Out of the Blue Blog

BluePrint – March 2021

March 4, 2021

Services

Professional SEO Audits

SEO audits are a valuable endeavor for any website owner to undertake, whether they do it themselves or have it done by a professional. Although there are many online tools to do basic SEO audits, a professional SEO audit is always recommended. A professional audit will uncover any SEO problems you may have with your website like keyword utilization and targeting, site performance, technical SEO issues, and it will also suggest ways to fix these issues.

One of the most valuable things you can do in your SEO strategy is continuously monitoring your website’s content—this is one of the other great benefits of a professional SEO audit. We can help you identify your content strategy issues and establish benchmarks for what high-quality content looks like. You can then use this knowledge to help align your future content planning strategies to achieve better results for your website.

Client Profiles / Case Studies

Penn Power Group

Blue Laser Digital speaks with Stephanie Lanzilotta, marketing manager, Penn Power Group, about our working partnership and how we’ve helped their fleet service and truck repair business with an effective SEO strategy.

Penn Power Group provides a vast array of world-class products and services—such as parts, sales and service support—for fleet services, Carrier Transicold transport refrigeration products, Detroit Diesel and Allison Transmissions, plus a complete line of new and remanufactured commercial vehicle drive train components. Their off-highway business group provides maximum transmission unit engines and service support for the construction, mining, forestry and oil/gas industries.

As Blue Laser was tapped to help Penn Power Group with their digital marketing efforts, a unique and strategic approach was required.

“Blue Laser did an audit of our website and our online presence. After we saw their capabilities, we realized we needed more help with effectively reaching our customers,” says Lanzilotta.

“They also improved Google analytics, optimized paid search ads and helped us with our social media strategy.”

“We jumped right in and dug deeper. After conducting an SEO audit, one of the biggest issues we discovered was that a lot of the content on Penn Power Group’s website was internal language and not customer-facing,” said Brad Ness, president and owner of Blue Laser.

Meaning, the language was intuitive to them, but may not necessarily be intuitive to the user, Ness explained.

Blue Laser also helped Penn Power Group align their Google Search Ads within the areas they serve; setting them up by location and speaking directly to the customers in those areas.

“It helped to put us in front of the customers we want to get into our shops,” says Lanzilotta.

She goes on to explain that Penn Power Group’s online impressions have now increased from 200,000 to 400,000.

“It’s working better than I had hoped,” she says.

Furthermore, Blue Laser was excited to assist them with their social media strategy, working to write, create and design posts that are signature to their business and addressing issues related to their customers.

Ness goes on to say that it’s been an exciting partnership where the learning experience has taken place on “both sides.”

“I learned more about fleet vehicles—and all of the pieces and parts that go into them—than I ever thought I would!” says Ness.

“It’s been an exciting and educational experience.”

Thought leadership and Tips / Best Practices

Leadership in 2021: What it looks like this year.

We made it through a year marked by uncertainty, ambiguity and anxiety. The calendar has finally flipped, and we’ve delightedly embraced a new year. But what’s truly different? Is working from home now the “new normal?”

In-person meetings are now video calls, where kids, cats, dogs and doorbells are a constant distraction.

Keeping your employees focused and un-distracted on these calls is a new normal, too.

As a leader, you’ve been working hard to pivot into new leadership approaches. In 2021, the only constant we can expect in corporate America is change. If you’re an engaged and compassionate leader, you’ve accepted the fact that you need to be flexible. In fact, effective leadership requires flexibility.

It also requires compassion, understanding, patience and empathy.

We did some digging and found that managers and supervisors who prioritize employee needs—all the while navigating an ever-changing workday—earn more respect from their team. According to Forbes, “96% of employees believe showing empathy is an important way to advance employee retention, as empathy and employee engagement are inextricably linked.”

Here are a few tips for staying focused—and effective—in your leadership role:

Remain flexible and be willing to adjust plans according to the situation. Be firm when needed to stick to and accomplish goals.
Leverage innovation and creativity. Encourage your team to sit on their deck or patio for a meeting, bring their favorite coffee or tea to the meeting or ask a question that elicits fun insights about your employees.
Be willing to listen. All too often, we find ourselves talking far more than we should. Take a time-out and let one of your team members lead the meeting. Listen to their ideas, as they may just expand your horizons. Be humble. It’s okay to take a step back.
Put your business’ collective interest ahead of your self-interest for the greater good of your company. It’s worth it.
Emotional intelligence is important on both your side and your employees. Being self-aware of your mood and patience is key to being an effective leader. Also, be sure to pick up on non-verbal cues from your employees. Are they rubbing their eyes and forehead? Do they look “glazed over” and not paying attention? Pick up on these cues and talk with your employee.
Be authentic in all that you do. 2021 is a year for openness and honesty. Approach every single discussion, project or objective with the goal of it being for the greater good – for your business, your employees and for you.

2020 is over. 2021 is here. Let’s all face-forward and leverage patience, commitment and authenticity. We’ll get through it, together.

Our People

Meet Blue Laser Digital!

Here at Blue Laser, we have some of the best and brightest employees in their respective fields. We want you to get to know them, just as we do.

What do you do for Blue Laser?
As the lead developer, I am involved with many aspects of Blue Laser and the relationships we develop with our business partners.

From a partner perspective, my primary responsibility is to use various web technologies to develop solutions to help them achieve their business goals. In most cases, I’m involved throughout the life of the project. That means you’ll see me in meetings where we’ll talk about the project’s objectives. I’ll craft a technical solution to meet those objectives. From there, I’ll collaborate with the design and SEO team to make sure the project is in sync with the technical specifications. And of course, I’m heavily involved with the project execution from a coding, deployment and on-going technical support aspect.

Internally at BLD, I support our operations and teams from a technical perspective. You can find me helping the SEO and Social Media team implement custom tracking solutions or chatting away with the design team about the new web technologies that make our websites stand out. Other than that, I’ll have my nose glued to the computer screen tinkering with or reading about the newest technologies.

How did you get interested in this field? Did something or someone inspire you to follow this path?
I’ve always been interested in computers and technology, but I started programming relatively late. My first programming experiences were writing Visual Basic for Excel and programming bots to play video games using C#. From there, I started learning internet-based languages like HTML, PHP, CSS and JavaScript. I haven’t looked back ever since.

Why do you love what you do?
The web moves fast and is changing every day. Since I’ve started, there have been considerable shifts in the tools, languages and techniques used to create websites. Utilizing technology is fun, and there is always something to learn or explore.

What do you do for fun?
I’m all over the place. Naturally, I spend a lot of time on the computer working on side projects and gaming. Recently, I started looking into Arduino and machine learning. My goal is to create a small, automated indoor herb garden in my basement. I also spend a lot of time working out and staying active. You can find me tearing up the bike trails around Columbus during the summer. I like to travel and kitesurf.

What’s your favorite meal?
I’m a glutton for good food, but I can’t say I have a favorite meal. It can be a buttered slice of bread fresh from the oven, coffee with some madeleines out in the sun, shrimp linguine with pesto, a Hot Mama pizza from Hound Dogs or a slab of ribs on a hot summer day with friends.

What’s the worst present you’ve ever received for a holiday or birthday?
A Spice Girls CD.