On-page search engine optimization (SEO) and web accessibility are two crucial components of a successful website. But what many people don’t realize is that web accessibility and SEO have a lot more in common than you might think. Both aim to make websites more usable and understandable, whether for human users or search engines. By making your web pages accessible to everyone, you’re also boosting your chances of being found on search engines. Below, we will examine how web accessibility and SEO work hand in hand when it comes to:
A page title is a short, concise name of a web page. It appears in the HTML code as a <title> tag and is usually visible at the top of the user’s browser bar. Page titles help improve web accessibility and SEO by determining the content of a page.
How Do Meaningful Page Titles Help Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility requires page titles that provide a brief and accurate description of the page’s content. For example, Success Criterion 2.4.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 says that users should be able to quickly understand the page’s purpose without reading the content.
The title tag should be concise and should be at most 60 characters. Short and snappy page titles provide a better user experience, especially for users with a screen reader that hear content. The title should also be unique to each page on a website, and it should be relevant to the content. Good page titles help users identify content quickly and reliably.
How Does a Meaningful Title Tag Help SEO?
A page’s <title> tag is a clickable link displayed on a search engine’s results page. The information gathered from a page’s title determines its relevance to a user’s search query and placement within their search results. After all, web accessibility and SEO are about getting relevant content to users.
For example, suppose you were to use the search query “web accessibility” and “SEO.” In that case, the results will include titles with the exact terms included. If your <title> matches the content of your page, it is more likely to be found in search engine results and keep users engaged.
2. Headings
Headings, or <h> tags, give structure and hierarchy to the content on a web page. They appear more prominent than other text through font size or weight, making scanning and navigating the page more accessible for users.
How Do Headings Help Web Accessibility?
UHeadings help users navigate and understand the content quickly. They are typically formatted using HTML code, ranging from the main title, <h1>, to <h6> subheadings within the content. Each heading level serves a specific purpose in organizing the content. According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Success Criterion 1.3.1, it is essential to use headings in a logical and sequential order. Starting with the <h1> heading and using subsequent headings in order, like so:
<h1>Main heading</h1>
<h2>Section heading</h2>
<h3>Subsection heading</h3>
<h4>Sub-subsection heading</h4>
By formatting the heading correctly, individuals with disabilities can navigate content logically and meaningfully.
How Do Headings Help SEO?
In addition to accessibility, headings are also critical for SEO, as they help search engines understand the content of a page. Search engines use headers to determine the relevance to a person’s search based on the keywords used and the significance of the content to their search.
3. Lists
As you know, lists containing text, images, and multimedia content can be ordered or random. However, using lists on a website can make the content more organized and scannable, helping to improve the user’s experience. But what you might not realize is that for the benefits of web accessibility and SEO.
How Do Lists Help Web Accessibility?
Lists can be a valuable tool for web accessibility because they help users navigate content logically and efficiently. For example, sight users will recognize lists with indentations or icons such as bullets or numbers. However, lists must be appropriately marked up within the website’s code to stand out from other content.
List markups define a group of related items or information presented in a particular order. For instance, <ul> is used for unorganized lists, <ol> for ordered lists, and <dl> for definition lists. By defining and using list markups correctly, your website will meet several WCAG success criteria, including:
Success Criterion 1.3.1: Information and Relationships – Lists help to organize information and create relationships between related items.
Success Criterion 2.4.3: Focus Order – Lists help to create a logical reading order, which is essential for users who rely on keyboard navigation.
How Do Lists Help SEO?
Search engines crawl a website’s content using complex algorithms to determine the relevancy and quality of a user’s query. Using lists can highlight the content’s critical points and make it easier for the algorithm to identify them.
Moreover, lists can help users navigate content logically and efficiently, improving the user’s experience. When users have a positive experience on a website, they are more likely to stay longer, share the content, and come back. This can significantly increase the overall traffic and engagement on the website, improving its ranking on SERPs.
4. Descriptive links
Interlinking content is an integral part of our customer journey. Being descriptive in the text you use to link to a new page is helpful for the user’s experience. It’s also beneficial for web accessibility and SEO.
How Do Descriptive Links Help Web Accessibility?
Descriptive links are hyperlinks that help users understand the link’s destination or purpose before they click. Rather than using vague or generic terms like “click here” or “read more,” descriptive links provide context for users and search engines. A screen reader user might navigate through all the links on a page to find where they want to go. Being descriptive helps them find what they’re looking for more easily.
Descriptive links also help meet essential web accessibility guidelines. For instance, WCAG 2.4.4 requires a descriptive title to provide the link’s destination context. Additionally, WCAG 2.4.9 states a process or technique should be available to identify each link’s purpose from the link text alone.
How Do Descriptive Links Help SEO?
Descriptive text, or anchor text, as SEO professionals call it, helps search engines understand the content and purpose of a link. However, when links use generic or vague text, search engines cannot accurately categorize the page and rank it appropriately in search results.
Using descriptive links that include keywords related to the page’s content can help search engines understand the purpose and context of their pages—as a result, leading to higher search rankings and visibility.
5. Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are a navigation aid that appears at the top of a page and shows a user’s path to the current page. The name “breadcrumbs” comes from the story of Hansel and Gretel, where the characters leave a trail of breadcrumbs to help them find their way back home. Similarly, website breadcrumbs help users navigate to the homepage or higher-level pages.
Breadcrumbs typically appear as a horizontal menu bar showing the user’s website location. For instance, a breadcrumb trail might look like this:
Home > Category > Subcategory > Product
How Do Breadcrumbs Help Web Accessibility?
Breadcrumbs provide clear and consistent navigation to help users find necessary information, as outlined in WCAG 2.4:8: Location. They help to improve the user experience for everyone. But are particularly helpful for people with disabilities.
For example, they help people with memory problems or low attention span from becoming confused as they flow through pages. They also help screen reader users go back through a set of grouped pages much quicker.
How Do Breadcrumbs Help SEO?
Breadcrumbs can also help with SEO by providing additional contextual information to search engines. For example, breadcrumbs help search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of a website, allowing them to index and rank pages.
When implementing breadcrumbs for SEO purposes, it’s important to use structured data to help search engines understand the breadcrumb structure. Structured data is a standardized format that allows search engines to understand the content and design of a website.
6. Alternative Text for Images
When most web developers or digital marketers think of the overlap between accessibility and SEO, alternative text is usually one of the first elements that come to mind. Alternative text or alt text is an HTML attribute value used to describe an image. It’s beneficial for users with visual impairments that rely on screen readers. Screen readers read the alternative text, describing the image to the user and providing context they might have missed otherwise.
How Does Alternative Text Help Web Accessibility?
Alternative text is crucial in web accessibility because it provides a non-sighted visitor with the same experiences as a sighted visitor. Therefore, it should be accurate, clear, and provide meaningful information.
All non-text content is required by WCAG 1.1.1, “Non-text Content,” to have a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose. However, there are exceptions for non-text content that is pure decoration, only for visual formatting or is not present to users. In that case, alt text is not required. However, images need to be implemented in a way that assistive technologies can ignore.
How Does Alternative Text Help SEO?
Search engines recognize the information in alt attributes. While it’s not a significant ranking signal, it does contribute. After all, it adds more context to your page’s content, especially if you want the images on your website to appear high in Google Image searches.
Google’s Image Publishing Guidelines state, “alt text along with computer vision algorithms and the contents of the page to understand the subject matter of the image.” However, don’t feel tempted to stuff your keywords into alt text. This is bad practice for both accessibility and SEO.
7. Audio and Video Transcriptions
In the same way, alternative text for non-text content opens up visual content. Transcripts and captions do the same for audio and video content. They capture the spoken words, sounds, and other audio elements and transcribe them into text format. The text can make the content accessible to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or prefer to read instead of listen.
How Do Audio and Video Transcriptions Help Web Accessibility?
Users who are deaf and hard of hearing rely on accurate video and audio transcriptions to access any non-visual content in video or audio format. By providing transcriptions, you can ensure that all visitors to your website can access and understand the content you present.
If you use audio or video content on your website, adding captions to the video or transcribing the content helps you meet these success criteria in WCAG 2.1, including:
Although search engines are getting smarter, they are not listening to your videos and indexing what’s said, so they rely on the surrounding text to understand the content. By providing accurate transcriptions, you provide search engines with a complete understanding of the content in your audio and video files, which can help boost your website’s SEO. When videos have engaging and exciting content, providing a transcription on the same page or within the video is critical.
In Summary
Despite being separate disciplines, many of the same practices we use in web accessibility also open the doors for search engines. By working on one, we enhance the other. After all, a better user experience for your visitors also offers a better understanding to search crawlers.
That being said, If you’d like to talk further about yourweb accessibility initiative, schedule a complimentary ADA Strategy Briefing today with the experts at 216digital. We will help you take the steps towards web accessibility on your terms by developing a strategy to integrate WCAG 2.1 compliance into your development roadmap as part of the development process.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has been a drastic agent of change across the globe. It’s forced us to adapt how we live and work to the new pandemic environment.
If things go right and we flatten the coronavirus curve, we could be social distancing for quite a while. Already, this has put many small businesses in a difficult position, especially those that rely on in-store purchases.
It’s important to work together during this time. So, to help other small businesses, we’re sharing this guide to digital marketing during COVID-19. By improving your business’ presence on the internet, not only can you endure the pandemic, but build the foundation for success when it ends.
In 2017, Cyber Monday shoppers raked in a record-breaking $6.59 billion dollars. It was recorded as the largest online shopping day ever with sales increasing 16.8% over the year prior. It even topped Black Friday online sales by $1.5 billion, if you can believe it. With numbers climbing each year, it will be interesting to see what sales 2018 bring.
Cyber Monday is the online equivalent to Black Friday shopping, without all of the chaos and waiting in line! It was birthed out of the ever-growing digital age, where millions of consumers have chosen to skip the 3 AM alarm and avoid the unruly mobs at major retail stores. Now with your computer, mobile phone or tablet, you can check out your favorite retail spots at your own convenience. The savings are usually just as good and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home. This means no more cutting into your holiday and interrupting time with your friends and family.
Capitalize on Cyber Monday
If you are looking to take advantage of this growing trend, it is important to keep these tips in mind. Many people believe that most Cyber Monday shoppers already know what they want and are just waiting for sales to begin. This is not always the case. While it is common that most Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers form a game plan for where they are shopping, most consumers are visually driven. Don’t underestimate the ability to turn heads and draw attention, even on your website. Suggestive marketing and product placement work just as well in person as they do online, so keep cross-selling and suggestive selling products that are associated with one another. Dedicate an entire section to related products.
Start your content campaign by optimizing your products. SEO is a crucial tool to have all year, not just during this weekend. Doing your keyword research is a habit that never goes out of style, especially right before sales are expected to spike. Content and descriptions rich with SEO keywords will help your products be easily discoverable by the search engines. Be sure to include Black Friday/ Cyber Monday related keywords in your content and use wording that creates a sense of urgency to your consumers, such as “for a limited time only” or “while supplies last.”
Also, plan a schedule for your sales to ensure the correct discounts are applied at the appropriate times. Remember it is important to be competitive to stand out among the competition. Consumers are looking for a minimum of 20% off the original price, but Thanksgiving weekend is the time to go big or go home. You need to get yourself noticed among the thousands of competitors out there.
Social media is also a great way to capitalize on traffic. Not only is it a great way to gain exposure, but social media allows users to engage with your product. Your brand will get more visibility and others can engage with items, even users who aren’t shopping. This is extremely important as these are the users that come back in the future. Much of social media engagement depends on getting your name out there and developing a following.
The Amazon Myth
One thing to keep in mind is sales don’t always begin in the Amazon funnel. It is important to keep your Amazon storefront optimized accordingly, but don’t neglect regular search or PPC campaigns. Contrary to popular belief, most searches don’t begin with Amazon. A research study showed that 70% of searches begin as a query or a phrase in a search engine. If you are one of the consumers who aren’t sure what they want specifically or where to even find it, you would probably want to avoid Amazon initially. You would need to do your research first. Keywords that use phrases like “near me” are a great way to capitalize on that search. It makes more sense to ask a search engine than it does to start browsing blindly through products.
Often times the funnel does direct you towards Amazon if your products are optimized correctly. In optimizing your products for SEO, you actually have the opportunity to capture both types of search queries by using similar keywords. Don’t neglect your organic optimization by just focusing on Amazon when you are trying to gain visibility. It is better to be safe and plan for both than to miss a channel entirely.
Convenience Means Conversions
The beauty of online shopping is the ease of the transaction. Keep all the technical aspects of your page optimized to encourage a positive user experience. Site speed is crucial, especially during the chaos of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If your site speed is slow or appears to have a lag time, your customers may take their business to one of your many competitors. Timing is everything, especially this weekend. If you can ensure a smooth transaction during heavy traffic, it is much more likely that users will remember this experience. Always leave an impression to keep them coming back, even once the holidays pass.
Our brains are handling a lot right now. Processing work, making plans for the weekend, reminding you to breathe. You clearly have a lot on your plate. When it comes to focus and cognitive thinking, however, as humans we operate a bit differently. The human brain is not an automated processor meant to produce output multiple times a minute. Automated problem solving vs. logic and reasoning are what separate man from machine. We prefer to take on one small task at a time, solve it, process what we learned and move on to the next. The more practical the process, the easier it is for us. It is much more efficient than juggling multiple balls in the air at once. Keep it simple.
Websites and eCommerce stores are no different. Simplistic design and rational navigation will always crank out the most conversions because these factors make sense to our brains. The structure is tailored towards the user. It helps define the overall experience for them and that is a crucial ranking factor with Google. Believe me, they will notice.
Guiding visitors towards the conversion funnel isn’t tricky marketing or a psychological sales trigger. It is just common sense. In fact, most users will expect some sort of assistance leading them through the process, especially the checkout. ECommerce developers know this, which is why the structure or layout of a site is one of many factors in the world of user experience or UX as it is commonly called.
What Makes Up User Experience
At its core, user experience (UX) is simply making the experience of the user, a pleasant one. That’s you. Whether you realize it or not, the structure, the placement, the ease of checkout and any other things related to the function of the site is designed for you. Let’s break down UX to some of its core features and discuss how a website can work with you to meet your goals. There are multiple factors that help a site function and most importantly, help you succeed. Some of the most common features that assist the user conversions include:
The site’s navigation
The site’s visual design
The site’s technical optimization
The site’s content
Here’s how each of these features makes your life easier and serve a purpose on a website.
Findability
When navigating a site, the easier it is to find what you are looking for, the better. Part of the reason is the conversion process. If you are looking to purchase something or submit a form, all signs should point to this. Users should not have to use a search toolbar to see products or checkout. Most eventually will get bored or frustrated and leave the page. This can lead to an ever-climbing bounce rate as you find more and more users navigating away. Make sure your menu or toolbar is practical and the placement of the pages makes sense. A website with a sensible layout can lead to maximum conversions.
Visibility
A site should absolutely be relatable and appealing. The aesthetic design should pull users and make them want to stay. The main toolbar should be eye-catching and draw the user to it. The best placement for the main navigation center is in the header or above the fold of the page. Most successful sites have their main features in this area, such as the blog, the cart or main login area.
It is often said “less is more” and the same is true of a website layout. In the digital age, the content should be compact and precise. Avoid lengthy paragraphs that would prevent a user from reading the entire post and break up information into more manageable pieces. Use bullets, logos, shorter lines and visual aids to draw the reader through the content. Also, be sure to include interactive buttons, hyperlinks or images that will keep your users stimulated. If it looks pretty, they are going to want to click on it.
Usability
A website has many visitors but they aren’t always human users. It is crucial to remember the robots are watching too. For a site to function properly, there are a number of technical optimization tools to use that will get you into the rankings. Things like SEO, page speed, image alt tags and mobile friendliness will earn you bonus points with the robots. In fact, some of these features are an absolute must with the Google algorithm updates. Missing any one of them could cost you rankings and site traffic.
Avoid the penalties and do your research. Get quality SEO keywords in your content and update it often. It is also vital that your site has an app that caches page content. This will dramatically decrease your load time, which the search engine robots will like. Humans will like it too.
Likability
One of the most challenging tactics to conquer is the site’s content. In order for a user to interact with your site and come back often, you have to have some sort of draw. Users have to like being there. Having quality images and technical cues are great, but at the end of the day, the users are reading your content. If it isn’t engaging or the content is difficult to follow, most users will leave. Some key things to remember in your content, along with optimizing for the search engines, are your style and voice. These should appeal to your audience, in addition to your topic choices. Never talk down to visitors or become too “preachy” in your delivery.
Also, do some marketing trends research. See what people are talking about and join the conversation. It is just as much your responsibility to be entertaining as to be informative. This will help build your audience and most importantly, keep them coming back for more. Focus on digital campaigns and enhancing your visibility.
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For those looking for assistance with digital marketing campaigns and enhancing visibility, 216digital offers Cleveland SEO services to help you with your rankings. We also offer Cleveland web development and digital marketing assistance. Let us help you build your brand and become successful. We are eCommerce developers with a passion to be creative and a drive to help you succeed. Contact us for help with Miva design or if you have been considering Miva developers for your website.
Between algorithms and techniques, SEO is constantly evolving in order to deliver the best results to users everywhere. With each and every update, best practices are changing and it is vital to stay on top of the game. The best way to remain relevant and become a front-runner with your content is to dedicate plenty of research and care when crafting each post. A well-informed page is a ranking page.
Do Your Research: Keywords Are Crucial
Before you set out to publish engaging and alluring content, it is important to develop a good baseline with in-depth keyword research. Not only does this research help to develop your topics, it allows you to get a sense for what readers are looking for. SEO keywords are your trail of breadcrumbs that help shape your article and give you a vision for the direction your content will go.
Keywords are also an insight into what is going on in the industry. Much like a fad, they are constantly changing depending on the times and trends. Digital marketing is a field where practices and methods can change by the hour, which is why it is so necessary to develop a good baseline of data and strategy. Best practices this month aren’t always in style by next month.
Target Users with SEO Content: Don’t Write for Robots
The best SEO content is natural, keyword-focused content. Google does not want to see content tailored towards the robots. Just write with a natural, conversational tone. People can sense when you talk above them or when writing becomes superfluous. Often times, adding multiple sentences to get a specific keyword ranking, or even dropping words can disrupt the content flow. Don’t ever compromise your quality. A quality SEO writer is first and foremost a writer.
It is vital to remember that content exists to help users and create the best user experience. SEO should reflect this in the tone, as well as the formula. Awkward verbiage or stuffed keywords can signal to Google that the page in question may not have the best SEO-driven content. Also, the language can take your reader out of their element or cause them to seek more engaging information. Similar to cooking, with SEO presentation is everything.
Keep it Fresh: Manage Content Regularly to Remain Relevant
An active domain is a happy domain. If Google scans your indexed pages and the number is regularly growing, it’s going to give your site some recognition. Although there is no penalty or suggested schedule for posting content, it is important to stay relevant. Activity shows the robots that the domain is updated regularly and is well-managed.
Similar to keyword research, keeping up with current trends and topics will also attract users looking for a fresh perspective and applicable tips. Writing about what’s in the news is also a great tactic to stay ahead of your competitors. Content writers that know the market are not only great resources to validate skills, but they are going to attract a larger audience. Websites with a generous following typically have a strong authority and will appear attractive to Google.
Don’t Ignore the Background: Technical Optimization is Crucial
If you haven’t already made the switch to HTTPS, stop whatever you’re doing right now and do it. It is one of the best things you can do for the health and integrity of your website. HTTPS is the most common and most secure protocol available. Not only is it a best practice, but HTTPS protects users from malicious parties that take advantage of your site. If Google detects a secure protocol, you’ve gained a major SEO advantage.
Also, be sure your site is mobile-friendly. Optimizing your site for AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages is not only something encouraged by Google, it is necessary to rank at all in the search results. Not having a mobile-friendly site can be a major penalty and hurt the integrity of your site.
Avoid 404 errors at all costs. Nothing will drop your ranking in the search results faster than having a bunch of 404 errors on your site. Fix these broken pages as fast as possible to ensure your links are in working order and boost the overall user experience.
Invest in Your Own Crawl: Audit Your Pages on a Regular Basis
Don’t wait for the search engine robots to crawl your pages. Technology is crucial to ensure your site is behaving as it should. Investing in crawling software to help you manage, strategize and audit your site on a regular basis. SEO strategy is ever-changing and a crawling software will be your best friend to help identify your trouble areas and stay on top of the SEO content. Also, it will help ensure every page is being properly indexed and visible.
If you need help with these tips or some are out of your control, contact 216digital to get the help you need! We are a local agency and Miva developer in Cleveland, OH. For Cleveland web development or assistance with SEO services, 216digital is the extra set of eyes your site needs. We specialize in social media, Cleveland web design and are experts with Miva design.
Though trends are ever-changing and updates come more often than not, one fact remains the same. Google is always seeking to capitalize on user experience. Whether you have a personal blog, a directory or an eCommerce page, keep in mind that your content has a larger audience than you may realize. After all, the robots aren’t the only ones who are watching.
A new year is upon us and with it a plethora of updates and algorithm changes to make you second guess your ranking methods. From Google’s surprise, mid-december Maccabee update to the FCC’s net neutrality repeal, 2017 was full of web-related shifts. So to help, we’ve compiled a list of some the best SEO & digital marketing articles covering the 2018 trends to look out for.
With the increase in smart speaker sales like Alexa and Google Home, there may soon be a shift in the way people search online. Though the impact of new voice search related keywords is unsure, it seems likely this’ll be a factor in the coming years.
Google’s continued focus on user friendly experiences means featured/rich snippets or knowledge boxes are becoming the norm. In fact, back in 2015 Ben Goodsell reported that the CTR on a featured page increased from 2% to 8% after it was placed in an featured snippet. And the number of these featured snippets in search engines has only grown – meaning that optimizing for them now could mean a huge boost in organic traffic.
Following the trend of users searching mostly on mobile, Google announced in November that it planned to move towards indexing the mobile versions of sites first. This means that Google will consider the mobile version of your site before the desktop version when ranking. So more than just having a responsive site, it’s key to have a truly mobile friendly version.
For anyone doing SEO, the 155 character limit is all too familiar. However, the frustration of crafting a tempting summary with a targeted keyword in the limited character length is about to be a thing of the past. Google recently boosted their snippet limit to 300 characters!
Youtube is the second largest search engine after Google, and the growth in video search is only projected to continue. After all, watching a video is more engaging than reading text. And the use of visuals, voice, and written text to explain ideas is a lot easier for people to understand.
America’s favorite shopping season is right around the corner and with it a barrage of online bargain shoppers. Is your site ready to handle the Black Friday shopping rush?If the answer is anything but yes, you may want to consider a quick preparatory revamp.Why? Because the year-end holiday season is not only the best time to meet your annual sales goals, but a great time to capture new customers. Following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the last two months of the year are prime for gift-giving; people are shopping for themselves, their family, and their friends. Not to mention, over the last eight years, Black Friday retail e-commerce spending alone went from$534 million USD to $1970 million USD – and it’s only expected to rise again this year. Which means optimizing your site for online sales now can ensure your business is ready to roll this holiday season.So how can you prepare?The first step is to decide which holidays you want to run promotions on. Once you’ve determined that and set up a promotional calendar, you can move on to polishing your website and online holiday marketing strategy.To make it easier, we’ve compiled a checklist to help get you on your way.
Check Your Server Traffic Capacity. Black Friday weekend is sure to draw a lot of traffic to your site, especially if you are running promotional deals. So making sure your server can handle the influx of customers is likely to make both their and your experience easier. Check your server capacity before the season starts at LoadImpact.com or Blitz.io.
Create Landing Pages for Your Black Friday Deals. If you plan on setting your customers up with some awesome deals, it’s important to make sure they know what they are and where to find them. Landing pages on your website specifically made for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions can help alert your customers to all the seasonal discounts you have on offer. Going the extra mile and creating a banner for your deals to be displayed on every page, will also help ensure no one misses out!
Make sure your website is mobile friendly. The share of mobile sales on Black Friday in 2013 went from27% to 48% in 2016. And with more and more customers turning to their phones for online shopping, having a site with responsive design is more important than ever. Don’t know whether your site is mobile ready? Check it out with Google’sMobile-Friendly Test. And if you still can’t figure it out, let us take a look!
Test and troubleshoot everything. Even with the best promotions, the holiday shopping season could still be a complete bust if your customers aren’t able to make purchases from your site. Whether it’s a broken link or simply a slow loading page, it’s important to make sure you’ve tested the durability of your landing pages and made sure your promotional coupons are working fine.
Make the checkout process as seamless as possible. Simplicity is key. Customers like it when they can make a purchase with the fewest clicks possible – and obvious clicks at that. So spend some time ensuring your website has a user friendly interface with clear add/delete item and checkout buttons. And if you need a little help, let us know.
Have your Shipping and Returns Policy for the shopping season in fine print. To prevent any future misunderstandings or complaints, it’s best to have your holiday season shipping and returns policy listed on your website where customers can easily access or see it.
Track EVERYTHING. To make sure you’re getting the results you want and your leads are converting into sales, keep a detailed track record of every change you’ve made to your site and how it has affected your conversions. A great way to do this is through tracking yourGoogle Analytics andFacebook Pixel data.
Marketing Yourself Right
Now that you have your website ready to go the next thing to tackle is your marketing strategy. To start, look at your past marketing data to see how your business performed during previous years. This will make it easier to plan a marketing strategy as you’ll have a better idea of what worked and what didn’t.Once you have that data, you can start to plan for the future holiday season. And the following tips will help you put your best foot forward!
Research your customers. A good marketing strategy starts with great research. For example, do you know 100% who your customers are? Have you created buyer personas? If you haven’t, check your Google Analytics demographics to ensure that the personas you have in mind match the factual customer data retrieved by Google. This will help you market to not only your current customers, but all potential buyers as well. Still unsure? Take a look at this helpful B2B Buyer Persona Guide for a more in-depth look on how to make your customer-data work for you.
Create a winning PPC Campaign. Pay-per-click is one of the best ways to reach targeted customers. If you have optimized your campaign with the right keywords, your ad should appear at the top of Google’s search results. However, if you did not have the time to get your SEO and keyword targeting in place, PPC can help! For example:
Shopping Ads is one of the best ways to get your products in front of your customers, because its CPC is much lower when compared to a Text Ad, and it can get you better conversion rates. You can also target local customers with Google’sZip Code Targeting.
And if you are already running PPC campaigns, the holiday season is a good time to start a remarketing campaign. Reach your customers who are actively searching for your products, or are loyal to your business with remarketing campaigns.
Utilize social media for customer insights. Your social media channels can be a treasure trove of information. Places like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are full of consumer opinions on products and services. And not just on products they currently use, but items they are interested in buying. Put this information to use by –
Promoting your Black Friday deals on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook.
Creating product hype and awareness by offering special discounts to your followers.
Closely monitoring comments or mentions on your social channels and responding to any customer queries and feedback promptly. You can even make use ofsocial listening tools to listen to what people are saying online about your brand or products.
Creating your own hashtags for the holiday season. You can stick to the regular hashtags of #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday, of course, but you can also create hashtags specific to your business. If you do, make sure you plug them on all your marketing channels- website, social media, and emails.
Using Facebook Dynamic Shopping ads, which are a great way target customers who visited your website and added a product to their cart but never followed through with the purchase.
Start an email campaign targeting current customers. When it comes to gettingresults, email marketing is still very effective. Triggered emails like those to customers that abandoned full online shopping carts, still tend to bring in more customers than many social media campaigns. To get the most out of your email campaign –
Categorize your email lists. Segmenting your emails into specific customer lists based on products they’ve looked at or purchased is likely to get you more email open rates.
Personalize! Include the name of the subscriber and offer specific promotions based on their location.
Create and manage your email workflows in advance. This will ensure that every email is catered to the customer receiving it, and be less work for you in the long run.
Leverage your current customer base through exclusive deals. Not only will this help build anticipation for future Black Friday deals, but it will show your loyal customers that there is some advantage in following you.
Create a countdown timer for your emails to promote urgency.
In the End
No one knows your customers as well as you do and any website adjustment or marketing campaign should be planned with them in mind. However, we hope these tips will help get you and your site on your way to holiday-ready! And if you still have questions, let us know!
Brands are joining the content marketing frenzy every day. If you haven’t started practicing content marketing yet, it’s high time you did. But where do you start? How do you work with available resources, affordable publishing tools, and strangers who don’t know your content exists? Worse—how do you turn this Mt. Everest of difficulties into a value-creating resource for your brand?
Glad you asked.
This article won’t turn you into a content marketing whiz overnight. It’s not even designed to do that. It’s just too big! Rather, we wrote this article to publish all of our greatest content marketing tips in one place. This is that big fat reference book that used to sit on your desk. That’s why we call it the Big Book.
Wherever you’re at in your content marketing campaign, we’ve assembled the ULTIMATE list of content marketing tips. We cover everything here, from setup to final promotional outreach. We’ve broken this massive article into 7 chapters. No matter where you’re at in the process, you can find actionable strategies to help you improve that step, right now, today.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Define your #contentmarketing objectives from the beginning. They dictate your #contentstrategy http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Define your #contentmarketing objectives from the beginning. They dictate your #contentstrategy”]
1. Define your content marketing objectives from the beginning. What are you trying to accomplish? If you don’t set clear goals for your content marketing efforts, you won’t even know what you’re striving for. Many companies make a half-hearted effort at blogging and social media and call it content marketing. In today’s highly-saturated content landscape, an uneducated and lackluster attempt just won’t cut it.
2. Define your primary audience and discover where they hang out online. You want to speak what they speak, and you want to speak where they speak.
3. Research your primary audience. What are their beliefs and values? What types of content do they like? You can’t succeed in a content market without knowing that market.
4. Create accounts in all the relevant social media platforms. Research best practices in those platforms that aren’t familiar to you.
5. Use BuzzStream. No excuses. This incredible service will automate the more tedious aspects of content promotion and outreach. In the research phase, you can add contacts and their information to BuzzStream with one click—including things like tagging the contact for niches, and noting what kind of opportunity the contact may offer. You can segment your contact lists, create email templates, personalize individual messages, choose when to send, and set follow-up reminders, among many other features.
6. If you’re not using BuzzStream, make a Content Outreach spreadsheet. Prepare for it to get HUGE! Every time you find a viable content outreach contact, you’ll want to log a variety of information. Record what niche the contact belongs to, as well as any relevant sub-niches and content focuses. Record their domain name, Twitter page URL, and Facebook page URL. Consider logging their follower counts and typical share counts for posts, as well. Make cells for logging ALL of your communication with each contact. When you go to do outreach, this information will help you to start at the top, reaching out to your most targeted and valuable contacts first. It will also help you to avoid awkward missteps from confusing different communication you’ve had with different contacts.
7. Break your outreach list into smaller segments by sub-niche. This will help you focus your outreach for specific content in the future. If you don’t know your niche and sub-niches well enough at this point to break them out, you can do it later, after you’ve learned more about your niches.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Explore similar accounts on Facebook and Twitter. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Explore similar accounts on Facebook and Twitter. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital “]
8. Explore similar accounts on Facebook and Twitter. After you Like a Facebook page or follow a Twitter account, explore all the similar accounts that appear at the top or side of the page. This will help you find audiences and outreach contacts related to your primary audience.
9. Explore the Twitter accounts of several people in your niche. Look at accounts that retweet these people, and look at which accounts these people retweet. This can lead you to accounts both in your niche and in related niches. Accounts in both niches are valuable contacts for promoting your content.
10. Find 10 fantastic pieces of content from other people in your niche. Paste the URL of these pieces into Facebook search and Twitter search. Where permissions allow, this will reveal accounts which have shared great content in your niche. If your content is this amazing (and it will be), these accounts will share your content, too. Find their websites and add them to your Content Outreach spreadsheet.
11. Make a list of the Top 5 thought leaders in your niche. Who publishes about them? These are individuals who consistently think ahead of the curve in your market. Google each person’s name—but look past their own websites and social accounts. Who publishes content about these 5 leaders? Who shares content about them on social media? This technique can lead you to outreach contacts and audiences which you hadn’t thought of before.
12. Research keywords with an eye toward organizational goals. Use a keyword tool like SEMrush to determine a) what keywords your brand needs to rank for, and b) what type of content currently ranks for those keywords. Note: in content marketing, keyword intent is critical. You need to focus on keywords which have at least some informational intent (as opposed to purchase intent). Find opportunities in which weak content ranks on the first page of Google for one of your keywords with informational intent. Schedule yourself to write a fantastic piece of informational content that is far better than the weak content that currently ranks for that keyword.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Create an editorial calendar to meet goals on schedule. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Create an editorial calendar to meet goals on schedule. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital”]
13. Create an editorial calendar. This is the backbone of magazine and blog publishing, and it will become your daily hangout. You can purchase editorial calendar software, but there are clever free solutions available, too. For those who don’t want to purchase something, we recommend using a calendar in Google spreadsheets, since multiple team members can assign tasks and edit them at the same time.
14. Determine the rules for your editorial calendar, and communicate them to your team. Empower your team to follow the rules by providing a simple, easy-to-remember procedure for marking tasks that need more time or didn’t get done at all. You don’t want content marketing tasks to get lost in the chaos of shifting timelines.
15. Prepare your WordPress site for thoroughbred performance. Whether you already have a WordPress site or you’re just setting one up, you’ll need to configure it to follow best practices. Set Permalinks to post names, create a public-appropriate nickname for your publishing account, and turn off comments if you won’t be moderating them manually and through plugins.
16. Speed up your WordPress site through caching. WordPress is notoriously slow, even on fast servers. Install a caching plugin, such as W3 Total Cache, to speed up your site.
17. Speed up your WordPress site with a CDN (content delivery network). Consider using a content delivery network to speed up the serving of certain content when users return to your site. CloudFlare offers a free CDN.
18. Optimize all imagery for web. Gigantic pictures will slow down your site. As a rule of thumb, for full-width blog posts, all images should be at least 1200px wide. For blogs that use a sidebar, you can usually get away with a minimum width of 800px. When you save your images as JPEGs in Photoshop, be sure to Save for Web, or else adjust the quality slider down. Your final file size should be 100-300kb maximum.
19. Install the Yoast SEO plugin. It will give you a quick look at how search-engine-optimized every piece of content is. It won’t help you rank higher directly, but it will show you problems with your onsite optimization for each content marketing piece.
II. GENERATING CONTENT MARKETING IDEAS (14 tips)
[clickToTweet tweet=”Read EVERYTHING — even content outside your industry. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Read EVERYTHING — even content outside your industry. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital”]
20. Read, read, read. Read everything. It’s been said that no one reads anymore. This simply isn’t true. Rather, the way we read has changed. Don’t read only within your industry or your personal interests. Get interested in everything. Read the New York Times, the just-launched blog in your industry, and everything in between. As you read, take notes, particularly questions you have that the article doesn’t answer. As you investigate these questions, you may find topics and angles that haven’t been covered yet—things which the content market is hungry for.
21. Think like your reader. You’ve already done the market research. You should have a general notion of who your audience segments are and what they care about. And while thinking about segments is good, it can also hurt your efforts. A segment is a concept; a reader is a human being. Take a step back and imagine yourself in your reader’s shoes. What are you dying to know? What information are you hunting for that you can’t find anywhere else? Respect your readers, and they’ll love what you publish.
22. Keep a running notebook of ideas. It’s been said that genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration—and that’s true—but you don’t want to drop the ball on that 10%. When an idea comes, get it down, and never doubt that it’s a great idea. (You’ll vet your ideas later.) Use a spreadsheet to track your ideas. That way, you can add new ideas at the bottom of your list and move ideas toward the top as they mature after a little editing and research. That way, you know your best idea is sitting at the top of the list, ready to be written, and you know you have some great rough material to work out farther down.
23. Use BuzzSumo. This fantastic tool will show you the most-shared articles on any topic. Now, you can’t just use the same ideas which BuzzSumo shows to be successful; they’ve already been done. But these successful topics and angles can give you a starting place. You just have to add that extra edge that hasn’t been covered yet. This might be a new angle, a new extension of the topic, or a connection between two popular topics that no one has thought of yet.
24. Use AllTop.com to discover popular content. This site gathers the most popular articles on every imaginable topic. AllTop doesn’t get too specific with sub-topics, so it’s a good way to discover what’s rising to the top within a general topic area.
25. Use the Google Top 40 results. The first four pages of Google will show you a lot. You can get a quick sense of whether a topic has been covered recently, or if the best coverage is now out of date. You can also find outliers, articles from sites you’ve never heard of. These surprises can give you new ideas.
26. Use YouTube. Not all content is written! YouTube is a great resource for topics and angles that are popular. View counts and subscriber counts give you an instant pulse on how hot something is. In particular, YouTube can give you ideas that have appeared in video form, but haven’t appeared in written form yet. As long as you cite your source (the video), you can write the first article on this topic.
27. Search for infographics on your topic. Infographics have exploded in recent years. This format is great for presenting data in an easy-to-digest format. But remember, Google can’t read text in an image. That means the best way to search for infographcis is a Google Image search for “your term + infographic.” Use your best judgment to determine the quality and relevance of the results you get.
28. Search hashtags on Twitter. Other people in your space are trying to promote their stuff, too. They’ll use the same hashtags you care about. A hashtag search can lead you to a just-published article, shared on Twitter, which you never would have found otherwise. In particular, pay attention to hashtag intent. Some hashtags have multiple meanings. For example, #NDT may refer to “nondestructive testing” or “Neil deGrasse Tyson.” Completely unrelated to each other!
29. Search forums that cover your niche. This is a way to find emerging topics—problems that haven’t been covered yet in your space. Forums are ideal because the readership is specialized, and the information is freely exchanged. You can get a fantastic read on emergent topics just from reading forums.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Read comments on articles by leaders in your niche to find new topic ideas. #contentmarketing http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Read comments on articles by leaders in your niche to find new topic ideas. #contentmarketing tip”]
30. Read the comments on articles by leaders in your niche. This is where expert readers call out things that a great article didn’t cover. If an expert writer in your niche didn’t cover something that readers are hungry to know, this is a prime opportunity to fill a content void.
31. Talk to your coworkers, especially “support” staff. They typically spend the most time with your customers, going over points of pain. These folks generally have a great sense for what problems exist in your space.
32. Ask for feedback from Twitter contacts. As you interact around your niche’s topics on Twitter, share your rough ideas with experts in your space. Ask them what they think. Of course, there’s a caveat: if you’re asking upstream, you don’t want to give away too much of your great idea. A Twitter contact with more resources than you may publish on the idea first.
33. Look into related (shoulder) niches for topics that matter to them. No topic or niche exists in a vacuum. In fact, all topics connect to all other topics in one way or another, even if it takes several connections to get from one to another. All that to say—branch out into related topics. If your main niche is custom web development, look into app development, ecommerce development, and WordPress development. These are shoulder niches that partially overlap with the content in your niche.
III. KEYWORD RESEARCH FOR CONTENT MARKETING (12 tips)
34. Use the Google Keyword Planner. It provides comprehensive data, and it’s free to use. If you’re on a budget, this should be your go-to tool. When you plug in a keyword, it will spit out groups of related keywords. Though not all the results will be relevant to your content marketing campaign, you will find keywords you hadn’t thought of before.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Use Google Suggest to find related keywords. #contentmarketing for #seo tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Use Google Suggest to find related keywords. #contentmarketing for #seo tip “]
35. Use Google Suggest. Type one of your keywords into Google and look at the suggested search strings in the dropdown. These are real keywords which other users have searched for—which Google believes are related to your search. Not all of these will be on point, but some will offer incredible opportunities that you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
36. Use Similar Searches at the bottom of a Google search results page. Much like Google Suggest, this will show you related keywords which you might not have thought of on your own.
37. Use a paid keyword research tool. Even if you’re on a shoestring budget, this is one of the best places to spend your money. In our opinion, the top paid keyword research tools on the market are SEMrush and Moz. Each one does things little differently. If we had to choose between them, we would choose SEMrush. It allows you to examine keyword competition from many angles, and it provides deep data insights.
38. Use “body” keywords. As Brian Dean explains at Backlinko, “body” keywords (strings of 2-3 words) are the sweet spot in SEO. You won’t rank for 1-word generic keywords; the big brands have these covered already. You could rank for long-tail keywords (4+ word strings), but these don’t receive a high monthly search volume, so they won’t bring you as much value. Body keywords offer the right combination of specificity (more specific than 1-word keywords) and traffic (more heavily searched than long-tail keywords). Use ’em!
39. Look at the table of contents in Wikipedia articles.This tip is also from Brian Dean at Backlinko, and it’s simply brilliant. Because Wikipedia is (usually) so well organized, the table of contents in a general Wikipedia article will show you many sub-topics under that general topic. This is a great way to find keywords and keyword groups that begin to branch out from the core topic in question.
40. Look at related keywords in the Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush, and look at discovered keywords in Moz. SEMrush and Google are especially good at showing you related keywords. Of course, any related keywords you find need to be vetted in SEMrush for monthly search volume, CPC, and competition.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Vet your keywords in @semrush. It’s a tough boss, which is good for #seo and #contentmarketing http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Vet your keywords in @semrush. It’s a tough boss, which is good for #seo and #contentmarketing”]
41. Vet your keywords in SEMrush. SEMrush is a tough boss. That means it’s a good boss. It will display “no data” for a worthless keyword. If your keyword isn’t listed in SEMrush, don’t even bother trying to rank for it. Throw it out, even if you have to go back to the drawing board.
42. Vet your keywords with the Moz Bar. Google your keyword and look at the top 10 results. With the Moz Bar turned on, check out the domain authority of the sites that are ranking on the first page for that keyword. If you’re going up against high-DA sites all over the first page, this keyword may not represent an opportunity for you. However, if there’s even one low-DA site ranking for your keyword, you should think to yourself, “that could be me.”
43. Understand the value that a keyword does or doesn’t bring to your campaign. Remember, real users are entering the search terms which we call “keywords.” They’re looking for things. Luckily, it’s easier than you might think to understand the intent behind a keyword. There are three dimensions to a keyword which you should pay attention to: monthly search volume, CPC (cost per click in AdWords), and competition level. A high monthly search volume means more traffic if you rank for that keyword. A higher CPC means that keyword is more monetizable—in other words, AdWords bidders are willing to spend more on it because it’s more likely to lead to a conversion in that market. Competition level (in SEMrush) or keyword difficulty (in Moz) are roughly the same concept: how many people are trying to rank for this keyword?
44. Don’t stuff exact-match keywords into your copy unnaturally. With the advent of LSI (latent semantic indexing), Google can now understand what a page is about. That means you can write naturally, for human readers, and Google will get it (if you do a good job). In other words, if your keyword is “dog allergy treatment,” you can write natural phrases like, “…offers great treatment for dog allergies…” or “…a great way to treat your dog’s allergies.” Google will get it.
45. That said… get your keyword into the title of your article, and put it as close to the beginning as possible. This tip is from the world of onsite SEO, which is all about optimizing small parts of your site (particularly metadata) to get big results. While LSI means you can write naturally in copy, you should still put the exact keyword in your title.
IV. CONTENT QUALITY (15 tips)
[clickToTweet tweet=”Set an organizational standard for content quality. #contentstrategy from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Set an organizational standard for content quality. #contentstrategy from @216_digital “]
46. Set an organizational standard for content quality. Even in obscure niches that don’t have high standards, your content must be the best that anyone is publishing in that niche. If you aren’t a professional writer or blogger, you need to get one on your team—maybe more than one. Look for people who have a wide variety of writing and blogging experience, as well as knowledge of editorial processes.
47. If you can’t hire, you need to train your existing staff on best practices. Consider giving everyone the same writing assignment and see how things go. The results will show you the strongest writers you already have on staff. You’ll also see what problems you need to address when you start training. Obviously, a baseline writing assignment for your candidates is critical if you’re hiring.
48. Maintain high editorial standards. If your writing staff doesn’t have a background in professional blogging, you’ll need to train them to help them develop an editorial eye. This applies to headlines, article body, and images, but it also applies to the overall impression which your content makes in its niche. How will the piece of content come across to a stranger who avidly reads in your niche? Does your chosen imagery reinforce the angle of the piece, or does it confuse the focus of the piece? The overall impression which your content makes, from the very first research to the tone of your final outreach communication, will make or break your efforts.
49. Don’t reinvent the wheel—use successful content templates! As the internet has continued to evolve, certain content templates have risen above the others as being easiest to read online. A content template gives you structure to work with. It makes the whole process easier, from idea generation to writing to promotion. Some of our favorite templates include long list posts (like this one), innovative infographics, best-of roundups, and expert roundups.
50. Consider adding a CTA (call to action) in your piece. Since this is content, you shouldn’t make it a hard sell; since this is marketing, you should still look for ways to bring value to your organization from the content. This could be an email signup bar that offers “more free tips,” a click-to-tweet widget that includes your brand @-mentioned in the tweet, or an invitation to respond by leaving a comment. Remember: content marketing doesn’t end with the final paragraph!
51. Train your staff on photo acquisition strategies that fit your budget. If you can’t afford to license 10 photos for every article you write, you’ll need a free alternative, and you’ll need to explain best practices to your staff. At 216digital, we use a combination of sites like Pixabay and “reuse allowed” search settings on Flickr and Google Images. Make sure you understand Creative Commons licensing when you pull reusable photos from Flickr, Wikipedia, and Google, and make sure your writers understand how to cite these images in their copy. NEVER allow your staff to republish photos which appear with an “All Rights Reserved” copyright statement without obtaining written permission from the copyright holder. More information on Creative Commons licensing from Wikipedia.
52. Vet your concepts thoroughly. Never move ahead with a content concept that you haven’t researched and self-critiqued. The moment of inspiration can be emotionally overwhelming, and those emotions can fool you. Sometimes, inspiration gives you junk. Sometimes it gives you gold. Give your ideas time to move from inspiration to fully-developed concepts.
53. Fact-check everything. This is especially important if you’re writing for a client in a niche that’s relatively new to you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to sources directly through email and social media. It’s better to ask for clarification now than find out after publication that you failed to state the truth.
54. Think like an entrepreneur. To succeed at content marketing, you need to bring something new to an information market. Why should a reader spend time on your work when thousands of other media entities have been publishing better than you, longer than you? If you don’t fill a need in an information market, you shouldn’t even try to do this. What’s your value proposition? You can’t be “Just another WordPress blog.” You need to fill a gap that currently exists in a niche—whether the readers in that niche know the gap exists or not. (Sometimes you’ll surprise them!) That gap-filling can take many forms: a unique angle on an existing topic; a topic that is extended beyond its previous dimensions; a mashup of previously unrelated topics (as long as your case for a connection is compelling); a topic covered in more detail than ever before; and a topic that is covered actionably, where actionable content on that topic has never been published.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Develop a writing process, but don’t get tight about it. #writingtip for #contentmarketing http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Develop a writing process, but don’t get tight about it. #writingtip for #contentmarketing “]
55. Develop a writing process, but don’t get tight about it. Include multiple revisions as part of that process, and leave room for startling ideas and inspired workflows which you didn’t anticipate. Sometimes, great content emerges complete from half an hour of work. Sometimes, it takes weeks of plugging away. At 216digital, we adhere to an exacting process, all the way from research to the approval of final copy. The more sets of eyes who sign off on your content, the better it will be.
56. Ask for expert critiques. Early in your content marketing campaign, consider sending a few draft articles to link creators in your niche. Ask them for honest feedback, and explain that you’re trying to improve your work. You’ll get critiques from industry insiders, and you’ll start to build relationships from a place of humility. In the world of spam, those relationships are priceless. When you eventually publish an improved version of the article, those contacts will get a sense of satisfaction when they look at it because they know they helped you improve. (Hint: that means they’ll be more likely to share to it and/or link to it.)
57. Proofread, proofread, proofread. You’d be amazed at how many mistakes will slip past you. Consider printing your articles to proofread them, since mistakes tend to pop off paper better than a screen.
58. Don’t skimp on design. It’s just as important as writing. Today’s content consumer is highly visual and expects to be delighted. Even a long-form essay or article needs at least one strong visual at the top. Top-notch design is especially critical for infographics. The infographic as a form has exploded in recent years, and that has led to a lot of noise in the infographic space. Your infographic’s design (not to mention editorial angle) must be truly epic to stand out. Allow time and budget for multiple revisions to an infographic, and push your team to go beyond their comfort zones. The results will amaze you.
59. Communicate content values clearly to your team. Especially when you take on a new client or add a new team member, the prospect of doing top-notch content marketing for an unknown company looks incredibly daunting. Your team needs an in-depth understanding of each client’s brand and market. Communicate clearly from the beginning, and you’ll avoid expensive problems later in the process.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Manage your #contentmarketing team like a teacher. #contenstrategy from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Manage your #contentmarketing team like a teacher. #contenstrategy from @216_digital “]
60. Manage your content marketing team like a teacher. Respect your team. They’re people, and they’re trying hard. When their work doesn’t meet up, take it as an educational opportunity: not a lecture from you, but an open discussion. When you hit a content crisis, call a meeting. Open the floor with a non-accusatory statement that invites everyone present to solve the problem creatively—something like, “I’m a little concerned about the quality of our work. I’m turning this discussion over to you guys. How can we get better?” Be prepared to moderate the discussion and bring it back to organizational goals if it gets off track, and don’t allow team members to have the final word. When you facilitate education rather than force it on people, your team grows in their communication with each other, and they learn easily from their peers.
61. Know your space. Whether you’ve been working in your niche for years or you’re just starting, you need to know the people in your content network. This is an intangible asset, and it’s impossible to quantify or turn into data. Here, your intelligence as a reader, writer, editor, and marketer are invaluable. You need to have a sense of what’s appropriate in communications in your niche. Without this knowledge, you risk offending the very people you’re trying to network with.
62. Let your organizational goals inform your outreach. Return to our very first tip. Why are you doing content marketing in the first place? Your initial outreach efforts must further your goals, and only your goals.
63. Familiarize yourself with each individual contact or blogger. What do they do? What makes them tick? Get a sense for their values and personality, to the extent that they display these qualities on their website and social media. You need to respect the people you’ll be contacting.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Get on the phone. Seriously! #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Get on the phone. Seriously! #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital “]
64. Get on the phone. It sounds crazy, but sometimes, one phone call is better than a thousand emails. As long as you have a valid reason for calling and you manage the communication well, you can establish and strengthen valuable relationships this way.
65. Don’t be afraid to give up. If a blogger looks great until you find something that clearly rules them out as a good networking prospect, just move on. For example, some bloggers hate getting any kind of promotional email. (Hint: they don’t want yours.) Don’t waste your time on these folks. They’re doing their own thing, and that’s okay.
Just walk away!Bummer. Oh well, plenty of fish in the sea!
66. Get personal. Even in smaller niches, webmasters and bloggers get tons of email every day. If you’ve taken the time to familiarize yourself with the blogger you’re reaching out to, you’ve probably learned his or her first name. Use it! It shows respect, and it shows that you know who you’re talking to. There’s nothing worse than a cold-call email that starts with, “Dear Sir or Madam…”
[clickToTweet tweet=”Call out the contact’s existing work. #contentstrategy from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Call out the contact’s existing work. #contentstrategy from @216_digital “]
67. Make reference to the contact’s existing work. Call out individual article titles or values from an About page—but do it naturally. This shows that you know who you’re talking to, and that you really do share something in common with them.
Read their work. And let them know you read it!
68. Find a reason to get in touch. Remember, this is initial You may not have any content published yet, and that’s okay. We already mentioned sending someone a draft article for critique, but there are tons of other things you can do. For example, you can ask for a critique on your website as a whole. You can ask for tips on developing a social media audience in your niche. You can ask anything that a student might ask a mentor. Fundamentally, people enjoy helping each other out, as long as your question doesn’t take too much of time. Ask for a tip about one thing only, and keep your email short (2-4 lines total) while still demonstrating that you’re a real human and not a robot. If that sounds like a tall order, start practicing now, and take note of what kinds of responses you get with different strategies.
69. Don’t burn bridges. Some people don’t like getting emails from strangers. Other people will try and sell you services or offer to publish your “sponsored content” on their site for a fee. Even if you get responses that you weren’t anticipating, don’t respond with any kind of negative attitude. Keep it positive and professional. You never know when these same contacts might come across your content in the future, and you don’t want a negative impression to stick in their minds.
VI. PUBLICATION PROCESS (9 tips)
70. Work with WordPress. Don’t fight it. WordPress can’t do everything, and that’s okay. Play around with your theme’s limitations, and take notes on what produces acceptable results. Turn these notes into a best practices document and share it with your team.
71. Consider using a paid theme for your blog. Free themes look like a steal until you install them. They don’t offer the level of control that you’ll need to execute powerful content marketing. At 216digital, we’ve had great success with the Avada theme from Theme Forest. It offers near-total control of many aspects of your blog’s design, typography, site structure, and overall impression. Avada comes with the Fusion Builder, a tool that lets you build original, mobile-responsive layouts for your pages and posts. That means you get can implement unique designs for your content marketing pieces without knowing a lick of code.
72. Don’t invest in hand-coded custom development for your individual content marketing pieces. With so many human resources going to research, writing, design, and promotion, you most likely won’t see any ROI for custom development expenses unless you’re working for a big brand. When you can “outsource” beautiful custom layout to a WordPress theme like Avada, there’s no reason to pay for custom dev.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Assign publication tasks to your strongest editors. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Assign publication tasks to your strongest editors. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital”]
73. Assign publication tasks to your strongest editors. You’d be surprised at how many issues can arise when you prepare your content in WordPress. Ensure that you assign publication to team members who have a strong eye for quality as regards the final product. If your writers are also your WordPress publishers, get at least one more pair of eyes on their final work. It’s easy to miss problems in the finished product when you’ve worked at the center of a project through all its developmental stages.
74. Make sure all your embedded links open in a new tab. It’s easy to overlook this. When you create a hyperlink in the WordPress editor, it automatically opens in a new tab. Unfortunately, when you paste text with hyperlinks into WordPress from Microsoft Word, you’ll have to manually change each and every link to open in a new tab. If you don’t, a user will leave your page when they click a link, which creates lower average session times on your page. Google interprets low session times as equating with low-value content—exactly what you DON’T want.
75. Consider using Rich Snippets (Schema.org markup). While it isn’t essential, this technique provides search engines with a clearer picture of the structure and focus of your content. That leads to more relevant search results when users search for your keywords—which means you’ll show up, since you did heavy research and spent hours writing a great piece of content which is already highly relevant. Think of Schema.org markup as a way to make your relevancy crystal clear to search engines.
76. Install a social sharing plugin. We recommend Social Warfare, a paid plugin that not only tracks shares accurately, but gives you an incredible range of styling options. Social Warfare allows you to design your share buttons to fit seamlessly into the look and feel of your blog. You can also set a minimum share count for displaying numbers, control the number of decimals to display in share counts over 1000, decide which network share buttons show on your site, and more. Why is this so important? For better or worse, share counts demonstrate your content’s value at a glance. An article with 2.3k shares looks better to link creators than one with 60 shares. The best part? Social Warfare now has an option to start counting Twitter shares again. For content marketers whose niche uses Twitter heavily, this is a godsend.
77. Don’t publish until your piece has been thoroughly vetted in Draft mode. This ensures that no one will happen upon an incomplete or error-riddled live version of your piece. More importantly, it ensures you won’t begin showing a sloppy published version to link creators and publishers who you hope will link to the piece.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t publish until you can spend the rest of the day on initial promotion. #contentmarketing http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Don’t publish until you can spend the rest of the day on initial promotion. #contentmarketing tip “]
78. Don’t publish a piece until you’re ready to spend the rest of the day on initial promotion. Newness really does make a difference. High-quality articles may continue to attract links and shares, but for whatever reason, content generally performs best when it’s promoted heavily right away–especially if it’s timely. Of course, there are technical benefits to coupling publication to promotion in the same day. If you’re using Social Warfare for share counts, that plugin updates share counts about once every hour for posts that are 21 days old. When you click Publish in WordPress, you should be ready to begin initial promotion of the piece on social media. That way, as new share counts come in throughout the day, a buzz will build around your piece.
VII. INITIAL PROMOTION (7 tips)
79. Know your niche’s preferred social networks, but try everything. Especially in the initial stages of building your content marketing campaign, you might be surprised at how your content performs on social networks which you might have overlooked.
80. Think outside the box to raise Facebook share counts on your content. Find Facebook groups related to your content niche, and spend time developing a respected presence there before you post your content. This is especially useful if you join an industry-insider Facebook group. You can post your content to get feedback from professionals in your space. All of those comments and likes will count as shares in your share count plugin, and that makes your content look more valuable when you start heavy promotion.
81. Consider Reddit for niches that have a subreddit on your topic. Of course, you need to be careful and respectful on Reddit. If you join and post your content the same day, you could get shot down. However, if you spend time building a reputable presence on Reddit—a presence related to your niche—it won’t seem out of place when you post your content for feedback and opinions. Make sure you put your post in the appropriate subreddit, and give it a title that fits the feel of that subreddit.
[clickToTweet tweet=”If your content is strong enough, pursue social shares from big publishers. #contentstrategy http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”If your content is strong enough, pursue social shares from big publishers. #contentstrategy “]
82. If your content is strong enough, pursue social shares from big publishers. Major media sources may not link to your content, but they may share it if it fits their niche and doesn’t harm their organizational objectives. At 216digital, we wrote a piece on top-notch graphic designers. We got retweets from AIGA (the American professional association for designers) and HOW Magazine (a major content brand in the design space). This jacked up the visibility of our article in the exact target market which we wanted to hit.
83. In an agency setting, cross-post your content to all appropriate social profiles. If you manage social media for a wide range of clients, and if you have your clients’ permission, consider posting your content to the social accounts of multiple brands. This tip only works when the content aligns with each client’s niche—but it’s easier than you might think. Say you have a client who sells high-quality furniture, and another who sells interior design services. A great piece of content on selecting the perfect furniture for your home is appropriate for both social media accounts.
84. Tweet your content to relevant users (in moderation). If you can’t find a contact on the blog or website in question, follow the brand on Twitter, retweet or favorite a few of their posts, and tweet your content to them with a short, engaging, and relevant message. Include 1-2 relevant hashtags to help related Twitter users find the post, too. Include a relevant, entertaining image in your post to ensure users take action on it.
85. Don’t ignore LinkedIn. Some niche content markets talk almost exclusively on LinkedIn. Post your content to your company profile. If any of your team members want to, they can post it to their personal accounts, too. This is especially effective for creators (writers, designers, etc.) who had a direct hand in creating the piece. Let your team take pride in their work.
VIII. LINK-BUILDING OUTREACH (9 tips)
86. Know your outreach list. Most content marketing campaigns will overlap several related content niches. Not every piece you create is right for every segment of your list. If you didn’t separate your list into sub-niches when you first assembled it (or if you didn’t tag your contacts by sub-niche in BuzzStream), do that before you begin outreach. Make sure you promote your content marketing only to the most targeted segments of your list.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Use outreach email templates, especially in @buzzstream #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Use outreach email templates, especially in @buzzstream #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital”]
87. Use outreach email templates. This is especially easy in BuzzStream, where you can save templates and select them with 2 clicks. Even if you’re doing everything manually, you should prepare your email templates ahead of time and put them through a comprehensive editing process. Your first email draft is never your best.
88. Keep your outreach emails concise, and show value. Everyone is busy. Most people will take a moment to read an email that looks like it offers value. Don’t waste the precious time of bloggers and webmasters in your space. Keep your emails short (2-3 paragraphs, 5-8 lines total) and show the value you’re offering. If you’ve done your research, you’ll get results.
89. Give yourself a quick overview of each contact before you email them. You’ll avoid outreach bloopers, and you may discover new information that will help your efforts—i.e., a new blog post from the contact which you can call out in the email.
90. Flatter, shoot the breeze, and negotiate. You can’t write a cold-call email asking for a link. You have to sell. You have to make people feel special, and you actually have to mean it.
91. Offer your work as a guest post. Not every blog or magazine wants guest posts, so read the about page first! However, if you find an outlet that’s looking for guest posts, and if your piece seems like a good fit, go ahead and pitch it. Small- to mid-size blogs in particular are always looking for new content, and they’re less likely to balk because a piece has appeared elsewhere first. If you find yourself working with bigger hitters, be prepared to offer them exclusive content—something that you haven’t published elsewhere.
92. Call out existing posts and articles that would be even more valuable if they linked to your page. Many bloggers actually appreciate this. Linking to a resource backs up their point, and it makes their post more credible overall. It’s possible that they were too busy to find a resource to link to when they wrote the piece, or that they searched up and down and couldn’t find anything. Pitch your work as a resource!
[clickToTweet tweet=”Find #writers who are great marketing communicators. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Find #writers who are great marketing communicators. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital”]
93. Not all writers and creatives are marketing communicators. If you have trained marketers and experienced salespeople on your team, they are the best candidates to do successful link-building outreach for your content marketing campaign. Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and assign tasks accordingly.
94. Keep insanely detailed records on your communication with every single contact. Don’t rely on your memory or searching your inbox. If you’re using BuzzStream, you’re in luck. If you’re using a spreadsheet, you’ll need to log every single communication in that spreadsheet manually. Give yourself a cliff’s notes version of the emotional tone of each person’s response each time. (You can do this in BuzzStream too, with the Notes function.) Make a note about opportunities which you can’t follow up on right now, and schedule time for follow-ups. This way, you ensure that if anything is going to stop a link from being built, it won’t be your negligence.
IX. MEASURING YOUR RESULTS (12 tips)
[clickToTweet tweet=”Use Annotations in Google Analytics to mark important dates. #contentmarketing tip @216digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Use Annotations in Google Analytics to mark important dates. #contentmarketing tip”]
95. Use Annotations in Google Analytics to mark important dates. You may think you’ll remember when you launched your content marketing campaign, or when you started promoting a particular piece or project. You won’t! Annotations in Google Analytics can help you directly correlate your content marketing efforts with a spike in traffic, link building, or conversions.
96. Use Google Analytics to track how users react to your content pieces. This tip is rather elementary, but it’s worth saying. Under Acquisition, click All Traffic > Channels. Under Default Channel Grouping, click the dropdown box that reads Secondary Dimension. Click Behavior > Landing Page. Now you can see Sessions, Bounce Rate, Average Session Duration, and more for each content piece you’ve published.
97. Use Ahrefs to track links built. Of all the link-building analytics tools out there, we find Ahrefs to be the most consistently valuable. Simply plug the URL of your content piece into the Site Explorer. You’ll see the number of links built to that URL, as well as the number of linking domains. Ahrefs’ data is totally transparent, meaning you can see which links emerged directly as a result of your efforts, and which happened organically. With the ability to see when a link first appeared, Ahrefs lets you correlate links built directly with your efforts in time. However, take note: Ahrefs doesn’t always discover every link built through content marketing.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Use @Mention (mention.com) to track brand mentions. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Use @Mention (mention.com) to track brand mentions. #contentmarketing tip from @216_digital “]
98. Use Mention.com to track brand mentions. This awesome tool emails you when your name is used, linked or unlinked. We’ve found links this way before they’ve shown up on Ahrefs.
99. Use Analytics to track which sites drive high-quality traffic to your content. Under Acquisition, click All Traffic > Channels. In the list, click Referral. Under Source, click the dropdown menu that reads Secondary Dimension. Click Behavior > Landing Page. Now you can see which domains are sending traffic to your content marketing pieces. This page can also show you “sleeper links”—great links to your content that Ahrefs hasn’t detected.
100. For link-building campaigns, calculate your success rate for every piece. Total up the number of sources to which you promoted the piece. Add 20% more sources to account for the unexpected linking opportunities which a good piece of content should generate. Divide the number of links built (from Ahrefs) by this slightly padded number of opportunities. (Alternately, you can calculate using only the link-building opportunities which you specifically found.) Express this statistic in percent, and track it for every content piece you create. Over time, this will give you insight into what works and what doesn’t in a particular niche.
101. Use Google Analytics to determine your most valuable social network. Under Social (left-hand panel), click on Landing Pages. Click on the content page you want to analyze. Take note of total sessions, total pageviews, and average session duration. Over time, as you track these stats for every content piece you publish, you’ll gain insight into which networks bring you the most value for the specific goals of your content marketing campaign.
102. Compare Analytics to your share counts. Divide Sessions per social network by total shares in that network. The result is your click-thru rate on that network, not generally available on social posts which you haven’t promoted. This metric will help you understand how users reacted to your content. Were they compelled to click, or did they simply like, comment, or share without even reading it? You can use this data to evaluate your content titles. Are your titles hooking readers, or do they tell the whole story already?
103. Know your demographic, and compare that to device sessions per content piece. In Analytics, under Audience, click Mobile > Overview. Under Device Category, click the dropdown that reads Secondary Dimension. Click Behavior > Landing Page. You’ll see Sessions, Average Session Duration, Bounce Rate, and more for all your pages, by device type. This can give you insight into your content marketing audience’s experience on tablet and mobile. If your target market includes a high proportion of mobile users (as it almost certainly does), this data can show you whether you’re hitting the mark for those mobile users or not.
104. In Webmaster Tools, monitor your search queries for new keywords. As your content marketing campaign continues to grow, branching out into new related niches, new search queries will start leading people to your site. Analyze these new keywords in a tool like SEMrush to determine what sort of value they have (or don’t have) to your organizational objectives. Allow this information to inform your future content marketing efforts.
105. Track the direct monetization of your content marketing. Using Annotations in Analytics, determine how many leads or conversions you got in the period of your promotion. Go deep, and think outside the box here: continue tracking this stat outside the period of direct promotion, and base your timetable on the amount of traffic still coming to your content piece after promotion has ended. (You can find that using Tip #58 above.) Triangulate this data with site referral data per piece (Tip #60 above), looking at conversions. This process will show you where your most highly-monetized traffic from content marketing is coming from. Use this information strategically in future content marketing efforts.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Monitor domain authority across the life of your #contentmarketing campaign. #seo @216_digital http://bit.ly/1poOzCy” quote=”Monitor domain authority across the life of your #contentmarketing campaign. #seo @216_digital “]
106. With the Moz bar, monitor your domain authority across the life of your content marketing campaign. Link-building is not the only possible goal of content marketing, but domain authority (which goes up as you get high-quality backlinks) is a great high-level metric on the results of your content marketing. If you’re creating valuable content that’s perfectly targeted to delight a niche and set of related niches, you will get links. Over time, as you follow best practices in other SEO areas as well as build high-quality links with content marketing, your domain authority will rise.
The Bottom Line
Content marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With clear goals, a detailed plan, and dedicated work, you can establish your organization as a thought leader in your niche. We hope these tips help you on your road to content marketing success. Want to see how content marketing and link building can build real value into your business? Get in touch today.
The days of rocking SEO with spam links are over. Today’s SEO game is all about building high-quality, high-authority, contextual backlinks.
Google is smarter than ever, and that means webmasters need to get on board. Link-building services ensure that your site publishes great content marketing—the kind of stellar content that publishers in your niche actually want to link to. When your amazing articles and blog posts get high-authority links in your niche and related niches, your overall domain authority goes up—which means your sales pages (the money makers) start ranking better, too.
Over time, link-building services build real value into your domain. But how does this actually happen? How does “link juice” (the industry term for the authority that Google values) get passed from one website to another?
We’ve answered that question with this animated infographic. Check it out!
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Link-Building Services: Real Links from Legit Websites = Real Results.
How are link building services different from general SEO efforts? Glad you asked. SEO is a broad area of practice that encompasses many elements. Link building is a subset of general SEO efforts, but it’s one of the most important. After Google’s algorithm updates in recent years, white-hat link building is arguably the ONLY legitimate way to aggressively pursue higher rankings in Google search. White-hat link building works because it respects the needs of real human readers—something which the old spammy tactics didn’t do.
We’ve outlined our entire link-building strategy above in one diagram. But what’s happening here? If you’re new to the SEO game, that’s a lot to digest. We’ve broken down the link building process into 7 steps. Read on!
1 – Content Market Research
That’s not a typo. This isn’t only content marketing research, but content MARKET research. You’re entering a content market with its own unwritten rules. You need to know what you’re doing.
Any link building service that’s worth its salt will ground your project in data. That means finding out what types of content are ranking for your keywords already. With backlink analysis tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, link builders analyze high-performing pieces of content to see who’s linking to them and where they’re ranking.
But this stage of research isn’t only about hard data. The best link builders are also highly-practiced readers and flexible professional writers. They pick up contextual clues and intangible qualities surrounding a content niche, and they file these things away so they can write in the same voice (but even better) when they write for you.
2 – Creative Brainstorming
After all this research, link builders take hordes of data plus intangible clues and start brainstorming topics. The goal here is fantastic content that will delight audiences. The key is knowing how to differentiate between audience types and write for multiple audiences in the same piece—a secret which few link builders will divulge to anyone but their clients.
3 – Writing and Revising
The writing process gives shape to the data findings and creative brainstorming which the link building team has developed. This is where ideas are crystalized into fantastic articles, blog posts, infographics, and more. The best link builders know not to rush this phase, as it can lead to bad copy, typos, and factual errors.
4 – Publication
Believe it or not, this isn’t a simple matter of copy and paste. Depending on the CMS (content management system) settings, a lot of things will need to be reformatted inside the blog editor. For example, an article composed in Microsoft Word, with images included in the copy, can’t simply be copied and pasted over to WordPress. Each image must be uploaded individually through the WordPress media uploader, and each image may need its HTML rendering manually adjusted so the image will resize on mobile screens. Publication is not a stage for skimping, either; no one wants to get partway through promotion and find that an image has broken the layout of the post.
5 – Outreach and Promotion
There’s an old saying: “the publish-and-pray approach is dead.” That’s more true than ever. As writers and marketers ourselves, we believe that a piece of content only deserves as much effort in creation as it will receive in promotion. A great piece of content is dead in the water without a plan to expose it to the audience that will eat it up.
Here’s where initial research of your content market comes in handy again. With all the research you did, you should have a vast list of webmasters, bloggers, and publishers who will be interested in your content. If you did your research right, this list is promotion gold. Of course, the list alone isn’t enough to guarantee success. You have to talk the talk. Professional link builders are quick at picking up the feel of a particular discourse space, and they’re also well-versed in best practices that ensure their emails get opened, read, and replied to. No step can be the most important step, but outreach is pretty darn close to that.
6 – Incoming: LINKS!
It’s true. If the content marketing strategy was executed properly from the beginning (including such stages as link creator research, topic research, and outreach communication style), your content pieces will actually get links. Real, contextual, high-value links from sites within your niche and related niches.
7 – A Rising Tide Raises All Ships… Generally… With a Caveat.
When links are distributed fairly evenly across a good number of articles and pages on your site, your domain authority will go up. Domain authority is one of the biggest factors Google considers when assembling rankings. However, note that links to a page don’t always equate with a higher domain authority. Too many links to one page alone, and Google will see that page as having more value than your domain as a whole. This is not necessarily a problem, especially if that page is the most important part of your website; however, in this situation, the concentration of links to that page will not help raise your overall domain authority as much as a distributed link profile will.
The Bottom Line
Link building services are the ultimate SEO strategy for the white-hat world. White-hat link building works, and it directly improves your SEO when it’s done right.
However, it’s not a simple solution. Researching a content market, writing high-value content, and maintaining relationships with link creators in your niche is an ongoing, time-consuming process. Many companies see great value in outsourcing their link building needs. At 216digital, Inc., we practice white-hat link building for a wide variety of clients. You can learn more about our white-hat link building services here.
Content marketing is a bit of a buzzword these days—and for good reason. With the changes which the internet has wrought to marketing, interruption-based advertising has lost its power in many kinds of markets. People living today have grown up in a world of ad saturation. That means that traditional methods of getting consumer attention aren’t as effective as they once were. Particularly with the advent of social media, the brand/consumer interaction is no longer a one-way street. People want to be delighted and entertained.
Here comes content marketing, ready to save the day.
What Is Content Marketing?
As the Content Marketing Institute explains, content marketing is a strategic approach to marketing that uses engaging, educational, and entertaining content to establish a relationship between a brand and a consumer. In a word, it’s relating to your target market without selling to them.
Sounds crazy, right?
Wrong.
Remember ad saturation? People are tuning out traditional advertising. Consider ad-block software and the ability to record TV programs and fast-forward through the commercials. Even on YouTube, a user can mute an ad and skip to another tab until the commercial ends and the video begins. All of this means interruption-based advertising is losing its power. While the degree to which interruption is still effective depends on your market, we do see an overall trend in this direction.
Let’s look at our YouTube example. What is the user looking for when they mute the sound on your ad? They’re waiting for the relevant, engaging, entertaining content of that video. They’re not looking for a sales pitch. They’re looking for a story, a how-to, something useful, maybe something unforgettable. When was the last time you paid attention to an ad on YouTube? Can you remember the content of a single ad? I can’t. I’d call that forgettable.
Content Marketing: Memorable, Useful, Wonderful
Content marketing isn’t advertising. It’s relating. Imagine connecting with your friends and family. You have certain things in common, and that’s what you talk about. These things-held-in-common establish your relationship and maintain it.
Now, there are times when you’ll sell something to friends and family. Maybe you run an Etsy store, selling handmade jewelry. Friends and family will love this. They’ll probably buy your jewelry. But what if you turned every family gathering into a monologue about the awesome jewelry you sell on Etsy? Everyone will get tired of that. It’s not an appropriate kind of content for the social space you’re in. Worse, it’s disrespectful.
A similar approach lies behind the idea of content marketing. Rather than bombard every user you encounter with a sales pitch, you should publish content that’s interesting and helpful to your target market. But that’s only the beginning. On top of relevance and utility, you should strive for that extra something special that’s hard to put into words. To put it plainly, your content should delight users.
What Exactly Is Content?
Great question. At this point, you might not have a clear definition of content. Content isn’t just blog articles or Facebook posts. These things are formats or containers of content. They’re not the content itself. Content is the emotional message that your customers experience when interacting with your brand, regardless of channel.
That means you can leverage every aspect of your business as content. But remember, it has to be relevant to your target market. And it has to be engaging!
Creative Examples Of Content Marketing
Local businesses have some exciting opportunities for content marketing. National brands can’t offer the same level of direct, in-person attention to customers as local businesses can. That means that creative content marketing options abound for local business owners.
Consider an offline/online connection. Why not offer customers a coupon for tweeting about their recent purchase? You get a tweet now and a repeat visit later. In this example, your customers actually publish your content marketing for you! (Of course, make sure they @-mention you in their tweet. To help them out, consider painting your Twitter handle on the wall in big, bold letters.)
Remember, everything is content. Get your business involved in the community. Maybe you sponsor a charitable event like a run or a bike-a-thon. Get your customers involved, and get interviewed in local media about your participation in the event. Attend the event and take lots of pictures. Post them to your social channels as appropriate. If you take pictures of your regular customers at the event, get their permission and tag them in the photos. (Note: on Facebook, you’ll have to be friends with these people from your personal profile to tag them.)
The Bottom Line
Interruption advertising is basically dead. Content marketing is the way of the present—and the future. Start practicing content marketing now in your local market. The more creativity you put into this, the more you’ll get out of it. The sky is literally the limit.
Are you looking to take your content marketing efforts to the next level? Get in touch, and let’s start talking about your next big thing.
