Aug 29 2024
11 Ways To Do SEO Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis via @sejournal, @himani_kankaria

Early SEO milestones might be easy, but scaling the results needs an upgraded approach.

What could that look like?

Like startups that come up with a solid niche idea and compete significantly with larger companies, we SEO pros and content strategists need to work harder to develop unique, fresh, niche strategies.

However, whenever we think of creating strategies, we start looking at what competitors are doing. We start feeling that we can win this game by outperforming our competitors.

Remember: we win when our focus is on winning the game and not on how to make our competitors lose.

So, here comes an upgraded approach to our SEO strategy – going beyond competitor analysis.

However, since our SEO strategies heavily rely on content, we’ll discuss content research beyond competitor analysis in this blog.

Now, What Is Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis?

Most of us analyze our competitors to develop content ideas. It’s easy and quick.

But…

What if your competitors are ranking in the top positions but are not serving users’ intent?

What if your competitors might not be yielding enough traffic despite better rankings?

What if your competitors are driving massive organic traffic but not enough conversions?

Also, there may be some competitors that are doing extremely well regarding content KPIs serving SEO growth.

You may feel that if the competitors can achieve such results in one year, you can achieve them in six months by copying their strategies.

But that’s where you limit yourself in growth. Your competitors’ SEO and content teams might also be struggling; who knows?

This is why your content research must go beyond competitor analysis.

In this approach, we don’t look at what content competitors have written.

We don’t want to copy them or repeat their mistakes. We want to work in ways that truly resonate with our target audiences, geographies, business models, and industries.

So, the “content research beyond competitor analysis” approach helps us bring unique and fresh perspectives to our content research, creating incredible value for our audience and clients and scaling our SEO results extensively.

11 Ways Of Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis To Scale SEO ROI

We have 11 ways to use this approach. Let’s uncover them one by one with step-by-step processes and examples.

1. Use Semrush

This is our basic step of content research since most of our initial goal is driving organic traffic.

And because Semrush is handy for most of our team members at Missive Digital, we log in immediately to start our content research instead of looking at competitors.

We put seed, actual, long-tail, and more keywords to do our content research, depending on the search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent.

For example, we have put “diamond jewelry” into Semrush and will add the filters according to our SEO strategy.

Screenshot from SemrushScreenshot from Semrush, August 2024

Another content research feature of Semrush that we use extensively is Topic Research. We choose the content topics based on which ones relate directly or indirectly to our website.

Screenshot from SemrushScreenshot from Semrush, August 2024

2. Use Ahrefs

To do the content research on Ahrefs, we follow the same steps as Semrush, but here, we also use Content Explorer.

We filter based on the Page Traffic and reference domains to identify queries that can bring us traffic and conversions.

Screenshot from Ahrefs 2024Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024

Then, we also examine the frequency of republishing, which gives our team an idea of when to schedule it next for content optimization, considering the performance.

Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024

3. Use Google News

While auditing the content, if we realize that the client is already writing a lot of content, we try researching content ideas through Google News.

Also, for some D2C industries like jewelry, the trend also comes from celebrities wearing them – so we keep a close eye on Google News.

Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace], Google, August 2024

Sometimes, we prefer covering the news depending on the topics, while other times, we’ll check if these topics have any search volume and can be evergreen to continue driving us some value throughout.

For example, the screenshot below shows a ‘B’ necklace worn by Selena Gomez in reference to her boyfriend.

Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace]Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace], Google, August 2024

We immediately check if there’s any search volume for “b necklace” on an SEO tool and see the screenshot below:

Screenshot by author, August 2024Screenshot by author, August 2024

Bingo! Now, we have to discuss with the client’s team for our next content piece.

4. Use People Also Ask, AlsoAsked

Since most B2B IT and SaaS clients are highly technical, we sometimes struggle to understand the topic and create a content strategy.

People Also Ask on Google Search and AlsoAsked.com by Mark Williams-Cook works like a savior during our content research.

Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture]Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture], Google, August 2024

The only limitation we have with People Also Ask is that it provides a few Q&As for a topic until you click on one, while AlsoAsked provides an entire list in one go, which saves you time.

Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture]Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture], Google, August 2024

We now have too much to learn about a topic and create content on, right?

5. Check Google Trends

No matter what industry you are in, you’ve got something or the other trending.

In our SEO industry, SearchGPT is trending.

Google TrendsScreenshot from Google Trends, August 2024

So it’s worth writing about it to take the early advantage and grab the traffic share.

See, a lot of people are writing about it:

Screenshot from search for [searchgpt]Screenshot from search for [searchgpt], Google, August 2024

It’s not just about writing; people are sharing it on social media, too.

So, it’s worth constantly watching what’s trending via Google Trends.

6. Hop On ChatGPT Or Gemini

Remember, we are here to do content research on ChatGPT or Gemini, not to choose the titles they suggest.

Here is a sample content research prompt that we have put for a contact center software company on ChatGPT:

Screenshot from ChatGPTScreenshot from ChatGPT, August 2024

And here are the responses below:

Screenshot from ChatGPT, results for blog postsScreenshot from ChatGPT, August 2024

Since the topics are not up to the mark considering the audience (“BPO” in this case), based on the above content ideas, we’ll pick up the seed keywords or topics such as:

  • Lessons from a Legacy Contact Center Software Company.
  • The Contact Center Software Market In The BPO Segment.
  • Optimizing Your Contact Center Operations.
  • How to Drive Innovation in Your Customer Support Department?
  • And more.

7. Monitor Social Media

Yes, we are all active on social media, so we can use it for our content research. Still, we are not considering competitors on social media at the moment.

This viral X thread inspired us to write a blog:

X tweetScreenshot from X, August 2024

Similarly, this article on content research was inspired by my recent post on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn Screenshot from LinkedIn, August 2024

These are examples of self-created social media content that can be turned into blogs.

However, you can keep monitoring the types of content that get the most visibility and engagement on social media – be it LinkedIn, Instagram, X, or any other platform.

Turn them into your blogs or webinars, but don’t forget to mention them since it’s their original content idea.

8. Dive Into Industry-specific Research Studies

The most unique way to research content ideas is to read your industry-specific research studies extensively. And there’s no one way to do it.

For example, for one of the ecommerce consulting companies, we can get various content ideas from HBR’s eCommerce pricing test:

  • Why Should Ecommerce Brands Stop Offering Free Shipping?
  • X Benefits of No Free Shipping or Conditional Shipping.
  • Free Shipping vs. Conditional Shipping.
Don't just give away free shipping: infographic from HBRImage from HBR, August 2024

In the below study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, the below can become the topic clusters, and each can have its own spoke-like content topics.

Image from study by Broadridge on Digital TransformationImage from study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, August 2024

For example, if we take Unleashing Artificial Intelligence, we can pick up so many topics out of just one graphic:

Priority areas for AI investments Image from study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, August 2024

9. Check Industry-Specific Forums/Communities

Most of our clientele includes IT companies, and we have used IT forums and communities like StackOverflow for content research.

For example, we can come up with the below topic clusters when covering Flutter for the non-technical and technical target audiences:

  • Flutter animation widgets.
  • Flutter dependency management.
  • Why add Firebase to your Flutter app?
  • And more.
Stack OverflowScreenshot from Stack Overflow, August 2024

Similarly, there will be many such forums or communities of your client or employers available to peek into for such content ideas, except for competitive analysis.

10. Google site:reddit.com “my topic”

One such unique idea by Kunjal Chawhan is to Google site:reddit.com “my topic,” and let’s see what content ideas look like for a couple of topics:

Looking at the above screenshot, below are the topics that we can definitely create:

  • X Most Popular Social Media Platforms for Ecommerce.
  • How to Use Video Podcasts to Drive Ecommerce Sales?
  • How to Boost Ecommerce Sales When Digital Marketing Seems Expensive?
  • And more.

So yes, Kunjal’s way of content research is amazing, and from that, you can similarly Google:

site:“your industry’s leading site” “topic”

For example:

  • site:searchenginejournal.com “ai content”
  • site:quora.com “ai content”
  • site:practicalecommerce.com “sales”

Let’s move on to the last but not the least method of content research, except for looking at competitors.

11. See What Competing Sites Have NOT Covered

Now you might wonder, “Weren’t the above content research ways except for competitors analysis?”

Yes, they are the ways to research content ideas except for what competitors have written.

But here, I’m trying to make a point where you have to see exactly what indirect competing sites are NOT writing about despite targeting the same industry, keyword clusters, and audience.

What is an indirect competing site?

An indirect competing site is a website that ranks for the industry and search queries of your target audience but is not exactly your product/service competitor. This can be a marketplace, publishing site, or product review site.

Let’s take a website, “leadsquared.com,” for indirect competitive analysis and pick the queries that rank after 50th positions and have a keyword difficulty of less than 29.

Screenshot by author, August 2024

Pick those queries and search on Google: site:leadsquared.com “sales funnel vs sales pipeline”.

site:leadsquared.com Screenshot from search for [site:leadsquared.com “sales funnel vs”, August 2024

Now, you’ll see that the website has no content on that topic; you can create that if that falls under your product/service offering and can target your audience and industry.

In short, you can cover the below topics:

  • Sales funnel vs. sales pipeline.
  • Sales funnel vs. marketing funnel.
  • Sales funnel vs. flywheel.
  • And more.

Just ensure these content topics align with your offerings to bring maximum ROI.

How Will Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis Contribute To SEO Efforts?

When you go beyond competitor analysis for content research, you discover a few benefits:

  • You innovate – With innovative content ideas, you can experiment and build better strategies that can bring unbelievable results. Also, with AI taking the space predominantly, businesses are looking for innovation in their business and marketing. So when you innovate, you may get better attention and even resources.
  • You get niche opportunities – Instead of just focusing on what competitors are doing, you go deeper into understanding your target audience and explore new content ideas that your competitors might have missed. In such scenarios, you get better results since competition is reduced.
  • You create unique, audience-specific content – My LinkedIn post saw great engagement because it resonated with its audience. This opened us to something unique and specific to the pain point of SEOs and content strategists: content ideation to scale SEO results with a not-so-usual approach. Such content helps us build authority in the market, which is essential today to becoming market leaders.
  • You capitalize on emerging trends – Being an early adopter of something has huge potential for success. When you create your content strategy focused on what’s new or trending in your industry before it becomes mainstream, you get the most eyes right from the beginning and even repeat eyes going forward.
  • You build better engagement and loyalty – You can extend beyond blogs, a traditional way of driving SEO results. Videos, whitepapers, case studies, user-generated content, and many more content formats can take the lead in building user engagement and brand loyalty through SEO.
  • You earn backlinks – Yes, such unique content may require less effort to build backlinks since it can earn them.

Stop looking at competitors for content research; try using these fresh and unique ways to drive better content ROI.

Just remember two things: Competitors are not always right, and you are not necessarily required to look upon them when developing your SEO content strategies.

You can copy and paste your competitors’ strategies to achieve certain SEO milestones, but creating history requires an upgraded approach. What say?

More resources: 

Featured Image: Natalya Kosarevich/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Aug 12 2024
AI Agnostic Optimization: Content For Topical Authority And Citations

The search and AI ecosystem is full of promise, options, and new ways for literally every type of marketer to evolve and grow.

Yes, there is lots of complexity, but there is also commonality: the need for marketers to focus on topical approaches to content creation, build their brand authority for AI citations, and become more predictive in their approach to how consumers interact online.

The introduction of Google AI Overviews and new AI-first platforms like Perplexity AI are making how consumers find answers to their needs a lot more complex.

The advancement of LLMs such as Claude and Google Gemini are also revolutionizing content outputs in visual and video formats. Just recently, Bing introduced GSE and OpenAI SearchGPT.

One thing they all have in common is that they are all fighting for the best authoritative sources for information and citations.

Wikipedia CitationScreenshot from author, July 2024

Today, I will mainly use Google AI Overviews in Search as an example, as they currently offer the most rich insights and best practices that are applicable to future and upcoming engines.

AI And Search Citations, Authority, And Your Brand

Being the cited source is quickly becoming the new form of ranking.

As AI looks to cite trustworthy and relevant content, brands need to be the source. While every engine has a different approach, the reality is that success relies on sources and quality.

They look to answer questions in many ways, and citations are common across the board. They look at authoritative sources to see whether that source answers that question, and then they seem to know whether it’s quotable.

  • Google wants quotable content that is above the fold, not buried. It also likes the question to be directly answered.
  • Perplexity, which has steadily increased traffic referrals (31% in June), focuses on academic and research citations but has had issues with attribution and sources.
  • Bing GSE is engineering its search results to satisfy users in a way that encourages discovery on the websites that originate the content.
  • ChatGPT/search does not need direct answers; it will digest them and express them in its own language. At first glance, it mainly cites and links to sources developed with input from major publishers like the Atlantic and NewsCorp.

So, as marketers, it is the simplest way to start focusing on the commonality and best practices that prepare you for what is ahead. Then, you can pivot and adapt as we learn more about how citations are shown and treated as each AI engine evolves.

For example, Google AI Overviews is beginning to cite more authoritative review publications to help users shop. The removal of user-generated content (UGC) and reviews from Reddit and Quora dropped to near zero in AI Overviews.

  • Reddit citations: 85.71% decrease.
  • Quora citations: 99.69% decrease.

User-generated reviews may not be designed for a broader audience and lack the objectivity that a publication would. BrightEdge Generative Parser™ has recently found:

  • 49% increase in presence from PC Mag.
  • 39% in Forbes increase in presence from Forbes.
Google AIO Screenshot from BrightEdge, July 2024

Sites like Forbes are becoming key players in AI overviews. As well as thought leadership and instructive information, their comparative product reviews define where a product shines and where it falls short against competitors.

Here are three things that marketers can master now to stay ahead in AI and search.

1. Ensure AI Engines Find You: Become The Cited Source

Start by identifying core – and broader, see later in the article –  topics relevant to your audience and aligning with your business objectives. These topics should serve as the foundation for a thematic content strategy.

Schema+: Diversify And Mark-Up Your Content As Much As Possible

The importance of diverse content formats cannot be overstated. To adapt to answer engine models, content must be comprehensive and encompass multiple modalities, including text, video, infographics, and interactive elements.

This approach ensures that content caters to diverse user preferences and provides information in formats that are most accessible and engaging.

Core technical SEO approaches like Schema Markup are essential for content marketers aiming to enhance their visibility and relevance in search results, as they help search engines better understand the content.

This improves the likelihood of content being featured as a direct answer and enhances its overall discoverability.

  • Provide AI engines with hints on who you are.
  • Ensure your teams look at things like Schema so AI entities can see your content.
  • Little formats like these can tell the AI models how to use your content.
  • It ensures that you are more frequently cited as the source in topics where you already have the right to win.

Develop content clusters around these core topics, covering different aspects, subtopics, and related themes. Each piece of content within a cluster should complement and support others, creating a cohesive narrative for multiple users.

Discovery, Engagement, ResultsImage from BrightEdge, July 2024

2. Anticipate Customers’ Next Questions: Focus On The Follow-Up

Build Thematic Content & Focus On Content Clustering

AI-powered search engines like AI Overviews (as explained in The Ultimate Guide to AI Overviews, free, ungated, and updated monthly by my company, BrightEdge) are redefining the criteria for visibility by prioritizing thematically connected content.

This applies even where the content doesn’t rank highly in traditional search results, making intelligent content clustering and thematic coherence essential.

Adopting a strategic approach to thematic content and content clustering means that instead of creating isolated pieces of content, you focus on developing interconnected content clusters that comprehensively explore various aspects of a topic.

  • AI search aims to do more than display a list of products for the keywords.
  • They want to anticipate the following questions that the demographic will likely have: how, what, where, and more.
  • AI models will cite trusted sources to generate these answers before the user even thinks about asking them.
  • Marketers need to create content for all these types of follow-ups in different formats.

Ensure that content within the same cluster is interlinked using relevant anchor text. This helps search engines understand the thematic relationship between different pieces of content and strengthens your website’s authority on the topic.

Understanding what triggers things in AI Overviews will become essential.

For example, in June, there was a 20% increase in “What is” queries showing an AI Overview. For brand-specific queries, there was a 20% decrease.

This could show that Google uses AI for more complex, knowledge-intensive topics while playing it safe with brand queries.

However, expect this to change monthly, as SEJ states and shares more below:

3. Prove Your Expertise: Become The Authority In Your Field Domain

Baking User and Topical Intent Into Every Piece of Content

Traditional SEO focuses on keyword rankings and visibility, but AI-driven search engines prioritize delivering precise, relevant answers based on user queries. This shift means simply ranking highly is no longer enough; you must ensure your content aligns closely with users’ needs and topics of interest.

AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Google’s SGE, Perplexity, and now SearchGPT are designed to comprehend the context and nuance behind a user’s query. They aim to provide direct answers and anticipate follow-up questions, creating a more dynamic and personalized search experience.

*A Note of Serving Multiple Intents*

AI-powered search results are evolving to coexist with traditional search. Google is experimenting with blending conventional and AI-enhanced search results. For example, searching for [outdoor lighting solutions].

The traditional search component assumes the user intends to purchase such products and ranks relevant ecommerce sites accordingly. This serves users who know exactly what they’re looking for and need quick access to buy options.

Multiple Intent TypesImage from BrightEdge, July 2024

In contrast, the AI-generated overview caters to users seeking a broader understanding of outdoor lighting. It might provide a conversational explanation covering various aspects, such as:

  • Key considerations when choosing outdoor lights.
  • Various types of outdoor lighting and their characteristics.
  • Available power options for outdoor illumination.
  • Understanding brightness levels and their significance.
  • Best practices for installation and placement.
  • Tips for maintaining outdoor lighting systems.

Anticipating and addressing related queries helps build the site’s credibility and improves the chances of being featured in AI-generated answers.

Since AI-first engines, LLMs, and traditional search engines are designed to recognize and prioritize unique, high-quality content over generic or duplicated material, this increases the chances that your content will surface in response to user queries.

  • Prove your expertise and make it easy for AI models to trust what you say.
  • AI engines need to see that your content is approved (validated) by other experts, as well as user-generated content and reviews.
  • Ensure your content reaches expert influencers and connects to related sources and websites.
  • Gain as much 3rd party validation that your content is trustworthy.
  • Ensure your content workflows consider traditional ranking factors and AI citations, as they rely on some standard but separate signals.

Video And YouTube

We are now seeing (pros and cons) YouTube videos cited in AI Overviews in ways that benefit marketers at the top of the funnel.

If YouTube were not part of Google, it would be the sixth biggest digital platform in the USA. It commands a lot of reach!

Cited Sources for AIO Image from BrightEdge, July 2024

As you can see above, this offers new advantages to marketers targeting early-stage prospects. Visual content can effectively showcase specific offerings and provide tangible reviews, potentially swaying purchasing choices such as buying a washing machine.

They are being shown to help simplify complex topics for users. For example, abstract technological concepts like “blockchain fundamentals” often become clearer through visual demonstrations, accelerating audience understanding.

Ensure that when you identify high-potential topical themes, you pair them with AI’s video citation preferences. Video is on an explosive growth trajectory, so start to build and get creative as part of your more comprehensive marketing strategy and for maximum AI Overview visibility.

This helps offer multiple reference possibilities. A single piece of video content could be cited numerous times, expanding your topical reach, which I mentioned earlier.

Key Takeaways

In an era where AI-driven search and AI-first answer engines or assistants reshape how markers operate, marketers, SEO pros, content creators, and brand marketers must adapt their strategies to optimize for AI answers and multiple types of search engines.

Below are a few end notes and outliers for your consideration also:

  • The core basics of SEO and classic search still matter.
  • AI Overviews are reduced in size to give more concise answers.
  • AI answers more complex questions, but more common questions and queries are also answered in better-served universal or classic formats – balance will be essential.
  • Monitor with cadence new engines; many are so new it will take an informed data-led opinion to form.
  • Going forward, different types of consumers will use engines for various use cases, and each engine will cite some common sources and other specific ones like news academics and publishers. Let’s see how it develops; it is something I am looking into myself now.
  • Always remember that everything varies depending on your vertical and type of business. Experimentation is still very heavy everywhere, including at Google!
  • With new entrants emerging, the news and live experiments every day expect change.
  • What happens in one month can differ from another while engines find equilibrium.

Essential best practices such as focusing on user intent, leveraging structured data markup, and embracing multimedia content aren’t going anywhere. Classic search is here to stay; many skills are transferable to AI.

The future lies in a balance of classic online marketing, adapting to AI, and uncovering new AI engines’ nuances as they grow and establish more of a foothold. It is an exciting time, and I think exercising a little patience will help us all prevail.

As for SearchGPT, I believe its evolution does not diminish SEO; on the contrary, it makes it even more critical!

For now, monitor and use time-based data as your compass, and don’t react to opinions without some substance behind them.

More resources: 

Featured Image from author

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 25 2024
Data-Driven Content Strategy: Boost Google Rankings With Real Audience Insights via @sejournal, @CallRail

Now, what about the content of the actual calls? Well, you can use that, too.

Let dive into how you can use call analysis to further inform your strategy.

How To Analyze Your Call Data

The insights you collect from customer phone interactions can have a game-changing impact on your business.

But you want to make sure the effort required to dig into those calls is worth it for your team.

This is where AI and machine learning technology can be utilized effectively to streamline your process and save time.

For example, Conversation Intelligence is an AI-powered tool by CallRail that constantly records, transcribes, and analyzes each inbound and outbound call.

With transcriptions that have near-human level accuracy, Conversation Intelligence goes a step further by spotting keywords, tagging calls automatically, and qualifying leads with powerful automation rules.

Plus, with multi-conversation insights, you can easily transform countless conversations into actionable insights at scale.

Not only does this analysis unlock deeper insights to help you catch customer trends and spot long-term shifts, but it also tells you what you should focus on in your content.

2. Website Form Submissions

Another effective way to gather essential audience insights is through website form tracking.

Online forms allow you to collect valuable data directly from users, such as their contact information, preferences, and interests.

When this data is paired with deeper analytics, you can gain a clear understanding of what drives the most qualified leads for your business.

With Form Tracking, you can find out exactly which ad or keyword made someone click “submit” on your form.

Launched last year by CallRail, this tool allows you to build custom forms or integrate existing ones, pairing the data with inbound call conversions for a holistic view of your marketing efforts.

Combining Call Tracking And Form Tracking

Leads often connect with businesses through multiple channels, so focusing on just one source isn’t really enough.

By using Call Tracking and Form Tracking together, you get a comprehensive overview of your leads’ entire customer journey.

Both of these tools essentially work by installing a single line of JavaScript code on your site, which captures and relays information about each of your leads back to CallRail.

You can easily evaluate the various campaigns that you’re running, like paid ads, social media posts, email nurture campaigns, etc. – all of which could be opportunities to incorporate tracking numbers and links to your forms.

Using both a tracking number and a form tracking link gives your leads the option to choose how they prefer to contact your business.

And as they reach out, you’ll be able to measure which campaigns and which conversion type – calls or forms – is getting the best results.

3. Customer Feedback & Surveys

If you really want a deep dive into the minds of your customers, surveys are an incredibly effective way to get feedback directly from the source.

Surveys allow you to ask your users targeted questions and receive precise answers about their preferences, pain points, and expectations.

You can then leverage this comprehensive data to guide your marketing strategy and fill any content gaps you may have.

Discover the type of content your customers prefer, the topics they are most interested in, and how they like to consume information.

Once they point out areas where they feel your content is lacking or what they would like to see more of, you can then fill the gaps in your strategy to give them what they want.

Integrating Customer Feedback Into Your Content

Understanding your audience can help you tailor your content to better meet their needs and preferences.

Here are some tips for how you can effectively integrate customer feedback into your content creation process:

  • Create a Feedback Loop: Ask your audience to rate the usefulness, quality, and relevance of your content to gain a clear picture of where you can improve. Then establish a system where their feedback continuously informs your content. Regularly conduct surveys and update your strategy based on the latest insights.
  • Prioritize High-Impact Content: Identify the topics and formats that resonate most with your audience and prioritize them in your content calendar. For example, if customers indicate a preference for video tutorials over written guides, focus more on creating video content. This ensures that you’re always aligned with what your audience finds most valuable.
  • Test and Iterate: After publishing content based on customer feedback, monitor its performance to see if it meets the intended goals. Use analytics to track engagement, shares, and other metrics. Be prepared to refine your content based on ongoing feedback and performance data.
  • Communicate Changes: Let your audience know that their feedback has been heard and implemented. This not only builds trust but also encourages more customers to participate in future surveys.

Unlock Higher Search Rankings With CallRail’s Data Solutions

Google is constantly changing its algorithms to produce higher quality search results for users, which presents numerous challenges for marketers and website owners.

Between the upcoming phase-out of third-party cookies and the recent core update, the search engine is cracking down heavily on content it deems as unhelpful.

That’s why it’s time to take a user-first approach to your content strategy.

By leveraging first- and zero-party data through methods like call tracking, form submissions, and customer surveys, you can create high-quality, relevant content that meets your audience’s needs and boosts your Google rankings.

CallRail’s suite of tools makes it easier to gather and analyze this data, helping you refine your marketing strategy and drive sustainable growth.

Ready to see the impact for yourself?

Try CallRail free for 14 days and start transforming your data into actionable strategies for higher ranking content.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 10 2024
3 Steps To Futureproof Demand Generation And Achieve First-Party Data Maturity via @sejournal, @alexanderkesler

When Google launched its Privacy Sandbox, the news rang alarm bells for B2B marketers and advertisers. This signaled an end to third-party cookies on Google Chrome, which has over 65% of the browser market share.

The Privacy Sandbox, however, was only the final nail in the coffin for evolving legislation across the world to improve privacy compliance – particularly the GDPR in the European Union and the CCPA in the U.S. (and various other state regulations since following).

Despite setbacks announced by Google to eliminate third-party cookies (three times now in June 2024, with the last delay announced in April of the same year), preemptively building your first-party database is paramount for being prepared when these cookies are truly phased out.

Investing in this now presents a competitive advantage as many organizations have deprioritized their strategies to navigate the phase-out, which will likely lead to significant disruption when the Privacy Sandbox comes into effect.

Indeed, 75% of marketing and client experience users relied heavily on third-party cookies in 2023, and 45% of leaders are spending over half of their marketing budgets on cookie-based activations.

In this guide, I present a simple, three-step process to futureproof your data strategy.

The idea is to start with a demand generation program to collect your initial batch of first-party data and continue to enhance it in future iterations while phasing out third-party sources.

1. Survey Clients To Build Up Your First-Party Data

Surveying clients is the first step to building up your first-party database because they can comment on your buyer experience, as well as the quality of service.

The focus of this survey is to gain rich first-party data to inform updates to your buyer personas and Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) in line with your loyal clients to guide your demand generation strategy.

Therefore, determining precise questions that enable you to field actionable insights is key for this survey.

Below are four examples of questions to encourage clients to share valuable, first-party data:

  • Net Promoter Score (NPS): From 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would refer [Organization X] to your colleagues?
  • Pain points: What challenges made you consider purchasing a solution from [Organization X]?
  • Unique Value Proposition (UVP): What 3 unique features of [Organization X] do you like the most?
  • Market positioning: On a scale from 0 to 10, how much do you prefer [Organization X] over [Competitor Y]?

These are just a few of the many questions we ask loyal clients at INFUSE. Since buyer personas and ICPs are fictional representations, it is key to continuously inform them with rich first-party data to maintain their accuracy and relevance.

Recommendations

2. Conduct A Demand Program To Gain Audience First-Party Data

Once you have first-party data from surveys, you should develop and launch a trial demand generation program to refine your data.

The idea is to gain insights from key buyers to enrich your buyer personas and bolster overall go-to-market (GTM) and demand strategies.

Below is a process to launch your first trial demand generation program and refine your first-party database:

Start With Owned Media And Social Selling

Kickstarting your trial demand program by activating your owned media with your sales teams is a great first step that allows you to fully control your approach to engaging your audience and fielding first-party data.

Leveraging a content marketing strategy is an effective way to collect first-party data. Start small, but think of a high-value gated asset for this trial that will generate demand and encourage contact form fills (lead generation), such as a whitepaper, report, or learning course.

Then, you must build a demand strategy around this high-value asset to establish rapport with your audience and encourage continued engagement.

For example, if you opt for a whitepaper, support this with initiatives across your other channels, such as publishing curated insights on social media and crafting slides for your sales team to share with prospects.

The idea is to build a content marketing suite to support your demand program across the channels your audience frequents, creating a stronger basis of brand-to-demand and richer data insights as a result.

Recommendations

  • Nurture prospects with personalized email cadences to keep your brand top of mind and collect further first-party data (such as engagement with certain topics).
  • Develop materials to enable your sales team to share high-value assets and build interest.
  • Create snackable content, such as 30-second social media videos, that highlight the value of your content and encourage conversions.

Find A Content Distribution Partner

The right content distribution partner can greatly increase the reach of your demand program and engage audiences beyond your owned channels.

However, data quality is key when seeking partners. Since the goal is to obtain first-party data and select partners based on their ability to provide this data, as well as its quality – it should complement your existing dataset rather than offer redundant insights.

Focus on content distribution partners with an opt-in audience and managed ecosystems that certify that prospects have engaged with the right content.

This allows prospects to be identified and matched with your buyer personas and then routed to your organization for further engagement.

Content distribution partners commonly have databases with prospects and their market segmentation criteria. This ensures high-value assets are distributed to prospective buyers who are a good fit for your organization and its offerings.

Recommendations

  • Audit the content distribution partner and ask questions about how they segment their audience and ensure data privacy compliance.
  • Create a follow-up structure at your organization for receiving prospects from the partner, such as an email cadence that provides more context to the high-value asset.
  • Refine your outreach targeting with market segmentation information collected by the partner.

Combining first-party data from your owned media and content distribution partner, you are ready to conduct the demand program until its completion. This should ideally take at least a quarter to glean substantial insights and a broader overview of prospect interactions (and may need to be longer, depending on your sales cycle).

3. Analyze And Optimize First-Party Data Acquired From Your Demand Program

Once the demand program has been finalized, it is now time to analyze and optimize your first-party database.

This is the start of a continuous cycle of improvement and data enrichment, which will be enabled by actioning optimizations to your owned media and partner content distribution.

Below are four questions to guide your analysis when reviewing program results and the quality of your first-party database.

Are The Datasets Relevant And Actionable?

Since the principal goal of first-party data is to inform future strategies and target prospects with precision, its accuracy and role in achieving this should be the primary assessment criteria.

Recommendations

  • A/B test different contact form fields to glean relevant information (such as technographic data).
  • Train sales teams to qualify prospects by leveraging your high-value content assets.
  • Utilize lead nurturing cadences to clarify specific information, such as key buyer challenges, available budgets, and members of the prospect’s buying committee.
  • Interactive touchpoints, such as quizzes, can glean this information in a user-friendly manner.

Are Your Buyer Personas And ICPs Still Relevant?

It is quite common for trial programs to highlight misalignments between the audience that engaged with your assets and your buyer personas and ICPs.

Trials can also identify how the key pain points of your personas have evolved or become outdated, indicating necessary updates needed to ensure the relevancy of your messaging across all channels.

Independent of the findings you acquired, regularly examining and updating these profiles is beneficial.

Recommendations

  • Analyze the prospects from the trial with an “open mind,” ensuring that your new profiles truly reflect their pain points and aspirations – rather than fit them into an existing model.
  • Discuss your findings with client-facing teams, particularly sales, to determine their relevance and enrich them with further personal insights.

Is Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) Still Relevant?

Similarly to your ICPs and personas, your UVP might require a refresh to ensure its relevance.

Due to its strategic nature, ensuring that your UVP is relevant informs all your organizational processes and communications, as well as steering how your brand is perceived by your audience.

The importance of your UVP also means that trialing new versions is key to ensuring its effectiveness before cementing it in the market.

Recommendations

  • A/B test your new UVP and complement this test with other methods (if available), such as focus groups, email nurturing, and surveys.
  • Identify common keywords and expressions used by prospects when discussing their pain points.
  • Analyze the benefits of your products and how well they align with the objectives of the prospects that were identified during your demand program.

Are Your Client-Facing Teams Following Outdated Playbooks?

Client-facing teams often have style guides, GTM playbooks, cheat sheets, and other materials to inform their daily activities. These assets can become rapidly outdated if they are not routinely audited.

Therefore, it is essential to revisit these assets, leveraging findings from your first-party database to ensure their relevance, considering the changes to your buyer personas, ICPs, and UVP.

Recommendations

  • Prioritize strategic assets used daily by teams, such as process documents and style guides.
  • Analyze marketing and sales outreach to assess if their approach regarding pain points is still relevant.
  • Book a session sharing tactics and key takeaways from the new first-party database to inform playbook optimizations.

These are only a few of the many optimizations you can perform after analyzing first-party data from your demand program.

When determining where to start your optimizations, look for low-effort, high-reward projects, specifically client-facing activities. The key is prioritizing the highest value for your organization and ensuring your first-party database empowers you to achieve your goals.

The demand program showcased in this article can serve as a foundation for future iterations to continuously enrich your first-party database.

Key Takeaways

When launching your demand programs and building your first-party database, keep these considerations top of mind to ensure the longevity of your strategies:

  • Begin with owned media: It is essential to optimize and enrich your owned media channels to start collecting first-party data. Kick-off this strategy with one gated asset in a trial demand program to gain insights.
  • Find a content distribution partner: Broaden your scope and engage pre-qualified prospects via a trustworthy partner that can enrich your first-party database with insights from new or expanded audiences.
  • Analyze results and optimize: Scrutinize the findings, summarize them, and determine priority updates to strategic areas and assets, such as your UVP, personas, and playbooks.

More resources:

Featured Image: ArtemisDiana/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 5 2024
Mastering Content Mapping: A Strategic Approach To Boost SEO via @sejournal, @AdamHeitzman

Successful SEO content should act as a guide – not just around your website, but for users on their specific journey to answers and solutions.

Visitors to your website arrive with different intentions and levels of awareness.

Some may be casually browsing your site for the first time, others might be actively researching your products or services, and others may be on the verge of making a purchase.

So, what should you do to ensure your website caters to these diverse goals and needs? And how should you use content to facilitate the journey from early-stage prospect to repeat customer?

The answer: content mapping.

In this post, we’ll cover the importance of content mapping for SEO and explain how to develop a content strategy that helps transform visitors into customers.

Let’s dive in.

What Is Content Mapping?

Content mapping is the process of aligning content with the specific needs of your target audience at various stages of the buyer’s journey.

a chart of the buyer's journey, moving from

It involves defining your audience, understanding what content they need at different phases of the decision-making process, and delivering that content to guide them from initial awareness to a purchase decision (and beyond).

In other words, content planning is about organizing your site so that the right content reaches the right user at the right time.

Why Is Content Mapping Important For SEO?

Creating a content map can bolster your SEO efforts in multiple ways. Here are the key reasons content mapping matters for SEO.

Better Content Relevance And Targeting

Google aims to surface the most relevant results it can find for users’ search queries.

The more relevant the content, the more likely it is to rank higher in search results.

Content mapping helps increase your content’s relevance by aligning it with the search intentions of your target audience at different stages of the buying journey.

Increased User Engagement

Relevant content that directly addresses the goals and needs of visitors is also more engaging.

Better engagement means longer session durations, lower bounce rates, and more frequent interactions – all of which signal to Google that your site is a quality source of content worth ranking prominently in its search results.

Improved Keyword Optimization

Content mapping involves identifying the keywords your prospects use along the buyer’s journey.

Once you know which keywords people use at various stages of the customer lifecycle, you can incorporate those terms into the appropriate pages on your website.

Targeting a broad range of keywords lets you cater to a broader range of user intentions and boosts your organic visibility.

Structured Content Delivery

A well-planned content map helps create a clear and organized content architecture for your site.

A logical site structure improves user experience and makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages correctly.

Moreover, strategic linking between thematically-related content can enhance your site’s authority for particular topics.

Support For Content Updates

A content map provides a complete overview of your site’s content, laying out the relationship between different pieces of content and their respective stages in the buyer’s journey.

With a map in hand, it’s easier to see which parts of your site are outdated or underperforming and to spot new opportunities to develop more content.

Remember, search engines favor fresh, up-to-date content, which can help maintain or improve your rankings over time.

How To Create An Effective Content Map In 6 Steps

Now, let’s break down the content mapping process.

1. Define Your Buyer Personas

The first step is to develop a clear understanding of your various customer segments.

The better you understand your ideal customers’ needs, goals, motivations, and objections, the easier it will be to create content that serves them.

The goal here is to create buyer personas (or customer avatars) that represent your target audience.

Start by gathering as much information as possible on your existing customers through surveys, interviews, customer service data, and website analytics.

Look for demographic data such as age, location, income level, and psychographic data, including personal interests, buying preferences, and lifestyle choices. Learn the challenges that lead them to seek products and services like yours.

Once you’ve collected this data, it’s time to build out your buyer personas. Each persona should be detailed and specific, like this:

Buyer Persona: “Digital Marketer Dan”

  • Demographics: Age 32, lives in San Francisco, single, masters in marketing.
  • Professional role: Senior digital marketing manager at a tech startup.
  • Goal: To increase brand awareness and lead generation through innovative digital strategies.
  • Challenges: Struggles with limited budget and resources; needs tools that maximize ROI.
  • Behavioral traits: Highly active on LinkedIn, relies on industry blogs and webinars for ongoing education.
  • Decision factors: Prioritizes cost-effective software and tools with strong user support.
  • Preferred content types: Enjoys in-depth guides, case studies, and free webinars.

Here is a sample buyer persona we developed for my agency, HigherVisibility:

A sample buyer persona the author developed for his agency, HigherVisibility.Screenshot from author, May 2024

2. Map Out The Buyer’s Journey

The next step is to map out the customer journey for each of your personas. This will guide you in creating content that meets the needs of different personas at every stage of the decision-making process.

Typically, the customer journey is made up of three main phases:

  • Awareness: Here, the persona first becomes aware of a problem or need. For example, “Digital Marketer Dan” realizes he needs to improve his digital marketing ROI. He heads to Google for ideas and clicks through to one of your blog’s educational posts discussing various digital marketing strategies.
  • Consideration: At this point, your persona will be evaluating different solutions to their more fundamental problem. For example, Dan has realized that his team needs a new digital marketing platform to optimize campaigns more effectively. Now, he’s researching the features and benefits of different tools to see which solution can best meet his needs. To get a better sense of what your company offers, Dan reads through a few of your comparison guides and watches your product demonstration videos.
  • Decision: In this final phase, your persona has considered their options and is primed to make a buying decision. For example, Dan is now almost ready to buy. To alleviate any last-minute concerns, he reads through positive feedback from other customers on your testimonials page and then finally reaches for his bank card.

Read more: How To Create A Customer Journey Map

3. Map Existing Content To Different Stages Of The Buyer’s Journey

Now, it’s time to categorize your existing content according to where it fits into the customer journey.

A common approach here is to separate content into three buckets:

  • Top of the funnel (TOFU): This content caters to visitors in the awareness stage. The goal here isn’t to make a sales pitch. Instead, it’s about providing useful information, establishing your brand as a trustworthy source of insights, and raising awareness that your solution exists. TOFU content includes blog posts, infographics, and educational videos about topics within the remit of your brand.
  • Middle of the funnel (MOFU): This content caters to those in the consideration stage. It delves deeper into the benefits and features of your solution, showing visitors how it can help address their problems. Examples include webinars, case studies, and product overviews.
  • Bottom of the funnel (BOFU): This content is designed to help purchase-ready visitors commit to a final decision. Since users are now familiar with what you can offer them, the goal is to address any lingering objections or questions standing in the way of a sale. BOFU content includes special offers, free trials, shipping and refund policy pages, customer reviews, and testimonials.

4. Optimize Existing Pages For The Right Keywords

After identifying where each page fits into the customer journey, you’ll need to ensure those pages are optimized for the appropriate keywords.

But before you get started, we recommend you first refresh and expand your current keyword list to make it as up-to-date and comprehensive as possible.

The aim is to build a complete picture of the type of queries people use when searching for TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content related to your business. Be sure to include search intent and search volume data in your list.

Once your new keyword list is ready, make sure each page is optimized for a relevant primary keyword if it isn’t already.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when optimizing your content for keywords:

  • Match pages with keyword intent. Only assign a keyword to a page that genuinely addresses the search intent underlying that term. If you don’t yet have a page for a given keyword, you can add it to your content calendar (see Step 6).
  • Update meta tags. Adjust the title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags to include your target keyword and any close variants. This not only helps Google understand the page’s relevance but can also encourage more click-throughs from the search results.
  • Add keywords to the content. Integrate your target keyword into your content, especially the introduction, conclusion, and headers. All keyword placements should appear natural to the reader. Also, avoid cramming your text with keywords – keyword stuffing is considered spam by search engines and can damage your SEO efforts.
  • Avoid keyword cannibalization. When two or more pages from the same website target the same term, search engines have difficulty determining which page to rank. This can dilute the ranking potential of all the competing pages. So, try to make sure that no two pages target the same primary keyword.

Read more: Keyword Research: An In-Depth Beginner’s Guide

5. Update Internal Links Strategically

Internal links are the routes your users take from one page to another. Not only are they essential for site navigation, but they also help distribute link equity (ranking power) from high-authority pages to lower-authority ones.

However, since your website’s ultimate goal is to generate conversions, each page should contain links that direct users to the next step along the buyer’s journey.

For example, suppose your business sells and installs smart home technology.

Your blog post about “Improving Home Security” (TOFU) might contain an in-text link to a related comparison guide about “The Best Smart Home Security Systems of 2024” (MOFU). Likewise, the comparison guide might contain a link directing readers to your testimonials page (BOFU).

6. Identify Content Gaps To Inform Your Editorial Calendar

The next step is to identify opportunities to create new content or add to existing content.

After expanding your keyword list in Step 4, you will most likely find several relevant keywords for which you don’t currently have content. These keywords can form the basis of your new content calendar.

When deciding which keywords to prioritize in your production schedule, keep the following in mind:

  • Marketing goals: What is your primary marketing goal? If it’s to generate more traffic and brand awareness, targeting TOFU keywords should be your priority. If the aim is to maximize sales conversion rates, targeting BOFU keywords might be a better option.
  • Relevance to your audience: Prioritize keywords that reflect your core audience’s needs. Ask whether there are any topics or questions your buyer personas are likely to have that your content doesn’t currently address.
  • Search volume and competition: High-volume keywords are typically harder to rank for. Consider creating content clusters to increase your site’s authority for specific topics. Content clusters involve a central “pillar” page providing an overview of the main topic, which links to multiple “cluster” pieces covering related sub-topics in more depth.

Final Thoughts

Creating a content map is a powerful strategy for any business looking to increase their organic visibility and maximize their website’s ability to attract qualified visitors and convert them into customers.

By understanding and addressing the various needs of your audience throughout the buyer’s journey, you can position your brand as a valuable source of information and guide visitors from initial awareness to making a purchasing decision.

Building a content map requires careful planning and attention to detail. You should treat it as a living document that evolves with your audience’s needs and business goals.

Regularly reviewing and updating your content map will ensure it remains relevant and effective in guiding your content strategy.

More resources:

Featured Image: watchara panyajun/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 4 2024
How To Increase Website Traffic After The Google Update: 5 Blogger-Tested Tips via @sejournal, @getStay22

This post was sponsored by Stay22. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

The latest Google update hit our partners – travel bloggers – hard. Despite the challenges presented by this update, we are amazed by their resilience.

Although we cannot influence Google, we can definitely take charge of the things within our reach.

Here are five travel blogger-tested ways to increase website traffic after the latest Google update.

Get the most out of each visitor. Check out our guide, Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

1. Use Pinterest As An Additional Search Engine

Many people think of Pinterest as a social media platform, but it functions much more as a search engine.

Pinterest’s tools make it a fantastic way to get visitors to your website.

How To Get Started With Pinterest

  1. Create a new business account or link/convert a personal account to gain access to business tools like Pinterest Business Hub and Pinterest Analytics, which allow you to monitor searches and keywords.
  2. Write a catchy bio for your profile. If you have niche keywords you use on your website, include them here.
  3. Claim your website, allowing you to track whenever someone shares your website content on Pinterest. Additionally, it will automatically include your Pinterest profile and a follow button so you can attract more visitors.

How To Use Pinterest Like A Pro

Pinterest is built around pictures, so having great visuals is critical. You want to make yours stand out on the page.

  1. When you travel, snap many pictures and pick the best ones later.
  2. Use design tools like Canva to add text, create interesting layouts, and add branding elements.
  3. Create boards to organize your content into categories, such as by destination or blog post type.
  4. Just like any other search engine, keyword research is necessary on Pinterest. Use business tools like Pinterest Trends, which lets you see keyword search volume and which pins are most popular for them.
  5. Use your selected keywords everywhere possible, including pin titles, pin descriptions, and board descriptions.
Screenshot from Pinterest Trends, June 2024

Before you start pinning, optimize your blog posts to maximize revenue to ensure every visitor counts. See how to do that in our guide Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

2. Keep Visitors Engaged With Email Marketing

Email marketing is important because you own it. Instagram could ban your account, Google can derank you, but your email list is always yours.

Use this strategy to build less volatile, consistent traffic instead of new traffic.

How To Get Started With Email Marketing

  1. Select an email marketing provider. Travel bloggers love MailerLite and MailChimp because they are low-cost and simple.
  2. Start collecting email addresses. Create a mailing list signup form with your website host and insert it at the end of posts to collect your readers’ information.

How To Use Email Marketing Like A Pro

  1. Create a lead magnet that entices readers to share their information in exchange for it. Popular lead magnets in the travel blogging community are travel guides, ebooks, and itineraries.
  2. The goal of email is to get your reader onto your site. Keep your emails short and include impressive pictures and a clear link to your website. Leave them wanting more so that they click through.
  3. Before sending an email directing traffic to one of your pages, ensure the page is set up to maximize revenue. See how in our guide, Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

“While SEO is often touted as the king of traffic, good email marketing is the absolute queen. We regularly see spikes in our web analytics when we email our audience, but those spikes aren’t just temporary. They help our users build habits. We simply wouldn’t have nearly the business we have today without activating our email list.”

Beth Stanos, Wanderful CEO & Founder

    3. Add Your Content To Flipboard To Grab More Website Visits

    Flipboard is an article curation website that lets users flip through articles from different publications, like magazines.

    How To Get Started With Flipboard

    1. Download the Flipboard app on mobile and create an account and profile.
    2. Create Flipboard magazines. These are topic categories that group your content (much like Pinterest boards).
    3. Add your blog posts to them from the magazine page on Flipboard or the Flipit Chrome bookmark.
    Screenshot taken from Flipboard, June 2024

    How To Use Flipboard Like A Pro

    1. Add your fresh blog posts to Flipboard right after publishing.
    2. Add relevant content to your magazines that isn’t your own. Engaging with other bloggers’ content and maintaining new content in your magazines helps your reach.
    3. Include your target keywords in your magazine descriptions, post captions, and profile.

    “Flipboard has become a major traffic source for all 3 of my websites. They have fantastic tools for creators, like storyboards, scheduling, and RSS feeds for magazines, making creating and sharing compelling content easy.”

    Amanda O’Brien, theboutiqueadventurer.com Founder

    4. Get Discovered With Short-Form Videos On Social Media

    Did you know 77% of travelers use social media when planning their trips? Get their eyes on your content with short-form videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube shorts.

    These platforms have algorithms to serve your content to people who don’t follow you, making them ideal for readers to discover you.

    How To Get Started Making Videos

    1. Create your accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
    2. Download Capcut, a free mobile app for video editing. It’s better than the in-app editing functionality, with pre-installed templates and effects.
    3. Create a Linktree account or an alternative. All three platforms make it difficult for users to leave and visit your site, so a place where users can go for all your links is necessary.
    “PLACES ON EARTH WITH THE BLUEST WATER” by @thetravelshack, June 2024

    How To Make Short Video Content Like A Pro

    1. While traveling, keep video creation in the back of your mind. When you see eye-catching scenery or an interesting environment, be ready to capture it in video. Your video’s “wow” factor differentiates between a mediocre and a fantastic video.
    2. On Instagram, write detailed captions. On YouTube and TikTok, keep captions as brief as possible.
    3. Voice-over, on-screen text, and music are crucial to your engagement rate. You can add these with Capcut or in-app.
    4. Pick your video thumbnails carefully. Make sure they stand out in a grid of other videos.
    5. Finally, keep your short video short. The ideal length for a Reel is seven to eleven seconds, a TikTok 21 to 34 seconds, and a YouTube Short 25 to 35 seconds.

    “TikTok helped us to get our second blog on Mediavine. We shared detailed videos about “how to do something” and always included a call to action, directing viewers to our blog for more information. In recent years, we’ve had videos go viral while encouraging followers to visit the link in our bio. This has resulted in thousands of clicks to our websites.”

    Natasha Alden, theworldpursuit.com Co-Founder

    5. Expose Yourself To New Audiences With Guest Posting

    Having your writing published on another website gives you access to a whole new audience, making it an excellent strategy for attracting new readers.

    How To Start Guest Posting

    1. Find places that accept guest posts. Many publications have open submissions that you can submit to.
    2. If you see a site that has guest posts but no open submissions, find their contact information and send an inquiry email.
    3. Create a pitch by explaining your travel expertise and provide writing samples.

    How To Guest Post Like A Pro

    1. When creating your pitch, understand the site’s needs. What content gaps do they have? Focus your pitch there.
    2. Organic guest posting opportunities arise if you take the time to network. Meeting and developing friendships with travel bloggers is a great way to share audiences. You can network on social media, as well as in-person events like TBEX, TravelCon, and Traverse.
    3. Create a clear link back to your blog and include a catchy description so readers will be enticed to read more of your content.
    4. Strategize by monitoring the traffic of potential sites with tools like SEMRush and pick the best option.
    Screenshot from japan.travel, June 2024

    “Creating content for another publication to share as a standalone article allows you to share new expertise about a certain area. Whether through the article itself or subsequent social shares, a new audience gets exposure to you as a writer.”

    William Tang, goingawesomeplaces.com Founder

    See how William Tang made travel blogging his full-time job with the help of Stay22’s revenue-boosting tools. Read the case study.

    Compensate For Traffic Dips By Maximizing Your Revenue.

    Maximize your conversions with strategic CTA placement and Stay22’s cutting-edge AI-powered affiliate tools! Skyrocket your affiliate sales with these proven tips:

    DOWNLOAD OUR GUIDE: Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

    DOWNLOAD GUIDE

    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Shutterstock. Used with permission.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    May 21 2024
    7 Ways AI Took My Job [To The Next Level] via @sejournal, @CallRail

    With AI-powered call attribution, you can gain valuable insights into which channels are driving the most conversions.

    How Call Attribution Works

    • Step 1: Assign – Select unique call tracking numbers to assign to each campaign or listing.
    • Step 2: Track – Potential customers see your ad or listing and call the associated phone number.
    • Step 3: Forward –The calls ring directly into your main business phone, regardless of which number they use.
    • Step 4: Analyze – Because they used one of your tracking numbers, you instantly know which ad or campaign inspired them to call.

    With AI-powered call tracking, gone are the days of wondering how your digital marketing efforts are tied to high-value inbound calls.

    For agencies, this helps prove the real value of your services and extend the life of your client relationships.

    2. AI Can Help You Save Time On Manually Reviewing Calls

    Listening to and analyzing phone calls manually can be time-consuming and inefficient for agencies.

    However, it’s an important part of understanding the customer experience and sales team performance.

    With AI-powered call analysis tools, you get quality, keyword-tagged transcriptions with near-human-level accuracy.

    Not only can this technology help you save over 50% of the time spent listening to phone calls, but it can also help you deliver actionable recommendations to clients and drive better results.

    Conversation Intelligence, for instance, is trained on over 1.1M hours of voice data and enables real-time analysis for instantaneous results.

    This advanced tool provides opportunities for you to improve your strategy through the following granular insights:

    • Spotting disparities in the industry-specific lingo your sales team uses, compared to the lingo your prospects are using to describe their business challenges and goals.
    • Identifying trends or gaps in your service offerings based on what your prospects are asking for.
    • Identifying frequently asked questions and other important topics to address through content marketing.
    • Setting goals for lead qualification — not just the quantity of leads generated for your business.

    Conversational AI is perfectly suited to summarize the content of long conversations – however, the call summaries still require a human to read them and determine the main takeaways.

    But if you work in a bustling small business, it’s unlikely you’d have the bandwidth for tasks such as call transcription, summaries, keyword spotting, or trend analysis.

    Rather than displacing human labor, conversational AI is assisting businesses in taking on tasks that may have been overlooked and leveraging data that would otherwise remain untapped.

    3. AI Can Help You Lower Cost Per Lead / Save Money On Tools & Ad Spend

    Ever wonder why certain campaigns take off while others fall flat? It’s all in the data!

    Even failed campaigns can offer invaluable insights into your client’s audience and messaging.

    But if you can’t spot the underperformers quickly enough, you risk wasting your ad budget on ineffective tactics.

    The quicker you can identify what’s working and what’s not, the quicker you can pivot and adjust your marketing strategy.

    With AI-powered tools, agencies can access instant insights that enable them to reduce wasteful spending and improve overall campaign efficiency.

    How To Deliver More Value With AI

    • Make a bigger impact in less time: AI-powered technology creates a force multiplier within your agency, allowing you to make more of an impact with the same level of inputs you’re already using.
    • Unlock actionable insights from call data: AI is revolutionizing the way companies leverage call data by enabling them to gain insights at scale. As a result, businesses can increase their ROI and deliver greater value to their clients by analyzing hundreds of calls efficiently.
    • Foster alignment with data-driven strategies: By analyzing customer conversations with AI, businesses can align their marketing strategy with data-driven recommendations, enhancing overall coherence. Additionally, the ability to create triggers based on specific phrases enables automated analysis and reporting, further streamlining the alignment process.
    • Drive effectiveness with rapid insights: Leveraging Conversation Intelligence enables agencies to deliver better insights faster, increase conversion rates, refine keyword strategies, and develop robust reporting capabilities.

    With the right AI-powered tools, you can access the insights you need to ensure maximum ROI for your clients.

    4. AI Can Help You Improve Overall Agency Efficiency

    Are you spending too much valuable time on tasks that produce minimal results?

    Many agencies find themselves bogged down by routine, administrative tasks that don’t contribute much to their bottom line.

    But with AI automation, agencies can streamline their operations and redirect their energy towards more strategic endeavors.

    From email scheduling and social media posting to data entry and report generation, AI can handle a wide array of tasks with precision and efficiency – giving you time to focus on high-impact activities that drive growth and deliver tangible results.

    Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Automation

    1. Automatically transcribe your calls to boost close rates: See how your team is handling difficult objections and ensure that they’re delivering your businessʼ value proposition in an effective manner.
    2. Score calls based on quality and opportunity: Take the time-consuming work out of scoring your calls and determine which campaigns drive the best calls to your business.
    3. Classify calls by your set criteria: Qualify, score, tag, or assign a value to the leads that meet your criteria, automatically.
    4. Automatically redact sensitive information: Protect your customers by removing billing or personal information. Keep your data safe and secure through complete HIPAA compliance.
    5. Monitor your teamsʼ performance: Use Conversation Intelligence as a valuable sales training tool to ensure your team doesn’t miss any key messaging marks.
    6. Know your customersʼ needs: Identify conversation trends in your phone calls and stay privy to evolving customer needs.
    7. Improve your digital marketing strategy: Use AI-powered insights to inform your digital marketing strategy and boost your online presence.

    By automating mundane tasks, agencies can optimize workflows, increase productivity, and improve efficiency across the board.

    Looking for 5 – 7? Download The Full Guide

    Rather than fearing AI, the future belongs to those who embrace it.

    By strategically combining human creativity with artificial intelligence, you can unlock capabilities that transcend what either could achieve alone.

    Want to discover even more ways to level up your agency with AI?

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    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    May 20 2024
    Mastering The Content Maze: Strategies For Multi-Touchpoint Success via @sejournal, @hethr_campbell

    As digital platforms multiply and user engagement becomes more and more fragmented, understanding how to effectively distribute your content across various touchpoints is more crucial than ever.

    So how do you tailor your strategy to meet users wherever they are in their journey? 

    How do you create quality content that resonates and connects at every stage? 

    Join us live on May 29, as we show you how to successfully navigate the ever-evolving landscape of content strategy. 

    In this insightful session with iQuanti, we’ll explore innovative strategies to map out and meet the diverse needs of your audience at multiple touchpoints. 

    Key takeaways from this webinar: 

    • Today’s users interact with content in a myriad of ways, spanning across a variety of channels. Whether they’re browsing on their smartphones or exploring on their laptops, understanding these user behaviors is essential for crafting content that captures attention and drives engagement.
    • Mastering the latest methodologies for identifying and addressing content gaps helps keep your content strategy ahead of the curve. Learn how to uncover areas where your content may be lacking or where new opportunities lie. This proactive approach ensures that your content remains relevant and resonates with your audience’s evolving needs.
    • Discover the ins and outs of digital shelf space and how to pivot your content strategy. By strategically positioning your content where your audience is most likely to discover it, you can maximize your digital shelf space and drive better results for your brand.

    Wayne Cichanski, Vice President of Search and Site Experience at iQuanti, will walk you through ways to unlock the full potential of your content strategy and outperform your competition. 

    Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, this webinar will provide you with the tools and strategies you need to elevate your content marketing this year.

    Don’t miss out on these valuable expert insights. Sign up now and learn how to master the content maze. 

    At the end of the presentation, you’ll get a chance to ask Wayne your most pressing content questions in our live Q&A. 

    And if you can’t make it to the live event, register here and we’ll send you a recording, following the webinar. 

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    May 14 2024
    Should You Include FAQs On Product Or Category Pages? via @sejournal, @rollerblader

    This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Aleksandar, who asks:

    “Is there a role for product Q&A for a fashion brand, which only sells its own branded products, besides the obvious question on the sales/delivery/return process?”

    Yes, there is absolutely a role for product Q&A, and for FAQs on collections or categories.

    This applies to all niches and industries and is especially relevant in fashion, even more so when the company retails its own products.

    But it isn’t SEO-focused; it is about the user experience.

    Don’t limit yourself to FAQs alone, descriptions, and answering common questions in the copy works, too. This is something we do a lot in conversion rate optimization (CRO).

    A positive impact, when done correctly, is a reduction in customer returns and wait times due to poor website experiences with customer support. I share some examples by page type below.

    Proper Q&A on relevant pages answers visitors’ questions so they know the product or service will meet their needs. When you build the consumer’s confidence, they may be more inclined to click add to cart, schedule a meeting, or fill out a form.

    Don’t be afraid to say the product or accessory won’t work either, this lets you have an internal link to the product or service while leading them to a working solution.

    The first place we look for questions are live chat transcripts and customer service emails – and then we go to the web.

    If you look at popular review sites, forums, and communities, you’re going to find questions that your own customers and your competitor’s customers are asking.

    Here are a few examples by page type that I either researched or really want to try if the opportunity arises. I’ll start with product pages, then do categories, and finally, a homepage and FAQ.

    Product Pages

    If the query is about the product in particular and it doesn’t apply to other products you sell, place the content on the specific product page.

    I normally do the catch-all vs. the variants like size or color. If you have your canonical links set correctly, you can include them on variants. I’ll use fashion here as the example since that was in your question.

    Answer product questions like how the fit of the garment feels, or maybe whether it is meant for pear body shapes or diamonds. You can also compare the sizing of your products to popular brands, like how your company’s medium size fits like the XYZ size at AB, a popular retail store with the same customer demographics.

    Do you sell hair care products? Mention the hair types as well as thickness and lengths it is best for, or if it is not good for hair that is dry or chemically treated.

    This applies to shoes, too, where you’ll want to talk about them being good for play or comfort, road running or trail hiking, and whether the person pronates or not.

    Putting this information in the copy above the call to action (CTA) can help the user make a decision, and there is no harm in placing them in FAQs on the page since they are product-specific. I’ve done this with electronics, fashion, toys, tools, and plenty of other niches.

    Collections And Categories

    If you work in Shopify, you’ll know this as collections; for most other platforms, they’re called categories. It is a grouping of similar products or services that meet a consumer’s needs.

    It could be split by sizes, colors, variations, etc., and adding in questions and answers works just like the product pages above.

    In the copy above and below the product grid, don’t keyword stuff for SEO. Instead, answer the questions consumers are asking while focusing on brand talking points and benefits.

    You’ll be displaying why the person should shop from the selection of options on the page, have opportunities for natural internal links, and be able to build confidence that the consumer is in the right place.

    Instead of a retail experience, I’ll use cruise ships for this one.

    I’ve never worked with a cruise company before, but I’ve had this idea for about 10 or so years and have never seen it done. I was researching which cruise to take and saw cabin bathroom questions for a person of size often come up in forums.

    I have about 20 more ideas for cruise lines, airlines, and hotels that are similar. Hint hint: If you work in this space, submit an Ask An SEO question so I can get them into writing and out into the world.

    Cruise ships are notorious for maximizing limited space. That means they may not be friendly for all types of consumers based on size and physical abilities. You could use text and written language, which is normally smart, and you can use visuals.

    My idea here is to have eight or so “tour guides” that can walk the person through the experience as themselves. At least one model should be over 6 foot 5, one should be plus size, and one in a wheelchair.

    Not all showers in all cabin types will be able to accommodate someone who is larger, for example. By having a model that resonates with the cruise shopper, they can find out if the cabin type is a match, and the tour guide can walk them through which cabin experience may be better and alternatives like a locker room shower.

    Locker room showers on the ships tend to be large and spacious, and the water pressure is normally fantastic. This appeared in multiple comments when I was doing the research and true on the ship we were on.

    Tall people may want to see what it’s like to walk through the ship, try the games and amenities like waterslides, and see if there are activities they may not be able to participate in.

    The same goes for someone in a wheelchair or who has mobility issues.

    If they can have a tour guide that shows the distance from specific rooms to elevators and the fastest routes possible to dining areas and entertainment, they will know if the ship or cabin they’re looking at is right or if they should select a different one.

    Home And FAQ Pages

    Your homepage and FAQ pages are more similar than you think. The homepage is the perfect space to answer questions about your brand, service, and product lines, as well as things customers want to know. Do this in paragraph form.

    You’ll be building natural mentions of collection or category pages for keyword rich internal links that guide the user to the correct experience while you build consumer confidence.

    On your FAQs, list out brand and company questions that do not apply to a specific category or product. This could include hours of operation, return policies, where you ship to, and the costs, as well as funny questions to hide an “easter egg” for consumers and fans of your brand to find.

    Before you begin adding FAQs to any page, make sure the FAQ applies to that page and not to others. You don’t want to add content for the sake of adding content.

    Questions and answers on a collection page should be about the collection, not a specific product. And product questions shouldn’t be about company policies, they should be about the product on that page.

    I hope you found this answer helpful. It is one of the tools we use to help save on logistics and overhead expenses and to increase conversions. Great question, and thank you for asking it!

    More resources: 

    Featured Image: Visual Generation/Shutterstock

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    May 6 2024
    Google Core Update: How To Write High-Ranking, High-Quality Content in 2024 via @sejournal, @fiverr

    This post was sponsored by Fiverr Pro. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

    Were you impacted by Google’s recent core update?

    Have your search visibility and rankings begun to drop?

    Even in the era of automation, quality still wins over quantity when it comes to search rankings.

    With the recent surge of generative AI, the demand for human-created, high-quality content is greater than ever.

    Google’s latest update aimed to improve search result quality by reducing unhelpful, unoriginal content by 40%.

    So, what kind of content does Google deem high quality these days?

    How can you ensure your content performs well on search engines in 2024?

    The simple answer is to focus on user experience rather than the search engine itself – in other words: make human connection the priority.

    While many businesses are taking advantage of AI tools to populate their sites, those who still see the value in human-created, user-centric content will ultimately win out.

    In this guide, we’ll break down the key steps to creating high-quality content that ranks on Google in 2024.

    Step 1: Align Your Content Strategy With Campaign & User Journey Goals

    Delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time is crucial for SEO success.

    And with Google’s latest core update, it’s more important than ever to provide a seamless and personalized experience for your audience throughout their user journey.

    Here’s how you can use audience research and user insights to create content that drives results:

    • Identify Your Target Personas: Start by defining your ideal audience personas. Understand their demographics, preferences, pain points, and behaviors.
    • Map Out Your User Journey: Visualize the various stages your customers go through, and identify the touchpoints where they interact with your brand.
    • Tailor Your Content To Each Stage: Meet your audience at each stage of the user journey, and address their specific needs with content that’s relevant, targeted, and effective.

    Pro Tip: Don’t have the time or bandwidth to tackle these tasks? You can still move your business forward by hiring a professional SEO strategist to help plan your campaigns and keep you on track.

    Image created by Fiverr Pro, April 2024

    Step 2: Analyze Real User Data & Identify Content Gaps

    As you’re building your content strategy, you’ll need insights into your audience’s behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns.

    Utilize analytics tools to gather valuable user data and track key metrics such as website traffic, click-through rates, and conversion rates.

    With this information, you can conduct a thorough audit of your existing content and identify gaps and areas for improvement.

    Here’s how you can adjust your strategy to a more user-centric approach:

    • Build credibility by honing in on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
    • Try leveraging real experts as content creators, elevating their first-hand experience to create truly helpful content from a trustworthy source. (This is particularly helpful for subjects such as finance or medicine.)
    • Be sure to display the writer as an experienced, authoritative figure in your post, with a link to an author archive page.
    • Maintain relevance by keeping your content up to date and checking frequently for possible revamps.

    Get started by outsourcing your audience research and content auditing needs to a Fiverr Pro freelancer.

    Step 3: Plan Content That Matches User Intent

    Once you gain a deeper understanding of your customer touchpoints, it’s time to plan your content accordingly.

    Start by developing detailed outlines for each piece of content that match user intent and meet their needs and expectations.

    “Understanding and aligning content with user intent is crucial for SEO success. With Google’s algorithm updates, it’s essential to create content that is not only helpful but also answers specific questions your target audience has. Focus on crafting content that resonates with your audience, addresses their needs, and communicates your message clearly, while ensuring it’s relevant, engaging, and directly addresses the concerns and interests of your readers.”

    – Alan Redondo, SEO and PPC Expert

    It’s also important to establish your own unique voice, as authentic and original content tends to rank higher on SERPS.

    And make sure to avoid fluff and keep your content to the point – searchers want to see their questions answered and needs addressed with as little fuss as possible.

    If content is not exactly your specialty but you’re ready to start laying out the process, try Fiverr Pro’s professional services to get the help you need.

    Image created by Fiverr Pro, April 2024

    Step 4: Write Content With Proactive Engagement In Mind

    When you create content, the goal is to encourage interaction, discussion, and sharing among users, which boosts your brand awareness organically.

    One effective strategy is to craft compelling headlines, introductions, and calls-to-action that prompt users to engage with your content.

    You can also use interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, and surveys to encourage participation and feedback.

    If you’re looking to maximize user engagement, a multichannel approach is key.

    Choose the most appropriate content formats and channels for each stage of the user journey, and consider using blog posts, social media, email campaigns, etc. based on where your audience is most active.

    Pro Tip: User Generated Content (UGC) can be beneficial for your overall search strategy. With Google favoring human insights, comment sections and other forms of human interactions are helpful for discoverability.

    Ready to start getting the most out of your content and utilizing the multitude of channels available?

    Whether you need a social media manager or an email marketer, Fiverr Pro has you covered.

    Step 5: Analyze Performance & Pivot

    Once you’ve implemented your content strategy, it’s essential to regularly monitor its performance and be prepared to make adjustments as needed.

    Keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the effectiveness of your content, and pay attention to user feedback and comments to understand how your audience is responding.

    Are they finding it helpful and engaging, or are there areas where you could improve?

    Take note of any trends or patterns that emerge and use this information to inform future content decisions.

    Image created by Fiverr Pro, April 2024

    Embracing Human Talent In The AI Era

    The human touch is essential to SEO success in today’s landscape, and Google’s latest update supports that.

    As it stands, content that’s created for and by humans will outperform generic, AI-generated content every time.

    So if you’re looking to set your website apart, it’s best to pivot away from sheer search volume and more towards what will resonate deeply with your target audience.

    After all, the more value you provide to users, the more likely you are to beat the algorithm and boost your rankings.

    But let’s say you’re a small business owner with a small team and limited hiring capacity.

    How do you compete with organizations that have the in-house expertise necessary to implement this kind of content strategy?

    How can you access the human talent needed to form genuine connections with your audience?

    Whether you’re seeking an SEO professional to help you target your users, or a writer/artist to help you create content, it might help to start bringing on freelancers to fill in any talent gaps.

    Fiverr Pro, for example, is a great solution for matching and collaborating with top-tier, pre-vetted freelance talent.

    You can use it to find people with the right set of skills to help you execute your projects and add that much-needed human touch to your content.

    In the meantime, use these tips to build out your content strategy, so that as you begin to expand your team, you’ll know which tasks to prioritize, moving forward.

    Elevate Your Content Strategy With Fiverr Pro

    With Google’s updates constantly shaking things up, the key to staying ahead is staying true to your audience and their needs.

    While AI may be able to churn out content at lightning speed, it’s the authentic, user-centric content that truly stands out these days.

    By creating content that connects with real people on a human level, you can ensure sustained SEO success in 2024 and beyond.

    So if you’re looking for the right talent to bring that human touch to your content, Fiverr Pro is the ultimate solution.

    Whether you’re a small business owner or a seasoned marketer, this subscription-free service offers a wealth of talented, pre-vetted professionals ready to elevate your content strategy.

    Get started with Fiverr Pro today and let their experts find talent, plan, and manage projects for you.

    Plus, you can hire with confidence, knowing that you’ll get a full refund if you’re not satisfied with the results.

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    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Fiverr Pro Used with permission.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments