Staying in the know of the latest trends is always helpful, especially when the information comes from a highly credible source such as Shutterstock. Every year, Shutterstock comes up with trends to watch out for the new year based on the popular trends that dominated the previous year, as well as emerging ones that are bound to burst into the design scene in no time. If you’re looking to update your design game, whether it’s for your website, social media content, promotional materials, or what have you, then you’ll find it most beneficial to take a look at these 11 creative trends to watch and get excited about this 2018. FantasyThanks to the increasing appeal of this beloved genre, fantasy is making a comeback in the form of magical landscapes, mythical beasts, and so on. In fact, Shutterstock reports that searches for unicorns and mermaids rose up to 297% and 145% respectively. And with the continued patronage of pop culture to fantastical themes, we can expect to see more of these enchanting narratives through images and design in the months–or even years–to come. New MinimalismThe minimalist movement in design has been evolving ever since it hit big in the mainstream. This time around, minimalism isn’t just black and white. Instead, it’s comprised of vibrant colors and fluid styles that add a little bit more texture and boldness to this design genre with searches for ‘continuous line’ and ‘neon circle’ seeing a substantial increase of as high as around 400%. SpacePerhaps we can thank the fascination for sci-fi within pop culture for the rise in search queries for space-related themes, including solar, astro, and synthwave. Movies like Star Wars and Star Trek, as well as some Marvel blockbusters that explore the universe, definitely feed into the imagination of the public and increasing interest in the beauty and mystery of the galaxy beyond our planet. Natural LuxuryIf you’ve been spending some time on Pinterest, it’s likely that you’ve encountered several inspiration pegs that included marble. This, in fact, is considered as part of the increasing interest in natural forms of luxury that also includes ripples of agate in addition to those mesmerising marble swirl designs. Oftentimes, these can be found used in housewares and paper goods. Punchy PastelsPastels have reached a whole new level of cool as these subtle hues are now mixed together to create a dynamic and somewhat rebellious color schemes that just pop out on the screen. There’s definitely nothing subtle about these pastel shades as the demand for juicier sets of pastel colors such as ‘blue candy’ are topping search queries. A Global March2018 is definitely the year that the world becomes “woke,” as they say. As the battle for equality continues with International Women’s Day, as well as other relevant causes involving the society and the government, the trend of being involved with these marches and protests have reverberated through various forms of arts and design as well. CactusIn line with natural luxury, another leading candidate in terms of natural trends is the cactus. There’s just a certain lackadaisical yet edgy and cool vibe that’s associated with this desert plant that draws in new age connoisseurs. Whether it’s used for rendering, backdrops for photography, design themes or inspirations, there’s no stopping this design tend from hitting it big in the mainstream. Digital CraftsThink your elementary or high school arts and crafts, but digitised–as it turns out, it really looks very hip and modern. Digitised embroidery and paper art are dominating design trends as these beloved patterns are reinvented to fit today’s interest for the whimsical and the need for more texture depth. Not to mention, the vintage and homey feel that these crafts offer provide a contrast to the more rigid, tech-inspired designs. Ancient GeometricIt’s next to impossible to not have something from the past included in these kinds of trend lineups. Lo and behold, the ancient-inspired geometric patterns and designs are raking it in search queries with key searches such as arabesque (with a whopping 8,536% increase in searches!), guilloche, and mandalas. Even if these designs have such diverse cultural, spiritual, and even mathematical origins, you can bet that it’s loved and adored universally. CryptocurrencyDigital economy? Yes, please. Cryptocurrency has reached an all-time high in 2017 and it’s safe to assume that it’ll continue to rise in popularity among the masses this 2018. Not only are people envisioning a world with a prevalent digital economy, but they’re also big fans of cryptocurrency-inspired images and design across several platforms. Holographic FoilAnother blast from the past that’s making waves this year is the holographic trend, which is reminiscent of the glitz and glamour of the 80s with a hint of sci-fi vibes. The great thing about this trend is how versatile it can be and how it can look playful or serious, modern or retro, funky or sophisticated, all at the same time. So which among these creative trends is, or are, your favorite/s? One way or another, we’ll certainly be seeing more of these gorgeous thematic design trends as we dive deeper into more of what this new year has in store for us, so feel free to have fun, experiment, and play around with these design trends to look out for. The post 11 Creative Trends to Get Excited About in 2018 appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2FxPCdh via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2oxSSxa
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Email marketing still proves to be a viable marketing strategy up to this day but pulling off a successful campaign is another story. As with other forms of marketing such as web design and content marketing, the goal is to create the best user experience to win customers over. And as it follows, brands and businesses that cater to delivering the most engaging and beneficial inbox experience to their target audience wins. Get the lowdown on how to win your customers over with email marketing with these six ways to boost your email campaign for 2018. 1. Avoid Getting Marked as SpamSometimes, all it takes is one look at the title for your customers to mark an email as spam. On top of that, do make sure to go by ethical practices in sending email such as getting permission to send, setting clear expectations, providing an opt-out option, and providing substantial content, just to name a few. 2. Focus On Acquiring Quality SubscribersA list with fewer subscribers that consist of your core audience is far better than having a massive yet generic list. Prioritise building on a list with the “right” subscribers to which your brand could truly offer something of value to. Of course, you have to actually deliver on that promise in order to increase your conversion rates. 3. Add a Human Touch to Your MarketingDon’t just bombard your audience with charts, graphs, and technical information ‘cause those don’t impress them much and would even turn them off–or hit the “unsubscribe” button. Humanize your message by presenting substantial data that appeal to their behavior in order to deliver a more authentic approach. 4. Think What Would Benefit Your CustomersIn line with humanizing your campaign, also try your best to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. This way, you’ll be able to grasp what information and message you should be sending them on a regular basis. What would keep them engaged? What would make them interested? What is it that they’d want to know more about? Be generous about it and you’ll be surprised at how well they’d return the favor. 5. Personalise With PurposePersonalisation is a big part of delivering an authentic message, as opposed to simply pushing and promoting your business endlessly to your subscribers. Make the effort to personalise your message, as though you’re having a one-to-one correspondence. Personalise your emails seamlessly and strategically–but without sounding creepy or overkill. 6. Don’t Forget to Automate and ScaleAs you automate and measure your other marketing initiatives, don’t forget to do the same for your email marketing campaign. Tracking your audience’s behavior can lead you to a perfectly timed automated message that would be received well by a potential customer. ConclusionRemember that the end-all be-all of your campaign is in understanding the behavior, wants, and interests of your target audience and not simply by building a generic list of subscribers. Email marketing may just be your key to improving your conversion leads and experience a significant increase in sales opportunities, so it’s important to pay attention on how to make it as effective as can be with regards to appealing to your target audience. The post 6 Ways to Boost Your Email Marketing Campaign This 2018 appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2CIQV5Y via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2ERQzMl Content marketing proves to be a valuable area on which businesses can bank on to not only to improve their rankings, but also contribute to increasing their foot traffic and conversion rates. Combine quality content marketing with an effective SEO strategy and you can expect your website to gain authority within your niche. However, some content marketers still fail to hit the jackpot with the content they’re producing. What’s worse is that they fail to recognize their errors or oversights, which cause them to not get their expected SEO results. If you can relate to this sentiment, you may want to take a closer look at these five common SEO mistakes that content marketers make and should highly avoid. Mistake #1: Overly optimising content with keywordsThanks to the rise of keyword usage, marketers have honed in on using these words and phrases as much as they could with every piece of content they produce. From landing pages to blog posts, keywords became the priority, instead of focusing on producing high quality content. Let’s establish that keywords do indeed help in optimising content, but it’s not the be all and end all of content optimisation. In fact, pieces that don’t have widely used keywords can still make it big with high quality content. This means prioritizing how your content is structured, the substantial information it contains, and just how much relevance it can truly offer to your audience. Mistake #2: Failing to boost old, yet still relevant, postsEvery piece of content you publish matters. This includes even those old, yet still highly relevant, pieces that would prove to be beneficial to your audience today as it was in the past. And this is why it’s important to find ways to promote old content to drive traffic and establish your authority. One way of doing so is including some references and links to newer pieces of content. You can also re-promote them through social media platforms or include them in your regular e-newsletter blasts. It’s a great way to double your optimisation efforts, as well as in building your site’s credibility. Mistake #3: Focusing too much on length of contentLong form or short form? Marketers, copywriters, editors, and content creators have long debated which length of content would prove to be most effective in engaging readers. The answer? Both has its merits–and both has its downsides. Again, there is too much focus on the length–as with keywords–and not so much on the quality and substance of the content itself. Forcing a writer to stretch out their ideas into a multitude of words, when in fact it could be done with a shorter version would feel contrived and unnecessary to a reader. The same goes for compressing relevant information into a shorter piece, when it would be best suited having a longer explanation. The key is to be flexible enough with the length and strategic enough to know that quality trumps all–including keyword usage and word count. Mistake #4: Overlooking the importance of internal linkingPrioritising getting external links over internal ones are much too common an oversight among bloggers and marketers. Although external linking is really proven to be highly beneficial in gaining authority, internal linking shouldn’t be overlooked as well. Once you’ve managed to gain traction with external linking, you can then build on internal linking, which could even solely help your site rank higher. This is because internal links alert search engines on which pages are deemed important. One effective way do implement internal linking is by linking to old posts, as what’s previously been mentioned. Mistake #5: Not producing content frequentlyRegardless if you’re writing a well researched long-form content with all the right keywords, it would prove to be ineffective for your site if you post very rarely. Surely, there are special cases in which infrequent posting can still garner links and traffic but studies point to those that post more frequently earn higher foot traffic and engagement. Find the number that’s optimal and most beneficial for your brand to engage your customers without overwhelming them with a barrage of content here and there. Not only is this advantageous in making sure that your audience stays connected with your brand, but it also bodes well in optimising your site for search engines. ConclusionThere are many ways to succeed in content marketing and SEO but part of that success is ensuring that you also avoid committing these common mistakes, among many others errors that content marketers often overlook. If you’re finding it hard to get the results you’re aiming for, SEO-wise, then it may be best to go back to the drawing board and reassess at your strategy, at what you’re doing correctly, and what you’re doing wrong–or not doing at all. Only through this can you be fully aware of even the slightest hint of oversight that may be costing your whole SEO and content efforts. The post Top 5 Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid With Content Marketing appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2FrM38l via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2FvclXl It’s 2018 and ‘tis the time to be done with the old and in with the new–new fonts and typography, that is. Updating any form of graphic design, whether it’s for your branding, website, content, or what have you, is always exciting, especially when you’re incorporating new typography styles. So without further ado, here are 7 typography trends that you just can’t miss this new year! 1. Serifs for SureThe Serifs are back in action. Expect it to be used with Sans Serif in a wide range of uses, which includes web pages, headings, body of text, and many more. Experts say that the Serif font reads faster than Helvetica, which is why we’re pretty sure to see more of Serifs dominating this year and probably even the next. 2. The Bigger, the BetterPrepare to stand out with bigger and bolder typography. Minimalism still remains somewhat prevalent but maximalism is well on its way to dominate. And what better way to join in the fun than by pushing the boundaries of design with big and bold typography that would allow your brand to really stand out from the crowd, right? 3. Calligraphy Makes the CutCalligraphy, particularly modern handwritten style, also gets its fair share of the spotlight this year. This kind of typography is more prevalent in logo design, which explains why even some of the biggest companies has been using this typography for quite some time now–case in point, Instagram. 4. Retro ReturnsLet’s hear it for the return of vintage design as retro-inspired typography makes a huge comeback this year. Groovy fonts and typography that bring back that sense of funky and eclectic nostalgia are becoming more widely used, whether it’s for logo design or other forms of visual content across various platforms. 5. Colorful CrazeIn line with maximalist design, we’re also bound to see more colors injected into various uses of typography. This allows brands to experiment more and let loose, giving them a chance to show more of their fun side, which would also make them a wee bit more relatable and accessible to their audience. 6. Customised CreationsBrands that really want to step their game up go for customised typography, especially when it comes to their logos and signature branding aesthetic. This is a great move for those who want to really set their brand apart from the rest of the competition and make a more unique impression to customers. 7. Great With GradientsGradient design is also making splashes this year with its mesmerising display of multi-colored or monochromatic hues that seamlessly blend into one another. Going beyond typography, gradient hues are also widely used in other design formats such as web design, social media content, and so on. Which among these fun and funky typography trends are you most excited to use? We highly recommend mixing it up by combining two or more of these trends to create maximum impact for your branding materials! The post Top 7 Typography Trends to Use This 2018 appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2FpYjGp via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2ESvO3i The concept of voice search optimisation has been gaining more traction recently, especially after Google’s very own John Mueller provided suggestions on what works for Voice Search during a Webmaster Central Hangout. While it’s not exactly what we’d call the future of SEO, voice search has become even more prominent due to the increased use of mobile devices and voice assistants like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. And since queries done through voice search is vastly different from simply typing it in on a search engine, it’s important to know how to get your site on top of the results whenever a user asks something from Alexa, Siri, or what have you. To prepare for the rise of voice search, better take note of the following methods that are best used in optimising your site and content. Use Structured DataEven without the goal of optimising for voice search, you should’ve already implemented having a schema markup, also known as a structured data, to optimise your site for search engine rankings. A structured data, which is metadata implemented on your site’s source code, provides data about the information found on your site. This would be extremely helpful if you’re focused on creating content that’s specially targeted towards your primary audience, since it helps Google–and other search engines–direct them towards your site. So how can it help voice search? Voice queries have a lot to do with users wanting to find local businesses. Through implementing structured data, you can ensure that search engines would be able to identify the important information regarding your business such as operation hours, contact information, address, and so on. Optimise Your Business ListingIn line with having structured data, there are other ways to optimise your business listing to make it easier for your customers to find you. Improving your business listing includes claiming your Google My Business listing that’s complete with accurate name, address, contact number information, as well as other pertinent data such as industry categories and writing a packed introduction on the field provided for. It’ll also boost your ranking to have positive reviews in order for Google to recognize your business as something that would best deliver what the users want. Pay attention even to the small details such as ensuring that your business info is accurate across several platforms, choosing the right categories, using high-res photos, and so on. Go With a Question & Answer FormatOne important characteristic that differentiates voice search keywords from your conventional search engine keywords is having that conversational tone and longer sentence structure–often times, in the form of a question. This is why it may do well for your site’s content to strategically place a question, and naturally follow with the right answer. One way to start is to think of how you would ask for the products and services that your business offers. Getting into this mindset will help you reformat your keywords in such a way that reflects how your customers would structure their voice queries. For example, you offer nutritional products. You may want to use a question such as “What is Intermittent Fasting?” as your title or headline and then proceed to offer a short yet substantial information right on the first paragraph before you dive into breaking down its components. Improve Your Mobile Site’s ResponsivenessYou simply can’t run away from needing to optimise your mobile site. The benefits of having a mobile responsive site is so vast, it even includes voice search optimisation as well. This is really no surprise since most voice searches are done using mobile devices. Just one question could instantly direct a potential customer to your site and you’ll want your site to offer them with a seamless user experience, so they won’t look anywhere else. Part of optimising your mobile site is ensuring that the pages load fast. People have very short attention spans, especially those using their phones, and you’ll want to give them what they want when they want it in order to increase foot traffic and conversion rates. ConclusionWe may not know just how much bigger voice search could get in the near future, but it wouldn’t hurt to act on it now, while its popularity is still on a steady rise among users. Considering that SEO involves continuous updates and changes, all you need to do is to go back to your strategy and incorporate voice search optimisation techniques. It may prove to be an added challenge on your quest to get high rankings, but the benefit would surely outweigh the cost of your effort, especially in the long run. The post Best Methods In Optimising Content for Voice Search appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2ojMWIJ via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2BJtTix We may be two months already in the new year but it’s never too late to start updating your site to keep it relevant this 2018. Updating your site becomes even more important, especially if you haven’t done any major changes and improvements during the past year–or years. Not only has web design evolved, but so has optimisation, user experience, and content creation, all of which play a big role in building a website that your target audience would want to go to and stay in. So what does it take to transform your site and keep it all the more relevant this 2018? We’ve listed 5 key factors for you to work on starting today. Mobile and BeyondWhen we recommend that you improve your mobile site, we don’t just mean making it mobile-friendly or responsive. At this point, your site has to be mobile optimised as well, especially in preparation for Google’s Mobile-First Index that’s bound to come out this year. This time around, it’s not just about adjusting how your desktop site appears on mobile devices or being content in simply having a mobile version of your site. To keep your site relevant–and ranking–this year is by optimising your site to carve out a seamless user experience for your customers. It’s making sure that the way customers navigate through your site would be so much easier and accessible, that it’d only take a few clicks for them to go from one page to another or even browse through products, hit add to cart, and then proceed to checkout. Not only that, but it’s in never losing sight of what your goals are, which is to engage your site visitors and keep them locked in through the design, format, navigation, and so on. Video ContentIt’s been predicted that by the end of this year, more than 80% of traffic will be directed towards videos–and it’s not hard to see why. Videos are an elevated form of content that proves to be more effective in conveying a particular message in comparison to just using words. Brands that utilise video within their web content, whether it’s in blog posts, landing pages, product demos, or even client testimonials, tend to garner higher click throughs, engagements, and conversion rates. Best way to go about it is to know how to diversify your content and what type would best suit different messages that you want to deliver to your audience. Of course, don’t drown them out with a barrage of videos. Choose which information would engage your target audience more if it is done through video and go for that. Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence is a term that gets thrown a lot these days, especially in the realm of startups and tech. It’s quite daunting to even think about integrating AI into your website if you don’t know anything about it. But before you panic, what AI mostly means for your website–at this point–is having chatbots and live chat for better customer experience. It’s a common practice for more modernised sites these days to have that small pop-up, usually on the lower right, that comes with a friendly message asking if you need help. Having customer service automated right on your site makes your products/services all the more accessible to those who step foot on any of your landing pages. Just be careful in implementing a chatbot on your site. At some point, it may get too annoying for your customers, which would then make them just want to leave your site, proving your efforts to be more counterproductive than beneficial. Data SecurityIt’s been reported by Marketing Profs that 2018 is the year where data security would be a primary concern among site visitors. This is even more relevant for sites that require visitors to provide their personal or financial information. There were quite a lot of security breaches that were made public last year, even involving companies from the big leagues. This makes visitors wary of just how much they can trust various sites with their privacy, which then directly affects the chance that they’ll turn into paying customers. There are many ways to work on securing information on your site and you can start with using HTTPS to keep online transactions safe, as well as information forms. You’ll also need to have trusted certificates and compliance put on display on your site such as the Payment Card Industry Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), basic SSL-Level security, as well as other pertinent certifications to keep your site secure and maintain your customers’ trust. Voice Search OptimisationAnother factor that experts predict to become more prevalent this year is voice search and the need for voice search optimisation. This arises from the increasing dependence of users on mobile devices or voice assistants (e.g. Amazon Echo, Google Home), as well as the call for a much more convenient user experience. Compared to traditional SEO keywords and phrases used for text optimisation, voice optimisation requires a more coherent structure of words and phrases. This pertains to questions that their target audience might ask or certain inquiries that they may need in relation to the products and services that your business is offering. Before you worry about having to deal with even more optimisation for your site, all you need to do is conduct a general search for common queries and assess how they would be structured when done through voice search. Do take note that voice queries tend to be more conversational in tone and have a longer format than your usual keywords and phrases. ConclusionThese five factors are just the tip of the iceberg in enhancing your site to keep it relevant this 2018. The most important thing is to always stay in the know of all updates and changes happening this new year in order to not get left behind the optimisation game. The post 5 Ways on Keeping Your Site Relevant This 2018 appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2BIMWcL via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2ooGxeL If you’ve been keeping in the know within the world of startups and digital marketing, then you’re most likely familiar with the term growth hacking/hacker. But have you heard of the new type of hacking, which is content hacking? In this day and age where content remains king of everything, a content creator has to continuously evolve in order to keep up with the ever-changing times. A content marketer can’t be stuck with old, tried and tested ways to craft content and instead, they’d have to continuously search for ways to hit publish on pieces and posts that get better and better every single time. This is why simply being a content creator or marketer isn’t enough to sustain a business nowadays. What your business needs to thrive and succeed is to have a content hacker on board. But what is content hacking in the first place? Let’s go find out! What Is Content Hacking?To understand what content hacking is and what it takes to be a content hacker, we first have to go back to its roots, which is growth hacking. It was Sean Ellis who first coined the term growth hacker, in which he describes it as “a person whose true north is growth. Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable growth.” He continued saying that, “An effective growth hacker also needs to be disciplined to follow a growth hacking process of prioritizing ideas (their own and others in the company), testing the ideas, and being analytical enough to know which tested growth drivers to keep and which ones to cut. The faster this process can be repeated, the more likely they’ll find scalable, repeatable ways to grow the business.” That description may be too much of a mouthful but simply put, a growth hacker is someone who utilises creativity and analytical thinking to find new and disruptive ways to promote and sell products/services, while making use of social metrics to measure their efforts as well. So how does growth hacking contribute to what content hacking is all about? Simple. Content hacking is the result when you combine content marketing and growth hacking. And it is through being a skilled content hacker that businesses and brands can thrive in today’s competitive game of content creation. What Does it Take to be a Content Hacker?It’s true that it is in utilising the skills of a content creator and having the mindset of a growth hacker that makes a successful content hacker. But what other characteristics are needed to be a content hacker? We’re breaking down the key elements of how to be a successful content hacker and why you’ll come to realise that it’s more of a mindset, rather than a toolset. Growth-minded all the wayWhen you say that someone is “growth-minded,” it means having the vision, drive, and creativity that it takes to increase traffic, leads, and conversion rates. A content hacker doesn’t just create content for the sake of creating. They create content with purpose and measurable goals in mind. The content they craft has to amount to something–perhaps increased foot traffic, virality, more likes/follows, or what have you–that would spell growth for the brand or company they represent. Takes advantage of every opportunityContent hackers see every step they take as an opportunity for growth. Suffice it to say, they are very much opportunistic, in the sense that, they take advantage of contacts, networks, meetings, and leads and turn it into solid connections that they can benefit from in the future. Of course, this is done by offering something in return as well. For example, turning a contact into a connection can be done by offering to do a guest post on another business’ blog and in return, you can have inbound links for your site. SEO minded and data drivenSEO should be far ingrained within a content hacker’s arsenal. Even as a content marketer, SEO is an important element that should always be involved in creating content. And as a content hacker crafts and works on producing content, they should be able to properly assess the best optimisation techniques needed to give their business that extra boost. On top of this, a true content hacker doesn’t just stop once they’ve hit publish on their content. They continue the work by measuring the reach and effectiveness of what they’ve created, identifying which aspects to replicate and which ones to improve on. Scalability is of utmost importance for content hackers and it’s a continuous cycle they embark on in order to come up with the very best content to produce. Makes sustainability the goalIn line with having a growth mindset, a content hacker also makes sustainability their goal. This means that in creating their content strategy, a content hacker is rightfully focused on planning not just for the near future and immediate results, but also for long-term success of the brand through content creation. Having sustainable content means that they’ve managed to identify content that’s tailor-fit to their target audience, which in turn allows for continuous engagement from readers and customers. True north is sharable contentSo what is the bottomline mission for a content hacker? It is in having sharable content. Having sharable content entails different factors that play into creating a really engaging piece of content. This includes, but is not limited to, having supporting graphics and images, creating customised or localised content, putting in videos, having a higher word rank of up to 2,000 plus words, headlines that start with numbers, and so on and so forth. All of these are part of continuous building on the benefits of their content, even long after they’ve published it. ConclusionThink of a content hacker as a content creator on steroids. And those steroids are comprised of growth, metrics, and sustainability. More than relying on tools, being a content hacker is all about having a focused mindset. A mindset that’s eating, breathing, and living growth day in and day out as they plan, craft, create, and publish content targeted to engage their audience. Therefore, in saying this, being a content hacker is not so much paying for software programs or increasing knowledge. Those are just a part of it. What it truly takes to be a successful content hacker is in changing and upgrading to having a growth mindset and apply that to every step of the content creation process. The post How to Be a Successful Content Hacker appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2sGSrWC via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2C8zKzd Innovation is flying like a rocket. Being a business entrepreneur, you need to keep pace with it. Certainly, it is not new for you to strategize for social media marketing. But, you have to think something different to remain in the competition. The first question appears in your mind is how? The best answer is whatever step you take on social media, connect it with your social media marketing plan. Link everything including comment, post, like and reply to your strategy. At the initial stage, you will find it a bit complicated. But, if you make a strategy for each social media effort and follow it correctly, success is yours. In this post, we will discuss correct steps to build the best social media marketing strategy. Here they go- Build Your Goals And Objectives Social media marketing strategy becomes simpler with clear goals and objectives. With clear goals in mind, you can avail the best social media ROI. For desired results, you should align your social media plan with your business objectives. You must not limit yourself to likes and tweets. To avail better results, consider web referrals, total leads generated, and conversion rate. Ensure that you create each goal which is relevant, precise, measurable, achievable and time-oriented. Conduct Deep Research On Social Media Audience Around 80% adults use Facebook. But, you need to think that does your potential customers use this channel that much? It is crucial to learn important things regarding your potential customers. This may include their age group, their list of preferred products or services, and the channel they use the most. Categorize your audience into groups. Find out which age group is the toughest to persuade. Now, it is time to explore the demographics of your best social media channels. Like we made this clear that you must follow a set goal for the success of this strategy. Once you are clear about our goal and audience, you can easily correlate your goals and audience. Recognize Prime Success Metrics By this time, you are done with your goal setting and audience research. You should start working on prime success metrics to assess their potency. It is good to rely on easy to understand metrics. Straightforward metrics are the best to trace the success of social media marketing strategy. The key metrics include-
Being a business person, you should keep it in mind that each success metrics is not meant for your marketing plan. You need to pick those that have something to do with your business. Focus On Creating and Curating Content If you create and curate content, then the half battle is won. You should draft the content strategically. It is a winning plan to build the following kind of content-
Perform Keyword Research In the previous step, you learned to create and curate content. But, robust keyword research will make it more valuable. All potential followers will be yours if you induce specified keywords and hone your content. You can look for the best terms on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media network. Apart from this, you can also rely on a powerful social researching tool. Whichever tool you adopt, it must provide your content enough weight to fulfill specific demands of customers. Execute Analysis and Optimization It is time to assess and optimize your strategy of social media marketing. Rewind the performance of key success metrics we discussed above. If you got results of major metrics, your way is clear toward the analysis and optimization. Sprout social and Buffer are nice tools to evaluate your marketing activities. After this, you can assess key metrics against the KPIs. Conclusion The team from Webby Central hope that your fear regarding the success of your social media marketing plan must have lessened. You just need to follow all these steps honestly and reap the desired results. Thus, sketch a perfect plan and your burden will vanish. Best of luck in advance! The post Steps to Build Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2C2aEla via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2o0rzMs While content remains king in the world of SEO, Google has become much smarter in measuring its relevance. This makes content creation an even bigger challenge, especially since it’s not just about infiltrating what you wrote with keywords from the title to the H1 tag and so on. In order to make it the very best there is, you’ll have to come up with a more in-depth content. So what exactly does an in-depth content have? Compared to your normal blog posts that focus on a simple topic, an in-depth content comprises of pretty much all the necessary information they need clearly explained in one cohesive, albeit lengthy, post. It may seem daunting to even begin crafting this type of content but don’t worry ‘cause we’ve got some quick and easy tips to get you started! Tip #1: Craft your content with context in mindAs what’s been mentioned, Google now looks into more of how connected and elaborate your post is as opposed to stuffing it with keywords as much as you can. With that in mind, your goal now shouldn’t be just about writing up a post for the sake of having fresh content. Your goal should be aimed towards delivering on extensive information that would make Google think that your post should be at the very top because it has the most substantial information in relation to a certain question. Google wants to give users the very best results and being the best doesn’t mean it only has the right keywords. It has to have the most relevant, extensive, and informative content to satisfy a user’s query. Tip #2: Make your content longer–like, at least 2000 words longSo what does it mean to have an “extensive” in-depth content? Well, it takes about at least 2,000 words. Don’t be surprised because long-form content has been gaining momentum for some time and readers are actually partial to it, especially if it’s well crafted and has all the information that they need. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to stretch out a post for the sake of reaching the two thousand-word mark if it’s good enough to only have 500 words. What this simply means is you’ll have to come up with topics that are multi-faceted enough for you to segment into several sub-topics. Just an added tip to make your lengthy content more readable, is to chop the paragraphs into shorter chunks. This way, your readers would have find it easier to digest the information and scan through the whole article without their eyes giving out. Shorter paragraphs also look better when viewed on mobile devices as well. Tip #3: Insert LSI keywords to your contentIn crafting your in-depth content, don’t forget to include LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords into it. LSI keywords are supporting words and phrases that are semantically related to your main keyword. Take note that these aren’t just synonyms or other terms for your primary keyword. These keywords should be strongly associated to your main topic, which would help in signalling the relevance and depth of your content to Google. For example, if you’re talking about the trendy Ketogenic Diet, your LSI keywords should include the words nutrition, high fat, weight loss, meal plans, low carb, ketosis, and so on. Once Google crawls your content, it’ll verify the strength and context and think, “Great! This post clearly cover what the Ketogenic Diet is about.” Then off your page goes to the first page of search engine results. If you’re wondering on how to get the LSI keywords for your primary keyword, you can start with using the LSI Graph, which is a free tool that provides several keywords you can add to your content. You can also use good old Google Keyword Planner or even just the Google results and go straight to the bottom where you’ll find “Searches related to..” words and phrases that you can use as LSI keywords. Choose your LSI keywords wisely and use them appropriately within your content. Again, don’t just stuff keywords for the sake of doing so. Make sure that it makes complete sense and that it supports your main topic with the right information. ConclusionSEO is a constant game of stepping it up and taking it to the next level. You know what they say, it’s either you innovate or die. And this time around, it’s about upping your content game in a way that would bring some serious value to readers and customers. While it’s true that you’ll need more time and effort to come up with in-depth content, the return proves to be well worth it, especially in terms of ranking higher and getting more backlinks–not to mention, a very probable higher conversion rate compared to shorter posts. The post Quick and Easy Guide to Writing In-Depth Content appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2CeZHIQ via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2H9lnK0 Gone are the days when desktop traffic is viewed as the priority. Mobile browsing has long surpassed desktop browsing years ago and Google is on the move to making adjustments in how sites are ranked. Lo and behold, 2018 is the year that Google is making it official by launching a mobile-first index algorithm, ultimately making mobile sites and pages as the main basis for indexing and ranking. So what does this all mean? Simply put, the mobile version of your site should be your main priority because it’s what Google will use to assess your ranking in search engines. Sounds scary? A bit. But is it a surprising move on Google’s part? Not at the very least. This has long been an expected update from Google. The tables have finally turned and mobile sites aren’t just an afterthought anymore; it’s become the priority. With all that said, it’s pretty easy to determine your proper course of action, which is to focus on improving (or creating, if you don’t have one yet!) the mobile version of your site. We’re listing down important steps in preparing your site for Google’s Mobile-First Index. The first step? Don’t panic and just read on. Step #1: Ensure that your site is truly optimised for mobile browsingMore than being mobile-friendly, your site has to be mobile-optimised. There’s actually a difference between the two. Saying that your site is mobile-friendly means that you have a working mobile version of the site, meaning you can simply view your site using a mobile device. However, saying that it is optimised for mobile means that it offers a seamless user experience and has a truly responsive mobile design. Having a mobile-optimised site doesn’t just mean that you have a shrunken or slightly rearranged version of your site. It means that your users would be able to navigate your site with the same ease (or more!) as they do with the desktop version. Good news is a lot of website platforms provide an automatic mobile version of the site. However, it would still be best to make sure that it’s the best possible design for mobile and not just a slightly adjusted version. This is why a lot of developers opt to build it from scratch to ensure that they hit the mark in mobile-responsiveness. To check if your mobile site is up to par, you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test as a starting point. They’ll either say that your site is mobile-friendly or come up with a report that would highlight the main points for improvement and repair. Step #2: Adjust content for mobile viewingIt’s not enough to simply adjust the design. You may also have to look at how you craft your content and see if it works as effectively for mobile viewing as well. Content remains king and one way of how marketers deal with this is by coming up with at least a thousand, or even three, words and complete with supporting images and graphics. The thing is, these highly informative and wordy content may seem fine to look at on a desktop screen but doesn’t translate as smoothly to a mobile screen. One remedy to this issue is to slightly adjust how you write. It doesn’t mean that you have to shorten your posts. Perhaps you can cut them up into shorter paragraphs and sentences, as opposed to piling it all up in lengthy chunks. Google’s mobile-first index shouldn’t push you into a corner and restrict you from coming up with quality content. Remember that quality content remains a strong ranking factor above everything else. What this algorithm update should do is to push you into paying more attention on how your desktop site and pages translate to mobile. This applies not just to text content, but also to images, graphics, videos, and other content formats. Step #3: Consider other mobile-first index factorsAchieving a seamless user experience with your mobile site comprises of several factors that come into play. It’s not simply about the display or adjusted layout. There are other mobile-first index factors that you strongly pay attention to. These include the following:
ConclusionAs we’ve already said, there’s no reason to panic because you still have time. But that time is getting shorter with each day and if you still haven’t gotten around to at least having a mobile-friendly version of your site, then it’s high time that you make the move. Should you have a mobile-friendly version, then kudos to you! But the job’s not done yet. Your goal is to truly optimise it for mobile browsing by paying attention to several factors that affect user experience. Make the most out of the time we’re all waiting for Google to finally launch the Mobile-First Index to focus on making several adjustments and improvements on your mobile site. Simply put, prioritize your mobile site starting now and by the time Google announces its launch, your site is up and ready to rule the search engine rankings on both mobile and desktop. The post How to Prepare Your Site For Google’s Mobile-First Index appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2nYdhex via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2Bli9mg |
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