There are literally millions of blog posts added to the blogosphere every day. It can be a powerful tool and contribute significantly to your SEO efforts, but…. Every Day??!!??
Let’s examine some Fact and Fiction when it comes to blogging – including whether you actually need to blog every day (spoiler alert: you don’t).
Blogging Fiction #1
If you write it, they will come.
False.
Pithy prose. Relevant information. Well-researched facts. These are all important elements to an effective blog post, but they are not enough to bring your blog to the people.
Blogging Fact #1
People will only read your blog if they can find it. Think of your blog as a service. You need to market it.
You’ll need to invest nearly as much time sharing your blog as you do writing it. Share your posts on multiple social media channels and track your analytics to see what days and times are leading to the most views.
Blogging Fiction #2
Social media is better than email for promoting your blog.
If your goal is to connect with new people then social media is a good place to be. However…
Blogging Fact #2
…if your goal is to grow your audience through genuine connection, then email is a powerful tool for promoting your blog.
You have a carefully-curated list of people who have opted-in to your content. They have asked you to share your knowledge with them by sharing their email address with you.
To build loyalty among your email list build in some exclusives for those who have chosen to opt-in.
• Personalize your emails to them by using their name and sending “bonus” posts that speak directly to their industry (if you’ve collected that information from them).
• Email your blog posts to your list a day before posting it to your site. Embed social links in the email copy so users can share your post easily on their social accounts. This allows them to stand out as thought leaders by sharing the content to their networks a day before you make it widely available.
• Make special, unadvertised, offers to your email list to reward their loyalty.
But how do I go about building a solid list when I’m just getting started? This requires a little heavy lifting on your part, but nothing you can’t handle. Try adding pop ups or slide-ins to your posts that invite people to join your email list. Include a persuasive call to action that really speaks to your audience’s needs, and encourage them to sign up for more great posts like the one they’re reading.
Blogging Fiction #3
SEO for blogs is super-easy; load each post with keywords and links to make it easy for web crawlers to find you.
Today’s search engine algorithms are sophisticated. They’re not going to fall for the old keyword-stuffing trick. Plus, a blog post loaded with keywords is really awkward to read.
Blogging Fact #3
The customer – not the content – is king. Write for the actual humans who will read, comment on, and share your blog, not for the fickle computer algorithms that change their mind every day about which posts make it to Page 1.
Believe it or not, over-optimizing your page can actually lead to penalties from the major search engines, including Google. Tools like Yoast can help by “reading” your post and giving you insight into keyword (over)usage, meta descriptions, and title lengths for SEO.
In addition to thoughtful SEO efforts, optimize your site for sharing. Make it easy for your audience to share your content with easy-to-find sharing buttons and a call to action for sharing on their social networks. Tools like Open Graph and Knowledge Graph can help optimize your shared content so it appears as you would like it to in social sites.
Blogging Fiction #4
(we’ve saved the most egregious for last)
Blog every day to ensure you stay at the top of the search results and top-of-mind with your audience.
Blogging Fact #4
You will get BURNT OUT! Trying to blog every day is an impossible task. It’s not just the research, writing, editing, and optimizing that take time and brain power. It’s also the marketing that goes into making your blog work for you that requires your attention.
There are literally not enough hours in the day to do this well.
The goal is to blog consistently. For some people, that might be as often as 3 times each week. For others, it may be twice each month. Regardless of your schedule, define it, then stick to it. The truth is, sometimes less is more. It builds anticipation in your audience and they’re excited to see your posts. You double that excitement when you provide well-researched and well-written posts that actually speak to them.
Bonus Fact: Hiring a content writer for your blog is usually a good investment. It takes a little time up front for you both to get in sync and for them to learn your voice, but you’ll quickly discover how much more you can get done when you don’t have the full responsibility of your blog on your shoulders.
8 Ways to Optimize Your Local Landing Pages for SEO
Is your local business visible when people search online for goods or services “near me?” It should be.
Today’s audiences value shopping in their local neighborhoods and visiting “local” businesses when traveling. If they can’t find you with a quick Google search “near me”, they aren’t going to seek you out.
Creating local SEO-optimized landing pages (A) helps your neighbors and guests find your business, and (B) convinces them to go there.
What are Local Landing Pages?
Local landing pages are based on a business’s physical location. This is usually the city and state, but multi-branch organizations may have a separate page for each street address. A retail chain is one example. Search “Anthropologie Washington DC” and you’ll get a list of its locations within the city. Click on the location of your choice and you’ll be taken to the landing page for that branch.
Local landing pages are a good strategy to start driving organic traffic to your site. Local landing pages rank quickly, depending on how many competing businesses are in your region and how large your geolocation is.
Additionally, a local landing page can receive click-through s from your online ads, marketing emails, social media pages, and any other inbound links on websites, blogs, QR codes, or social media.
Local SEO Optimization of Your Landing Pages
Your landing pages must have the specific elements that Google and other search engines look for. Paying attention to the details will help you avoid being invisible to the web crawlers.
What Should Be on Local Landing Pages?
Your landing page tells customers everything they need to know to find and visit your local business. A quality-crafted landing page will be rewarded by the search engines with higher placement in their results Your local landing page should include these five elements:
A successful local SEO optimized landing page brings together SEO and marketing strategy so that each supports the other for maximum results. Our digital marketing and SEO professionals can help you reap the benefits of a local landing page.
Effective Brand Identity & Design Begins With Research
A Great Brand Identity is Built on a Solid Foundation
The brand identity of a business can’t just be what someone thinks looks good. An effective brand must: accurately represent the business; engage positive customer response; and differentiate the business from its competitors.
Decades of market research have quantified every detail from colors, fonts, and shapes to the number of words in a slogan (7 max). This research informs how we do our work in developing a brand identity that does its job now and for years to come.
In addition to broad marketing research, we need to conduct specific research with each client. We need to know about your mission, your audiences, your competition, and your goals, among other key insights. Here’s a list of the questions we’ll ask when developing your brand identity:
Your industry makes a difference in the choice of a color palette, among other things. Blue is the most popular color for businesses that want to convey stability and integrity. It’s the most common corporate color overall. Here’s a quick rundown of branding color psychology: the brand values and industry sectors associated with each.Blue: (secure, trustworthy): Finance, technology, energy, health care
Green: (wealth, health): Health care, energy, agriculture
Yellow: (light happiness): Energy, hospitality, household
Orange: (fun, vitality): Health care, household, technology
Red: (dynamic, passionate): Hospitality, automotive, retail
Purple: (royal, creative): Tehcnology, arts/crafts, finance
Black: (sophisticated, upscale): Retail, automotive, technology
White: (clean, pure); Health care, retail
Within an industry, there’s a wide range of products, services, and customers. A surgical equipment manufacturer and a wellness spa are both in the health care sector, but their businesses are very different. Target and Neiman Marcus are in the same business, but their customers are different; that’s why Target’s logo is red and Neiman Marcus’s is black.You may have noticed that in the color list, some sectors appear more than once. Colors can be further refined to represent your specific business. A regal deep purple gives an impression of authority, whereas a light lavender purple creates a sense of spirituality. You can even combine colors to produce a desired effect. McDonald’s combination of red and yellow is one brilliant example.
What do you do? Why do you do it? How do you do it? You know your mission and your vision. Help us understand it so we can develop a brand identity strategy that effectively communicates it to your various audiences.Brand identities shouldn’t be something that needs frequent retooling. They should have a certain amount of staying power, if you’re in a trendy or rapidly-evolving field. You’ll want your identity to reflect your modern approach but isn’t dated two years from now. Understanding your mission and vision are important to us so we can develop an effective brand identity with a certain timeless quality.
The examples from Target and Neiman Marcus illustrate the staying power of a well-researched brand identity. Target is bold, clean, and modern. Neiman Marcus is slim, elegant script. Each appeals to the tastes, lifestyles, and motivations of their customers and are classic designs that won’t soon look dated.
A brand identity program needs to meet the expectations of your target audience. A whimsical cartoon drawing makes a good logo if your audience is parents of young children; not such a good choice if your prospects are corporate decision makers.The psychological principle of cognitive dissonance is at play when we see a discrepancy between our perceptions and reality. To resolve that dissonance, we will usually leave the situation – meaning we leave your business behind. When we see a high-end watch being offered for sale by a street vendor, we are suspicious. Our perception is that high-end watches belong in high-end stores. When we are presented with a different reality, we tend to walk away because we don’t like the dissonance.
Your brand identity should clearly differentiate you from your competition. We need to get to know them, too, to make sure we aren’t following them. Ethically, we would never copy anyone else’s look. Practically, we don’t want to look like others in the industry because it will confuse the customer. Our goal is to convert them with what our brand represents.
Your brand identity should look good on everything from business card to a website to a trade show display. It should be easily-recognized on tiny smartphone screens and grainy newspaper ads. It should be visible on different-colored backgrounds you might use in a magazine or TV ad.“Less is more” is our design mantra for brands. Minimal imagery outperforms cluttered imagery for legibility, scalability, and recognizability. We consider every element of your overall brand identity: artwork, color palette, lines of text and words per line.
We know you’ll find lots of application for your newly-designed logo. Well provide you with all the resources you’ll need: color and grey scale, low-resolution for email ads and high resolution for printed brochures. We’ll give you logo files with and without your slogan. We can provide logos for specialty applications like presentation templates, logowear, novelty giveaway items, and animation.
The more we know, the smarter we design
We want to deeply understand your brand’s platform and its customers. We apply proven marketing strategies to designing a brand that empowers your marketing campaigns, customer responses, and ultimate business success.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers. We have decades of experience in marketing and brand design and we’re happy to help you define your brand. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.
Local PPC Advertising Increases Website Traffic and Sales
The COVID pandemic has kept all of us closer to home. Will your audience easily find you there? If you don’t have a strategic marketing plan that includes local PPC advertising, you’re missing a lot of opportunity.
Working from home? A local PPC ad shows you where to find a nearby coffeehouse with free Wi-Fi. Want to go out to eat? A local PPC ad shows you what’s available in your neighborhood, their amenities, menus, and hours of operation. Find a dentist, a plumber, or an account quickly and easily by simply typing “dentist,” “accountant,” or “plumber” with the key words near me and the first thing you’ll be served are local PPC ads. No need to scroll any further.
See what you’re missing out on? That was almost too easy to be true. But it’s completely true.
Local keywords and geotargeting are the key to successful local PPC advertising strategies on search engines or social media. They serve your ads to consumers in a targeted, local geographic area. You’ll only pay for the ads that get clicked.
Local PPC advertising is not just for local businesses. Maybe you’ve got a national business, but want to run promotions in conjunction with a local event. Local PPC allows you to use your ad spend smartly by only targeting customers who are likely to respond to the promotion.
Want to know how it works? It’s as easy at 1 – 2 – 3.
1) Know your geography. A good place to start is where you currently draw most of your customers from. Depending on your business, that’s usually relatively close to your base of operations. However, you don’t need to cast a very wide net. It’s important to exclude those zip codes that aren’t good potential targets for you, even if they’re right next door. Specific geographic targeting ensures your ads get seen by more people who are likely to convert, than just simply blanketing the area with ads.
2) Keywords. Keywords. Keywords. Even if you have only a rudimentary understanding of SEO, you know the importance of keywords. Sometimes finding the right keywords can be a bit daunting. Good AdWords offers a service called Broad Match Modifiers (BMM) that can help ease your keyword anxiety. Essentially BMM ensures a broad audience can find you, but only if they are using a pre-set keyword. It minimizes the amount of irrelevant clicks that you’d still have to pay for.
3) Enable ad extensions. Get your Google My Business page in good order. Keep it current and add call or location extensions. Call extensions often have a clickable button that allows customers to call you directly. The extra details offered through both the call and location extensions target your ads to more qualified customers, thereby gaining you more bang for your advertising buck.
One last word (OK, it’s actually two) on local PPC advertising: Landing Page. You don’t want to develop an amazing local PPC advertising strategy only to lose business because you’re landing page failed you. Offer clear contact information and an easily-actionable call to action. Make it easy for people to do business with you. And don’t forget, local PPC advertising takes place in your community. Your messaging needs to embrace your local community. Help your customers feel good about supporting a local business that supports their community.
Can you think of a better way to manage your marketing budget, grow your business, and support your community? Neither can we. One easy call and our SEO professionals can have a sound, profitable local PPC advertising strategy developed and launched in no time.
Is It Time For a Brand Refresh?
What do your brand and iconic brands like Ivory Soap, Campbell’s Soup, and Coca-Cola have in common?
From time to time, they each need to re-evaluate and refresh to stay current with audience expectations.
How do I know when it’s time to refresh my brand? Is a brand refresh simply a new logo? Will I have to build a new website?
These are all good questions. Let’s address them one at a time.
When is it necessary to refresh your brand
There are really two areas to assess when considering a brand refresh: internal factors and external factors.
Internal factors include mission, vision, values, and core product/service offerings. Your mission defines what you do and why you do it. Has that changed significantly over time? It likely has adapted to the demands of a changing marketplace. As your mission has evolved, so has your vision: this is your aspirational goal that drives you away from complacency and toward growth. These are two fundamental components of your brand and your culture. Your brand should reflect them. If they’re out of sync, it’s probably time to refresh your brand.
Each organization has its own culture built around its values. As your mission and vision have shifted, you may have had leadership changes, significant growth, different hiring practices, or outside forces (like a global pandemic) that have impacted your culture. If your brand and your values don’t align anymore, you should consider a brand refresh.
You have evolved your product and service offerings as the marketplace demands. Recently, the global pandemic brought unforeseen changes to organizations literally overnight. Many organizations switched from on-site to online delivery of services (think restaurants, telehealth, and education just to name a few). Brick-and-mortar businesses became e-commerce businesses. Audiences that had been reluctant to embrace online offerings like banking, shopping, and investing have embraced apps and QR codes in untold numbers. How has your business changed as does your brand still represent your business model? If your brand has not moved forward with you, a refresh is in order.
External factors are those areas that are largely out of your control but have a definite impact on your business. Expanding global markets, audience shifts, competition, and the ever-shifting industry landscape are all factors to consider when you evaluate your brand.
Does your current brand reflect cultural attributes that don’t translate well into regions where you anticipate growth? Assessing your growth patterns and understanding how your brand will be perceived and accepted in those cultures is a critical factor in deciding to do a brand refresh.
When was the last time you put your fingers on the pulse of public opinion? Do you know your audiences’ perceptions of your brand? As technology has evolved, and people have more information than ever, audiences are making decisions differently. In many cases, audiences are influenced more by what other consumers have to say about your brand than what you have to say. Is your brand still connecting with your audience? Research can be enlightening when considering a brand refresh.
Can you succinctly say how your brand stands out from the competition? Can your employees? Can your audience? If you’re not standing out, you’re not moving forward. A brand refresh can help you stake your claim in your industry and differentiate yourself from the competition.
Every industry experiences a shifting landscape. During the recent pandemic, no industry was left untouched. Organizations everywhere were upended. New technologies have significantly impacted how people research, purchase, and share their opinions. These disruptions lead to change throughout your organization – your brand needs to keep pace.
Is my logo my brand?
Your logo is a visual representation of your brand. It’s the most recognizable and public-facing component of your brand, so it is integral to communicating your brand to your audiences. As you refresh your brand, you will need to consider whether this important piece still reflects your brand goals. In many cases, your logo will need an upgrade. Sometimes, especially in the case of mergers, you may need an entirely new logo.
Keep in mind that a new logo is not the same as a new brand. To be truly effective, work with a firm that can help you with your overall brand strategy – including your logo.
Will I need a whole new website?
Your website is the hardest-working tool in your marketing toolbox. It’s something that should be refreshed regularly, and rebuilt from time-to-time. One of those times might be when you refresh your brand.
Your website is the most visible element of your brand. If your website is slow to load, doesn’t make e-commerce easy, or function well in a mobile environment, in the minds of your audience, those flaws are attributed to your brand. Sometimes a brand refresh only requires a few tweaks to your website. But keep in mind the critical importance of your website to your brand’s reputation and don’t be afraid to start fresh with a new website.
How Is My Competition Spending Their Marketing Budgets
Can you afford not to be monitoring your competition’s marketing efforts? For most of us, studying the competition is not really our favorite way to spend our marketing dollars. So, how do you stay ahead of the competition without breaking the bank? We’ve got 5 easy, cost-effective techniques that may be the solution you’ve been looking for.
1. Check out their website
Watch for updates like product launches, added site capabilities, and customer responses — anything that might indicate they’re getting a jump on you in terms of products or services. You might also find areas where you excel at something they don’t and can highlight that advantage.
2. Follow their social media
As a follower of their brand pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. you’ll get automatic updates about your competition’s activity, including their marketing efforts.
3. Monitor their activity across the internet
Set up a free Google Alerts account and be notified of any online media activity that features your competition. You can see news about them, blog posts, and videos. You can specify whether you want real-time alerts, or daily or weekly batches of alerts.
4. Shop their products and services
First-hand experience with their brand shines a bright light on what they’re doing better or worse than you. While you’re “shopping,” examine everything from product assortments and prices, to package design and customer experience.
5. Receive their e-mail and direct mail promotions
It’s easy to get on their mailing lists. Then, everything they’re doing in these marketing channels is delivered to your inbox for free. Through their website, you can usually request brochures and other sales literature; or you can pick them up at a trade show booth.
Consistency breeds success
The key to success is regular monitoring. It won’t cost you much in money, but it will take a little of your time. Being tuned in to what your competition is doing with their mar-com efforts, can help you differentiate your brand.
How Do I Market My Blog?
There are literally millions of blog posts added to the blogosphere every day. It can be a powerful tool and contribute significantly to your SEO efforts, but…. Every Day??!!??
Let’s examine some Fact and Fiction when it comes to blogging – including whether you actually need to blog every day (spoiler alert: you don’t).
Blogging Fiction #1
If you write it, they will come.
False.
Pithy prose. Relevant information. Well-researched facts. These are all important elements to an effective blog post, but they are not enough to bring your blog to the people.
Blogging Fact #1
People will only read your blog if they can find it. Think of your blog as a service. You need to market it.
You’ll need to invest nearly as much time sharing your blog as you do writing it. Share your posts on multiple social media channels and track your analytics to see what days and times are leading to the most views.
Blogging Fiction #2
Social media is better than email for promoting your blog.
If your goal is to connect with new people then social media is a good place to be. However…
Blogging Fact #2
…if your goal is to grow your audience through genuine connection, then email is a powerful tool for promoting your blog.
You have a carefully-curated list of people who have opted-in to your content. They have asked you to share your knowledge with them by sharing their email address with you.
To build loyalty among your email list build in some exclusives for those who have chosen to opt-in.
• Personalize your emails to them by using their name and sending “bonus” posts that speak directly to their industry (if you’ve collected that information from them).
• Email your blog posts to your list a day before posting it to your site. Embed social links in the email copy so users can share your post easily on their social accounts. This allows them to stand out as thought leaders by sharing the content to their networks a day before you make it widely available.
• Make special, unadvertised, offers to your email list to reward their loyalty.
But how do I go about building a solid list when I’m just getting started? This requires a little heavy lifting on your part, but nothing you can’t handle. Try adding pop ups or slide-ins to your posts that invite people to join your email list. Include a persuasive call to action that really speaks to your audience’s needs, and encourage them to sign up for more great posts like the one they’re reading.
Blogging Fiction #3
SEO for blogs is super-easy; load each post with keywords and links to make it easy for web crawlers to find you.
Today’s search engine algorithms are sophisticated. They’re not going to fall for the old keyword-stuffing trick. Plus, a blog post loaded with keywords is really awkward to read.
Blogging Fact #3
The customer – not the content – is king. Write for the actual humans who will read, comment on, and share your blog, not for the fickle computer algorithms that change their mind every day about which posts make it to Page 1.
Believe it or not, over-optimizing your page can actually lead to penalties from the major search engines, including Google. Tools like Yoast can help by “reading” your post and giving you insight into keyword (over)usage, meta descriptions, and title lengths for SEO.
In addition to thoughtful SEO efforts, optimize your site for sharing. Make it easy for your audience to share your content with easy-to-find sharing buttons and a call to action for sharing on their social networks. Tools like Open Graph and Knowledge Graph can help optimize your shared content so it appears as you would like it to in social sites.
Blogging Fiction #4
(we’ve saved the most egregious for last)
Blog every day to ensure you stay at the top of the search results and top-of-mind with your audience.
Blogging Fact #4
You will get BURNT OUT! Trying to blog every day is an impossible task. It’s not just the research, writing, editing, and optimizing that take time and brain power. It’s also the marketing that goes into making your blog work for you that requires your attention.
There are literally not enough hours in the day to do this well.
The goal is to blog consistently. For some people, that might be as often as 3 times each week. For others, it may be twice each month. Regardless of your schedule, define it, then stick to it. The truth is, sometimes less is more. It builds anticipation in your audience and they’re excited to see your posts. You double that excitement when you provide well-researched and well-written posts that actually speak to them.
Bonus Fact: Hiring a content writer for your blog is usually a good investment. It takes a little time up front for you both to get in sync and for them to learn your voice, but you’ll quickly discover how much more you can get done when you don’t have the full responsibility of your blog on your shoulders.
Why Strategic Marketing Is As Important As Branding
Honestly, have you ever thought about the differences between marketing and branding?
Hint: you can’t effectively do one without the other.
Marketing. Branding. These words are used interchangeably so often, most people think they mean the same thing. There’s a fundamental different that every organization should know:
Branding is who you are.
Marketing is how you sell your brand.
Your brand is how you are perceived by customers, potential customers, the media, business partners, vendors, and even your own employees. Your brand is your reputation and while that truly lies in the hands of these various audiences, there is a lot you can do to guide the narrative.
Being thoughtful when developing a brand strategy will be an investment that pays great dividends. Your strategy should include the visual elements of logos, colors, word marks, websites and style guides. But most importantly your brand should live throughout the organization in packaging, customer service, hiring and management practices, and community relations.
Marketing is executing on that brand strategy. Marketing provides the tactics to make your brand elements really work for you.
If your brand strategy is to establish, or maintain, your position as a high-end, luxury goods retailer, then your marketing tactics need to execute on that. For example,
Yes: Host a private VIP trunk show and invitation-only shopping experience. Send printed invitations, rather than an email blast.
No: Email and text message “50% discount for the first 50 customers on Black Friday!” While you may gain a little traffic, these are not your people. They will only follow price-points, not brands. You’ve weakened your brand and probably lost some income potential from your loyal customers and potential VIP customers who shop with you because of quality, not price.
Branding is the horse. Marketing is the cart.
Your brand is what pulls you through. It is consistent and something your audiences can rely on. It has meaning and value. Your marketing carries the load, but only if it fits well with the brand.
Marketing wins the day. Branding wins the lifetime.
Developing an effective brand strategy pays for itself through the long-term reputation you build. Work with a creative firm that not only develops beautiful, meaningful logos, but also offers you the brand strategy and marketing know-how to make it work for you.
Take Control With A Content Management System
The World Wide Web can sometimes feel like the Wild Wild West when trying to keep your website up-to-date. Much like the cowboys of the early American West, updating your website can feel like a complicated landscape with rivers to ford and cattle rustlers to avoid.
Luckily, today’s content management systems (CMS) make it easy to update your website with nary a dust storm or snakebite in sight.
What is a content management system?
Content management systems are applications that allow users to manage their website without needing to write code. They allow users to add and manage content, promotions, calendars, contact information, and all the other simple infrastructure pieces of your website.
So…. Why would I need a website designer?
We’re glad you asked. The internet still is a bit of a Wild West environment and an experienced website designer can help you safely and successfully navigate it. There are three important reasons why a website designer should be part of your team:
Hiring a website designer is a business investment. You’re paying for someone’s experience and expertise in areas like: user-interface, accessibility, e-commerce, digital marketing, SEO, and design.
Will I Get Roped-In To a Long-Term Service Contract?
No. Website designers will create a site using a CMS, then show you how to manage the day-to-day upkeep on it so you have control over the content that’s delivered. When you’re ready for major upgrades or custom features, you can reach out to your website designer for a new project quote.
Using Research to Create Impactful Websites
Jeffrey Zeldman was a featured speaker at An Event Apart in Washing, D.C. and gave a presentation called “From Research to Redesign.” It got us think about the ways we counsel our clients when redesigning their websites.
Zeldman, who you may recognize as the founder of e-magazine “A List Apart” is an acknowledged leader in all things websites: coding, design, US, accessibility, copy, SEO, etc. so when he said “research” BEFORE redesign, we sat up and listened.
Whether we’re creating a brilliant new website or designing holiday postcards for a client, research is the key to success. Learning, planning, and preparation determine the success of any project or campaign.
Understanding your market better than your competitors is key to becoming the solution to your audience’s pain points. Here’s a simple overview of what you need to ask before beginning your next website update:
Know Your Audience
Where are they at today and where do they want to be tomorrow? What is preventing them from moving? What do they value? Based on your quantitative analytics from applications like Hotjar and Google Analytics develop qualitative questions to understand their website user behavior.
Listen and Ask Questions
Effective communication is more about listening than speaking. Hold a focus group and have ask open-ended questions that allow for a free flow of discussion among your stakeholders. You’ll gain valuable insights from their organic responses. As Zeldman says, “You don’t have to be an expert to have a conversation.”
Define Goals
What is it you really want for your business? You can’t develop an effective website if you’re focused solely on its features. A website is a business tool to help you achieve your larger business goals. If you don’t know where you want your business to go, your website won’t take you anywhere.
Clear Direction
Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work on that beautiful new website. You’ve gathered insightful information and established clear goals. Let’s figure out exactly how to put that information to work for you.
Measurement
Before you ever launch your website, you need to establish metrics. How will you know if your website is delivering for you? When, and how often, will you measure? How will you measure specific campaigns? These are all important measurements to take on a regular basis to ensure your website remains a vital business investment.
Zeldman’ s three-day conferences are an annual event and bring to life what you read about in “A List Apart” through engaging speakers and presentations. We originally attended an event in July 2018, and have since updated this post reflect current trends.
Facebook Advertising for Fun and Profit
No advertising venue in history has affected the advertising industry as much as Facebook. As it has evolved, so has our understanding of how to maximize ad spending and reach highly-targeted audiences on this platform.
Not only does Facebook give you a lot of creative fun with multi-media components, it allows you to develop deeper relationships with your customers, create communities, and the Facebook Business Manager tool gives you deep insight into your customers, your creative, and your ad spending.
A solid Facebook advertising strategy is a marketing investment that pays great dividends.
Super-Specific Targeting
Facebook knows a lot about its users. The platform stores basic details like age and location, but it also catalogs hobbies and interests. As an advertiser, you can get as granular as you want. You could reach accountants who live within 50 miles of your business and drive sports cars while listening to 80s music, if you wanted to.
Maybe you don’t need to be that specific. Maybe you already have a dedicated group of Facebook “friends.” In that case, you might find success expanding your market by using Lookalike Audiences.
A “Lookalike Audience” connects you with people similar to your existing Facebook friends. These audiences are more likely to want your product or service because they share similar interests, age, occupations, etc. as your current Facebook audience.
Flexible Spending & Detailed Reporting
If you’re hesitant to leap into Facebook ads, you’re not alone. It’s a powerful tool that reaches millions every day. The good news is you don’t need much time or money to dip your toes into the Facebook pool.
Unlike other ad buys, there’s a low barrier to entry. You can spend as little as $1 on a Facebook ad, just to see how it works. You’re not locked into any set dollar amount or timeline. There’s a lot of flexibility to adjust your spending any time.
You shouldn’t start seriously spending on Facebook without first having a solid strategy. Have a plan in place to follow up with new leads through every stage of the marketing funnel.
For example, it’s not necessary to collect someone’s email address via a Facebook ad, if you don’t intend to contact them later. As a best practice, be respectful of the data collection about your customers. Treat Facebook ads as a valuable part of your marketing and sales cycle, nurturing your leads along the way.
Facebook gives you in-depth analytics to help you strengthen your strategies. They are easy to test and track. You can run A/B tests to see which ad creative or audiences work best. You can see detailed reporting on how Facebook ads are helping you engage customers.
You can also stay in front of your website visitors, thanks to the Facebook Pixel. This code allows you to show ads to Facebook users only after they’ve visited your website. Now you can stay top-of-mind as they make their purchase decision.
It’s a Pay-to-Play Platform
Beyond Facebook’s targeting and testing capabilities, one major reason to pay for ads is that it truly is the only way to reach potential audiences on this platform. Organic content on Facebook doesn’t get you very far.
Every time you post, only a small percent of your followers see your content. Some suggest Facebook’s organic reach is as lows as 2 percent. They know the value of their News Feed and if you want to be there, you’re going to have to buy some space.
Facebook has numerous built-in features to enhance your marketing effort beyond organic reach. For example, Facebook Messenger Marketing has a fantastic open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate. No only does it enhance your Facebook ad spend, but augments what you’re doing with your email marketing campaigns. Strategically using these tools can enhance your marketing efforts and maximize your marketing budget.
Capitalizing on any digital advertising, including Facebook, starts with a strong strategic plan. As digital marketing experts, we’re always happy to help you plan, design, and execute on any strategy. You don’t have to do it all on your own.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in DATE and has been updated for comprehensiveness.