) will go a long way for you.

11 – Buyer's Remorse

We've talked a lot about this here, but just know that there's a lot of snake oil salesmen out there, claiming to help you conquer SEO instantly and with little effort. There is no "secret sauce" to SEO, and there certainly is no shortcut to awesome organic rankings. Don't believe in the hollow promises of these fly-by-night agencies.

Summary

While SEO methods and tactics will always change, it seems that many of the most impacting variables are the same as years ago, and will continue to be so well into the future. To be successful in SEO, focus first on the important website variables that don’t change so that you establish a solid foundation for your other efforts. Once you have the foundation in place, you can test the waters with other search engine optimization methods to increase your website’s exposure.

​
About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members throughout Utah, Nebraska, Arizona, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams, resulting in powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

It’s critical that you know whether or not your website is adequate (i.e. generating maximum value for your business).  If there’s improvement to be made, every effort should be made to get your digital house in order as quickly as possible (we're right HERE to help!).  This list will help you to do a decent high-level evaluation of your current website situation, of course keeping in mind that there’s many more things that should be considered and evaluated to really optimize your web presence.
 
1 - PURPOSE
What do you want to get out of your website?  There needs to be a clear purpose to your web presence in order to make everything about it make sense.  Whether you want to sell product directly through the site, provide information, generate leads, or some combination of those, everything about your site needs to work towards a specfic end.
 
2 - AUDIENCE
Understanding the type of person that you want the website to be tailored to is essential in mapping out everything on your site.  Literally everything on your website needs to be very focused on your audience.  It sounds simple, but often we come across websites that provide irrelevant information, or have a design that isn't conducive to the type of person that would frequent such a site.
 
3 - BRANDING
Your brand is bigger than your website, but there needs to be a homogenous branding of your business anyway.  Ensure that your site has the look and feel of your business as a whole.  If your brand is very loud in a way that is over-the-top for a website, you may need to find ways to neutralize your primary brand just a bit in order to not scare people away from exploring the rest of your site.
 
4 - DESIGN
Having an eye for design is huge.  A website that is aesthetically pleasing is more likely to engage potential customers for a longer period of time, and the longer someone is engaging with your product, the more likely they are to convert into a paying customer. 

5 - LAYOUT
A successful website involves much more psychology than one would think.  Consider how someone stumbling onto your site for the first time will engage with it.  Is it easy for them to find out what you do?  Can they find what they're looking for easily?  Is the interface clean enough that they don't get bogged down in information overload?  A naturally-flowing layout is essential for conversion rate optimization.
 
6 - CODING
This may be a bit too nerdy for some to care about, but the coding of your website matters a lot.  Not only can it have a huge effect on the buyer's experience, but your site's coding (the architecture behind what the commoner sees - think about the power in your home... there's far more wiring than you'd think) has a huge effect on SEO.  Our SEO tool can help you figure out how you're doing.
 
7 - RESPONSIVE
Your website needs to look good on any device.  To see how it looks, open your site on your desktop or laptop.  With the window open from the top to the bottom of your screen, slide one side of the window left to right.  As you make your browser window as narrow as a tablet, your site should look functional and good still.  And most importantly, given how important mobile is, make your browser as narrow as a phone screen.  If your site doesn't look right, you've got issues with the architecture that need to be addressed.  This too will impact your SEO, as Google will not allow non-mobile friendly sites to rank high in search from a mobile device.
 
8 - CONTENT
Your site needs to have enough quality, relevant content.  You're getting traffic to your website, to give the people a chance to engage with your site.  Content is what makes your website a salesperson that sells 24/7.  This content can be product descriptions, biography content, blogs, video content, etc.
 
9 - MORE CONTENT
The value of content cannot be understated.  Give your audience everything they need.  If you provide value to them, they'll be more likely to convert to a customer, so give them value!  Give it away for free, and your chances for conversion are better immediately.
 
10 - GOALS
Goals make your efforts measurable.  Put a system in place to make sure you can measure things such as shopping cart abandonments, requests for information, contact forms, successful purchases, etc.
 
11 - E-COMMERCE
​We always say, don't make it hard for people to give you their money.  This isn't to sound shallow, but how many of us have left a buying situation because someone kept asking for more information, or the process was too long, or it just was hard to find exactly what you were looking for?  Everything, from the design and layout of your site, to the content and buying process, work together to determine your success with e-commerce.  There's also plenty of little things that can help make the transaction go smoothly, such as using a tool from Amazon where people can pay on your site using their Amazon credentials (then they don't have to enter all their info).  Whatever you can do to eliminate steps and make the process easy will lead to more conversions from your website.


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

Search engine optimization is a constantly evolving practice. As one variable is assumed to retain more value by search engines that variable soon becomes exploited by poor SEO’s. So, how do you approach SEO? Often times it ends up being a well balanced portfolio of various fulfillment tactics. At other times, “slow and steady” with establishing proper structures within your website never seem to go wrong.

1 – Diversity

By far, the biggest issue that SEO’s face is diversity. All too often, a website utilizes the same keywords and phrases too many times. What this results in is Google (or other search engines) flagging the website as being spammy, which means your website won't show up when a search would otherwise result in your site being deemed relevant.

2 – Title Tags

Title Tags have been through some serious trends. Found many times throughout any given website (they tell search engines what each page is about), Title Tags have been over- and under-emphasized over the years. Amazingly, during consultations, we'll often find both extremes: attempts to cram too many words in, and even completely empty Title Tags.

Our recommendation is to approach Title Tags as if they were an abbreviated, one sentence summary of what the page is about. That way you focus on what is most important to represent in the Title Tag, which helps limit saying too much. While Title Tags play a huge part in search engine algorithms currently, advances in technology may render them less meaningful over time in terms of importance in search rankings, but they can still help generate clicks. By displaying a summary of what the page is about, it increases the possiblilty that someone will click on that text if your page shows up in the search rankings.

3 – Fluff

Unnecessary fluff is everywhere on websites. From the excessive title tags mentioned above and unnecessary meta tags, to scraped content and old Flash, websites are going through a rebirth. Stuff from a few years ago is now often considered tacky. Much more importantly, a lot of the items from years ago use outdated and slow processes.

How does this impact SEO?  As older things like Flash is slowly overtaken by HTML5, and other coding improvements come along, a lean, mean, quick-loading-website machine is what search engines want to see. User experience means a lot to Google, so if your site loads slower than a competitor whose site has the exact same information, your site will lose because your competitor's load time is better.

4 – Scaled Images

A big issue with pages loading slow is that the images are often not served at proper size. A good example would be if a business owner wanted to display a 500px x 500px sized image of their storefront. They'll take their own picture, download the pic to their desktop, then upload it to their website and scale it to 500px x 500px. However, they didn’t resize it - they just scaled it. Now their website has to load a 3500px x 2500px picture, but display it at 500×500. Even though it is displayed smaller it still has to load the full size image. Why not resize it before loading so the website can quickly serve the smaller image instead? 

5 – Compressed Images

Another fix for images is to take advantage of lossless image compression. This method of compression retains the quality of an image while downsizing the actual file size by as much as 90%. Either compress images individually or use available plugins for popular Content Management Systems, like WordPress. There are also API’s available from popular compression tools for those that would like to integrate compression into custom website backends.

6 – Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URL’s

While it may be true that dynamic url’s/pages should get indexed with no problem, that doesn’t mean that pages with search engine friendly url’s won’t rank higher. All popular Content Management Systems like WordPress these days have the ability to enable search engine friendly url’s. Use it.

7 – .htaccess

The .htaccess file is a text file that is in the root of a website’s hosting directory. This is pretty technical stuff that only those who deal in the nitty gritty of web dev will totally follow, but it's still important to be aware of. This small, single file can literally make or break a website. With just a line or two of code it can help you add redirects when necessary, set caches and expires headers for quicker page loads, mitigate hacking, block IP addresses, all sorts of goodness. Or, it can crash you entire website because someone accidentally left an extra comma on a line. Use the files when you feel comfortable doing so, but don't push it. 

8 – Understanding your own site’s structure

This is basic housekeeping, but is often neglected. You need to keep up on what's actually in your website. Running a thorough audit with a program like WebMeUp will help webmasters know how many pages their website has, what pages have gone missing, where broken links are, what pages have empty Title Tags, etc. The simple task of understanding (or better yet, fixing) a websites structure can be one of the easiest to fix, because you can run audit programs, but is often one of the most rewarding for search engine gains. Treat this like Spring cleaning - occasionally take the time to check on the state of your site.

9 – Content

Unique content isn't just a fad. In fact, it’s always been important. The issue that website owners face is knowing what to write about and how frequently. There is no right answer that applies to everyone. We'd be happy to help you figure out what's right for you, so feel free to reach out for a little guidance. Creating compelling content to generate returning visitors is more important than keyword stuffing.

10 – Outreach

Now that you've got an awesome website and you've began to generate content, how do you spread the word? Outreach. Outreach is one of the slowest, yet most rewarding parts of SEO. Get involved in the local community. Go to business conferences. Offer free tutorials. By getting involved you will generate outreach without all of the awkwardness. Plus, you usually end up feeling good about getting involved with your peers. Be wary of those so-called SEO experts touting getting you backlinks quickly. It's usually just garbage you'll end up with. Developing mutually beneficial connections with partner websites (businesses with similar clientele as you, against whom you don't directly compete) will go a long way for you.

11 – Buyer's Remorse

We've talked a lot about this here, but just know that there's a lot of snake oil salesmen out there, claiming to help you conquer SEO instantly and with little effort. There is no "secret sauce" to SEO, and there certainly is no shortcut to awesome organic rankings. Don't believe in the hollow promises of these fly-by-night agencies.

Summary

While SEO methods and tactics will always change, it seems that many of the most impacting variables are the same as years ago, and will continue to be so well into the future. To be successful in SEO, focus first on the important website variables that don’t change so that you establish a solid foundation for your other efforts. Once you have the foundation in place, you can test the waters with other search engine optimization methods to increase your website’s exposure.

​
About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members throughout Utah, Nebraska, Arizona, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams, resulting in powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

​​Berra-isms (colloquial expressions that lack logic) are now countless, and many of them are just attributed to Berra, even if he never actually said them. As he so perfectly put it: “I never said most of the things I said.” Here's how 11 of his quotes apply to marketing!

1. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
Marketing (and all things online) is evolving so quickly that opportunities will always be coming along. The awesome thing about some online marketing strategies is you can actually TEST something before you do it. So no, it's not impossible to take the fork in the road - you can actually try multiple options without even risking anything.

2. You can observe a lot by just watching.
The problem that many marketers have is they don't actually watch. They don't watch the campaigns they're running (gotta watch to make adjustments along the way to refine the approach), they don't watch their clients (how is the marketing impacting the client's business?), and they don't watch the customers (you cannot effectively market without intimately understanding the decisions buyers are making and why they're making those decisions over other options). We're watchers - always observing and always refining.

3. It ain’t over till it’s over.
Don't give up. If something isn't working, make adjustments and keep trying. The beauty of online marketing is the ability to refine the process continually based on actual DATA about your efforts and their results.

4. It’s like déjà vu all over again.
When you find something that works, do it again. Also, it should be noted that before we do any marketing, we dig into the data to determine where opportunity actually lies. When we do this, then deploy our marketing efforts later, we already have an idea of what will happen because we've already seen the numbers. It really is like déjà vu all over again.

5. No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
Don't think that just because everybody else is marketing in some way that you need to follow suit. Let the numbers (analytics) determine where you market. Don't just assume that because your main competitor is on some fancy new social media platform that you need to be there too - every aspect of your marketing should be justifiable in your ROI.

6. Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
Sometimes the numbers just don't add up. To make sure your numbers are accurate and to make sure you know as much as possible about your audience, make sure you have Google Analytics installed on your website. It's easy, it's free, and it's the most robust traffic analysis tool anywhere. Any marketing without analytics is running on partial power.

7. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
Marketing is not a commoditizable industry. There are countless agencies out there; some agencies are amazing (like Level 11 Online Marketing!), while others make promises they can't deliver on and end up declaring bankruptcy 3 times in 7 years (like Dex... please, if you're with Dex, call us now. You'll be blown away by how much better life can be!). Simply put, all marketers are not created equal, so be thorough in vetting.

8. You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
You can control your destiny. Your marketing efforts are 100% within your control, so you CAN win every time, if you do it right. Don't allow yourself to be beaten by being mediocre.

9. We made too many wrong mistakes.
Winners don't fail, they learn. A wrong mistake is one that you learn nothing from.

10. Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
Your progress as a business or brand will stop and begin to decline the moment you think you've "arrived." Complacency is the enemy to progress. Once you reach a goal, set another and get back to work.

11. You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
Problem solving sometimes simply requires a new perspective of the same problem. With something as dynamic as 21st century marketing, constant change require constant education and evolution. We always bring a fresh perspective to our clients' challenges and problems.

... and now the bonus quotes!
​
12. Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.

13. I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.

14. Never answer an anonymous letter.

15. Slump? I ain’t in no slump… I just ain’t hitting.

16. How can you think and hit at the same time?

17. The future ain’t what it used to be.

18. I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.

19. It gets late early out here.

20. If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.

21. We have deep depth.

22. Pair up in threes.

23. Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.

24. You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.

25. All pitchers are liars or crybabies.

26. Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

27. Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.

28. He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.

29. It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.

30. I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won twenty-five games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.

31. I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.

32. I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.

33. I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.

34. In baseball, you don’t know nothing.

35. I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?

36. I never said most of the things I said.

37. It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.

38. If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.

39. I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.

40. So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.

41. Take it with a grin of salt.

42. (On the 1973 Mets) We were overwhelming underdogs.

43. The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.

44. Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.

45. Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren’t allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.

46. You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.

47. I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.

48. If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’. I didn’t like to work.

49. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.

50. A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ’em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ’em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

What makes a successful entrepreneur? This list will certainly have a few things that are your strengths already, but maybe there's a few things you need to improve on. Either way, these are 11 traits that are characteristics attributable to the most consistently successful entrepreneurs.

1 - They dream BIG
Successful business owners have vision for what they can create. They can visualize not only the end result of their effort, but the steps required to get there. They believe in their abilities and are not afraid to push the limits.

2 - They execute
Ideas are a dime a dozen, but actually carrying out one's dream takes guts and skill. Creating something and having demand for it isn't an automatic endeavor. One must know how to create not only a product, but a market for the product. The HOW (how will our new product succeed and become a sought-after product) in value creation is just as important as the WHAT (what our new product is... you think it's the best thing since sliced bread, but is it?).

3 - They take baby steps
Bootstrapping is critical, but it doesn't just deal with money. Yes, your money is limited, but so is your time, your people, and even your energy. Creating and following a plan will make life much easier. Incremental progress is far more sustainable in the long run than a sprint.

4 - They ask for help
Find a mentor. Even the great business leaders of today nearly always have a mentor to which they can confide. Ask people who have achieved what you want to achieve how they did it. Perhaps even people in your same line of business will be willing to help you. Either way, successful people naturally want to help other people who strive for exellence, so there's definitely someone out there who would want to help you.

5 - They spot opportunities
Think outside the box. Some of the most successful ideas were almost laughable when first introduced, but the successful entrepreneurs behind the ideas knew their value and didn't let small minds stop them from achieving big dreams.

6 - They're confident
Fear and doubt are the greatest stumbling blocks to success. Entrepreneurs will find most success when they believe in what they're doing and use their passion to fuel their innovation. 

7 - They're nimble
Mistakes are inevitable. The difference between winning and losing in business, is while losers simply fail, winners fail and LEARN. Learning from failure will allow the successful entrepreneur to make necessary changes and get on the right path. Nobody cares about the failures when the end result is a successful venture.

8 - They're not afraid
Risk is inherent in new venture creation. Fear of failure stops many people from even starting a new venture or trying new things. Successful entrepreneurs understand risk, yet they mitigate that risk the best they can while carefully navigating every step in their new venture creation in order to ensure the best possible outcome.

9 - They build strong teams
Surrounding yourself with the very best people is the best way to ensure your success. The successful entrepreneur knows that quality people are crucial to prolonged success. Find people who are even better than you at certain things, and you'll get a lot farther with your new business than you otherwise could have.

10 - They let go
Learn from failure, and let it go. Recognize when you have too much to do, and let go of some responsibilities (delegate!). Successful entrepreneurs know when letting go is the right thing to do.

11 - They learn and do it all again
Successful entrepreneurs are constantly trying to learn more and master their craft. While constantly striving to create successful ventures, the successful entrepreneur will keep getting better and better while recognizing more opportunities for new venture creation. The never ending cycle is where we get the term "serial entrepreneur," which is a person who has refined their ability to create value, and does so over and over again.


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

It seems like everybody everywhere is always on their phone. People comsume media very differently today than they did even a few years ago, and as a business, it's critical that you are taking advantage of mobile advertising. Social media platforms such as Facebook have an insanely captive audience, and we have troves of data about this audience that allows us to very efficiently and aggressively target your ideal audience. Facebook is a very valuable tool that many of our clients use, and here's some amazing facts about it!

1 - Facebook’s ‘Like’ button used to be the ‘Awesome’ button. Facebook engineer Andrew Bosworth said that he and other engineers were enthusiastic about the “Awesome” button, but that the idea was ultimately vetoed by Zuckerberg in 2007. The site eventually settled on the “Like” button, a decision that Bosworth said was met with a decidedly lukewarm reception. (source)
2 - Facebook stores approximately 300 PETABYTES of user data on its servers. There are 1 million gigabytes in a petabyte. The entire written works of humankind, in every known language (including Latin and other historical languages) from the dawn of recorded history, would occupy approximately 50 petabytes. Think about that for a minute. (source)
3 - In 2014, the alleged global economic impact of Facebook was approximately $227 billion. However, this statistic (and the methodology behind it) has been called in question by several leading economists. Whether you buy Facebook’s data or not, there’s no doubt that Facebook has had a serious impact on economies around the world. (source)
4 - Facebook’s user base grows by eight people per second, or 7,246 people every 15 minutes. Some naysayers have foretold of Facebook’s impending demise, but aside from boasting the largest user base of any social network in the world by a gigantic margin, this statistic proves Facebook is still growing. (source)
5 - In 2015, Facebook boasted 22% of WORLDWIDE mobile Internet advertising revenue. That means almost one-quarter of all advertising revenue generated from mobile Internet ads in a single year went to Facebook. (source)
6 - There are now more than 2 million active advertisers on Facebook. The popularity, impact, and cost-effectiveness of Facebook ads has made the site one of the most popular online advertising platforms in the world, and its upward trajectory seems likely to continue. (source)
7 - Facebook ads targeting custom audiences have 14% lower cost-per-click and 64% lower cost-per-conversions than ads utilizing interest- or category-based targeting, on average. In addition, Facebook ads using custom audience targeting had conversion rates 387% higher than ads only using demographic targeting. (source)
8 - Every minute of downtime outage costs Facebook approximately $24,420. The “prolonged” outage that lasted for 19 minutes in August 2014 cost the company almost $427,000 – and you thoughtyou were pissed when Facebook goes down. (source)
9 - Posts published between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST receive approximately 88% more interactions on average than posts published at other times of the day. Also, ending posts with a question lifts interactions with those posts by an average of 162%. (source)
10 - In September 2014, Facebook users watched a collective 1 billion videos per day. Today, that figure is more than 4 billion – and 75% of these video views occur on mobile devices. (source)
11 - Videos are the most-shared content type on Facebook. On average, videos receive 89.5 shares per video, significantly higher share counts than photos or text-based posts. (source)
BONUS! - Posting just once or twice per day on Facebook yields an average of 40% more engagement than posting three or more times per day. This shows that, despite marketers’ best efforts to beat Facebook’s rapidly declining organic reach, you can’t just use brute force to make yourself heard. (source)

Thanks to Wordstream Blog

About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

Marketing isn't just billboards and television anymore. The internet has become a part of daily life for people everywhere, and now serves as the primary source for gathering information and looking for products and services. We are here to help you turn the internet into the greatest asset you've ever had for lead generation and business growth. Here's 11 more amazing facts about Google AdWords:

1. Amazon spent an estimated $55.2 million on AdWords advertising in 2011. (Breaking Down Google’s 2011 Revenues)
2. 89% of the traffic generated by search ads is not replaced by organic clicks when ads are paused. (Google Research)
3. For high commercial intent search queries, the top three ad spots take about 40% of the clicks on the page. (The War on Free Clicks)
4. If there is no right-hand column, almost half of people (45.5%) can’t tell the difference between organic and paid search results. (SEO Book)
5. AdWords advertisers can now target by Congressional District. (Google Politics)
6. Google owns the world’s largest online display advertising network, with properties includingYouTube, Gmail, and Blogger. (comScore)
7. The Google Display Network serves 180 billion impressions each month (that's about 6 billion a daily!) and the display campaigns reach 80% of global internet users. (comScore / Google Benchmarks and Insights)
8. According to Google, “99% of our top 1,000 clients are now running campaigns on the Google Display Network and YouTube.” (Google Benchmarks and Insights)
9. The average click-through rate for an ad in the first position is 7.94%. (AccuraCast) 
10. Ads in the top position have been observed to get 10 times as many clicks as side-position ads. (Practical Ecommerce)
11. Google dominates mobile search advertising, taking 97% of mobile search spend. (Search Engine Land)

CLICK HERE to learn more about our Search Engine Marketing services.

About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

Search Engine Marketing is all about connecting you with people that are looking for you, even if they don't even know anything about you yet. You can spend every cent you have on your website, but it serves you no purpose if nobody knows your website is there. Search Engine Marketing is all about getting people to your site. The juggernaut of SEM is Google AdWords, and our teammembers are AdWords Certified and are incredibly successful at helping organizations of all sizes achieve tremendous ROI from their SEM investments. Here's 11 amazing facts about AdWords:

1. Google was launched in 2000, with pricing based on a flat CPM (cost per impression model). It was relaunched under an auction model in 2002. (Search Engine History)
2. An 18-year-old college dropout named Scott Banister is credited with the brilliant, multi-billion-dollar idea of pay-for-placement search listings, an idea later brought to fruition by Bill Gross at IdeaLab. (TechCrunch)
3. About 97% of Google’s total revenues come from advertising. (Google Investor Relations)
4. Businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on AdWords. (Google Economic Impact Report)
5. In 2011, Google search and advertising tools generated $80 billion in economic activity across the U.S. (Google Economic Impact Report)
6. The finance and insurance industry spent $4 billion on AdWords in 2011. (Search Engine Watch)
7. Finance and insurance related keywords are among the most expensive in AdWords, with some demanding costs per click (CPCs) over $50. (The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in AdWords)
8. The average click-through rate of an ad on the Google Display Network is 0.4% -- four times as high as the average banner ad in the US and almost ten times as high as a Facebook ad. It should be noted that Level 11 Ads have significantly higher rates across both Google and Facebook Networks... way higher. (Facebook vs. Google Display Network)
9. Consumers exposed to display ads are, on average, 155% more likely to search for brand- and segment-specific terms. (Specific Media)
10. Yankee Candle Company reports that remarketing allowed it to increase conversion rates by 600% while cutting cost per conversion in half. (AdWords Blog)
11. According to Google, campaigns that use the Conversion Optimizer achieve a 21% increase in conversions while decreasing CPA by 14% on average. (Google Conversion Optimizer)

CLICK HERE to learn more about our Search Engine Marketing services.

About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo. We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization. Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!
CLICK HERE to learn more about our Search Engine Marketing services.

In our previous post HERE, we detailed why organic reach on Facebook is so very low (this took up numbers 1-6 of the TOP 11 List). Now, we'll show you how you can increase your organic reach on Facebook! Here's 7-11 of the TOP 11 List of solving the organic reach challenge! For reference, you can learn more about what organic reach is right HERE.

7 - CONTENT IS KING
Having excellent, quality content is so important because whenever people engage with your page, they'll be more likely to see your page in their News Feed later because of algorithms Facebook has in place. Creating content that will get people to like, share, and comment will be a game changer for you.

8 - LEARN ABOUT AND USE FACEBOOK INSIGHTS
This nifty little tool will help you learn more about your audience. Play with it and you'll soon start seeing that it sheds a lot of light on your audience. When you understand your audience, you can tailor content to them that much better.

9 - KEEP AN EYE ON THE COMPETITION
Watching what your competitors are doing (post frequency, content, likes, shares, etc) will help you catch on when something is working well. It also is just a good rule of business to keep an eye on your competition. There are some third-party tools out there that help monitor your competitors, so check them out if you could use more insights on your competition: BuzzSumo, Simply Measured, and Social Bakers.

10 - BUILD A COMMUNITY
Focus on your users, not yourself. If every post is salesy - pushing your product - you'll lose audience. Post useful content and build up a two-way line of communication with your audience. Give away value for free, and they'll recognize what you're really worth.

11 - BE CONSISTENT AND DON'T GET LAZY
Consistency goes a long way. This isn't to say that you need to post all the time - we're simply saying that whether it's best for you to post three times a day or three times a month, be consistent. Being lazy won't help either. There's ways to literally buy followers, but you'll be banned in a hurry, not to mention you're pretty crazy for thinking that your bought audience will be in any way interested in what you have to say (really, having a thousand new followers tomorrow that in no way are interested in you, or more likely aren't even real people, will not make you a cent).

All in all, success in solving the organic reach challenge is all about content. High-quality content that promotes audience engagement will help you in maximizing your organic reach right away.


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

No you're not imagining things... there just really aren't a lot of people that are seeing your Facebook posts. It's like every time you click "POST", Facebook is saying "shhhhh". Well, this is all because of declining organic reach. To learn more about what organic reach is, click here. In this post, we'll examine why organic reach is disappearing (and in the second part of this TOP 11 Series List, we'll see how you can improve your organic reach).

1 - TOO MANY POSTS IN THE NEWS FEED
Facebook needs users to have a good experience because user experience translates directly into $$$. A Facebook study found that 1,500 posts appear in the average user's feed daily, with that number approaching 15,000 for very active users. Because Facebook's goal is to show engaging content, all posts are not created equal. As we often say, CONTENT IS KING. The News Feed sorting algorithm, EdgeRank, analyzes over 100,000 indicators, so everyone has to earn their spot in the feed of users.

2 - POOR ENGAGEMENT TORPEDOS YOUR REACH
EdgeRank has tracked the decline of organic reach. 16% in 2012, 10% in 2013, 6% in 2014, and now 2-4% in 2016. Brands that struggle to connect with their audience have been hit the hardest.

3 - LARGER BRANDS HAVE LOWEST REACH
Many brands still maintain a reach of 4% (even better in some instances), but for pages with 500k+ likes, 2% organic reach is the norm. Some Facebook sources have even unofficially advised some managers to expect that reach to approach 0%.

4 - PAY TO PLAY
Advertising is Facebook's primary source of revenue, and not surprisingly the rate of organic reach is inversely related to the stock price of the company. Some brands simply haven't made the jump to paying to increase reach, so their reach has suffered.

5 - CONTENT IS KING
Socialbakers analyzed over 4,000 brand pages and nearly 700,000 posts, finding that video is the most effective way to reach audience. In the best circumstances, video's organic reach can approach 8.7%, followed by Links and Text Only posts at 5.3% and 5.8% respectively. At Level 11, we use video for many clients and have seen incredible success from it in terms of ROI. Learn more about that here and here.

6 - RELEVANCE TO YOUR TARGET
A case study for Castrol Motorcycle Oil measured a social media campaign. The first phase relied totally on organic reach for six months. It delivered 5,000 fans, 26,000 social interactions and a reach of 2.7 million. However, only 20% of those fans were located in the US. The next phase incorporated paid reach, and this time added 36,000 new fans, half of which were in the US, while reach hit 14 million. The content was the same - tailored to a specific audience - but the paid reach was focused on North America, which made all the difference.

​To finish this TOP 11 Series List, go HERE to learn about how to increase your organic reach on Facebook!


About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

There are many things we have to be thankful for in the USA, so we decided to put together a list of things that make us feel pride in the red, white and blue. It would be easy to make a list a mile long, (I mean we had to leave off apple pie, John Denver and mountains for crying out loud) but these are our top 11, what makes your list?

1. The American Flag - A true sign of American pride. We all know the 50 stars represent the States and the stripes designate the original 13 colonies, but did you know even the colors of the flag have meaning? Red was picked to symbolize hardiness and valor, white was chosen for purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice. (Source http://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/history/old-glory/) If that doesn’t make you want to salute a bald eagle then I don’t know what will!
2. Bar-B-Que Joints - Maybe it’s the smell. Maybe it’s the memories of ribs gone by. Maybe it reminds us of the grills in our own back yards. Whatever it is, seeing a BBQ restaurant and knowing that stepping inside means smoky flavor, napkins that look like they came from a crime scene, and ultimately a good belt loosening always reminds us of home.
3. Men & Women in Uniform - Always a humbling sight to see! I’ve been told that saying thank you or shaking the hand of a service man or woman in uniform is in good form. Be aware of the social situation of course, but if the setting is right they appreciate the simple gesture.
4. Fireworks - Usually excessive and over the top, but it wouldn’t be America’s holiday without amazing fireworks!
5. Small Businesses - A significant reason that people move from other countries to America is the chance to start a business in a strong and stable economy. Owning your own business is major part of the “American Dream.” Seeing a small business prosper and grow to several franchise locations is a bit of a passion of ours.
6. Neighborhood Parties - In today’s device-heavy world it’s easier than ever to stay inside and forget you ever had neighbors. So it’s always great to see a group of friends and neighbors coming together to throw hot dogs on the grill while the kids run around and play.
7. Retired Veterans - While we may never know exactly what they went through, we can show simple gestures toward our brave soldiers to show we appreciate their sacrifice. We can and should take time to honor veterans of all American wars.
8. The Olympics - Seeing an American on the top of the pedestal while the Star Bangled Banner plays… I’m not crying, you’re crying!
9. Baseball Games - Even though sports audiences are migrating to other sports such as the NFL, NBA and MLS; baseball still holds a special place in America’s heart. You don’t even need to go to Dodger stadium to feel it, seeing kids play on the diamonds in a local park makes the summer feel complete.
10. Uniting in Tragedy - If there’s one time when we all come together, it’s when tragedy hits. I was in Boulder, CO the week after the theater shooting in 2012. I drove over to the theater expecting to see a few vigils people set up, and was startled when I arrived. The amount of flowers and posters and individual messages was incredible. I was also surprised by how many people were there on a Wednesday afternoon. There were over 100 people there to pay their respects. For all our problems America truly is great, and we come to each other’s aid when bad things happen.
11. Watermelon - Ok, so maybe this isn’t exactly the national fruit or even something we can call our own. I mean Japan has SQUARE watermelons that will leave you wondering if your plain old oval fruit is missing something. Watermelon (no matter the shape) will always remind us of summer and the Fourth of July.

​
​About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

From the acclaimed television show The Office, here's the TOP 11 Michael Scott quotes, where the famed manager clearly was praising the good people at Level 11 Online Marketing.  We humbly accept the accolades, as well as acknowledge his amazing understanding of digital marketing.

1 - SOMETIMES I'LL START A SENTENCE AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE IT'S GOING. I JUST HOPE I FIND IT ALONG THE WAY.
Our ability to plan for your future is what allows us to evaluate and take advantage of marketing opportunities for our clients to grow their businesses. Our experience, combined with our data-driven approach, allows us to help you avoid those moments where you wonder just what your investment in marketing is actually doing for you.  There's always a direction and purpose to what we do.

2 - I LOVE INSIDE JOKES. I'D LOVE TO BE A PART OF ONE SOMEDAY.
We're always aware of what's going on. New tools and techniques are always coming available for us to help you establish a more profitable online presence.  You have no doubt seen another brand and couldn't help but envy what they've accomplished - we help you reach your goals and become a business that others admire and look up to as well.

3 - I AM BEYONCE ALWAYS.
Beyonce has been a very successful artist for a long time. We're just that good. We set trends and help our clients do the same - achieve the kinds of success they previously could only dream of.

4 - I UNDERSTAND NOTHING.
It's ok to admit when you don't understand something. Digital marketing is confusing and daunting, so we simplify things for you and help you learn and understand everything that we're doing to help you. We don't want clients to feel like they're in the dark.

5 - I'M NOT SUPERSTITIOUS, BUT I AM A LITTLE STITIOUS.
We don't have to do the same thing for every client every time. Frankly we never do, because everybody is in a unique position. That being said, there are very successful tricks we have up our sleeve that we've never been shy about using in the right situation. Past experiences can have a huge effect on future successes.

6 - I AM AN EARLY BIRD AND A NIGHT OWL... SO I AM WISE AND I HAVE WORMS.
We have a passion for online marketing. At literally any hour of the day, we have members of our team working for our clients.  Because digital marketing is so dynamic, success can only come through consistent, smart, and aggressive effort. Our drive to create value for our clients separates us from our competition in very real ways - average digital ads typically get just 2-3% of the engagement of our digital ads, and our search engine marketing generates 500-800% MORE TRAFFIC than what is average across ALL of Google.

7 - WOULD I RATHER BE FEARED OR LOVED? EASY, BOTH. I WANT PEOPLE TO BE AFRAID OF HOW MUCH THEY LOVE ME.
We do not stop until our clients become raving fans. The success of our clients is everything to us, and we absolutely love that nearly all of our new clients are REFERRALS, because it shows how much our clients trust us.

8 - I LIKE WAKING UP TO THE SMELL OF BACON.
Bacon makes the world go around. In many ways, it makes everything better. We do the same with our clients. More often than not, their businesses are already successful and poised for growth. What we bring to the table is that little extra bit of magic to accelerate things and take them to the next level. We help our clients not only achieve their goals, but exceed them.

9 - IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY FOR ICE CREAM.
Sometimes a client will have assumed that a particular marketing method is too much for a business of their size, or that the results we've had with other businesses won't translate to theirs. We love helping our clients of every size take advantage of the tools that huge corporations and worldwide brands use to establish themselves. Don't assume that just because you just have a local clientele and a small shop that you can't use modern methods to grow. With so many tools our there, we know we can find something to fit you and your unique situation.

10 - FOOL ME ONCE, STRIKE ONE, BUT FOOL ME TWICE... STRIKE THREE.
We are incredibly dynamic in our approach. Occasionally something (gasp!) won't go as planned, and an adjustment needs to be made. Luckily, we're always monitoring what we're doing for our clients, and when we hit a bump in the road, improvements are made right away to ensure smooth sailing for the duration of the campaign. Nothing gets past us, because we invest heavily in the necessary technology to continually refine our approach while continually improving client ROI.

11 - THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.
Michael Scott loves us, and so does everyone else that gets the opportunity to work with us. When that friend of yours says you should contact Level 11 because we're the best, do it because that's what she said! Once we've had a chance to help you, you'll agree that our unique approach is just what you need to get your digital house in order and turn the internet into your most effective source of business!



​About us: Level 11 Online Marketing is a fast growing digital advertising agency that is becoming known for disrupting the status quo.  We specialize in digital advertising, video production, SEO, SEM, advanced analytics, custom web solutions via website design & implementation, social media strategies and conversion optimization.  Headquartered in Utah, you will find Level 11 team members in Utah, Washington, California, Idaho, and Colorado. We have the best creative minds in the industry backed up by the most talented software developers and video production teams which leads to powerful, efficient advertising campaigns.

If you have questions, comment here or email us at info@level11.io today!

If you're not up to speed with the lingo of online marketing, it can be really hard to keep up when you're learning about what online video advertising can do and how it works.  We've all been in situations where we have no idea what's being discussed, so we know it can be embarrassing and exhausting.  To help you out, here's a simple list to give you just a little head start (so that at the very least, you're able to follow the conversation and everything doesn't go right over your head):

TOP 11 TERMS TO KNOW ABOUT DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING

1 – IMPRESSIONS
The number of times an Ad has been served (see Ad Serving), regardless of action taken by user.
 
2 – VIDEO VIEWS
A stat that shows how many times someone who had the Ad served to them (see Ad Serving) actually watched a significant portion of the video.  Often stats can also break down how many watched 25%, 50%, or 75% of the video as well.
 
3 – AD SERVING
A stat that shows the Ad has appeared on the end user’s device.
 
4 – CALL TO ACTION
Text within the Ad, or a graphic like a button, which invites the audience to take action.
 
5 – CLICK THRU RATE (CTR)
Reported as a percentage of total impressions, this statistic shows how often people who are served an ad end up clicking on it.
 
6 – CONVERSION
When launching a campaign, we determine a specific action or set of actions we want audiences to take.  Each time a member of the audience takes this action, it is counted as a conversion.  Examples could include filling out a contact form or completing a purchase.
 
7 – CONVERSION RATE
A percentage calculated by dividing the number of people who completed a conversion by the number of clicks the Ad received.
 
8 – GEOGRAPHIC TARGETING
Targeting an audience based on ZIP codes, cities, counties, etc.
 
9 – DEMOGRAPHIC/PSYCHOGRAPHIC TARGETING
Targeting an audience based on demographic data or interests, values, attitudes, or lifestyles.
 
10 – RETARGETING/REMARKETING
Serving Ads to people who have previously visited your website.
 
11 – PRE-ROLL AD
A pre-roll video ad is one that forces the viewer to watch the Ad before they are allowed to view the video they intend to see.

Thanks so much for coming to us at LEVEL 11 Online Marketing to learn more about the awesome world of digital marketing!  If you have questions, comment here or go to the contact tab.

We are proud to introduce you to LEVEL 11 Online Marketing!  As you explore our site, you'll be able to learn more about our team members and the services we offer.  We want to talk to YOU and invite you to reach us through the "contact" tab.  We wanted to take the time here to show you some of the unique ways that LEVEL 11 is uniquely positioned to offer your business both world-class exptertise and a level of service never before seen in the world of marketing.  Here is the very first list of our "Top 11" series!

TOP 11 REASONS LEVEL 11 WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD

1 – EXPERIENCE
Top to bottom, our team is full of rock stars that have established themselves as true experts.  With clients ranging from Zagg and PoolTables.com to Netflix and Nike, our team has helped businesses of all types reach their goals.

2 – BACKGROUND
The path to creating LEVEL 11 began in consulting, where we would simply work with business owners to help them understand their market better and how to grow their buessiness to where they wanted it to go.  That same consultative approach exists today, and our clients continually comment on how refreshingly different our approach is when compared to typical "ad agencies."

3 – CONTINUAL EDUCATION
The world of online marketing is constantly changing, and it pays to work with a partner that stays on top of things.  Marketing is our passion, so the constant flow of new tools and techniques is something that we love to learn about and employ for our clients' benefit.

4 – SPECIALIZATION
Our team is comprised of experts in a wide array of fields, and we leverage those specific skills in crafting and managing comprehensive marketing campaigns for our clients.  For example, that means that if you need help with pay-per-click (Search Engine Marketing - more on this in future posts), your project will be overseen by someone who has managed campaigns for both local businesses as well as national brands.

5 – NO OVERHEAD OR DEBT
Yes this makes a big difference for you!  From day one, we've been very smart and conservative with how we operate our business.  What this translates to for you is that your advertising budget actually goes towards advertising, NOT towards servicing debt or paying for office space.

6 – VALUES
We insist on being honest and ethical in all of our client interactions.  What's important to us is not only do you trust us enough to sign up with us in the first place, but that we earn your trust every single day as we aggressively and efficiently grow your business.  Hard work and smart work are what you deserve from your marketing partner.

7 – ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Growing business is what we do.  Regardless of what sector you're in, we are all about growing what you've worked so hard to create.  We constantly search for new opportunities for our clients, and that can mean big things for you.

8 – TRANSPARENT
New clients often tell us that they're not used to actually seeing hard data on their marketing.  More often than not, their marketers had left them to rely on anecdotal evidence to essentially guess what the impact of that big check they cut really was.  We want you to know what you're getting from your investment, so we'll pull back the curtain and really give you an inside look at how our efforts are benefitting you.

9 – HONEST
You're not paying us to sugar coat things, or to always say yes.  We will always be straightforward with you, because our primary goal is to grow your business.  We bring our consultative approach into everything we do, and will strive to develop an intimate understanding of what you do and what it will take to take your business to the next level.

10 – PRESENT
We are not anonymous and you won't be left for months wondering where we are or what we're doing.  We take a very active role in growing your business.  Regular meetings and conversations ensure that we're always on the same page.

11 – ROI
We know your marketing budget is precious, and that in a very real way you see your online marketing efforts as an investment.  Your Return On Investment is mutually beneficial, because while you're making more money, we're proving our value to you, ensuring a long relationship.  This is the end goal and end result of everything we do - yes, online marketing can be ridiculously complicated, but our unique approach will ensure that not only do you understand what we're doing, but that you'll be more profitable for having chosen to work with us.  We are LEVEL 11 Online Marketing, and we make digital marketing easy.

Thank you so much for coming to LEVEL 11 Online Marketing to learn more about us and how we can help you succeed in growing your business through the awesome world of digital marketing!  Questions? Comment below or click on the contact tab.