Author: Eric Sachs

SEO virtuoso, CEO @Sachs Marketing Group. Focused on being of service to business owners - helping to better position them in the eyes of their audiences.

Categories
Social Media

5 Essential Pinterest Marketing Tips for Businesses

Are you unsure if Pinterest marketing will work for your business?

Interested in ways to make the social network help you get more exposure?

By digging a bit deeper and going beyond the obvious uses for Pinterest, you can use it to expand your social presence and attract new leads.

In this article, you’ll discover 5 examples of businesses rocking Pinterest marketing in unconventional ways. I’ll show you how you can follow their lead to do the same.

 

#1: Engage and Build Relationships with Group Boards and Guest Pinners

Use group boards and guest pinners to engage followers and build relationships.

Group boards are just like regular Pinterest boards, except that more than one person other than the creator can contribute pins to the board. You may also hear them referred to as contributor boards, community boards, shared boards, or collaborative boards.

The Food Network has a Let’s Cook with Giada group board. They are also contributors to a number of other group boards, like the MyPlate: Breakfast, MyPlate: Beans & Legumes, and more. These boards show up on their page because they contribute… so whether you start a group board, or join one, you’re getting some cross-promotion activity.

Group boards allow you to build a community of people pinning content to your board. This promotes engagement and keeps multiple points of view in place.

To create a group board:

  • Hover over your name in the right corner of your Pinterest account. Click “Your boards.”
  • Find or create the board you want the guest pinner to use. Click “edit.”
  • On the “Collaborators” line, type in the username or email address. Click invite, and they can pin to the board.

Guest pinners are people you invite to pin to your boards, to bring in more content and a new fresh, perspective for your audience.

Earmark Social uses guest pinners every week to provide a change in perspective. Take for instance the Aimee of Artsyville board. Over the course of the week, she pinned 425 pins, providing content curation for Earmark Social, increased repins, and likely helped bring in new followers. Plus, she got to promote her own brand.

To have a guest pinner, follow the steps to create a group board, but limit invitations only to the pinner or pinners you want to work with.

If you want the board to be collaborative before you push it live to your followers, create a secret board… toggling the “secret” option on when you create the new board. Then follow the steps to invite the guest pinner. They can pin to the secret board, and whenever you’re ready, you can change the setting from secret to public.

Another option is to use a guest board like Homepolish and Etsy did. Etsy created a board, “The Hottest Home Trends of 2015” and invited the Homepolish team to pin to it – creating a hybrid of the group board and guest pinning concept.

To create a guest board:

Follow the steps to create a board and invite someone to contribute to it as you would if it were a group board. Allow them to pin the content to the board, and either leave it open for them to continue contributing to, or remove group contributors when they’re finished.

To find a group board:

Use a tool like PinGroupie, where you can sort boards to find ones relevant to your niche.

 

#2: Highlight Your Portfolio with Boards that Wow

Designers and photographers can use Pinterest to highlight work from their portfolio.

Take for instance Jenna Loraine Chambers, a graphic designer from Aberdeen, UK. She has boards setup for articles related to graphic design, design inspiration, typography, stylish CVs, and more. Though she also has a mix of personal boards on the account for recipes, crafts, home design, and even beauty products, this is a personal Pinterest account, rather than one focused solely on her business.

Some may argue that if she’s using this platform to promote her business she’s better suited to focus solely on design, but I think the mix is a brilliant idea for her. Instead of screaming, “I’m a designer, look at me, hire me!” she’s showing her audience she’s still a person with interests outside of her career – bringing more of a personal connection to play.

Create a board for each category of work you do. For graphic designers, these could include:

  • Logos
  • Brochures
  • Business Cards
  • Flyers
  • Illustrations
  • Typography

For photographers, these could include:

  • Portraits
  • Engagements
  • Weddings
  • Maternity
  • Families

Flesh the boards out by pinning examples of work you’ve done, directly from your website. Use the description space to provide information about the project/client. Then, to keep the board from being nothing more than a blatant advertisement, pin work for from fellow designers or photographers, being sure to note in the description where the work came from.

Then, create additional boards for client educational purposes, so rather than a portfolio, Pinterest becomes a valuable resource. Photographers could include additional boards with pins that help people learn how to get ready for a session, with tips about how to choose what to wear, makeup advice, what to expect at the end of the session, and more. Designers could include boards featuring color schemes, design theories and principles, industry news and trends, and more.

If you skip this step because you’re not a designer or a photographer with a portfolio to display, that’s okay – but if you are and you choose to skip this step, you’re missing out on showcasing your work to potential clients. You never know when a pin of your work will take off and get repinned to other boards for inspiration.

 

#3: Encourage Reverse Showrooming to Bring in More Foot Traffic

Reverse showrooming is a relatively new trend, inspired by Pinterest. Rather than going to the store to try something in person before buying online to save money, reverse showrooming is a result of someone seeing something online and going into the store to look at it and (hopefully) buying it.

Lowe’s is maximizing the trend with their Pinterest account. They have boards specifically for gift guides – for foodies, for him, for her. Beyond that, they have photos with inspiration for home improvement projects and DIY crafts – all featuring products they sell.

Organize boards and pin your products. Beyond pinning the products themselves, pin images with them in use, showing your audience how they’d be used. This inspires them to come shop in your store, proving that Pinterest marketing isn’t just for e-commerce brands.

 

#4: Stand Out with Rich Pins to Improve User Experience

Use rich pins to automatically add extra information to the pin itself. There are six types of rich pins, and though not all are relevant to every business, you may find that some work well for you.

Take for instance, the place pin. The place pin adds a map, address, and phone number to your pin. Four Seasons was the first hotel brand to make use of place pins, which arranges pins on a map. In 2013, they launched Pin.Pack.Go, a Pinterest-based concierge program.

Or, the product pin. The product pin adds real time pricing, availability, and where to buy. Made.com is a home décor retailer, with products available all across Europe. Using Pinterest marketing, and rich pins, they were able to increase transactions by 106% and revenue by 173%.

There’s also the recipe pin. They include ingredients, cooking times, and serving information. Eatsmarter is a German-based platform for healthy recipes, making the rich pin a perfect fit for their audience.

Users can also choose between article pins, movie pins, and app pins.

Article pins include the headline, author, and a description of the story, so users can find and save articles that they want to read and share.

Movie pins include cast members, reviews, and ratings so users can learn more about new films.

App pins come with an install button, so users can download your app without leaving Pinterest. Right now, this feature only works with iOS apps, but I expect Android will be added in the future.

If you want to use rich pins, you’ll first need to prepare your website with metadata with Open Graph or Schema.org, test them out, and apply to get them on Pinterest. If you don’t have a technical background, your web developer can assist you. If you add metadata for multiple types of rich pins, it will be served in order of priority: 1. App Pins, 2. Product Pins, 3. Recipe Pins, 4. Movie Pins, 5. Article Pins and 6. Place Pins.

 

#5: Gain Traction with Promoted Pins to Get Your Content in Front of More Eyes

Promoted pins are useful to help you get your content in front of more users. If you don’t have many followers yet, this exposure can help you in building a more targeted following.

Adore Me, a monthly subscription service for lingerie, used promoted pins to reach new customers. They saw a 4,000% increase in Pinterest-referred revenue, and say customers from Pinterest spend about 20% more over time than customers that come from other channels.

Get started with Pinterest ads by visiting ads.pinterest.com. If you don’t have a business account, you’ll need to convert your account first. From there, you’ll set your account location to determine the currency you’re billed in, and if there are any applicable taxes. You won’t be able to change it later. You can only promote pins from your profile, so make sure you’ve already pinned whatever it is you want to promote.

Next, you’ll create your campaign. You’ll start with creating your ad, and choosing your goal. You can choose between boosting engagement with your pin, or getting traffic to your website. You’ll be charged for each engagement or click to your website.

Name your campaign and choose how long you want it to run. You don’t have to put in an end date if you want to run continuously. Enter the daily budget – or the maximum amount of money you want to spend on the campaign every day.

Now it’s time to choose the pin you want to promote. Filter the pins to see the ones that are the most clicked, or the most repinned in the last month, or choose from all the pins. If you know the pin you want to promote, search by URL or keyword. You cannot promote buyable pins, app pins, or any pins with video or GIF. You can only can promote pins that link back to a website – and should only promote content that belongs to you.

If you want, you can add more details like a name for your promoted pin, an updated destination URL if you want it to link to somewhere different. It’s possible to use UTM tracking parameters so you can get analytics data in Google Analytics.

Use interest targeting to reach people on their affinity for certain topics – like healthy recipes, or kids crafts. People will see your pin as they browse through their home and category feeds. Start with one interest, and branch out to related interests that could also have interest in your business.

Use keyword targeting to reach your audience when they are looking for specific things to do, make, or buy. Your pin will show up in search results and in related pins. You can use the search function to find specific keywords and get related keywords from Pinterest, get keywords recommended to you based on trending searches, or import your own list of keywords.

From there, you can continue adding details like the locations, languages, devices, and genders you want to target. In the maximum bid box, place the amount of money that you’d be willing to pay for a single action. This will help determine how far your daily budget goes to helping you reach your goals with your audience.

Now, your pin is ready for review, and after your first campaign, you’ll be asked to setup billing. Once the campaign goes live, you can see how it is doing and make edits as necessary.

Clearly, we know Pinterest works well for brands with lots of visual content – crafters, food brands with recipes – but with these tips, it can work well for brands outside of the e-commerce space. Even if you’re not using social media to directly make money and feel like your brand doesn’t belong on Pinterest, using these tactics can connect you with an audience you’d otherwise miss out on by assuming your brand doesn’t fit the social network’s target demographic of creative. How have you used Pinterest marketing for your brand? Let us know in the comments below!

Image: iStock.

Categories
Content Marketing

Ultimate Guide to Repurposing Content

Chances are, the majority of your blog is dedicated to text-based blog posts with images included throughout. And while that’s a good place to start – your blog can be more than that. Including other types of content, even if it’s based on the same basic topic ideas, can help you reach more people, expand your blog identity, and get more link-building opportunities. But, beyond that, there are other reasons why you should consider repurposing content.

Instead of just singing the praises of repurposing content – I’m going to show you how to identify the content on your blog that’s worthy of repurposing, and then give you actionable advice to turn that existing content into additional assets you can use to market your business.

Why Should You be Repurposing Content?

Work less. Technically, it’s more work to take a piece of content and morph it into something else, but it’s technically easier to start with something you’ve already worked on and create something else than it is to start from scratch with a new, fresh, idea. The older your blog is, and the more specific your niche is, the harder it will become will come up with those new ideas. Overall, you’ll be working less, and getting more done, since that old blog post is the jumping point. You already know the topic. You’ve done the research. You’re still a step ahead… and you’ll have that much more content ready to promote to your audience.

Strengthen your message. There’s conflicting data on the exact number of times a customer needs to hear your message before they become a buyer, but according to the Marketing Rule of Seven, your leads need to hear your message seven times before they’ll take the plunge and make a purchase. Repurposing content makes it a lot easier on you to repeat the messaging to drill it home to your audience.

Boost your SEO efforts. Producing multiple pieces of unique content around a central topic gives you the chance to target a keyword more than once. And, if you take that content to places off your website, you have the chance to build high quality backlinks to your website, with the bonus of controlling the link’s anchor text.

Earn more authority. Publishing high quality content, based around a single topic, in various places on the web helps raise your profile in the industry. It teaches others to see you as an expert in the niche/field, which goes a long way to earning customer trust.

Reach a new audience. Many people love reading blog posts, and that’s great. But, there are a number of people who’d rather listen to a podcast, watch a video, or look through an infographic. Repurposing content allows you to create multiple formats, so you can reach those people who hate reading (or just don’t have time to read) blogs, and still get your message across. After all, it’s much easier to listen to a podcast during your morning or evening commute than it is to watch a video or read an email.

Is All Content Repurposable?

The short answer is yes, but it must be evergreen. What is evergreen? If your content is evergreen, it is timeless – always relevant – and it is of high enough quality that it gets traffic.

To find content you could repurpose, start with your analytics data. Which posts are the most popular with your audience? If they were a hit once, they could be a hit again. Look at which ones were popular over the last month, and which ones were popular over the last year. Are there patterns? If your most popular posts all have a common topic they’re based on, then you definitely want to craft content around this topic as the data tells you it’s the one that resonates most with your visitors.

Before I dive into the various ways you can repurpose a single piece of content, let me be clear. Repurposing content doesn’t mean using the same piece of content over and over. It requires you to alter it each time, to ensure freshness and appeal to a new audience.

Ways to Repurpose Your Content

Craft new blog posts. Do you remember the old TV show Family Matters? Did you know it was actually a spin-off of Perfect Strangers? Harriet was their neighbor, and the show was originally meant to be centered on her and her family, until Steve Urkel, stole the show. The point is, high-quality content can spin-off more (they’re working on a The Big Bang Theory spin-off, now, too!) high-quality content. The audience can win each time. Be careful, though – we know not all spin-offs are as successful as the original – remember the Friends spin-off Joey?

Posts like this listicle are a great thing to repurpose. Each one of these points can become an individual post, fleshed out with further detail and research. Then, they can all be linked to one another and formed into a downloadable guide.

Update and republish old posts. Even though you’re aiming for evergreen content, data and research get old after a while. New information is discovered. Go back and make sure all the data you’ve linked to is still current, and no relevant new discoveries have been made. Keep the original content, but add to it in a way that lets people see you’ve updated it to be more current.

Simply adding the updated text in a different color or font style, with a note about what that means, or adding an “UPDATED (date)” at the bottom can make all the difference to visitors who are looking for the information you shared, but find the original posting to be too far back to be useful for their own research purposes.

Compile everything into an eBook. Take all of the blog posts that relate to a single topic, and expand on them with graphics and additional data. Before you know it, you could have a rather extensive library of eBook content for lead magnets or for sale – like Smashing Magazine, who has 70 ebooks in their shop – for little extra effort.

Publish an infographic. If you want to go beyond creating a slideshow presentation, you can create an infographic. It serves as a complete summary of your post contents, presented in a visual format. These are particularly beneficial if you have a lot of data in your content. If it is heavy with statistics or is centered around a relatively boring topics to demonstrate only in text, the infographic is a highly engaging format.

If hiring a graphic designer isn’t in your budget you can use tools like Piktochart or Visually to create the infographics you need. Or, you can provide the text broken down as you want it represented in the infographic and hire a professional designer to do it for you. There are several infographic distribution platforms available to help you get your new content in front of eyes. It’s also a good idea to post the infographic on your blog, with an HTML embed code to make it easier for your audience to share.

Publish an instructographic. This is a type of infographic, but instead of presenting data, it presents how to do something, step-by-step. This is a great way to convert a text-based tutorial into something more friendly for visual learners. These are great for Pinterest. Take a look at this instructographic on how to build and install raised garden beds, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Create a presentation. If you have any kind of actionable advice, meaningful quotes, or interesting statistics, you can use it to create an online presentation. You can use something like Microsoft PowerPoint or a free photo editing program like Venngage or Canva to create the slides for the presentation. Once the presentation is complete, you can upload it to a platform like SlideShare to increase your social reach potential and see more opportunity for engagement.

Record a video. Even if you don’t like the idea of getting in front of a camera and putting your face on video, you can still use the medium for your audience. Thanks to screencasting software like Camtasia Studio or ScreenFlow, you can demonstrate something on your computer by recording the screen. This is a particularly helpful format for demonstrating how to do something on your computer, but it can also be useful in other niches.

You don’t have to invest in a lot of expensive equipment to record video. Just make sure you’re in a quiet place that is well lit. you may want to invest in an inexpensive tripod so that you can keep the camera steady throughout the recording session. You can use your smartphone to get started. If you find that you like to do it and your audience responds well to it, you may want to grow into higher quality equipment.

Distribute your video with platforms like YouTube, Wistia, and Vimeo. Embed the video into a blog post, (using a code from the hosting platform of your choice) and for further amplification, allow your audience to share the video with an embed code and social sharing buttons.

You can also experiment with live broadcasting video using platforms like Facebook Live and Periscope. Facebook Live will save your videos to your page, group, or wherever they were reported so you can build an archive. You can also repurpose that content into future blog posts or social media for other platforms outside of Facebook.

Record a podcast. Podcasts are great for people who don’t mind putting their voice online, but don’t necessarily want to get in front of a video camera. You can inform, educate, and entertain with podcasts. The format is great for people who are always on the go, because it makes it possible for them to digest the content while driving, sitting in a waiting room, or waiting for their kids to get finished with soccer practice.

Just make sure that when you record your podcast, you have a decent quality microphone and are in a quiet place. You can use basic audio editing software to improve the overall quality of the podcast, or insert any necessary advertisements, should you decide to monetize it. Simply recording the podcast isn’t enough, however. Like infographics and video, you’ll want to find distribution platforms to get it to the right ears. Options include: iTunes (approval required) and SoundCloud.

Host a webinar. If you’ve got a lot of content related to the same topic, borrow from the slide presentation format, the podcast, and the video format. Compile it to a webinar event that you can host live, making yourself available for questions and answers at the end. After the live event, you can send people to the archived version.

Write guest posts. Guest posting can help you reach new audiences – while also earning a backlink to your website. Take a blog post you’ve already written – refresh it for the guest post host website, and there you go. You get the SEO boost, along with exposure to a new audience. Rinse and repeat for any high quality site in your niche that accepts guest posts.

Use Quora. Repurpose your content to provide answers for various questions on Quora. Or, post the content to your Quora user blog. And, if and when you get stuck for content ideas in the future, use Quora questions answers for inspiration for future blog posts. A question and answer session could easily become a full-blown blog post.

Re-share on social media. A great thing about finding your evergreen content is that you can share it again today, while providing nearly the same value you did when you first published it. It may sound counterintuitive to share the same content of the same audience, but reposting old content is an effective way to hit people across various time zones, reach new followers, and test headline variants to see which one does better.

Research shows that reposting can bring in 75% of the engagement of the original share. Archived content can also help you keep your social content calendar full, especially when something from the archive is relevant.

Write case studies. If your company has any kind of internal data, consider turning into a case study. Reach out to current and past clients to see how your products/services have helped them reach their goals. Or, run tests in your own website and save the data to use. Case studies can help you earn trust and credibility since they show your customers how you can help them, too. If you’ve never written a case study before, check out these tips to help you knock it out of the park.

Develop an email series. Some content can be broken down into smaller chunks, and delivered in a daily email format. Going back to this listicle as an example, you could break down each point into a daily email, and send it to subscribers as a lead magnet.

What if You’re Just Starting Out?

If you’re just starting out and don’t have an extensive content library to repurpose, you can use a single ideation session to hash out several ideas from a single topic or string of topics. How can you do that?

When you start with the core topic, you can start with the core article/blog post, and think of ways to convert it to any or all of the above suggestions. When you come up with ideas for content over the next quarter, six months, and year, think about the various ways you can turn that single blog post into other formats. Then, develop a plan for creating those assets, and sprinkle them throughout your content calendar. Even if you can’t create them all at once, you have a plan for how you can repurpose those initial blog posts later. It’s a great way to fill in gaps when you’re hitting writer’s block and feel like you’re running out of ideas.

What kinds of content do you have that you’ve repurposed? Have there been any instances where the repurposed content has outperformed the original? Share your experience in the comments below.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
Digital Marketing

10 Psychology Hacks to Market Smarter

Part of me always wanted to go into psychology, but I decided spending 12 years in school to earn a Ph.D. was a lot – and I wasn’t sure I could handle my own issues, let alone help countless others with theirs. The mind and the way it works has always fascinated me, so it’s no real surprise I ended up in marketing. After all, the two share a lot in common. Marketing doesn’t focus on helping people solve their problems like a therapy session, but it still involves using psychological tactics to communicate brand messaging – and stellar brands develop products and services to help their audience solve problems.

When I realized how much psychology and marketing are truly related and intertwined, I decided to go back to my love of the science to see how my tactics were working with the way people are naturally wired.

Try these hacks, and you’ll see your campaigns grow faster and better than ever before.

The Scarcity Effect – Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

This all comes down to supply and demand. The rarer something is, the more people want it, and the more valuable it becomes. People don’t like to miss out on a good deal – whether it’s because it’s available for a limited time or because of limited quantity. Why do you think Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and people line up for hours before the stores open?

Take for instance the 1975 study that shows us just how much we’re wired to avoid missing out. Researchers had two cookie jars – one with 10 cookies, and the other with two cookies. Participants were asked to rate the cookies, not knowing that they were the exact same. The cookies in the jar with only two in it received much higher ratings than the jar with 10 – demonstrating that we place more value on what we think is rarer.

To make this work for you:

  • “Only X copies available at this price!”
  • “This limited-time deal only lasts until…”
  • “Act now! This deal goes public in…”

Instant Gratification – Give People Rewards Immediately

Humans love instant gratification – we want what we want, and we want it now. We’re taught to practice and embrace delayed gratification with phrases like, “Be patient”, “Good things come to those who wait”, and “Hard work pays off”.

So, if we’re taught to delay gratification for better rewards, why are we driven by the seemingly constant desire to get rewards right this second? It comes down to our survival instincts – and needing food and water right now.

Fortunately for us marketers, that instant gratification wiring can apply to things outside our basic needs – applying to the desire for the latest and greatest.

Give people what they want in your content. If they do something you want them to do – say subscribe to your email list – give them a discount to your store that they can use for a limited time. It activates reciprocity, instant gratification, and the scarcity principle in one shot.

Make People Feel Good – Happy Headlines

People love to feel good – and articles that evoke positive emotion are more likely to go viral than those that are built around negative emotion. But, you have to get their attention with headlines, too. On average, 500% more people will read your headline than the copy.

Use a tool like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to test headlines before you publish your content, and see what happens to your traffic.

Create a Bit of Mystery – We’re Naturally Curious Creatures

As humans, we love to figure things out – which means teasing with a secret is a wonderful way to capture attention. Take for instance the story of Social Triggers growth. Derek Halpern launched the website in 2011, and went from a relatively unknown blog to one of the best on the Internet in no time… because he created mystery.

He wrote about his growth, but didn’t say how he was achieving it, or that he was intentionally leaving those points out as a social experiment. People began to write their own blog posts, attempting to reverse engineer his success, so they could replicate it themselves. As a result, he got even more traffic and grew his readership, helping him grow even faster.

It’s the same reason we see all kinds of sites dedicated to rumors of the next big thing from companies like Apple and Samsung. We know they’re releasing new devices and products every year, and we know they keep things under wraps, but boy do we have fun trying to figure things out before the launch day!

Want to create some mystery on your own? Try these:

  • “I can’t say anything yet…” used sparingly and appropriately
  • Build your content calendar around upcoming product/service launches.
  • Convert each benefit/feature coming in an updated edition into a blog post of its own, to create a series to keep people on the hook, rather than publishing a single overview post.

Use Social Proof

The theory of social proof suggests that people will follow along with the actions or recommendations of another group of people, as long as they like them or trust them. It comes from the desire to belong to a group – and can also be referred to as the “me too” effect.

The good news for you is there’s all kinds of social proof to choose from, and you can use more than one form – so long as it makes sense to do so.

  • Expert: This is why influencer marketing works – because of the halo effect.
  • Celebrity: We see it everywhere – Weight Watchers, Proactiv, Covergirl… the idea is that when a celebrity is properly matched to a brand, it can do wonders. But, if it’s not a good match, it can tarnish the brand image.
  • Wisdom of Your Friends: You’re more likely to trust recommendations from people you know – so that’s why social widgets show you how many of your friends like a Facebook page, or follow an account on Twitter. When you know your friend likes or uses them, you’re more apt to check them out, too.
  • Wisdom of the Crowd: McDonald’s and their Billions and Billions served on the sign – it’s about belonging to the crowd, and is tied to FOMO.
  • User: User reviews, social fan counts, social share counts… anything that shows others are interacting with your brand.

Unconscious Branding

Even though we’re dealing with a lot of ad blindness, studies show that people process advertising, even if they’re not consciously considering it. How many times do you ask yourself, “Where have I seen that before?” When you do that – you’re trying to find a memory of unconscious branding. So, how can you make that work for you?

  • Place your logo in your social media headers.
  • Add your logo to blog post images.
  • Use the same profile image on all social media platforms.
  • Add branded images to your tweets and other social media posts.
  • Add your logo to your email signature.

 

Avoid Fancy Fonts – Unless they Fit Your Message

Whether you realize it or not, the font you choose can have a dramatic effect on the number of people who are looking at your content. While it may be tempting to choose a font because it’s “different” or “looks pretty”, there are certain typefaces that work better to help you communicate your message – and matching it with your brand will help make a connection with your audience.

Use these guidelines to help you choose a font that will reinforce your message.

  • Look and Feel: Look at the graphic below. Read the words, and notice how you get a somewhat confused feeling. It’s because the fonts just don’t match what the words are saying.

Source: Design Shack

  • Placement: If you’re putting text on top of an image, it’s a good idea to make a box with your text, by ensuring the beginning and end of each line starts and finishes at the same place. You do this by adjusting font sizes on each line of text.
  • One Font: You don’t have to use multiple fonts to create visual interest and highlight certain words. To keep your text from being a distraction on your image, use one font throughout. In the image below – which I grabbed from Canva’s template library – you can see the same font is used throughout the entire image…but it’s anything but boring.

Source: Canva

  • Transparency: If you want to make the text in an image pop – instead of playing with colors and the fonts themselves, reduce the transparency on the image. It makes the background a bit lighter, without taking away from the image itself.
  • Kerning: See the tiny space between each character in this text? That’s kerning. And when it’s off – either because the letters are too close together, or too far apart – that negatively affects the overall design.

Source: Wikipedia Commons

A quick note on pairing fonts:

Yes, I know I just said you don’t have to use more than one font in you design, but it is possible to pair them, as long as you know what you’re doing.

Source: The Branded Solopreneur

The Ambiguity Effect – Capture Interest

The ambiguity effect is the bias that means people will more than likely choose the product or service they know the results of, compared to one that they don’t. It lies in the underlying fear of the unknown. If you don’t have enough product information, or your product comes off as unfamiliar, buyers are much less likely to choose it. But – you can make use of this knowledge, and make it work for you.

To use the Ambiguity Effect in your own marketing efforts:

  • Make use of statistics. People trust them, and will hardly ever take the time to do their own research. Use it to your advantage by making the research easy for them.
  • Use metaphors: When giving customers options, do what you can to deliver it with a metaphor, too. This will help bring meaning, familiarity, and comfort to the decision-making process.
  • Keep it easy. Whatever option you want your audience to choose, make sure it’s simple, clear, and concise.

Attention Bias

According to the Attention Bias, our perception is affected by recurring thoughts. For instance, people who think frequently about the clothes they’re wearing, tend to pay more attention to the clothes they see others wearing. Those with eating disorders pay more attention to food stimuli, while addicts pay more attention to the drug-related stimuli. This may impact memories, because they are more focused on the stimuli, rather than the details of the overall picture. It could translate to memory distortion, inaccuracy, or incompleteness.

Use it in your marketing by making it easier for people to think of you more often. Do this using any number of tactics, such as:

  • Blogging regularly.
  • Posting on social media every day.
  • Re-sharing your content regularly.
  • Posting your articles on other sites – like Huffington Post and Medium
  • Guest posting original articles.

The Cheerleading Effect

The Cheerleading Effect says that seeing faces in groups makes them appear more attractive. It all comes down to belonging in a group in comparison to isolation. No one really likes to be alone all the time. The group mentality can be incredibly helpful in marketing, since naturally we’re wired to want to stay in a group where it is safe. Use this bias to your advantage in marketing by:

  • Clustering a bunch of testimonials together, instead of listing just one or two.
  • Displaying user reviews to demonstrate user engagement

You Don’t Have to be a Psych Major to Make It Work in Marketing

Though it may seem like you need to have a background in psychology to make it part of your strategy, the great thing is – the work has already been done for you. Massive amounts of research is already there to support these principles, and you’re not out to reinvent the wheel. You’re just out to effectively use human nature to get your desired result.

What kind of psychological principles do you regularly use in your marketing campaigns? How has using psychology to support your tactics improved your results? Share your experiences with me in a comment below.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
SEO

Decoding Search Engine Speak: Friendly vs. Optimized

In online marketing, a lot of terms are thrown around. Some are easier to understand than others, and some are used interchangeably when they don’t mean the same thing. In search engine optimization (SEO), two common phrases – search engine friendly and search engine optimized – are often used in place of each other, but have two similar, yet different meanings.

Whether you’re hiring us here at Sachs Marketing Group or looking to handle your SEO efforts on your own, you must understand what these terms mean and how to make both of them work as part of your strategy.

 

What is Search Engine Friendly?

Search engine friendly, or SEF, refers to building your website on a solid foundation that makes it easy for the search engines to read the code and crawl it for optimal indexing. It focuses on:

Website construction: Today, many content management systems (CMS), including WordPress, are built as search engine friendly solutions. This keeps your most important elements in HTML format, and avoids using Flash, Java applets, and other non-text elements. Non-text elements are generally either devalued, or worse, ignored completely, by the robot crawlers in charge of discovering and indexing your website.

Each page having unique content: This focuses on keeping all pages uniquely named, and structured, to avoid potentially confusing search engines. Each page will have unique content, whether it’s a just a paragraph or two, or thousands of words, depending on the needs and context of the page.

Title and description tags: SEF makes sure that unique title and description tags are used on each page, relevant to the content on each of those pages.

Readable URLs: The search engines clearly need to see the content to list the pages in their database, but they must also be able to see the links to find the content to begin with. That’s why a crawlable link structure is vital. Many websites structure their navigation in way that the bots cannot access, thus making it harder for those pages to be listed in the index.

What kinds of things can stop the search engines from being able to read a link?

  • Submission-required forms: If users must complete an online form before getting access to certain content, then the search engines are likely never see those pages. For some purposes, this is okay, because you don’t necessarily want those pages indexed.
  • Unparsable JavaScript: If you’re using JavaScript for your links, the search engines will either give them little weight, or ignore them all together. If you want them to be crawled, replace the JavaScript links with a standard HTML structure.
  • txt: This file allows you to restrict the files on your website you want the crawlers to access. If there are pages on your website that link to pages that are blocked by either the robots.txt or meta robots tag, those links won’t be counted, since the robots stop their crawl when they reach the information.
  • Relying on search boxes: While you should have a search box on your website to make it easier for your users to find information they’re looking for, you cannot assume the search engine bots will use it to find everything on your site.
  • Links embedded in plug-ins: The bots focus on text, so any links that are embedded within Java, Flash, or other plugins won’t get seen, crawled, and indexed, thus never allowing users to find them with a query.
  • Links on pages with hundreds (or more) links: The search engine bots will only crawl so many links on a page. They do this to avoid spam and keep rankings as user-friendly as possible. If you have a page with hundreds or thousands of links, you likely won’t see all of them crawled and indexed.
  • Frames/iFrames: Links in both are crawable, but the structure makes it difficult for the bots to organize and follow. Unless you’re a highly skilled developer who understands how the bots index and follow links embedded in frames, avoid them.

Canonical tags: Canonical tags are similar to a 301 redirect, but rather than actually redirecting visitors to a new URL, you’re just telling the search engines that multiple pages should be considered one. The 301 redirect sends all traffic, whether humans or bots, to the unique URL, and offers a much stronger signal that multiple pages have a single source, and can be used across domains, whereas the canonical tag cannot.

Current algorithm guidelines: SEF platforms should adhere to most of the currently published search engine algorithms. Many of the guidelines in use today were established years ago and are easily implemented at the code base.

SEF is a one-time process, done when a website is first setup. Of course, there are hundreds of elements involved, but once you’ve built a search engine friendly website, there is not much more for you to do. There’s always a chance that you’ll have to do something later, if there’s some kind of forced change to the system you’re using, but after you’re done, you’re pretty much done for good.

If you want to get an idea of how Google’s indexing bots see your website – look at the cached version of your website using a tool like Cached View. Compare that view to how your website looks in the browser, and you’ll see what is indexable. The Google bots crawl the web and take snapshots of each page to store for backup purposes, should a page not be available. If your site ever goes down temporarily, you can still access it with the cache. However, the cache may take a few days to update. It depends on how often your website is updated.

What is Search Engine Optimized?

Search engine optimized (SEO) is an ongoing process, as more content gets added to your site on a regular basis. There will always be more keywords to rank for, additional content to create, more links to go after and get, better rankings to achieve, more traffic to bring in, more conversions to get. It will never be done. It focuses on:

  • Site messaging: Rather than treating text as a placeholder on each page, optimization focuses on using keywords appropriately to signal to the search engines the page is on topic, but also on delivering the right message to the audience.
  • Optimizing content for rankings and conversions: This includes the use of keywords, but also calls to action, and ultimately relevant creating content that site visitors find useful and helpful.
  • Optimizing title and descriptions to drive clickthroughs: This process uses keywords appropriately to encourage users to click through the link to the actual page. These are built to match the users need and intent.
  • Eliminating issues with duplicate content: Optimized sites go beyond the bandaid fixes of simply directing the search engines to the correct content. It will, with the help of the CMS and as far as it will allow it to go, completely eliminate duplicate content issues all together, rather than sending the signals you have to hope the bots will follow.
  • Future algorithm guidelines: An optimized site, on the other hand, will consider more than what the search engines are looking at today. By focusing on the future, staying ahead of things like the spam filters, and providing real valuable content for visitors, optimized sites go beyond quick-fix loophole solutions designed to earn rankings. Any time there is a major algorithm change, we see a number of sites get hit hard, that spend months, if not years, recovering to build them again. If your site survives a major algorithm change like Panda, with little to no negative change in ranking, then you know you’re on the right track.

Because your website is never completely and fully optimized, there are a number of tools available to help you see how you’re doing in terms of ranking for keywords and the number of backlinks you have.

Using Both to Create a Stellar Web Experience

You can’t have SEO without SEF. If the foundation of your website isn’t built with the search engines in mind, there’s zero sense in optimizing your content for them. Start with a basic structure like something you’d find in WordPress, that’s built to be SEF. Then, move on to the various stages of optimization, according to the needs of your website.

If you’ve already established a website, and you’re not sure how well it fits the definition of friendly, or optimized, it’s time to do an audit. It will help you see the changes you need to make to improve your website, and then guide you through the process.

Begin defining goals. Check your Google Analytics and look at what the data has to offer. If you haven’t already, sign up for Webmaster Tools to get additional data Analytics doesn’t offer.

After this – it’s time to start the audit process:

  • Website crawl: Check in Google to see what they see compared to what’s actually on your website. In the Google search box, type: “site:http://www.yourdomain.com”. You can use a tool like Screaming Frog to get a deeper crawl and export everything into a spreadsheet so you can analyze your website’s current state. From there, you’ll see more information about page errors, links, and more.
  • Site Speed: Use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to see how quickly your website loads on mobile and desktop. Pingdom can also help you see where the issues with site speed are, and how to fix them.
  • Domain: Checking both the www. and non www. versions of the domain in tools like org and whois.com can give you an idea of what the site used to look like, whether or not there were subdomains, and more, to help you see the kind of domain authority you’ve built up, based on what it was used for in the past.
  • Website information: Check the site with BuiltWith to learn more about what the site was built with, if you don’t already know for sure. This lets you know whether you’re on the right track with the platform you’ve built the site on.
  • Site structure/architecture: How many clicks does it take the user to get to where they need to go? Is there anything you can do to improve the process, thus improving usability? Is everything logically organized? If not, take steps to organize it accordingly.
  • File and URL names: Is everything readable for the visitor? Everything after the # in a URL Google ignores, so keep this in mind.
  • Key performance indicators (KPIs): Are there KPIs in place? Goals, engagement, sales, ranking, domain authority – whatever they may be, these are vital to know so you can work on making improvements in the order of priority.
  • Keywords: What keywords are you targeting? Which keywords are you ranking for? Use tools like SEM Rush to get some keyword insight. You may discover keywords that are easier to rank for because there are fewer overall results and less competition. With the keyword information in mind, move onto content adjustments.
  • Content: Adjust if necessary to be sure the keywords are used appropriately in the tags, on-page content. If written for the search engines rather than visitors, look for ways you can edit the content to provide real value to your reader.
  • Duplicate Content: Copyscape is a great tool for finding variations of your website’s content. Though you can also search for your content with quotes around it in Google, it’s a bit more of a painstaking process. When you find it, use canonical tags or 301 redirects to fix the issue as necessary.
  • Meta: Check meta tags and descriptions, for character length and proper descriptions. Keep titles limited to 70 characters, and descriptions limited to 160.
  • Images: Check to make sure there are no broken links to the actual image files. Check to make sure all images are properly compressed. If not, use tools like PicResize and TinyJPG to compress them for faster load time. Check ALT tags for optimal descriptions. Check image links – WordPress automatically links to the image file – and you may or may not want this based on whether or not the images will be useful in the search results.
  • Forms: Are your forms properly setup and operational? These are often necessary for conversion rates.
  • Links: Check all links on the site – internally and externally. Check for optimal structure, and make sure none are broken.
  • Social Signals: Do you have social profiles attached to the website? If not, get to work. Social signals play a role in overall ranking, so it’s critical to develop a social presence in the places where your audience is active.
  • Citations: If you’re a local business, citations in reviews and directories are important. Check for and claim listings in Google My Business, Yelp. TripAdvisor, and more.

SEF and SEO Create Magic

When you start with an SEF website structure, then build and optimize everything else, you’ll be well on your way to great rankings.

Have something else to add? Share it in the comments.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
Social Media

13 Ways to Improve Instagram Advertising

Instagram is one of the most popular social networks, reaching more than 400 million users in less than five years after the launch. That’s more than Twitter and Snapchat. Now that the Instagram  advertising platform is available for everyone, it’s a particularly useful way to connect with potential customers – especially Millennials – and grow your following. Did you know customers are 58x more likely to engage with your branded Instagram content than they are on Facebook? And perhaps even more surprising, they’re 120x more likely to engage with that Instagram content than they are on Twitter. But, like with any other social platform, bland and boring advertising will be a waste of money. Check out these secrets to creating better, more effective Instagram advertising campaigns.

 

Tell a Story

As a visual marketing platform, Instagram ads, particularly the carousel format, make for a great story-telling opportunity. You have four images, and though your first one should grab user attention, it shouldn’t rely on others to get the point across. Whatever story you’re telling – be it about your brand or about a product you sell – make the images compelling enough so the user swipes through all of them.

Use Video

Video ads can be up to one minute long, and are available in landscape format, too. You have plenty of time to get your message across, while still leaving room for interactive shots. For the most effective ad, opt for no more than one filter throughout the entire ad, keep the video in either .MP4 or .MOV format with a minimum 720p resolution and a 16:9 aspect ration. With the video ad, you’ll also have the option to upload an image to display when the video isn’t playing.

Choose Your Objective With Care

Of course you want to to increase your sales and profits – don’t all businesses? I mean, isn’t that the point of marketing? With the obvious out of the way, let’s dig a bit deeper into the importance of choosing your ad objective with care. You have several ad types to choose from, and you should choose the one that’s best for the type of engagement you’re looking to get.

Your Instagram advertising can:

  • Drive traffic to any number of landing pages – choose the clicks to a website objective. Keep in mind, users are asked if they want to go to the website, and are only redirected if they agree.
  • Help increase brand awareness
  • Create/engage loyal brand advocates
  • Promote products – share one product and include a call to action.

 

If you want to promote products – choose the carousel ad. This one will allow you to include four images, along with live product links. But, if you want to drive brand engagement, opt for the video ad. If viewers like it, they may share it with friends.

Blend in with the Feed

It’s critical that your ads allow you to blend in with the feed, rather than standing out as a sponsored post. For example, take a look at how Michael Kors used the Instagram advertising platform. The ad pictured was their first experiment with Instagram’s paid advertising. It helped them get nearly 40,000 new followers, earning them nearly 16x the new followers than their non-sponsored content. It looks less like an ad and more like an actual photo someone posted on their account – and that’s exactly what your brand needs to go for. Like with anything else, you want to add value – rather than blatantly advertise your product or service.

Run Small-Scale Campaigns First

If you’re still relatively new to Instagram advertising and don’t have a lot of information available about your audience, it’s a good idea to run multiple smaller scale campaigns before launching a larger scale version. This way, you can learn key information about the audience you’re targeting and how well they are responding to the ads, so you can create an optimized version of the campaign for the best possible results. This way you can learn what call of action is most likely to entice them to take action, the messages they are most likely to respond to, and the ones they are most likely to share. Rather than focusing solely on the sales and attaining other business goals, run smaller campaigns that are designed to help you find out more about your audience. This way, you’ll be able position larger scale campaigns to get positive results.

Split-Test Visuals

The only way to determine the kinds of visuals your audience will respond best to is to split-test the images. Try creating a standard photo ad with up to four photos in a carousel format, and comparing it to a video, or try multiple standard ads, with different photos. Try using your own photos and using some of the user-generated content you’ve collected, if you have any. Test the variants to see which one gets the best results.

Beyond split-testing the visuals themselves, you could also split-test your posting schedules and calls to action. Over the course of a few split tests, you could easily craft the perfect ad for your audience engagement.

Make Instagram Shoppable

If you’re an e-commerce store with a lot of products, treat Instagram like a product catalogue of sorts. On each of your product photos, make sure the caption includes a link to the page where customers can buy the product. This makes it easy for people to browse and make purchases immediately, which is what you want. Instagram users are spending an average of $65 per referred sale, compared to just $55 on average from Facebook, and $46.26 from Twitter. It literally pays to maximize your Instagram advertising and engagement, and keeping things simple makes for a better user experience.

Use Real-Life Situations

Staged photos scream ad, which will contribute to it being ignored. But, showing your products in real-life situations will help your audience relate to it. When someone relates to it, they are more likely to click on it, simply because it helps catch their attention, which leads them to identifying with the ad, and increasing the ad’s trustworthiness.

Limit Use of Text

Adding text to the image may scream to the audience that it’s an ad. For best results, if you must use text, keep it to no more than 20% of the image. It’s the same guideline with Facebook ads, though instead of a requirement, it’s now just a suggestion.

Highlight User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is a powerful form of advertising, with 92% of global consumers saying they trust earned media more than they trust all other forms of advertising. Your customers want to see people using what you have for sale – and happy customers like the idea of sharing their photos and experiences with you (and others) for a chance to get their 15 minutes of Internet fame.

Have your customers submit candid photos of themselves, either alone, or with friends and family, using your products. Your Instagram photos should look real, and shouldn’t look like they’ve been staged for marketing purposes, so UGC is an ideal option. Plus, UGC helps boost conversion rates. Simply displaying customer product photos on a product page increases conversion by nearly 5%, and if a customer interacts with the photos, the rate nearly doubles to 9.6%.

If you can find pictures including people’s faces – that’s great. These are the most compelling type of images – after all, there’s a reason behind why everyone loves the selfie. In fact, more than 300 million Instagram photos have been tagged with “selfie.”

From a psychological standpoint, it’s said the selfie is way to figure out who we are – suggesting that how we see us doesn’t come from who we actually are, but how we think others see us. The more photos we post of ourselves promoting a certain identity, the more likely others will think that is our identity.

If we go beyond the photo of ourselves, we’re also drawn to photos of other people – especially faces. Face-tracking studies show that the profile picture is the first thing we look at on social media profiles, and the numbers prove them helpful on Instagram, too. Pictures (thereby ads) featuring human faces are 38% more likely to receive likes, and 32% more likely to receive comments, when compared to photos that don’t feature faces.

Interestingly enough, eye tracking studies show we tend to follow the eyes of the faces we see on the screen – and looking at faces helps create empathy, even improving the way doctors treat their patients.

Create and Use Hashtags

Ads won’t show up in hashtags, but including hashtags in your ad copy allows you to send the viewer to relevant content based on the ad. But, you can’t just use basic, run of the mill hashtags, or else you can’t really have control over what the user sees. Instead, you’ll need to craft your own branded hashtags, and then use those on other posts to curate the library of content users will find when they follow the hashtag from the ad.

Use the Call to Action Buttons

Like Facebook, Instagram allows you to include a prominent call to action button on your ad, making it easier to achieve your marketing goals. You can choose between:

  • Shop Now – best for ecommerce ads
  • Install Now – best for app promotion
  • Sign Up – best for email marketing
  • Learn More – best for encouraging people to learn more about product and service offerings, driving traffic to landing pages

You can split-test these calls to action to see what works best with your audience, but all of them can help them learn more about what you have to offer, with action taken directly from the ad itself.

You can support your ads by including the same calls to action in your organic posts. Though it will be different because the segment and posts will not be the same as the ad, your audience will get a chance to take action on your message after the ad has left their feed.

Build Stronger Relationships with Your Best Customers

Using the custom audiences feature, you can reach out to your existing customers, particularly the ones that are the most loyal, and target them with their own set of ads. You can use those ads to offer exclusive deals, promotions, and the chance to be the first to try a new product or service you’re offering. If they’re not already following you on Instagram, this is a great way to convert them to followers.

You can also use this approach to target potential customers with exclusive content. You can set a custom audience to target email subscribers who have yet to make a purchase from you, showcasing ads that promote your company’s culture. Once they see those ads, they may be more inclined to make a purchase when they get your next email.

The “Lookalike Audience” feature can run your ad to a series of users that share common traits with your current customers’ profile. This means you can find new followers that match your best customers, and then use ads to introduce them to your brand.

Instagram is Not Facebook

Though Facebook owns Instagram and you can run the same ads on the two networks, it’s important to remember the platforms are different in nature with different audiences. While you will have some overlap, naturally, people are on Instagram to experience something different than what they find on Facebook. As such, you need to treat your ad campaigns completely differently, using different audiences accordingly.

If you really want to see what a customer sees, and get an idea of their experience, create or use your personal account to follow your own brand. This will allow you to see your brand from the eyes of your target customer, and help you get a better idea of what kinds of ads work best with them, and what may entice them to interact.

What tips for a successful Instagram advertising campaign can you share with us?  Let us know in the comments section below.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
SMG News

Top SEO Firms in Los Angeles by Clutch

 

Clutch names Sachs Marketing Group one of the top SEO firms in Los Angeles for the third time this year!

What does it take to attain a perfect rating from clients looking for a team of SEO professionals, web strategist, content writers, graphic designers, web developers, programmers, and coders to meet their digital marketing need? Outside-the-box thinking, transparency, and business results!

Sachs Marketing Group has been delivering results to clients since 2010. Recently, their input and an analysis of our technical certifications, experience level, and market presence landed us on an select list of top SEO companies in Los Angeles.

Clutch is a business-to-business (B2B) market research firm based in Washington, D.C. that uses a proprietary research methodology to evaluate digital agencies around the globe. The analysis includes both quantitative and qualitative measures, including one-on-one interviews with clients.

As Clutch business analyst Sean Huang said: “Search engine optimization is perhaps the most crucial component of a modern business’s digital identity, but it can be very difficult to build effectively.”

Based on the feedback Clutch received from our clients, it’s clear that we’re meeting their needs in ways that others have been unable to do.

As one client, an adolescent rehabilitation center, said: “What I’ve really loved is that I can call them any time and tell them what I need. They can get it done. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve never had a better experience with an SEO company.”

Another client, a logistics supplier, said: “Feedback from our staff has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve all been very pleased with the work they’ve done for us.”

But don’t just take their word for it or ours — visit our Clutch profile to learn more about how we can help to meet your SEO needs.

Categories
Digital Marketing

9 eCommerce Platforms Compared

If you’re looking to sell online – there are no shortage of services to assist you. Here’s a look at nine options to choose from. Some ecommerce platforms are better suited toward beginners who have only a handful of products to sell, while others are highly robust with nearly limitless capabilities.

 

Shopify

As one of the most well-known eCommerce platforms available on the market today, Shopify offers a user-friendly interface, so those with little to no web design experience can build a professional looking shop in just a few minutes. There are more than 100 templates to start from, and those who are more technical have the option to customize the appearance using HTML and CSS. With Shopify Plus, you can easily scale the business and sell across multiple channels, including social media, Amazon, and eBay.

Shopify integrates with more than 50 payment gateways, so you’re in complete control of the payment methods you want to accept. When you sign up for an account, you’ll be assigned to a coach who will guide you through how to set up your store and give you advice on how to sell your products. New accounts are given $100 in Google AdWords credit to start their marketing, and Shopify comes with a built-in iPhone app for customers who want to make purchases on the go.

Shopify offers three plans, starting at $29.99/month with no transaction fees, though there are limitations on products and files unless you opt for the unlimited plan which will cost you $179.99/month. There are no setup fees or service contracts, and the plans come with a 14-day free trial. There are no restrictions on the products you can sell.

Etsy

Etsy is a niche ecommerce platform, focusing on handmade and vintage items, and crafting supplies or tools needed to create items. Creating an account is free, but the service takes a 3.5% transaction fee once an item sells, and there is a 20 cent listing fee for every item listed. That 20 cent fee covers four months, or until the item sells. Then, after the transaction fee, there’s a 3% plus 25 cents payment processing fee.

Etsy includes a built-in analytics platform so you can see how well the shop is doing. The design process is simple, using a drag-and-drop platform so you can have a website up and running in minutes. Shop owners can buy and print discounted postage and can attract more buyers with promoted listings.

Etsy also offers Pattern, which is a platform priced at $15 a month to create a website around the store. With Pattern, you can setup a custom domain. The domain is not included, and the themes are fairly limited. If you decide to use it, you can connect it to your Google Analytics to get traffic data. Pattern comes with a free 30-day trial.

It’s an ideal solution for people who don’t want to spend time handling a payment gateway and have products that fit within the sales niche. But, for most people, it’s a rather limited (and expensive) ecommerce platform. It’s also an ideal choice for people who want to sell wholesale.

Big Cartel

Another niche ecommerce platform, Big Cartel is designed for authors, crafters, bakers, and photographers. The web-based, full hosted platform has hundreds of web templates to choose from, and takes zero transaction fees. It’s easy to add and manage products and discounts. But, if you’re a shop selling mass quantities of products, you’ll need something else. If you’re looking for more advanced features, you’ll also need another platform.

If you’ve got five or fewer products, you can take advantage of the free plan, with Facebook store access, basic statistics, and basic customization. This plan lacks the ability to add discount codes, or the ability to use a custom domain.

Paid plans start at $9.99/month, and go to $29.99/month, covering anywhere from 25 to 300 products depending on tier. All paid plans include the ability to add five images per product, additional stats, full customization with access to HTML, inventory tracking, discount codes, and a custom URL.

Integrations are limited to a few add-ons, but using Zapier (another paid service) allows you to expand those integrations.

Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce is a full website builder that produces responsive websites without needing to know code, or even much about web design in general. Everything you need to add and manage products and accept payments is included. There are customizable shipping options, with a tax system and drop shipping features. Users also get a variety of reports, marketing tools, and advanced search engine optimization options. With Bigcommerce, you can also sell products in person, via social media, and on various marketplaces. App integrations make it easy to manage everything from a central platform. Options include marketing, shipping, accounting, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, to name a few.

Pricing starts at $29.95 a month. Enterprise plans are available with custom pricing, where you must call and speak to a consultant to develop a plan that fits your needs. The standard plan is enough for someone just starting out, while the enterprise plan is best for a fast-growing and well-established brand. It comes with a 15-day free trial to get you started.

WooCommerce

If you’re using WordPress to host your store, WooCommerce can be a good option. It’s a free plugin, but has an extensive marketplace of free and paid extensions so you can add features and integrations to create a truly customized store. Extensions handle everything from account and customer service, to point of sale, shipping, tax, reporting, and marketing. Free options include: Stipe, Amazon Payments, Conversio, Shippo, and more. Paid options include: WooCommerce Bookings, WooSubscriptions, WooCommerce Memberships, InfusionSoft, and more.

This is a good solution for people who are familiar with WordPress and are comfortable managing all the aspects of the store on their own. The WordPress and WooCommerce combo is my favorite ecommerce platform for most online stores.  For those who are a little less technical, this may not be the best choice.

SquareSpace

SquareSpace began as a cloud-based content management system, offering user-friendly web design services with high quality templates, but they’ve added ecommerce capabilities to the platform. They have a limited number of features for the commerce part – even though the CMS allows several integrations. Squarespace Commerce themselves says the platform is best suited for stores with less than 200 SKUs. Basic features such as packing slips, coupons, and Mailchimp integration are included. Pricing starts at $26/month. There’s a 14-day free trial, with no credit card required.

LemonStand

LemonStand is an ecommerce platform designed specifically for rapidly growing stores. It works well for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time customizing beyond the logo and product pages. But, it is also a perfect solution for companies that want to develop a completely custom online store, since everyone can access the full code. If you want to run your own website with a lot of custom options, but don’t know code – move on to another platform.

LemonStand doesn’t take any transaction fees, meaning you only have to pay the payment processor fees. Though it integrates with more than 100 tools, the open API allows you to build any app integration you need to ensure your workflow runs smoothly. Though you need advanced technical knowledge to handle this, the LemonStand platform is built based on the assumption you’ll work with a developer to build the store.

Other features include tracking sales, split-testing, custom order statuses, landing pages, and unlimited product images. There are plenty of templates you can use to get started if you don’t plan on doing a lot of customization.

Pricing starts at $49.month and includes one staff user, with unlimited products in your store. The highest tier plan is $149/month and includes 10 staff users, digital product selling, web hooks, subscriptions, custom fields, concierge setup, and more.

Volusion

Volusion is a cloud-based ecommerce solution, offering full-service options for more than 40,000 online retailers, including some big names like Intel and 3M. One thing that sets them apart from the competition is the fact that most features are built directly into the dashboard, so there’s no need to purchase third-party apps and worry about integrations to manage your stoe. Plus, there’s a live and abandoned shopping cart feature, so you can see who’s actually completing the checkout process and follow up with those that aren’t. It integrates with Amazon and eBay so you can track inventory if you choose to sell on outside marketplaces.

Volusion has a mobile app for iOS and Android devices, so you can monitor orders and inventory on the go. There’s also the ability to take orders by phone, which can be processed from directly within the store dashboard.

There’s no setup wizard like you see with some competitors, but there is a getting started guide and a series of tutorial videos to walk you through the key areas of the store. All plans come with free setup and unlimited storage. Pricing starts at $15 a month for up to 100 products, and tops out at $135 a month for unlimited products. There are no transaction fees on any plan, making this an affordable solution for both small and enterprise businesses.

3dCart

3dCart is one of the oldest eCommerce site building solutions on the market today. It comes with a free domain for life, and a 15-day free trial. When you sign up for your account, you’ll be given access to more than 100 mobile-friendly store themes, a mobile store, a Facebook store, and access to 24/7 customer support. Beyond offering the shopping cart service, it comes with extras like the ability to create an affiliate program, and support for drop shipping.

Plans range from $19.99/month to $99.99/month. The lowest tier plan includes up to 100 products, with up to 4,000 visits a month, and includes $25 in free advertising credit. The highest tier plan can host an unlimited number of products, comes with $75 in free advertising credit, and includes unlimited email accounts, daily deals, group deals, and an autoresponder.

When it comes to choosing the right ecommerce store for your needs, consider not only the ease of use and price, but the: number of products, the integrations, your level of design and development experience, and how the platform will fit into your overall workflow. Many platforms allow you to scale your efforts as your store grows.

What’s your favorite ecommerce platform?  Which one do you feel is best and why?  Any tips for successful ecommerce in general?  Let’s talk about them in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
Digital Marketing

Ads in Cars – Future of Digital Marketing

Ads in cars – In a world where everyone is constantly on-the-go, and mobile internet usage has overtaken the desktop, it makes sense to take the future of digital marketing to the next place we’re always connected – our vehicles.

 

Americans spend an average of more than 17,600 minutes driving every year, breaking down to an average of 48 minutes per day driving, and there’s massive revenue potential just by taking advantage of the technology we’ve already got in today’s cars. The radio has been in control of advertising in the car for years.

 

The Connected Car

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the massive network of objects that are connected to the internet. Any “smart” items, from refrigerators, to beds, to light bulbs, are part of the IoT. We achieve this with the use of sensors and actuators embedded in the objects themselves. We’ve been adding cars to IoT for years, with each newer model having something newer and better to offer than in years past.

New cars on the market today are jam-packed with technology, including:

  • Navigation/GPS
  • Voice Control with Touchscreen Infotainment systems
  • In-Car WiFi
  • Bluetooth
  • Backup cameras
  • Push-button start – keyless operation
  • Lane assist
  • Park assist

It’s that screen that advertisers can make use of by placing ads in cars. Even though it acts as a central hub for controlling everything in the car, it’s also prime real estate for advertisers. Pandora is ahead of the crowd with their programmatic targeting network for in-car ads. Over time, more ad impressions will become available as more applications move to the car dashboard. The ad exchange platform will continue to grow, and buyers can use the standard targeting data, including location, to buy ads.

 

Integrating the Car into the Cross-Screen Ecosystem

Cross-screen marketing is a major part of getting messages to consumers today because they consume the same content, even though it may be presented differently, across screens. Consumers are known to use two devices at the same time – often watching TV while they use a tablet or smartphone. As people continue to move across screens, or even use more at a time to accomplish tasks, we’ll start to see an increase in cross-screen advertising campaigns.

Take for instance AdColony, a mobile video ad company. They used cross-screen strategy to promote a client’s consumer packaged goods brand. One set of users was targeted using just a TV ad about the brand, with another set of users targeted using a TV, iPad, and iPhone ad campaign. Brand recall was 43% for the cross-screen campaign audience, compared to just 6% for the TV only version. Purchase intent was 18% for the TV only campaign, and 31% for the cross-screen audience.

As more people transition to newer vehicles with screens and connected features, we’ll have the chance to integrate this screen into the ecosystem, supporting existing cross-screen advertising tactics. Imagine what the recall and purchase intent statistics would be if people were able to see ads for brands on TV, mobile devices, and in the car? Of course, there’d have to be a cap on the number of exposures presented in a certain period of time, to combat desensitization and potentially overwhelming prospects, but frequency capping is fairly easy to accomplish.

Think about it for a second – we have refrigerators that can remind us when we’re out of milk and even check spoilage levels from our phones. Why not have our car tell us to stop and grab a gallon when we pass the next grocery store in five miles? Why not advertise cookies or cereal to go along with that gallon of milk? If we have to go to the grocery store anyway, we’ll be more apt to “crave” that cereal or cookie if we’ve just heard an ad for either of them.

Using navigation history, advertisers can learn where drivers spend most of their time, and the stores, restaurants, and other places they frequent most often. Then, when people are on the road en route to one of those places, they can get relevant advertisements throughout their journey.

 

Ads in Cars in Action

Imagine this scenario:

You’re out of town for a work conference. You’ve already ordered room service for dinner to avoid having to venture out into the unknown city and deal with the traffic, and you’re so sick of it, so you decide to go for a drive.

You don’t know where to eat, or where to park. That’s where the infotainment system in your car comes to your rescue. With your location at hand, your car will tell you where you can safely park, and provide you with coupons and special offers from the restaurants nearby that parking spot.

This contextual marketing is ideal for marketers because it means customers more likely to make a purchase, and for many drivers, it’s the perfect situation. You get suggestions to solve your immediate problems. You can get a deal on your dinner, then drive back to the hotel and rest to prepare for the next day at the conference.

It’s already happening with Aha Radio, using audio advertising. Location-based offers are sent to the in-dash systems, for instance, an offer for a free drink and chips at the local Subway restaurant that’s coming up in a few miles. The driver simply has to tap a “thumbs up” icon on the screen, and the coupon is delivered directly to their email box for use at the restaurant.

Aha Radio is pre-loaded on nearly 50 types of cars, including models from: Scion, Subaru, Honda, Acura, Mazda, Ford, and Chrysler.

On the other hand, there are many drivers who may find this kind of advertising obtrusive – and just another way to gain entrance into your life, in the privacy of the car. To be successful, in-car advertising must remain useful, and cannot be viewed as annoying. The more connected cars become, the more control drivers will have in terms of their preferences to adjust their advertising.

It’s possible there may be an option to setup profiles for each driver – much like you can connect more than one phone to the car via Bluetooth, but only one phone can be active at a time. This would be an ideal for a one-car family where both partners use the car regularly. One partner may have completely different interests – and the flexibility of driver profiles will keep the advertising relevant to the person driving the car, rather than becoming annoying, and a waste of advertising dollars.

 

In-Car Advertising in Ride Shares

Though Uber and Lyft drivers are actively being discouraged from using in-car advertising, there’s a platform for it. We see advertising in taxis in many major cities, so Vugo was created as a way for rideshare drivers to display ads on tablets located in the backseats. With the car’s GPS, location based ads are served to the tablet, allowing the drivers to earn an estimated $3/hour to pad their income while driving passengers from point A to point B. Uber argues that because the platform ads little to the ride sharing experience, they will be deactivating any cars that opt to use this service.

 

“People-Based” Marketing

While it’s true people are spending more time on mobile devices overall, 25% of people use at least three, if not more, mobile devices every day, and 40% switch devices to complete an activity. What this means is targeting a single device may not be the best approach, since we rely on web cookies to handle this for us. Instead, the answer is people-based marketing.

With this method, we’re no longer marketing to a browser cookie and trying to connect the dots from device to person. It’s now possible to upload prospect information directly to advertising platforms like Facebook and Instagram using the Custom Audiences feature. With that, ads target the users specifically across any device. This method still isn’t foolproof because people don’t always use the same email address consistently between their social media accounts and business platforms, but often performs better compared to the typical cookie-based approach.

 

What About Drivers Without Connected Cars?

Even if your main demographic is still stuck driving an older car that lacks these connected features, many of them are available as aftermarket additions. Though people may shutter at the idea of adding technology to an older car, the fact that there are standalone GPS systems and other aftermarket accessories means we as marketers still have a chance to target people with ads in cars, despite what kind of car they actually may be driving. Aha Radio is available on aftermarket units from Kenwood, Alpine, and Pioneer.

 

The Connected Car – The Future of Digital Marketing

The “connected car” offers a whole new world of opportunity for marketers. By placing ads in cars, it’s now possible to reach people where they were previously only reachable at a limited level with out-of-home advertising or radio ads. The smart marketers will consider this new media in their strategies, and those who are eager to adopt it in this rapidly emerging space will have an advantage over those who are late to the game.

Have you noticed any ads in cars recently?  Tell us about them (where, why and when) in the comments section below.

 

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
Social Media

8 Reasons Why Snapchat is Awesome

Snapchat, the social network built on sending photos and videos to friends, that will self-destruct within 10 seconds of the time they are viewed. It also includes a chat function, much like Facebook messenger. Users also have the option to create a Snapchat “story”, which is nothing more than a 24-hour collection of photos and videos that users can choose to share only with their followers, or broadcast to the world. It has over 100 million users, and on any given day, the platform reaches 41% of all 18 to 34 year olds in the United States.

 

Let’s take a look at some of the numbers:

  • 26 million active U.S. members
  • Users send about 400 million snaps a day
  • 70% of Snapchat users are women
  • 18% of all iPhone owners are using Snapchat
  • The core audience is between the ages of 13 and 25.

Snapchat is a prime social media channel for reaching and engaging with a Millennial audience. If you find your audience isn’t there, then obviously it’s not the channel for you, but, why else would you want to use it for your business?

 

One-on-One Engagement and Private Content

One of the things that sets Snapchat apart from the competition is that it allows you to have one-on-one engagement with your followers, something that many other social networks lack. Sure, there’s the Twitter DM, and Facebook Messenger, but these options aren’t as robust as sending snaps to individual followers.

With that individual Snaps feature, you can take advantage of the ability to deliver private content – special content your followers may not be able to get using other platforms. Fashion brands like Rebecca Minkoff use Snapchat to show off their new collections before they hit the runways – giving their most loyal fans a sneak preview of what’s to come before the rest of the world sees it. Check it out for yourself with username rebeccaminkoff.

You could even send personalized thank you videos to your most loyal customers, to show them how appreciative you are of their continued support.

 

Reach a Younger Audience

When Snapchat launched, the younger audience, particularly teens, left Facebook by the droves in favor of the new network. It resonated with them quite well as this is the only social network where they are consistently spending time. Facebook heard and responded with an offer to purchase Snapchat for $3 billion, which was declined.

Audi ran an ad during 2014’s Superbowl XLVIII – that’s Superbowl 48 for those who hate Roman numerals as much as I do – and partnered with Snapchat in an effort to reinforce their brand messaging with the Millennial market. Before the end of the game, they had gained over 5,500 followers, which remains one of the largest spikes seen in the mobile app’s history. You can watch the ad above.

Dove launched a “Self-Esteem Weekend” where followers were invited to share snaps of their insecurities – since those snaps would disappear within seconds. They hired a group of “self-esteem ambassadors” to respond to those snaps and give immediate feedback.

 

Influencer Partnerships

Influencers are on every social channel, and though the influencers on Snapchat may not be the same ones you’d find on Facebook or Instagram, they are a great way to increase your brand awareness. Partnering with the right Snapchat influencers can help you reach demographics that are harder to capture with traditional media.

The most skilled Snapchat influencers are great at creating video content that can enhance your brand personality and voice.

Popular food chain Cinnabon worked with snapchatters Evan Garber and Danny Berk to host a Snapchat takeover of the brand account. Together, they created a two minute long Snapchat story and asked fans to submit photos of their favorite sweet treat. That partnership helped Cinnabon get 2,000 new followers.

McDonald’s even reached out to LeBron James and let him do a Snapchat takeover of their account.

 

Show People Behind the Scenes

Whether it’s a company outing, a birthday party, or just a casual Friday afternoon, you can use Snapchat to provide a unique look at your company culture. There are countless possibilities here, but anytime you give people an inside look at what’s going on, it’s going to increase engagement, build trust, and improve credibility.

NFL team New Orleans Saints uses Snapchat to take advantage of the stories feature. The team joined in 2013, saying they’d use the platform to release behind-the-scenes footage, including photos of new merchandise, and a preview of what uniform the team will be wearing every week, and more. If you want to follow them – their username is Saints.

 

Find Interns

GrubHub, snapchat username grubhub, an online food ordering company, used Snapchat to find an intern to manage their own Snapchat account. With the Snapchat Stories feature, they posted a six image slideshow that explained how to apply, sending a snap of their best doodle.

 

Content Curation

If you want to use Snapchat as part of your strategy, but you’re not sure what kind of content will work best, you can start with curated content. All you have to do is look through the “Discover” section, and tap on one of the stories there. Once you find an image or video you want to share, simply tap and hold. Now, you’ll have the option to edit the content by adding your own text, emojis, and even your own drawings. You can turn off the sound for videos, the download the video or photo to your phone, and then send it as your own snap.

This is a particularly useful way to start engaging your following without having to record yourself, but you don’t want to abuse the option too much, because if your followers start to pick up on the lack of original content, you may start to fade away into the noise, in favor of more unique and original branded content.

 

Perks, Promotions, and Contests

Social media contests and promotions are everywhere, and social media is no different. This can be a great way to keep your followers coming back for more. Offer promo codes and discounts to the people who watch your entire Snapchat story, or ask them to post a snap while holding your product.

Taco Bell used Snapchat to announce the re-release of the Beefy Crunch Burrito. Anyone who was friends with the brand received a snap with a photo of the burrito and the release date. They used Twitter to encourage people to follow them on Snapchat to get the secret announcement. Their use of the network to announce the re-release earned them recognition in the 6th Annual Shorty Awards, as a finalist in Snapchat. Want to get in on the action for next time? Add username: tacobell.

The Brazilian division of Sprite, owned by Coca-Cola, decided to use their cans as a way to gain more Snapchat followers. They added their Snapchat QR codes to millions of their cans, in a campaign called RFRSH Na Lata (“refresh on the can” in Portuguese). The cans were paired with online videos, and a microsite where customers could submit their own Snapchat codes for a chance to be featured on the cans.

 

Live Events

If you’ve got something special going on and you want to use some real-time social media marketing, you can give your audience direct access to live events. Use it for trade shows, product launches, and one-of-a-kind events.

Snapchat Live Stories allow all snapchatters who are attending the same event to contribute to the same story – which will remain live for 24 hours. So, if you want to provide different perspectives of the same event, get multiple employees on board to snap the experience from different angles and vantage points.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is also actively using Snapchat to connect with and engage their fans. They used Live Stories to post live updates of the Most Valuable Player award event, to make it more exciting and spread awareness.

 

Integrating Snapchat into Your Social Strategy

If you’ve decided you have the right audience to make investing time and energy into Snapchat for your business, it’s important to consider how you’ll integrate it into your existing strategy. There are countless ways to do this, including:

  • Creating tutorials or offering a series of tips
  • Hosting a contest
  • Offering exclusive discounts and promotions to your followers
  • Ask questions
  • Answer the most frequently asked questions
  • Flash sales
  • Giving your audience a behind the scenes look at your business

When compared to the other social networks out there, Snapchat is unique, and while it may not be appropriate for all businesses, it certainly offers different ways to connect and engage with your audience.

Is your brand on Snapchat? How did you integrate it into your existing social strategy? How is it working out for you? Share your thoughts below.

Photo credit: Pixabay

 

Categories
Content Marketing

Too Much Content Marketing?

Content marketing is an important part of online marketing these days with 88% of B2B marketers using it as part of their overall strategy. Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, but generates three times as many leads, and conversion rates that are nearly six times higher, making it a cost effective way to promote a business. The fact is, you can’t really have too much content marketing, if you’ve got the right strategy in place to support it.

 

But, without that strategy backing up your efforts, too much content can backfire. Churning out blog posts, articles, and social content for the sake of adding content to your archive may sound like a good idea, especially if you’re starting from scratch, but too much can be detrimental to your end goal.

One study showed that as brand generated content increased by 78%, interactions per post per 1,000 followers fell by 60%. The study looked at 8,000 brands across five major networks for a year between 2013 and 2014. The more content was there, the less engagement it received. The study also revealed that 43% of professionally marketed blog posts received fewer than 10 interactions. This tells us it’s important to strike a balance in your content load, spreading it across each network as your audience indicates they are ready and willing to consume it. Does your audience love Facebook, but they’re not really all that much into Twitter? Focus more of your content marketing efforts on Facebook, without completely neglecting to build a Twitter presence.

If you find your content archive is quite large, but your engagement is not consistently improving, it’s time to make some adjustments to your content marketing strategy. It doesn’t mean all the time and effort spent on existing content is a waste – it just means spending a bit more time getting it right.

 

Audit Your Existing Content

Look at what you already have on your website. Is it old and out of date? Either scrap it or edit it to make it more current and relevant. Is it low quality? Either scrap it or edit it to drastically improve quality and value.

It’s a good idea to review your content marketing strategy on a regular basis, to keep the content in line with your strategy and goals. Take time to review it at least annually, to ensure that all your efforts are worthwhile.

 

Consolidate Your Content

Look at all the content that serves a similar purpose, or covers similar topics. Consolidate that into a single piece, or more focused section on your website. Update the content as necessary. If you find that you have a significant amount of content dedicated toward one particular topic or issue, consider repurposing it into an eBook or downloadable report you could use for opt-ins.

So, that brings the question, how many times can you use the same topic? If you have a keyword you’re trying to rank on that you know you’re going to need to repeat in multiple posts to have a shot at achieving page one rankings, it’s easy to get repetitive.

To get around this, take a fresh approach to the topic each time. If you’re not providing a fresh perspective with value to your readers, then you’re going to start sounding like a broken record. If you’re marketing a brand of spaghetti sauce, you can only write so many general articles on tomatoes and sauce before people stop reading.

If you’re stuck with a generalized keyword and you want to avoid getting too repetitive, consider the five stages of the buying process:

  • Awareness: In this stage, people know they have an issue and they’re looking for answers. For the spaghetti sauce, these would be topics like what is in the spaghetti sauce, how it can be used beyond mixing it with noodles for lunch or dinner, where you can find the sauce in stores, the stores that carry the brand, and more.
  • Consideration: At this stage, customers are evaluating the various solutions on the market – all the spaghetti sauce brands available. They’re looking at things like the ingredients, the sugar content, the price points, the size of the product. For this stage, produce content that highlights the different features of your product.
  • Intent: Now’s the time to appeal to consumer logic, focusing on emotion to encourage them to choose your product compared to the competition. Here, write content about who benefits from your product – the busy mom who’s too tired to make a sauce from scratch, the grocery shopper on a budget who wants a gourmet taste without the price tag. You can also write about what your product can do and how it works.
  • Purchase: At this stage, you’re encouraging people to buy from you. Here’s where you can promote discounts and coupons for your spaghetti sauce, and provide a store locator so customers who don’t want to order online can go pick it up in store. It’s also a good idea to include a printable form people can take to their local grocery store to ask their manager to carry it. It helps expand your distribution, and helps the customer feel like they played a part in getting your brand into a location that is convenient for them.
  • Repurchase: At this stage, you want to encourage your customers to come back to you. You want them to stay in contecact with you and learn more about your niche. These posts are best suited to offer the client information about a keyword that they are unable to get anywhere else.

Even if your website is built around a single keyword, don’t overuse the same topic. These types of websites don’t look professional, and as such, rank lower. If you’re dealing with a specific brand of spaghetti sauce, you’ll need to expand your content to cover news stories, or latest developments – like issues with tomato crops, health benefits of tomatoes – in addition to your general usage articles.

If you’re in the B2B market, this changes slightly, as buying cycles are a bit longer, and involve multiple departments. It may also mean there’s a longer period before the company comes back to buy again. For instance, if they’re buying new computers for the entire company, it’s going to be a large purchase that takes a while to receive approval, and they won’t be doing that again for a while. But, the company could still come back to you again to make other related purchases like printers and other peripheral devices.

 

Analytics: Content and Audience Evaluation

Next, analyze the performance of each piece of content over time. Get rid of anything that doesn’t perform the way you need. If you don’t get rid of it all together, then make revisions to anything you consider “underperforming.”

Conduct an audience analysis to see where the audience is coming from, and what pages they are leaving on. Learn what they’re exploring while on your site. Adjust your content with that information so you can make it better meet their needs, but more importantly, consider adjusting the placements so you know it gets in front of the right eyes.

This analysis will also help you determine the ideal posting frequency for your audience. Certain industries will require content more frequently, while others will be turned off by posting too much. Targeting niche markets generally means posting less because there isn’t as much competition compared to generalized niches. The smaller the group you’re targeting, the easier is to get away with posting less.

If you want to get an insider’s idea of what the competition is doing, so you can do it better, subscribe to their email list. You can see what topics they’re covering, the types of content they’re using to do it, and how frequently they are reaching out to their audience.

 

Content Optimization and Reorganization

Once you know the content you’re left with, it’s time to optimize it and reorganize it on the website to make sure it hits the visitors in the right stage of the buying cycle. Each visitor will have different needs throughout the sales funnel, so the content needs to be optimized to meet these needs, and then it needs to be easy to find and in line with the buyer’s journey.

You’ll want to share your content across social media once it’s published, but sharing it once isn’t enough. There’s a chance it’s going to get lost in the shuffle, especially with networks like Twitter that move quickly.

That said, don’t spam your following with links to your content all the time, especially the same post. Share it once when it is published, and then one more time a few weeks later. If at any point it becomes relevant again, publish it again. After that, focus on those inbound links, reader shares, and the search engines to bring you that steady traffic stream.

 

The Lesson: Quality Over Quantity

It’s not about the volume of content you are producing. It’s about how well that content you’re producing is resonating with your audience – the value it is providing them. Your brand is far better served with a handful of content assets every week or month that are providing high value than it is with a ton of poorly written content. If you’re flooding your networks with repurposed content, and then not taking the time to analyze your audience, you’re not going to be successful, plain and simple. To hit those successful marks, you must know exactly what your audience wants, and how to construct the content appropriately for each social network. Content may be king, but the strategy behind it is what really matters.

Think about two restaurants – side by side. They serve the same kind of cuisine. They have the same kind of atmosphere. One restaurant has a small selection of 12 items, selected using customer feedback. The other has a random and overwhelming number of choices. Management never takes the time to ask the customers if they enjoy the food, and continues to keep the kitchen on their toes. Which one would you rather dine in? Not only are the customers not as happy as they could be, but restaurant B is hemorrhaging money on unnecessary ingredients that go bad because no one orders half the menu. Content assets that don’t help bring in and convert leads cost your business the same way.

After you’ve completed your content audit, craft a strategy to handle your new content. Only write when you have something of value to say – if there’s nothing new, skip it. You’ll just end up axing it in your next content audit anyway.

If you come up with something valuable to say – are there people out there who would want to hear it? Segment your target audience, and make sure you understand who they are, what they want, and what they need. Without this information, you’ll never be able to understand how to reach them to convert them into paying customers.

What kind of adjustments have you made to your content marketing strategy in the past? How did this affect your results? Tell me more in the comments below.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
Social Media

11 Tips to Increase Facebook Engagement

 

In the early days of social media, there was major focus on the number of fans you had, which lead to an onslaught of craziness where people thought it was a good idea to buy fans. (If you don’t know why that’s a bad thing – I talked about it in this post. There’s also a bit more detail about post timing and frequency there, too, which I cover briefly below.)

Now that Facebook is the number one most visited website and everyone is there, the competition is heavy. Simply having page likes isn’t enough to gauge a real return on investment, and that’s where engagement comes in.

What exactly is Facebook engagement? It’s the number of post likes, comments, and shares. It’s the action your fans take. They engage with you – which shows your brand’s ability to capture attention and connect with your content. But perhaps most importantly, Facebook uses your post engagement metrics to determine how much of your audience sees your post. One study shows that Facebook pages show a net 2.6% organic reach as of March 2015. Other data shows on average, Facebook organic reach is down 52% in 2016.

With all that out of the way – here are some ways you can boost your own Facebook engagement rate. Depending on your current level and niche, some methods may provide better results. Some may not be practical. You may decide to try something and find out it’s not for you. That’s okay. Do what works for your business.

 

Ask Questions

If you want to hear from your fans – ask them something. Ask them anything. If you can relate to your brand, great, but it’s not always necessary. If nothing else, use questions to learn more about the audience you have – so you can tailor your content to them better.

Can’t think of anything to ask? Try these:

  • Are you a saver or a spender?
  • Would you rather stand or sit all day? Why?
  • If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
  • What’s your favorite way to relax?
  • What’s the first thing you notice when you meet someone new?
  • Are you an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert?

Beyond those types of questions, you can also use fill in the blank options like these:

  • When you think of [our brand], what’s the first word that comes to your mind?
  • The first [brand] product you purchased, I ever bought was….
  • My favorite thing about [industry/niche] is…
  • If I could be anything when I grow up, I’d be….

The options are nearly limitless, and you can plan them as far out as you need to fit your strategy needs.

 

Stay Responsive

If you’re asking questions and getting responses from your audience, then you need to show them you’re paying attention to what they have to say. If they don’t think you’re listening, then they don’t have any incentive to keep engaging with you.

If they have questions of their own, answer them. If they have creative responses, reply to them. Thank them for their time and for being a valuable part of your community.

42% of consumers who complain in social media expect the company to respond to them in 60 minutes. And 32% of consumers expect a response in 30 minutes or less. And what may come as a surprise is they still have these time expectations outside of normal business hours at night and weekends. What happens if you don’t respond?

 

User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is hot. UGC is 20% more influential than another type of media with Millennial purchases. 93% of customers find UGC helpful when making purchasing decisions, and UGC gets 29% higher web conversions compared to campaigns or websites without it. Social media is built on sharing and building relationships. Share content from other people online that’s relevant and useful to your audience. This helps you stay in line with the 80/20 rule so your content doesn’t always toot its own horn, while staying in line with providing value to your audience.

To get UGC, you have to involve and interact with your fans. This can be difficult for those who are just starting out, but, these are strategies you can use to build a library of UGC to work from:

  • Ask your fans to upload photos around a certain theme.
  • Use photo/video uploads to host a contest or giveaway. Starbucks launched the “white cup” contest where customers were asked to doodle on a white cup to create a design that would be mass produced to create a product for coffee lovers. The contest was such a hit that it received nearly 4,000 entries in only three weeks.
  • Ask your audience to share photos/videos using your products/services. Fashion designer Marc Jacobs knew their customers would be taking selfies with their products. They hosted a casting call for their next advertising campaign through Twitter and Instagram, asking people to post their images using the hashtag #CastMeMarc. Within 24 hours, more than 15,000 entries were received.

 

Pay Attention to the Timing and Frequency of Your Posts

Timing and frequency is everything. If you post too much, you risk turning your audience off. They’ll start ignoring you or may even unlike your page. If you don’t post enough, there’s the chance your fans won’t see it enough to engage at all, which will of course make visibility even harder.

There’s no hard rule about how often to post and when to post on Facebook. Clearly, it’s going to vary from niche to niche. However, several studies show guidelines you can use to get maximum Facebook engagement potential, with the best times to post being:

  • 12 to 1 pm on Saturday and Sunday
  • 3 to 4 pm on Wednesdays
  • 1 to 4 pm on Thursdays and Fridays

People use Facebook at home, and at work, on their desktops and on mobile devices. You’ll need to factor all of this in as you craft your strategy.

But what about the various time zones? How can I make sure I’m reaching everyone across the country without posting too much? 50% of people live in the eastern time zone, and when you add the central time zone, you’re covering 80% of the population, so you can stop stressing the time zone factor if you’re targeting a national audience.

 

Use Photos

Skip the stock photos and focus on real, candid photos. The old saying, “A picture is worth 1,000 words” rings true across social media channels. Use images to tell stories about your company – culture, products, services, office space, customers, and more. Images tend to get more engagement, and as such will get more exposure in the newsfeed.

Plus, if you take a few seconds to brand your photos with your company’s logo, using a watermark tool, anyone who sees the image on Facebook will know it’s coming from you, so you can help foster more brand awareness.

 

Use Facebook Video

YouTube is a popular video platform, and can help Facebook, but if you’re really looking to amp up your Facebook engagement rates, use Facebook’s native video platform. Even though YouTube is the second-largest social network, it doesn’t really help Facebook much.

Why go with Facebook’s native platform? One study showed that the native platform had two times more likes, three times more shares, twice the reach, and seven times more comments compared to hosting the same video on YouTube and posting it on Facebook.

 

Host a Contest

Contests can help you increase engagement because they reward loyal fans, while also creating excitement to have them checking regularly to see if they’ve won. Platforms out there allow you to create a variety of types of contests, such as a vote to win for likes, and more challenging contests for more comments.

Take for instance Eggo, the well-known waffle brand. In 2013, they launched The Great Eggo Waffle Off. They launched a recipe contest, in partnership with ice cream brand, Bryers, inviting people to submit their best waffle recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, or dessert. Then, they invited their fans to vote for their favorite recipes. The winning recipe submission won a $5,000 prize.

 

Run Facebook Ads

Facebook ads can help boost engagement, if you need a starting ground to work from. You can choose a post engagement ad type, and then from there, choose from a photo, video, text post, or an Instagram post. Facebook will provide design recommendations for each of these formats, so you can optimize your ads for the best possible results.

The ads can give you a boost to get the Facebook engagement machine running in the first place. You don’t have to run the constantly until the end of time, because as your engagement grows and audience grows, the momentum you establish with ads should sustain itself, as long as you continue to foster the engagement with tactics like this.

 

Call-to-Action

Adding a call to action can help guide your audience. People like to be guided to action online, so if you want people to like the post, share the post, or comment on the post, tell them to do it. People are inundated with content everywhere, online and off. Studies show they only read 20-28% of the words in your posts, so being clear about the engagement you’re seeking is never a bad idea.

 

Have Fun With It

There’s nothing wrong with a little experimentation and a bit of fun. Showing your personality is one of the best ways to connect with your audience. If you’re just starting out and don’t really think your business has an established personality yet, think about what image you want to project to the audience, and then go from there. Post funny memes and ask random questions… it’s okay.

 

Check Your Analytics

Unless you’ve literally just started your Facebook page, look at your analytics data. There you can see which posts have the most engagement, and the type of engagement. Look for patterns in that data. Are your most popular posts all similar topics? Were they posted at a similar time of day, or day of the week? Just because you have all this advice here to work from doesn’t mean it’s going to apply exactly.

Everyone has their own audience, their own value proposition, and their own niche. What works for one person isn’t going to work for another. Your analytics data gives you insight into your specific audience, so you know the best types of posts that work for optimal engagement, and you can learn the times that your audience is the most responsive. Then, you craft your Facebook engagement strategy based on the results.

That said, analytics data is in ebb and flow – and will change often. So, use it as a basis and be prepared to change a bit as the information changes. Then, add in the other tactics I’ve talked about here as appropriate.

 

Putting it All Together

Your business needs a social media strategy, of course, but an often overlooked part of that strategy is a Facebook engagement strategy. If you want to start getting more attention, it’s not going to do you any good to start publishing posts like crazy, and hoping for people to like, comment, and share. Create a plan for what you want to post, when you’re posting, and then outline the steps you’re taking to increase Facebook engagement.

What Facebook engagement methods are you finding the most effective for you? Were you surprised by any analytics data? Sound off in the comments.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

 

 

 

Categories
Social Media

Top Annoying Social Media Habits to Avoid

 

These days, having a stellar social presence is essential for online business growth, but simply creating profiles, getting followers, and posting whatever you want, whenever you want, isn’t enough to get there. There must be strategy, of course, but even when you operate within a strategy, there are a few things you can still get wrong. These are the top annoying social media habits I’ve seen brands committing regularly across social media – and I’m here to tell you to stop, right now. Even if you think you’re doing your brand some good, believe me, you’re not.

 

Posting Information Without Fact-Checking

If there’s ever a place full of misinformation that looks real, it’s social media. Tons of memes are floating around with false data, contributing to the dumbing-down of our society. If you see anything you think may be worth sharing to your audience, do everyone a favor and fact check it first. One of the best places to check is Snopes – but you can always go to Google, too. If people figure out the falsehood of what you’ve posted, you’ve knocked your credibility down a notch, and possibly lost a follower or two… maybe more.

 

Posting All.The.Time.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a real thing online, and that’s why we see teenagers posting everything from what they ate for breakfast to the movie they’re watching right now. You may think that because you have to compete with everyone else out there, the best way to do that is to post all the time. But, if you fill your audience feed too much, they’ll start to ignore whatever it is you’re saying, or worse yet, unfollow you all together.

There are many studies on the best time to post on social media to guide your efforts. On Facebook, the data shows:

  • Sunday: 32% higher engagement
  • Thursday: 18% higher engagement
  • Friday: 18% higher engagement
  • Saturday: 32% higher engagement
  • 9 am
  • 1 pm: Get the most shares
  • 3 pm: Get the most clicks

On Twitter, however, it looks a bit different:

  • Wednesday is the best day to tweet.
  • The best times are 12 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm, and 6 pm.

Posting on Wednesday and noon and between 5 and 6 pm is optimal, though to increase retweets and clickthroughs, you can also tweet right at noon and 3pm. You can safely experiment with 2-3 am, 6-7am, and 9-10 pm.

Use Pinterest? Take a look at this:

  • Sunday: Best for Food
  • Monday: Best for Fitness
  • Tuesday: Best for Gadgets
  • Wednesday: Best for Quotes
  • Thursday: Best for Outfits
  • Friday: Best for GIFs
  • Saturday: Best for Travel

The best times to in are 2 pm, 9 pm, and 2 am. Avoid Pinterest during work hours, and for best results, include a call to action, and try to match the best topics of the day.

The data for LinkedIn shows the best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The best times to post are between 7 and 8 am, noon, and 5 and 6pm.

The data for Google+ shows you should avoid posting in the early morning or late evening. The best time to post is between 9 am and 11am, or between noon and 1 pm, especially on Wednesdays. The majority of people there are lurkers and will not interact with what you post.

The data for Instagram shows people are engaged throughout the week, but Mondays and Thursday tend to get a bit more attention. Avoid posting between 3 and 4 pm on those days. Videos do best every day between the hours of 9 pm and 8 am. Generally speaking, the best times to post to Instagram are between 8 am and 9am, 2 am, and 5 pm.

Factoring in time zones sounds complex, but it doesn’t have to be. Half of Americans live in the eastern time zone, and when you add the central time zone, you’re accounting for 80% of the population.

So, now that we have the best times to post for optimum reach and exposure, that still doesn’t answer the question about how often you should post to your business accounts. And just like each network has ideal times, each network has ideal frequencies.

Conventional wisdom says you should post to Facebook twice a day, but this only works if you have a following of 10,000 or more. Posting twice a day with a smaller audience translates to 50% fewer clicks per post. Those with less can post one to five times a month and see clicks per post double.

In terms of Twitter, there’s no clear cut answer, because it depends on your goals, according to this study. If you want to want to get the best engagement from each tweet, then stick to one to five tweets per day, but if you want to get more responses overall, tweet as much as you want… with up to 50 times a day having no negative effect on your account.

For Instagram, it’s not the frequency, but the consistency that matters. You can start posting multiple times a day, even up to 15-20x a day on your account without negative effects, but setting that standard means you have to do it consistently. Changing to posting just a few times a week will translate to lost followers and less engagement for each post.

For Pinterest, post between four and 10 times a day to get maximum engagement, but some studies show pinning up to 30 times a day is okay for brands with lots of content.

And while we’re at it – let me take a second to say – don’t post to your social profiles apologizing for a lack of posts recently. It’s pointless – and because posting more often doesn’t really offer any benefit, just jump back in to posting regularly. Take time to curate some content and get it queued up and ready to go so you can avoid gaps in the future.

 

Constant Self-Promotion

People don’t use social media to be sold to constantly. Yes, they use it to discover new products and services, but they want do so on their own terms. Constantly tooting your own horn will lead to followers ignoring you, or completely unfollowing you all together. Some self-promotion is okay, but focus on providing content that educates, entertains, and informs. “Interesting” content ranks as one of the top three reasons people choose to follow a brand on social media. If you’re creating interesting and useful content, getting that content in front of the right eyes, the rest will fall in line.

There’s no real hard and fast rule about how much of your social content should be about your brand, but the consensus seems to be to apply the 80/20 rule. This means only 20% of your social content should be about your brand, and the rest of it should be focused on building relationships with your followers.

 

Automated Messaging

The automated direct message on Twitter, to say “Thanks for the follow!” or “Check out my new…” may seem like a good idea to connect with followers who catch you when you’re offline, but really, it defeats the purpose of social media. Social media is a platform, regardless of which channel you use, to connect with people you wouldn’t otherwise be able to meet… on a personal level. The automated message approach is highly impersonal, and can turn off new followers.

 

Informal Posting

Social media is fun to use among friends and family for your personal account, but it is fast becoming a powerful professional tool, and should be treated as such. It needs to be considered a conversation with a client you’ve known for a while. It’s okay to be conversational and casual, but don’t use that as a reason to be informal. You still want to show respect and leave an impression. TyPiNg Lik DiS, Or This, OR THIS, won’t do that.

 

Hopping on All the Trends

If you see something trending, your instinct may to be jump on the train and get in on the action. After all, if it’s tending, thousands of people are talking about it, so you’d get massive exposure outside of your current audience, right? Before you jump on that hashtag, do some research.

What’s the hashtag really about? In 2014, well-known pizza brand, DiGiorno taught the world a valuable lesson about hopping on trends without doing due diligence first. The brand jumped on the “#WhyIStayed” hashtag, with what ended up being an offensive tweet. The hashtag was actually in response to Janay Rice’s decision to stay with NFL player Ray Rice, after he’d committed acts of domestic violence against her. Thousands of women used the hashtag to share their stories, and DiGornio didn’t take 10 seconds to figure out what the hashtag was about before tweeting. As soon as they realized their error, they deleted the tweet and began issuing apologies.

Is the hashtag relevant to your business? If not, skip the trend. You don’t need to waste time talking about anything and everything. It could confuse your audience, and especially any new or recent followers.

 

Buying Likes and Followers

Okay, so this one should be dead obvious, and many of us know better. And yet, there are still countless services out there offering to get you likes and followers on any number of social media networks for a fee. It can be really tempting for an unsuspecting business owner to get a start that way, because they’re worried about having high numbers to make themselves look good.

The problem with this approach is – number one, these followers and fans are likely just spam accounts – up to 11.2% of Facebook accounts are. If they are actual user accounts, chances are they’re not targeted users, even if the service says they are. So, you end up with hundreds, if not thousands of followers who don’t give a flying hoot about what your business and what you have to offer.

Your business is far better served by 50 followers who are actively engaged in what you have to say and genuinely interested in your product – part of your target audience – than it is with 500 random people. Social isn’t a numbers game, no matter how much it looks like it. Quality over quantity is definitely true here.

 

Excessive Use of Hashtags

Hashtags are used on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as a way to categorizing information, curating content, and ultimately, reach a specific audience. Two to four hashtags is best – two for twitter, and more for Instagram where the image could easily appeal to a wider audience. Keep it simple, and don’t make up crazy ones.

 

Syncing Cross Posts

You think, “Hey, this is a good update for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, so I’ll just save time and sync them all to each platform automatically.” It sounds good in theory, but take the time to do it manually. Each network has its own style and the audience expects content to be delivered in a certain way. When you automate the process from one network to another – you’re sending the message that you’re lazy… and followers on all platforms see the same thing over and over.

 

Ignoring Requests from Your Audience

When someone sends you a message on social media, don’t ignore it. Do what you can to respond as soon as possible. 32% of customers expect a response within 30 minutes, while 42% expect a response within an hour. Think that’s rough? 57% of them expect the same response time outside of normal business hours, including nights and weekends. If you need to, have a team of people who can respond quickly. It’s okay not to be on top of things all the time, but make sure to include response time into your schedule so your audience can see you’re paying attention. One study found failing to respond to customers on social channels can lead to a 15% increase in churn rate for existing customers.

Putting it All Together to Create a Solid Social Strategy

Pay attention to your audience analytics on social media channels to see when your audience is most active. Use that data to determine the types of posts and topics they share and respond to the most. Focus less on how much you post, how many followers and fans you have, the hashtags you add to the content, and more on providing quality content, and responding to your audience. Remember your goals, and make sure everything you post fits into helping you accomplish them.

What other social media habits do you find annoying? Share them with me below.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

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Categories
Outreach

Influencer Marketing 101

 

When you’re just starting out with your business, it can be hard to get eyes in front of your content. That’s where influencer marketing (connecting with influencers in your niche) can be highly beneficial. These influencers already have an established expertise and following, so building relationships with them can be just what you need to get that ball rolling.

Why should you focus on influencer marketing? The majority of consumers (92%) would rather make decisions based on trusted referrals and recommendations than rely on other sources. Word-of-mouth marketing generates 2x the sales compared to paid advertising. And, businesses make an average of $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing.

 

Identifying and Tracking Influencers

Not just any influencer will do. It’s important to take the time to find out who key influencers are in your industry, of course, but the issue many people overlook is the fact that who the issue many people overlook is the fact that who you find influential isn’t necessarily the same person or group of people your audience finds influential. This means going a bit further to find the people your audience follows online – but there are tools to help you get the job done. There’s no more guessing about who they may be; you can find and connect with them right away.

BuzzSumo is an influencer marketing tool that lets you find the most popular content about a topic, while also providing information on the author and publisher. You can look more into the types of content that author creates, or the publisher accepts, to get a better idea of how to approach the influencer with a story for the target publication. It’s also possible to see a list of the people who shared it. You can also use it to see the most popular content on a particular publisher, to ensure your story provides a unique angle.

Keyhole allows you to track hashtags so you can find relevant content and influencers. You can see conversations and top content, as well as who the influencers around the hashtag are.

Traackr is a premium influencer marketing and analytics platform that helps you find influencers, see social insights, and determine how to best connect with them. You can search for influencers, see trending content, and more.

 

Connecting with Influencers

Reach out to the influencers on Twitter, Facebook, or other social platform and start a conversation with them before you need them to do something for you. Keep in mind that top influencers get inundated with requests for help all the time – many reaching hundreds of requests a day, if not more. Without having an established relationship with them, it can be hard to get them to pay attention to you – let alone honor your request. Once you’re connected on social media, it’s time to move on to the next step – developing a strategy for engaging with influencers so you can get on their radar and cultivate that relationship.

 

Engaging with Influencers

Start sharing and commenting on their content. But, take the time to go beyond something like, “Great post!” and add real thoughts and insight. Find a balance, because sending out a single tweet isn’t going to be enough. It will get lost in a sea of posts. But, retweeting/sharing too much too often, comes on a little strong and spammy. Choose the pieces that you genuinely see value for your own audience.

When you take the time to comment on their content – make it stand out. Ask questions to start a dialogue. Provide additional information or examples. It’s even okay to disagree with what the author says, if you have a different point of view and can keep the debate effective.

 

What Do You Have to Offer?

Once you’ve established the relationship, it’s time to make the connection and ask for help. But – you shouldn’t just email them a sentence or two. First, take the time to think about what you want to get from the cooperation. Then, consider what you have to offer the influencer in return.

Do you want them to share your content? Do you want them to participate in an expert roundup? Be interviewed for a podcast? Whatever the case may be – you’re thinking about a long-term relationship here, so make sure it’s an easy single request. Once that goes well and you decide you want to continue working together, you can bring the influencer into bigger projects.

Can you offer them an exclusive trial of your service? A new version of your product? A blog post completely dedicated to them? Offer real value to the influencer and know what the offer will be before you contact them.

 

Making the Connection

There’s only one shot to connect with your influencer, so make the most of it. Skip the use of automated software on the first contact to avoid potential errors that will turn the influencer off. Make sure your subject line is compelling – influencers are busy people who won’t read everything. It has to be catchy to get their attention, but shouldn’t look spammy – that’s a signal of automated software. Tell the influencer what the email is about. Make the email itself easy to read. Keep it short and clear.

Break the ice with things you have in common – showing you’ve done your research on who they are and what they’ve done in the past. Be sure to use their name – research shows people love to see/hear their name. It also makes the experience more personal. Show a little flattery. Compliment their work and let them know what you like about them. If possible, show them what you’ve done to provide value beforehand, so they’re more likely to want to return the favor for you.

If you want, you can also invite the influencer to collaborate with you on content. It’s almost a surefire way to guarantee they’ll share it with their audience, since they had a hand in its creation.

 

Repeat Again and Again

After you’ve had a successful small project with the influencer, you can repeat the process again and again with larger projects or however you and the influencer see fit. Once you have a successful relationship with one influencer, it will be easier to build more with others.

Don’t be afraid to ask the influencer what you can do for them. Any influencer relationship should be both give and take – mutually beneficial. It’s the key to building a strong long-term partnership.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

How are some of the ways you’ve been able to add value to your brand by using influencers?  Please share by using the comments section below.  Thanks!

Categories
Digital Marketing

Eric Sachs on EntHead

Eric Sachs joined host Matthew Gonzalez on EntHead to discuss building your client base with digital marketing, and the importance of trust and transparency.

In this 28-minute episode, Eric and Matthew discuss:

  • Conversion optimization
  • How to strengthen your reputation with transparency and digital presence
  • The importance of looking ahead and adapting as fast as your industry
  • Prioritizing transparency, responsiveness, and keeping work in-house as a business owner
  • Learning from mistakes

The Show Notes

Transcript

Matthew: Alright, EntHheads, welcome to our next podcast.

Today we feature Eric Sachs. Eric hails from California. He’s founder of Sachs Marketing Group who specializes in SEO and digital marketing. He’s been working at this for a while, so he’s certainly, in my opinion, an authoritarian in the matter, and certainly knows way more than I do. Hopefully he can help you throughout this podcast.

As a reminder hit us up on Facebook.com/enthead, and, of course, visit us on iTunes and give us a rating. Let us know what you like, what you don’t like. That way we can always address and learn to build your trust. With that, Eric, on behalf of all the EntHheads out there, welcome to our podcast.

Eric: Thank you, thank you very much, Matthew, for having me. I appreciate it.

Matthew: So you came as a referral from a fellow colleague now of Mark Chapman, who’s also been featured on enthead. He highly recommended you, which means for our point of view, enthead, we like to feature really authoritarian people who know and have been in the industry for a little while now. For our listeners out there who are looking to jump into SEO or digital marketing in general, we kind of like to feature individuals like yourself. Maybe just tell us a little bit about your Sachs Marketing Group.

Eric: Sure. We are, as you mentioned, a digital marketing firm. We focus primarily on the organic approach to digital marketing – search engine optimization, social media development. We do a ton of web design actually and we never really ever intended to be a web design firm, but it just sort of happened organically. We’ve been around six years. In fact, we’re just coming up on our six-year anniversary. We are in our third office. We’re sort of in a growth expansion mode.

Matthew: So you guys have been expanding now in your third office. That’s a great problem to have. Those listening in, that’s a great sign of growth. We know we target the show for individuals who are roughly in their second, third year and beyond. We’ll certainly get into some of those lessons learned. With those kinds of experiences in your sixth year, you’re on probably your next growth pattern. I think that’s awesome.

Eric: Thank you.

Matthew: Maybe digging down a bit now into the weeds of what you guys do, marketing in various formats in terms of digital marketing. Are there better methods out there to help convert optimization techniques from an SEO perspective?

Eric: The answer is yes. I think when we talk about conversion, really we’re talking not so much as an SEO perspective. SEO, loosely defined is getting a website found and search engines for relevant search queries. When we talk conversions, we’re really talking about what happens after the visitor hits the website.

When we talk conversions, we’re really talking about what happens after the visitor hits the website. There are a multitude of tools that we use. If we find that, for example with one of our clients, we’ve improved their organic reach pretty dramatically. We’ve increased the number of unique visits to their website, and it’s not paying off. Their phone is not ringing, they’re not getting leads, they’re not getting sales, they’re not converting. That typically points to a problem with the website.

There are sort of best practices in web conversion. We look at things like color palette and position of actionable elements on the web page, the path to convert, if it’s too confusing or not intuitive enough. The answer is yes, there are things that can be done, and certainly we can get into those.

Matthew: Okay. Very good. You definitely hit a couple items that we need to think about and that is once you’re out there, it takes a little bit of time. It’s not going to be a big bang solution and may require some adjustments, as with everything. Absolutely, we’ll get into some of those techniques a bit better and we can do that to a degree now.
Digging a little deeper, for someone who is in business, been in business for at least two or three years, and they’re looking to maybe promote their reputation. Even if they’re not in trouble, but they want to get out there and promote their reputation. From an SEO perspective, are there any best of breed efforts that an organization can do so?

Eric: Yeah, absolutely. Certainly paying attention to their reputation and specifically negative reviews. Typically, if you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’re probably going to have at least some negative reviews. You can’t please all the people all the time. We look at negative reviews as an opportunity to demonstrate just how much your business cares about its business. Just how much your business cares about its customers, in terms of how you respond to those negative reviews.

Matthew: Yeah, you’re right. You can’t please everybody. You might have some negative reviews, absolutely.

Eric: Just for our [6:25], these best practices that you speak of are really deeply ingrained in our company’s culture. We’re really transparent in what we do.

We don’t hide behind industry secrets, techno-babble that people really don’t understand. We explain to our customers in plain English what we’re doing. An active social media presence I think really goes a long way in terms in communicating with your fan base on social channels. Then reviews, not only always attempting to garner positive reviews, but also again responding to the negative ones is really important.

There are some tools – there are review aggregators that exist that will scrape the web and find reviews on various different platforms like Yelp! and Angie’s List and Google Plus and so forth and then pull them into a feed that you can display on your website to kind of show people what the overall sentiment is on the web about your company without requiring that they go and dig for that.

I think that’s really important.

Matthew: Perfect. I think you gave a lot of good deep tools to use to better kind of maybe optimize increase reputation. A lot of companies don’t do that. They don’t think to even gather reviews, go to all of that.

Eric: Yeah, or they do and I’ve often seen them do it wrong. In other words, you’ve seen the websites where there’s like the review page or the testimonial page and it’s just really done by the web master.

They’re just embedded. I think that today we tend to have very savvy consumers, very sort of web and tech comfortable consumers, and everyone, I believe, sort of takes those reviews with a grain of salt. Unless they’re done on a platform. There are some review platforms – can I say names?

Matthew: Sure.

Eric: Like for example, Trust Pilot. Trust Pilot is sort of seen as almost industry standard review platform. The reason why it’s so well trusted is that it’s very difficult to do a fake review on Trust Pilot. They sort of vet out the person who’s posting the review. They look at their IP address. They have them create an account.

You’re pretty assured that if you’re looking at a review on Trust Pilot it’s probably a legitimate review. At least there’s a better chance than not that it’s a legitimate review. Trust Pilot also has a partnership with Google, so ultimately as you build your reputation with Trust Pilot and you increase your score and your number of stars, just like Yelp! is like 0 to 5. Those stars actually show in the search engine result pages. We use Trust Pilot with a lot of our clients. We also use Trust Pilot personally. I just think it’s a great platform. That’s one tool. There are others.

There’s one called Bird Eye, which we use sometimes. Bird Eye is more of an aggregator. Again, it’s a scraper. It finds all the reviews online and aggregates them. With Bird Eye, you as the user have the ability to filter reviews. You could tell Bird Eye’s platform only show the reviews that are 4 stars or better. Conversely, with Trust Pilot, if you get a bad review on Trust Pilot, you can’t hide it. It’s there forever. You have different tools for different things I guess. There are definitely ways to show reviews and show testimonials without simply just typing them into a web page. I think that those sort of fall on deaf ears oftentimes.

Matthew: Quite true. Thanks for those tools. I hadn’t heard some of those, and learned a new industry acronym regarding [10:13]. That’s great. I think we learn more and more every time to get authoritarians like yourself. Awesome job.

Eric: Happy to help.

Matthew: That’s what we’re here for. Kind of looking, based on your experiences, into the present and the future, if someone’s now thinking about building a digital marketing plan, integrating search engine optimization, what should they be thinking about or what trends do you foresee happening in the next 12 months? What do you foresee coming down the pike?

Eric: The SEO space is always changing. Google’s constantly updating and editing algorithms. It’s a very fluid space. Best practices six weeks ago have changed today.

I would say the average typically business owner who’s focused on growing their business that maybe doesn’t have a background in digital marketing or doesn’t have the time to really keep their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the digital space, should probably look to an outside source to help. That said, as a start-up maybe with a limited marketing budget, there are certainly things that someone could do to help their online presence and efforts that they can implement, that would certainly help.

I think you asked what are some of those sort of best of breed efforts. The reality is every company is a media company these days. No one really goes to the phone book to find what they’re looking for.

Really it comes down to content.

The companies that produce the best content win. It’s not just about long form content. In other words, it’s not necessarily quantity, but rather quality; well-researched topics with data and sources cited. Content that would resonate with your target audience. You should know your target audience well. Know their demographic and know what they’re interested in and what they’d be interested to read and potentially share with their friends and family and share on their social channels. Not just the written word. Video content, audio content. There’s a surge in voice-based searches using Google Assistant, which is build into Google home and Google pixel.

Really, it’s just getting – we live in the information age. People, I believe, tend to gravitate toward people who are authorities in the space. If I’m looking for someone to repair my roof, I want to contact the person who knows the most about roof repair. I’m going to determine that as a consumer by the information that person’s putting out on the web.

Matthew: Absolutely. Appreciate the kind of forecast. We’ve heard that as well. I think you’re right on point with some of the other individuals we’ve had regarding digital marketing, looking at Google ads and Facebook ads and how fast that industry changes and how fluid, like you said, I think that’s the right word you used, just update based on necessity. It is hard to look out 12 months. My background being in the IT space, I can resonate with that loudly. Appreciate that and can definitely relate. Those of you planning out there, just realize as you plan your search engine optimization, digital marketing best practices and strategy, realize that a best practice is to be fluid and change. I think that’s kind of what Eric’s hitting up here.

Switching gears here a little bit. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in relation to marketing or digital marketing. As a business owner yourself, over the years or maybe even the present, are there any tools, processes, procedures that you use in business to help you run your business that you’d like to share with listeners? You said man, I wish a few other people knew about this because it’s so cool. Not just cool, but it actually helps my cost bottom line, what have you.

Anything you’d like to recommend?

Eric: Matthew, I think you could have done an entire podcast on this topic.

Matthew: I always do. Actually I do. Every podcast I ask the same question so I think I almost do.

Eric: Not necessarily specific to the digital marketing space but just business in general. We don’t have time for the story about how my business was developed, but just in a nutshell version, is it was an accident. I didn’t intend on building a business. It just sort of happened. I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t have a model, I didn’t have money, I didn’t have credit, I didn’t have anything. I just started making decisions that I thought made sense to me and put myself in the shoes of the consumer and thought what would I want if I were a consumer.

Some of these processes or procedures just kind of fall into a common sense doctrine I think. Transparency, especially in the digital marketing space, but I think in any business, transparency is huge. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors, a lot of deception, a lot of consumers that have had bad tastes in their mouths as result of being mistreated in the past. Again, not in the digital space.

Responsiveness I think is huge. One of the main complaints we hear about some of our clients that have come to us from our competitors is just waiting too long to respond. Leaving a voicemail, not hearing back. Sending an email and not getting a response for two days. There’s really no excuse today with how connected and how digital we are to not be Johnny-on-the-Spot in terms of responding to your client’s inquiries or concerns. There are tools that certainly help with that. Email is one, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, certainly text message, SMS. Google Docs is an amazing tool that’s free and it’s one of the main tools we use to allow our clients to kind of look over our shoulders and watch us work. We create a daily workflow spreadsheet and share it with our clients. Because it’s web-based and real time and extremely secure, it’s just an amazing way to take some of that guess work out of it. It goes more toward the transparency we spoke of earlier.

Just kind of doing the right thing. Sort of back to the Golden Rule, and it sounds almost crazy to mentioned, but if someone pays you to do a job, I honestly think you should do the job. Maybe more so in the digital space than perhaps the mechanic. What I’m referring to is not that outsourcing is a horrible way to run a business, and in certain businesses, it makes a lot of sense. When I built this business, I thought if people are going to pay us to do something, we should do it and not send it somewhere else to be done where we have absolutely not control over the quality of work that’s being done.

Then there’s other kind of things that are a little more light. For example, I’m standing at my desk right now. It’s kind of a geek thing, but I have this cool desk that allows me to stand or sit if I want do. In terms in running a business, I found that I was here 10 hours a day and my butt started to hurt after awhile. I got a desk that stands up. Then I’ll go even a little farther out of the realm of perhaps what you thought the answer to this question might be. I ride an Adventure motorcycle. I do a lot of off-road and on-road Adventure type motorcycle riding. It clears my head. It’s throttle therapy. It allows me to kind of clear my head and not get so bogged down with work. To come back and be fresh and be 100% to service our clients.

Really that’s the last thing I’ll say on this topic. Honestly, I tell people the way I developed this business was I took a shower every day, I came to work and I asked myself how can I be of service to my clients. I honestly believe if you believe on that, if you focus on how to serve the client, everything else will fall into place. The money will come, the accolades, the online reputation, everything else will come if you’re truly focused on how can we be of service to our clients. How can we help our clients to grow their business? Or how can we make the best yogurt, or how can we repair the roof the best? Whatever it is, everything else will kind of fall into place.

Matthew: Well said. I think you gave us an extremely well-rounded approach to that question. You gave us some tools, some processes and procedures. I think you’re the first to do all three. That’s awesome. Just recently in a recent podcast, somebody, I think it was Danielle [19:37] answered it probably different. Normally everybody leans on the tools. That’s fine, because we ask it. She gave us more of a process and procedure. You’re the second one to do that as well regarding just how you handle yourself, your business, etc. What I took out of that, and there was a lot, is very much the ethics and transparency in terms of a common theme throughout this discussion. Based on that, we’ll get you out on this. Any final lessons learned in running your business that you’d like to share with the [20:12] listening out there? Anything you think as an authoritarian in your area or even outside your area, any lessons learned you’d like to share?

Eric: Because I didn’t have a plan or a business model to follow; it sort of happened, as I mentioned, organically. I didn’t know a lot. I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned from those mistakes. You hear this all the time. People learn from their mistakes and then counsel others to prevent others from making those same mistakes. We had issues along the way, throughout the last six years, that I could have avoided had I maybe consulted with someone. A lot of that also worked to my benefit. Do you have time for a quick story or are we short on time?

Matthew: No, of course, you have all the time that you have to offer.

Eric: It was about two years into the business that I got a call from our merchant provider. This is the merchant company that ran our Visa card, MasterCard, American Express, so forth. He called me and he said Eric, aren’t you an SEO company? I said, yeah, absolutely. He said you’ve never had a chargeback, meaning in those two years we had never had any client dispute a charge. I said I know. Isn’t that great? I was kind of proud of that. He kind of chuckled and he said it’s great. Ironically, I guess he gets paid a little bit on chargebacks so he would have preferred that I have had a couple. He’s like that’s not the point. The point is we have many other SEO companies in our book of business and all of them, without exception, you being the exception, regularly have chargebacks month after month after month. He gave me the numbers. I don’t remember what they were. It was pretty high.

He said in two years you’ve never had one. Why is that? I said I don’t know. I didn’t, but I wanted to find out. I hung up and I started doing some research. I found that there’s sort of a standard approach to business in the digital realm. Certainly not everybody, every digital marketing firm follows this approach, but I’d go out on a limb and say the vast majority sort of do. It’s really just a model based on client acquisition. Whether it’s a call center or a sales team; bring on clients, bring on clients, promise them the world typically. Hey, we’ll do all this great stuff for you in 90 days usually. Then when a client comes onboard, generally the work is going to be outsourced and because the difference in economy, you can charge several thousand dollars a month here in the states for a digital marketing campaign, couple of hundred bucks, pennies on the dollar in another country. The rest is all margin so it’s a very profitable model.
If the client doesn’t get what they were promised in 30, 60, 90-days and they cancel, it’s not a really big deal because you’re just going to replace them with new clients. It’s basically a model that based that’s about a 90-day retention, highly focused on client acquisitions. So it makes sense. They didn’t get what they were promised in 90-days, they get upset, they chargeback, you get negative reviews. Our model was completely different. It wasn’t completely different because I had a good model to follow. Again, it was completely different because I was just doing what I thought made sense. To me, it made sense if people were going to pay me to do a job, that I should do that job. It made sense to me that I could keep clients long-term, I’d be more profitable in the long end. It made sense to me to be of service to the client so that they got really results so they would be really happy with us.

Our model was one with a focus on client retention much, much more than client acquisition. In fact, to this day, we don’t have a sales staff. We don’t have a call center. I literally sit and wait for my phone to ring. It rings off the hook. I know it’s kind of funny that I’m a marketer and I really don’t do much marketing. Through referral business and our organic results online, we get tons and tons of new clients all the time, and we have amazing retention. Our very first client ever, six years ago, is still with us today. Clients stay for years with us. To date, six years in, we’ve never had a credit card chargeback. We’ve never had a dispute with a client.

My competitors would argue that they’re more profitable than I am because they bring on much, much more business on a per month basis than I do. I would argue that I really prefer my model because I’m building long-term mutually beneficial relationships with our clients that are based on relationship. I can’t tell you how many invites to company Christmas parties each year. We’ve really become an integral part of our client’s business. They wouldn’t think to cancel us because they’re getting amazing return as a result of our efforts.

I would say in closing, just in terms of our culture or what a business’s culture should be in my humble opinion; I’m reiterating the focus on how we can help clients, how we can produce the best product, how we can deliver the best service, and really prioritizing the success of your clients over your own success. The rest will just come. It will be easy if you’re focused on the right things.

Matthew: Awesome story. I firmly believe that. I had a very similar business model when I had my businesses. I didn’t have 1000 clients, I had the ones who always mattered to me. Kind of like you, I waited for my phone to ring. Marketing was something I did, but it wasn’t a major push. For those listening out there, it is a business model to potentially adapt and adopt right here coming from a marketer himself and the way he runs his company.

Eric, we really appreciate your time. This has all been super knowledgeable for myself and I’m sure everyone out there listening in. We know this is going to provide great value once this gets downloaded and people listen in and take action.

Eric: You’re so welcome, and thank you again for the opportunity. I’m really honored to have been selected for this and again, thank you.

Matthew: We’re honored as well. Thank you. Alright Eric, before we get you out, let everybody know how they can get a hold of you best.

Eric: Sure. They obviously can come to our website, which is sachsmarketingroup.com, and the last name is S-A-C-H-S. Again, sachsmarketinggroup.com. You can call the office if you’d like. Our number is 818-889-3232. You can follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or any available social media channel, certainly LinkedIn. We also have a toll-free number if you’d like, 866-992-3742. I think if you just go to the website, you’ll find all the different ways to contact us.

Categories
Social Media

How to Leverage Social Media for SEO

 

Social media development isn’t a Google ranking factor, simply because anyone can create a social profile on any number of networks at any time. A mere social presence would mean everyone would rank highly, but with the number of spam accounts out there offering zero value, it’s easy to see why the search engines don’t directly consider social media.

That doesn’t mean you should completely ignore social media for SEO, however, because it still has the power to influence ranking through increased visibility/brand awareness and increased linking potential… social signals do matter.

Google may not be telling us the true value of social signals, but there’s no doubt it plays a large part in SEO. It should be clear that social has a significant role to play when it comes to launching and maintaining a successful SEO strategy. – Dario Zadro

How to Set Up Social Media for SEO

It’s not enough to create profiles on your chosen networks, slap some content on there, and wait. To see

To see real benefit, it’s an extensive, on-going process involving multiple steps.

We’ll start as though you already have social profiles set up with a relatively decent following, but if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll want to do a bit more homework to develop a content strategy that will attract the right kinds of followers, and you’ll have to hit it hard with promotion to get your brand and social activity in front of the right eyes.

Even if it means investing in paid advertising across social platforms, you must start the ball rolling.

Step One: Create Contagious Content Related to Your Products and Services

Notice we don’t say “viral” content – everyone has a different definition of viral, and there’s no guarantee your content will ever reach that level. We say contagious because it’s the kind of content that people

We say contagious because it’s the kind of content that people want to spread. Could contagious content become viral content? It’s always possible, but setting out with going viral in mind could lead to disappointment later.

How do you create contagious content? The STEPPS Formula, found in Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger is the best place to start. According to this theory, your content must hit on one or more of the following:

  • Social Currency: Something about the content makes people either look or feel good by sharing it with their audience. Remember the old Tempurpedic commercials where they showed someone jumping on a bed with a glass of red wine, that didn’t spill? You respond with amazement and want to order one – then tell your friends about it.
  • Triggers: It’s easy to remember so it keeps your idea, products, or services at the forefront of the reader’s mind. Think slogan, jingle, logo…
  • Emotion: Invokes some sort of emotion. Emotional value statistically means the content is more likely to be shared. However, certain emotions are shared more often than others. A 2013 study from Moz revealed positive emotion was more common in viral content, with the top emotions being: amusement, interest, surprise, happiness, and delight. The bottom emotions were: anger, politeness, frustration, doubt, and embarrassment.
  • Public: Share something people will imitate. If you create a campaign that will advertise itself, people will eagerly participate. The Lay’s Do Us a Flavor contest where people are asked to submit their own flavor ideas for a chance to win full production and a monetary prize is a prime example.
  • Practical Value: Something informative and useful.
  • Stories: Telling a compelling story should generate buzz. Take a look at the TOMS Shoes. The brand story tells customers the company was born after seeing children without shoes while traveling in Argentina in 2006. His company matches each purchase with a new pair of shoes for children in need. See how that story also hits on emotion? The company since went on to launch TOMS eyewear, to give the gift of sight to children in 13 countries.

Keep it related to your products and services so you attract targeted audience members. You can totally make people laugh with a funny cat video, but unless you’re selling products to cat owners, it doesn’t belong in your social media development campaign.

Dove is well known for their success with their 2013 Real Beauty Sketches campaign, where FBI sketch artists drew faces based on the individual’s description to demonstrate how overly critical of ourselves we really are. The campaign was shared over 630,000 times on Facebook within 10 days. But since then, they have sought to change the language of social media to transform it into a more positive place with the #SpeakBeautiful campaign.

Step Two: Listen to Your Audience

After you’ve developed the contagious content, it’s time to listen to what people are saying about it. Watch your social channels, and use social listening tools to keep your ear to the ground. Schedule time to be present, engage, and respond. This will go a long way in making your customers feel heard and appreciated. In turn, this reinforces a positive brand image and encourages further engagement.

Take airline JetBlue for example – they are highly responsive to tweets from their customers, as shown in the screenshot below. Aim for that level of responsiveness with your own accounts, and you’ll no doubt see a rise in customer satisfaction.

 

 

Step Three: Monitor and Adjust

Use your analytics and other SEO tools to monitor how the social activity is impacting your backlink profile.

Your social profiles and content posted there will be indexed, so your social media development campaigns have a better chance of helping increase ranking. Go beyond the basic social status update to include multiple types of content, such as video, images, and reviews.

These forms of content are often syndicated by other outlets to further spread the message in your campaign.

As you gather more data about how well your social campaigns are performing and how that performance is affecting your SEO, make adjustments as you see fit. Use the lessons learned from one campaign as a way to improve the next, and so on.

Although social media for SEO may not improve the ranking of your website directly, it definitely matters to the success of any online marketing for your business. Instead of worrying about the implications of each and how they affect your desired outcome, focus on the value you provide your customers and keep them in the center of any campaign. It is that consistent customer-centric approach that will translate to success.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Do you have any first-hand experience impacting your SEO results with social media activity?  If so, please share it in the comments section below.

Categories
SEO

Local SEO Tactics for Brick and Mortar Businesses

Suppose you’re a brick-and-mortar business that serves one or more local areas. In that case, the traditional search engine optimization (SEO) approach won’t deliver the same impactful results you’d see if you were marketing on a national level. By using geographical keywords, and local SEO, you’re alerting search engines that your business is relevant to local results. Still, you’re also decreasing your overall competition since fewer businesses compete for the same keywords within a certain radius of your city or town.

 

Begin with Keyword Research

Think about the words and phrases your customers are using to search for you. This is the beginning of keyword research. Using a tool like Keyword Tool or Google Keyword Tool, you can start with a basic phrase like, “roofer San Diego California” and get a list search volume and similar keywords you may wish to consider using in your optimization efforts.

 

Now, choose the keywords you’re most interested in using, and search them in Google yourself to determine what kind of competition you’re up against. Say for example you select:

  1. San Diego roofing: 577,000 results
  2. San Diego roofing companies: 865,000 results
  3. San Diego roof repair: 928,000 results

 

You can clearly see which one of the phrases will be harder to rank for just because of the number of results.

If you want to take it one step further, you can take note of the top 10 to 20 organic results for each of the phrases you’re targeting, so you can analyze the competition’s backlink profile. This can help you see who’s linking to them, so you can try to get links from those sources as well, and assist you in knowing how many links you should be aiming to get to outrank them. Beyond the number of backlinks, you’ll also want to pay attention to the number of pages and the length of the content on each of those pages so you can make your website a more comprehensive resource.

 

Optimize Your Website and Content – On Page SEO

  • Site Structure: Ignoring this is one of the most common SEO mistakes you can make … Keep your site organized in a clear, easy-to-understand hierarchy. Build out logically from your home page.
  • Home Page: This may be the only page visitors ever look at – so make it count. Include all important pages – products, services, locations, and more – are visible with easy navigation.
  • Locations: If your business has more than one location, have a dedicated page for each location. This gives you a chance to provide location-specific information searchers are looking for.
  • Content: Your content should be written for users first, and search engines second. You want to naturally weave the keywords in the content as you describe the intention of the page. If your competition doesn’t have a blog, consider adding one to your website where you can add more valuable content for your readers, and include additional relevant keywords to help increase your ranking. For instance, your blog could include topics like: “How to Choose the Right Roofing Material for Your Home”, “When is the Best Time to Re-Do Your Roof?”, and “How Much Does a New Roof Add to My Home’s Resale Value?”
  • Meta Descriptions and Title Tags: The meta description is the small space underneath your link in search results. It’s a place to advertise why users should choose to click your link compared to the others on the page. It should explain what the page is about. Both are excellent places for keywords, along with your city and state.
  • Images: Images should be optimized for quality and speed, and include a descriptive ALT tag with keywords for web accessibility.
  • Page Load Time: The faster your page loads, the better. 47% of users expect a webpage to load in two seconds or less, and 40% of people will leave a website that takes more than three seconds to load. A one-second delay in page load time could decrease conversion rates by 7%. If you sell $1,000 a day, that’s a loss of $25,000 per year. Page load time is a search ranking factor worth paying attention to. If you find that your page is loading slowly, Google Webmaster Tools has advice to help you improve it. The search console can also provide other guidelines and advice about how to ensure your website is properly optimized.
  • Mobile Responsive: In April 2015, Google added mobile-friendliness as a search ranking factor, as mobile traffic becomes increasingly more common than desktop traffic. Working mobile responsiveness into your website design is as simple as choosing a responsive WordPress theme, or adding a responsive plugin.

Social Media and Link Building – Off Page SEO

  • List Your Business in Google My Business: Google My Business, formerly known as Google Places, is a directory that allows you get your business hours, phone numbers, and directions on Google Search and Maps. It allows you to keep your business information accurate, and controls how you appear in the results. Pay attention to how you list your name, address, and phone number here, as you should list it the exact same way in every site for the next step.
  • Create or Claim Listings on Review Sites and in Local Directories: Think about Yelp, TripAdvisor, Bing, Yahoo, YellowPages, Angie’s List, and any other niche specific options like Porch, Houzz, and Zomato. However you listed your business with Google, should be how you list your business in all of these.
  • Ask Customers for Genuine Reviews: Never use false reviews. User-generated content like customer reviews helps build trust and credibility in the eyes of your prospective customers, and the search engines alike. 92% of customers read online reviews, so your reputation matters.
  • Optimize Your Social Media Profiles: Include your business information and a URL back to your own website on all of your social profiles, keeping them consistent from one platform to the next. Ensure your Facebook page is categorized as a local business. Encourage your patrons to check in so you increase the chance of appearing in the Facebook search results, and claim any Facebook Place pages that were created as a result of people checking it and not being able to find our business. This allows you to get credit for all the likes and check-ins.

Make Consistent Effort

You’re not going to jump from the bottom to the top overnight. It is only through consistent effort, and working on these tactics a little a time that you’ll see results. Watch your analytics and use SEO tools to track ranking over time.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Do you have any local SEO techniques that you’ve seen work well recently?  If so, please share ’em in the comments section below.  Thanks!

Categories
Outreach

Building Strong Relationships with Transparency

You may think the keys to business success are quality products and services, or good marketing and promotion. The real key to success? Strong customer relationships. And one of the best ways to foster these relationships is through transparency.

Keep Your Word

Whatever promises you make your customers, be sure you can hold to your word. If that means carefully promising only what you know you can deliver, so be it. If you fall short, customers will feel taken advantage of and lose their faith. 62% of global customers report they’ve stopped doing business with a brand after a poor customer service experience, so keeping your word is paramount to keeping customers happy.

Mistakes happen, so if there’s a reason why your products or services aren’t going to be delivered as expected, reach out and keep the customer informed, offering something to compensate them for the delay.

For instance, if Amazon determines a shipment will not be delivered in the promised timeframe, they email their customers to let them know. If a prime customer reaches out to customer service and expresses dissatisfaction with the issue, the usual response is an additional month of free Prime services for their trouble.

Be Honest About Everything, Including Mistakes

Be upfront about everything, including your pricing and billing structure. Explain the costs, fees, and deliverables especially when it comes to enterprise level SEO. Keep invoices clear so as to reflect the specifics of everything delivered, and clearly explain your terms. This can help overcome any dissatisfaction regarding vague bills. Being honest and upfront about any key customer pain points can improve overall satisfaction.

No business is perfect, and when a mistake happens, it can be tempting to hide from it and deal with the fall out later. But, the sooner you communicate about a mistake on your part, the better your customers will respond. Explain the problem in a truthful manner, while offering an explanation for what happened and why, what you’re doing to solve the problem and prevent it from happening again in the future, and offer a resolution your customers can live with. You want your customers to understand that you’re about taking action – not that you’re hiding from your mistakes.

In 2013, Target suffered a database hack that left millions of customers’ personal and financial data exposed. The company’s CEO at the time, Greg Steinhafel resigned in the aftermath – but not before a forensics team was hired to investigate how the hack was achieved. Once it was determined malware had ben installed on the system, it was removed, and the public was notified of the breach. In response, the company invested $100 million in upgrading POS technology, after the decline in sales because of the breach lead to employee layoffs. Ultimately, Target offered free identify theft protection to customers in an effort to restore customer faith, and agreed to settle a $39 million dollar lawsuit with several U.S. banks as a result of the breach.

Listen

Listen to what your customers have to say. 64% of customers say sales people ignore them, and 66% say they have to ask for the same information repeatedly. When customers don’t feel heard, they’re going to respond with complaints, and worse, possibly leave your business for the competition. But, when a customer feels like someone is listening to what they have to say and doing their best to take their thoughts into account, they’re much more likely to stick around.

Be Responsive and Timely

Respond to customer emails and phone calls as quickly and efficiently as possible. And where social media is concerned, 32% of customers expect a response within half an hour, while 42% expect a response within an hour. 57% expect the same response time even outside of normal business hours. Act fast, or risk upsetting customers.

Inform Customers of Change

If something is changing within your company, be it good or bad, tell your customers in a timely manner. They’ll learn to trust you and what you have to say because you’ll make it clear that you value them enough to keep them informed.

Remember, Communication is a Two-Way Street

When a conversation is one-sided, it loses value, and becomes lost in the sea of millions of other conversations taking place at any given time on the Internet. Not only should you be listening to what you customers have to say – you should respond to it and allow them to engage with you. Let them know what you, or your company is doing to improve their experience now, and in the future.

Say Thank You

One of the easiest ways to show appreciation for your customers is with a simple thank you, or other gesture of gratitude. When customers know you appreciate their business, it helps keep them engaged in the future. Say thank you with a discount code for a future order, a free month of service, or even a handwritten thank you note sent with their order.

Why Transparency Matters

Being completely transparent with your customers helps you in three key areas:

  • Trust: Gaining customer trust is paramount to the relationship. When buyers make a purchase from you, they want to know they’re making a choice that aligns with their goals, and personal or charitable interest. You cannot buy trust – you must earn it. To earn that trust, you have to make sure customers understand exactly what it is they are buying, by providing that information up front, and means being honest at every opportunity.
  • Loyalty: Brand loyalty can be difficult to earn, but by establishing a connection with your customers, and doing things to empower your customers whenever possible, you can foster that sense of loyalty. Customers who know they’re doing business with a company that is completely transparent about everything from manufacturing practices to marketing, will naturally become more loyal to them. Take for instance, Lush Cosmetics – a global brand of handmade, all natural bath and product products. They’ve built their brand around core values customers love – ethical sourcing ingredients to protect animals and the environment, minimal packaging, and many vegan products. They also have products specifically designed to support charities in line with those values.
  • Empowerment: With the Internet, customers are now more empowered with their purchasing decisions than ever before. There’s no longer a limited number of big brands to work with, but a seemingly endless array of small businesses to choose from, all just a search and a click away. No longer are they limited by what’s available in their local area – they can order products and services from across the globe, should they see fit. We are in the age of the customer, where their journey is taking place more frequently without communicating with another human. In fact, by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship without human interaction.

Transparency is often feared because of the open and honest stance it requires. But, customers are shouting about what they want – and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll get passed up in favor of the competition. Allow your customers to make better choices, and you’ll be greatly rewarded.

If you have any recent experience building relationships with transparency, please share about it in the comments section below.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Categories
Social Media

Debunking Common Social Media Myths

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools for businesses of all sizes. It’s a vital piece of the relationship building equation, and can when done well, can increase profits. After all, the numbers are quite impressive: Internet users have an average of 5.54 social media accounts, and 1 million active new mobile social users are added every day. Social media has seen an increase of 176 million users since last year.

But, simply having a social media profile isn’t enough. There must be a strategy behind all social activity, and for it to achieve your goals, you must have realistic expectations about what it can do for you.

Regardless of what you hope to accomplish with social, it’s not something you can just jump into. Plan to be there, every day for years to come, with valuable content to help you build and engage your audience. If you don’t go into it with this in mind, you’ll likely set yourself up for failure, which means you’ll invest less resources in social – doing your business a great disservice.

One major hurdle for many business owners is the sheer amount of misinformation out there about social media.

 

Myth 1: You Have to Be Everywhere

Truth: With all the social media networks out there to choose from, it’s easy to think you can maximize your efforts by having a profile everywhere. You are far better served by having a high quality presence on a few networks where your customers are, than you are by having a spotty presence everywhere.

How can you tell which networks you should be on, and which ones will be most worth your time? Unfortunately, there’s no clear-cut formula that works for all businesses across the board, but taking the time to ask some questions about each network can help you get the right answer.

 

  1. What do the network’s users look like?
  2. Who’s most likely to use the network over time?
  3. Are the users similar to your potential customers? If not, do they have the potential to influence your potential customers?
  4. What types of content are the users most likely to share?
  5. How does the content get exposed to other users on the network?
  6. Can your business develop new types of content that allow you to leverage the popularity of a new social network?
  7. What time and resource investment will be required to actively participate in this network?
  8. Do you expect to see a good return on investment?

 

If the network doesn’t have a decent size audience that matches your own, and most of your audience won’t be there over time, then it may not be worth the investment. If your customers aren’t there as users, there’s no point in spending your resources there, when you could put them toward another network that reaches your audience better. For example, Pinterest’s audience is 85% female, so if you have a predominantly male audience, it may not be a good option. However, because those females may have the power to influence the males in their lives, it could be worth it.

Think about what’s popular among the site’s users and if your content, services, or products can align with the trends there. Browse the site ahead of time to see if there’s anywhere you can fit in. Consider how the content is exposed to others on the network, because issues like Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm means only a small percentage of your audience sees what you post, but on Pinterest, everything is placed chronologically, starting at the top again when it is repined.

Be creative about the ways you can create content to leverage additional networks, like YouTube. You don’t have to have expensive video equipment to create a presence there. If you have a PowerPoint presentation you can create a voiceover for, or anything you can screencast and narrate, you can post videos there in no time.

Consider how much time you’ll have to invest in each network you wish to join, and whether or not it is practical for you. It’s easy to spread too thin, especially if you’re a small business and dong most of the work yourself.

If you can’t see anything positive coming out of the network – increasing brand awareness, establishing thought leadership, increasing inbound leads – then it’s time to scrap the idea and move onto another network.

In 2014, a new social media network, Ello, hit the scene as a result of frustration with current options. Many brands jumped on board in the beginning, including Netflix, AdWeek, Ancestry, Business Insider, and Electrolux. But, for whatever reason, the network flopped, and the company pivoted to a social network for creators to share their wares, sell, and get hired.

Just because something’s there, doesn’t mean you should jump on the ship.

 

Myth 2: I Can Get Away with Posting the Same Update on All Social Networks

Truth: While it may tempting to craft a single post and share it on all your social platforms to save time, the reality is that all platforms are different, and it’s important to understand what makes them different, and adjust the content accordingly. To be successful on social media, use the differences to your benefit.

If you want to see a brand rocking social media, look no further than General Electric. The brand is more than 100 years old, and has received a number of awards for their social strategy. They make adjustments to their content for each network, and it shows.

 

Myth 3: Selling on Social is as Simple as Pitching My Products or Services

Truth: People aren’t on social media to be inundated with constant sales pitches. As part of your community, they want to feel valued. You accomplish this by creating a mix of content that educates and inspires them, rather than hard sells them. Though this isn’t a hard and fast rule, try to stick to the 80/20 rule of social media, where only 20% of your content is promotional content about your brand.

 

Myth 4: Social Media is Free

Truth: Yes, the accounts themselves are free. But, your time and resources you spend on research, strategy, content creation, engagement, and analytics is not. Plus, if you’re looking to use any of the platforms paid advertising tools to gain traction and build an audience, you’ll be spending money there, too. Remember, time is money.

 

Myth 5: You Can’t Measure Social Media Results

Truth: It may be difficult to determine how to measure it and what metrics to use, but you can definitely measure the results. Take a look at things like likes, comments, responses, and shares, but the real value lies in your conversions. For instance, if 1,000 people saw your Facebook post about your new Kickstarter campaign, and 100 of them donated, then your 10% conversion rate tells you how successful your social campaign was.

 

Myth 6: More Followers = More Success

Truth: It’s easy to judge your success by the number of fans and followers you have, but the reality is this number has no direct bearing on how successful your social strategy is. If your community is small, you can be wildly successful if you’re making connections and turning to them into clients or loyal customers.

It’s possible to buy followers to inflate your numbers. Most of the time, these are not active accounts, and they certainly aren’t going to be targeted to match your ideal customer. There’s no point in having big numbers if those numbers won’t translate to paying customers in the future.

When you provide value and focus on engaging the audience you do have, it will naturally grow with time.

 

Myth 7: My Audience Will Come to Me

Truth: You’ll hear: “Create good quality content and the rest will follow.” But, without initial promotion of that content to get it in front of the eyes you want to see it, it likely won’t go anywhere. Once people see it, they’ll share and distribute it on their own, but you have to start that with an initial push.

 

Myth 8: I Must Use #AllTheHashtags

Truth: Hashtags are used to join common conversations. You should have a hashtag for an event like a Twitter party, but don’t expect it to become a trending topic. Hashtags should be used to make social media more user-friendly for those following it – not a way to blow all your marketing goals out of the water.

Are you surprised to see any of these myths debunked? How will this affect your social strategy from here on out? Are there other myths you’ve disproven along your social journey?

 

Categories
Content Marketing Outreach

Media Research and Your Content Marketing Strategy

If you want to be successful in your online marketing ventures, having a well-documented content strategy is critical. To create a winning strategy, however, you must not only know your audience, but you must also have a plan for content distribution to get the whole thing moving. According to the B2C Content Marketing 2016: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America report, 44% of marketers have an undocumented strategy, and 37% have a documented one. The remaining 20% either don’t have one or unsure of its status. But, perhaps what’s even more surprising is that only 10% of B2C marketers consider their strategy “very effective.”

Creating Your Content Marketing Strategy

Begin with an audit of your current content

Check to see if it is outdated, redundant, or contains only trivial information. Take an inventory of everything – all pieces of content you have across all channels. List it all out in a spreadsheet, so it’s easier for you to see what to keep, what to scrap, and what to update. Look at your inventory to see what content is working, and what isn’t. This way, you can craft a strategy focusing on the kind of content you know is working for your audience.

For example, if you find that you’ve published 10 pieces of quality content on subject, it may be worthwhile to compile those into a single larger piece of content, and distribute it as a comprehensive guide. It could be a valuable lead magnet.

Next, move into content organization

Without proper organization, it’ll be harder for your audience to find what they’re looking for, and harder for you to keep up with what you’ve done compared to what you want to do. Think about blog categories and tags and make sure all current and future content are built with those in mind. You’ll end up with a catalog of content that’s easy for your audience to read through and get to right what they want.

Now, decide who on your team is responsible for what

Which team members are responsible for the various stages of content creation? Who’s going to produce the content? Who’s going to distribute it? Who’s going to maintain it? Who’s going to create, maintain, and communicate the standards you develop to everyone else on your team? This is important for the creation of new content, but is essential for any edits to existing content, so that everyone involved stays on the same page throughout the process.

Setup a plan for digital assessment management, or DAM

While there are standalone DAM systems that offer more than a cloud-based storage service like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive, what matters here is you have a central place to store and retrieve all your digital assets, so that everyone on the team can work from the same point. Store your videos, images, text, and everything here.

Develop your brand guidelines

This will ensure all content is spoken in a consistent voice, and over time help your audience to identify the content as your own simply because of how it sounds. Work to create a brand style guide with style rules, image guidelines, and other details to help all content remain consistent regardless of who actually produces it. If you’ll have any print work, be sure this brand guide also includes layout specifications, rules for printers, including how to choose paper, and more.

Build a customer journey map

This helps you explore the various ways your customers will interact with your brand, on your website and across other channels. Plotting this journey ahead of time, to the best of your ability, will ensure you’re brainstorming content that works – in terms of what works, the formats to use, and what channels to use for distribution.

Create customer personas

These are detailed looks and who your ideal customers are – filled with things like demographic information, the problems they’re facing, why and how your products or services will help address those problems, and more. The more detail, the better. Once you have personas developed, all you have to do is craft the content as if you were speaking directly to one or more of those personas. This is the “who” of your content marketing strategy.

Where Media Research Fits In

Media research is an often overlooked part of content strategy. This essential steps helps you determine how and where to distribute and promote your content before it is created. This type of research tells you who you’re writing the content for, but also how you’ll end up getting earned and paid media from it. Media research gives you the “where”, while your content gives you the “what”.

Standing Out from the Competition

It’s also important to take a look at what your competition is doing, so you can do it differently, and better. The competitive analysis stage gives you the “why.” Why craft a piece of content this way as opposed to that way? When you see the competition offering valuable information that your audience needs hasn’t gained traction, think outside the box as to how to make your approach different from what’s already there.

If you have a content surplus, but you’ve not done your due diligence on media research beforehand, you could end up with content that just doesn’t go where you need it in order to create traction with your audience. Using the buyer personas you created as part of your marketing strategy can help, because you can see where they’re spending time online, and how you can infiltrate your way into those networks and publications. It’s through that step that you can build and nurture relationships with journalists, bloggers, and other influencers in your niche to spread your message, or create a paid media relationship.

When opting to go into paid media, choose your partners with care. Research partners who can amplify your content without exceeding your budget. If you’re not spending enough time exploring your options where paid and earned media are considered, you’re missing opportunity. If you research ahead of time and know exactly where you’re going to invest resources, you can get more from your key performance indicators (KPI).

Getting Influencers and Earned Media

There are a number of tools available to help you in identifying the most popular publishers and influences in your niche, including: Content Marketer, BuzzSumo, and Meltwater. Don’t discount the smaller more niche publications, because these have a chance of providing high conversions. Ignoring research and automatically going for the big dogs everyone knows about can cause you to miss golden nuggets.

Reaching out to influencers means showing an interest in their work and taking the time to see what has worked well for them. As you reach out, you can genuinely compliment them and provide a new angle for the hottest topic they’ve covered. Whatever you do, make the content easy to share on social networks – masterful social media development tactics like pre-writing social posts or creating embeddable graphics will make your content easier to share by others. The easier is is to share, the more likely influencers will do it for you.

Go beyond looking for the best influencers and media outlets for your audience. Take the time to learn what they’re doing and invest in developing a strategic relationship with them. Having this figured out before you invest a lot of time and effort in the content itself will ensure your best work doesn’t fade into the abyss.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Do you have any good ideas about creating a content marketing strategy?  If so, please share ’em in the comment section below.

Categories
Digital Marketing SEO

Google AMP: What It Means For You

 

The Accelerated Mobile Pages, or Google AMP, is an open-source project designed to increase the speed at which pages load on mobile devices. Launched in February 2016, studies show websites that implement the AMP technology load anywhere between 15% to 85% faster than the same non-AMP version. Many publishers, including BBC and BuzzFeed are already using it. Though initially aimed only at news stories from online publishers, ecommerce providers like eBay are also using it. If your website can benefit from the AMP carousel style results, it’s worth considering.

How Does It Work?

By stripping down the website’s code to a restricted version of HTML, and disallowing the use of most JavaScript, the file sizes are smaller, which means they load faster. Sounds kind of boring, right? There’s a special AMP JS library that can be used to add rich content to the website, so most people won’t miss much.

But, what really helps speed things up is the fact that Google hosts a cached version these websites on their own servers, so when a user clicks your AMP site from the search engine results page, they’re getting content directly from Google servers.

What It Means for Designers and Developers

AMP means designers and developers need to shift to factor it into their mobile web design. Unless you have a good grasp on coding, it can be difficult to implement. Under the AMP protocol:

  • Only asynchronous scripts are allowed
  • All resources are sized statically
  • Extension mechanisms don’t block rendering
  • All CSS is inline and size-bound
  • All third-party JavaScript is removed from the critical path
  • Resource loading is prioritized
  • Web fonts are optimized
  • Style calculations are minimized
  • Documents are pre-rendered with the preconnect API, only downloading resources above the fold. Resources that may use a lot of CPU power aren’t downloaded.

Designers are advised to design for the user experience first, regardless of whether or not that means it’s harder for the developer to implement. Place priority on anything that improves the user experience, but compromise when necessary. Just because it can be made fast doesn’t mean it will translate to a positive user experience. Focus on your design on the web browsers of today, instead of trying to get ahead and designing for a future, faster, browser.

For designers and developers who want to dig in and get their feet wet, there are plenty of tutorials and templates on the AMP project website. For the do-it-yourself designers, there’s a WordPress plugin that can assist with proper implementation, but it’s worth noting that custom styling, widget, and side bar items won’t carry over, and and everything must be canonicalized correctly to avoid duplicate content issues.

What It Means for Consumers and Publishers

The entire aim of the AMP project is to improve the mobile user experience. Data from Kissmetrics shows 47% of consumers expect a webpage to load within two seconds, and 40% of users will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. Mobile users expect a similar experience from a desktop on their smartphones and tablets. If your website’s page response time is delayed by just one second, your conversion rate can decrease by 7%. If you’re an e-commerce site that earns $25,000/day, that translates to a $625,000 annual loss in revenue.

AMP removes the clutter of full-page ads, along with the annoyance of slow loading times and full-page ads. And, because the website files are ultimately smaller, they’ll save you money in data use.

Wait, what? No ads? How is ad revenue based publisher supposed to make it in the days of AMP design? Fortunately for them, there’s an AMP for Ads program that’s designed to allow publishers to create compliant ads for AMP sites, translating to faster ad load time, too. Mobile users often scroll faster than standard web pages can even load the ads, which is a major issue for marketers.

Data from PageFair indicates there are 198 million active ad block users around the world, and it grew by 41% globally between 2014 and 2015. Perhaps what’s even more depressing for marketers is the average click through rate for display ads across all formats and placements is a dismal 0.06%. Adding faster, relevant ads to the AMP experience may help combat the blindness issue for marketers, increasing the potential for ad-based revenue.

Since Google serves a cached version of the site, when a user shares the AMP version, it’s going to point to Google’s version, rather than the live version of the site, which could negatively affect publisher traffic.

But What About Search Engine Optimization?

If you’re worried about AMP and your SEO efforts, Richard Gingras, Google’s senior director of news and products has said, “[sites that adopt AMP won’t] get a massive boost in search ranking. Though because speed matters, he also said, “If we had two articles that from a signaling perspective scored the same in all other characteristics but for speed, then yes, we will give an emphasis to the one with speed because that is what users find compelling.”

Is Google AMP good, or bad? Ultimately, it’s a good thing because user experience is a major part of what drives the online economy. But, it comes with its share of drawbacks for marketers and developers. Load time isn’t a direct ranking factor, and creating an AMP compliant website isn’t just as simple as flipping a switch.

Because the technology is fairly new, and we’ll likely see bugs being ironed out for quite sometime, it’s too soon to say whether or not AMP really is the future of the mobile web. Yes, there is the potential for major implications for the mobile web, but we won’t know for sure until we see how widely adopted it becomes. Not everything Google develops becomes an instant hit, as evidenced by Google+ accounts and the authorship markup. It’s always possible it too, will flop, but only time will tell.

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Do you have any stories to tell about your personal experience using Google AMP?  If so, please share ’em in the comments section below.

Categories
SEO

The 4 Most Important Points to Consider When Selecting an SEO Company

Categories
SMG News

Clutch Ranks Sachs Marketing Group #1 Digital Agency For Los Angeles

 

Clutch.co, a leading online directory of digital marketing firms has given Sachs Marketing Group the honor of being ranked the #1 leader for Los Angeles digital marketing agencies.  Below is a chart displaying industry leaders based on their ability to deliver quality work and their focus with which to do so:

 

Sachs Marketing Group leads the pack based on client satisfaction, positive reviews, market presence and outstanding digital design and marketing with all ratings of 8.00 or above:

 

Thanks again to our friends at Clutch.co for their support! You can read the full report at Clutch.Co

 

 

Categories
SMG News

CEO Eric Sachs Guest Lectures On Digital Marketing At CLU

Our CEO and Director of Business Development, Eric Sachs, had the pleasure of guest lecturing at California Lutheran University this week. A guest lecturer with the Marketing department at CLU, Eric regularly speaks about harnessing the power of SEO and social networking to grow businesses online. Beyond discussing the value of digital marketing during the lecture, Mr. Sachs enjoys taking time for Q&A with students.

Eric regularly guest lectures at California Lutheran University as well as various summits and trade shows.
Learn more about Eric here.

Categories
SMG News

Clutch Spotlights CEO Eric Sachs

Clutch, a leading reviewer of professional services firms, took the time to sit down with our CEO and Director of Business Development, Eric Sachs, to discuss how Sachs Marketing Group began, what differentiates us, and what is in store for the coming years. Five key questions that Eric answers in the dialogue include:

  • Can you describe the history and evolution of Sachs Marketing?
  • When you sit down with a potential client, how do you define goals in a reasonable way, without overpromising, but also establishing benchmarks?
  • Do you have any specific requirements for a potential client? Are you looking for any kind of time commitment, or minimum budget?
  • What makes Sachs Marketing stand out?
  • What will Sachs Marketing look like in 2020?

Interested in hearing the answers and learning more on what Sachs Marketing Group is all about? You can read the full interview here. We are grateful to the Clutch team for taking the time to spotlight Eric and what we do here at SMG. Thanks, Clutch!

Categories
SEO

SEO In 2016

The digital marketing and SEO landscapes are ones that constantly fluctuate, and it is for this reason that marketers and SEOs must keep up-to-date on the current trends and changes within the industry. As SEO has continued to evolve over the past few years, we’ve seen the algorithms move toward “white hat” methods and reward sites that do good work – work that is relevant for the search queries and that can provide the most pertinent and appropriate content to the person searching.

We have seen SEO move toward more content-driven strategies, focused upon providing the client or the customer with interactive and on-topic information. SEO has begun to rely much more on social signals, and social media has become a key part of any strong search-based strategy. Looking forward to the new year, what will 2016 bring for search engine optimization? Read on for a few predictions of what may come into play in 2016:

  • Content-driven, rather than keyword-driven strategy: It’s not all about keywords anymore when it comes to SEO. Content is still king, and users are most interested in blog content, video content, and infographic content that provides valuable information for them. We no longer have to focus solely on keywords to drive the most relevant traffic. As search algorithms have developed, relevant traffic will hit the site if the content is there and optimization is ideal.
  • User experience is key: Along with providing valuable and engaging content, we want to ensure that the experience is strong. Information should be share-worthy and quickly digested by the reader. Google and other search engines want to ensure that the person searching gets the right results within the first few pages. Providing relevant content will get your user the experience they are looking for.
  • Mobile and tablet optimization: Mobile and tablet-based search has been growing exponentially over the past few years. Ensuring your site is optimized for mobile is critical. Mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic in 2015, indicating that mobile will be central to 2016’s optimal SEO strategy. Desktop-focused SEO will need to make some room for mobile-focused SEO.
  • Social media: While social media has begun helping SEO efforts and plays an indirect role, social signals will likely play a much larger part in 2016. Search engine algorithms are working to begin integrating social into the equation; for this reason, a strong social media presence will be more necessary than ever in the new year. Social media also provides consumers with information that affects how they make decisions.
  • Local SEO: For local businesses, local SEO will likely become an even bigger deal than it was in 2015. We expect to see more changes to local SEO – as we’ve already seen with the local pack at the top of Google searches and the consumers’ shift toward local purchasing.
  • Voice search: While this has not yet played a huge part in SEO strategy, the rise of voice search may begin to really shake up the best practices of search engine optimization. Voice search is usually based on the questions of “who, what, how, when, and where,” which may need to be taken into account as a part of SEO strategy if voice continues to grow.

What do you think of these predictions? Are there any trends that you are excited about?

 

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