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Showing posts from November, 2019

The finite era of “actionable insights”

For years, “actionable insights” have been the Holy Grail for data analytics companies. Actionable insights, the thinking goes, are the end product of data collection, aggregation, analysis, and judgment. They enable a decision-maker to modify behavior and achieve desired outcomes. The process begins with data collection, which can take many forms. There’s a big difference between collecting data and aggregating it in a meaningful way that can provide a picture of reality. That’s the “insights” part of the puzzle. First, you need high-quality data, then you need the technological prowess to clean and organize it. With high-quality data that’s been cleaned and organized, the next step is to provide context. This is the realm of companies like Tableau, which provide tools that translate machine-friendly data points into human-friendly visualizations that strive to depict an objective picture of current conditions. But whereas a snapshot of current conditions may, in fact, yield new an...

Top five SEO tools to generate more leads in 2020

Lead generation via SEO is one of the best ways to improve the overall conversion rate of your website.  There are several go-to SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Google Keyword Planner that most marketers use for keyword research, competitor tracking, and SERP movements. However, this is only one side of the equation. Once people’s organic searches have pointed them to your web pages, what’s the best way to ensure they take the next step and opt into your email list?  Let’s take a look at the top five SEO lead generation tools and how you can use them to convert more of your site’s visitors in 2020 and ahead. 1. Hello Bar With Hello Bar, you can convert your existing visitors into customers. You can design custom messages for your visitors and display them just at the right time. Hello Bar sits at the top of your site, and it can be used to display irresistible offers to your visitors. You can even collect email addresses from your visitors to increase your subscr...

An introduction to Google Ads Video Ad Sequencing (VAS)

Video Ad Sequencing (VAS) is a recent addition to the Google Ads video campaign types that allows advertisers to, “…tell your product or brand story by showing people a series of videos in the order that you define.” But it is really a lot more. Video Ad Sequencing can be used to take your target audience on a video journey based upon, to a limited extent, their behavior. By telling a story VAS lets you drive deeper awareness, engagement, and consideration. Examples of Video Sequencing usage Let’s say you want to let people know about “Five key elements of your product” and why it makes you better than the competition. With VAS, you can effectively ensure that potential customers see each video, in a set sequence. We used VAS with one of our clients which had one long-form video that was just too long to capture the short attention span of users on YouTube. So, instead, we split the ad into five short vignettes, each with a quick intro and value-prop within the first five seco...

Four initiatives B2Bs must tackle now to win in 2020

While ecommerce businesses are in the midst of the Q4 craziness and rising CPCs of the holiday season, B2B clients are planning for their business to pick up at the start of 2020. In this post, I’ll walk through a few things to consider and refresh before Q1 gets here. 1. Study the competitive landscape One of the most valuable sources of knowledge from Google campaigns is the ‘Auction Insights’ report, which provides info on when competitors have come into and out of the auction during the year. It’s also valuable to look at competitors that might be newer in the space and have recently entered the auction. With this information, you can dive into new keyword research by using tools like SEMrush and SpyFu. I also recommend studying creative, offers, and copy that your competitors are using across their ads helping to inform potential creative and development and testing for the start of the year.  2. Reevaluate budgets for  2020 As the start of the year approaches, look...

Yext researches what American customers are looking for throughout the year

Yext , the Search Experience Cloud company, released new research about American consumer search behavior during the past year. The data, drawn from a sample of more than 400,000 business locations in the United States, revealed new insights about when consumers are searching for and clicking most on businesses across retail, healthcare, financial services, and food, throughout the year. Among the key findings: Consumers are only getting more active in search : Consumer actions in business listings — driving directions clicks, clicks to call businesses, and more — grew 17% over the past year. Search — and searchers — are getting better: Consumer actions in search grew faster (17%) than search impressions of business listings (10%) over the year, suggesting that customers are finding what they want faster. Whether searchers are learning to use more specific queries or search engines are getting better at understanding those queries, customers are spending less time searching and mo...

Long tail keywords: Why they matter so much in content strategy

If you work in digital marketing, you’ve probably heard the phrase “longtail keyword”. You might also know there’s some debate around what it actually means. Many believe keywords that are longtail mean they have a lot of words in them. It’s the difference between “swimming pools” and “swimming pool installation in Boca Raton, FL”, the latter being considered the longtail.  However, the length of the keyword isn’t necessarily what we’re referring to when we say “longtail”. In reality,  long tail keywords just have to be extremely specific –  it just so happens that longer keywords tend to also be more specific (hence the confusion around the definition). But why do we care? Because longtail keywords are so specific, fewer people tend to search for those particular keywords, which might deter some people from trying to rank for them, because they consider it a waste of time. But, this is where the opportunity lies. Longtail keywords tend to not be as competitive beca...

Optimizing for position zero: The future of voice search

It’s still early days in the world of voice search, and yet already this new type of device and search engine use is – according to comScore – expected to account for up to 50 percent of the global search market next year. That’s a major shift in consumer behavior in only a few short years. Digital assistants are becoming increasingly prominent in our homes and on mobile devices, and their ubiquity will only increase. But where exactly is the brand play in voice search? How developed is the opportunity, and what specific strategies do brands need to apply to benefit from this trend? Let’s take a look at the current state of affairs and, more importantly, where things will go in the next few years. The current focus on position zero When you hear marketers talk about voice search today, you probably hear a lot of talk about Position Zero, also known as the featured snippet. This is the content that Google offers in the top search results position in hopes of directly answering ...

Going international: How to make your WordPress site globally friendly

International expansion is an expected ambition for progressive WordPress sites and ones of similar likes. The online nature of this global reach means that the uncertainties, legal dangers, and cultural hazards are minimized. The world is at your fingertips, and the costs in reaching it successfully are minimal. The rationale for reaching out to a new audience, readership, viewership or listenership, maybe one of opportunity, exciting new prospects, high growth potential, or to escape a domestic audience that has become too saturated or competitive. With only some limitations, the internet is a global phenomenon that effectively ties us all together with invisible strings. Send a Tweet from Prague and reply to it in Illinois. Publish an eBook in Seattle and share it with your friends in Beirut. There are practically no boundaries when it comes to sharing content online. When it comes to your WordPress website, the one you’ve dedicated time, money and energy building, I expect that...

2019 Google core algorithm updates: Lessons and tips to future-proof your SEO

There’s nothing that beats that organic #1 position in Google’s SERPs when it comes to brand visibility, increase in traffic, trust factor boost, reduction in cost per lead, and so on. Everyone who’s anyone in online business knows this, which is why the struggle to grab that marketer’s Holy Grail can look like a cut-throat business to many SEO novices. However, even SEO pros get confused when Google throws a wrench into the intricate workings of the rankings machine. Google’s core algorithm updates can mess up even the best SEO strategies , especially if you react in a panic to a drop in the rankings. Today, I’ll share with you the three things I’ve learned from 2019 Google algorithm updates that will help you future-proof your SEO. First, however, take a look at the hints that Google rolled out alongside those updates to see if you’re building your SEO strategy on a healthy foundation. 2019 Google core algorithm updates and what they tell us In 2018,  Google reported 3234 al...