Ever wonder why your product image doesn't show up when you do a Google search for your product? Wonder if that big product image on your new landing page might cause slower loading speeds for your customers? What about conversions? Are your web conversions suffering because you haven't optimized your images? Images that aren't optimized can negatively affect site performance, and therefore, conversions. And what about customer retention? Boosting customer retention by just 5% can increase profits by 95%. And it's 5 to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain a current one! Most marketers aren't coders or designers. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't understand the basics of the tech that plays such a huge role in your conversions and retention. This means you should absolutely know how to optimize an image. Here's why understanding image optimization is so important: Because images account for more bytes than any other part of a website, especially e-commerce sites, their size and complexity can make or break your web performance. And that impacts your customer retention and conversions. This is why optimizing images is one of the best ways to improve website performance and SERP rankings. Take a look at the graph below from HTTP archive. As of March 2018, images make up 50% of website content. As you can see, image optimization should be a top priority for any marketer, particularly marketers looking to convert visitors to buyers on their website. In this article, I'm going to teach you the top eight ways to optimize your images. These optimization hacks will improve your conversions, SEO rankings, customer retention, and more. 1. Get familiar with different file typesYou can't make a decision on which file type to use if you don't understand what the file type is, right? PNG, JPEG, GIFs. Marketers know these file types exist. And we all love a good GIF. But again, marketers often aren't developers or design experts. And the more tech-driven marketing becomes, the more critical it is to get familiar with some of the basics. The goal with these file types is to understand which ones will give you more bang for less space. Since it's all about decreasing load time for your customers, you need to know which file types will work best for the images on your site. Let's look at some pros and cons of the three main file types. JPEG or JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)JPEGs are often the file type of choice for photos and images because they mix blue, red, and green light – allowing for the display of millions of colors. Other file types often don't allow all colors to show in an image. Another huge benefit of a JPEG file is that you can adjust the file size. When you adjust the file size of a JPEG, you're also adjusting the quality. Higher quality equals higher file size. But, you can often find a nice balance of image quality to size. It's vital that file sizes are not too big. This causes slow loading times, sending your customers away and increasing your bounce rate. When should you use a JPEG?
Like these product pictures from Zappos: GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)A couple of years back when Apple and Android incorporated GIFs into phone keyboards, the tiny videos became everyone's favorite way to express themselves. But GIFs are more than just fun little videos - they're compressed versions of photographs or videos. These little, compressed videos only allow 256 colors to show in the image. A high-quality image might contain thousands of colors. This means that GIFs aren't the best choice for images with lots of color variation. But, GIFs are the only choice for animation as they allow for animation without the huge file size. When should you use a GIF?
Like this one for Google: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)PNGs are newer than JPEGs and GIFs. They're typically larger in file size than JPEGs but better in quality. They also allow for some flexibility because they have two different file types:
When should you use PNG files?
Like these photographs from Zena Holloway's website: Pro tip: Use JPEG for colorful and robust images, use PNG for simple images. Use GIF when something must be animated. E-commerce marketers should almost always use JPEGs for product photos. Just take a look at the file type comparison below. JPEG offers a solid balance between the file size and quality. 2. Get the image file size right to increase conversionsThere's a huge difference between “image size” and “file size.” When we say, “image size” we're referring to the dimensions of the image, like 852 x 852. When we say file size, we're talking about the amount of space required to store the image on your server. The larger the file size, the longer it takes the image to load. An image can have large dimensions and still be 2MB or less. File size is a big deal. It can make or break the performance of your site because every single image must download each time your site is visited. Your goal is to keep your images at 1 to 2 MB in size. The smaller your image size, the faster your load speeds, meaning a lower bounce rate and more happy customers. How to resize an image file so that it's optimized for web performance:If you don't have photoshop, no worries. Pixlr is a quick way to resize an image file. First, go to PIXLR and click on the editor: Then launch either the Pixlr Editor or Pixlr Express. If you're just doing a quick resize, Pixlr Express works great. Next, upload your image to the editor. Finally, adjust the size by saving the image. As you toggle the image-quality bar, notice that the file size also increases or decreases depending on the quality you choose. When it comes to finding the right file size for the quality you need, you might have to play around with it for a bit. Try several sizes on, and go with the smallest file size that still looks good. Once you've got that size-to-quality ratio figured out, then you can apply it to similar images in your store. It might be a good idea to write this ratio down somewhere. 3. Name your files correctly to improve SEOWhat you name your images matters to search engine web crawlers. Many marketers don't change the name of a picture from the random number or code assigned by our computers or phones. It's important to name your image in a descriptive, to-the-point manner so that search bots can understand what the image is showing. For example, the puppy image on the left has a much better name than the one on the right: Nothing against image 89374504, but it doesn't tell us, or Googlebots, what the image is. A great image name is descriptive, contains the keyword of your image (like corgis for adoption in NYC. If you're selling blue suede shoes, then blue suede shoes should be in the image name. Keep it straightforward and descriptive to get the best SEO results from your images. 4. Keep your site accessible to all customers with alt tagsAlt tags are descriptions given to an image that exists within your website's code. This essentially means that what's in the image is written into the code of your website. Alt tags help in 3 key ways:
For example, the alt text for this limited edition Golden Citrus Foaming Hand Wash is “foaming hand wash.” The main goal with alt attributes is to make sure they are descriptive, simple, and to-the-point. Much like the file name. Setting An Alt Text In WordPressWhen you upload an image into a website hosted on WordPress, you'll have the option to give it both a title and an alt attribute. If you don't create your own alt tag, then WordPress will automatically make the alt tag the same as the title. This might be good or bad, depending on what you might need to convey to a visually-impaired customer. For example, if your image name is blue-boots, you may want to add a few more details to the alt attribute. Like, blue-hiking-boots-mens-size-10. If you want to change or add an alt attribute, then simply navigate to the image settings and rename the attribute. Alternate attributes are a must for anyone looking to fully optimize their website. They improve user experience and also help with SEO. 5. Use sitemaps to get your images noticed by GoogleDoes your e-commerce store contain image galleries? What about pop-ups like a call-to-action or email signup? These days, consumers love infographics, memes, and videos. Guess what? You should add those to your sitemap too. A sitemap allows you to optimize these images and videos for Google's algorithms. So what's a Sitemap? To quote Google:
It allows search engine web crawlers, like Googlebot, to crawl your site intelligently. In other words, it's a file that contains a map of all of your site's content. Here's an example of a sitemap: For video entries you should include:
For image entries you should include:
Below is a sample video sitemap from Zappos: If you have tons of images and videos, then you may want to create separate sitemaps for each type of content. Sitemaps are essential, and you should absolutely add your images, videos, etc. if you're looking to get your content noticed by Googlebots, Bingbots, and other search engine crawlers. If your site is hosted on WordPress, you can use Yoast SEO which will automatically add your content (images, videos, etc.) to a sitemap. If you don't have Yoast SEO already, it's easy to install. Then to have Yoast SEO add your content to a sitemap, just make sure the enable button is on and save changes: 6. Optimize your thumbnails to drive upsellsRemember when you bought that awesome cell phone case just after you upgraded? You probably found that case at the bottom of the purchase confirmation page just after your payment went through. That thumbnail image upsold you! These images are a great way to advertise other products to your customers either once they've made a purchase or while they're browsing other products. Check out how Amazon uses thumbnails at the top to entice customers to click on similar or related products. An upsell is an add-on, upgrade, or additional product that a seller introduces to you after an initial purchase. Thumbnail images are often displayed, many at a time, at the bottom of a page. Like these displayed at the bottom of a J.Crew shirt product page. The goal is usually an upsell. You should absolutely display related products below or above the cart or purchase page and entice your customers to click. But, if those thumbnail images don't load, you're missing out on a ton of potential business. Once a customer has arrived at your site, through say, a Google ad, you've already paid to get them there. So, the more they buy, the lower your customer acquisition cost. So, just because they're tiny, don't disregard your thumbnail images as less important to your business profitability. They need to be super small in file size. Less than 70 KB is ideal. They're best as JPEG or GIF files. Use Pixlr if you need to resize your files. And don't forget to name your thumbnail images. They need solid names and alt attributes just like your product pics. Getting these thumbnail images optimized will help you improve SEO and hopefully increase the amount of profit you generate from each web conversion. 7. Capture both the technical and aesthetic aspects of imagesIt's important to understand both the technical and aesthetic aspects of images on an e-commerce site. 1. Technical images: These are the images where you want to focus on image size, file type, resolution, etc. Something like this: You want your product images to be quality JPEGs that aren't too large in file size (like we discussed above). 2. Aesthetic images: These are the images where you should focus on product styling, background color, etc. Take this image, for example: Just take a look at the shadow effect and clean grey background. 8. A/B test images to improve conversions and retentionMarketers love a good A/B test, right? Well, your images should be no exception to the rule. Too many images, too slow of a load time, or the wrong image angles can lose sales for your company. Here are some best practices for testing images: • Quantity: Test between many and a few images per product, per category, per page, etc. You can even test how many thumbnails to feature below each product. Testing quantities will allow you to determine what's best for your customers. • File size vs. quality: You can test if higher quality and slower loading times effect conversions for your site. For example, if you have a more expensive product, like designer handbags, your customers may be happy to wait for a higher-quality image to load. That way they can zoom in and out and see every detail of it before purchasing. • Test which images your customers like: Maybe your customers prefer to see both the top and side of your newest shoes. Or, perhaps they convert more often when they've got fewer angles to study. You'll never know until you test. Remember, when you're A/B testing that it's important to test only one variable at a time. For example, if you're going to test the quantity of images you have on a category page, then don't test image quality at the same time. If you test more than one variable at once, you'll never know which variable resulted in higher or lower conversions. Check out this article for a more thorough guide to A/B testing. Here are a few of my favorite image optimization toolsWith all of these new image optimization hacks, you're going to need some tools to help you accomplish your goals. Here's a list of my favorite tools to help you along your journey. Image size and qualityPixlr: As I mentioned above, can use this free tool to edit images, and to increase or decrease JPEG file size or quality. ImageOptim: Decrease file size by compressing your images without losing quality with this tool. (Mac only) Kraken: Upload your images in bulk, compress them all at once, and download as a zip file to save time. WordPress PluginsYoast SEO: Optimize your image SEO and site accessibility by automatically assigning an alt attribute. ShortPixel: Optimize your image size within WordPress EWWW Image Optimizer: Automatically optimize images when they're uploaded to your site. ConclusionIt's easy to see why there are tons of tools out there for image optimization. It can have a huge impact on your business. E-commerce businesses, in particular, need to pay attention to their image size and file names. This is because e-commerce sites typically have more images than other business types and also rely on their images to earn a conversion. Start with a descriptive image name and alt attribute that will keep your images crawlable by Googlebots and also improve site accessibility. Then implement a sitemap to give search engine crawlers even easier access. Keep your images at the smallest size possible without sacrificing quality to improve load time and help convert more of your traffic. Optimize your thumbnails and use them to upsell your customers. Finally, A/B test to improve conversions and customer retention. But be sure to only test one image variable at a time so you know which changes are making an impact. Implement these eight image optimization hacks, and you're sure to see improvements in your rankings and revenue. What image optimization hacks work best for your business? About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.
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Contributor Todd Saunders explores four types of Google AdWords remarketing campaigns targeted toward the B2B marketplace that will build brand, convert leads and keep people from feeling creeped out.
The post Power up your B2B remarketing campaigns with 4 killer tricks appeared first on Search... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. The average person spends almost two hours on social every day. This comes out to five years and four months on social apps over the course of a lifetime. While this number may sound astounding, we all know how great social can be for connecting and engaging with friends, family, and brands we love. We can get the news, family updates, and current events we need to feel connected all in one place. But what's one thing we're not looking for on social media? A sales pitch. Promoting on social is like walking a tightrope. When your messaging is on, your social posts can pick up wind, sending your products flying off their digital shelves. But when you get your messaging wrong… Coming across too salesy on social can leave your followers racing for the “unfriend” button. To help you find the perfect balance, here are six ways you can use to promote your e-commerce products without being too salesy. 1. Connect with bloggers and influencersFriends and family have always been one of the most trusted sources for product recommendations. According to Collective Bias, 70% of millennials are influenced by their peers' recommendations when making a purchase. However, with social, that pool of trustworthy “peers” grows exponentially. Customers now have more than just their friends and family to get recommendations from. They can turn to bloggers, influencers, celebrities, and the trend-makers themselves. So why not work with those influencers to become a part of the trends they create? By establishing partnerships with influencers and bloggers, you can increase product sales and grow a more loyal customer base. Influencer marketing is a driving force when it comes to social promotion because of how seamlessly posts can blend into a user's timeline. In fact, Tomoson places influencer marketing as the most effective strategy for acquiring new customers quickly. Establishing relationships with influencers, bloggers, and trusted celebrities gives you the opportunity to promote your products effectively without sounding like a sleazy salesperson. After all, the post isn't coming directly from your brand. Instead, influencers share their own insights about your products – building awareness and trust. While some brand posts are organic, the fastest and easiest way to get your products on an influencer's feed is through sponsored content. Although the post may be paid, you want it to seem as natural as possible. Let's not forget Scott Disick's major ad mistake. Work with influencers who are excited to show off your brand – and willing to put in the effort to create a caption that helps your content stand out. Also, make sure they're appropriately tagging each post. According to some new boundaries established by the FTC, each post needs to be properly tagged as sponsored. The easiest way to do this is with a simple #ad or #paid, like we see in this example of a sponsored post from Naked Juice. Unfortunately, this kind of hashtag (literally) screams advertisement. These posts can come across a bit spammy, potentially pushing away followers for both your brand and the influencer you're working with. Although you need to make it clear that the content being shared is sponsored, you are free to get creative with how you do so. Try labeling your sponsorships as partnerships. According to this tweet from the FTC, a “partner” hashtag is a unique – and ethical – way to let followers know you've paid for the post.
A campaign-specific hashtag like this one can also collect your sponsored images into one place. When a potential customer clicks your #XXPartner tag, they'll see what other influencers you've been working with. So what's the bottom line with influencer marketing? Don't try to deceive your fans and followers into thinking a post is organic. Focus on creating long-lasting relationships with influencers within your industry and be open about sharing products, promotions, and events. As your connection and trust develop, you'll see more and more returns out of your influencer relationship – meaning stronger sales from their posts. 2. Run a contest or promotionRemember when Instagram users lost their minds over a red bathing suit? In May 2017, Sunny Co Clothing announced a promotion on their Instagram feed. Anyone who shared the image and tagged the company within the next 24 hours would receive a free suit. The promo took off. In just a few hours, Sunny Co Clothing had to post yet another message stating they would reserve the right to cap the promotion if necessary. A day later, they released another post announcing they would fulfill the first 50,000 orders. Just 25 hours after the start of the campaign, Sunny Co Clothing's Instagram following had jumped from just 7,000 users to 784,000. The response to the red bathing suit giveaway was overwhelming, but not that surprising. A free item is always a great way to create a buzz. Here's another contest promotion from Tom's. Tom's annual #withoutshoes tradition challenges participants all around the world to spend the day barefoot. For each image uploaded using the hashtag, Tom's donates one pair of shoes to children in need. While participants aren't the ones to walk away with a new pair of shoes, the promotion builds awareness about the brand, as well as the causes the company supports. To see real results from a promotion, stay true to your brand. Focus on quality of participants – not just quantity. And remember, proper planning is key when it comes to running a successful promotion. Lay out your rules clearly and easily. Here were the rules for Sunny Co Clothing's red bathing suit giveaway. State when you'll pick your winner, when the entry pool will close, and when winners can expect their rewards. Establishing your expectations early on can reduce confusion and keep both you and participants happy. Create a promotion plan for your contest. Let participants know it's coming and have a strategy for getting the word out. Most importantly, have a plan for what you'll do next. Think beyond just the contest. Develop a plan for getting new leads and customers into a proper marketing funnel once the promotion period ends. Don't let your new leads escape without first adding them to an email list or getting them to engage with your social profiles. 3. Start producing product videosThere are over 500 million hours of video watched on YouTube every day. This means over 57,000 years worth of video content is absorbed across the world each and every day. And according to Social Media Today, video is only going to become more and more popular. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that we're becoming more and more attracted to visual content. Video is becoming easier than ever to create and share. You no longer need bulky or expensive equipment to create a video worth showing off. In fact, social makes it more acceptable than ever to post a video you filmed on your smartphone. Video allows you to engage with your audience in a new way. You can show off reviews, give tutorials, or give customers a close-up look at your products. You get the opportunity to share your voice, humanize your brand, and strengthen relationships with customers. The addition of live video on Facebook or Instagram, as well as Snapchat and Instagram Stories, allows you to appear as just another friend to your target audience. Glossier does a great job at using video to blend into their follower's feeds. Within their Instagram Story, Glossier goes beyond simply showing off the products they offer. Instead, they work with influencers, employees, and everyday people to feature real-life applications of their makeup and skincare line. Videos like these place your viewer in the product user's shoes. Shoppers can get inspiration, tips, or just see your products from a new perspective. Watching your products in action can help them make more educated purchasing decisions. If you choose to use Instagram Stories for promotion, be sure to link to your products within your post. This neat feature can encourage your customer to buy right then and there – decreasing the chances they'll forget to come back later. Another way to use video comes from Dollar Shave Club. If we didn't watch all of our shows on Netflix, this would be just a typical commercial. It gives the major benefits of Dollar Shave Club, but it also helps shows some personality. Is all this information probably located on their website? Yes. Is this a more interesting way to absorb that information? Absolutely. A new, exciting spin on the company's most important information can make potential customers stop scrolling. The video will get shares, a few likes, and maybe even some laughs. But most importantly, customers will remember it more than a typical text list of benefits posted to Facebook. According to the Social Media Today study, video can be a powerful influence on shoppers. With four times more buyers preferring video over text, there's no excuse not to have some strong video content. Think of your product videos as a way of letting customers behind the curtain. Show them who you are, what you do, and invite them to get to know exactly who runs your brand. Focus on providing value. If there isn't clear, distinct, and honest information about your products, it's time for a second take. Finally, have a promotion plan. Don't assume customers will watch your videos just because they're there! Know when to post, what to post, and where to post it. 4. Share user-generated contentWho are the best magnets for new customers? Current customers. User-generated content is designed to create a community. By using the brand as a middleman to connect other shoppers, user-generated campaigns connect buyers from all over the world. With 92% of consumers trusting user-generated content more than traditional advertising, it can be one of the best ways to promote e-commerce products on social. User-generated content, like the multi-channel #AerieReal, encourages actual users to share their own posts using the products they've purchased. Similar to Glossier's Instagram Story, the #AerieReal campaign allows customers to see what Aerie's products look like on real people in everyday situations. But Aerie also takes their user-generated content a bit further. Aerie started their #AerieReal campaign as a way to fight the overwhelming amount of photoshop and image manipulation in the fashion industry. They use their user-generated campaign in an effort to show off bodies of all types, shapes and sizes. To encourage users to share their own posts, Aerie donates $1 for every post to the National Eating Disorders Association. This gives their customers an opportunity to show off their unique style skills while also contributing to a great cause. Plus, user-generated content can be a way to work around the annoying limitations to Facebook advertising. According to Mavrck, user-generated content can increase your engagement by almost 7X. With the new Facebook algorithm centered around improving the user experience, a user-generated campaign can help you improve engagement. The stronger your post engagement, the more impressions you'll have. Let's take a look at how LEGO generates content from their users. Within LEGO Ideas, users become designers. LEGO Ideas gets end-users involved in the product-creation process similar to a Kickstarter campaign. They brainstorm, vote, and ultimately become a part of the creation process. This also saves some of LEGO's skin. Running potential ideas past customers before a project is developed can help save a product from flopping. Once the project is complete, LEGO can market the idea as a user-generated project. According to the Harvard Business Review, this can increase sales up to 20%. TurnTo found that there are many reasons why users tend to engage better with user-generated content. From increased confidence to more authentic experiences, user-generated content can help you establish the trust that your brand otherwise couldn't. So go ahead. Show off how much your customers love you. Ask for videos and pictures. Create a unique hashtag. Encourage your loyal fans to share their stories. Get your customers talking – not just to you, but to each other. 5. Take advantage of enhanced posts on Pinterest and InstagramWhat is one of the biggest struggles of getting a customer to buy from social media? Pushing your customer from the social platform to a purchasing page. If you can't directly link to the product page, you need to find a way to show your customer where to buy. While Facebook and Twitter allow you to simply add product links wherever you want, Instagram and Pinterest like to make linking a bit more complicated. Here's an example of the only place you can feature a link on Instagram: Unfortunately for you and your shoppers, going to your bio isn't the most convenient way to get to a product page. With only one link option, users can't get directly to the product they saw in a traditional post. On Pinterest, you can link to a webpage from each post. However, that link may be to a blog post or homepage that doesn't directly sell the product your user is looking for. If it's too complicated for your customers to buy, they're likely to give up before they complete their purchase. Luckily, each platform offers enhanced post options that make it easier for customers to purchase – without you needing to scream directions at them. On Pinterest, “Buyable Pins,” allow users to buy without ever leaving the Pinterest platform. They look like this. Shoppers are no longer saving items as “inspiration.” Instead, Buyable Pins give them the opportunity to store products like a shopping cart. If they're not ready to purchase at that moment, they can come back to the pin when they are. Because the posts appear within organic content, Buyable Pins don't seem salesy. They blend in with other pins – only offering the additional step of purchasing if the user is interested. Pinterest is a social frontrunner for e-commerce products, with almost double the average order amount as Facebook. Pinterest shoppers are ready to buy. They're looking up items they want, inspiration for events, and they're ready to pull out their wallets for something they love. Instagram is similar. As another visual-centric platform, Instagram is flooded with influencers, brands, and regular people showing off high-quality images of products and purchases they love. To make it easier for shoppers to buy directly from Instagram, they introduced a new Shopping feature. You can see it in this example from Warby Parker. With both Pinterest and Instagram, you'll want to focus on high-quality images that cleanly and clearly display the product, but that don't read “advertisement.” Because they are not featured the same way a sponsored or promoted piece is, they have the power to blend right into the timeline of your users. If they're not interested, they'll pass right by without the annoyance of being assaulted by an unwanted ad. If they are, they can tap through to purchase. Use these enhance posts, but do so thoughtfully. Don't overwhelm your shoppers with purchasing links in every post. 6. Become a part of the conversationLet me guess. You have your social media notifications off, posts scheduled, and when you check on your engagement, you only look to see the number of likes and comments you've gotten? While there is nothing wrong with silencing your notifications or using an automation tool, there is something wrong with ignoring your customers and clients. Because according to CoSchedule, customers spend more with companies that engage with them on social media. If you could add about 30% to each online order just responding to comments, liking some posts, and giving advice, why wouldn't you? Social is about creating conversations – not blurting out whatever promotion you have running that week. While this tip may not be a direct promotion strategy, it's a long-term investment that can improve your sales and strengthen your customer relationships. Here's a relatively simple communication between REI and a customer. By lending a helping hand and being available for questions, REI is blending sales and customer service – improving the shopping experience for customers. This kind of unique attention can catch a customer's eye. Whether a digital passerby sees you assisting another customer or you're speaking directly to the shopper in need, engaging with your audience can make your brand more memorable. Not only can this improve your chances of getting a sale right then and there, but the customer will also come back for more. But you don't have to wait for customers to come to you with questions or feedback. Check out this #DearEverlane campaign. Using #DearEverlane, the company blends testimonials, user-generated content, and social proof to get some awesome conversations started. Not only are they providing feedback and responding to comments, but they're also putting it on display for other customers to see. They're showing that they're human. Don't be afraid of your audience finding out there are real people running your business. Encourage them to get in touch, ask questions, and reach out with feedback. Then acknowledge those comments with genuine, thoughtful, helpful responses. Try to show some personality beyond your marketing campaigns and product lists. By actually taking the time to acknowledge your target audience on social media, you're able to create deep relationships that can develop into loyal shoppers. ConclusionThe traditional sales pitch is long gone. With the entire Internet at their fingertips, customers are more prepared than ever to make educated purchasing decisions. They don't need you telling them what to buy. If you're still hoping to land a sale by telling your customers what they “need,” you'll quickly find that your e-commerce store isn't doing so hot. Rather than trying to push sale after sale, use social to establish genuine relationships and connections with your customers. Connect with bloggers and influencers to get in front of a new audience. Or run a contest or promotion to increase engagement. Think beyond the normal product pages and make product videos to show off your products and personality. Then use your current customers with user-generated content.This shows your products in real life. And mix it up. Use enhanced posts to sell directly on social media so your customers don't have to go anywhere else. Finally, use social media to have a conversation with your customers. By listening to what they want, engaging with people they trust, and developing campaigns that help get them involved in your brand, your social platforms can become selling machines. What promotion strategy have you seen the most success with for your e-commerce store? About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital. Successful marketers know how to go the extra mile when promoting their brands, products, and services. You need to understand what role psychology plays in the buying process. For example, different color schemes can impact sales on your website. Those of you who want to take your marketing strategy to the next level need to understand the way your customers think. Use this information to your advantage. People behave a certain way when specific emotions are triggered. I'm sure you can see this in your life as well. Have you ever punched a wall or broken something when you're upset? You wouldn't normally do that, but you might behave that way as a result of a strong emotional response. Don't worry, we won't to try to get your customers angry or play a game of psychological warfare with them. Instead, I'm going to show you how you can trigger a variety of emotions with different marketing campaigns. As a result, you'll be able to drive more sales. Here's what you need to know about guiding the emotions of your customers. Leverage the power of fearFear is one of the most powerful emotions, which is why I want to use it to start our discussion. You can use fear as a sale tactic in many different ways. For starters, try to create the fear of missing out on something, better known as FOMO. In today's age of social media, people feel FOMO more than ever. Take a look at these statistics from a recent study: More than half of social media users believe they need to constantly monitor their social profiles because they're afraid they'll miss out on something. It's becoming such a problem that people recognize the fear is affecting their behaviors. That's why so many social media users consider taking a break from these platforms. How can you leverage this emotion from a marketing perspective? Create ads for your website, email campaigns, and social profiles that are time-sensitive. For example, you could run a flash sale offering 40% off everything on your website for the next six hours. This type of marketing strategy will cause users to act fast for the fear that they'll miss out on the sale. They are already interested in your products and have some items in mind they want to purchase. Taking advantage of a flash sale is the perfect time for them to act. Depending on what kind of products or services you're offering, there are other ways to create fear in the minds of your customers. For example, let's say your company sells home security systems. You could create an advertisement that shows how your products help prevent a burglary or home invasion. This can create fear in the minds of prospective customers. They may think to themselves that their current security system wouldn't protect them in the event of an emergency. Don't get me wrong, we're not trying to traumatize your customers here. There are more subtle ways to approach this. Check out this example of fear-based copy used on the Farmers Insurance website: Someone shopping for home insurance can see why it's important to have flood coverage. In the event of a natural disaster, the right insurance is there to protect you. Come up with ways to market your product the same way. It's applicable in nearly any industry, even if your company just sells clothes. It's going to be a cold winter, so you need to buy a sweatshirt. Although this type of fear isn't as powerful as a threat of burglary or natural disaster, it's still effective. Take advantage of greedPeople are greedy by nature. Don't think so? Think about the first day of spring. Ice cream parlors all over the country offer promotions like a free cone or scoop. Customers line up around the block waiting for an hour to get something free that would normally cost them only a couple of dollars. Why? They're greedy. There's nothing wrong with this. But as a marketer, you can use this concept to your advantage when coming up with new promotions. Offer items at a discounted rate, and then try to upsell to your customers. Here's a great example from the Best Buy website: BOGO. Buy one, get one. If someone is shopping for a new smartphone, how can they turn down this offer? If they buy one smartphone, they'll get another one free. But this is a great marketing plan because the money isn't made on the actual devices. Wireless providers make all their profits from their plans. It's worth it to give away something that's worth a few hundred dollars. Now, instead of adding one device to the contract, the customer will add two and pay for two plans. Try to come up with a way to apply the same concept to your marketing strategy. Build trustTypically, words such as fear and greed don't have a positive connotation. But not every emotion needs to be negative. Establishing trust with your customers is another powerful way to encourage sales. A great way to create trust is by implementing a customer loyalty program. Loyal customers will spend more money. But you need to make sure all your offers are transparent if you want to be perceived as trustworthy. Don't surprise your customers with any hidden costs or fees when they're making a transaction. Anytime someone buys something from you, they trust you with their personal information, such as their credit card numbers. Recent studies show that credit card fraud has become a growing concern in the United States. If one of your customers hasn't been affected by fraud personally, I'm sure they know at least a few people close to them who have. Customers won't trust you with sensitive information if you can't convince them your company is trustworthy. You need to take the proper steps to protect your customers' information and understand the elements that add credibility to your website. Offering a secure checkout process, free returns, and easy access to customer service will get you started in the right direction. Add customer testimonials to your website as well. Once people trust your brand, it will be much easier for you to get higher sales. Create a sense of belongingUse your brand to establish a community among your customers. There is a reason why people are buying from your company. All these people have something in common. It's your job to figure out what those commonalities are to establish a community based on them. As a result, you'll be able to trigger emotions that drive sales. Here's what I mean. Let's say your company sells boxing equipment. Because it's a niche industry, all your customers obviously have something in common. They know what it's like to get punched in the face, and they like to stay in great physical shape. You could create a forum or devote a section of your website to some other user-generated content. Your customers can share stories with each other about their workout routines and even talk about recent victories or defeats in the boxing ring. Here's another example of this concept from Diet Bet: This website hosts a community of people who all share the common goal of losing weight. Once you set up a place where your customers feel a sense of belonging, it will ultimately lead to more conversions and higher sales. That's because people will have a reason to visit your website more often. They may initially go online to write on a forum but might end up buying something as well. Eliminate frustrationFrustration is not an emotion you want to have associated with your brand. Let me quickly tell you a recent frustrating experience I had while trying to buy something online. I don't want to call out the company, so I'll leave their name out of this. I saw something in a physical store location last week when I was walking around. I was interested but didn't want to carry the product with me for the rest of the day, so I planned to order it online. The sales associate took my name and email address and sent me the product information, which was supposed to make my life easier. Well, a few days later I went to the email, clicked on the product, and attempted to check out online. I filled in all my billing and shipping information, and then I was told I needed to create an account to proceed. Bummer. But I still created an account. Then the site prompted me to enter all my information again. After entering my name, address, and billing info three different times on the website, I decided to pick up the phone and try to order that way. An automated system told me that all representatives were busy and then hung up the call. Needless to say, I was so frustrated that I didn't end up buying the product. This isn't surprising since the majority of consumers want easy access to online support. Don't be like the company I had this awful experience with. Make sure you have easy navigation on your website and a smooth checkout process. The less friction your customers experience as they go through the process, the less frustrated they will be. Share your core valuesObviously, every company wants to make high profits. But that's not the only reason why everyone is in business. There are certain brands that have other missions that act as the driving force behind their goals. If this sounds like you, make sure you share these values and beliefs with your customers. For example, are you affiliated with any charities? These types of core values can stimulate emotions within customers and ultimately lead to more sales. Here's an example from the Warby Parker website: Warby Parker sells glasses. But that's not all they do. Through their buy a pair, give a pair program, they have been able to donate more than three million pairs of glasses to people all over the world. Not everyone can afford glasses. So this company does their part by helping those who don't have the resources or access to eye care professionals. This type of story can definitely help drive sales because of the emotional attachment to a purchase. If their customers know their purchases will help someone in need, they will be more likely to buy from the company. Stimulate desiresWhat do people desire? Sex. Food. Sports cars, big houses, and beach vacations. Incorporate these ideas into your marketing strategy. I'm not saying you need to tell people your product will help them get a new car. But you can still throw a fancy convertible into your ads to help grab someone's attention. Think about the last time you saw an advertisement for food on television. The camera zooms in on a cheeseburger and shows juices pouring down the bun. Everything looks perfect, and it's supposed to make you hungry. Your mouth might even start watering. Why? Because they are stimulating your desires. Now you're craving a cheeseburger, so you go out and buy one. That's how emotions of desires lead to sales. Drive competitive energyPeople are also competitive by nature. They are competing with their co-workers and friends, and are trying to “keep up with the Joneses” at home. Apply this concept to your marketing campaigns. For example, let's say you're selling lawn care products. You could create an ad that says something along the lines of, “Have a better lawn than your neighbor's.” Or if you're selling sports equipment, you could explain how your products will give your customers an edge over the competition. Here's an example of how Nike uses this strategy to promote basketball sneakers on its website. They say these sneakers will help you dominate your opponents. Such phrases can tap into the competitive nature of a customer. This emotional response can lead them to complete the purchase process. ConclusionEmotions are powerful. As a marketer, you need to learn how to effectively stimulate emotions to encourage sales. Use fear and greed to make your customers behave a certain way. Build trust with your customers, and create a community that establishes a sense of belonging. Simplify the buying process to eliminate frustration. Share your core values, and proudly display any charitable donations. Stimulate desires, and focus on the competitive nature of your customers. If you follow these tips, you'll be an expert at guiding people's emotions to increase your sales revenue. What emotional response does your marketing strategy generate? Facebook Messenger currently has more than 1.3 billion monthly active users. Not only that, but 2 billion messages are sent back and forth between end users and businesses every month. This is a huge opportunity to move consumers through the sales funnel and to boost your sales. Now that Facebook Messenger has introduced the ability to purchase products directly through the app, the opportunity is even larger than before. Unfortunately, many businesses seem to be struggling with successfully tapping into this huge market. 47% of customers surveys say that they didn't have a positive live chat experience in the last month. Not only that, but 56% of consumers can't recall any exceptional live chat experience. This means Facebook Messenger is a great opportunity to set your brand and your company apart in the eyes of the consumer, if you can do it well. I'm going to show you how to wow your customers with Facebook Messenger. I'll help you figure out how to do this so well it won't just improve your customer experience, it will also boost your sales. First, let's look at the main functionality of Facebook Messenger and why you should be adopting it as part of your business strategy. Facebook Messenger is no longer just a messaging appFacebook Messenger originally began in 2011 as a messaging app for Facebook users. Messenger has since grown into so much more. Now consumers can watch videos, play games, connect with companies, make payments, send money, and more, all without ever leaving the Messenger app. 64% of Facebook users are on Messenger. Not only that, but 50% of American teens use Messenger every day. There is a large and growing target market sitting here for businesses to immediately access. Businesses are clearly recognizing the potential as there are already 60 million of them signed up on Messenger. You might see that number and assume it means the market is saturated. Unfortunately, it seems like most businesses are struggling to provide the services and options that consumers expect. A survey conducted by Kayoko found that while consumers love real-time support, they hate the typical live chat experience. There is a noticeable lack of faith in businesses ability to handle live chat well. This is important to remedy. Live chat isn't just for customer support, it also impacts sales. Live chat isn't the only way to use Facebook Messenger to sell. The chatbots can be used different ways to boost sales and build customer loyalty. Not only that, Chatbots could save insurance, financial services, sales, and customer service departments $174 billion. Combined with the Buy Now feature, Facebook Messenger is one of the top free Shopify apps to boost e-commerce sales. First, I'll walk you through how to set up a chatbot and the Buy Now feature of Facebook Messenger. Then I'll show you some of the best ways you can use Messenger to sell more products. How to build your chatbotThe first step to using Facebook Messenger is to set up your chatbot. While you're setting it up, keep the following in mind:
There are many services out there that will help you set up Facebook Messenger Chatbots, such as Mobile Monkey. For a simple do-it-yourself guide, Social Media Examiner has a great post. Start by selecting a single goal for your bot such as handling order confirmations. Refine it based on user feedback. Then slowly add additional features that will start driving new sales. If you don't feel comfortable coding bots from scratch, you can hire a developer to build them for you. Link Messenger to your e-commerce storeOnce you have a Messenger bot, you need to sync it to your website. After all, if Messenger isn't linked to your site, it can't reflect product updates, price changes and other information you need it to have. There are three ways you can integrate the use of Messenger with your e-commerce website:
The Messenger Sales ChannelThe Messenger Sales Channel allows customers to view your product catalogs within the Messenger app. When they find something they want to buy, it will take them to your e-commerce checkout page. You can also use the Messenger sales channel to respond to customers' questions and provide automated notifications about their orders. It's easy for customers to contact you. They can either click Message Us from your online store or click Message on your business's Facebook page. Shopify walks you through a few simple steps to add the Messenger channel if your e-commerce site is through them: Facebook Live ChatFacebook Live Chat is one of the Best Shopify Apps for Customer Service in 2018. The Facebook Live Chat Shopify app allows you to provide chat on your Shopify website, whether they're on mobile or not. You can install it on your site by clicking the “Get” button and following the links. Set up options include the following:
The Buy Now buttonUnlike the sales channel, which brings customers out of Messenger to your site checkout, the “Buy Now” button allows for purchases without ever leaving the app. All a customer will have to do is tap the button and go through a simple checkout process within the app. Customers contact, shipping, and payment info will be pulled automatically from their Messenger profile if they've set it up. To complete the purchase, they can tap “pay.” They will then receive an order confirmation, including the option to see a receipt. You will receive payments from these purchases through a PayPal or Stripe account. Use targeted chatbots to boost conversions and salesNow you've set up a basic chatbot, and you've synced Messenger to your e-commerce site. The next step is to start building in the more advanced chatbot options to drive more traffic, conversions, and sales. Provide customers with entertainment.Consider designing your chatbot for entertainment, assuming it fits with your brand. You can send fun facts, games, and entertaining content. The Trivia Blast chatbot is a good example of this. The chatbot will send regular messages with game suggestions and calls to action to play them. Users can sort the trivia games by topic, and some games offer the option to “challenge a friend,” inviting more users to sign up. Consider these points when building a chatbot for entertainment:
Offer customers free stuff.Everyone loves free stuff when there is no commitment required. They get something without any effort. According to Dan Ariely from Duke, the word free “gives us such an emotional charge that we perceive what is being offered as immensely more valuable than it really is.” You can use this “free effect” with your chatbots to generate leads. Here's a chatbot that offers tips for de-stressing. Why offer something free? It helps build a meaningful relationship and engagement with your customers. Your willingness to give away something for free before a customer buys anything builds trust. This will help increase your conversion rate. Build engagement with empathy.Empathy is a powerful tactic in your marketing arsenal. Empathy is showing another person you understand how they feel and what they're going through. When people believe you understand them, they are more likely to buy from you. Empathy from a chatbot is more difficult than with human interaction, but it's still possible. Build your bot to mimic empathetic questions and responses. Make the language emotional and understanding. Check out this chatbot from Sebastian Kull. By asking, “What is your biggest business struggle right now?” the chatbot is trying to project empathy and concern. Consider these ways of using empathy in chatbots:
Empathy is great for building trust with prospects and generating leads. Encourage sharing and referrals.Not much in marketing is more powerful than word of mouth. People trust their friends far more than they trust a salesperson or paid advertisement. That's why people click paid search results far less on Google than organic results. It's also why reviews and other social proof increase conversion rates. People trust other people. And they trust their friends even more. Companies with consistent referral programs experience a 69% faster close, 59% higher lifetime customer value, and 71% higher conversion rates. How can you use word of mouth in your chatbot? The easiest way is to ask for a referral after they've bought a product and are happy with it. You can include a “share” button that allows people to share the chatbot with their friends. If you target people with this when they're most satisfied, you'll gain new customers by leveraging your existing ones. It's a very effective marketing technique, with a high conversion rate. Encourage lead nurturing through chatbotsMost people don't just visit your website once and then buy. The average person will visit your website and see your product multiple times before ever purchasing. That's why lead nurturing is so important. Before AI, lead nurturing was done through automated email messages, email segmentation, and manual prospecting. 59% of Americans are willing to receive coupons or special offers through a chatbot. People are increasingly more comfortable with receiving offers from chatbots. This means there is no need to fear that using them will make your business suffer. In fact, chatbots seem to be outperforming apps. The average retention with the bots after just one month of use was 40-60%. The apps? 20-40%. Chatbots respond quickly, and they don't forget to send a message. They are the perfect, cost-effective option for nurturing leads. Provide guided sales advice.If you had the choice between searching a website solo or having a salesperson guide you, which would you choose? I'm willing to bet that you'd prefer to browse on your own. That's what I'd choose. Consumers like to be left alone to shop. The great thing about chatbots is that consumers feel like they still have the comfort of shopping alone. There is no anxiety of interacting with a “pushy salesperson” since everyone knows chatbots aren't real people. You can use your chatbot to interact with customers in a non-invasive, low-pressure way. Here's a great example of this: Chatbots can ask customers questions and then only show products they're interested in. Make sure you build your chatbot to ask questions about price, type of product, and style. Then, set it to only show users the items they're actually interested in. Provide gift buying support.84% of consumers experience gift buying stress. Luckily chatbots can help ease this stress GiftGuru does this in a way that's fun. During the holiday season, people are going to buy gifts. You can make this easier for your customers and boost your sales with chatbots. They are less expensive for your business and less anxiety-inducing for your customers. Use chatbots for data mining.Data is as valuable as gold. Validated tests with meaningful data show us right from wrong in our campaign attempts. A/B testing is more possible than ever before with the rise of artificial intelligence and chatbots. Bots can have an enormous amount of conversations in a short period of time. Every time they do this, they are gathering new, relevant data. Consider the shopping bot, Celebstyle, as an example. It allows you to steal your favorite celebrity style. Then it offers suggestions of clothes based on that celebrity. Every time a consumer chooses a celebrity or buys clothing, it provides new data. This can then feed into your analytics tools and reports to help you improve the targeting and layout of your ad campaigns. Improve your customer support service.Customer support has traditionally been a challenge for businesses. Chatbots can make a significant difference here. In the healthcare and banking industries, a bot answering questions saved an average of 4 minutes when compared to an in-person inquiry. On top of that, more than 50% of customers expect businesses and their support center to be open around the clock. This is a lot easier, and cheaper, to do with chatbots. The hardest part of salesmanship is responding promptly and being available all the time. Chatbots can do this better than humans. The average company takes 10 hours to respond to a consumer's message. A bot can respond immediately. Check out this conversation with a shopping bot named Magic. The customer instantly gets what they want, when they want it, no matter what time it is. This is a great way to boost sales in a world that is becoming increasingly busier. Narrow down your target marketing.Can you imagine if bots were able to learn about and send them customized messages that catered to their specific location in the sales funnel? It's already happening today with email segmentation. Low-commitment prospects are sent low-pressure emails. High-commitment customers are upsold on the newest product. MailChimp sees a 14% higher open rate and a 100% higher click-through rate with segmented campaigns. If it works for email, it will work for bots too. Segmentation will eventually become fully automated. H&M's bot already does this on a small scale. The bot asks users which outfit is their favorite. Then it automatically creates a user profile for each person based on their answer. This means the bot (and the business) is becoming better and better at showing outfits that will resonate with their target customer. The robots are learning, and this helps your company better target ads and boost sales. Help customers comparison shop.Everyone loves to find a good deal. How do you know when something is a good deal? You need to be able to compare prices of identical and similar products. In the past this may have meant opening several browser tabs or calling different companies. Now, chatbots can do it all for you. This allows your ideal customers to easily comparison shop. 5Gifts4Her is a shopping bot that allows users to easily compare potential gifts across similar product and price ranges. Chatbots can even be programmed to compare local prices based on the location of a user. Thanks to this new technology, comparison shopping has never been easier. You can use this technology to boost consumer trust and ultimately sales, assuming you're competitively priced. Share locations & tracking with customers.Do you offer in-store pickup for your products? If so, instantly sharing your location with a customer can save time and effort for both of you. Location-sharing makes it easier for customers to find you and plan how to reach your shop. If you ship directly to home, it can work the other way around as well. Customers can instantly provide you with their address via Messenger instead of having to type it in. These simple chatbots can tell your customers important information about their order after a purchase has been made. They can send an order confirmation and shipping notification. Shopify has several Messenger chatbots that can provide order updates. They typically start at only a few bucks per month. An order confirmation looks like this: When the order ships, the customer receives another notification. Customers can also click “Track shipment.” This will take them directly to the shipping carrier's website where they can see up-to-date information on the location of their package. Your customer can also choose to click “View order,” or “Continue shopping.” Either of these options directs them back to your website to encourage more shopping. Use Messenger chatbots for abandoned cart recovery.More than 60% of consumers abandon their shopping carts before completing the purchase. In Finance and Non-profit that rate is as high as 83%! That means 2 out of 5, or less, survive all the way through your checkout process. Chatbots can help you with this. Since you've already connected Facebook Messenger with your website, you can use it to automate an abandoned cart follow-up sequence. Pura Vida Bracelets already does this well. They didn't stop with a simple reminder. They also offered a 20% off discount in a great attempt to close the deal. Adding a discount to your offer incentivizes people to finish their purchase. The two main reasons people abandon their shopping cart is that the final price is too high. Adding a discount to your abandoned cart follow-up leverages this and may capture consumers who abandoned due to the price. Here's another great example: Why are chatbots such a great place to recapture cart abandoners? People often have their email notifications turned off, but they rarely turn off their Messenger notifications. This means you're more likely to reach them immediately. The faster you reach people who hesitate to buy, the higher the chance that they'll finish their purchase. ConclusionMessenger apps are a huge marketing opportunity. More consumers and businesses are adopting the use of mobile and messaging social apps every year. To use Messenger to boost sales, you need to make sure customers enjoy interacting with your brand. The last thing I want to do is push away consumers with poorly programmed chat bots. That's why it's so important to use Messenger and chatbots right. Start with setting up your bot for basic interactions. Then sync it with your e-commerce site and add the “Buy Now” functionality. Once this is done, start programming your Messenger chatbots for interactions that will increase your sales. Additional options are lead nurturing and engagement interactions. I recommend you use Messenger to test your bot programs as well as your other ads, to data mine, improve targeting and boost your sales. Program these interaction sequences in with simple language, guided responses, and the ability to speak to a real human whenever needed. This will have you outshining the competition and increasing your sales in no time. How do you use Facebook Messenger to sell? About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital. As of this month, Google had almost 75% of the search engine market share, which means that far more people are looking for information on Google than on any other search engine. So, if you have a new website, you should be putting most of your energy into ranking on Google, right? Well, let's look at it this way: If you were traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast, would you only take a single road? What would you do if there was construction? Or, what if someone built a newer, better, and more direct highway? Would you insist on staying on the same route? I bet you wouldn't. You'd be willing to switch to a different route, and then maybe you would switch to another one later. You'd keep taking different routes until you finally arrived at your destination. There's no question that Google is a great road to take. It's wide, it's clear, and it's direct. And if you use AdWords, it's a little like taking a superhighway to your destination – a superhighway with a lot of tolls. The problem is that Google makes changes to that highway all the time by changing its algorithms (an estimated 500-600 times a year). Sometimes, those changes can leave you stranded on the side of the road (think Panda 4.1 in 2014). You may have spent a lot of money on that trip. If you put all your eggs in the Google basket, you could easily end up with no eggs and an empty wallet. So, you shouldn't put all or most of your energy into chasing Google and AdWords when you have a new website. But how do you get website traffic without relying on Google? Believe it or not, it's possible. And you can even do it for free. I'm going to tell you how. You can't ignore FacebookYou might have heard that Facebook organic reach is dead or users are fleeing from Facebook. But don't worry. Even if new Facebook sign-ups have leveled off or user number are going down, Facebook still has 1.8 billion monthly users worldwide. That's a lot of people. Even if Facebook loses a couple of million users, it still has a lot of people. So, if it makes sense for your business to be on Facebook, be there. But be there for more than just the socializing. Use Facebook and other social media networks as hubs that you can link to your website from. From Facebook, you can link to a blog, e-book, consultation offer, or somewhere else on your site. Facebook lists your website right there for everyone to see. And when someone clicks on a post, it takes them directly there. It's true: Facebook's organic reach is down. But it certainly isn't gone. Look at it this way: If you have 1,000 followers and a mere 2% of them see your posts, that's still 20 people. 20 people may not sound like a lot, but any one of them could still buy from you. The important thing is to remember the social part of social media. Treat your page followers like you would treat people if you were networking IRL: Respond to concerns, answer questions, and engage on a regular basis. For example, look at this example from MailChimp: People like working with people they like. A good place to start that relationship is on social media. SlideShare is a hidden gemSlideShare is an information-sharing site that LinkedIn owns. Think of it as PowerPoint with a purpose. The content on the site comprises some 18 million uploads of slide presentations and infographics in 40 content categories. You can find information about anything that anyone could ever want to know on SlideShare in the format of a PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote, or OpenDocument presentations. And when you make a presentation, you can make it public or private. Some 80% of SlideShare's 80 million visitors come through organic search. That's proof that it can be a useful tool for driving traffic to your website. The great thing about SlideShare is that you can use your existing content to create killer presentations. You can take an old blog, update it, and format it for a slideshow. Or, you can break down an e-book you've published and create a new presentation. Search Engine Journal uploads their webinar presentations to SlideShare. If you've recently given a presentation at a conference, upload it to SlideShare and give the content a second life. Matthew Darby from HubSpot does this, too. The results might surprise you. Traffic Generation Café's Ana Hoffman chronicled how she got 200,000 views, 400 new Facebook fans, and 1,400 clicks to her website by publishing nine presentations over 30 days. SlideShare, she says, is now her second-largest referral traffic source. Only 19% of B2B marketers use SlideShare, which presents a big opportunity for you to make use of the network before everyone else is using it. You must be a LinkedIn member to use SlideShare. If you're not a member now, you definitely should be. Start by signing up for a free account. Once you're a LinkedIn member, you can use SlideShare. Now, you can upload your own presentations. Once you've uploaded a presentation, be sure to share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, your blog, and everywhere else. SlideShare includes analytics, so you can look at your stats and see which decks get the best results. LinkedIn publishing will get you noticedYou know LinkedIn as a valuable business network. But did you know that, by using the publishing tool on LinkedIn, you can drive more traffic to your website? You've probably seen the influencer posts on your LinkedIn feed, but the people like Richard Branson aren't the only ones who can publish on LinkedIn to get noticed. You can, too. A lot of people publish on LinkedIn, so it can be hard to get noticed. The key is to post valuable, relevant content. If people like what you have to say, they'll want more. That will drive traffic to your website. Remember: You're not trying to sell something or promote yourself. You're trying to provide useful information that will help someone solve a problem. If you've ever posted on a blog, publishing to LinkedIn is pretty intuitive. Even if you're publishing for the first time, the process is straightforward. There's a space right at the top of your feed where you can post something to your newsfeed. Or you can choose to write an article. The interface is simple. There's a space for a header image and an area where you can start writing. There are a few important things you'll want to remember. Write an attractive and enticing headline, include images, and use h1 and h2 heads like you would on a blog. Just take a look at some of LinkedIn's key influencers like Bill Gates. Larry Kim is also a great example. Follow in the footsteps of influencers like these to gain a following with LinkedIn. Join the conversation in Facebook groupsRelevant groups on Facebook give you a chance to contribute to conversations in your area of expertise. Think of it as networking online. Do it naturally like you would at a dinner party: politely join in when you have something relevant to add. Don't talk only about yourself and don't try to sell. Groups are for people with similar interests who want to share ideas and information. Genuinely engaging in this way will give you more visibility. You'll build relationships and drive traffic to your website. If you're going to engage with groups, follow the rules of polite discussion: Be kind, don't be disagreeable, and use common sense before hitting “send.” You can find Facebook groups on your Facebook page by clicking on the down arrow in the upper right-hand corner. You'll find several categories where you can start your search: Browse the categories, then click on a category you like to get some suggestions. Choose a group and click “+ Join.” Some groups will allow you to simply click to join. Others may ask you some questions before allowing you to join. There are public and closed groups. Snapchat News and Education is a public group for people to learn and share tips about Snapchat. Vincent Orleck, the social media director at AtticSalt, created it and runs it. But people share more than just Snapchat tips. They also discuss Snapchat-related issues and marketing. This is an example of a place where you could lend your expertise. Be sure the groups you choose are the ones that are relevant to you before you ask to join. And be sure to read the group's rules. LinkedIn groups attract industry professionalsWith more than 500 million users and 9 billion content impressions on LinkedIn feeds every week, LinkedIn packs a lot of power. And LinkedIn users are there for one reason: business. LinkedIn groups are an ideal place for you to keep up with relevant information in your industry, share information, network, and build brand awareness. To find LinkedIn groups, go to your homepage, click on the grid in the upper right-hand corner, then select “Groups.” You can either search for a specific group in the search bar or click on “Discover” for recommendations from LinkedIn. Social Media Marketing is one of the largest social media marketing groups on LinkedIn with over 1,800,000 members. It's a forum for advertising and marketing professionals who are actively engaged in social media. By posting to a group or adding to the conversation, you can build brand awareness and increase traffic to your website. Again, engage in relevant conversation and don't spam with promotion. And, once again, be sure to read the rules. Twitter chats drive trafficGo to Google and search for “Twitter chats [the category you are interested in]” and find lists of relevant chats. You can find chats for marketers that meet almost every day of the week, so there's bound to be one that fits your schedule. The chat #sproutchat meets on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. CST.
Generally, users ask questions one at a time (Q1, Q2, Q3, and so forth). After each question, visitors respond. You can join in and answer, too. You may also be able to pick up some useful tips or just have a little fun. You can also use free tools like TweetChat and Twubs. They'll help organize your chats, slow down the feed, and automatically add the hashtag to your reply. Believe me: that last one is really helpful. Twitter chats can move fast, and it's easy to forget to include the hashtag when you respond. By automatically including the hashtag, you ensure that your responses stay and that other users can see it in the chat stream. That way, if people like what you have to say or want to learn more, they'll look at your profile and go to your website. Of course, you want to make sure that you have your website URL in your profile so that users can easily navigate to your site. Get traffic with knowledge through QuoraQuora is a social Q&A website with more than 190 million monthly users. On Alexa, it ranks 128th in the world and 67th in the U.S. People ask questions, and other people provide answers. That's it! There are hundreds of thousands of topics on Quora, so you're sure to find something in your wheelhouse. To join, you can use your Google account or your Facebook account. Or, you can create a login using your email and a password. Quora will ask you for topics you want to follow and areas in which you have expertise, but you can fill that out later if you want. Pick at least ten topics. By participating on Quora and providing useful answers to users' questions, you can drive referral traffic – traffic that comes to your website from another site. The more referral sources you have, the more you'll drive a steady stream of traffic to your website. These are visitors who specifically go to your site because they want to learn what you have to say. That's the best kind of traffic there is. Give help, get traffic on HAROHARO is shorthand for Help a Reporter Out. It's a service that journalists use to crowdsource information for news articles. According to the HARO site, there are 50,000 journalist queries each year. The service reaches some 800,000 sources and 55,00 journalists and bloggers. The premise is simple: a journalist needs information for an article and reaches out to find experts in the field who can provide information (and get free media coverage). These journalists work for some major news outlets like Time, the New York Times, Mashable, and Reuters. It's pretty sweet to get coverage from those outlets. The service is free for sources. You simply register, monitor, and pitch. There's an option to sign up for free, but you can also pay for subscriptions that have more bells and whistles. Make the most of your emailMost of us use email as our main mode of business communication. If you're like me, you're receiving, sending, deleting, and responding to email all day long. Think of all the emails you send. Are you wasting the valuable real estate at the bottom of the screen? All you have to do is add the URL to your website (with a link) below your name, and voila! You're promoting your website and driving traffic there. Or, you can promote a blog post that will drive traffic to your site. It couldn't be any easier for people to find your site. All they have to do is click. The average number of emails one person sends for business each day is 40. If you have ten people in your office, and they all include the company website in their signatures, you'll be promoting your website 400 times each day. And you're doing it for free! But that's not the only way to put your email signature to good use. I offer some other suggestions: If you use Outlook and need help adding a link to your website in your email signature, check out this guide. For Gmail, go here. Blog longer and less frequentlyTo blog or not to blog? That's the question in 2018 as content reaches a saturation point and it's harder to set yourself apart from the pack when it comes to content. “Harder” doesn't mean “impossible,” however. You can still effectively use a blog to drive traffic to your website. I know what you're thinking: “Isn't blogging all about SEO and driving traffic from organic searches?” It's true: A huge benefit of blogging is that you'll drive more traffic from the SERPs. But that's not the only way that blogging can bring visitors to your site. In addition to improving SEO, long-form blog content also results in more social media shares and greater visibility for your company. If you want to thrive on social media, you need to give users something worth sharing. You can't expect users to keep sharing your short tweets, status updates, and pictures of your company and employees. That's all great as supplemental content. But what users really want to share is high-quality content that's genuinely useful. So here's the takeaway: write and post quality blogs that provide value. You have to help readers solve a problem, educate them, or entertain them. Publish longer posts, but publish less frequently. Rather than three or four so-so posts a week, write and post one detailed, quality post that's 1,500 to 3,000 words in length. In its annual blogger survey, Orbit Media discovered that there was a direct correlation between longer posts and bloggers reporting “strong results.” So, take the time to do the research and put out blogs that are chock-full of useful and compelling information. By publishing only when you have something substantial to say, you're like the person who never raises their voice: When they finally do yell, everyone notices. Just make sure that your blogs are attractive, reader-friendly, and have lots of images. Users love visual content like pictures, graphics, and videos. Be sure to include recent (and accurate!) data to support your topic. And, for goodness sake, make sure your spelling and grammar are spot-on. You don't want to lose a reader for good because of poor mechanics and sloppy writing. Try guest bloggingIt may sound counter-intuitive, but spending your precious time writing a blog for another site – and for free – really can pay off. The biggest benefit is that you can include links on a guest blog and drive traffic to your website. And if you can drive traffic to a specific landing page where you gather valuable email information from visitors, then you can capture leads and add them to your subscriber base. Then, you can use good, old-fashioned email marketing to drive more business. If you do it right, guest blogging can be a powerful way to position you as an expert and earn your site valuable backlinks. You should only guest blog on quality sites, and you should make sure that your guest posts are detailed, actionable, and engaging. Don't guest blog just for the sake of guest blogging. Be strategic about who you associate yourself with. You're aiming for authority and reputation, not volume. And it's not a matter of asking every blogger you find if you can write a guest post for them. You need to look for guest blogging opportunities, which can take some time. Keep in mind that it's easier to get other bloggers to accept a post from you if you provide them a little taste up front. So find the best opportunities, focus on the right topics, and write amazing copy that provides value for readers. Readers aren't going to follow a link to your site – and ultimately part with their email information – unless you give them something they like or need. And that means providing long-form, helpful, valuable content. Just because you're writing for someone else, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take as much care with what you write as you would on your own site. Play nice with others, and they'll play nice with you. Offer a webinar to drive trafficToo often, business people forget that they have something other people don't have: knowledge about their own industry or niche. You might take it for granted, but other people don't. Consider holding a webinar. You can help others out by sharing some of your knowledge while driving more traffic to your website. Webinars drive web traffic in several ways. First, by promoting the webinar, you'll draw people to your website even if they don't sign up. You'll draw people back to your website – and attract some new viewers – when you post the webinar recording to your website and promote it on social media. You can turn the webinar into a SlideShare presentation and get even more traffic from people who go to your site after viewing the SlideShare. And, if you've done a good job, attendees will tell other people about their experience, and you'll get more traffic from word of mouth. According to ConvertKit, the numbers are compelling. Let's look at that by the numbers: That's not bad for an hour of your time. If you have the right topic and target the right people, your product will provide the solution to a problem they have. Why not give them what they need while driving traffic to your site and making money at the same time? Of course, webinars aren't seat-of-your-pants, off-the-cuff affairs. Webinars require planning, practice, and lots of promotion. You'll have to promote your webinar like crazy. It's harder to do without paid ads, but there are ways to do it. You can tell your subscribers about it with an email blast. But be sure to include personalization, and be warm and friendly so the recipient feels like it's a private invitation. Post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other appropriate networks you use and include a link that goes to a sign-up page. Let any groups you belong to know about it if it's relevant to them and if you've already built relationships. But don't go in cold. Yes, it will take a lot of time and effort. But the time and effort are well worth it when you consider the possibility of new business, visibility, and, of course, web traffic. ConclusionThere's no doubt that Google is a big player when it comes to generating web traffic and that AdWords can help you get where you want to go – fast. But not everyone who is just starting out can afford to go all in on AdWords. Algorithm changes sometimes have effects on website traffic that should prevent you from spending all of your time and resources chasing Google rankings. I've given you more than ten tactics that will help you drive traffic to your new website without relying on Google. And the best thing is that all of the tactics I've shared with you are completely free. Follow them, and your website visits will steadily increase. You'll be well on the way to making your brand visible and attracting leads. What other ways have you found to generate web traffic without Google? About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital. SearchCap: Google drops paginated results, small business agency use & Google local services menu4/9/2018 Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
The post SearchCap: Google drops paginated results, small business agency use & Google local services menu appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. Blogging is one of my favorite marketing tools. There are many benefits to blogging-that's why all my websites have blogs. But honestly, I enjoy it as well. Writing blog posts keeps your finger on the pulse and helps you stay connected with your audience. I'm not saying you have to be in love with it, but it definitely makes things easier if you like to write. If you take care of your blog, your blog will take care of you in return. Those of you who have a blog up and running are headed in the right direction. But if your posts are not generating leads or getting readers to convert, it's a problem. First, it's a waste of your time. Think about all the time and effort you put into these posts. If nobody's reading them or converting, you'd almost be better off not writing at all. Second, it's a huge missed opportunity. Blogging is basically free marketing. The only cost to you is your time writing. If you can learn how to write content that converts, you'll have a huge return on your investment. The problem is people writing blog posts don't know why their blogs don't help them convert their readers. If this sounds like you, you'll definitely benefit from this guide. I've outlined how you can identify the elements, or lack thereof, on your blog that are crushing your conversion rates. Once you recognize the problems, it should be an easy fix. Here are the factors you need to keep an eye on. Infrequent postsYou can't expect high conversion rates if you're not constantly posting new content on your blog. Those of you posting only once or twice a month need to step up your game. Here's how often the average blogger publishes posts on their website: As you can see, the majority of websites publish a new post on a weekly basis or at least several times per month. That must be the best approach, right? Think again. Although there is a higher percentage of bloggers posting at this frequency, it doesn't mean it's the best option. In fact, 66.7% percent of bloggers who publish content more than once per day report strong results based on this frequency. Only 31.5% of bloggers who post on a weekly basis feel the same way. So for the most part, it's safe to say the more often you post, the better your conversions will be. On average, it took bloggers 3 hours and 20 minutes to write a blog post in 2017. I'm not saying that's fast, but it really isn't that unreasonable. Let's say you work five days per week. Can you dedicate two hours a day toward writing? If you can find the time, that's three new posts per week. Try to start there and see what kind of results you get for the next couple of months. Posting more often increases the chances of you getting a steady audience of regular readers. As a result, the increased traffic to your website and the growing number of people becoming familiar with your voice can lead to higher conversions. Large blocks of textAnalyze your writing style for a second. If you're writing huge paragraphs that are five, six, or even seven lines long, you'll need to cut that down significantly. You're writing a post for a blog. Don't think of it like a college research paper. Try to limit your paragraphs to just two or three lines at the most. Add images to help break up your content and make the posts look more appealing. This strategy is highly effective if you're directing your readers to do something: That's because visual content is easier for most of your readers to understand. In fact, 65% of people are visual learners. Images resonate with people. Adding them to your blog makes your content easier to comprehend and retain. As a result, you'll get higher conversions. If you're currently writing large blocks of text, you can use my posts as a guide to help you change. Scroll through this post to see how short my paragraphs are and how I use images to let the text breathe. Brief sentences and short paragraphs also make your content more conversational. This is much easier and more enjoyable for people to read. Here are some other tips and tricks for breaking up your large blocks of text. Add bullet points and lists to your blog posts. These will stand out on the page and make it easier for your readers to scan. Only 16% of people read blog posts word for word-79% of readers scan it. Scannable posts will appeal to your readers, making it more likely they'll consume more of your content. Your call to action is unclearWhat's the purpose of your blog posts? If you don't know the answer to this question, that's probably why you're not seeing high conversions rates. How can your readers know what action you want them to take if even you don't know what you want them to do? Go back to the drawing board, and come up with clear CTAs. Check out this blog post written by Ian Blair at BuildFire: In this section of the post, Ian is talking about the fact that businesses need to spend money to develop a mobile application, which can be expensive. He then offers a solution to the readers who may be looking for a more cost-effective way to build an app. He recommends they contact the BuildFire custom development team. The CTA is set up perfectly, and he even hyperlinks the text so his readers can go directly to the contact page instead of having to search for it. A quick side note. Notice how this blog post also includes short paragraphs and images to break up the content, which I have discussed above. You can incorporate a clear CTA in your blog posts in many ways. You can follow the example above and work it into the text. Or you could have large CTA buttons in the middle or at the end of your posts. Here's another example from a Hubspot blog post about Instagram marketing: There is a popup on the bottom right side of the screen that encourages readers to check out their customizable Instagram templates. At the bottom of the post, there is another pitch for the same 25 templates. They are free, and the CTA clearly says, “Download Now.” This is a great strategy because the blog post is about Instagram. It wouldn't make sense to have these CTAs here if the content was about Facebook or Snapchat. A clear and relevant CTA will have higher conversion rates. The content doesn't speak to your audienceTake a minute to think about your website and brand. You already know how to identify your target market. Make sure your blog posts speak to this group of people. For example, let's say your company sells customized skateboards. Your target market is primarily teenagers and young adults living in Southern California. You've got an ecommerce site as well so customers can place orders online. You add a blog to your website to try to get even more conversions. Great idea. But it's ineffective if your blog posts aren't appealing to your target market. There's no reason for you to be talking about household appliances or travel arrangements in your posts. You may think that example is extreme, but you'd be surprised how off topic some blog posts from certain websites are. It's shocking. That's because people seem to run out of ideas. They don't know what to write about, so they pick a random topic or go off on a tangent in one of their posts. This is a fast way to lose the interest of your audience. Your blog isn't mobile friendlyDid you know 85% of adults in the United States read news on their mobile devices? With mobile trends on the rise in 2018, your blog needs to be optimized accordingly. People are viewing your website from mobile devices. It's a fact. Ignoring this is a huge mistake that's crushing your conversion rates. There are roughly 5 billion unique mobile users across the globe. If you don't provide such a large group of people with an enjoyable reading experience, you risk alienating them. Those of you who don't have a mobile-friendly blog need to address it immediately. In addition to optimizing your blog for mobile devices, you need to pay attention to your writing style. It needs to accommodate mobile users by offering them small bits of information at at time. Recall the earlier discussion about removing large blocks of content from your posts. Five-line paragraphs on your desktop site will look twice as long on mobile devices. You're forgetting about Google's algorithmUnderstand the way people find your blog posts. You can't expect that people visiting your website will automatically navigate to your blog. You need your blog posts to be top hits on Google when people search for related terms. If they click on your posts after a search, you'll increase your chances of getting more conversions. To make sure you're on the first page of Google's search results, you'll need to learn the basics of search engine optimization. Posting new blog posts on a regular basis, which we discussed earlier, will definitely help you increase the rankings. You'll also want to make sure you don't have any broken links, errors, and large images, taking too long to load. But one of the best ways to optimize your blog posts for Google's search algorithm is with keywords. Think about the words or phrases people would type into a search bar. Include those keywords into your posts. Adding long tail key phrases increases your chances of getting higher conversions: That's because when people search for something on Google, they typically use a phrase rather than one word. In fact, the average number of words for an Internet search query in the United States is five words. The more descriptive you can be, the more likely your posts will come up as top search results. Your posts are not being shared on social mediaBesides SEO, you'll need to come up with other ways to drive more traffic to your blog posts. Social media websites are perfect for this. The reason why I love sharing blog posts on social media is because it kills two birds with one stone. First, you'll get more traffic to your blogs. But second, these posts give you an excuse to post new content on your social platforms, keeping your feeds fresh. Post on a daily basis if you want your followers to stay engaged-that's why this strategy is a no-brainer. If you look at my Twitter profile, you'll see I use this strategy to promote my posts: In addition to sharing these posts yourself, you should also encourage your readers to share your content. The easiest way to do this is by including social sharing links within your blog posts. That way, your content can be shared with just one click. Here's how I implemented this strategy on my website: Take advantage of your social media platforms. By driving more traffic to your blog posts, you'll ultimately get more conversions. ConclusionBlogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website and increase conversions. Those of you who are blogging but not happy with your conversions rates will need to make some changes. Post more often, and get rid of large blocks of text. Make sure your content speaks to your audience and has clear CTAs. Your blog posts need to be mobile-friendly. Use keyword optimization to drive more traffic to your blogs. Leverage social media platforms to drive more traffic to your blog posts as well. Once you've identified what you're doing incorrectly, it should be easy to fix these mistakes. After you implement these changes, you'll notice much higher conversion rates from your blog posts. What elements of your blog need to be updated to increase your conversions? Instead of making searchers click to the next page of search results, Google is testing showing more results on the same page.
The post Google is officially testing 'more results' button to load more search results appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article. |
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