In SEO Trends 2024, we dive deep into the realm of AI, but ultimately, AI is not the star of the show – you are. The human touch is still crucial when adopting AI into your strategy, and this ebook highlights the importance of working alongside it rather than relying on it as a human replacement.

“Helpful” Is A Bigger Word Than You Think

In 2024, Google will change the game with a redefined meaning of “helpful.” Inside, we explore how the definition of “helpful” content and websites is expanding and the impact of updates.

Here are some key insights:

• Google assesses the value and helpfulness of your entire site, so make sure your website has a clear and unique value.
• Engage with generative AI and understand how it works before you try to fight it.
• “Expertise” will be a key differentiating factor – insights and original data attributed to authors with names.

Prepare For Search Generative Experience With “Search Experience Optimization”

The experimental phase of Google’s SGE is causing ripples of anticipation and anxiety in the industry. But the key is being discoverable by generative AI, and knowing when to be its ally and when to be its enemy. Here’s what you really need to know:

• AI in search will upset performance for entire groups of queries, data gathering, and potentially the balance between the platforms.
• Search success may come down to being discoverable by generative AI and finding as many opportunities as possible to surface your brand to users.

Prepare For Disruption: Keep Calm, Educate & Move Quickly

Disruption is on the horizon, but while models for driving business goals may change, the essence of how people search for information remains consistent. The following will be crucial elements in navigating this dynamic landscape moving forward:

• Understanding a user’s true intent must guide you – spam and thin results are dying.
  Don’t forget about technical SEO – keeping a tidy site can also help insulate you from ruthless core updates.
• Use AI strategically to give yourself more time for big-picture thinking.

The post Key 2024 Trends To Help You Embrace The Next Era Of SEO appeared first on .

What will be included in the update?

The new update will consider multiple user and page experience signals and Core
Web Vitals. Mobile and user experience are becoming more and more important
with each update, and this update is no different, but the most notable change is
the introduction of Core Web Vitals. Core Web Vitals include a set of three elements
that successfully measure user experience, interactivity, and general page speed.
These three elements are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). For the first time in JB Systems history, we will be
including these core web vital metrics in our Monthly SEO Reports.

• ★ Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the time it takes a site to load it’s largest
  image or text block. It ensures that the viewer is seeing all content at a timely
  pace. Google recommends an LCP of less than 2.5 seconds.
• ★ First Input Delay (FID) measures the time from when a user first interacts with a
  page (i.e. when they click a link, tap on a button) to the time when the
  browser is able to begin processing the interaction. Since a delay in the
  processing of the website interaction is bad for user experience, Google
  recommends an LCP of less than 100 ms.
• ★ Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures the unexpected movement of
  elements on a site. A layout shift occurs any time a visible element changes
  its position from one rendered frame to the next. When done wrong, these
  unexpected shifts are often annoying to the consumer and will lead to a high
  bounce rate. Google recommends having a CLS score (layout instability) of
  under .1

In anticipation of the update, JB Systems has been monitoring Core Web Vitals on
our Advanced and Standard SEO Clients and have been working on site-wide
improvements that will maintain our client’s competitiveness. To learn more about
what you can do to improve your site’s Core Web Vitals, send us an email at
digitalmarketing@jbsystemsllc.com. We are happy to answer any additional
questions!

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When it comes to web design in Wisconsin, our goal at #TeamJB is to continue to innovate, innovate, innovate. We’re excited about our partnership with Northern Safari Army Navy, as they like to push the envelope as much as we do.

Northern Safari Army Navy’s physical store location in Eau Claire had completed a massive renovation, primarily to support their ever-expanding embroidered product line. Where does a Wisconsin web design company fit in to that, you may ask? #TeamJB was challenged to build a series of custom generators for dog collars, name tapes, leashes and more allowing users to design these fun and unique embroidered products right on the website!

Custom embroidered dog collar from armynavywisconsin.com.

Here’s how it works: at armynavywisconsin.com, you’re able to select a product and choose from several options including size, fabric type and color. You can then add your own text and depending on the product, even more options may be available. Complete your purchase on the website following the user-friendly checkout process developed by #TeamJB or with your PayPal account. Your order is immediately sent to Northern Safari Army Navy’s embroidery team where they’ll get your product designed and shipped within 24-48 hours! All of this taking place right here in the good ‘ol U.S. of A.

Now for more good stuff; just announced, new patterned dog collars and leashes are ready for purchase! Check them out at armynavywisconsin.com. To celebrate their release, for the next two weeks you can get 10% off your total order by entering the promo code TEAMJB at checkout.

Be sure to check their site often, new embroidered products and generators are added frequently. And of course thanks to Issy and Northern Safari Army Navy for the collaboration and partnership from all of us at #TeamJB!

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This is when it helps to have a professional step in and help you understand the Analytics and the SEO world. JB Systems has an in-house SEO Strategist who takes the confusion out of SEO and assists our clients in understanding their Analytics. Two SEO vocab words that seem to have people confused as of late are Bounce Rates and Exit Rates.

The bounce rate shows you how many people (or users) visit your website, and then leave after only one pageview. This means that either the user clicked on your website by accident, they weren’t getting the information they needed, or they DID get the information they needed in one page, so they left.

The exit rate refers to anytime a user leaves your website, regardless of how many pages they viewed of your website.

Make sense? Let’s dig into this a little more. Let’s say you have three web pages that are visited throughout the work week:

• Home page
• About Us page
• Contact Us page

On Monday, a person visits your website they start on the Home page. From there they go to the About Us page. Lastly, they visit your Contact page before exiting your website. (Home page> About Us page> Contact page> Exit)

On Tuesday, another person visits your website. They start on the About Us page, and after reading more about your company they realize they clicked on the wrong link so they bounce off your site. (About Us page > Exit)

On Wednesday, a different person comes to your website and they start on your Home page. Next, they visit your Contact page. Lastly, they view the About Us page and then leave your site. (Home page> Contact Page > About Us Page> Exit)

Thursday rolls around and a new visitor comes to your website. They enter your site on the Contact page. They fill it out, and since that’s all they needed, they leave your website. (Contact page > Exit)

Finally it’s Friday, and one more person visits your site. They arrive on the About Us page and read a little bit about your company before clicking over to your Contact page. Then they check out your Home page. From there, they exit your site. (About Us page > Contact page > Home page> Exit)

Let’s summarize the week:

• Monday: Home page> About Us page> Contact page> Exit
• Tuesday: About Us page > Exit
• Wednesday: Home page> Contact Page > About Us Page> Exit
• Thursday: Contact page > Exit
• Friday: About Us page > Contact page > Home page> Exit

Using the summary above as a reference, let’s look at the Bounce Rate for each page. The Bounce Rates for this example are as follows:

• Home page: 0% (one session began with the Home page but it led to other pageviews on the site, so it has no Bounce Rate)
• About Us page: 33% (3 sessions started with the About Us page, but only one of those sessions led to a bounce)
• Contact page: 100% (one session started with the Contact page, and it lead to a bounce)

Now let’s look at the exit rate. Remember, the Exit Rate refers to the page of the website that the user left on. The Exit Rates for this example are:

• Home page: Out of the 3 sessions that included the Home page, only in 1 session did the user exit on the Home page
• About page: Out of the 4 sessions that included the About page, in 2 session the user exited on the About page
• Contact page:  Out of the 4 sessions that included the Contact page, in 2 session the user exited on the Contact page

Make sense? If you’re still confused about bounce rates or exit rates, or have any SEO related questions, please Contact JB Systems. We’ll work together to make sure you have a solid grasp on SEO!

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Instructions for fixing Outlook 2010:

1) Click the orange “File” button at the top.

2) Click on “Account Settings”

Photo credit: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/ithelpcentral/solutions/email/outlook2010/images/outlook2010_cached_2.png

3) Once in “Account Settings,” find your email account and click “Change”

4) Click on “More Settings” in the bottom right.

Photo credit: http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/AccountSettings.jpg

5) Go to the tab that says “Outgoing Server”

6) Make sure the first box is checked (My outgoing server requires authentication)

7) Press OK.

Photo credit: http://www.efinitytech.com/Userfiles/Support/7.png

We hope this helps! If you follow these instructions and your email still isn’t working, please give JB Systems a call!

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Branding takes many forms, such as a new logo design, changing the colors of an existing logo, updating a slogan, and more. At JB Systems, we recently had the opportunity to help the Eau Claire Police Department re-brand themselves by creating a new logo.

On Tuesday, August 18th, some of our team members were in attendance at Phoenix Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin as Police Chief Gerald Staniszewski unveiled the logo on two new police vehicles, along with another vehicle that will serve as the community relations car.

An Eau Claire police officer stands with a new squad car with the new logo on it.

Given the unpopular view of law enforcement the past year, we knew our team had to be very sensitive and strategic in our design. Our graphic designers needed to make sure to give the ECPD a logo that conveyed both an authoritative AND approachable feel, while also delivering the award-winning level of work JB Systems is known for.

“The main challenge they presented us with was they wanted a logo that would be more recognizable by the community and be relatable,” says Meghan Bauer, Art Director at JB Systems. “Especially with all the negativity surrounding law enforcement right now, they wanted something that would make people feel at ease with the department and not think of them as completely aggressive and authoritative. They want to be seen as people you can be comfortable to approach any time with any need.”

The elements of the logo are seen here, with the water in the background representing Eau Claire, the eagle, and the six stars representing the Eau Claire Police Departments core values.

From there, Meghan and Jenna, two of JB Systems’ graphic design artists, went to work, using this project to challenge themselves as designers and learning to apply creative design to solve such a complex public issue. There were many different elements the ECPD wanted to incorporate in their brand, such as “Old Abe” the eagle, to represent strength and authority. They also wanted water represented in the logo to symbolize “Eau Claire,” our city of clear water. Having the word “police” in a strong font presents an authoritative image, while having “Eau Claire,” in a softer font, gives the vehicle an approachable feature.

While we wanted to give the ECPD brand a fresh look, we also wanted the logo to maintain some of the original logo elements, in order to keep their identity visible and familiar to the community. Our design team accomplished this by including six stars, which can be seen along the sides of the badge. The stars represent the Eau Claire Police Department’s six values of Honesty / Integrity, Dignity / Respect, Commitment, Service / Caring, Professionalism, and Lawful Behavior.

The new branding will be featured on ECPD’s police cars, letterhead, mailing labels, envelopes, and business cards. We even took photos of ECPD staff of various departments, which were used on the community relations car to make it personable and approachable.

Community Relations car.

“The Eau Claire Police Department was a pleasure to work with,” says Meghan. “All in all, it was a lot of fun to work on their logo, and I’d say we’re very proud with how it turned out!”

Are you looking to update your brand and set your company or organization apart from the rest? Give JB Systems a call, and we’ll get started on designing a brand that will give your company the competitive edge you need. Not only will be back your site, but we’ll also back your brand!

The post Using Creative Branding to set our Clients Apart, Solving Complex Issues appeared first on .

In other words, we’re very grateful for Eau Claire, WI and the greater Chippewa Valley community that shows us support. That’s why JB Systems believes in being community-focused and giving back when we can.

We’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer at two events in the past month that we’re always excited to be part of.

One of those events was Eau Claire’s annual “Our Spring Clean Up” that took place on May 16th. Our team members joined some of our fellow local businesses in cleaning up the sidewalks and streets of Eau Claire near our company’s location. With about 300 volunteers participating in the event, it’s great to see everyone in the community supporting one another, as well as supporting the growth and upkeep of our town. It reassures us that our business is located in a place that values the word community and the ideas of supportinglocal businesses.

Events like Our Spring Clean Up reflect values that JB Systems promotes and believes in. In the words of our fearless leader, Jerry Bauer says, “The downtown is very important to us and our company. Volunteering is a big part of the culture we’re trying to produce at our company.”

So far, we’re doing a good job of producing that culture at JB Systems by supporting the causes that are very important to our team members. Most recently, the JB Systems employees participated in Zayvier’s Chicken Chase, a 5K and 10K race/run/walk that’s part of Broiler Fest in Eleva, Wisconsin on May 30th. The event is an important cause to one of our team members, and we showed our support by running and walking in the race. Going a step further, our Art Director and Co-Owner, Meghan Bauer, sang the National Anthem at the beginning of the race.

“It was my first time singing the National Anthem, so it was a little nerve-racking and exciting. I greatly enjoy supporting my employees, and I always feel good knowing I’ve supported them.” Meghan says.

We take our desire to support the larger Eau Claire community and also apply it to our internal JB Systems community, supporting our team members wherever we can. If we can support our team members with a cause that’s close to them, then we know we will function best as a team in creating quality custom websites for our clients.

It’s a sense of community that keeps us going. Consider being part of the JB Systems community and contact us today about developing your company’s custom website!

The post JB Systems– Dedicated to Our Business AND Our Community appeared first on .

and messy website will turn away visitors and potential customers, and in turn, your company may lose revenue. Building a custom website can be expensive, but it’s a worthwhile investment to create a unique experience for site visitors that’s built to meet the needs of your company and your clients.

Having an aesthetically pleasing website isn’t enough, though. If your website doesn’t encourage visitor engagement, then you still won’t see results. Website Magazine agrees with this train of thought, too. You can have all of the most important information written on your site, but if it doesn’t engage your visitors, then the quality of the information almost doesn’t matter.

This begs the question– how do I create engaging content?

There are a variety of ways you can engage viewers on your website. Here are a few:

These tips are great and are proven to increase visitor engagement on your websites. Having an engaging website will also keep your visitors coming back to your site. You might be asking yourself, how do I know if my website engages people?

Here are a few tips for how to check the success of your website in terms of engagement:

The post Creating Engaging Content for Your Visitors appeared first on .

Note: Don’t forget to test! Try sending the same email with a different subject line and see if you get a better (or worse) open rate. Each audience is different, so it’s important to test to know what works for your readers.

Email Subject Line Hints

• Keep the length to fewer than 35 characters for mobile optimization (Ideal, but not always realistic), and fewer than 70 characters for desktop optimization
  * Caveat: if you have a highly targeted subscriber base, they may appreciate a longer subject line
• Use words smaller than 8 characters
• Include sense of urgency (Limited Time, Today, Now, Ends Sunday, etc.)
• Stay away from words like ‘free’ or ‘help’
• Don’t use exclamation points or other punctuation
• Don’t include a percentage off, dollar amount
• Try framing  your subject line as a question
• Clearly state what’s actually in your email – tell, don’t sell
• Include a location if it makes sense – a city name, for example
• Don’t use Re: or Fwd: – this is a good way to irritate readers

Don’t Forget:

Also, don’t forget about what’s called the “pre-header” – this is the text that many times says “Can’t view this email? View it in a browser” or something similar to that. While I understand the usefulness of this, this text is also the first thing people see when scanning their email to see what they want to open.

You can see in the image here that many of the marketing emails use that pre-header to tell you more about what’s in the email, therefore increasing the open rate.

Do you have other tips you can share with our readers? If you’ve found particular tips that help increase your open rate, please share!

If you have questions about email marketing, or want to start an email marketing program, give us a shout!

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I recently did a website statistics analysis for a client of ours and as I was writing the summary, I found myself using lingo, jargon, geek-speak…whatever you want to call it. I realized that I might have some explaining to do. So, I put together a quick “Lingo List” for your website analytics, to help more of our clients sort through and understand the information they see in Google Analytics.

Visit = one sitting at a computer/device, viewing your site (you may see this also referred to as a Session)

Unique Visitor = one person who may have multiple visits to your site

Bounce = When a visitor gets to your site, doesn’t click on anything else, then leaves.

Bounce Rate = Rate at which people are leaving your site without clicking through to another page. Lower rates are better.

Channel = This is something newer in Google Analytics – it categorizes your referrals into groups of traffic, such as organic, direct, referral, and social.

Direct = This is when someone types in your web address (www.mywebsite.com) to the navigation bar in Google (not the search bar – yes, there is a difference), or uses a bookmark to find your site.

Referral = This is any other website that is linking to your site, not including social sites (however, in some cases, I’m still seeing social traffic show here)

Social = This includes traffic from social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Organic Traffic = When someone types a search query into Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. and clicks on an organic (not paid) search result

Paid Traffic = This refers to visitors to your site who have clicked on a paid search advertisement, such as the ads at the top or side of a search results page.

Not Set or Not Provided = Google switched their signed in users to using a secure (https://google.com) search so that user searches aren’t tracked anymore. For example, if I’m logged into my Google account and visit sites with Google Analytics, you won’t see my keywords or referral source. Due to that, you’ll see either (not set) or (not provided) as probably your top keyword. Which relates to this next one…

Keyword = These are individual terms or, more frequently, phrases that people type into the Google (or Yahoo, Bing, etc.)  search bar to find what they’re looking for. Keywords are disappearing from Google Analytics, and it’s because of the secure searching that I mention above. We also think that Google – which is  an advertising-fueled business model – is trying to get users to do more paid search advertising in order to get more keyword data. That’s just a guess. However, there are other ways to find keyword information:

• Webmaster Toolkit – This shows you 90 days of keywords of those who found your site, and search queries of those who didn’t click on your website in the search results page. This is great insight into what people are looking for that you’re not providing (or they don’t think you’re providing). For this, you’ll need a file uploaded to your website, which we can help you with (…if you’re a client of JB Systems. If you’re not, well, maybe we should talk anyway. wink wink )
• AdWords Keyword Planner Tool – This is a tool within AdWords, but you don’t have to pay to use it, you just need to have an AdWords account set up. You can do keyword research and find suggestions, get traffic estimates, and find out about the competitiveness of that keyword.

For the sake of keeping this post short, I’ll refrain from listing other tools – though there are many out there. If you have questions about your analytics, or want an analysis done, send me an email!

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