Bring your leads back from the dead with an engaging autoresponder. Aaron Orendorff shares four post-conversion tactics to do that.
The post 4 Post-Conversion Autoresponder Tactics to Keep Your Leads Alive by @@iconiContent appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
SEM is considered one of the most powerful marketing channels. But does SEM really help drive traffic to your site? It’s a question many search marketers have heard from clients, especially since SEM is taking up a large chunk of marketing budgets.
The post The Effectiveness of Search by @annaleacrowe appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Len Marikdan of Groove clears up six email marketing myths that have been repeated so often that they’ve somehow become “facts.”
The post The 6 Biggest Email Marketing Myths, Debunked by @LenMarkidan appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
This recap of Patrick Hutchison's webinar is filled with strategies to turn browsers into buyers. If you sell products online, this is one webinar you won't want to miss!
The post #SEJThinkTank Recap: The Search Marketer’s Guide to Turning Online Browsers into Buyers by @dantosz appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
With content marketing on the rise, it's difficult to know which efforts are effective. Tuning into a few key metrics can provide the information needed to move forward with your marketing campaign confidently.
The post The 10 Most Important Metrics You Should be Tracking in Content Marketing by @IAmAaronAgius appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
I sat down with Kathleen Garvin to talk about how to create content your audience will actually want to engage with - which is no easy task!
The post Kathleen Garvin of Penny Hoarder on Creating Engaging Content and #ChewbaccaMom #MarketingNerds appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Recovering from a Google penalty should be viewed as the first step. Then you can move past survival, and into a world where your traffic keeps growing.
The post What to Do When Things Go Wrong in SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Why Creating a Personal Online Experience for Your Visitors Is Critical [Infographic] Did you know that 87% of companies that have implemented web personalization have seen an increased return in key metrics? There is certainly a strong case to create a personal experience for visitors to your website or blog. This handy infographic explains why one size doesn't always fit all. MarketingProfs What 51 Million Pieces of Content Say About Your Social Media Marketing Strategy [NEW RESEARCH] TrackMaven analyses "the social media content from over 40,000 companies across 130 major industries on four major social networks —Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn — to provide businesses with relevant benchmarks for social media audience size, posting frequency, and engagement at an industry-specific level" in this new report. TrackMaven Reddit Intros New Ad Offering, 'Grows Up' and Says It Can Be as Big as Facebook Reddit announced that they're allowing marketers to sponsor user posts on the popular social platform. AdAge reports "On August 4, Reddit will debut a new ad offering called Promoted User Posts, which will give marketers the ability to sponsor user generated posts on Reddit's platform." While the benefits to the users are unclear, this could make huge headway for influencer marketers and consumer brands trying to reach a tough-to-reach audience. AdAge Google launches imported call conversions Google is now allowing advertisers using their AdWords platform to import call data, so they can better attribute leads and revenue driven by their ads and connect that to their return on ad spend. This has been available in a rudimentary form previously, but this new ability will step up visibility into ROI and user behavior. ClickZ Spotify Is Now Letting Brands Target Listeners Worldwide via Their Playlists Last week, Spotify announced that the music streaming service will be offering programmatic advertising to its user base for marketers, with targeting based on demographics like age, gender, location and listening habits like playlist and genres. AdWeek 
Google rolls out expanded text ads, device bid adjustments & responsive ads for native in AdWords According to Search Engine Land, "Google has officially launched expanded text ads. The extra-long ads with double headlines began rolling out across devices Tuesday morning." Google is also now allowing advertisers to start setting base bid adjustments by device, and announced the upcoming responsive display ads that will be served across the GDN. Search Engine Land Facebook Reports Seeing 2 Billion Searches Daily MediaPost reports that on Wwednesday, Mark Zuckerberg said that on Facebook, "people are doing more than 2 billion searches a day between looking up people, businesses, and other things that they care about ... One of the big growing use cases that we're investing a lot in is looking up the content in the ecosystem, and that is an area that we're very excited about, which helps people find more content." MediaPost ACSI report: Customer satisfaction increases for e-business despite dips in social media The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released their findings on how social media, search engines and news websites have impacted consumer perceptions of e-businesses. While satisfaction with e-businesses is continuing to improve, satisfaction on social media -- attributed in part to the rise of social customer service -- has dropped. Marketing Land Financial Times: People find mobile ads 'intrusive' and 'distracting' Financial Times released findings from a study of 1,300 readers, of which Digiday reports: "Half of respondents to a survey the FT conducted with Quantcast said mobile ads are more intrusive than desktop, although 37 percent of them said they’d be more influenced if the mobile ads they saw were more creative." Digiday What were your top online marketing news stories this week? I'll be back in two weeks with more digital marketing news! The lovely and talented Ashley Zeckman will be filling my spot on camera and on the blog next week with the latest and greatest in the world of digital marketing.
The post Online Marketing News: Critical Personalization, Social Strategy Research & Marketers on Reddit appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
An update this week to the Google Chrome browser for iOS brings support for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).
The post Google Chrome for iOS Now Supports Accelerated Mobile Pages by @SouthernSEJ appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
The future of search has me in a constant spin cycle. Do you feel this way? Bing has 133 million monthly searches. Google hit over 100 billion. That’s a lot to take in.
The post Search Marketing Is The Future, Right? by @annaleacrowe appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Sponsored posts are coming to Reddit. Marketers will soon be able to turn content that has been submitted organically by redditors into Promoted User Posts.
The post Reddit Will Allow Marketers To Sponsor User Posts by @DannyNMIGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
In this article, we'll go through some common e-commerce problems, so you can get the most sales out of your B2C e-commerce website's traffic.
The post 4 Common Conversion Mistakes That Small B2C E-Commerce Shops Make by @GabGoldenberg appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
More than ever, mobile search is becoming the future of SEO, and with that comes a host of new challenges. Here's how you can get started with mobile SEO.
The post An Introduction to Mobile SEO by @BridgetRandolph appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Since HTTP and HTTPS both have a stigma attached, let’s analyze and weigh the advantages and disadvantages to using one or the other.
The post Pros and Cons of Using HTTPS for Small Businesses by @annaleacrowe appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
If you’re a 90’s kid, you likely have fond memories of Saved by the Bell and its star, precocious Ferris Bueller type Zack Morris.
You could tell Zack was unique among the students at Bayside High. For one thing, he could stop time and address the camera directly. But more importantly, he had a cellular phone. Sure, it was the size (and probably weight) of a brick. But it wasn’t connected to a landline! That big rubberized antenna didn’t connect with a corded receiver nearby—it pulled connectivity out of thin air. Magical.
Fast forward to today, and kids who were born after Saved by the Bell went off the air are now entering the workforce. If they met Zack Morris, they would probably make fun of his hair, his clothes, and his giant phone.
Image via YouTube
Mobile phones aren’t reserved for cool kids with time-stopping powers anymore. Whether we’re old, young, or middle-aged and trapped in a nostalgia loop, smartphones are our constant companions.
It’s high time for marketers to catch up with this reality. Over a year ago—an eternity in Internet time—Google announced that more searches take place on mobile devices than on computers. That fact has led Google to include mobile friendliness as part of its ranking algorithm. They know more people are on mobile than ever before. And they are invested in providing a better experience for mobile users.
Being on Google’s good side isn’t the only advantage to being mobile friendly, though. The only reason Google prioritizes mobile friendliness is that it’s what users want. That is, it’s what your audience wants.
So, how is your mobile experience? Sure, you already have responsive design, but is your content actually optimized for people to consume it on a mobile device? Or is reading your site more like trying to catch Pokémon on Zack Morris’ phone?
Here’s how to make different types of content more mobile-friendly.
Video is the rising star of mobile content. Thirty-five percent of viewers watched more video last year than they did the previous year. And 36% said they watched videos that last five minutes or longer every day.
If you want your audience to spend their precious data allotment on your video, it’s important to make sure the experience is a pleasant one:
Load times are a major factor in someone engaging with your content or bouncing back to the search results. So it’s important that your content gets in front of them fast. At the same time, though, visual interest is another major factor in staying versus bouncing. So you have to have both a responsive site and one with visual appeal. To do that, make sure your images will load fast and look great:
Yes, Virginia, people do still read text on mobile. It’s not all videos and images and virtual-reality roller coasters. But they’re reading for shorter periods of time and with much greater potential for distraction. So a wall of text will be even less effective than it is on a laptop screen. Here’s how to guide a reader through your text content without losing them:
Regardless of where they encounter your content, you want your audience to have a positive experience reading or watching it. So make sure your brand is putting its best face forward for the 50% who will encounter you first on mobile. Give them responsive video content that makes sense even if their headphones are off. Make sure your images look great, display properly, and load quickly. And make sure your text is snackable, navigable, and skimmable.
What are your top tips for creating mobile-friendly content? What did I miss? Let me know in the comments.
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2016. | What Does ‘Mobile-Friendly Content’ Really Mean? | http://www.toprankblog.com
The post What Does ‘Mobile-Friendly Content’ Really Mean? appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Google’s flagship app for iOS has been updated with several key new features, one of which you won’t believe it didn’t have until now.
The post Google App for iOS Updated With Improved Voice Search, Forward Button, + More by @SouthernSEJ appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Think you’ve asked Google some crazy questions in you’re life? They’re probably nothing compared to the top 20 more bizarre Google searches.
The post The Craziest Queries Google Receives Each Month by @SouthernSEJ appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Facebook’s advertising revenue skyrocketed to $6.2 billion, an amazing 63 percent increase compared to the same quarter last year, the company reported today. Facebook’s total Q2 2016 revenue hit $6.44 billion. Mobile was the biggest driver of Facebook’s advertising revenue, accounting for about 84 percent of that $6.2 billion. Last year, mobile ads accounted for 76 percent of its ad revenue. Elsewhere, Facebook announced that it now has 1.7 billion monthly active users, an increase over 15 percent over last year. Mobile monthly active users reached 1.57 billion, up 20 percent year-over-year. Daily active users also grew – to 1.13 billion, […]
The post Facebook’s ‘Good Quarter’: $6.3 Billion In Ad Revenue by @DannyNMIGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Here’s a look at how Facebook is asserting its dominance in livestreaming, how other players are countering – and what this means for brands and marketers.
The post Why Facebook is the 800-Pound Gorilla of Livestreaming appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Link building is necessary to boost search ranking and for an efficient marketing strategies. So why is it that link building is so neglected?
The post 7 Reasons Why Link Building is Seriously Neglected by @TimothyCarter appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
In this latest #AskAnSEO post, Jenny Halasz answers questions about header tags, SEO resources, must-have tools, and more.
The post #AskanSEO: Rapid Fire on Header Tags, SEO Resources & Tools, and more! by @jennyhalasz appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Testing different variations is one of the quickest ways to learn, and Digital Advertising is no exception. When you begin talking about A/B testing, many of us get nervous and all sorts of possible catastrophes begin swimming around in our heads.
But the truth is, advertising is a quickly evolving tactic, and in order to gain momentum, testing has become a necessity. Whether your advertising is social, display, native or search, the key to better results and return on investment is testing.
To help you navigate the sometimes-confusing world of digital advertising testing, we’ve provided some helpful resources below.
An A/B Test is simply a test between two variants, a control and a variation, or as Google likes to call it, an experiment. Examples might include creating two different:
An A/B split needs to be shown to the exact same audience, during the same times of day, same days of the week and in the same areas in order for you to have a firm grasp on which variation is truly performing better.
It’s important to have a firm grasp on your data set or audience so that you can split the information and create an equitable ad deliver. You’ll find that most platforms have options for testing including, Google AdWords, Analytics Experiments, Optimizely and Unbounce.
In order to measure success, you need to make sure you’re giving you tests enough time to run. We typically recommend running tests at a minimum of 2 weeks with most tests running for 1 month.
Volume
How much data is required for you to have statistically significant results? If your program sees low volumes (clicks, impressions, conversions), you need to run longer tests. If you have a high volume account you can call tests much faster.
Seasonality
If you have drastic peaks and lows due to seasonality, I suggest finding the middle ground for testing. I never recommend testing during a seasonal low unless you dealing with a high volume account.
Day of Week/Month Activity
Make sure that both groups have equal coverage during your peak days and weeks. Again, try to avoid running tests during your low periods, especially if you see significant swings in CTR and conv. rates.
It’s also essential to make sure that your test is going to have impact. Sometimes slight copy variations and image changes aren’t going to tell you much. You want to make sure the variant has a very clear goal and hypothesis. For example, by changing a button from “Download” to “Get My Guide”, I’m hoping to see a 10% lift in conversions.
When we implement digital advertising tests, they are directly tied to helping to meet program goals. Depending on the goals for your digital advertising program, we recommend launching the following types of tests:
Message Testing:
Test your messaging simple ad variations such as:
Changing a single word within your message normally doesn’t lead to strong insights so make sure there is substantial change.
Below you’ll find a couple of examples where we have tested different messaging tactics for significant engagement improvements.
Promotional Based Text Ads Driving Significantly Higher CTR’s Than Benefit Messaging:
Benefit Based Text Ad Driving Significantly Higher CTR’s Than Information Messaging:
Landing Page Element Testing
Testing different elements on your landing pages can lead to surprising results. Whether it’s the layout, form fields or buttons, it’s always important to experiment.
Below you’ll see a simple button label change driving a major improvement in lead volume!
Imagery Testing
For social posts, display channel and landing pages, it is always good to test a couple of contrasting images, themes and concepts.
Especially if you have multiple audience personas, you’ll want to know what type of visuals and graphics resonate best with your audience. Do you need to be straighter forward, does humor resonate with your audience, and does your audience like to see the product? Are certain concepts better for social than display? You’ll discover these answers via testing.
Here’s an example of a test we ran for a social campaign. #FuranceFail had a humorous twist that resonated much better with our social audience.
Again, make sure you’re testing has purpose, a hypothesis and a goal. If you’ve put serious thought into your A/B tests you won’t be disappointed. While the outcome may not have been desired, now you know and knowledge is power.
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2016. | Find Success By Putting Your Digital Advertising to the A/B Test | http://www.toprankblog.com
The post Find Success By Putting Your Digital Advertising to the A/B Test appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Twitter’s ad revenue grew 18 percent year-over-year to $535 million in Q2. Ad engagement climbed by 226 percent and the cost per engagement fell by 64 percent. But it’s not all good news. Twitter said that they are “seeing a continuation of the trends discussed last quarter with less overall advertiser demand than expected. This is reflected in both our Q2 performance and Q3 outlook.” Why Advertisers Are Abandoning Twitter The company cited two reasons why advertiser demand is down: First, there is increased competition for social marketing budgets, which requires us to continuously raise the quality bar on the advertising […]
The post Twitter Ad Revenue & Engagement Grows, But Demand Drops by @DannyNMIGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
A Google AdWords metric that has been around for the past 15 years is being retired on September 21st.
The post Google AdWords to Eliminate ‘Converted Clicks’ on September 21st by @SouthernSEJ appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Google officially unleashed three anticipated AdWords updates today that are designed to help advertisers capitalize on the the shift toward a mobile-first world.
The post Good AdWords Updates: Expanded Text Ads, Responsive Ads, & Device Bidding by @SouthernSEJ appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
In this post, Larry Kim will share the importance of organic CTRs and tips to make sure your Google CTRs on the organic SERPs are where they need to be.
The post Why You NEED to Raise Organic CTRs (And How to Do It) by @LarryKim appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Know the steps to consider when you are building a SEO friendly WordPress website with Optimizer.
The post How to Create a Search Engine Friendly WordPress Site in Minutes by @sejournal appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
When it comes to effectively and meaningfully reaching your audience, I think it’s pretty safe to say that all marketers understand the important role social media plays in that quest. Not only does your audience seem to live on social networks—posting vacation selfies and checking into newly opened restaurants—but they also rely on them for information, entertainment and engagement.
As a result, social media marketing has become a necessary tool for meeting your audience where they are. And it’s all about creating a connection with your audience by encouraging them to engage with you and the quality, informative and entertaining content that you share.
Unfortunately, inspiring that consistent and meaningful engagement can be challenging at times, am I right?
First of all, you’re competing hard for your audience’s attention. I mean, everyone is on social media these days. According to the Content Marketing Institute and MarketProfs 2016 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—North America reports, 90% of B2C and 93% of B2B marketers say that social media is the most used content marketing tactic, outside of blogs. In addition, you may not have a social strategy in place or are working with limited resources, which can hinder your ability to maintain a consistent social presence.
But the good news is that there’s several things you can do to give engagement a nice little boost. And the great news is that anyone can do them—and that’s why we’re calling them hacks.
So, without further ado, here are eight easy hacks that can lend your social media marketing strategy a hand and boost audience engagement.
One of the best ways to engage your audience, is to simply ask them to do so by posing thought provoking, interesting or creative questions. To get the best reach and to catch their eye, include a video or image with your question.
ModCloth is a popular women’s clothing brand that offers vintage-inspired clothing and accessories for every body. They do a great job of showcasing their brand, while also encouraging audience engagement through questions. This Instagram post is sweet and simple. Going up just a week ago, it already boasts over 6,700 likes and 67 comments.
Polls are any easy and effective way to generate engagement because they don’t require a lot of effort to participate in. They’re also a fabulous way to get new information about your audience.
For example, TopRank Marketing’s CEO Lee Odden conducts a weekly Twitter poll to engage his followers, as well as mine for interesting insights.
How many searches do you think there are on Google each month?
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 18, 2016
Tagging or mentioning other people or brands in your posts can lend credibility to your post, as well as notify those your tagging that they’re being talked about and compel them to share with their audience.
If you’re sharing content that could include multiple tags or mentions, don’t go too overboard and try to fit them all in. This doesn’t create a good user experience for your audience, nor does it give the people or brands you’re mentioning enough credit. Instead create multiple, unique posts that are more personal and schedule them out over a few days.
This one may seem like a no-brainer to some, but it’s definitely still worth mentioning. Hashtags help people find your social content, so including them where they’re relevant is a must.
To find relevant hashtags, search social media networks natively or take a look at databases such as Hashatit or Hashtagify.me. Also, do some research on hashtag best practices for each social network, as they often vary.
It’s been said before and I’ll say it again: humans are visual creatures. In fact, research shows that an estimated 90% of the information that comes to our brains is visual. So, using interesting images and videos as part of your social media marketing strategy will get people to stop and look or watch.
Take advantage of opportunities to give your audience a sneak peek at new products or events. These types of posts often do well because you’re inviting your audience to be a part of something unique.
Interesting events and news items are never in short supply. Use them in a relevant way to spark conversation and encourage people to share their thoughts.
Take a look at the trending news topics sections on Twitter and Facebook to see what people are talking about. Google News is also a helpful spot to find interesting topics.
While social media contests are a common engagement tactic, you can’t argue their effectiveness when done right. Create a contest that is unique and easy for people to participate in.
As an example, Welter Heating, a family-owned HVAC company to put on a social media trivia contest, with the prize being a set of four front row tickets to an upcoming baseball game. The goal was to drive social awareness and engagement, as well as website traffic.
In the end, we saw a 166% increase in overall website traffic as compared to the same period the previous year.
If a contest makes sense for your brand, make sure that you abide by specific contest rules that are outlined by the different social networks to avoid any penalties.
While the above seven hacks are easy and effective, they can only reach their full potential if you’re consistently posting and engaged in what’s happening on your pages. Social media management and engagement tools can be easily integrated into your daily routine. They typically give you a place to schedule your posts and also help you keep up on social activity, so you can respond quickly and keep conversations going.
There are a number of tools—both free and for a fee—out there. Some of those include: Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Sprinklr, Spredfast and Buffer. Choose the one that best matches with your budget, goals and the networks you’re using.
All in all, there are dozens and dozens of things you can do to more effectively engage your audience. Hopefully, these hacks provide you with a place to start building your engagement efforts. Just remember, social media is all about building that relationship. So, be consistent, be creative and be compelling.
What are some of the social media marketing hacks that you use to boost engagement? Tell us in the comments section below.
Disclosure: Welter Heating is a TopRank Marketing client.
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2016. | 8 Social Media Marketing Hacks to Boost Engagement | http://www.toprankblog.com
The post 8 Social Media Marketing Hacks to Boost Engagement appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
To successfully optimize for local search on mobile, you need to understand what makes your users tick. Your mobile audience wants easy results now.
The post A Quick Guide to Optimizing for Local Search on Mobile by @jakebaadsgaard appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
In this week’s wrap-up, VIP contributor Christina Baldassarre gives a beginner's guide to social media strategy, and Ryan Clutter gives the latest SEO tools.
The post SEJ Wrap-Up: SEO Tools That Work & A Beginner’s Guide to Social Strategy by @megcabrera appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
