Planning and producing content for websites is challenging. It has to be useful for the organisation and their customers, written in an authentic voice and tone, and there are often lots of people involved with individual agendas and priorities. Add to this the considerations needed around accessibility, structured content, localisation,personalisation, migration, governance (and many more), and you can easily find yourself spiralling down a rabbit hole of missed deadlines, delayed content and out of control budgets. I’ve painted a bleak picture here but there is hope. Having a content strategy for website projects can ensure a better way of getting content planned, produced and published. We need to put content at the top of the agenda from the get-go and ask questions early on in the project to make sure you don’t get to the stage of building the website and realising there is no content. When content isn’t […]
Here’s What 2016 Taught Us About Content Marketing and SEO
Good, bad or indifferent – 2016 is over. And while 2017 is well underway, I recommend content marketers take one good look back before they go. The past is the past, after all. And there’s plenty of lessons from 2016 that we can apply going forward. 1. We’re getting better at this. Good news first: The big story of content marketing in 2016 is that content marketers were considerably more effective than they were even one year earlier, with 62 percent of B2B content marketers and 63 percent of B2C content marketers report that they were “somewhat more successful” or “much more successful” than they were one year ago. Most content marketers report that they were more successful with their content marketing in 2016 than in prior years. This is clearly great news. It means we can canvas for larger budgets. It also means we can better balance between […]
The Wise Content Marketer’s Guide to Sensible SEO
Search engine optimization — SEO — is one of those “you love it or you hate it” topics. Some get a charge out of the challenge of keeping up with those wily engineers at Google. Others would rather eat a bug than try to figure out what “headless crawling” means and which redirect is the right one to pick in months that end in R. I have to confess, I’m in the bug-eating camp on this one. Fortunately, although technical SEO is still important for some sites, there’s a crazy-powerful optimization technique that people like me can get really good at. Yes, it’s content. (You already knew that, because you’re smart.) Yes, it has to be good content. And yes, I’m going to talk about what, specifically, “good” means. But first, I’m going to talk about my most important search optimization rule. The great rule of SEO My first […]
3 Ways to Re-Use Your Content Magnets to Dominate SERPs
A lead magnet is a piece of content aimed at motivating consumers to take an action. At the top of your conversion channels, lead magnets spur interest and tie a visitor to your brand but don’t necessarily drive a direct sale (e.g., provide contact information, sign up for a newsletter, join a free trial.) Creating a solid lead magnet is hard work: You invest hours of brainstorming and research, creation, and design. The good news is you should be able to further your investment by converting them into attractive assets on third-party sites, which in turn could strengthen your presence on search engine result pages for relevant keywords and queries. Here are three ways to turn your on-site lead magnets into digital assets for third-party sites. 1. Turn a PDF into a flip-book A downloadable e-book is a common and effective lead magnet. People love free e-books. If done […]
10 Impressive Examples of Influencer Marketing Campaigns
You can’t go anywhere these days without hearing about the elusive, purportedly mystical powers of influencer marketing. But is this buzzword-laden tactic actually worth your time and energy? According to a recent study comprised of marketers from a variety of industries, 94% said influencer marketing was an effective campaign strategy. That’s great news for marketers — right? Not so fast. Even though a majority of marketers believe influencer marketing is a viable tactic, it’s still incredibly challenging to report accurately on influencer campaign ROI. In fact, 78% of marketers say that determining the success of influencer marketing campaigns will be a top challenge in 2017. So even though the tangible benefits of influencer marketing — follower engagement, driving traffic, and creating more authentic content — seem clear cut, there’s still a lot of progress to be made in making this form of campaign measurable for agencies and marketers. What […]
Google Just Changed The Rules: Here Are 5 Things You Must Do Now
If you’re concerned about search engine optimization, chances are that you keep a close eye on what the big search engines are up to – especially Google . Anyone following the search engines will tell you that they’re always up to something. New changes are introduced regularly and keeping up with these changes is vital for improving your search rankings . You can’t really blame Google either. They are the world’s most popular search engine for many reasons and they intend to stay there. One way of doing so is by providing a better user experience, and many of the changes they make to their search ranking algorithm are aimed at exactly that. One of the latest changes is the introduction of a mobile-first index. How Google’s mobile first index works Google has traditionally prioritized desktop versions of websites over mobile versions when analyzing content for ranking on results […]
Want to Know How to Make Influencer Marketing Work?
The Internet is a noisy, overcrowded place. Building momentum for your brand is often an uphill battle, and getting your audience to buy in can be daunting. So, how do you get people to take you seriously? How can you go from being just a little fish in a vast ocean to becoming a recognizable brand or even a household name? One strategy that’s proven to be effective is influencer marketing. The number of brands using this strategy has grown exponentially over the past few years. In fact, “interest in influencer marketing has risen more than 90x from 2013 to the present.” Here are some other stats to give you a better idea of the state of this strategy at the moment: “Influencer marketing content delivers 11x higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing.” “Twitter users report a 5.2x increase in purchase intent when exposed to promotional content […]
Marketing Research to Bookmark for Your Next Blog Post
If you thought your research days were over when you graduated from high school or college, think again. If you create any kind of content as part of your role, your arguments should be well-supported with data. Why is research so important? It makes your claims credible, your content authoritative, and helps you earn more social shares and backlinks. In fact, an analysis of over one million articles from Moz and BuzzSumo revealed that research-backed content generates more shares and more backlinks than other content types. The thing is, finding the research to cite is tough sometimes. The original source data can be hard to track down and citations might be incorrect or missing, among other issues. For all of you content creators, bloggers, SEOs, and market researchers, we feel your pain. So we put together a comprehensive list of sources with original research data about all things marketing. […]
5 Tips to Crack Google’s Algorithm and Drive Quality Traffic To Your Site
5 Tips to Crack Google’s Algorithm and Drive Quality Traffic To Your Site Let’s face it… With over 200+ Google ranking factors making sure the law of the land prevails, and over 1 billion websites fighting for spots in search engines – if you ignore SEO, your online sales are likely to go south, especially if you are unlucky enough to get struck with a Google penalty. If you do not want to fall victim to a Google penalty, ensure that whenever the Google God’s wave their magic wand and whip up an algorithm update/change, such as Penguin, Pigeon, Panda, Hummingbird, or the recent RankBrain roll out, that you comply. But then again, how do online website owners actually comply when Google reveals only so much? Even if you keep your nose pressed against Google’s conference room, you won’t get to know much. So, how do you actually entice […]
Are You Forgetting About Middle of the Funnel Content?
Are you creating great content and seeing no return? Are you baffled because your content performs great on social and generates a lot of traffic to your site, but results in high bounce rates and low conversion rates? Your problem may not be your content or the way you are promoting it. Your problem may be a lack of middle of the funnel content. If your site doesn’t bridge the gap between introductory content and decision stage content, how do you expect your audience to make that leap? I’m sure you have great content and your products / services page is superb, but none of that matters to your audience. Your audience thinks in one mode, and that mode is ‘what can you do for me today?’ Therefore, you need to provide valuable, educational content at every stage of the funnel. You’ve grabbed the attention of your audience, now […]