Applying common sense when optimizing your content for SEO and readers
Myths of good and bad practices in online marketing tend to be shared and reshared and can become self-perpetuating, so it can be confusing for newcomers to online marketing to understand what will work and what won't.
Given the importance of SEO and the many ranking factors, it's not surprising that many myths have developed. I hear many of these SEO myths daily, so in this post, I hope to separate some of the facts from the fiction, specifically related to copywriting for SEO, highlighting the most common myths we are still seeing and how to avoid them.
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1. Insisting on 'keyword density'
Believe it or not, I still receive requests from clients for a specific percentage of keyword density in their copy. I always strongly advise against it [Editor's note - not a surprise, we were asked about the Recommended keyword…
A case study showing how Lucky Voice doubled the size of their email list
Having more people to market to is better, it’s a "no brainer". Of course, I don’t mean bulking up an email database with poor quality data. I’m talking about more customers and potential customers who want to hear from you. Good quality permission-based data that maintains your delivery reputation and converts into revenue.
Lucky Voice shared with me nine list growth strategies that worked for them. They've also been good enough to share some numbers that showed how the tactics worked. Plus, as a bonus, they shared a couple of strategies that didn’t work. The insight from what doesn’t work is just as insightful as to knowing what does, so read on to find out what was learnt from success and failure.
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Learn the different types of webinar you can host to attract and connect with new customers
Webinars are, essentially, online workshops, courses, demonstrations or seminars. They can either be live or recorded, and they can take various forms. Depending on what your goals are and the audience you are targeting, you will need to host a specific type of webinar.
Why webinars?
Webinars are highly-effective tools at any stage of the buyer’s journey, from awareness to the consideration and decision-making stages. Webinars can help you:
Raise awareness of your business, as well as your products and/your services
Reach your target audience with highly relevant and value-filled content
Generate more targeted and higher-quality leads for your business
Build more trust with your target audience by showcasing your value and knowledge
Increase your authority in your niche or industry by showcasing your skills Convert more of your leads into paying and loyal customers – webinars…
Get a handle on the jargon to understand technical SEO and get your site ranking higher.
Does your web developer speak almost exclusively in jargon, with an occasional smattering of what sounds like Klingon? Do they use phrases like ‘latent semantic indexing protocols’ in everyday conversation? Do you find yourself listening with a glazed expression, nodding along as a stream of acronyms pass through your noggin and you ponder, ‘What does TTFB even mean?’.
Like it or not, your web developer is a key player in your organisation and you need to communicate effectively to maximise your web presence.
In the real world people often get their first impression of your business from your bricks-and-mortar premises. Similarly, your website delivers that first impression online and the way it’s designed dictates if your business is perceived as an attractive high street boutique or a run-down bargain basement. The better you’re able…
Integrating technical SEO within the development release cycle
Being a great online marketer also means being an excellent communicator and project manager. And search engines’ increased focus on content, usability and engagement means it’s more important than ever to integrate SEO with development, UX and editorial.
This teamwork is never more important than during a development release, when one line of code can mean your search performance (and traffic, and sales) can fall through the floor, but the reality of a release cycle and the ideal are usually very different. Top-level management input, commercial requirements, the dev team’s internal processes/structures and issues that crop up during the work can all mean that budgets are squeezed, priorities are forgotten, timeframes are reduced and projects are side-tracked.
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SEO needs to be considered as an integral part of a web design project, not as an afterthought
SEO can play a crucial part in achieving the perfect digital marketing mix for your business and any brand that takes its digital strategy seriously will no doubt already have a robust plan in place to maximise online performance. But, organic search can be fragile, even fickle, and the smallest misjudgements can leave you exposed. Timing is of the essence, with SEO, and can often be a major contributor in getting the best, most cost-effective results in the long run.
In an ideal world, brands should begin focussing their attention on their organic search strategy as early as when they are planning the design and development of their website. However, all too often, they fail to do so and leave SEO as an afterthought or retrospective consideration, unknowingly jeopardising future success.
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Learn how to find relevant content for sharing as an education provider
Many educational providers have decided to host a blog and become more involved in social media in order to enhance their online presence. Needs are somewhat similar whether they're involved in higher education like Universities and colleges or other levels.
With this comes the realization that blogs require close monitoring, constant up-keep, and interesting content.
People often ask us about the ways education bloggers (be it a student, alumnus, or faculty member) can feed their blog and social media profiles on a regular basis. Admittedly, this can be difficult at the beginning, but with the right tools and practices, the entire blog experience can be easy and really enjoyable.
Six tips to find and create relevant content for your education blog
Tip 1. Curate content that interests you
Identify blogs or sites that explore topics that matter to your students and affiliate organizations. As…
Learn how to ensure your content gets discovered
Ever work on a single important article for weeks on end? Maybe you had to interview a number of busy executives or had trouble sourcing good images for the piece? You know how it goes. Anyways, after all of that work, you finally click “publish” and sit back. 24 hours later, you login and see zero likes and zero shares, a crushing defeat. Sound familiar?
Trust me, you’re not alone. Far from it in fact.
Nowadays there are over a billion webpages available to web traffic. Even more shocking, a staggering 2 million articles are published daily.
As you might imagine, standing out can be a bit of a problem.
Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix. But there is an important first step that you’re…
Using press releases to increase awareness and improve SEO
Using press releases to gain awareness and backlinks to your site was once a hot topic in SEO, but like everything that is hot in SEO, it is quickly forgotten about. But that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile - far from it! Online press releases are still an effective way to repurpose content you are already creating for traditional PR and use to your advantage online. I'm amazed when reviewing backlink profiles how often it's a tactic that's missed.
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What are the benefits of using Online PR?
If you're…
Chart of the day: A comparison of the effectiveness of paid search marketing contrasting Google's search network with the display network
This chart gives an update to historical data on conversion rates in Google Ads from the Google Ads management platform Wordstream.
It's part of new benchmarking paid search marketing mobile statistics by industry. If you're considering paid search it gives you an idea of the conversion rates you can expect when making the business case. Of course, tests will show you rates specific to your market, type of keywords (Brand, generic, product, long tail, etc) and your proposition, but this gives an indication. The full report also covers clickthrough rate and cost to help you build conversion rate funnel spreadsheet revenue models which are provided as resources in Excel for our premium members.
Mobile Google Ads conversion rates by sector
The new 2018 cross-industry Google Ads clickthrough rate and conversion benchmarks shows that:
The…
