The return of the Weekend Wrap – Vol 21 – Web Marketing insights
It’s been a while since we collected a bunch of exceptional posts from our favourite sites about SEO, Content Marketing, Social Media, Conversion Rate Optimisation and all the other stuff that makes the online space so fascinating and challenging. Well, we’re back with some incredible Web Marketing insights that you will find riveting, educational, informative and thought-provoking, so much so that you will (hopefully) want to share with others. If you want your skills, your website or your business finely tuned and operating at maximum potential join us for the best of the week!
Storytelling is the buzz word we hear everywhere, but it’s nothing new! Going back in time we can see that cavemen were actually the first storytellers (and the infographic masters) with their cave paintings that told their story 40,000 years ago, giving us an insight into how they lived. Modern storytelling is a main part of our lives as it educates, informs, enlightens and entertains, interprets your experiences and above all, communicates information.
If you need any proof of this, work your way through the posts below and you will be convinced of the benefits for your business and how you can weave your story into all your online communciations. Some seriously good reads here.
Our SEO sections looks at why we should be embracing Google+, more on links, getting back to basic SEO and why… and the Ultimate Guide to SEO for eCommerce sites.
Why is social medial the new paradigm and what happens if we don’t get on board? We can really learn a whole lot from Generation Y who are mastering this space and making a big societal impact with their knowledge of technology.
Last but not least two great posts on conversion rate optimisation, why we need landing pages and how crucial the speed of your website is.
Content Marketing
3 Ways to Get What You Want by Giving People What They Want
The masters of content give us some very valuable information in this post about marketing and connecting your product or services to consumers’ desires, the psychology behind it and how to turn your customers into unstoppable evangelists at the same time.
This Will Be The #1 Business Skill Of The Next 5 Years
Everyone loves them, everyone tells them, they have been around since the beginning of time and they are unique in their cause and effect. Stories continue to entertain, surprise, delight, enlighten, create indelible memories and cause us to make changes. What is different about stories now is the way they are being used for business and the opportunities storytelling creates – we are told it’s a skill we need to master.
The New Rules Of Content Marketing
With the emergence of digital, social and mobile platforms producing an explosion of content, the most important element of content marketing is “creating engaging and effective stories.” The word from Michael Brennan is…
give your buyers engaging, compelling, thoughtful stories and they will gladly give you their attention, respect, and business:
(heard this before somewhere)??
How To Be A Content Marketing Rockstar
What do rockstars do that us ordinary people don’t? They stand out from the crowd by continually amazing and surprising us (with their content). In this post Heidi Cohen gives us some great tips on how to amplify your content marketing from some of the world’s most famous rockstars to ensure your content you reach the largest audience.
This Is What Happens When Publishers Invest In Long Stories
When they experiemented with a new, super-long article format akin to “slow live blogging” it made their jaws drop! In this very interesting post Chris Dannen shows us what is quickly becoming the norm. Read this and glean what the leaders have been saying about the future of online news… it’s quality, not velocity.
In Content Marketing, ‘People Buy on Emotion and Rationalize With Logic’ Is a Mistake (Pt. 1)
We very rarely now question the saying “people buy on emotion and rationalize with logic” as we all know how it works. However, in this post we are asked to question it or else run the risk of giving our audience the wrong information and thereby turning them away. Read on and find a better way to use both emotion and logic to understand how your buyers make their purchasing decisions and how to create content around that.
Five steps to establish a content-creating company culture
Mark Schaefer talks about the common themes of developing a vibrant and passionate culture of content creation within an organisation, regardless of its size. From ‘using the whole buffalo to hired guns’ there’s plenty of advice, ideas and suggestions on how to bring it all together from one of the industry’s most respected leaders who really knows how to ignite an audience.
SEO
The 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors
Moz looks at the increasing complexity of Local search results at Google and the two constants that have emerged during the year, localized organic results and the percentage of searches from mobile devices. What emerges is very clear, there’s no longer a single “Local algorithm” at Google anymore—if, indeed, there ever was one.
Going Back to SEO Basics to Increase Conversions
Who cares about short meta descriptions? Are they way down your list of priorities for your clients? This post gives two test cases where meta description changed the results significantly. You can definitely learn something from this post to better serve your clients. Does a 50% increase on conversion by spending 30 minutes to gain $5,000 make you want to read more?
Understanding Google’s Latest Assault On Unnatural Links
Did you know? Google quietly updated the link schemes/unnatural link documents inside the Webmaster Tools section of their site last month. Three weeks on the SEO community have been reporting far and wide. In this enlightening post Eric Ward, with his 20 years online marketing exprience, modestly and expertly, shows us a thing or two about Google changes!
The Ultimate Guide to SEO for E-commerce Websites
It is exactly what it say it is! The ultimate guide to SEO for E-commerce Websites. If you are not familiar with the tips and tricks that will get your e-commerce site to the top of search you had better take a look at this. As it points out so succinctly…
If you’re missing out on clicks, you’re probably also missing out on sales
This is an incredible step by step guide with a well thought out, well planned strategy that you really can’t afford not to read. For new websites or exiting websites where you are looking for improvement, don’t put this one aside.
eCommerce Category Page Optimization for Search & Sales
A video and transcript from Ryan McLaughlin at Clarity Ventures that breaks down those often neglected eCommerce category pages. It’s short and sweet, easy to action as it covers the optimszation of your ecommerce category pages for SEO. His advice is know it and “lock it down” if you own or work in an eCommerce business.
Social Media
Great Writing in 140 Characters or Less
We’ve all had to learn how to make the most of the 140 characters we are allowed, to pack a punch on Twitter! Good training for crafting powerful little tweets that stand out and attract your audience. But did you realise at the same time you are also learning another important skill? Being able to paint a clear picture with so few words is a desirable skill that will sharpen your writing skills no end. Lots of good stuff here on how to write copy that people want to read!
15+ Stats to Know Before Running Your Next Social Media Contest [INFOGRAPHIC]
This is a brilliant resource and gives some great tips on spicing up your social media presence. See if there is an answer to your burning social media questions and learn some cool stuff here.
Broadcast Yourselfie: How teens use social media and why it matters to you
More than half of the world’s population were born between 1978 and 2000, are now under the age of 25 and known as Generation Y or the Millennial generation. They are technology savvy, extremely diverse and very politically progressive. What is interesting here is that we can learn from these digital natives about what’s happening in technology and its impact on society. Cast your prejudices aside and open your mind and you could well discover opportunities you may never have imagined. This post takes a look at a new study that examines teens’ social media privacy management and overall behaviour. It’s a very good read.
This Changes Everything: Social Signals, Your Website, and Google+
We are discovering for ourselves, or being told by others that social proof is a hot topic right now! Think Google+ is just another social media platform to wast time on? Think again and dig deep into this powerful and interesting study to gain some invaluable, necessary and best ways to share links to your website or blog. Find out what happens in Experiment 5…
Conversion Rate Optimisation
7 Examples of Effective Forms and Landing Pages from the Experts
Why do we need forms and landing pages on our sites? Is it to turn strangers into friends, capture data about your customers, offer content and drive more sales? Yes, all of these and more. Here we are given seven forms and landing pages to help us better understand best practices for lead conversion and optimisation. A great resource here.
11 Low-Hanging Fruits for Increasing Website Speed (and Conversions)
Is the speed of your wesbite important? How’s this for an eye-opener? 47% of people expect a web page to load in under two seconds! 57% of visitors will move on from a page that takes 3 seconds or more to load and online consumers will leave your site for a competitors rather than sit and wait! Scary stuff… Here are 11 pointers that will improve the speed of your site and put you back in the fast lane.
That will give you plenty to read over the next few days.
We are going to kickstart the Weekend Wrap again to keep you informed about what is going on in the online world and to gain insights on improving you online business performance with a better understanding of SEO, better social media skills, better copywriting and the most recent trends in web marketing.
If you found this collection useful please share it with the social media buttons at the top.
Until next time…
Midge Hand is a Co-founder and Director of High Profile Enterprises. Midge is one of only around 50 Copyblogger Media Certified Content Marketers and is the only one in New Zealand. When away from the demands of running High Profile Enterprises, Midge enjoys time with family, cooking for friends, Pilates and paddle boarding. This year her new challenge is to learn to play the melodica.