Find out how you can stay ahead of your competitors without shelling out extra $$$ using Topvisor tools.
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Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Competitive Research: How to Battle Your SEO Enemies – And Win by @topvisor
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Monday, 23 October 2017
Top 10 SEO Mistakes Affiliates Make by @ab80
Here's a list of common SEO blunders that hurt the effectiveness of many affiliate campaigns.
how I went to number one on Google for a competitive term by just getting people to click my page
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Low Sales? Here’s How to Read Minds to Close More Deals
may Google puke with FCS networker
People either do what you want. Or they don’t.
And there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.
Except react. Except follow-up based on a new set of rules.
That doesn’t mean you can’t predict it, though. That doesn’t mean you can’t manipulate it. It doesn’t mean you can’t choreograph it ahead of time.
Almost every single customer interaction presents an IF/THEN scenario. They either choose to do one thing, do the opposite, or do nothing at all. And each option means you should react in a slightly different way.
The good news is that you can do it in advance. You can determine what happens, before it happens, so the message they receive next is always the right one.
Here’s how to get this insight and react in real-time to give people exactly what they want, when they want it.
1. Start by setting objectives
Personalization isn’t “Hey $FNAME.”
It’s deeper than that. It’s about collecting various data points so you understand context. So you ‘get’ what someone wants before they want it.
In a Spy’s Guide to Strategy, ex-CIA case officer, John Braddock, says that creating a strategy comes starts with two moves:
- Identifying someone’s potential end game, and then
- Reasoning backwards to figure out how they get there.
That way, you can see what’s coming. Only when you know where someone is trying to go can you create scenarios for how they might get there.
Content mapping is a perfect real-world example.
Some people come to your site to buy. But not most. Only a tiny slice ready to hit the Product Tour and Opt-in page before reading “Thank You.”
Others want pricing. Some want insights. And still more want information.
Which is why content mapping says you gotta give all those things to all those people. Make them stick around. Get them to click. Get them to come back.
The trick is to start here. Without determining who wants what, you can’t figure out how to get them there the fastest and easiest.
Marketing isn’t a singular campaign today. It’s not a banner ad or a drip email sequence.
Instead, it’s a series of IF, THEN statements. Conditional statements that show how people get form A->B, and then somehow to Z.
Z is what you want. Z is where you purchase. But people don’t start with Z.
That’s why you break the process down. A->B becomes a micro-conversion. It’s the step between the step. The guy behind the guy. That eventually makes stuff happen.
You start by hypothesizing. You try to infer what someone wants. Then comes the “then.”
“Then” is when stuff happens. It’s your response.
Product companies are relatively simply. People check out a product but don’t buy. So you follow-up with retargeting efforts.
Easy, right?
Not so much for services. The sales process takes months instead of weeks. It takes nurturing instead of discounts.
Let’s say someone checks out your services. They check out some key pages. But they don’t opt-in.
“Free consultation” time? Not necessarily. That’s also not very inspiring.
So you switch it up. You could try an offer to get them to realize how much they need you. You need to make the pain real. You need them to place a dollar value on it. Otherwise, no sale.
That starts with a 1-1 conversation. It’s a spin on the “Free Consultation.” Except it doesn’t suck. It’s focused on their issues, not your own.
The goal: Get people who checked out our Services into this new 1-1 offer.
Next, you work backwards. You set-up the sequence to determine how someone is going to get from A->B.
Automation workflows can help you map this out. For example, if someone looks at the services page but doesn’t convert, do this next.
“This” could be “send new email.” Perfect.
Now do it again. This email goes out. Do they click on the CTA link?
Yes or no.
If yes, but they don’t sign up for your offer, it’s a no. Or it might as well be. So respond accordingly.
These sequences repeat ad nauseam.
There are no limits. That’s the beauty. And with some iteration, you can automate most of the entire process.
Setting a clear objective like that leads you seamlessly into the next step. Select your segment.
Except, you don’t create these segments out of thin air. Or you shouldn’t.
You should let people tell you where they belong.
2. Segment new leads
How do people get to your site?
They could punch in the URL directly. They could serendipitously run across your blog post on Twitter. Or they could find your aforementioned Services page by clicking on your Google ad.
Each of these are different channels, sure. But they’re more than that. They’re giving you more information than that.
✅ The direct website visit? Brand-aware. Been to your website multiple times before. Probably transitioning from stranger to lead.
✅ Twitter? New visit. Stranger. Needs more info to develop brand recognition.
✅ Google search ad? Also not brand-aware. But problem-aware. Probably solution-aware. Show them why you’re better.
Now, keep them separate. Don’t treat them the same.
Their under-the-radar behavior is already telling you something important. So keep it going by segmenting their journey.
Create different flows. Create different segments for each.
Sometimes you have control over this. And sometimes you don’t.
For example, if you’re creating an ad, you control the landing page destination.
When you’re writing a blog post, you can control the internal links or other navigation elements they see.
But when someone finds something from organic search? You can’t always control everything.
Once again, marketing automation platforms can tell you the trigger. They can tell you the exact page someone visited. First. So you roughly know who they are or what they’re looking for.
They could leave your site right now and it would be OK. They could get distracted. Bounce. And you’d be fine.
‘Cause you’ve got the same ability to retarget in other places based on individual page views.
You can see which of the three products they clicked on. You can see which of the five services they expressed the most interest.
That tiny clue adds context. You should know what to follow-up with.
Similarly, someone views your opt-in form but doesn’t convert.
No prob. You can still follow up. You can still tailor the message based on their non-action. You can cycle through common objections until you land on what that sticks.
This is where personas often fail. This is where ‘segments’ often don’t work.
Your decision-making data should come from people’s actions. Not just your own hunches.
3. Nurturing & re-engagement
Eventually, someone opts-in.
Someone finds something like they like and gives you something in return.
On the one hand, it’s great. You’re one step closer.
Except on the other, it changes everything. You need to update things. You need to evolve the conversation.
For example, let’s say someone downloads an eBook. Then your free trial or 1-1 offer. Both good things.
Except, it creates a rippling effect.
For example, you need to work backwards before you work forwards. You need to remove people from previous sequences because their status has changed.
Those top of the funnel eBook nurturing emails worked. Wonderfully! But now that they’ve moved deeper, they need a new sequence. Only after removing them from the previous one.
Bad news, though.
One person moved forward. They went from TOFU to MOFU or BOFU.
But most don’t. Or won’t.
So let’s plan for that, too. Someone downloads the eBook. Maybe they even enjoy it. But after the first few weeks, nothing else happens.
They received the same nurturing emails. But decided against taking you up on the next offer. For whatever reason.
Same objective as the first, but a new segment this time.
What’s happening here:
- It’s been at least 35 days since someone downloaded the eBook. The reason? It gives your other campaigns at least four weeks to try and move them down the funnel.
- Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The individual didn’t opt into any other offer you threw at them, either. No other forms were filled out.
Cool. No worries. Water off a duck’s back.
IF, you saw this coming. IF, you have a scenario planned out for them.
Typically, you want to get them to ‘reengage’ here. So new emails go out. Each, with different links like this next one.
Those are all unique links. They’re split up by topic. You’re setting a trap. You’re baiting a hook.
For someone’s action to once again tell you how to better segment them.
Let’s say someone clicks on the fifth option down: “Optimizing Your Website.” That indicates they’re interested in, well, updating their website.
Cool. You saw this coming. Savvy marketer, you.
That pulls them into a brand new segment. Seamlessly and automatically.
Now, you can tailor the next few messages better. You can send them website-related tips, instead of SEO ones. You can send them more relevant offers that they’re more likely to take you up on.
Which puts you one step closer.
4. Sales qualification
Ecommerce is easy. Someone buy’s or they don’t. Most customers are ‘good,’ as long as they’re paying.
Services ain’t easy. Most leads and prospects won’t become customers.
In fact, you can take this a step further. A small segment of people will want to work with you. But for a few different reasons, you won’t want to work with most of them.
You want the best customers. You want those that will be the best fit. The ones that ideally also have the longest lifetime value.
Which means you need to qualify. Which means you need to plan for this in advance.
You know many people who fill out your form won’t be a good fit. So you add a couple qualifying questions to the bottom of your form.
“Annual Revenue Range” can tell you a few things. It can tell you, right off the bat, if they can even afford you. Not worth jumping on the phone if they can’t.
But it can also tell you what product or service they might be best suited for.
As does “Biggest Marketing Challenge.” It helps you figure out what solution to line up with their problem.
It also helps you logistically. The person or division doing $100,000 websites will be different than the one doing $1,000,000 ad campaigns. So they need to be routed appropriately, too.
Now, think of your process and workflow. Each little decision or potential answer has another trickle down effect. It influences everything that happens afterward.
You need filters and branches and IF/THEN statements along the way. That way, you can take all of the various possibilities into account.
Before they happen. So you know exactly how to respond. When it eventually does.
Different sequences need to kick off when someone selects “Yes” vs. “No.”
Different people need to be notified. Different tasks and steps needs to come next.
Conclusion
Congratulations. You’ve made it this far.
You’ve sold a new deal. Closed a new account. Brought in a few bucks.
But a new customer isn’t the end of the process, so much as it’s the beginning of a new one.
“Marketing” doesn’t just mean advertising, after all. Onboarding is crucial. Customer service is key.
Keeping that account longer means more money in your pocket. Easier money than bringing in a new deal.
Retention is your job, too.
Which means you’re not done. Which means there are more scenarios to account for. More sequences to create.
Marketing isn’t isolated. It’s not one-and-done. It’s systematic. It’s a process. It’s a series of IF/THEN sequences.
People do what they want. They decide or click or opt-in or don’t. You can’t control that.
You can only control how you react and respond. Or how you lead them to do what you want.
About the Author: Brad Smith is the founder of Codeless, a B2B content creation company. Frequent contributor to Kissmetrics, Unbounce, WordStream, AdEspresso, Search Engine Journal, Autopilot, and more.
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How to Compete with Big E-Commerce Brands as a Smaller Online Retailer by @BrockbankJames
may Google puke with FCS networker
Here's why big brands rank so well and how to put your winning SEO plan in place to outrank them.
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Friday, 20 October 2017
How to Build Hype for the Holiday Season as an Ecommerce Brand
the best old-school spam linking tool there is today
This is a great marketing opportunity for your ecommerce business.
You have a small operating window to effectively execute your plan.
These are some of the most common days to mark on your calendar during the holiday season:
- Thanksgiving
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- New Year’s Eve
- New Year’s Day
These all happen within a month or so of each other.
Sure, there are other holidays spread throughout the year.
You can still run promotions for holidays like April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.
But the holidays at the end of the year can be extremely profitable for you if you’re building enough hype for your ecommerce site.
Ecommerce is on the rise, and it goes up 12% during the holiday season.
Online shopping is convenient for consumers.
They don’t have to sit in traffic or wait in lines.
Shoppers can buy from their homes, offices, or mobile devices whenever they have free time.
Sure, not everyone loves shopping on ecommerce platforms.
In fact, 49% of shoppers say not being able to touch, try, or feel a product is their biggest problem with shopping online.
Regardless, ecommerce is still trending upward.
This is especially true for the holidays.
The average adult in the United States plans to spend $419 on their holiday gift purchases.
Take advantage of this.
Building up hype for your ecommerce site can get you a piece of that number.
I’ll show you how to get exposure for your website during the holiday season.
This will increase your traffic, conversions, sales, and revenue.
Start planning early
Don’t wait until the last minute to execute your holiday promotional strategies.
Waiting until December to start marketing for Christmas is way too late.
Let’s take a look at some numbers.
Consumers are shopping less during the pre-holiday dates.
Look at the trends over the last three years.
Just because your customers are waiting to buy does not mean you should be waiting to promote.
Look, I’m not saying to launch your campaign in July or August, but you can certainly start planning ahead.
If you wait, you could potentially lose the edge to your competitors.
Start preparing for factors outside of your marketing strategy as well.
Make sure you have enough inventory.
You’ll also need enough staff on the schedule who are familiar with your procedures to fill and process incoming orders.
Touch base with your web hosting service.
Find out if your website has enough speed and bandwidth to accommodate a potential surge in visitors.
Slow loading times or a site crash could be detrimental to your company, so get all of this sorted out ahead of time.
Planning ahead for unforeseen circumstances will save you time, money, and headaches in the long run.
Offer shipping benefits
Give the customer a reason to buy from you over the competition.
Shipping could be the deciding factor resulting in the sale.
In fact, 9 out of 10 consumers list free shipping as their top incentive for shopping online.
Free shipping isn’t the only motivation you should offer.
If possible, offer priority shipping or even overnight shipping options. Don’t exclude those last-minute shoppers.
If it’s the week before the holidays and people still need to buy gifts, they won’t use a company that takes two weeks to deliver an order.
That shouldn’t be your business. Let your competition make that mistake.
Sure, for overnight shipping or expedited packages, it may not be practical to offer free shipping.
Just make sure your customer has the option to choose when their package will arrive at the most affordable rate.
Be upfront about your shipping prices.
Consider that 61% of consumers said that unexpected costs like shipping, taxes, and fees were the reason for not finalizing their checkout process.
You definitely want to minimize shopping cart abandonment.
Offer free shipping whenever possible, and be transparent about extra costs before the customer reaches your checkout page.
Don’t alienate last-minute shoppers with long delivery dates.
Retargeting must be a top priority
Target your existing customers during the holiday season.
Sure, it’s always great to get new business.
But think about your marketing budget.
It can cost you up to 7 times more to obtain a new customer than to retain an existing customer.
The holiday season isn’t the time to experiment with a new customer acquisition strategy.
Focus on the people already familiar with your brand and products.
If you don’t market to your current customers, they may turn to your competitors instead.
Look at the data above.
During the holiday season, consumers are open to shopping on websites they haven’t visited before.
You can look at this in two ways:
- You have a greater chance getting new customers.
- Your current customers may shop on other ecommerce sites.
I would strongly recommend focusing on that second point.
We just talked about the cost of acquiring a new customer compared to keeping an existing one.
If you get new customers, that’s great.
But don’t make that your primary strategy for building holiday hype.
I would be much more concerned with losing one of your customers.
Launch your most successful retargeting strategies for your next holiday campaign.
Create a sense of urgency
Give your customers a reason to make the purchase now.
If they are just browsing, entice them to buy immediately instead of later.
Amazon uses this strategy on their platform all year round.
Look at this example.
Do you see how they created urgency here?
Only 1 item left in stock.
The customer may panic.
Even if they were just browsing, now they have a reason to buy it right away.
The customer knows their loved one really wants this item as a gift, so they don’t want to risk it being sold out before the holidays.
Implement this strategy on your ecommerce site.
- Limited quantity remaining
- Only 2 hours left before sale price expires
- Free shipping if you order before midnight
These are some phrases you can use to encourage buying.
You should do this all year, but it’s especially effective during the holidays.
People want to buy the perfect gift for their friends and family members.
Entice them to purchase those gifts from your website.
Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices
I often speak about the importance of mobile optimization.
The holiday season is no different.
It’s essential for your customers to be able to make purchases on their phones and tablets easily.
Look at the mobile ecommerce trends from last year’s holiday season:
Earlier we established that people wait until the Thanksgiving weekend to do the majority of their holiday shopping.
The above graph shows purchasing statistics over 3 important days for online retailers:
- Thanksgiving Day
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
These dates are within five calendar days of each other.
On each of these days, over half of the ecommerce traffic came from mobile devices.
Purchases from mobile users were 40%, 36%, and 35%, respectively.
Those numbers cannot be ignored.
If your platform isn’t mobile optimized, there’s no chance you’ll get a significant number of sales.
Your page has to load fast too.
Mobile users will leave a site 57% of the time if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds.
Earlier we discussed the importance of planning ahead for the holiday season hype.
Mobile optimization and mobile load times should be at the top of your list.
Flash sales
Run a same day promotional event.
Flash sales work great.
This relates back to the concept of urgency.
Here’s a great example from the J. Crew Factory Store.
Take a look at the two points I highlighted here:
- ends tonight
- online only
These are both great ways to create hype.
Sure, this isn’t an advertisement focused on the holidays.
But you can use those terms during seasonal promotional campaigns as well.
Here’s another thing you want to consider when running a flash sale.
Timing is everything.
If you’re going to run a same day sale or a promotion lasting for a few hours, you need to plan it perfectly.
Find out what time of day your customers are shopping.
The data above shows consumer shopping habits from Cyber Monday last year.
For the most part, activity was much lower during the normal working hours of the day.
What does this tell you?
Starting a sale at 10 AM and ending it at noon probably isn’t your best bet.
However, starting your sale in the evening and running it through 8 AM the following day would be much more effective.
When planned and executed properly, flash sales are a great way to build hype during the holiday season.
Focus on your pricing strategy
Consumers are always price sensitive.
The holidays may not be a bad time to focus on your prices.
Compare your pricing to that of the competition.
Where do you fit?
One of the perks of online shopping for consumers is that they can compare prices between different sites in just seconds.
Chances are, they will buy the least expensive product.
Take a look at these researching habits:
Consumers even visit websites before making a purchase in a brick and mortar store.
Understand the psychology behind pricing.
People love feeling like they got a good deal.
Make sure your products offer them value.
What makes your company different?
If your product is the same as those of every other brand on the market, why should the customer pay double for yours?
They won’t.
The holidays are also a great time to offer discounts and deals.
We already talked about how important it is to offer free shipping.
Discount the products as well.
Mark the initial price higher if necessary, and then slash the prices with flash sales and other promotions.
Know your audience
Whom are you targeting with your holiday campaign strategy?
If the answer is anyone and everyone with access to the Internet, it’s a mistake.
Narrow your focus, and choose your target audience.
Does your business have a Facebook page?
If it doesn’t, you need one. But I won’t get into the importance of that right now.
For the time being, I’ll assume you have a presence on Facebook.
It’s a great way to find out the demographics of your target audience.
Go to the “Insights” tab on your Facebook page.
This will show you valuable information about everyone who liked your page.
You’ll learn their:
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Language
Take this data, and create campaigns for your followers.
Based on this information, you can potentially figure out which holidays your followers celebrate.
Advertise accordingly.
Use multiple distribution channels
How are you planning to advertise during the holidays?
Email?
Facebook?
Your answer should be both, plus every other distribution channel you can find.
Make sure your brand has an active presence on different social media platforms.
Facebook is effective.
But that shouldn’t be your only resource.
Use Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to connect with your customers.
Billions of consumers are active on various platforms each month.
If you’re running a promotion such as a flash sale, which we talked about earlier, advertise it on all of your active distribution channels.
This is the best way to ensure it reaches the largest number of people.
It may sound obvious, but too many ecommerce stores look over this concept.
They may advertise a promotion on Instagram but not on Twitter.
This doesn’t make any sense.
It will only take an extra minute or two out of your day to get this campaign up on all of your platforms.
Don’t slack during the holiday season.
Use all your resources to promote your products and brand.
Conclusion
The holiday season is a great opportunity for ecommerce stores to generate high profits.
It’s a time when people are looking to spend money over a short period of time.
The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the peak time when consumers shop for the holidays.
Run most promotions between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
Those few days are a popular time for online shopping.
Plan ahead.
Make sure you’ve got plenty of staff and inventory ready for a potential surge in online orders.
Online shopping is growing in popularity, especially on mobile devices.
Your ecommerce store needs to be optimized for mobile users.
Create a sense of urgency with each campaign.
Run flash sales, and target your existing customers.
It’s cheaper to keep a current customer than to acquire a new one.
When you’re running a flash sale, pay special attention to the timing of your promotion.
Know your audience. Research the demographics of your customers, and market to those people accordingly.
Customers are sensitive to pricing, so make sure you focus on your pricing strategy.
Offer incentives like free shipping.
Don’t forget about last-minute shoppers.
You also need to advertise next day shipping whenever possible.
Promote your brand on all your distribution channels.
Following these techniques is a recipe for success if you want to build hype for your ecommerce site during the holidays.
How will you promote your ecommerce store during the holiday season to increase sales?
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Thursday, 19 October 2017
The Top Reasons Why SEO Professionals Attend a Conference [POLL] by @A_Ninofranco
may Google puke with FCS networker
What are SEO professionals' main motivation when choosing to attend an SEO conference? Learn the response of SEJ's Twitter community.
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Tuesday, 17 October 2017
How to Optimize for Landing Page Success by @rankranger
Monitoring and optimizing landing pages is one of the cornerstones of SEO success. Discover the six steps needed to succeed.
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