There are many online marketing strategies small businesses can use to get ahead of the competition. One strategy is Pinterest marketing, which leverages the popular social media platform that has become one of the most effective promotional sites on the internet.
Even though Pinterest is considered a social media platform, in truth, it operates more like a search engine, similar to Google or Yahoo!. While users can leave comments and like posts, most people use Pinterest as a bookmarking tool to save content for future reference. So, now that you understand how it differs from other social networks like Instagram or Facebook, we can explore how to actually use it to benefit your business.
Why is Pinterest helpful for small businesses?
The answer is simple: Pinterest users are often searching for products and services to buy. When you optimize your content, research keywords that people might use when they’re looking for your type of product or service, then pin it on a board, potential customers will be able to find you more easily.
In addition to providing you with robust data on the types of people engaging with your content (otherwise known as “pins”), Pinterest also helps your company’s website rank higher in search results. This means, if someone conducts a Google search for specific keywords, your “pin” on Pinterest could show up in the search results if it’s been properly optimized. Why is this important? Well, for one – it enables you to reach a larger audience of targeted users who are actively seeking your type of product or service. And secondly, because it can lead to more website traffic, boost lead generation, and lower bounce rates for your company’s site.
If you’re looking to target Millennials, it’s an especially helpful system to leverage, as it’s an increasingly popular platform for marketers because of its popularity with the younger generation, who are more likely to make purchase decisions based on what they see online.
How can Pinterest boost SEO for businesses?
As an example, my lifestyle blog for women (Inspirations & Celebrations) gets over 70 percent of its organic website traffic from Pinterest. That means every month, my blog gets thousands and thousands of new visitors without me having to hustle hard for this valuable traffic. Considering how impactful that is on my site’s overall reach, it makes it one of the smartest ways to drive traffic more easily, turn leads into subscribers or customers, and create a sustainable business online.
To help your small business stand out, here are five Pinterest marketing strategies that will help put you ahead of the competition.
Establish a business account on Pinterest for your company. This is the first step to any Pinterest marketing strategy because it enables you to enter more information about your company, such as its mission statement or the products that are available for purchase.
Optimize your account’s bio and boards with keywords that are relevant to your products or services. Conduct some research into the types of keywords or keyword phrases that your target audience often searches for.
Include links to your website and blog in the description of pins. Whether you’re promoting blog posts or product webpages, it helps to pin various images that link back to your website. The more high-quality pins that you post, the greater the chance of getting discovered by potential customers or clients.
As you pin images that link back to your website, create eye-catching images or graphics that capture attention. Vertical images often perform better than horizontal ones. So, it’s helpful to keep this in mind when creating content.
Don’t be afraid to promote your work
Last but not least, promote your Pinterest profile. Be active on the site and follow other people that are similar to your target demographic. Share your Pinterest profile on your other social networks, encourage existing customers to follow your Pinterest account (by including a link in your email signature).
As you can see, using Pinterest for more than just pinning recipe ideas or home decorating inspiration photos can be a great way to market your business online. In addition to driving brand awareness to a larger audience, it’s one of the best (free) ways to attract your ideal customers or clients.
We are delighted to welcome Elizabeth Sheehan to take part in our next Toolkit session on Tuesday September 28th.
Date: 28th September Time: 10am Location: Online Registration: Here
Elizabeth will share insights on Sustainability and offer advice on how businesses can embrace the challenges we are facing as a planet and be leaders in driving positive change while continuing to focus on sustainable profitable growth.
She will share her top tips on the sustainability challenges businesses and brands can embrace to create purposeful and change driving growth strategies.
Elizabeth Sheehan is a marketing & sustainability consultant who works with companies building sustainable brand and business strategies. She brings her experience in leading global consumer brands and her passion for sustainability to advise leaders & teams by delivering insight, vision & sustainable business plans while also galvanizing people in the organization to take action for a better future.
Having recently held the role of Innovation & Sustainability Director in Suntory Beverage and Foods Europe, she led the drinks sustainability strategy for Europe. Prior to this Elizabeth was Marketing Director for Suntory in Ireland where she led the sustainable profitable growth strategies for soft drinks and Spirits portfolios that includes brands like Lucozade Ribena, Jim Beam, Kilbeggan & Connemara Whiskey and Roku Gin.
Elizabeth also led the marketing of leading brands in Ireland and globally in; Mars, PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard & Allied Domecq. Her roles took her to gain international experience working Spain, Portugal, Brazil & The Netherlands. She is also a board member of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland.
Elizabeth has turned to her experience of innovating to create sustainable future business solutions. She believes in leaving behind a positive imprint on the world, the workplace and teams that she works with.Sourced from The Association of Advertisers in Ireland
Get the creative juices flowing with podcasts on circular design, UX, and a lot more.
The long commute may have been cut short for many of us, but the time Americans spend listening to podcasts is at an all-time high. So is the number of podcasts. With over 2 million to choose from, this is no easy task for those, like me, who want to know everything there is to know, especially when it comes to design. So, here’s a curated list of nine podcasts to get the creative juices flowing. May it help you become better, more creative, and more inspired—whether you’re a designer, or just want to think like one.
Circular with Katie Treggiden
British design writer Katie Treggiden has been championing circular design for years. This is her podcast, in which she explores the intersection of craft, design, and sustainability through interviews with thinkers, doers, and makers of the circular economy. Expect to learn about the culture of mending, modern furniture restoration, and even dying clothes using food waste.
Design Review
This one is for the UX design geeks out there. Every other week, two designers—Chris Liu and Jonathan Shariat—discuss one design principle and connect it to their own experience in the field. From devious dark patterns to the Ikea effect to designing for peace of mind, the scope will surprise you, even if you’re not a UX designer.
Scratching the Surface
Design meets theory meets practice. Hosted by Jarrett Fuller, a designer, writer and educator, whose MFA thesis led to the creation of this podcast, each episode features wide-ranging conversations about the role of design in shaping culture. Expect insightful interviews with a who’s who of design voices, including New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman, MoMA design curator Paola Antonelli, and Dori Tunstall, a design anthropologist and the dean of design at Ontario College of Art and Design University.
Design Matters
Design Matters is one of the first and longest-running podcasts dedicated to design. For 15 years, Debbie Millman’s interviewing style has brought out the best in her guests, from Milton Glaser—the master designer of the I ♥ NY logo—to pastry chef and Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi. The takeaway? Design Matters . . . matters.
Design Lab with Bon Ku
The pandemic has brought to our attention just how interlinked design and health are. This is where this podcast fits in. Launched in September 2020 by physician and host Bon Ku, Design Lab has grown into a popular show about how design can help us live better, with topics that range from designing for equity to designing childbirth.
Material Matters with Grant Gibson
Many designers, makers, and artists have a special relationship with a particular material. This is a podcast about that bond, and about how certain craft skills or materials can shape an entire career. Hosted by design writer and critic Grant Gibson, the show features in-depth interviews with a variety of creatives, such as architect Sarah Wigglesworth on building with straw, and designer Tom Dixon on welding.
Design Thinking 101
What is design thinking and how can you apply it to your goals and challenges? The host is Dawan Stanford, who teaches design thinking at Elon University. Every episode explores different ways to learn from challenges—like designing for trauma and vulnerable populations—and overcome them by applying design thinking and related innovation approaches. Tune in, and you’ll hear an array of stories, lessons, ideas, and resources from guests in fields as varied as business, education, government, and healthcare.
The Design of Business
This podcast from Design Observer runs the gamut. Each show brings in people from a range of industries, from music and retail to technology. There’s the global executive creative director at Coursera. The lead costume designer for the Netflix series Bridgerton. And the president of the Rhode Island School of Design. All of them are creative professionals, yet each of them uses creativity in different ways.
99% Invisible
Bad design stands out like a sore thumb; good design goes unnoticed. That’s the premise of this podcast, hosted by Roman Mars. From the surprising history of curb cuts to the dangers of a one-size-fits-all culture, the show explores the way design pervades every aspect of modern life, and the takeaways will stay with you for months, if not years.
While Airbnb is usually a better option than staying at a hotel, people staying at vacation rentals have experienced their share of inconveniences after putting their faith in the temporary lodgings they found online.
Many vacationers renting an Airbnb have dealt with various setbacks—including unforeseen cancellations, owners dropping by without warning, and unlivable circumstances.
Hidden cameras have now become another frequent complaint, adding to a vacationer’s list of “I never signed up for this.”
Marcus Hutchins, a.k.a. TikToker @malewaretech, is a former hacker with 117K followers on the video-sharing app who made a video demonstrating how to detect hidden cameras in their vacation rental accommodations.
“So here’s how to spot hidden cameras in Airbnb or hotel,” said Hutchins in the viral video.
“The first thing you are going to want to look for is devices that are conveniently placed where a creeper would want to look,” he said.
Hutchins directed our attention to an inconspicuous device above our heads in a staged room made to look like an Airbnb for purposes of the demonstration.
“Take this fire alarm, for instance. It is placed right above the bed. One way to see if the device is a camera is to shine a bright light at it.”
“If you hit a camera lens, it’s going to get a blue-ish reflection.”
“Now you can test this by shining a light at your phone and seeing how the camera looks when placed under a flashlight.”
@malwartech/TikTok
Next, he showed another unassuming device in the room, typically placed on a bedside table.
“This alarm clock is mirrored but if we shine a bright light at it, we can see through the glass and see there is a camera there.”
“This technique can also work on two-way mirrors.”
@malwartech/TikTok
He added:
“These cameras are really small as you can see here, so they can be hidden in anything, even a hole in the wall.”
Hutchins said the alarm clock was powered by a USB cord, and its charger plugged into the wall was also a camera.
@malwartech/TikTok
While the clip—which racked up 5.5 million views—attempted to be helpful, it produced an unintended effect on some TikTokers.
Links drive rankings — that’s one thing that technical SEOs, content marketers, digital PR folks, and even some of #SEOTwitter can agree on. But which rankings, and for which pages on your website?
If you’ve ever wanted to build links that impact rankings for specific pages on your website, we’ve got the guide for you.
Selecting pages for a targeted-impact link building campaign
Preparing a link building campaign often involves helping the client refine their goals in order to be able to effectively measure the campaign. The first step is typically level-setting based on what we can learn from available data.
Comparing link metrics against top competitors will help us size up the competition. Layered against estimated traffic, Page Authority, and SEO “difficulty”, and we’re able to better understand the opportunity. While this isn’t particularly complex or inaccessible, it’s likely deeper than the client has gone, and very often they’re happy to move forward with data-informed recommendations.
If we were preparing a link building campaign for Moz, for example, we might pre-select some sections of the site to focus on in the analysis.
Suppose we start with /products/, /tools/ the beginners guide pages (love those), and a few others that jump out. Here are a few pages from that list:
From here, we would compile a list of competitors based on top keywords for each of the pages. That will let us compare average metrics across the top competitors to the metrics for Moz’s pages.
This dataset represents the top 10 competitors from the top 10 keywords for each of Moz’s pages. Once compiled, we’ll have 90-100 rows of competitor data, give or take, depending on where Moz ranks for each page in the list. We can average the competitor data to make it easy to compare, and spot-check from there to look for outliers, or filter out branded or stray keywords we don’t want to compete for anyway:
Now it’s time to look for opportunities. We can eye-ball the metrics in a shortlist like this, but if we’re looking at hundreds or thousands of pages (even after filtering it down), this gets a little cumbersome. Prioritizing the pages will help us look more quickly through the list and find the best opportunities.
In a scenario where it’s a short pilot program, some of these competitors have scary-high linking root domains, and we’re going to have an idea of a monthly budget to set our pilot up for success by not biting off more than we can chew.
So, we’ll add a couple columns to help some of these stand out. To help find the low-hanging fruit, we might look at the relationship to the gap in linking root domains of the competition and our potential campaign page, and the search volume from those top 10 keywords:
By dividing the link gap into the search volume, we can look at higher priority pages for the campaign based on the probability of reducing the linking root domain gap, in order to improve the client’s share of voice on high-converting pages.
Adding rank-order to the rows will help us look at the best potential opportunities:
From this group of pages, the Moz Pro product page seems to be a pretty tasty candidate. We might stay away from the free SEO tools page since, well, “free” doesn’t necessarily scream REVENUE, but it’s worth a conversation to verify. The same can be said for a couple of those beginner guide pages as well.
Even if none end up in the campaign, we’ll still be able to assess the link gap for pages that ARE the targets, and help steer Moz towards effective linking choices
After a few refinements, we’ll have a very solid set of potential campaign pages to recommend!
Finding your most-impactful audience
We build out our model of audience based on the specific client URL that we’re building links to. So, for sales pages, we’re thinking about where, how, when, and why that product or service fits into the customer’s life. What are its various contexts of use? What circumstances or conditions benefit from the use of this offering?
The offering’s contexts of use are intrinsically relevant to the target URL, whether or not the same keyword is used to describe them. For example, if we target the Moz Pro page identified above, we’d start asking ourselves: “when is it that agencies and in-house SEOs start thinking about SEO tools?”
Perhaps we explore that point where someone has to pick up the SEO projects left behind by someone whose career has taken them elsewhere. What’s the checklist like for following behind another SEO? Additionally, what about an SEO crash course for folks who suddenly find themselves in charge of an SEO department (we’ve spoken with people in this situation before). Both of these scenarios could give ample reason and circumstance to mention SEO tools. For either of these examples, an expert survey, expert interviews, and off-site informational placements could enable contextual linking opportunities.
Let’s step outside of the SEO space though and think about insurance sales pages. We could begin mapping out the circumstances and events in life as one decides to seek insurance: Events like having your first child, becoming an independent contractor, buying a home, having a cardiac-related scare, etc.
From these “use-case brainstorms”, we work up into problem areas — and related queries — that the target audience might be having. These give us a basis for discovering publishers that align the audience of the target page with its contexts of usage. For Moz, we’d likely focus on marketing trade pubs — SEO or not. For the insurance pages, we’d likely start with parenting blogs, health/fitness publishers, websites relating to starting a business, and potentially realtor sites.
For good measure, we frequently examine high ranking pages in the target keyword space to learn more about what we call the “linking context” for a given set of keywords. We’re especially focused on the titles of linking pages. This gives instant insight into topics that make sense for prospect discovery. We usually find things like long form guides, tons of coupon pages, review sites, forums, etc. — all of this gives us a better sense of the linking context.
Combined, use-case brainstorms and linking context analysis help us build out a full picture of the audiences and key problems that will lead us to suitable publishers.
Link outreach
Outreach is simple. Well, sort of.
If you understand what the publisher wants, which is ultimately related to how they make a living, then you figure out how to pitch and deliver just that.
If you’re in the digital PR space pitching journalists, you’re pitching your ability to drive “audience engagement” (as we’ve picked up from Neomam CEO, Gisele Navarro). So your subject line and offer need to clearly drip with page views, click-throughs, and social shares. And your content has to deliver. After all, with the high content costs involved you’ll need to reuse your contacts!
If you’re in broken link building (and to a lesser extent, a tactic like unlinked mentions), you’re offering “visitor experience improvements” to a webmaster or page curator who’s dedicated to a particular audience. With this in mind, your subject line and offer (a fix) must demonstrate value to the target audience, as well as mention the impact the broken link could have on an expectant visitor in need.
We find that when pitching guest content, especially to sales-supported publishers, we see higher conversions when we pitch topics that will help drive the publisher’s traffic or conversions. You can learn more about our guest content approach in this Whiteboard Friday, but again, we lean into pitching “publishing benefits” to the site owner.
So your key question: what is this person’s purpose for publishing to their particular audience? Knowing this helps you determine an offer that will resonate, and earn you a link.
One last bit of advice on outreach: avoid directly implementing subject lines, templates, etc. from other experts. Be inspired by the experts, but remember that their advice involves very specific offers, audiences, and publishers, and they are unlikely to align with your actual circumstances. Study them, for sure, but only for understanding general guidelines.
A quick word on link building tactics
Every functional link building tactic earns its links by meeting the target publisher’s unstated “price” for reaching their audience.
The publisher’s cost can certainly be money, but in the earned link space, we’re usually talking about supplying publishers with value such as exclusive news and information, previously unstated but highly useful advice, articles that could help them sell more products or services, and useful corrections that shore up authority.
We’re reminded, as we discuss value exchange, of a campaign by the link builder Debra Mastaler, in which she offered a cement client’s t-shirt to the members of several dues-supported professional organizations. She not only earned links from the organization websites (who got to provide a “special perk” to their members), but earned business and, of course, brand visibility within their precise target audience. Wow!
So, while a free t-shirt may not work in all verticals, Mastaler reminds us of the most overlooked aspect of link building campaigns: finding publishers who reach your target audience and asking “okay, what can we offer that they will actually want?”. Creative, entrepreneurial thinking — perhaps you could call it marketing instinct? — remains the link builder’s most important tactic.
That said, reviewing the existing array of link building tactics can be very useful, especially as you’re starting out, just as a budding chef spends time reading cookbooks to understand key ingredients and guiding principles. And as it is for the budding chef, your greatest lessons will come from the hours spent in the kitchen, working on your craft.
Check out this graphic for a quick overview of some of the more common tactics and their relationships between the publishers and your desired SEO outcomes:
Measurable link building wins
This is one of the most challenging aspects of a campaign for myriad reasons.
It’s also one of the most effective ways to retain clients, or budget, if you’re on the in-house side.
There are a number of ways to track the performance of a link building campaign, but which methods are chosen largely depends on the tactics deployed. In our case, we’re focused on the content side, and specialize in earning placements to hard-to-link sales landing pages. We approach our measurements of success from the perspective of SEO-related metrics that will show both leading indicators of improvements, and the right performance indicators once we have had impact.
Early on in a campaign, we often see a worsening of average position. The cause of this is typically new keywords ranking on the campaign page. Because the page initially begins to rank on SERP #7 or #8, this will initially pull down the average rank of the page, even if the rank for established keywords is improving.
This graph underscores one of the risks of focusing too heavily on rank as the primary success metric. While average position (the purple line) shows a decline in average position, we can see in the stacked columns that not only is the total number of ranking keywords growing, it’s also growing nicely in positions 1-3 (the blue segment at the top), as well as positions 4-10 (the orange segment 2nd from top). Just not enough to keep up with newly ranking keywords further down in the SERPs.
Correlating ranking changes to ranking keyword count was paramount to continuing this campaign.
While we track and report on average position over time, we certainly don’t lead with it. Instead, we focus on metrics that more directly correlate to traffic and conversions, which positions us for demonstrating positive ROI of the campaign.
The metrics that matter for us are share of voice (a search volume-weighted CTR model) and Moz Page Authority.
Share of voice
The benefit for us of prioritizing share of voice over ranking is that it normalizes dramatic shifts in time series reports based on ranking fluctuations from low-volume queries. Ranking reports, as we all know, can be a serious roller coaster.
Share of voice, on the other hand, aligns with an estimated traffic model, expressed as a percentage of total traffic for the keyword set.
As seen in the graph above, we also include a control group: a second set of pages on the site that are not part of the campaign (and preferably not part of any concerted SEO effort). This second set of pages is chosen from similar sections of the site and from similarly ranking and visited pages when possible, to measure the success of our link building campaign against.
While the graph above does indicate positive growth just with the bars, when we determine the percentage difference between our campaign pages and the control group, the results are even more dramatic.
Page Authority
Another critical metric is Moz Page Authority, which is often another early indicator of imminent success. We sometimes see Page Authority increase even before we see improvement to rankings and share of voice.
And again, tracking against a control group helps to underscore the value of our work.
Another benefit of Page Authority: Third party validation of the direct impact of our work.
While many factors outside of the scope of our link building campaign may affect rank, such as core algorithm updates, gaps in page content, topic misalignment or technical issues inhibiting Google’s full valuation of the page), a metric that is best influenced by “improving a page’s link profile by… getting external links”, aligns very well with our offering.
And hey, we think using a third party metric to validate the hard work we’re doing for our clients is pretty okay in our book (now in its second edition!).
Garrett has been in the marketing, writing & link building business since 2001. He brainstorms strategy for all Citation Labs Agency clients and turns the team’s internal processes into Citation Labs Tools.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is intimidating for newcomers, and I totally understand why. SEO requires your attention in multiple areas; you’ll need to improve your website, write content, research the competition, build links, and take care of a hundred other responsibilities. On top of that, you’ll need the experience to do all of these actions — well — and you’ll need to jump through hoops to stay current with the latest Google algorithm changes.
Outsource Your SEO Strategy the Right Way
Accordingly, most businesses that practice SEO end up outsourcing it in some way, either by hiring an agency or working with contractors. While this can be an effective strategy for supporting your SEO campaign, it can also work against you — so it pays to be cautious and do your research.
How SEO Outsourcing Goes Wrong
Let’s start by identifying some of the most critical ways that SEO outsourcing can fail.
Black hat practices and penalties. Some agencies build their business around “black hat” tactics. In the SEO world, that means using techniques like spamming links, writing low-quality content at high volumes, and even keyword stuffing. In some cases, these tactics can get you a short-term gain – just long enough for your contracting agency to cash the check. But in all cases, eventually, you’re going to face a Google penalty for doing this, ultimately negating any benefits you might have gotten along the way.
Scams and lack of work. Some companies don’t really exist; they’re shell organizations meant only to scam you out of money. For example, someone might claim they’re “optimizing your site,” but they might not actually be doing anything. These outright scams tend to be rare in the SEO community, but they can result in a total loss.
Cost and value. It’s also important to consider the balance between cost and true value. High-quality SEO services are necessarily expensive since it takes expertise, time, workforce, and other resources to execute effectively. But if you’re stuck paying $10,000 per month for SEO services, and you only see $9,800 in value, that’s not a good trade. SEO is a strategy that’s truly worth investing in, but if you’re not careful, you could end up paying too much when outsourcing.
Researching Potential Partners
So how can you prevent these problems?
Your best option is to seriously research your prospective outsourcing partners before hiring anyone. Generally, you’ll have two main options for who to hire:
Agencies. SEO agencies tend to be a bit more expensive. But, in exchange, you’ll typically have access to a bigger roster of experts – and support for every step of the SEO process. You’ll also typically have your own account manager and built-in guarantees to make sure you’re satisfied with the work that’s done.
Contractors. Contractors tend to be less expensive and more flexible. You can hire individual contractors to help you with specific needs, like link building or writing, or mix and match to build your own team. Either way, you might save money – but you’ll also need to expend more effort and face higher risks.
Whichever direction you go — you’ll want to research the following in every prospective hire:
Expertise. What kind of expertise does this potential partner have? Are they new to the SEO industry, or does the team have decades of combined experience? Are they familiar with your company and your industry, or is their experience mostly from a general background?
Services offered/high-level strategy. Figure out what services this partner offers and what kind of high-level strategy they’re going to follow. If they can’t answer your questions in this area, or if they try to avoid the subject, it’s a bad sign. Any SEO practitioner worth working with will explain the entire process to you and work to convince you that they’re capable of creating high-quality work. Good SEO strategies are a mix of technical onsite improvements, quality content generation, and value-focused link building with authoritative publishers. Link spamming and content spamming simply aren’t going to work.
Quality of work. You’ll also need to do your own investigating to figure out what quality of work this individual or organization is capable of. The best way to find this out is to ask to see examples. What are some examples of the best content this organization has written? What are some of the best live links currently pointing back to their site? If you’re not satisfied with this component, you may need to move onto someone else.
Reviews and testimonials. Next, look at the reviews and testimonials about this company left by its previous clients. Generally, when an agency or contractor follows black hat practices or scams people out of money, they have a cascade of bad reviews to show for it. Of course, good reviews and good testimonials aren’t a guarantee that you’ll get great service, but it’s a promising sign.
Past results. In line with this, see if you can get proof of past results. For example, does this agency or contractor evidence the ranking increases they’ve gotten for other clients in the past? New professionals in this industry still have a chance of getting good results for you, but you’re better off working with someone who has a long track record of success.
Communication. Reach out to promising candidates you’ve found throughout your research and start talking to the account managers and professionals who will be responsible for managing your campaign. Are they polite, prompt, and articulate? If so, it’s a great sign that you’re going to get the customer service you deserve.
Price. Of course, you’ll also need to think about the price of the services you’re getting. A company may check all the boxes above, but they may not be worth it if their service packages are too pricey.
The Working Relationship
Researching and hiring the right partner is a great first step, but you’ll also need to invest in the working relationship to see good results.
Push for transparency. A transparent SEO outsourcing agreement is ideal. You should be able to see everything your SEO partner is doing, down to the words they write for offsite content and the backend code changes they make to your website. If your agency or contractor refuses to report on their work, or if you’re not sure what they’re doing, consider it a red flag.
Insist on regular reporting. It’s also important to insist on regular reporting. Your partner should be showing you not just the work they’re actively doing on behalf of your brand, but also the results they’re getting you. How have your rankings changed over time? How much traffic is your website getting? Combine these metrics with your onsite sales and conversion statistics to calculate your overall return on investment (ROI).
Ask questions. If you don’t understand something, don’t assume that your SEO expert is taking care of it – or even that they know more than you. Ask questions. The more you learn about SEO in the process, the better you’ll be able to direct and make decisions about your campaign. And if your partner can’t answer a question or if they dodge a question, it might be a sign of trouble to come.
Hold the team accountable.
Finally, hold the team (or individual) accountable for their results. For example, if you drop in rankings for a specific keyword, ask them what they’re going to do about it. If you’re not getting the results, you wanted after several months of work, push them to make up the difference or give you a partial refund.
Conclusion
Outsourcing SEO can be incredibly valuable. In a best-case scenario, you’ll get to tap into some of the most creative and experienced minds in the industry while supporting your site with white hat tactics and saving money in the process.
But the worst-case scenario should be enough to scare you into doing your due diligence well in advance. In addition, not all SEO companies will give you a return on your investment (ROI), so keep that in mind during your research.
Timothy Carter is the Chief Revenue Officer of the Seattle digital marketing agency SEO.co, DEV.co & PPC.co. He has spent more than 20 years in the world of SEO and digital marketing leading, building and scaling sales operations, helping companies increase revenue efficiency and drive growth from websites and sales teams. When he’s not working, Tim enjoys playing a few rounds of disc golf, running, and spending time with his wife and family on the beach — preferably in Hawaii with a cup of Kona coffee. Follow him on Twitter @TimothyCarter
B2B brands have the opportunity to leverage content marketing as a way of reaching their target audience and gaining new customers. But it’s not as simple as writing a few blog posts, posting them on your website and hoping for the best. A content marketing strategy is essential to generating those leads that turn into loyal consumers, educating your audience, building brand awareness and building credibility.
So do you have a content marketing strategy? If not, don’t worry—you’re not alone. According to the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, only 41% of survey respondents currently have a documented content marketing strategy in place.
If you’re interested in building an effective B2B content marketing strategy but you’re not quite sure where to get started, we can help. Below, we’ve created a guide to help you get started with your strategy as a B2B marketer and curate content that helps with lead generation, creating a loyal audience and building revenue.
B2B Content Marketing: What Makes It Unique?
Before you can get started with content marketing, it’s important to understand how it comes into play from a B2B perspective. B2B marketing derives from a strategy or content that is made specifically for a business. Typically, this refers to an organization that sells some type of product or service. In comparison, B2C marketing works for companies that are targeting individual consumers who are making purchases for themselves.
Goals for B2B marketing vs B2C marketing differ greatly, as HubSpot explained in this example:
In B2B marketing, customers want ROI and expertise. When it comes to B2C content, customers want deals and entertainment. That means the latter needs to be more fun, and the former needs to be more educational and logical.
If you’re a B2B company and you’re putting all of your focus on advertising, now’s a good time to consider adding creative content to your collateral. According to Demand Metric, 70% of people would prefer to learn about a company through content like a blog post or article in comparison to a typical advertisement.
Creating Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy: 10 Steps to Success
So maybe you’re on board with the idea of content marketing, but you’re not sure where to get started. Don’t fret—we’ve created a step-by-step guide to creating a B2B content marketing strategy and executing it properly:
1. Define Your Overall Goals
Your content marketing strategy should be built with purpose. Setting goals in the early stages can help you bring your business to life. We recommend following the SMART process when coming up with your goals:
Specific. Don’t be broad, hone in on exactly what it is you want to achieve.
Measurable. What does your business’ success mean to you, and how will this motivate you to move forward?
Achievable. Are there going to be blockades keeping you from achieving your goals, or are they truly attainable?
Relevant. Your goals should not only be realistic, but make sense regarding your business strategy.
Time-bound. How long is it going to take to achieve your goals, and does this timeline work for you?
Using these criteria as the blueprint to your content marketing strategy can make it easier to envision the bigger picture during the beginning stages of the process.
2. Understand Your Audience and Create Buyer Personas
Who are you creating content for? How are you going to resonate with your target audience? What does your potential buyer want to get out of visiting your website?
Getting to know the individuals who are paying close attention to you, your products and services all starts with creating a buyer persona. Essentially, a buyer persona is a fictional character created to represent a person who would be interested in your product.
This fictional representation is curated by market research and data collected about your customers in an effort to create as real of a person in this scenario as you possibly can. Individual buyer personas should include demographic information, job role, as well as specific goals and challenges this decision-maker faces. Creating buyer personas will give you a better idea of how to create your message and who you need to tailor it to.
3. Create a Brand Voice
Does your brand have a certain style that sets you apart from your competitors? Creating a distinct voice and tone will give you the leverage to stand out in your industry. Decide what your brand’s personality will be in written format, whether it’s educational and serious or humorous and relatable. Tone is something that offers more flexibility, as it can be used in content based on specific buyer personas. Think about it this way: Your tone isn’t going to be the same in a short blurb as it would be in a white paper.
4. Map Out the Customer Journey
Now that you’ve established a strong foundation for your brand in general, it’s time to think about how you’ll leverage your company to bring in customers through the sales funnel. This takes place after putting forth lead generation efforts; it’s where your potential customers start at the top and come out as loyal clients. Also known as a marketing funnel, this is where your customers start their journey with you and are welcomed to explore what your business has to offer. As they get to the middle, you nurture them and guide them toward the bottom where they can start the beginning stages of a sale.
The sales funnel isn’t a one-size-fits-all template. In fact, we put together a list of different examples to consider for your own business. Take a look and decide which makes the most sense for your content marketing strategy.
5. Understand What Your Competitors are Doing
While most of your focus should be on bringing customers in, you still need to pay attention to your competitors. With a strong understanding of what they’re doing, you can be better prepared to face them in your industry and learn how to provide potential customers with a better product or service. A simple way to do this is by benchmarking, which the American Productivity & Quality Centre defines as a way to measure your own key business metrics and practices and compare them to your competitors. This gives you an inside look at what’s working for them and what isn’t, which can give you the upper hand to better define the industry standard.
6. Brainstorm with Your Content Team
With the backend research in the palm of your hand, it’s time to get together with your team of content creators and assess the content types you want to move forward with. Brainstorming sessions can come in handy when it comes to collaboration among a content team, and this can involve keyword research, topic generation and choosing content format options.
7. Create a Content Strategy Blueprint
After brainstorming with the team of creators, it’s time to move forward with your specific content types. It’s important to be flexible throughout your strategy, however—down the line, you may find that a content audit and ROI shows one content format is producing better results for you than another, which can ultimately guide the future of your process. Having a flexible blueprint will keep you organized and prepared to navigate a different route if necessary.
Content types to consider include:
Blogs
Whitepapers
eBooks
Case studies
Infographics
Newsletters
Press releases
Webinars
Remember: Your content marketing plan can change over time; limiting yourself to only a few different content formats could hold you back from reaching your goals. Consider having these content types in rotation in a content calendar over a certain period of time if you want to explore the different opportunities of each option.
8. Execute Your Strategy and Start Creating Content
Now that your complete strategy is in writing, it’s time to bring your content marketing efforts to fruition. By now, you’re ready to take those content ideas and bring them to life. While content creation itself can be a strenuous task, it can also be considered the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of your content marketing strategy.
It’s where all of your hard work is put to the test: Did you properly educate your team on buyer personas? Was your keyword research and topic selection on point? All of these questions will be answered in the coming months after putting your content out there, but first, you need to put the pen to paper (or, fingertips to keyboard) and get to work!
9. Promote Your Content
Once your content is squeaky clean, keyword-targeted and ready for your target audience, it’s time to publish and promote. This can involve sending out an email blast, posting to social media, or creating targeted ads to get more eyes on your content. How you choose to promote your content should align with your specific goals of the strategy, but the more eyes on your work, the better!
10. Measure the ROI
Now, it’s time to see if your quality content performed as well as planned. The final stage of your content marketing strategy should involve a content performance check, or a content audit to measure the ROI and effectiveness of your content creation process.
In content marketing, ROI shows how much revenue was gained after executing your digital marketing plan in comparison to the amount of money that was spent during the strategy and creation phases. Measuring ROI over a lengthy period of time can be difficult, but it can be simplified by measuring metrics every couple of months to determine if you created engaging content that’s reaching your target audience. We recommend tracking metrics such as:
Website traffic.
CTA click-through rates.
Keyword rankings.
Conversion rates.
Shares on social media platforms.
How to Tell if Your Content Marketing Strategy is Working
Measuring your ROI comes in many different forms, as we detail above. But one of the most important aspects many tend to overlook is maintaining your content strategy over time, or choosing to take a different approach based on the outlook of your current plan in place. A content marketing strategy doesn’t have to be static—with so many different moving parts, there’s always an opportunity to play around with different plans until you find something that works for your business.
You might even reach a point where you don’t think you’re capable of creating a strategy that enables you to reach your goals. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Remember: Outsourcing content marketing is always an option as well. Content Marketing Institute’s research found that 50% of its survey respondents outsource at least some of their content marketing to an agency.
If you’re considering this route, make sure to find a content marketing company that will go above and beyond to get to know your brand. Get an understanding of what they have to offer, ask for samples of writing, video and animation and speak with the content creators themselves if possible. Oh, and don’t forget to browse their website for case studies, testimonials and success stories to seal the deal (hint hint, click the link!)
No matter how you approach your B2B content strategy, just remember to be open minded, take industry trends into consideration and be willing to play around with your process. Starting your strategy is only the beginning—over time, you’ll have the opportunity to experiment, improve your research methods and transform with the world of content marketing.
Chelsey Church is a senior writer and editor at Brafton. When she’s not turning her thoughts into copy, she’s enjoying a craft beer, playing with her dogs or listening to her favourite metal tunes. A Cleveland native, she’ll never let you forget that the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead.
One of the best goals to set for yourself, if you intend to start an online business, is to have income streams that generate that income passively for you.
Passive income means that you are not constantly having to work hard to generate revenue, but instead you work smart and productively. There are many ways to earn passive income, some are completely passive while others (like owning an online business) become more passive over time.
One of the simplest, but most effective elements you should consider creating as part of your online business is a blog.
Although it is not essential, you will find those businesses which have a blog will generate increased revenues, have more loyal followers and customers, and the blog allows them to create additional passive income.
Where To Begin
Before you start your blog, and indeed your online business, you should determine which niche or niches you want them to target. You can take several approaches to this, with the first being to have them in a niche that you know very well and are reasonably passionate about, such as a hobby you follow. This can work and will certainly be easier in the beginning as you will have an idea of what subjects to blog about.
The danger is that no matter how passionate you are about the niche, if it is not one which lends itself to an online business, you are going to struggle to generate any income. For example, you might know all there is to know about competitive duck herding (Yes, that is a genuine hobby) but in all reality, there is hardly going to be an audience to which you could blog, let alone promote products to and generate an income.
Instead, you want to choose a niche that is proven to have a large and captive audience, and more importantly, a niche which is proven to buy products online. .
Creating Your Blog
By far the most popular platform that bloggers use on their website is WordPress. This is a content management system that you install on your website, and which makes it extremely easy to create, post, and edit your blog content.
Most importantly, using WordPress on your website gives you multiple options with which you can promote your content, encourage others to share it and most importantly build up the loyal following you need to consume your content on regular basis. After choosing a CMS, you will want to find a hosting platform for your blog. Make sure you pick one with great reviews like HostGator or a handful of others.
Once you have your blog set up, do not go in all guns blazing trying to promote offers, or sell something. That is the quickest way to kill your blog before it even gets started. Instead, introduce yourself, say a little a bit about why you are interested in the niche you have chosen, and finish it by asking those who read your posts to leave their comments.
Continue posting every day to start with, as this will help your blog get noticed quicker by the search engines, especially Google. As you proceed, the hope will be that as you add more content it starts to get shared, and when other websites start linking to it, your search engine ranking will continue to improve. As a result, you’ll start getting ever-increasing numbers of visitors to your blog.
Content Automation
Bear in mind that you do not want to just post written content, so video and audio posts should also be used. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of having to create a lot of content is the amount of time it can take. If you want to earn passive income, that cause is hardly helped if you have to spend hours each week creating it.
Regardless of which format your posts take, you should be looking at ways with which you can automate your blog. One of the simplest ways to do this is to employ someone to create and post the content for you. By outsourcing this part of your business, you will free up a lot of time. The cost of doing this can be comparatively low, especially when compared to what you consider an hour of your time to be worth.
There are websites, like Fiverr, where you can employ freelance writers, voice artists, and video makers, who can produce exceptional high-quality content for you, for hourly rates, or one-off fees, that often have to be seen to be believed. With your freelancers doing all this work, you can focus on those parts of your business that generate the income.
Passive Income Streams From Blogging
With your blog well established within your niche and attracting lots of visitors, you should now have the opportunity to use it to support and complement your income-generating activities. You should also have created social media groups and pages, created an email list by placing an opt-in box on your blog, and occasionally post promotional blog posts which review products you are happy to endorse.
These promotional posts will form parts of your affiliate marketing strategy, whereby you earn a commission each time something you recommend is purchased via a link you have in your blog post. You can also promote affiliate products via your social media accounts too. For example, you can make a Facebook post recommending a product or service and do likewise on Twitter.
‘For Sale – One Blog, One Previous, Wealthy Owner’
The ultimate way in which your blog can earn you a passive income of a sort, is to sell it. Depending on the revenue that you generate from all your affiliate promotions, and any of your own products which you use it to promote, there are buyers who will pay a very high multiple of that figure.
It is not unknown for websites with a proven monthly income of just a few thousand dollars to be bought for a six-figure sum. While that would mean that your blog is no longer yours and therefore not earning you a passive income anymore, undoubtedly the $100k+ that you may have pocketed will be more than enough to encourage you to start again … and not forgetting you still have the passive income from your Twitter accounts.
If you want to run a successful business, you need the right motivation. Remembering your reason for starting a business may help. Some go into business for enjoyment, others for financial freedom. There is no wrong answer. But members of the online small business community can help you make the most of yours with these tips.
Reconnect with Your Why
Every entrepreneur has a reason for going into business. But everyone’s is a bit different. Reconnecting to this purpose may help you stay motivated through the difficult stretches. This Future of Business and Tech post features an interview with Melinda Emerson on this subject.
Make Ends Meet While Living on a Tight Budget
Supporting your family is one of the best motivators for running a business. But the early years may still be lean. To support both your business and your life, follow the tips in this Work At Home Woman post by Courtney Stich.
Find Your Non-Negotiables
Lots of business owners put up with less than ideal interactions from clients and/or team members. But firm boundaries are important as well. In this Strella Social Media post, Rachel Strella discusses how to outline and communicate your non-negotiables.
Create a Successful Knowledge-Sharing Culture
Running a small business provides plenty of learning opportunities. If you have a team, there may be even more chances for you all to learn from one another. But you need to facilitate a culture that supports this. Learn more in this Small Biz Daily post by Chris Buttenham.
Follow These Digital Marketing Tips to Grow Your New Business
When you’re just starting out, all the different marketing options may seem overwhelming. But keeping your end goals in mind can help. Bernard M. Miller explores some digital marketing options in this Moss Media post. And the BizSugar community discussed the ideas here.
Chart Your Customer Journey
Serving customers is an excellent motivation for running a business. But to do this successfully, you need to understand their behaviour. Charting the customer journey may help. Dorian Travers shares one way to do so in this GrowMap post.
Foster a Positive Work Environment
Lots of entrepreneurs start their own ventures so they can actually enjoy the work they do. As you hire, fostering a positive work environment can help both you and your team with this goal. Read about how to do this in this Noobpreneur post by Ivan Widjaya.
Choose Between Blogging and Content Marketing
Blogging and content marketing both allow you to share your passions with readers and customers. But there are differences between these two concepts. Understanding each one can help you pick what’s best for your specific goals. Mike Allton of Blogging Brute elaborates here.
Learn About Content Curation
If you do utilize content marketing for your business, get familiar with curation. This strategy becomes much easier when you have a specific vision in mind for your brand. Claudia Bird shares more in this Blogging Wizard post. And BizSugar members elaborated here.
Create a Brand Strategy for Your Goals
Once you understand the motivation and purpose of your business, you need to create a brand to match. This Crowdspring post by Ross Kimbarovsky features a simple guide to help business owners create a brand strategy.
If you’d like to suggest your favourite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community roundup, please send your news tips to: [email protected].
Sometimes, it can feel like online marketing is like throwing money into a bottomless pit. Social media ads, while useful, can get expensive and your budget may not support much experimentation. Creating an SEO friendly blog is a free solution to new customers.
Online marketing can get expensive, especially if you are a small business with not a lot of room in your budget. For many business owners that are just starting out, it is not realistic to spend hundreds of dollars every week on new ads that may or may not convert. Savvy business owners can save money by starting a blog on their website to gain traffic organically.
Your website is already a big advertisement for your product, and you just need potential customers to get there to sell it. Creating a SEO-friendly blog on your website is a way to get more customers to come flocking to you without spending a dime.
One business that does this very well is Grammarly. Grammarly is a company that sells software that helps improve your grammar and readability of documents. If you Google different common grammatical questions, Grammarly is typically among the first results.
The post should answer the question you searched, and then subtly advertise your product within the answer to the question. One example is if you search for “is year old hyphenated”, one of the first results is this article: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/year-old-hyphen/. The article answers the question in great detail, but it also weaves in many ads for their product seamlessly. Readers will be satisfied with the content of the article as it answers their question, and they will also be informed of the product that Grammarly is selling.
Blog posts should cover topics that you think your customers would be interested in, and they should have valuable content as this will be your potential customer’s first impression of your company. If your business sells coffee, you would not create blog posts about how to effectively mow your lawn, but you might create a post detailing how to properly clean your coffee machine.
The hardest part about starting a blog is just that; starting. Once you start publishing your blog posts on your website, they will stay there as long as you keep them there, consistently bringing you traffic.
Creating a blog is not going to miraculously give you a huge increase in sales, nor is it a replacement to more traditional marketing methods, but it is a great addition to your marketing strategy and the benefits will slowly increase over time. The best thing you can do to increase your exposure to more potential customers without breaking the bank is to start a blog, and to start it NOW. The longer you wait, the longer it’ll take for results to happen.
Feature Image Credit: Image par Photo Mix de Pixabay
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