How to keep your digital estate on-track

Digital Marketing Managers are tasked with looking after an ever increasing number of online assets. 

Here are my tips for the key functions to monitor - keeping performance on track and ensuring a seamless online journey for customers.

Website Content

Content is still king, and runs through the centre of digital marketing planning. Make sure you monitor:

Titles -  optimise titles for the keywords or phrases your target audience is searching for. Remember to carry out competitor analysis as part of your keyword strategy.

H1, H2, H3 - tags should be used for page headings and sub-headings to increase on-page Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) efforts. It's a simple rule that is often overlooked. This rule should also be applied to any PDFs that will end up published to your website. Check out these tips for structuring website content before you start to write.

Font size - should be large enough to comply with accessibility guidance, and avoid the need for pinch and zoom on mobile devices. 

Credibility - frequently updated content will prove to external search engines that your site is actively managed. It will also demonstrate to visitors that content is current and therefore more likely to be credible.

Your credibility on Google grows improves SEO faster if you constantly update your website with fresh content #fact #SEO

— Francois Karstel (@SoundIdeaDMA) April 16, 2015

Blogs - what better way is there to maintain a stream of current content that will prove a long-term source of incoming traffic than through blogging? The more engagement your blog posts receive, the better your SEO results!

Lead capture - embedded into your content should be both micro- and macro- conversion opportunities (link follows, form completion, call-to-click, newsletter subscription, purchases, and so on).

Analytics - ensure you establish a baseline for your content before you implement changes, so you can see how effective they have genuinely been.

PDFs - content that doesn't need to be in PDF shouldn't be as it can disadvantage your SEO efforts in a number of ways. I talk more about this in an article I published in June 2014.

User Experience

Conducting both qualitative and quantitative analysis of how users interact with your online estate will provide you with a wealth of insight that can be used to inform continuous improvements to your digital assets. Make sure your plans include some or all of the following (depending on your size and capacity):

• user experience testing workshops
• content rating and review software
• online surveys
• mouse tracking studies.

Tests and mouse tracking: the absolute weapons to optimize your #userexperience http://t.co/me5RdGvv1y

— Content Square (@ContentSquare) June 9, 2015

Domain management

Effective domain management still pulls a lot of punches with search engines. It is also an important part of your branding, so deserves special consideration:

Age - domain authority demonstrates to external search engines that your website belongs to a credible organisation with longevity. Secure domain names as soon as possible, and retain them after retirement as part of brand guardianship.

Ignoring #social media means someone else can stake their claim on your behalf.Read more: http://t.co/3ZOCJNlbA4 pic.twitter.com/u8CByVFf0j

— Social Media School (@TSMTSchool) May 28, 2014

Sub-domains - an effective way to maximise marketing efforts across a number of channels is via the use of sub-domains: http://subdomain.domain.com. This way, traffic generating activity benefits one central digital space, and both can benefit from the SEO advantages this brings.

File structure - remember that the file structure following your domain extension provides search engines with important information about your websites content. The closer your keywords are to the root of your domain name, the better - for example:

...com/ladies-shoes.html

is much stronger than

...com/our products/shoes/ladies-shoes.html

All too often file structures focus on generic functional keywords (about us, contact us) instead of product and service offering (ladies shoes, ladies sandals, and so on).

Social media

Social signals are very important off-site search engine optimisation factors. The more engaging your content (that is, the more it is shared, bookmarked, liked, and commented upon), the more credibility it gains. Greater levels of engagement also contribute to a high landing-page quality score which will lower your Google pay-per-click costs!

Brand guardianship - not every social media platform will suit your requirements - this depends very much on your product, service, and industry. But even if you don't plan on using a particular social media you should claim the vanity URL (before somebody does it for you). If you do this, it is a good idea to populate at least the landing-page with basic information which points back to your website.

Integration - be sure to automate posts where it is sensible to do so. For example, you can configure Blogger to automatically post content to Google+, or post tweets to your Facebook Page. The important factor to monitor here is that you post content in a format appropriate to the platform - you will need to re-tweak your content in order to do this effectively.

Cross-refer - most people use more than one social media platform, so remember to provide clear links to other ways that people can follow you, such as Twitter and Facebook.

Conversation calendar - creating a conversation calendar will help to keep your content flowing and will ensure that you don't miss opportunities to capitalise on the buzz around planned events in your industry.

Remember, there are a host of free tools out there that allow you to schedule your posts in advance (such as Hootsuite and SocialOomph).

Compliance

Meeting statutory and best practice guidelines demonstrates to search engines, as well as your target audience that you mean business, and are safe to do business with!

Schedule in time to review your governance policies to make sure they remain up-to-date.

In the UK and Europe, you may want to include compliance with:

• Cookie consent (EU law)
• Royal National Institute for Blind guidelines on accessibility
• Advertising Standards Authority
• W3C 

About the author

Claire Cresswell-Lane is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via LinkedIn or Twitter.

Mobile optimisation - make it easy for visitors to do business with you

Updates to Google's algorithm in April 2015 mean that optimising for mobile is no longer an option, but a necessity:

"Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices. "

What to consider when optimising for mobile

One key element to mobile optimisation is surfacing the transactional elements of your website - the features that enable users to do business with you. Let's look at an example from courier company TNT.

TNT's recently optimised design allows visitors to conduct 5 actions straight from the homepage (get a quote, track a package, search, log-in, and browse the site structure via a drop-down menu), and a further two within a single click (register, and leave feedback):

Even on mobile devices where space is at a premium, 3 main actions can be carried out via the optimised site:

This is a vast improvement on the previous TNT design - although this desktop design renders correctly on mobile devices, calls to action for the end user are not immediately obvious:

Deciding which actions to optimise

Decisions you make about changes to your online presence should always be based on solid evidence. This can be obtained from a number of primary and secondary sources such as Google Analytics; user experience testing; online ratings and reviews; social media analysis; current best practice guidelines, and so on.

6.8bn people in the world and 4bn of them use a mobile phone. Are you up to date on your mobile optimisation: http://t.co/X3rT6sPqxJ #webdev

— QA Ltd (@QAtraining) June 17, 2015

Search is key

Search is a key feature for mobile users - they are much less likely to try to navigate your site because text is harder to read and buttons harder to select on limited screen space. Ensure that your search results are optimised to return the best results for your top transactional features.

Google Mobile Search Overtakes Desktop Search In UK http://t.co/Shdiy8Fd3N There was a time when a mobile website, or responsive design, …

— Searchbloom (@searchbloom) June 20, 2015

About the author

Claire Cresswell-Lane is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via LinkedIn or Twitter.

Tips for structuring website content

When reading information from a screen, people do not start in the top left of the page and read every word. So what do they read and how can you make sure you get your key messages across?

Place keywords on the left

Special equipment can be used to detect exactly where people's eyes are focused when they look at a computer screen. This form of usability research makes it easier to understand what part of website design users are attracted to, and which parts they tend to overlook. 

A study involving 232 people found that website users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page (regardless of the layout). Their eyes scan the page in an F pattern.

Follow the F pattern

If you focus on the red areas of the pictures below, you will see what is known as the F shape - this is where users tend to focus their attention when scanning a website. 

Source www.useit.com

·        The first two paragraphs must state the most important information. This is the most likely to be read.

·      Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their F-behaviour.

In summary

 Users won't read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner - especially when conducting initial research. People are scanning content headings, sub headings and opening paragraphs for keywords to decide if the webpage they have opened is what they are looking for. If it isn’t, they will hit the back button in their browser and open the next search result listing!

Do you think these rules apply to websites optimised for mobile? Please add your comments.

Developing an effective SEO strategy

With so many online channels for the modern marketer to manage (websites, blog, social media channels, and so on) it can be difficult to know where to focus efforts in order to create an efficient SEO strategy. Here are 10 tactics that contribute to effective digital growth.

 Organic website traffic

 

1.  Increase organic traffic. Organic traffic proves that your content is relevant and current to your users’ needs, adding credibility to your website when it come to search engine rankings. To increase organic traffic, write content that is: 

·         easy for search engines to index

·         relevant to search queries of your target audience(s)

·         engaging and original

·         easy to share.

#TwitterTip: Tweet original content, and keep tabs on what types of content gets more shares and RTs.

— Jason Houck (@MJasonHouck) June 19, 2015

Return visitors

2.   Increased visitor loyalty. In order to realise the lifetime value of customers, you need to facilitate repeat visits to your digital channels. Visitor loyalty will stem from a good initial online experience where: 

·      relevant information is easy to find

·      queries are resolved first time: through FAQs, online support, or via user forums

·      content is personalised to the individual (via links to CRM, cookies, or account preferences)

·      service is above and beyond that expected.

10 tips to attract return visitors http://t.co/hGWyJcfe2R #seo #traffic

— The Backlink PROS (@Seotactics15) June 14, 2015

Resolve queries online

3. By resolve queries online you can reduce: 

·     costs to the organisation (cheaper than handling calls via a contact centre)

·     customer frustration (faster than waiting in a telephone queue).

U.S. brands ignore 80% of consumer queries asked via Twitter - http://t.co/AWZsB4WZgL via @BizReport

— Brandwatch (@Brandwatch) June 15, 2015

Reinforce your brand off-line

4.   You can reinforce your brand when customers are offline by providing downloadable content. Remember to:  

·     add genuine value – provide free information and special offers

·     provide easy routes back to your online channels (via tagged URLS).

Data capture

5.       Form completion. 

Whether it’s subscribing to a newsletter, providing feedback, or signing up to an online forum – capturing information via form completion can: 

·         inform your CRM strategy

·         help you to segment and target audiences

·         gain valuable customer insight about your services

·         encourage future touch points with your brand.

Be social

6.       Encourage social shares.

Word of mouth is a powerful and trusted channel. People are more likely to interact with a brand that is recommended by a friend or family member.  Make your content easy to share (via Twitter, Facebook, and so on) and comment on. Amplify compliments via your contacts networks. Minimise reputation damage in the same way. 

Offer incentives

7.       Competition time! 

Competitions are a great way to increase BUZZ, raise brand awareness, and engage customers old and new – which all boosts your SEO efforts.  If you are running a competition via Twitter, here are some simple rules to help you.

Online sales

8.     Sell your products and services online. Increasing revenue is the bottom line! Make it easy for your visitors to buy online by: 

·         providing clear calls to action

·         remember personal preferences

·         offering one-click ordering

·         allowing order tracking

·         reassuring that transactions are secure!

Cross-channel promotion

9.       Promote new channels.

Promote channels that your existing customers may not have tried before, to increase the touch points they have with your brand:

·         Follow us, like us, poke us, +1 us, and so on.

·         Encourage sign-up for off-line promotions.

·         Run targeted ad campaigns.

Accessibility is key

10.   Make content accessible. 

You can have the best content, the fanciest CRM system, and the most engaging graphics out there, but if your customers can’t access your channels, they will not serve you well: 

·         Invest in mobile optimisation.

·         Comply with W3C standards for accessibility.

·         Have a business continuity strategy so if one channel fails, others can step in!

About the author

Claire Cresswell-Lane is a UK based, CIM Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing strategy and communications. You can contact her via LinkedIn or Twitter.

SEO Strategy - What's in a (Domain) Name?

A domain name can have a big impact when it comes to competing for that all important top search engine results page spot. Here are a few points to consider as part of your SEO strategy.

Domain structure

Make sure your keywords and phrases are positioned correctly. This is vitally important when it comes search engine rankings.  As part of this SEO tactic, ensure that keywords appear in your top level domain - it shows a commitment to your subject area.

Accorzing to Moz's Search Engine Factors, placing a keyword as the first in your domain can give you a competitive edge over sites that don't feature keywords in the domain at all, or include it in the middle of a URL. Similarly, including keywords in sub-domains can also boost SERPs positions.

This article on competitior keyword analysis list a number of tools to help you research keywords and phrases. 

Domain stablility

The length of time that a domain has been registered for does have some weighting on SERPs positions. A stable domain adds to evidence of long-term subject commitment. Of course, this would not be looked at in isolation - you may have registered a domain 10 years ago but that doesn't mean you are still actively managing the content.

A domain that has remained in the same hands for a significant amount of time is another indicator of a credible website. Hiding 'Who is' status, or a 'Who is' status showing regular domain change of hands can be signals of instability.

Domains that are penalised by Google, for black-hat SEO techniques, will affect other websites owned by the same individuals - something to bear in mind if you are purchasing a domain from an existing business - or if you are the owner of multiple websites.

Domain location

Having a domain that is specific to your geographical location is a great way to focus SEO efforts if your target audience is in the same country. However, if you wish to have a global reach, you should consider domain location in your SEO strategy.

Before registering a domain, you may also wish to research who has the same URL but with a different country extension (.uk, .ca, .cn and so on). Do you want to be accidently associated or confused with that organisation?

"Google Search returns the most relevant and useful sites in response to a user query. For that reason, the results we show to a user in Ireland can vary from the results returned to a user in France.

If your site has a generic top-level domain, such as .com or .org, and targets users in a particular geographic location, you can provide us with information to help us determine how your site appears in our search results. This improves Google Search results for geographic queries, and it won't impact your appearance in search results unless a user limits the scope of the search to a certain country. See a full list of domains Google treats as generic."

To change the target locations for your website, access Google Webmaster Tools and access 'Site Settings > Country Targetting'.

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Content marketing tips #3 – keyword positioning

Careful keyword positioning helps to get your online content found by search engines.

Competing for that all important front page position on Google can seem like an impossible task. However, a few simple steps can make a huge difference to your search engine rankings.

Free Keyword position tools

 

Research which keyword(s) or phrase to compete for using free tools such as Google Keyword Planner:  https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

Keyword-Position.Com offers you a free tool to check the position of keywords in major search engines Google, Yahoo & MSN: http://www.keyword-position.com

Location, location, location

You can convince search engines that your content is dedicated to the keyword(s) or phrase chosen by including it in strategic places such as the heading,  sub-headings, and opening paragraphs.

Less is more

Make sure keywords and phrases don’t make up more than 3% of your overall content by using this free keyword density tool: www.keyworddensity.com

Content marketing tips #2 - conduct competitor keyword analysis

I've been looking at this advert a lot lately, as I see it at my local train station. It's by Travel Republic and it tells me two things - they:

1. have carried out competitor keyword analysis
2. understand that search engine optimisation (SEO) is fundamental to their online marketing strategy.

The advert invites (potential) customers to spend time researching the key phrase 'best beach holidays for kids' and then contact Travel Republic for the 'lowest price guarantee'.

In order for this campaign to be profitable, Travel Republic must be confident about the information customers will find when searching for the key phrase suggested. They must have analysed this information in order to be able to position their offering competitively.

Competitor keyword analysis should be a key part of your online marketing strategy because you must understand the environment you are entering before formulating your plan.

There are lots of free tools available to help you identify the keywords and phrases to compete for, so no excuses folks!

Who is your keyword competition?

Online content has to compete in the global marketplace for customers' attention. Take time to identify who your top three online (industry) competitors are. Once you have identified them, take time to analyse their content
strategy to help inform your own approach. You may decide to compete directly (in terms of keyword strategy) or you may decide that a completely alternative approach would be more successful – this of course depends on your
particular market.

As well as competitors within your own industry, you also need to consider those from other industries that will also be competing for the same keywords and phrases your online content will contain. For example, a search for the
term 'model' returns results for modelling agencies, model engineering societies, and model shops. These three different industries are competing for search engine rankings using the same keywords.

You must consider, not only what search engines know about website content, but also how they wed this to the information they hold about individual users. For example, I have a Google account, so Google knows a lot about me:
which category of websites I visit regularly; where I am located; what I have searched for in the past, and so on.

If I enter a search query for fish and chip shops, the search engine results page lists restaurants in my local area – these will be different to yours. So, location marketing is an ever important consideration.

Free keyword tools

http://www.wordstream.com/keywords
http://www.keywordeye.com/#plans-pricing
http://www.wordpot.com/
http://www.keyworddiscovery.co.uk/search.html

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