content marketing

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a strategy or marketing approach that is designed to create and distributing specific content to attract and engage a particular type of audience and to drive these visitors to take an action on your website. Often this action is to sign up, make a purchase or to participate in some way with your pages. The core of this process revolves around planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing content that is relevant to the needs of your audience or demographic. The distribution of digital marketing collateral has many influences but the goal of increasing brand awareness, improving search engine rankings and creating valuable, relevant content to attract, acquire, and engage your audience should be the main driving force of most if not all content heavy websites.

Using ChatGPT as Part of Your Website Research Process

January 22, 2024

Author: Sean H.

Integrating ChatGPT and Human Nuance Skills in Your Website Research Process

In the fast-evolving world of website design, integrating AI tools like ChatGPT into the research process can be a game-changer for designers and marketers alike. This article explores the myriad ways in which AI can bolster website design projects and emphasizes the irreplaceable value of human oversight in this technology-driven arena.

AI in Website Research: A New Frontier

1. Comprehensive Information Gathering: ChatGPT, with its extensive database, offers a wealth of information. Designers can use it to stay abreast of the latest web design trends, color schemes, and technological advancements. This ensures that the website is not only aesthetically pleasing but also technologically up-to-date.

2. Swift Competitor Analysis: AI can quickly analyze competitors’ websites, providing insights into their design choices, functionality, and user experience. This information is crucial for positioning your website uniquely in the market.

3. Enhanced User Experience Design: ChatGPT can suggest user interface improvements by analyzing user feedback from similar sites. This helps in creating a more user-centric design, a critical aspect of website success.

4. SEO Optimization: ChatGPT can aid in researching keywords and SEO strategies, crucial for enhancing the site’s visibility and ranking on search engines.

The Indispensable Human Touch

While AI brings efficiency and a wealth of data to the table, the role of skilled human professionals remains paramount.

1. Accuracy and Source Verification: AI may provide vast information, but humans must vet this for accuracy. Designers need to check sources and citations to ensure the reliability of the information used in their projects.

2. Plagiarism Check: Human oversight is essential to ensure originality in content. Professionals skilled in website design can use their judgment to test for plagiarism, something AI might overlook.

3. Natural Language and Cultural Nuance: AI-generated content often lacks the natural flow and cultural nuances essential for engaging website content. Human editors are crucial in refining this content to resonate with the target audience.

4. Customization for Local Markets: In cities like Louisville, with close-knit communities, marketing requires a human touch. A designer with knowledge of the social environment can create a website that feels connected to the people and their experiences. This personal touch in marketing speaks directly to the heart of the community, something AI alone cannot achieve.

Conclusion: A Synergistic Approach

In conclusion, the integration of ChatGPT in the website research process offers significant advantages in terms of data access, trend analysis, and SEO optimization. However, the importance of human expertise cannot be overstated. Skilled professionals bring accuracy, creativity, and a much-needed human touch to the process, particularly in markets where understanding the local culture and community is key. Thus, a synergistic approach that leverages the strengths of both AI and human expertise emerges as the ideal strategy in website design and marketing.

Google’s Helpfulness Core Update: Write for People, Not for Robots

November 9, 2023

Author: Reddit

Google’s latest update, known as the Helpfulness update, is reshaping the landscape of SEO and content creation. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, has shed light on what constitutes ‘unhelpful content’ in the eyes of the world’s largest search engine. As an advocate for user-centric content, Sullivan underscores that the primary red flag for Google is content created with the intent to rank well in search results rather than to genuinely serve end users. While creating content that search engines can find is important, what is more important is remembering your true audience: people.

Stop writing content for search engines

Sullivan’s guidance is unambiguous: content written for search engines rather than human audiences is considered unhelpful. For instance, creating a list of “20 SEO Tricks to rank on Google” that are just common knowledge with the main goal of ranking for “SEO Tricks” instead of providing real value to readers exemplifies content that Google would label as unhelpful. This pivots the focus from search engine optimization to the actual value and relevance for the audience. This will likely have a serious negative impact on sites and pages that employ sketchy methods for keeping people scrolling, for example, recipe websites that bury the actual recipe under a deep bed of search engine bait text. This move is nothing new. We have seen similar updates to search ranking that target and derank unhelpful page designs to falsely increase SEO and SERPs while annoying visitors. The infamous slideshow article trick may immediately come to mind for SEO specialists who suffered through the age of the click-through wars. In the end, the message is simple: write for people, not for robots, because the goal is to create content that helps real people, and keeps the ‘robot’ of AI and SEO tools as a passive intermediary instead of the main target.

Highlights on the Google Helpfulness Core Update:

Danny Sullivan’s Warning: Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, highlights the issue with content created mainly for search engine rankings rather than for human readers.
Criteria for Unhelpful Content: Writing content like top 10 lists mainly to rank for keywords is considered unhelpful by Google.
Content Creation Tools Caution: Using tools to find content topics might lead to content that Google deems unhelpful if the focus is on scoring rather than genuine content creation.
Guidance on Useful Content: Sullivan emphasizes creating people-first content that answers questions and provides value as opposed to search engine-first content.
Signals for Helpful Content: Google uses web signals to determine content helpfulness, favoring content that addresses user queries effectively.
Content and Quality Questions: Google suggests self-assessment questions regarding originality, comprehensiveness, insight, value, and credibility of content.
Expertise Matters: Questions surrounding the expertise involved in content creation are crucial for establishing trustworthiness.
Page Experience Significance: A good page experience across various aspects is important for high rankings in Google’s systems.
People-First Content Approach: Content should be created primarily for people, with a focus on expertise and satisfaction from the reader’s perspective.
Avoid Search Engine-First Tactics: Google discourages creating content solely to gain search engine rankings, warning against practices like keyword stuffing or chasing trending topics without genuine expertise.
SEO and Content Creation: While SEO is essential, it should complement people-first content rather than dominate the creation process.
Understanding E-E-A-T: Google uses E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) as a framework to identify high-quality content.
Quality Rater Guidelines: Google’s quality rater guidelines help creators understand how their content may be perceived by Google’s algorithms.
Content Evaluation Tips: Creators are encouraged to ask “Who, How, and Why” about their content to align with what Google’s systems reward.
Disclosures on Automation and AI: Transparency about the use of AI or automation in content creation can aid in establishing trust with readers.

Sullivan points out that relying excessively on tools to determine content topics can inadvertently lead to the production of unhelpful content. He suggests that content creators should prioritize the “who, how, and why” of content production over merely aiming for a high ‘score’ that would supposedly please search engines.

Answers a user’s question effectively

Responding to a query from Simone de Vlaming about how Google discerns the intent behind content, Sullivan explains that Google’s algorithms look for signals that align with what people generally consider helpful. Content that answers a user’s question effectively is likely to be seen as ‘people-first’ and, therefore, helpful.

crackdown on high-domain-authority news site exploits

The Helpfulness update has implications for SEO strategies. ‘Parasite SEO,’ which exploits high-domain-authority news sites for quick rankings, might take a hit if it dilutes the site’s primary focus. The use of AI in content creation could also be under scrutiny, especially if it leads to content that lacks firsthand expertise or appears automated without clear disclosure. For example, this article employed Ai to design the post image! (Which we are disclosing to you here, but also in our metadata.) ‘Tool-Optimized Content,’ like that created using SEO tools for research, (think SEMrush or AHREFS) will most likely not be at significant risk, since the bulk of research and content development is still person first, and provided it also caters to user needs and offers genuine value.

Focus on Topical Authority

Strategies likely to benefit from the update include building ‘Topical Authority,’ which entails creating focused content around a specific niche. Google favors sites with a clear primary purpose, and a concentration on topical authority aligns with that preference. For example, we allow guest posts but only from a select few and under a limited number of topics that we know our Louisville-local audience of website owners have an interest in. Additionally, content optimized for user metrics, such as minimizing the need for users to search elsewhere for better information, may gain traction. This speaks directly to E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) page and site structure goals. Make it easy for people to find what they want on your site and you will do well with the new helpfulness update.

Navigate the Helpfulness update successful

To navigate the Helpfulness update successfully, Google advises content creators to ask themselves key questions about the originality, comprehensiveness, and trustworthiness of their content. These questions address factors like spelling and stylistic issues, mass production, expertise, and the overall page experience. In plain terms, do you enjoy reading your own content? If not, you may want to rethink your content strategy.

People-First Content is essential

The main emphasis, if you have not already noticed, is on ‘People-First Content.’ Google encourages content creators to craft material that serves their intended audience with depth and expertise. Conversely, ‘Search Engine-First Content’ should be avoided, as it is made primarily for ranking purposes and could lead to penalties. The good news is this is a “if you know you know” situation. If you are not sure what that means there is a good chance you are already doing the right thing because your content is guided by human interaction and your very real experiences that you want to share. If however you are using so many SEO tools to create content that becoming a cyborg is starting to appeal to you, I would strongly suggest taking a step back and taking a “Touch Grass” approach to your content strategy. Slip on your real-world experience and write from the heart. You don’t have to produce The Lord of the Rings or the Magna Carta for each new post, but try to come at it from a perspective that what you write needs to be engaging and influential in a real and authentic way.

A call to action for content with integrity, authenticity, and audience Focus

Google’s Helpfulness update is a call to action for creators to produce content with integrity, authenticity, and a focus on the audience. By aligning with Google’s guidance, content creators can ensure they are contributing positively to the vast pool of online information and standing out in the digital arena.

Helpful Links and resources on Raising the Bar for Content Quality:

Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

Google Search Status Dashboard
https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history

Interested in seeing what SEOs are saying about the Helpfulness update on Reddit? Check out this thread started by Matt Diggety:

Thoughts on the Google “Helpful Content” Update
byu/matt_diggity inSEO

Finding the Best Local Copywriter in Louisville

February 27, 2023

Author: Miguel Walker

Guest blogger Miguel Walker, a local performer, copywriter, content creator, and bonafide solopreneur with Miguel Walker Copy, guides us through the ‘Big Idea’ behind his take on copywriting in Louisville, Kentucky.

So what’s the big idea? As you probably already know, copywriting is about inspiring, invoking, and persuading a target group, be it a general audience or niche market to act, to do something that the writer wants them to do. But, great copywriting helps the audience see themselves as a part of the big picture and makes them feel good about joining in and donating to “that” cause, buying “that” product, subscribing to a service, or following on social media.
The Big Idea is to collaborate with companies and entrepreneurs to consistently generate great copy so that each creative sent out has a target group that is excited and proud to be a part of the mission. And this initiative can be achieved with none other than yours truly.
– MIGUEL WALKER

Movement in the Market

Copy, much like art which is a reflection of past and present events, is beginning to see a paradigm shift.

SEO is the wave of the future, brand voices have to have a solid digital footprint but remain friendly and fun. The market has more independent contractors than employees and much of the work is beginning to be implemented by AI.

So, how does an average Joe stack up? Easy, they DON’T!

NO ONE WANTS AVERAGE! Remember the stats on the average reader? They only skim for about 37 seconds, if that.

The copy has to be good, if not great, every time AND the audience has to be told what to do and why. And AI might be convenient, but the technology simply isn’t that detail-oriented. You’re still going to need a red-blooded person who knows how to tackle all the above…

Product:

I’m at Your Service

Based on current market research, you’ll need a product solution that can cut through the noise and identify what the key issues are with your ROI from your most recent creative and collateral initiatives. Or if things are in the black, capitalize on the innovate it, good copy, and make it GREAT by innovating and maximizing it for future campaigns.

And in this case, the solution is an ally, and that ally is me.

I specialize in generating brand voice awareness, and bringing new life to digital marketing campaigns through fun, fresh, and even academic vision so that your bottom line is always a foundational bridge of growth.

Window of Opportunity

DID YOU KNOW?

20+ years of eye-tracking research confirms that most internet users only skip around a webpage for relevant info. (Nielsen Norman Group)

73% of people admit to skimming rather than reading a blog post. (HubSpot)

Personalized calls to action (CTAs) increase conversion chances by 202%. (HubSpot)

Adding the word “because” with a reason to your CTAs can increase compliance by 34%. (Langer, 1978)

Problems with Copywriting Market

Not enough creative and engaging writing that is conversational yet professional.

Technical writing often comes off as tone-deaf and doesn’t retain the interest of target audiences. Whether it’s a sales letter or a banner ad, once it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind

Not enough copy clearly and confidently moves the target group to take action if at all. No CTA, means no green light. This also means that the audience can lose trust in the company if the message is wishy-washy and the brand voice loses its credibility.

Solutions: Enter the Copywriting HERO

So… how do you make sure that your brand voice stays strong, crystal clear and that your message is received every time?

Simple, you need a copywriter who is as passionate about crafting the right message that matches your needs as much as you are as passionate about your business. In other words, you need a prose-crafting ninja who knows a thing or two about how to engage an audience. Enter, the kungfu-kicking copywriter, aka Miguel Walker Copy.

Working Together

Working with me is easy. I always work remotely in a very comfortable, and quiet work environment with a deliciously fast and stable internet connection.

When collaborating on projects, we simply agree on what days and times you need me to be available. This will include my blocked open office hours of when I can be reached during the day and when I am not currently in the office.

And most important, clear deadlines.

And even though I’m not in the office, if you need to reach out, I’m always amenable to being reached by your preferred method. Skype, Zoom, or similar format, phone, email, you name it, and I’ll make it work even in different time zones.

The Pitch: This is YOUR Big Moment

So there you have it folks, who I am, what I offer, the major issues with copy, and what great copy should really be doing. If you’re looking to stay ahead of the game, NOW is your big moment!

The year 2023 has arrived, and I am accepting new clients. Take a look at my average competitor’s prices versus my delicious price comparisons in the next slide, and get in touch ASAP because if you want to be great, you need copywriting with a kick!

For questions or a consultation, please call 1+502.609.9915 or email

miguelwalkercopy@gmail.com today!

Check out Miguel’s complete pitch deck on Visme, at

https://my.visme.co/view/pv88zmre-miguel-walker-copy-presentation

5 New Types of Content for 2022

February 14, 2022

Author: Max Mitchell

The success of your business depends on a properly structured marketing strategy. To make your marketing and content plan effective, following recent trends and bringing them into your digital marketing activities is a must. Your task is not only to attract many new customers but retain regular customers, keeping them involved in your content. Thus, we recommend implementing new types of content to your blog.

Are you willing to know what these types of content are? We have prepared a compilation of top trends of content creation in 2022 that will boost the conversion of your website.

AI, VR\AR Innovations

Traditional ways of creating content and interacting with customers are supposed to be non-efficient and kind of outdated. Therefore, businesses of different specializations are willing to adopt innovative technologies like Artificial Intelligence. AI technology is capable of deeply analyzing the business data from internal and external sources in order to learn their customers better and provide them with the content and services they expect. AI-based content can be generated within several minutes, providing scalable analytical research and high-quality content. AI-generated content doesn’t exclude the mistakes within the text, so it is vital to check it properly before posting.

Other innovations that will be adopted by many companies in the near future are augmented and virtual reality for the purpose of increasing the content traffic and conversion, and improving the overall performance of corporate websites. These technologies help create interactive and engaging content, completely new for their regular and new customers.

Guestographics

Guestographics is considered to be one of the most effective digital marketing methods of promoting your content and increasing the credibility of your brand. This trend has appeared in 2018, but it only starts gaining momentum and being used by numerous marketers in different spheres. Have you ever heard of this tool? Basically, guestographics combine three different marketing tools – guest posting, link building, and infographics creating. The text is converted into infographics, making the text a visual type of content. The flow is simple – you look for credible websites that are interested in posting your content with links to your corporate website. You provide them with unique and engaging visual content using free plagiarism software to attract more potential customers to your company.

Guestographics can contain a bigger amount of text than we used to see on the images within articles. What is more, the number of infographics can prevail to make the content visually appealing and more convenient to read. Modern readers don’t like spending time reading the whole article, as they are willing to find out the answers to their questions. So guestographics are easier to perceive and show the main point of the content.

Video Testimonials

The block with testimonials is a must-have for businesses of all directions, with no exception. Testimonials from your previous clients show the quality of your services and make your brand trusted and reliable on the market. Sometimes the testimonials blocks look really unsightly and don’t provide any value to your potential clients. Video testimonials are a new trend used in marketing strategies. Recorded reviews for your customers give them the ability to describe your cooperation in detail, prove the existence of clients, and provide the opportunity to contact them to find out more information about the partnership with your brand.

Another great benefit of video testimonials is the ability to share them on different social media accounts, making them notable and attracting more users to your profiles. If you own a young brand and only start building relationships with your future customers, video testimonials are obliged for your marketing strategy. Even if the amount of the client base is not really extensive, you have to start somewhere to prove the reliability and credibility of your company.

Behind the Scenes Content

Despite the industry of your business, we know that the competition is rather high. It is pivotal to find your key differentiators and uniqueness to stand out from your competitors and attract your target audience. Some brands think that they have to show the ideal picture of their services or products, avoiding any content about failures and issues they face on a daily basis.

Behind the scenes is a new marketing flow that enables companies to tell their customers about everything related to their daily processes. A lot of people will be curious to find out more about manufacturing, main specialists and their responsibilities, concerns you struggle with, and solutions to the troubles you commonly choose as a director. When people buy an expensive dress, for instance, they are curious to know why the price is so high. By showing them the prices of fabrics, average salaries for staff, and all processes related to dress creation, your customer will have a clearer picture and prove the high price they see on labels. By the way, such tiny details as labels also require investment, which can make the price even higher, and your customers need to understand this as well.

Podcast Recordings

Marketing is changing and evolving, providing customers with various types of content. It is a great way to offer your readers different options on reading your content, considering the way they perceive the information better. The podcast is another modern method to attract your regular and potential customers to your brand. This format is ideal for busy people who don’t have much free time reading the articles and can listen to your content on the go or when they are occupied with other tasks at the same time.

Podcasts can be related to the topics on your blog, but you cannot just convert your articles into audio format. It has to be something fresh and unique, followed by a particular script. You can invite the outstanding specialists in your industry, the professionals from your team to discuss the internal processes more to show trust to your target audience. A small tip from the writing service Rated By Students is to properly choose the speakers for your podcasts to provide listeners with valuable content, not just useless conversation.

Bottom Line

Following the latest marketing trends is pivotal for your marketing strategy in order to keep up with the competitors and stay in-game. Although, all these digital content innovations aim not only to promote your brand, but also to increase content traffic and conversion. Your content must provide valuable insights and solutions to the troubles of your regular and new customers.

The decision of what article they will read next depends on their needs and concerns they want to overcome. Your task is to make your content easy to perceive, modern and interactive to make the reading a pleasant process for your audience.

What new types of content did you like most of all?

Author’s Bio:

Max Mitchell is the latest alumnus of our content marketing department. He is very passionate about typing, creating complicated spreadsheets, and consuming an inhuman amount of caffeine. Nevertheless, he is also the creative type of individual who will always find a new perspective on topics of interest.

Google is slowing down your life

February 7, 2022

Author: Sean H.

This is of course absurd with all the speed of search and efficiencies Google has brought to our modern lives, but is it? For decades, Google has been rewarding web pages with higher ranks for forcing you to spend more time and click more buttons to get what you wanted before you leave the site.

This has given rise to some of the ubiquitous and annoying web trends throughout history.

Endless slide shows, recipes that only come after clicking buttons and scrolling to the end of what I can only assume is the author’s life biography and the complete unabridged history of this particular recipe are in opposition to a successful interaction. The proof in the pudding shows an exasperated shopper standing in the baking aisle for 5 minutes, endlessly scrolling through just to see if they need baking soda or baking powder. Another user surfs and scrolls through a gauntlet of unnecessarily garrulous content just to get a simple answer to a question.

When I tell my clients the minimum word volume is 500 words, with 1500 words as best practice on a landing page, they glaze over. They balk and say, who is going to read that?!? No one, I explain, just Google. It’s for SEO. No human wants to read that volume, but Google does, and if we want your media to reach human eyes we must first please the algorithm.

Google, you are hurting us with your endless maze of SEO tricks, through 1000 paper cuts into our time and our efficiency.

So much weight is put onto time spent on the page, it’s become an obstacle to actual function. The best websites I visit are the ones I leave with the highest bounce rate because They serve me what I need and send me on my way. Can we start rewarding that? I know you are capable of doing this without rewarding high bounce spam pages. I know this is a possibility. No, go get your most promising Googlers to fix this mess

Yours in frustration,
Tired of scrolling

How To Use Instagram Stories in 2021 & Beyond

July 8, 2021

Author: Mary Kyle

Instagram stories allow users to upload videos and photos that disappear after a day. It is similar to the Snapchat stories launched in 2013, and that’s a vital part of the network’s growth.

As per data, Instagram stories attain over 500 million active users every day. It is short-term video content that runs up to 15 seconds. If your uploaded video extends above 15 seconds, it automatically splits into the second part of the video for your story. You could use many online free editing platforms to edit your story video content and upload a story on Instagram.

To make a new story, click on the camera option at the top left side of your feed screen and swipe to the right. Here, you could capture a new photo directly or bring a video or image from your gallery.

Instagram Story Types

There are ten various types of Instagram story content you could create by scrolling right and left at the bottom of the screen.

#1 Type: It gives a colorful background for your texts to shine. You could choose various colors and font styles by tapping on the screen.

#2 Music: It allows you to bring music to your filming video or an image. Search for your favorite music and add it. Here, you could select the correct range of the entire music.

#3 Live: Here, you can go live to connect with your audience on Instagram. Click on the “Start Live Video,” and the platform would notify your fans that you are live. But don’t forget your live video disappears from the platform once it is finished.

#4 Normal: It’s the first screen that shows when you launch the Instagram story creator. You could use Normal to snap a picture, film video content, or post content from your gallery, as we said earlier.

#5 Boomerang: It snaps multiple pictures to bring an animation. Click on the main option, and you will notice the screen flash continuously as the images snap in a quick time. Also, Instagram Boomerang has a unique app to make creative animations to spread on other networks.

#6 Focus: It allows you to focus on a specific thing by blurring backgrounds. It’s the perfect deep work in professional photography, and it works mainly for faces. Click on the extensive record option to take a snap, and click & hold to film video content.

#7 Superzoom: It brings you to zoom in on a specific spot with significant sound effects to get a dramatic or humorous video clip. Click on the tiny music symbol on the screen to choose a style. It provides four types to select from:

Dramatic
Tv Show
Bounce
Beats

Click on the screen area where you need to zoom, tap, & hold the record option to film videos.

#8 Rewind: It allows you to film a video in reverse condition. It plays perfectly for video content which showcases body movements like dancing or running.

#9 Hands-Free: It allows you to film video content without keeping a finger on your smartphone’s screen. It is suitable for the contents such as exercise demonstrations and makeup tutorials.

#10 Stop-Motion: It brings you to film short animations from pictures, like a flipbook. To begin, select multiple images as you want. If you are completed with it, click on the “Done” option at the screen’s top to get your stop-motion animation.

Story Tricks On Instagram You Must Know

Here are a few ways you could work on your Instagram story contents to bag up vast attention.

Face Filters

Are you bored with taking selfies? Just try this out! Face filters allow you to add a flower crown, bunny ears, glasses, etc. A plus fact is that they are responsive and react to your every movement. There are various filters available where you can select as your choice.

Add Texts

It’s basic, but the tool is customizable and versatile, allowing you to select the effect, color, position, font, and size of your text. Click on the “Aa” option to begin the text method at the screen’s top. Using various sizes, colors, and fonts helps to keep things more interesting and grab the audience’s attention to the text you need to highlight. Also, you could add multiple hashtags and your friends on the platform easily in the text field.

Filter

Filters have been there since the beginning of Instagram. And now Instagram stories utilize it to remarkable effect. Just swipe right or left to load a filter.

Also, there are various types of stickers available on Instagram to attract your audience. Just click on the smiley face option at the screen’s top to get multiple choices of stickers: location stickers, hashtag stickers, tag stickers, GIF stickers, poll stickers, countdown stickers.

Publish

Once you have finished your filming and editing works to your story contents on Instagram, always remember to save your video or image if you want it. Click on the “Save” option to do this. Then click on the “Your Story” option to publish your story content when you have completed everything. Now your Instagram story content will be live!

How To Use Story Contents On Instagram?

Here are the best practices of Instagram stories to get more audiences to your posts.

Story Takeover

It means somebody temporarily takes your account on Instagram to provide your fans a stunning perspective of your brand or products. Also, you could join hands with customers or influencers to run your story contents. It builds more trust with extensive impressions on Instagram towards your brand and product.

Tease Something

It’s one of the best story tips on Instagram to keep your fans on their toes. Using story sections to tease a product or any upcoming programs gives your fans massive exclusivity. And an additional curiosity brings your audience to revisit your profile to catch a grand reveal.

Post Stunning Things

Story content might disappear after a day, but you could upload content your fans would need to screenshot and download on their mobiles for reference. It helps in keeping your brand or business top level.

Take Full Advantage Of Your Stories

Instagram story highlights are one of the perfect Instagram story tips I would suggest to you. Though Instagram story contents disappear after a day, this fantastic tool helps you to pin your story contents to your profile on the platform permanently.

Most popular brands on the platform use story highlight to save their amazing deals, updates, and essential information

First, bring up your story to begin Instagram story highlights. Once your story content is live, open your profile and click on the “Highlight” option at your screen’s bottom-left corner.

Conclusion

Instagram story is a most powerful tool if you use it to an extent. Additionally, its features give immense creativity. Though you utilize the story section on Instagram to grab more engagement and build relationships with your fans, don’t forget to use it to make your audience have fun.

Author Bio

Mary Kyle is a content developer and marketing manager who works at Snaphappen. She has written more trending articles on social media and has a handful of experience in delivering engaging content.

6 Writing Tips to Build an Email List for Affiliate Marketing

March 4, 2021

Author: Jessica Fender

Affiliate marketing seems like the ideal opportunity to earn money the unconventional way, without doing the standard 9 to 5 job. All you have to do is find the right audience, find the right products, advertise them properly, get people to trust you… Wait, it isn’t that simple after all, is it? The truth is, there’s a lot of work to be done if you want to be successful at affiliate marketing. And, one of the tools you should use to make your effort more successful is email marketing.

Building a strong email list is essential for having a successful email marketing campaign. If you’re not sure how to do it, we’ve got you covered. Below, you’ll find our ultimate guide with 6 writing tips to help you build an email list for affiliate marketing.

Let’s take a closer look.

Create Strong Opt-in Forms

The first step you need to make in building an email list for affiliate marketing is to create an opt-in form that will help you get people to subscribe. In theory, opt-in forms are supposed to ask your potential subscribers whether they want to subscribe to your email list or not.

But, in reality, opt-in forms are supposed to convince people to subscribe.

This is why you need to write an optimized and clever opt-in form. Here’s what we suggest:

place them all over your website, from your Home page to your blog
allow people to personalize choosing to receive emails only about specific things
let them know they can opt-out easily
allow for easy subscription e.g. via Facebook, Gmail, etc.
only ask for an email address
include a call-to-action (CTA)

For example, an opt-in form can pop-up when your website visitor reaches for the exit button. You can ask them:

Leaving already? Receive weekly updates, tips, and content about a healthy lifestyle! Subscribe now!

Think about the best places to put your opt-in forms, and make them interesting, informative, and clear. Let people know what they’re agreeing to exactly.

Create Segmented Email Lists

Once your subscribers’ list starts to grow, you’ll need to create separate segmented lists based on their preferences, interest, and online behavior. You shouldn’t send the same emails to all your subscribers, since there’s no way they’ll all equally enjoy them.

So, divide your subscribers into groups based on:

the type of content they like to read
demographics
the products they’ve already bought
the links they clicked in your previous emails

Your email content should be aimed at specific groups of people, catering to their needs, interests, and preferences.

Provide True Value

Once you get people to subscribe to your list, you can start dropping affiliate links to their inboxes. You’ll just make them unsubscribe. Instead, you need to slowly build up to it.

So, you first need to think about providing true value to your subscribers so that they start loving your emails. You should create emails campaigns sharing:

educational and useful content from your blog
invites to your webinars
your e-books
useful niche-related information
news

The content you’re sending needs to show that you’re professional, know what you’re talking about, and they can trust you. In case you need help, there are academic writing services that can help you improve your email scripts and write better email copies.

Don’t Sell But Help

When you’re doing affiliate marketing, you must know the products or services you’re promoting. Just agreeing to promote anything that comes to your hands is not a good tactic. It will show you as someone who’s only trying to earn, instead of actually help.

So, once you choose the right things to promote, you’ll have to build the right email content around it. It’s not enough for you to just send the link and ask people to check it out and buy it.

So, make sure that you’re:

creating content related to the product you’re promoting
naturally inserting the affiliate link in the content
providing helpful advice to your target audience
recommending something they could truly benefit from

So, if you’re a beauty blogger, and you’re doing affiliate marketing for a natural cosmetics brand, you should create the content that explains:

the benefits of natural cosmetics
how it’s made
how to choose the right products
who should use them
etc.

Then, add an affiliate link to a product you chose or believe your target group will like.

Recognize Pain Points

Your target audience, or the segmented groups you’ve made, all have the pain points that led them to you. Either they’re looking for a way to solve a problem, need advice, or information.

By recognizing these pain points, you’ll be able to:

address them in their emails
suggest how to solve them
provide help
suggest the affiliate product as one of the solutions

Make sure you make this affiliate link relevant, helpful and explain why you’re including it.

Be Honest About Affiliating

Honesty is the key to any trusting relationship, including the one between you and your target audience. So, you need to clearly state that the link you’re sharing is a part of your affiliate marketing campaign.

Tell them:

they get a discount for using your promo code or following your link
you earn a commission from every sale done this way

Still, make sure to reinforce the message of trusting this brand and recommending it based on your personal experience, and not because you’re earning from it.

Final Thoughts

Building an email list for affiliate marketing means building trust and strong relationships. After having people subscribe to your email list, you have to constantly give them valuable content, useful information, and relevant facts.

Hopefully, the 6 writing tips provided above will help you build a stronger email list and boost your affiliate marketing success.

Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a copywriter and blogger at GetGoodGrade with a background in marketing and sales. She enjoys sharing her experience with like-minded professionals who aim to provide customers with high-quality services.

How to Increase the Domain Authority of Your Website

February 24, 2021

Author: Arslan Haider

If you wish to rank higher in Google and get more natural traffic to your site, you must have heard or have read something that is increasing your website’s domain authority can boost your rank in Google. However, the truth is not the opposite of it. Because improving the domain authority of your website is not something terrible or a. act of loss.

The higher your domain authority is, the almost certain you are to procure a higher web positioning and get more and better web traffic. Your domain authority is likewise a decent method to gauge your SEO endeavors, just as it contrasts the strength of your site with your opposition’s areas.

Your primary focus should not be on increasing your core, but on the process that improves it. If you keep an eye on the score and will not work for it, then this turns out to be terrible, but if you pay attention to the method of raising your score or your rank in Google, then things are going to be completely unique. You will see your website making progress, and this is something a businessman always wishes to have.

What is Domain authority?

Domain Authority is a number or a numerical value that demonstrates the authority of your site. The higher your area authority is, the more prominent are your odds of positioning higher in internet searcher result pages and getting more natural traffic.

The domain authority is a score between 0 and 100, which attempts to anticipate how well a site will rank on web crawlers. It isn’t equivalent to the positioning score utilized by Google, which can impact your rankings.

An authority which was emerged from PageRank introduced the idea of page ranking, and it was presented by Larry Page back then. And it is still being utilized to determine the measurement of your website rank in Google.

The most important thing about getting traffic on your website is to increase the interest of people in your webpage, and this is not possible by just offering promo codes to people. There are some other ways by which you can increase the domain authority of your website, and they include.

Choose the Name of Your Page

If you are starting your website page, then pick up a name for it. It should be moderately simple, so when people visit it, they can remember it. If they remember, they won’t have any issues getting back to your site since they experience no problem recalling it.

Generate Creative Content

The most important thing that makes a website worth clicking is its natural links. For natural links, you have to generate content that is not only natural but is also relatable, so when people search for something, they can relate to your content. So, you have to write something unique, original, and is worth clicking. Or, in other words, it should be link-worthy.

The content you make should be simple, insightful, useful, and easy to read because, in this, the admins of other websites will reference it in their articles. Practically speaking, this cycle of natural links works, and it is precious.

However, it is time taking, and it demands patience from your side. It is a long-time process, and one has to stay patient until it result gets shown.

It will also require some investment to pick up enough readerships, with the goal that a portion of the readers who will pay attention to your content will share your piece of work on their websites.

Create Content that is Previously Known for Getting Links

When you are looking for your content topics, then make sure to look at the issues having the most referred links. Because selecting a topic having bundles of directed links will help in the growth of your domain authority. You have to keep yourself relevant to the audience and make it happen. You have to stick to the topics people need a referral.

Make sure to avoid the topic which is not common because it gets tough to get links. It is not wrong to write something unique, but if people have no knowledge about it or there is no history of the topic existing, why would people need links.

You can select the relevant topics by contacting the authority a well. Contact the people who are featured in the issues on the top ranking of the people, or reach the people who have used that content in their topics. In this way, you will get more information about the subject, and it will help you choose something existing, and people can relate to it.

Optimize Your Content

Website design or SEO matters for both Google web index positioning just as your domain authority, so ensure that you upgrade all your title labels, all the pictures alt labels, the on-page code, and the website itself. Moreover, make sure to keep the entirety of your permalinks precise and relatable, incorporate varieties of your primary catchphrases, and make a sidebar area for new posts. It will help you increase traffic on your page, which is beneficial for getting higher ranks in Google.

Author Bio:

Arslan Haider is the author of the above blog. He has done his Bachelor in Computer Science from University of Wah. He is a professional Guest Blogger at Mediahicon and loves to write blogs on valuable topics.

Ways to Make Your Digital Marketing More Effective in 2021

February 23, 2021

Author: Arslan Haider

Digital marketing has emerged as the most effective advertising medium in the recent decade. Marketing has become easy due to digitization and everybody is incorporating digital marketing in their businesses. Also, digital marketing has far wider reach than traditional marketing. It is economical as compared to other forms of marketing. The trends have been continuously changing with time. COVID-19 has transformed the entire dynamics of business. Due to COVID-19, digital marketing has gained more relevance and everyone is opting for it as a means to survive in the recent situation. It has been observed that companies have started investing more in digital marketing. Every year comes with a different theme and trend shift, so companies have prepared themselves to come up with more effective digital marketing strategies in 2021. Here we shall discuss a few of the ways that you can take up for effective digital marketing strategy in 2021.

Social Media:

It is recommended to drive your digital marketing in the field of social media. Invest maximum in designing social media strategies. Research suggests that due to COVID-19, a lot of people shifted online and started buying their products and services through social media. The same strategy is working for 2021. A strong social media strategy will lead to customer retention and will generate more leads. You should post regular content in order to engage maximum customers. You can create a poll to drive customer reviews. So, it is important to design a proper content plan and schedule the posts with respect to days. Keep your customers engaged. Through regular updates about your product.

Micro Influencers:

Micro-influencers are the people who have a good following on social media and they have a say in people’s life. Their opinions and views are seriously considered by the people. It is because they know the art of writing relevant content and the right timing to say it. These micro-influencers can be the start of any social media forum including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc. People used to trust their views and relate to them. You may connect with the influencers of social media in order to launch your product and maximize the reach of your brand. In this way, a wider audience gets to know about your product. Research suggests that 2021 has seen the massive incorporation of influencer marketing in digital marketing. Every company is taking influencers on board. This is because this type of marketing costs less and benefits more. So you can bring in influences on board if you want to be aware of maximum people about your brand.

Interactive Marketing:

It is recommended to do interactive marketing with your customers on your website and social media. You can add any personalized feature on your website and social media pages in order to engage the customers. In this way, customers will feel connected to your product. It is recommended to research more about the people who are following your product and use the data for putting up an interactive system on your site and social media platforms.

Mobile Marketing:

Nowadays, people use mobile phones for every online work. Everything is handled on a small mobile screen. It is recommended to create and optimize the content and website, keeping in view the customers that use mobile because mobile marketing leads to instant results. You can get instant feedback about your brand or product if you have incorporated mobile marketing well.

Personalized Content:

Content personalization has become an effective marketing tool.202 has seen massive traffic on websites due to the personalized content. There must be a different strategy that needs to be put up regarding content personalization in 2021. It has been said that content personalization will now incorporate artificial intelligence to get real-time data in order to create effective and efficient content. So it is recommended to invest in AI-based software so that you can get and analyze the data, eventually leading to increased customers.

Chatbots:

Chatbots usually have AI induced in them. Due to AI, the chatbot will drive relevant data and references. Furthermore, AI and chatbots will immensely improve the content creation strategy of the company. So, it is recommended to incorporate AI-based chatbots on your site.

Voice Search:

With the massive use of mobile phones, voice search is becoming more relevant. People are switching to voice search instead of text-based search. Though search engines have not developed a particular algorithm for voice search, it is a possible innovation or improvement in 2021. It is recommended to optimize your content based on voice search because soon people are switching to vice search.

Novel Content:

The content you create for the promotion of your product must be of quality, and it must be unique. It is recommended to write interactive content that readily engages the audience.

Video Content:

Research suggests that video content drives maximum traffic to the site and social media platforms. In fact, video content is considered a goldmine for digital marketers. Therefore, it is recommended to incorporate quality video content that depicts the mission and values of your brand and describes your niche in particular. People get more inclination towards dynamic video as compared to static content. Video must leave an impact on the viewer, otherwise it will not be of any benefit. So, make an effort to make it memorable for the viewer. Suppose you are promoting kontorsstädning I Stockholm (office cleaning in Stockholm), then there must be certain images and specific content with quality voice-over so that you can engage maximum people through relevancy of the video.

Author Bio:

Arslan Haider is the author of the above blog. He has done his Bachelor in Computer Science from University of Wah. He is a professional Guest Blogger at Mediahicon and loves to post blogs with valuable content.

5 Key Benefits of Digital Marketing Over Traditional Marketing

February 7, 2021

Author: Mashum Mollah

Finding out the right strategy that would work most efficiently for your business purposes is one of the toughest and most serious jobs for any business. You can say, one of the main pillars of business success.

With the change of time, the marketing patterns have also changed a lot. Strategies are being made that would be both cost-effective and efficient. And this in turn lit up the never-ending debate of Digital marketing vs Traditional marketing.

So, in today’s era, when technology has witnessed massive advancement and the competition is getting tougher every day, every business should understand the basic differences between digital marketing and traditional marketing, and understand which one is better for your business.

What is Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing includes those marketing strategies that can be done without the help of the internet. And this can be executed in several ways.

The ads we see on TV, banners, leaflets, posters, or hear on radio, fall under this category. Traditional ways also include references from other users.

So, any sort of marketing that is executed without the internet is traditional marketing.

What is Digital Marketing

You have already understood from the above-mentioned paragraphs. Digital marketing is all of those marketing strategies that involve internet platforms. Any campaign that is done with the help of the internet is digital marketing.

There are many categories of digital marketing. There are several facets of digital marketing, like SEO, social media promotions, YouTube marketing, email marketing, influencer marketing, and many more.

You can see ads on web pages, social media magazines, community channels, websites, etc. These all come under the roof of digital marketing.

Now, there are many people who still believe in traditional marketing, whereas many business giants have seriously taken digital strategies into account. Even there are many famous entrepreneurs around the globe who have thrived their businesses through digital strategies.

There are many pros and cons of both digital and traditional marketing, but here we are going to discuss some of the major advantages of digital marketing over traditional marketing.

Benefits of Digital Marketing over Traditional Marketing –

Better Reach

Where traditional marketing is limited to a certain spread, digital marketing has its reach around the globe. Internet is used by billions of people around the world, so you can understand that having a website that gives you an online presence on the internet is actually reachable to billions of people.

Creating a website is also very tough nowadays, there are several free builders available on the internet with attractive themes. You can also create one in just one day. Check out Shopify reviews.

Cost-effective

Where creating a website doesn’t include too much amount of money, performing digital strategies also can be done at a very low cost. Performing SEO strategies can be done absolutely free, promoting on social media also doesn’t require any money, just create a social media page and maintaining your content.

Social media ads also can be done at a very low cost. Other strategies like email marketing, YouTube promotions, are also easygoing. So digital marketing is pocket-friendly as well.

Better Result

Where traditional marketing needs a lot of money to invest and that too limited to a certain reach, digital marketing has a higher reach with lesser money to invest. So, it automatically gives you an efficient result.

Moreover, when you can target global audiences through digital strategies, the chances are much higher of having more sales and generating more revenues for your business.

Better Tracking

In traditional marketing, you cannot perfectly track the results of your campaigns. You don’t know how many people even saw your ads in the newspaper or leaflets or banners.

On the other hand, you can track your digital campaign result much efficiently. You can use several tools for tracking and that too also free. You can check their location, timings, sometimes you can track the email ids, etc.

It helps you to have an in-depth insight into your campaigns and to reshape it if needed.

Faster Execution

Traditional marketing may take a long time to give you results. It may take even weeks or months. So, it is a very time-consuming, and slow process.

Whereas, in digital marketing, the results come very fast. You can gain leads in no time. Your business gets instant publicity. You can even chat one-on-one with your consumers in real-time. You even get to know the campaigns that are not working for you and can go for plan-b.

Overview

Though there are many differences between both of the marketing strategies, both have some advantages over the other. The above-mentioned are the most basic advantages that digital marketing has over traditional marketing. Hope you now have a brief idea.

Author Bio –
Mashum Mollah is a tech entrepreneur by profession and passionate blogger by heart. He is on a mission to help small businesses grow online. He shares his journey, insights, and experiences at Social Media Magazine & Search Engine Magazine. If you are an entrepreneur, digital marketing professional, or simply an info-holic, then this blog is for you.