Killer Web Traffic Insights For Blogs

Technology has changed how businesses conduct their activities in order to increase their bottom line.

These days, having current content on a blog can increase web traffic to a website specifically, and overall.

Let’s face it, having a blog and trying to increase the number of visitors can be a very daunting task that takes a while before any hints of success start emerging.

There are number of tips that a business blogger can do in order to increase traffic to their website very quickly, and in some cases – and over time – in a matter of minutes.

Software platforms.

It is important for the individual to use the proper blogging software which can be customized to suit one’s audience. If one is able to build their own from scratch that is well and good. But, exciting and useful software solutions that one can use today include WordPress (recommended, and on your own domain), Blogger and even TypePad. The blogger’s choice will depend on where they want the comments placed, the themes interfaces, colors, interface and settings available to them.

Guest blogging (bi-directional).

To increase traffic to a (blog) website, one can invite well known individuals as guest bloggers, but you may need to build out the blog first. And, it should be topically related, and different to attract attention. They should be knowledgeable in the same field as the person inviting them in order to provide more information that visitors to the website find interesting. If the owner of the blog is popular, then they can increase traffic to their own blog by being guests on other blogs.

Access and hierarchy.

If one wants to increase the number of visitors to a blog, they can do so by ensuring all relevant information is archived and easily accessed as well. This is because Internet users are constantly searching for information and if one has stored the content by dates and easily found URLs (web addresses), then it becomes easy to find it … which leads users to the website because they know they will find information that they are searching for easily.

The person looking to increase web traffic should be careful about placing page numbers on their website as it can do more harm than good. Since content is constantly being updated, pagination can confuse website visitors on which information is current and which has been archived. Make sure you have a site search function, and track everything with web analytics

SEO – Search engine optimization.

Another well known method of increasing traffic that a new blogger can use, is ensuring that the content they put up is search engine optimized. It is imperative to ensure that keywords that a user would type when looking for content are added to the blog so that they can direct traffic to the website. A blog can also be made more search friendly with the correct settings, plugins and other optimization techniques.

Advertising and paid search.

A new blog can employ both PPC & AdSense advertising. Rightly so, most people don’t like to see ads popping up on their screen (on your page or externally) but it is a way to direct individuals to the content from other relevant sites. The ads have to be very well placed in order not to distract the individual visiting the website. Depending on the topic, you may (should) consider Facebook advertising – although selling/showcasing airplane parts is much harder than doing some on the “entertainment” side. Search has an information-based trail, whereas Facebook and social platforms most typically have a “interruption-driven” trail.

Topic differentiation.

To increase traffic, one has to be willing to discuss topics that are rarely covered, and/or those that people like to read about. This can be about relationships, politics and so forth. However, broad themes are good for research, but narrowing it down will be important for smaller budgets and marketing / business focus. And, you’ll know from research, that if this is not the genre that the individual wants to focus on, you can use the blog to showcase to your audience about what you really want the blog to be about, your expertise and authority.  And, you can get help on writing too – search for ghostwriters.

Social interaction.

A blog is like a conversation, but it happens online. Therefore, the blogger must use their human voice as much as possible. This means communicating like they would if the person were face to face with them. Being charismatic, interactive, polite (and direct) are essential habits when trying to bring over traffic, and having people follow you from social sites like Twitter, Facebook and more.

Schedule yourself.

Get yourself on a schedule. You can start by posting once a week, and increase from there. Pick a certain day, and do it around the same time. Being current is another way of increasing traffic and retaining activity overall. There is nothing more annoying than visiting a blog and finding out it is months old. So, it is important for the blogger to always be up-to-date and provide answers to any queries asked.

Finally – make sure to leverage all assets in your blog posts – from images, videos, books, news, maps, etc.  Video (YouTube, Vimeo) can be a great booster to your traffic, and it’s often much easier to rank higher for. Do your keyword research, and make sure to place engaging headlines that draw users in.

If you prepare, you can do a little bit each day, and 10-15 minutes a day is likely possible for your schedule, and you’ll notice that the traffic will build.

5 Powerful Tips For Your Website Today

In this day and age, it is practically a requirement to optimize your website as much as possible so that it can do well on the internet and serving your clients or patients.

Your website must have content that serves your niche, but it will not do well if you do not prepare it or optimize it for the web and your audience.

We’ll go over 5 things to optimize your website and advice for implementing the tips into your own site.

1) GET CLEAR ON YOUR HTML

Optimizing your HTML should be the first step in optimizing your website overall. You’ve got to use code that will make your website more descriptive and will even help search engines and users find your site more easily. You can cover both of these bases by using META tags. These are simple tags that are placed in between the HEAD tags in your HTML document to list the description of your website and provide relative keywords for your site. Additionally, you should also be using TITLE tags, HEADING tags, and other tools such as CSS to make your site easier to manage and more smooth running. Of couse, don’t forget to describe images and links as well. Make sure that your pages load fast, and that they show up correctly in different browsers. You can use Google Page Speed and BrowserShots for this. Talk to your webmaster if you are new to HTML – but learn more about it at HTML school.

2) LEARN THE BASICS OF SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)

SEO is another big part of optimizing your website. It simply stands for “search engine optimization” and it is a huge part of getting your site noticed and high on search engine results. Using SEO on your site, and with partner links offsite, you will target certain keywords that have low competition from other web sites but high demand from people who use search engines, and within your market. For example, a keyword like “dentist” is too vague, “santa monica dentist” is better, but “santa monica family dentist”, or “santa monica cosmetic dentist” will improve your chances to be found, if done right. Your web analytics will also help you with figuring out what keyword phrases might work for you. There are other components to SEO, but it is imperative that you use it to optimize your site.

3) LEVERAGE YOUR KNOWLEDGE & CONTENT

Content is a big deal if you wish to optimize your site. Your content must be seen by readers and the actual search engine as valuable and related information for it to perform well at all. Recycled content that can be found on any other site of the same subject normally won’t do well. Remember, you want your site to offer something to the web that it doesn’t already have. Stay focused on your clients, and do some research in your market to find out what they will need. If you can find “gaps” in the information, you can move ahead very quickly. Don’t be like everybody else, and try including video content as well. You have a YouTube account, right?

4) ARCHITECTURE & LAYOUT

Your choice of layout for your website is critical for optimization and user friendliness. This refers to the type of navigation you use, how quickly your readers can find a piece of information that they’re looking for on your website, how information is displayed/presented and so much more. It’s important that your layout works for your site because it will keep readers coming back for more. You can use your existing web analytics to find click patterns, and find out where they navigate to, and where they abort. A bounce-rate study may help you as well. Check out others in your space that are ranking high (both in organic and paid) – and find out what’s working. It’s OK to get ideas, but don’t blatantly copy.

5) WHAT TO DO NEXT – “CALL TO ACTION”

Having a call to action is simply wanting your readers to respond to what you’ve given them. You want them to act. For example, if your site is advertising a product, you might have a link at the top waiting for them at all times that reads, “Buy Now.” This is a call to action. It’s important to have a call to action on your site that is constantly visible. Calls to action are imperative because they are much more persuasive than allowing the reader to make the choice for themselves. A great way to find out what the action is on any page on your website is this: “What is the ‘most-desired-action’ I want my visitor to take on THIS page”?  Then, answer that… and provide it. And, don’t assume the visitor will know. Make it simple.

You may find some of these to be basic, but we see these issues all the time…And, you must address these points.

Where does your current webpage rank? Are you passing the keyword analysis test?

Measuring Facebook key to Social Media Success

When you are running ads on Facebook, different options exist for executing campaigns today. That includes the tracking of actionable success metrics.

You are probably familiar with the sponsored (paid) ads. But, you might also consider the sponsored stories, which can be really good for your brand lift.

How do you determine which is better for you business? Analytics and monitoring is key.

No matter what you choose, including the (must-do) free options (the Facebook account itself, events, groups, applications, newsfeeds, etc) – it will be important for your business to reveal what your users do on your Facebook network.

Performance graphs, real-time measurements and in-line ad management are a few of the new things you’ll need to understand.

Here then are the 5 things to consider when reviewing your Facebook account for success:

Image by Cristiano Betta via Flickr

1. Targeting Your Audience

Sharing and displaying your messages are part of your marketing mix. But, if you are not targeting the right audience, it’s like they never saw the billboard – even though you placed it right next to a busy freeway. With ads or sponsored stories, you can select from the 700 million users on Facebook, and target down to your exact demographic. The data will help you decide on what works. You will share your messages with your intended audience, which will really help you.

2. Discover your Overall Reach (fan engagement)

Find out the number of real people that saw your ad or story. Reach is different than impressions, which include people who saw an ad multiple times.

3. Discover your Social Reach (friends of friends ad positioning)

Reveal the people who saw your advertisement with the names of friends that saw the ads, application or event. Note that ads shown with friend’s names are twice as effective as not. This will only work when you advertise a page or similar on the Facebook platform. Sending traffic to an external page (website) will not allow this to work.

Image by Cristiano Betta via Flickr

4. Frequency

Find out when your messages are going out at regular intervals if they are working. Are  they make the most sense on a Saturday (highly popular in many industries) versus a Monday am west coast time, for example. Change your marketing strategy and test this very important element.  The Facebook ad manager reporting system will help you with this.

5. Connections

Reveal the number of people who liked your page within a given time period. This includes other assets like events, applications.  Connections shows you how many people connected with your business. This way, you know you are driving results. This will only works for pages and Facebook assets, not external web properties. Even if conversations are taking place elsewhere, make sure to have a strong Facebook presence.

The data in the Facebook ads manager is continuously updated, so make sure to refresh and visit often if you are looking at intra-day management (which you should). You can also schedule reports to be sent to you via email, and direct to your phone (email).

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Finally, adjust your bids, budgets and targeting to test your advertising account regularly. This will be YOUR secret to success. And, don’t stop if it’s not working. It probably means you have not dug deep enough, worked enough ads, text and positioning.

And, remember that social networks and Facebook are about people and connections. Marketing online today is not about selling, but sharing. So, engage!

Are you running Facebook campaigns for your business today?

Related articles Facebook Advertising Success

• 3 Types Of Facebook Image Ads That Work (searchengineland.com)
• 15 Tips For A Successful Facebook Ads Program (bayintegratedmarketing.wordpress.com)
• Facebook Ads Gaining Popularity Among Local Businesses (webpronews.com)

“Will it Blend?”

( Campaign by Blendtec )
There are few internet users who are unaware of the enticing videos by Blendtec; each documenting a heavy-duty item being demolished in one of their heavy-duty blenders. These videos went viral across YouTube and other social media networks partly because of their absurdity, encouraging people to watch an iPhone, tennis shoe, or other novelty item being chopped to pieces. Since the campaign, sales have raised 700%, proving the importance of thinking outside the box.

Australia’s Tourism

( Queensland Campaign )
This campaign was directed from Facebook, and drew over 375,000 internet users to the official website of the campaign. They encouraged viewers to participate by offering a large reward for one lucky participant, and spread the word by including other social networking platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube. Because of this campaign, web searches for Queensland rose 40%, and 9,000 tickets to the area were purchased directly from their website. Needless to say, it did the job of increasing tourism, and it did so on a minimal budget.

“Create Next Donut”

( Campaign by Dunkin’ Donuts )
Dunkin’ Donuts increased their sales, as well as their internet presence, significantly with their offer to let consumers create a menu item. With over 130,000 submissions, and 174,000 registered voters to determine a winner, this is one of social media’s incredible success stories. The wide exposure can be credited to the use of multiple social networking platforms, and the creativity of the promotion.

“My Starbucks Idea”

( Campaign by Starbucks )
Starbucks shocked internet marketers around the nation by not only utilizing existing social media networks, but creating one themselves! They noticed the great success brought on by interactive platforms, and created their very own site designed specifically for user feedback. The “My Starbucks Idea” website presents users with different suggestions on how to improve products and services, allowing them to make suggestions and respond to existing suggestions with their opinion. They also provided a regularly updated blog with news on progress, allowing users to see how their feedback was used throughout the development process. By directly asking consumers what they want, they increased web engagement and ensured the success of future campaigns.

“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

( Campaign by Old Spice )
Old Spice created a series of YouTube videos advertising their product that quickly went viral, averaging over 23 million views. Their most successful video has over 32 million views, and that number is growing on a daily basis. These videos present different versions of the “ideal” man, with an amusing tag line that insinuates Old Spice can “smell your man into a romantic millionaire.” Because of the humor, the videos led to a number of spoofs, increasing their popularity even more. They even received press coverage for their originality and success.

Dell Campaign

( Dell Social Marketing Group )
Dell is one of only a few companies that can boast of a return on investment from their Twitter campaign, which can be primarily credited to the “Dell Outlet” campaign. What makes their campaign so successful, however, is their use of multiple social networking sites. In addition to multiple Twitter handles, they offer a diverse network of informational blogs, and they maintain an active presence on Facebook. Their dedication to social networking has led to over one million dollars in revenue.

“Comcast Cares”

( Campaign by Comcast )
There was a time when Comcast users were dropping like flies out of disappointment with the company’s services. Most of these people have changed their tune, however, and it is all thanks to the “Comcast Cares” customer service outlet started on Twitter. With a social media platform that allows direct connection between consumers and help agents, they have decreased complaints dramatically. They also monitor mention of their name on various social media platforms, ensuring that anyone who has a complaint will be met with an offer to help.

“Check-in”

( Campaign by Domino’s )
Domino’s pizza credits Foursquare with a 29 percent increase in their profits. By creating promotions that encourage customers to “check-in,” they have increased the mention of their company across social media networks. Facebook has a similar feature now, which has also been successfully used to increase sales.

Blog Campaign

( by IBM Marketing )
IBM is a unique social media success, as their dramatic increase in profits can be linked primarily to the creation of numerous blogs. They offered their employees the opportunity to set up their own blog, as well as their own Twitter account, allowing them to directly communicate with customers. This led to a 10 to 1 return on investment, equaling close to $100 billion.

Zappos Twitter Outreach

( Campaign by Zappos )
Zappos proves the worth of sites like Twitter by becoming the leading online shoe store in the country via innovative use of social media. The CEO of the company, and other employees, keep active Twitter accounts, engaging with customers and encouraging open lines of communication. Often thought of as the company that instigated widespread corporate Twitter use, Zappos brings a large personality into their campaign by remaining fresh, humorous, and informative.

What do you think?

There is a formula for success in social media. If you want to learn more, feel free to reach out to us. We can provide you a social media marketing campaign demo.

According to research company Aberdeen Group, companies that were consistent users of sales analytics and forecasting tools outperformed companies who did not avail themselves of either of these tools by 1.46 times in the accuracy of their sales forecasts.

How can sales forecasting and analytics help a company?

An even more convincing statistic in the favor of using sales analytics is that companies who use them tend to outperform the companies who did not by 1.3 times when it came to achieving an overall sales quota.

Performance is Clear.

The bottom line is the company’s bottom line – companies that make use of sales analytics in forecasting simply perform better than those that do not. Having more accurate sales forecasts is in high demand these days, both from stockholders and CEOs alike. With the economy as rocky as it has been in the past few years, it is obviously more important than ever to have as clear of an idea as possible as to where the company is going. These forecasts contribute to greater confidence in a company’s abilities.

In fact, having accurate sales forecasts may even be a self-fulfilling prophecy. A company that predicts its sales accurately is more likely to have faith in the forecasts, which can be quite a boon if the forecast is good.

Internal Friction?

However, there has been some hesitance regarding the idea of devoting time and effort to sales analytics within several businesses, as it may seem on the surface that putting too much effort into the forecasts simply takes away from the actual time it requires to do business.

While there is truth in this, it’s not a whole truth – the issue is merely finding a reasonable balance between the amount of time needed to create an accurate forecast without putting so much time into the project that it becomes cost ineffective.

Accuracy in Numbers.

Thankfully, there has been considerable evidence pointing toward the idea that companies usually don’t need to put forth week’s worth of effort in order to get an accurate sales forecast. In fact, according to a different study by the Aberdeen Group, a surprising number of companies were able to produce reasonably accurate sales forecasts in less than thirty minutes. Of course, the exact statistic was as such: the accuracy of sales forecasts when a company put more than thirty minutes into a sales forecast was approximately 72% accurate, while a company that put less than thirty minutes into a forecast was 62% accurate.

Obviously, if you allot more time for sales forecasts, the overall product will be more accurate. However, if you end up allotting two days to a forecast and the improvement is only 10% in accuracy, the amount of manpower devoted to the forecast is hardly worth the comparatively slight increase in accuracy.

Audience Targeting.

And, don’t forget to implement strategic targeting. Any sales analytics or forecasting will not make a lot of sense without the appropriate marketing strategy. Quality sales leads are bread-and-butter to B2B firms. Here’s a way to start that process.

Conclusion

Sales forecasts can greatly help a company when it comes to meeting its quota. However, spending too much time on sales forecasts is not cost effective. The solution? Using sales analytic software to both cut down on the amount of time it takes to produce a forecast and up the accuracy of the forecast.

Resources/links:

Salesforce

Cloud9 Sales Forecasting

Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr

For those of you not familiar with social media, here’s a brief description: “media that is social”. Funny, but true.

We see so many organizations that begin with social media, and they set up a Twitter or Facebook account and tell us their are doing social media.

When we look a little closer, we can see it’s nothing much at all, and its typically “one-sided”, meaning they only speak about themselves, and nobody is engaging with them.

Maybe the reason is that they didn’t build out a strategic plan with specific goals and targets, as well as not understanding that listening is the second word (after competitive & market research) to learn in social media.

Listening to social media chatter can be done for free. But,  there are (great) paid tools as well.

We always suggest (when a company is engaging with social media), to manually learn about their space, and listen/watch in specific channels (their marketplace).

For example, on Twitter – you can search (search.twitter.com) and find out what’s going on both locally and globally with ease. You could spend 20-40 minutes in the morning searching on Twitter to discover much information about your market.

You may then decide to start following a few key people. Perhaps you download Tweetdeck and set up lists of key people to monitor. That’s a good start.

Furthermore, you’ll search in Google and Facebook for competitors and brands that are in your marketplace.

You’ll do the same for the B2B LinkedIn marketplace. And, of course – let’s not forget YouTube. What is your market doing there? You’ll quickly find out if Twitter works better versus Facebook, for example.

You should go where the fish already swimming. It makes little sense to spend time and dollars on Facebook if your audience is highly B2B centric, for example. (Disclaimer: your research is only part of the equation. It’s ok and necessary to “test” markets. Facebook and Google has a powerful advertising platform, for example).

But, all this research and constant watching takes time. Just like driving a car – if you understand what’s under the hood, you’ll be much more agile and knowledgeable when things go wrong. That’s why we recommend a manual approach, so you can learn & see better.

When you are ready, here are some free & paid social media tools that can help you further:

1) SocialMention

2) NetVibes

3) Google Alerts

4) Radian6 (paid) * recently acquired by salesforce.com

5) Synthesio (paid)

6) Tweetdeck

7) Hootsuite

Now that you understand your market better, are able to listen and monitor, the engagement part comes next. We’ll cover that in our next post. How do you communicate and connect in a natural, non-threatening way?

And, make sure to connect with us on Twitter

Related articles social media tools

• The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Marketing (copyblogger.com)
• Does Social Media Performance Vary by Country? [Marketing Cast] (hubspot.com)
• Tools to Effectively Listen and Engage Social Media Fans and Followers: Guide for Local and Small Business Owners [Francene Mullings] (ecademy.com)

Facebook Data.

The most well researched ad won’t do you much good if you don’t take advantage of FaceBook’s reporting and metric functionality.

It isn’t enough to post an ad; you must also take a minute to see what is working and what isn’t.

Facebook metrics make it easy to review ad data and info on users who view or click it.

Understand your environment.

Understanding whom an ad appeals to or who clicks the giant go away button can help you craft more effective ads.

To be effective, review profile information, click through rates, impressions, social likes, and even information on those where your ad was cancelled (stopped). Keep in mind that a low CTR is expected. If you are used to seeing 2-4% click through on Google Adwords for example, don’t expect that for Facebook. The key is to continue the cycle explained in each of the Facebook Guide posts we’ve shared with you.

Testing images, titles and body text and running reports to see how you do will be important. Keep in mind, different times of day will have an impact as well. You can add a special URL tracker to see where the biggest impact (clicks/engagement) happens.

Related articles for Facebook Reporting and Metrics

• Facebook Click-Through Rates Are Below Average and Shrinking (observer.com)
• Facebook Ads Get Half the Clicks of Network Banners (clickz.com)
• The Fallacy of Social Media Evaluation (thesocialweb.co.uk)

After all the thinking and research, it’s finally time to set-up your Facebook ad.

Now the fun really begins.

Use the information developed in steps one and two (links above) as guiding principles as you choose a title, text, a destination URL and a picture for your ad.

Remember!

Your title need to be attention grabbing and less than 25 characters.

Text is even more difficult – 135 characters to reach your goal.

A stunning and representative picture is also critical.

To finish, top off the ad with the destination URL that most represents your company or product!

Find more Facebook Ad setup tips here.

Don’t be afraid to test.

In fact, if you spend too much time analyzing here – you’ll never get out of the starting gate. Testing is key. Run reports daily, and learn what works – and what doesn’t.

When you create ads, make sure you are targeting your audience – in a way that “speaks to them”. Don’t throw sales jargon out there. Be a friend, and use the “friend of friend” feature to have people “Like” your ad as well.

Consider using a Fan Page directly, and test between pages (website and Pages).

Related articles Facebook Setup & Pages

• Facebook Ads Can Now Specify Any Page Landing Tab as a Destination (insidefacebook.com)
• Facebook Rolls Out New Pages Layout (allfacebook.com)
• Facebook Announces New Design and Upgrades to Fan Pages (hubspot.com)

Competitive Research.

Defining goals is only the first step of a successful Facebook ad campaign.

Next, focus on competitive research.  This research plays a role not only in creating targeted ads, but also in creating a feasible budget for ad placement.

Build a competitive analysis by focusing on a couple of factors.

The first is your targeted demographic.

Facebook makes it simple to target almost any group of people you can imagine, so picking the right one is critical.  Next, spend some time researching the language or ‘keywords’ you ad will include.

Competitive research is step two in a winning Facebook campaign. Make sure you understand your audience and target smaller chunks of your demographic – don’t go too broad at first.

Do you know what your competition is doing?

Search for them in Facebook, and check other important social media channels like Twitter, LinkedIn & YouTube. What are they doing there? How are they “inter-linking” social media assets and Facebook. Do they have a Facebook fan page specifically, or just a profile page? How often is content updated? What ads are they running? (if at all)

Related articles on Competitive Facebook Research

• More on Competitive Analysis Using Keyword Opposition to Benefit Score (stuntdubl.com)
• What Are You Doing To Engage Your Facebook Customers? Here Are 5 Tips You Can Do! (socialmediadudes.com)
• Intentional Targeting: Search vs. Facebook (searchenginewatch.com)

If you are looking for more ‘face time’ with potential customers, advertising on Facebook may be great opportunity.

Begin your quest by identifying some workable goals.

Remember that not all ads are driven by the force of the sale.  In fact, a more workable solution may be using Facebook advertisements to generate leads, increase brand awareness or generate increased traffic for a specific page of your site.

Use these goals to help develop text for your ad – always remembering that Facebook limits the number of words you can use.

A successful Facebook strategy always starts with identifying  specific goals. What objectives are you thinking about?

So, what goals have you defined? Here are some examples:

How many leads? How many new likes? How many fan pages? How many ads? What pictures to use? How many new content pieces each day? Contests? Quizzes? What else?

And, goals don’t get met in a day. Space these over time, and make sure you have a process in place to make it happen. Build out a plan for it, including resources if you don’t have it.

Related articles About Facebook Strategies

• Facebook Announces New Design and Upgrades to Fan Pages (hubspot.com)
• How To Create and Optimize a Facebook Content Strategy – Advice from Alison Zarrella (bethkanter.org)
• New Facebook Pages: Everything You Need To Know (allfacebook.com)