10 Tried and True SEO Tactics That Will Pull You out of a Traffic Slump

We’ve all faced disappointing traffic numbers and even heart-stopping dives.

It happened to me recently on this website. Two years ago, I was blogging along as usual, when wham, my traffic dropped!

As it turns out, it was a random algorithm update that killed things for a week or two. Several tweaks later, I was back up to even higher numbers than before.

I understand that algorithms can change, audiences can leave, and a website can suffer from penalties.

But I’m also convinced that there’s no reason to settle for low traffic.

How can I be so confident? Because I faced it. I dealt with it. I recovered.

I’ve come up with 10 SEO tactics proven to boost traffic.

If you’re feeling skeptical right about now, I understand. I am sure plenty of SEO snake oil salesmen have tried to convince you that [insert some random weird hack here] could boost your SEO.

I don’t give advice that doesn’t work or hasn’t worked for me and my clients. These tactics actually work.

And here’s a quick comment before you dive into the tactics. I’ve intentionally avoided all the obvious stuff because you’d already have already tried that.

These techniques are relatively advanced. However, with the right skillset and a bit of patience, I know that you can master each technique and enjoy the boost in traffic. 

1. Infiltrate Google’s Knowledge Graph and the global knowledge base

Do you know where Google Knowledge Graph gets its content from?

Wikidata.

Wait, what the heck is Wikidata?

Wikidata is a community-driven initiative that belongs to the Wikimedia organization. They own a bunch of Wiki sites serving information content in a variety of languages.

It’s easy to see that once you get into Wikidata, either as a company or as a reference, your business will benefit in terms of exposure and traffic. Plus, a link from any of the Wiki sites is worth its weight in gold.

Many organizations pull data from the Wiki sites. The most important of them all is Google.

The content that gets featured in the Google Knowledge Graph is from Wikidata.

Do you see now why it’s important?

Getting inside Wikidata seems easy on paper, but it isn’t. Here’s how you can get a free pass:

• The first thing to do is to read and understand the guidelines.
• The next step is to write an authoritative piece based on a primary keyword, organization, or individual in your niche. It must be factual and non-promotional.
• Now create a website, page, or subdomain that defines the concept and contains comprehensive information, including all the pain points related to the keyword.  For example, if you are in the fashion industry, you can talk about fashion in general, the problems faced by manufacturers, the common pitfalls of using some equipment, the secret lives of fashion models, and so on.
• Next, jump into the Wikidata community, and socialize. Don’t create a topic until you have contributed positively to the community and established your own personal vibe. If a new member jumps in and creates a topic, it could be flagged by the editors. You should try to create a topic that doesn’t already exist in the community.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you sell products related to the fashion industry, specifically industrial sewing machines. One of your top sellers is the Brother brand.

Here’s what you should do:

• Use Google to check whether information on Brother sewing machines shows up in the knowledge graph. I checked. It doesn’t. There’s no knowledge graph for Brother sewing machines as of 8 June 2016.
• Write an exhaustive piece on Brother sewing machines on your subdomain or the website you have specifically created for sharing knowledge.
• Create a topic on Wikidata (for example: History, Evolution, Pros and Cons, and Current Status of Brother Sewing Machines) and choose a channel to publish your data on (any one of the Wiki properties; in my case, Wikipedia).
• Write your statements, and link to appropriate references. You must link keywords and brands to public documents (use the documents hosted on Wiki sites), and one of your links or references must be to the site you created.

Your page must be strong and backed by data. Fluffy or thin pages are deleted by the editors.

You can even add social media URLs to the reference pages. It would be a good idea to create a group discussion on LinkedIn related to the topic, and link it as a reference on your Wiki page.

In addition to this, you must go to each Wiki site and edit or contribute to topics that contain your keyword. Don’t forget to write an authoritative piece on your subdomain or website and link to it as a reference. For the example above, the keywords would be fashion, sewing, clothing, models, etc.

2. Get into Google News

News articles get pulled by Google on two SERPs—the traditional SERP you’re used to and the News section.

You may not have thought of Google News as a traffic source, but consider my point. It’s a traffic wellspring!

Check out this screen shot:

To get into Google news requires perseverance, honest reporting, cutting-edge articles, and regular updates.

If you are up to it and want your website to show up on the Google News SERP, here’s what you should do:

1. Start a “News” section on your blog/site.
   Update it regularly (1-2 newsy posts a day is a good practice).
2. Publish authoritative, unique, original, and newsworthy content. For research, set up a Google Alert for keywords in your niche.
3. Informational articles such as how-tos and guides do not qualify. Every post must be newsy.
4. Do not publish aggregated content.
5. Every news article you write must be authoritative.
6. The byline of each post must be linked to the author’s profile, which should contain their contact information and links to their social media profiles.
7. Follow the Google quality guidelines before starting your news section.
8. You need to subscribe to a paid Google account to become a Google News Partner because you can’t get in with a free account. The best thing is to sign up for a Google Apps email account, available for as low as $5 per month (https://apps.google.com/pricing.html).
9. Finally, start publishing, and enroll as a Google News Partner after building up sizeable content (at least 50 pages).

Yeah, it reads like a slow process, but it’s worth millions!

3. Register with Google Posts

Heard of Google Posts?

Let me rephrase.

Have you ever seen a carousel on Google SERPs? Something like the image below. Notice the section outlined in red:

The posts contained in such carousels are Google Posts.

Google Posts isn’t commercially launched yet. There’s a waitlist, and you must get on the waitlist.

Google Posts allows verified and prominent individuals and organizations to create content (text, images, videos) on the fly and publish instantly. Once the posts are published, they will be visible on Google SERPs when a user searches for topics and keywords within that niche.

The hassle, of course, is that you can’t start using Google Posts immediately. If you are an established organization or a prominent individual, you should sign up and reap the benefits when it goes live.

4. Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) HTML/JS

AMP is a new coding standard, and the way it is shaping up, it seems that it will go on to become a global HTML coding best practice.

I highly recommend you research it and implement what you can.

Think of AMP HTML as regular HTML with some restrictions that reduce clunkiness and help generate reliability.

AMP HTML (and JS) increases the loading speed of your web pages, which is an extremely important factor. This protocol is on its way to become a huge ranking factor.

Google has already included it in its Search Console, and many web developers around the world are quickly adopting it.

Remember the time when Google made mobile-friendly design a ranking factor?

Developers were slow to pick up on it, and when their site rankings dropped, there was panic.

That’s why I encourage you to get started on AMP right away and to keep your site AMP-ready. Moreover, AMP will make your pages load faster, which will help you rank higher and attract more traffic.

5. Use the Skyscraper Technique

Did you know it was Brian Dean of Backlinko who coined the term Skyscraper Technique?

Although it’s simple when you think of it, it requires some pretty intense work.

Does it work? Yes, it does. Sites with traditionally low traffic or in traffic slumps have experienced an uptick in traffic after using the technique.

Here’s how you should exploit it:

First, simply research the top-shared content in your niche. You can use BuzzSumo or EpicBeat.

Next, you should:

• Select 2-3 top posts in your niche. These will serve as the basis for your research.
• Write a better and more in-depth article (with a new title). You can do this by picking up the phone and interviewing appropriate experts, reading industry white papers, or checking out research reports. There are plenty of ways to improve upon what currently exists.
• Market your article. Try to market it on the same channels and groups as the original article. I have no doubt that your article will be picked up and talked about.

Result: Traffic, shares, and more traffic.

6. Create an FAQ page in your niche

There are three things you must be aware of:

1. Personal assistants, such as Siri, and voice search tools, such as Google Voice search, are getting smarter by the day. Google also recently unveiled the Google Assistant, an AI like Siri, at its I/O Conference.
2. The number of people using their personal assistants to help them with their online search or scheduling tasks as well as the number of voice searchers are growing each day.
3. Most voice searches or requests typically start with a question word (what, when, how, where, which, etc.).

One of the key takeaways from the Google I/O developer conference notes was that over 20% of the searches on the Google app on Android in the US were performed by voice.

I don’t have the stats for Siri, but if you put two and two together, it’s easy to infer that your SEO must be ready for voice search/voice assistants because its use will keep increasing over time.

How will you get your website ready for voice search?

By developing an FAQ page in your niche.

An FAQ page can easily leverage both the question word and the keyword/correlated keywords.

How will you collect data for your FAQ page? Here are some ideas:

• Learn about the pain points faced by consumers in your niche. You can learn about these online (forums or social media) and by conducting a customer survey.
• Visit government and non-profit websites where people complain about products and marketing tactics.
• Check out Amazon and eBay for product complaints/nasty reviews (in your niche).
• Buy an e-book that talks about the pros and cons of your niche.
• Make a list of the questions that a lot of customers have in common.

Finally, take all this research and create a giant FAQ page that is neatly divided into categories.

Make each question shareable, and write detailed and helpful answers. Do this, and you’ll quickly get some traffic to your site.

7. Become an expert in your niche

Sounds like a tall order, right?

But it’s not as difficult as you think.

You can increase your website’s traffic by growing your personal brand. I spent about a decade cultivating my personal brand. I then used that personal brand to boost traffic and generate high-converting leads, creating several multi-million dollar businesses.

You can do the same. Here is how.

Start sharing your knowledge tactfully and helping others without giving away your business secrets.

First, register at Q&A sites such as Quora, Yahoo Answers, and WikiHow. Join LinkedIn groups, and reach out to other sites in your niche that could benefit from your guest authorship or input.

Start answering questions and helping users. Do not promote your business or link to your website.

If your answers are helpful, users will start requesting your help. When you see help requests coming in, it’s time to strike (in a good way, of course).

From this point on, help people, but link back to your article or site when you do so.

Followers and browsers will follow your link, and your site traffic will multiply like crazy.

Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn, and Quora are liberal with links, but WikiHow has a tough backlinking policy, so be careful. Whatever you do, be polite, and write factual helpful information.

8. Don’t spread yourself too thin

Many website owners do all the right things and still wonder why their traffic volume is static (or decreasing).

The answer could be that you may be doing too many of the right things.

There are tons of SEO and content marketing tips available on the web, and while reading as much as possible is a good thing, trying to do everything may prove to be counterproductive.

Content marketing is performed on social media and blogs, which are user-driven. Viewers expect the writer or poster to interact with them and follow up on their articles.

If you’re into excessive content marketing, you won’t have time to interact. You’ll also feel burnt out doing too many things at the same time.

My advice is to stick to three or four social media channels (Facebook and YouTube are important). Once your traffic and sales increase, you can consider hiring someone to handle other social channels.

9. Influencing the influencers

You may have heard that influencer marketing is dead, but I can guarantee you that if any influencer links to your post, a swarm of traffic will follow.

Now, you cannot overtly approach an influencer and request that person to promote your content. Why? Because the minute the influencer reads your first line, they’ll understand what you want. Honestly, it’s a turnoff.

Influencers receive hundreds of content promotion requests every month. They can spot one from a distance.

Here’s what you can do instead. Influence and motivate the influencer to share your content.

I’ll show you how you can attempt that with an example.

Let’s say I am targeting “men’s fashion” as my keyword phrase. I Googled “top blogs on men’s fashion.” There are plenty of meaty results:

I visited one top blog, Off The Cuff, and found it was founded and owned by Christopher Hogan.

Next, I visited Christopher Hogan’s Twitter page. It looks like he tweets often, and some of his tweets are about formal fashion in different seasons (he has 3,300 followers. It’s a bit low, but there’s a twist in the tale).

That gave me an idea—a content strategy that can be endorsed by many influencers (with a gazillion followers).

Here’s what I’d do next:

• Check around the other top blogs. Figure out which bloggers have thousands of followers on Twitter or Facebook.
• Read their posts/tweets. Search for their interviews online to figure out what motivates them.
• Create an article (or video or infographic) based on my research. If I wanted to influence Christopher Hogan, I would create an infographic or write an article based on formal fashion for men for summer. I would stock the items that feature my content in my online store. I could perhaps title it “Men’s Formal Fashion for The Summer Inspired by Christopher Hogan Designs” (or some other designer).
• I would then tweet it to him or post on his FB page. If it appeals to him (and it should because I would have spent a whole lot of time and love making it), he will share it. That would get me targeted traffic that has the potential to convert.
• Even if he doesn’t retweet, I know I’m sitting on killer content bound to get noticed by guys who strut around in formals during the summer.

What I have given you is just an example. And it’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of this technique.

Use your creativity to devise even more advanced and informative content within your niche.

You can use other tools, such as Followerwonk or Buzzsumo, to find influencers and apply the same technique.

10. Research e-commerce keywords

There are so many articles floating around on keyword research that I wasn’t sure whether I should include this tip.

I decided to include it.

E-commerce is a serious business. If you know what customers are exactly searching for, it could be rock-and-roll time for your sales and traffic.

Shoppers who have finished their research typically head to retail sites such as Amazon to buy stuff. As I’m sure you’re aware, Amazon is the world’s largest e-tailer.

Researching keywords on Amazon and including them in your content can be a rewarding SEO task.

To research keywords on Amazon, you need to subscribe to a paid keyword research service.

But I’ll show you how to research for free. Here’s the technique:

First, choose your product on Amazon.com (it’s “men’s fashion” in this example):

Next, select “men’s fashion” in “All Departments.”

Then, now check the results page. Notice the filters and categories in the column on the far left.

Finally, expand each category, and copy the keywords that drop down.

These are the keywords that real shoppers with ready-to-swipe credit cards search for (on Amazon). Use these very keywords in your content.

Conclusion

If your traffic has dropped because of slow loading pages, lousy server, clunky coding, malware, unfriendly UI, etc., no amount of SEO, SMM, or PPC can help you. Plus, you’ll end up wasting a ton of money.

Fix the basic issues first, and then move on to marketing and SEO.

The tactics I have recommended will help you attract traffic that has the potential to convert.

It’s worked for me. I’m confident it will work for you too.

Tell me how it goes! And let me know about both your successes and your challenges. I want to help.

from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Quicksprout/~3/oq2nPXeE8B4/

source http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/146597930479

When will responsive websites respond to user context?

Terms like “mobile first” and “responsive web design” sound dynamic and user-centric, but the reality is most mobile-first responsive websites are simply reformatting ubiquitous content to suit different devices.

• Goal of web (or app) advertising: right message, right person, right place, right time.
• Goal of website (or app) content: whoever, wherever, whatever, whenever… eh… same content.

Is that unfair? A gross generalization?

OK, a lot of web advertising is still woefully untargeted or inaccurately targeted, but sometimes it can be freakily accurate.

Ad targeting relies on the processing of real-time information from a variety of data sources – let’s call these “signals” or “cues” – about the mobile user and their behavior, in order to determine:

• Who they are.
• Where they are.
• What they are doing.
• What they like.
• What they want.

What makes this more stunning, is the amazing speeds at which adtech (advertising technology) works.

Between the user clicking/tapping the link and the page rendering with the ad, the system has to analyze the signals and show the most appropriate ad, without causing a noticeable delay to the speed that the page loads.

With programmatic advertising, in the same timeframe of nanoseconds (or at least microseconds), the advertising space is actually bought and sold in an online auction.

Meanwhile on the website where these targeted ads are being served, the content remains largely the same, regardless of the user, their context and their intention. Similarly the content on the website where these dynamic ads are sending people, if they tap/click on them, remain largely the same, regardless of the user, their context and their intention.

This is senseless.

If targeted ads deliver better conversions than untargeted ads, then surely being shown more personalized, contextually relevant content, offers and services on the websites people elect to visit must also deliver better user experience (UX) and more conversions?

As Mike Phillips, commercial director, McLaren Applied Technologies recently said (in an entirely different context) at London Technology Week:

It’s not about big data, it is about using small data within the context of the person.

Mobile first or mobile only?

Announcing the retailer’s new website on June 2, 2016, Jason Goldberger, Target’s chief digital officer, said (in a corporate statement):

People rely more than ever on their phones for everything in life, from interactions with friends to scheduling to shopping.

We’ve talked for years about being a mobile-first retailer. This move takes us from mobile first to mobile only.

What does this actually mean for Target.com, according to the before and after picture (Geographic redirects, prevent overseas people viewing the site, see below), the result is Target’s desktop and mobile site are now much the same, give or take some reformatting for different screen sizes.

The web design style is more mobile-friendly more images, less words, and far less clutter. And it means visitors can more easily shift between screens, even mid-shop.

But is this sort of homogeneity a good thing? Yes… and no. Yes people want a seamless cross-platform experience, but do they want a generic experience across all platforms?

Being mobile first or mobile only isn’t just about screen size, page load times, tap zones, click-to-call and so on (though that is all very important) it should also be about context.

Cross platform homogeneity forgets two massive thing:

• The requirements of the desktop and mobile user are often different
• The requirements of the same mobile user (more importantly) vary depending on whether they are at home, at work, commuting, on route to the location, on site, in a rival’s location and so on.

And that’s just the start of it. Now consider:

• How context varies by time of day, day of week, time of year.
• What about the trigger that causes the visit to the site e.g. something on TV, snapping QR code in a print ad, tapping through from an email, social media etc.?

This isn’t just about retail, it applies to numerous sectors: restaurants, events (music, sports etc.), airlines/airports, films/cinema, transport, financial services and so on. Use cases vary when you are at home, nearby or onsite and when the “thing” is: in the future, soon, now or past.

Contextual relevance: the untapped opportunity

Ronan Cremin, CTO, DeviceAtlas (a device detection tool, from Afilias Technologies):

In my experience very few sites do anything meaningful with mobile contextual information. There are a couple of exceptions e.g. Yelp and Google, but for the most part sites do almost nothing with it.

Apart from the really obvious one (location) there are other possibilities like detecting if user is literally on the move or not (accelerometer), is the battery low etc. etc.

One important point about all of these contextual cues is to use them as hints rather hard deciding factors because the cost of getting things wrong based on an incorrect assumption is high.

It’s really dangerous to make assumptions about what a user wants so I think that the best thing to do is make prioritization decisions over ordering of features rather than adding/removing features entirely.

Mobile signals

Mobile users give off a considerable amount of signals/cues – data from the device use, digital behavior – which, when visible to the web destination, collectively allows you to make an educated guess about who they are; where they are and what they are doing; and what they want. I.e. identity, context and intention.

These signals include:

• Profile data – information that has been volunteered e.g. delivery address.
• Profile data – data that has been collected through behavior on previous visits e.g. pages viewed, shared.
• Device used.
• Geolocation – if shared.
• Mobile network.
• WIFI network – e.g. home, office, on-site.
• Motion and direction – walking, commuting.
• Time of day – e.g. lunch time, following a TV ad.
• Search terms used if arriving from a web search.
• Referral site (or app) – where did they arrive from today (and previous visits).
• QR codes scanned (particularly if unique to a product or place).
• Interaction with web ads (what, where, when).
• Click though from email newsletter.
• Click though from social media post.

Contextual relevance today: basics

Where relevant, a website, should deliver an experience based on the user:

1. Device – i.e. fits the screen, appropriate page size, appropriate features e.g. use of camera, click-to-call. But always with the option to revert to a different version (e.g. desktop).
2. Country – e.g. appropriate currency, language, terminology (e.g. postcode v zip code), local phone numbers, office addresses, maps, observance of local rules and regulations. But with the option to revert. There is no excuse for forms that require scrolling through every country until the user reaches UK or USA.
3. Intention – i.e. if a user clicks/taps on an ad, link, QR (quick response) code or performs a web search for a particular item or type of content, then ensure the content on the landing page is appropriate.
4. Basic preferences – specified or inferred. Where one has been selected on a previous visit, default to the same local restaurant, store, station etc. – with option for “other”. Similarly log negative behavior – if a visitor has ignored or closed your download-our-app or subscribe to email message three times, move on, they’re not interested.
5. Opt-in preferences – if a visitor has elected to share location, subscribed (or refused to subscribe) to email, accepted cookies; remember the next time they visit.

However geographical redirects don’t always deliver the optimum results. Accessing Target.com from the UK redirects to intl.target.com, which is not mobile friendly. From overseas PaneraBread.com delivers an “access denied” page (which is hardly a good message to potential business partners from overseas).

Contextual relevance today: more advanced

1. Location awareness

If users are prepared to share location, websites can make search results more relevant to where they are.

The search engines and the directories, such of Yelp in the US and Yell in the UK, are very acute to mobile users desire for local results – typified by the rapid growth (according to Google)  in popularity of “near me” searches (e.g. Pizza, plumber near me).

This local contextual search results is just as significant on the website of the retail, restaurant, cinema etc. chain. Customers don’t just the need to find the nearest location, but the nearest store where the desired product is available in the correct size and color; the nearest cinema with seats to see the film tonight; the nearest restaurant with a table for six at 8pm.

2. Recall of behavior (or preferences)

When a returning visitor is recognized, websites should personalize based on previous behavior.

If only male clothing (or e.g. sports items) were viewed on previous visits, retailers, such as ASOS, will default to the men’s (or sports) store.

Leading retailers will also allow customers to pick up where they left off with “save for later” or recall products left unpurchased in the shopping basket.

In the same way, restaurants should recall favorite meals or indications of vegetarianism; auto mechanics the make and model of the client’s car; sports and betting sites favorite teams and so on.

3. Time relevance

Time context manifests itself in several ways online. For example, Google local search results tell you when the store opens (not just the opening times).

Retailers will give you a countdown to place orders for next-day delivery. Events will count down until the tickets go on sale, announcements are made or the event commences.

Contextual relevance tomorrow

The epiphany of a personalized experience is a website that adapts fully to the user context, based on the signals outlined above. Let’s just focus on three contexts:

• At home
• Nearby
• Onsite

For the same user, on the same device, the goals in these contexts can be quite different and this happens across many types of businesses.

• Retail – at home: research/m-commerce at home; Nearby: find store/opening times/check product availability/reserve; in store: find products/check details/compare prices/pay/find product elsewhere.
• Airline travel – at home: research/purchase ticket at home; on route: find airport/parking; at airport: check-in/navigate airport/ find shops/restaurant when.
• Music festival – at home: research/purchase ticket/check info at home; on route: find way/traffic details/park/gain entry with ticket/ID on route; onsite: check schedule/navigate site/research bands/share.

And so on… restaurant, sports event, museum, hotel.

The imperative is to balance personalization with the danger of misunderstanding the context and the preference of the user.

While it is difficult to find any good examples of anything like this on the web, it is not so farfetched. Some companies have already started to experiment with contextually aware native apps.

According to a 2015 report by digital agency DMI a handful of US retailers – Walgreens, Home Depot, Nordstrom, Walmart and Target – now have apps that will switch to “Store mode” when on site, triggered by geo-technologies.

Store mode include functions that are irrelevant outside the store, for example in-store mapping and navigation.

Similarly, the BA App recognizes you’re in some airports and provides a tailored experience (thanks to Daniel Rosen, Global Director of Advertising at Telefónica for recommending this).

The app also sends alerts if you’ve not left enough time to make it to the gate.

Notes:

• Please notify Andy Favell with any examples of websites that use contextual relevancy in innovative ways.
• The origin of the mobile marketing mantra “Right message, right person, right place, right time” is uncertain, but I first heard it used by Paul Berney, mCordis.
• Disclaimer: Andy Favell has undertaken contractual work for both Afilias and mCordis, in the past.

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/06/27/when-will-responsive-websites-respond-to-user-context/

source http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/146571915384

Why Photoshop is no longer an “extra” skill for modern marketers

Photoshop used to be considered an “extra” kind of skill for your average marketer. Now, things have changed, and to be a great marketer knowing Adobe Photoshop is not only extremely valuable, but becoming essential for marketing success.

Marketing is no longer about simply being creative with your content and thinking about audience, it’s about actually creating visual content and understanding what type of visual content is going to draw in the right viewers.

Employers want a marketer who is able to work in this new-age marketing world, so the quicker you can learn the basics for marketing, the better.

Five reasons Photoshop is a necessary skill

Consider five of the top reasons that a working proficiency in Photoshop is so necessary for today’s successful marketer:

1) Winning social media marketing

Just having the ability to edit and enhance photos for social media is a skill worthy of high praise these days.

You can absolutely tell the difference between content that has been carefully considered and creatively enhanced on Photoshop vs. a photo that was posted without any attention to detail.

With all of the social marketing taking place, the ability to make content stand out is incredibly important.

In addition to being able to edit your photos and add text where you need it, Photoshop also gives you a lot of control of sizing images, which is incredibly important for social media banners, posts, and profile pictures.

Things just ultimately look more professional when they are sized correctly, and since every social site has an optimal pixel size, you can take control of this and market your brand in the best possible way.

2) Marketers wear multiple hats

Being a marketer in today’s world means that you need to have the ability to wear multiple hats in your day to day.

You may need to design an eBook, PowerPoint presentation, social media image, website banner, advertisement, etc. At this point you might not consider yourself a designer, but trust me when I say, if you can jump in to taking on some of these tasks without having to communicate your vision to a “designer” you are going to be a better marketer.

Here’s a great break down of how to get started with Photoshop from Anum Hussain on HubSpot. I appreciate their perspective on not necessarily being a designer by training, but having the ability to get started with Photoshop as a marketer!

3) Money talks

Businesses are increasingly trying to get a lot of work done in-house rather than outsourced. This is because it saves them time and money. As such, companies are starting to value additional skills in marketers, as they know it will save them money in the long term.

This is a win-win situation because marketers who possess skills like Photoshop generally make more money, and businesses who hire these individuals tend to save money. I would say if there was one reason to invest time into learning this skill, it is the financial opportunity as a marketer.

4) Skill payoff

Photoshop definitely takes time and energy to learn, there is no doubt about it, yet learning how to use Photoshop pays off very quickly for both you as a marketer and the company at large.

If you think about all the times in a day that you could be directly editing, transforming, and altering marketing materials for your company, it is easy to see how the time spent learning this skill could help you nearly every day in your job as a marketer.

Further, improving the quality of images on social media, or presentation of images on your website, also in-turn helps the company at large to be successful

5) Take on new and creative projects.

One of the things I really like as a marketer is the creative projects you can take on once you acquire this skill.

Photoshop is definitely a space for creativity and there are few restrictions on the kind of work that you can do in the program.

Since developing new content is one of the top ways to be a successful online marketer, taking a creative approach and being able to think outside the box using this program is an essential online marketing skill.

What you can DO with Photoshop

Once again, Photoshop is such a valuable skill as a marketer not only because you are likely making more money and saving your company money by possessing this knowledge, but you can be creative with the acquisition of this new skill.

This gives you the ability to wear multiple hats more seamlessly and take on new challenges you hadn’t considered.

But just what exactly can you DO with Photoshop? Here is a list of some things you can do with this skill, many which you’ve probably considered and others that you haven’t:

• Edit and enhance photos
• Create pixel-appropriate banners and social media images
• Develop and revamp your website design and layout
• Add more high-quality images to your blog
• Use your own photographs in a way that looks professional
• Create your own custom documents
• Crisp vectors and easy dotted lines
• Color fill and text wrap
• Design t-shirts and other promotional materials
• Restore old photos
• Make images and content more vibrant
• Correct images that are lacking quality
• Develop unique and eye-catching advertisements
• Modernize your web design
• Unique email marketing designs and formats, designed by you!

This list is not exhaustive by any means, but it gives you a sense of the unique ways you can use Photoshop. Ultimately, you have a powerful tool at your fingertips which can make your business stand out in a marketing campaign.

Other design tools

If you are interested in looking in to free tools, there are 21 free design tools for visual marketers that may also aid you in the process.

My three favorites are:

Google Fonts: A directory of over 600 different fonts (you really can’t go wrong here)!

Pixar and/or Sumopaint: Photo editors that incorporate easily with Photoshop.

Canva: Makes design “drag and drop easy.” Create Facebook cover photos, email banners, posters, event invitation graphics, and more!

Do you have experience using Photoshop as a marketer? What do you tend to use it for the most? Let us know in the comments section below.

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/06/27/why-photoshop-is-no-longer-an-extra-skill-for-great-marketers/

source http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/146571914074

RLSA and Customer Match: using smart segmentation for big wins

So we all know about RLSA (retargeted lists for search ads) and its ability to use Customer Match, but how many of us are actually taking advantage of it?

The big problem with RLSA Customer Match is that in order for it to really have an impact on volume and performance, you need to have a very large customer list.

To be specific, leveraging RLSA with Customer Match is only worth the effort if you have a list of customers larger than 50,000.

So let’s say you do have that size database. How do you actually use RLSA with Customer Match to make the most of your re-engagement efforts? It all starts with segmentation.

We’ll go into how to do that, then explain why creating a campaign for each segment is important (TL;DR: it allows you to customize messaging and landing pages).

Segment your audience

The first step is to smartly segment out your customer list. There are a couple of ways to do so:

1. Use Average Order Value: Segmenting out audiences by high AOV, mid AOV, and low AOV helps determine which audiences tend to purchase our more expensive, luxury/premium type products and those who go after the cheaper items.
2. Use gender-specific categories: If your customers have purchased men’s clothing, accessories, or products or women’s clothing, accessories, or products, make sure your segments reflect that.
3. Segment by brands/line of product: If you have certain types of brands or lines of products, you may want to segment customers out by the brand/product line they’ve purchased.

Now that you’ve segmented your customers, you can create an RLSA campaign for each audience segmentation. Take the AOV example above. Based on that segmentation, you would create three campaigns: RLSA_HighAOV, RLSA_MidAOV, RLSA_LowAOV.

Split out segmented campaigns to get creative and destination control

Everyone knows that RLSA reaches users with high intent, which means that higher bids are appropriate; you can do that by just layering RLSA on existing campaigns and applying bid modifiers.

So why go through the hassle of creating additional campaigns for RLSA efforts?

Well, the benefit of creating them in separate campaigns is achieving complete control over creative and the post-click experience – getting the ability to tailor creative to each segment you’d like to reach.

As an example, you know that high-AOV audiences performing a relevant keyword search have purchased more luxury products, so your messaging should be more geared around quality, design, or high-end products.

On the flip side, for a lower-AOV segment, you should consider messaging more around deals, discounts, and affordability.

So you have a more tailored creative experience for each audience segment. That’s great – this can help with bringing customers back onto your site. Now it’s time to also ensure you’re sending users in each segment to the most relevant page possible.

Again, taking the AOV example, you would want to send your higher-AOV audience to a page that shows the relevant product/category they are searching for (if you have multiple pages that fit the bill, send them to the page showing more high-end items).

For lower-AOV audiences, use a relevant product page with deals and discounts – or even direct them to a sale/clearance page.

If you have a large customer list, RLSA with Customer Match is a powerful re-engagement tool – but success starts with smart segmentation.

Good luck!

Sana Ansari is the General Manager of 3Q Accelerate.

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/06/27/rlsa-and-customer-match-using-smart-segmentation-for-big-wins/

source http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/146571914649

Five brief but helpful tips for Google AdSense placement

AdSense is an advertising service provided by Google that gives webmasters a free and relatively simple way of earning money through display advertising on their site.

Of course the terrain of display advertising in the last few years has become a rocky place. With more and more people subconsciously becoming used to ignoring display and the rise of other content-led marketing methods.

However, display ads can theoretically bring in revenue if they are targeted properly and are relevant to the user, context and device.

And now that 21% of internet users globally only use their smartphone to access the internet, spurring Google to strengthen its mobile-friendly algorithm, it’s critical for all businesses to optimise their advertising for mobile.

AdSense has recently issued its own report on tips for mobile web success, and in among the general advice and lovely graphics, there are some brief tips for ad placement that you may not be aware of, so let’s take a quick look at them now.

Mobile ad placement best practice

As the report says, you should focus on creating “a flow between your content and the ad placements.” Basically your ads should feel like part of the user experience, and served when your visitors are most receptive.

The following tips are taken directly from the report…

Tip #1

When using enhanced features in text ads, decrease accidental clicks by moving the ad units a minimum of 150 pixels away from content.

Tip #2

Think about peeking your ad units above the fold for a great UX while maximizing revenue potential.

Tip #3

Potential eCPMs increase when you swap 320×50 for 320×100 ad units.

Tip #4

Anchor social links to make sharing easy.

Tip #5

Use the 300×250 ad unit for a potential increase in fill rates and eCPM.

Of course all these tips merely apply to AdSense display ads. There are many more pitfalls to be aware of when using other ad formats, especially if you use full-screen app ads on mobile sites, which you will be punished for.

And much of this is moot if you don’t have the fundamentals of mobile optimisation correct in the first place.

So your site needs to be responsive or adaptive to every screen size, the page speed needs to be fast, content should be easy to read… in fact, you should definitely read our comprehensive guide to mobile optimisation for more details.

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/06/27/five-brief-but-helpful-tips-for-google-adsense-placement/

source http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/146571913604

7 Psychological Insights That Will Help You Develop a Powerful Facebook Strategy for Business

What is the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal?

Is it keyword research? Copywriting? Beautifully designed ad campaigns? Maybe….

But the driving force behind all of these things?

Psychology.

You see, sales and marketing are really about understanding consumer psychology.

Why do people buy? What makes them click on your Facebook ad? What sort of stimuli do most people respond to?

I’ve been interested in consumer psychology for quite a while. It started innocently enough. I was curious. What makes customers interested in a product, service, person, or brand? Why do people click on headlines? What makes 100%-refund-guarantees so assuring? How will this influence conversion rates or customer loyalty?

Asking these kinds of questions helped me develop a deeper understanding of my customers.

And then I figured out something more. Consumer psychology applies to just about everything in business.

Even social media.

What did I do? I started using my knowledge of psychology to improve my Facebook strategy.

And guess what?

It worked.

It wasn’t just my personal brand that started growing by leaps and bounds. My clients got the benefits too!

I’m not going to keep these techniques a secret.

I wanted to share with you the psychological insights I learned so you can dramatically improve your game by leveraging Facebook marketing more effectively.

So, what are the most important psychological “hacks” you can start using today to improve your social media marketing?

1. Kick rational advertising out the window

Most people are emotional creatures, not rational.

Many of us analytical types tend to think that everyone else sees the world in terms of ones and zeros like we do. But this is simply not the case.

Most people act emotionally, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It just is.

One of the most effective things you can do to improve your Facebook strategy is to quit relying on rational thinking as your main driver and start relying on customer’s emotions to take the wheel.

Great…But how do you do this?

One of the most effective methods is to convey emotion through facial expression. Try using ads that have someone’s face on them, whether it’s a real photograph or a drawing.

I do this often, simply by adding an image of a face to my posts. It’s simple. It’s quick. It’s effective.

Seeing a face is way more appealing than seeing some inanimate object.

It works not only on posts, like the ones above, but on sidebar ads too.

People are already browsing through Facebook, looking at pictures of friends and family. Using headshots or other shots that include facial expression is a natural way to enter into your customer’s newsfeed unobtrusively.

Facial expression is the only universally understood language, and the human brain is wired to process facial cues far more easily than written word.

In fact, according to a study from Caltech, people may have specific neurons in their brains that respond to individual people!

This means that when you see my face, Tony Robbin’s face, Donald Trump’s face, or Brad Pitt’s face, you have a neuron in your brain dedicated to only them!

Pretty cool, huh?

Take a look at some of the ads below.

Notice how the headshot of Noah Kagan smiling instantly changes your mood and instills trust.

This ad from AdEspresso offers almost no rational reason for clicking on it, but the positive emotion instilled by the cartoon and the eye-catching red (more on that later) makes me want to click on it.

Notice how Tim’s confident (or smug?) facial expression communicates confidence about the method he is teaching without any extra information.

The face is enough to build my trust and encourage me to interact with the Facebook ad.

Do you see how powerful conveying emotion through facial expression is? Use it in all your Facebook ads, regardless of the topic.

2. Use color to catch attention and convey your message

Something that many marketers are aware of but rarely utilize is the power of color.

The human brain evolved to see red colors more vividly. This was a huge advantage to hunter-gatherers who could now spot ripe red fruits out of green leafy trees as well as potential dangers like venomous snakes and fish.

(That snake could kill you.)

This is a huge advantage to marketers.

Red in your ads will catch users’ attention much more effectively than any other color.

However, the combination of red and blue is even more powerful as blue is more calming and relaxing.

For example, let’s reexamine the AdEspresso ad.

Notice how the ad uses red to grab your attention and direct you to the “Try it now” button but combines it with some blue text to give the ad a more calming and friendly tone.

This is an easy psychological trick you can use to your advantage in your next campaign.

Colors are powerful. They’re a language unto themselves.

It’s time to start speaking this language with your customers. Why? Because it’s a language that is neurologically innate. We’ve learned the language of color through nature and through the complex development of our species.

Color has a way of communicating that doesn’t depend on effective ad copy or even a smiling picture of a model. Choosing the right color can drive up your engagement and improve your Facebook marketing.

3. Slash the price (by just one cent!)

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find something in a supermarket that costs exactly $1 or exactly $5?

That’s because, once again, the human brain has evolved to discern the difference between prices based on the left-most digit.

That’s the power of pricing.

For example, the reduction of one cent—from $100.00 to $99.99—is perceived as more significant than the reduction of 40 cents—from $99.99 to $99.59.

While the brain may suck at math, this is an incredibly easy-to-implement tactic that can increase your Facebook ad conversions almost instantly.

This doesn’t work every time or in every situation. However, I have learned that odd styles of pricing are far more effective at luring customers in than flat, round numbers.

Give it a try. Run a split test with differing price points, and see which one wins.

4. Use now as a trigger word

Our brains are not wired for our modern technological era.

It sounds odd, I know. After all, most of us run around virtually tethered to some electronic device—wearing it, talking to it, and interacting with it.

But the brain is still trying to adapt to these devices, no matter how marvelous they are.

Our brains are still way back in the day when we were living on plains, hunting and gathering for survival. This means our brains are still wired for one of two basic responses: fight or flight.

You’ve heard of fight or flight, haven’t you? The idea is simple: fight or flight is “the instinctive physiological response to a threatening situation, which readies one either to resist forcibly or to run away.”

The fight or flight response takes its toll on the entire body in various ways. Some of these effects are obvious—like sweating. Other effects are subtle—like digestion slowing down.

Either way, our bodies respond.

Here’s how one science website describes it:

In response to acute stress, the body’s sympathetic nervous system is activated due to the sudden release of hormones. The sympathetic nervous systems stimulate the adrenal glands triggering the release of catecholamines, which include adrenaline and noradrenaline. This results in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. After the threat is gone, it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its pre-arousal levels….In the face of something frightening, your heart beat quickened, you begin breathing faster, and your entire body become tense and ready to take action. This response can happen in the face of an imminent physical danger (such as encountering a growling dog during your morning jog) or as a result of a more psychological threat (such as preparing to give a big presentation at school or work).

In other words, our brains are wired to make impulse decisions.

Using the word now is a great way to capitalize on the brain’s propensity for impulsivity and get your customers to click on your Facebook ad.

Here’s how one Inc. writer describes the word now:

Immediacy is what everyone wants: Get what you want now. Make a change now. You can start now. Tomorrow is too late, yesterday is over, and now is exactly the right moment to start.

Humans are wired to want now. It’s just the way we are.

Cater to that desire in your ads or social campaigns, and you’re sure to improve your scores, conversions, and engagement.

5. Focus on the images, not the words

According to most modern studies, the brain processes images much faster than text.

This means that when you are designing your Facebook or other social media campaigns, you should focus more of your time and energy on the images you are using than the text you include.

Social media today is a visually driven world. The more visual content you have and the better it is, the more successful your social media campaigns will be.

6. Create scarcity

We’ve established that the brain is wired for impulse decisions and fight or flight. Thus, ads featuring products with (perceived) scarcity instill a sense of urgency, influencing a customer’s desire to purchase.

Notice how the “Only 24 Hours Left” warning creates a sense of urgency to buy.

You want it more because it’s scarcer.

It’s called the scarcity principle, and it will work wonders for your social media strategy!

7. Use odd numbers for opt-ins

I was just about to write the conclusion to this article when I realized…

I can’t end on an even number!

Why? Because odd numbers are, for whatever reason, more psychologically appealing. Odd numbers improve engagement, increase click-throughs, and attract more eyeballs.

The simple takeaway?

• If you are running a Facebook ad with a giveaway to increase email opt-ins, use an odd number to help increase conversions.
• If you are posting an update about a listicle, use an odd-numbered headline.
• If you are using a number in any place in your Facebook updates, use an odd number.

For example, the giveaway “9 Powerful Hacks to Massively Increase Facebook Ad Conversions” would convert much better than “10 Amazing Ways to Improve Your Conversion Rate” (according to science).

Conductor’s research showed that odd-numbered headlines have 36% more clicks and a 20% higher CTR than non-numbered or even-numbered headlines.

The same principle holds true for Facebook ads, Facebook articles, and Facebook opt-ins.

Odd numbers just work.

Researchers have discovered that the mind considers odd numbers to be more natural. A list-driven article like this one, therefore, has a more trustworthy neurological connection due to its odd-numbered status.

Conclusion

More often than not, I find that most Facebook ads fail to utilize any of the above tools, and that is a shame because using human psychology is one of the most proven and consistent ways to increase your sales and conversions.

And the thing is none of these psychological insights are hard to implement!

That’s the power of consumer psychology. Knowing a few insights can be powerful and can positively impact your marketing efforts!

If you want to see any of the above advice in action, simply run an A/B split test, utilizing the power of color, facial expression, and trigger words. You’ll be AMAZED at the results.

Like with everything, however, don’t take my word for it. Go out there, and do it for yourself: test, test, test, and see what gets you the results.

I’m still curious. What kinds of psychological hacks are you testing and trying in order to improve your Facebook strategy?

from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Quicksprout/~3/5X1kDGtxKhk/

source http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/146454437244