This SEO tip uses intelligence coming straight from the horse’s mouth – i.e. the source of the data is coming from Google itself – specifically Google Search Console.

Google Search Console, formerly part of Google WebMasters, is a toolset that offers quite a lot of insight into the way that Google’s search engine algorithms interact with your website – specifically your website’s content and the way that organic search traffic is arriving at your website. 

The idea behind this tip is to reverse engineer the search queries which are arriving at your website – and then tailor your content to the user intent behind those queries.

(Proviso: for this trick to work, you already need to have some traffic coming from organic search)

How do you decipher user intent?

In Google Search Console under Performance > Search Results you can see what queries are sending traffic to your website. The Queries tab provides a lot of intelligence. By skimming through the queries, you should immediately see some patterns of user search intent emerging. What you see is also an accurate reflection of your best content marketing work.

Here’s an example. We worked on a content marketing piece that compares two pieces of software for one of our clients. Through Google Search Console we can see which search queries led to that particular page, as seen below. (N.B. The red & blue boxes represent the two pieces of software that we were comparing directly in our piece of content.)

It’s clear from this set of data that we’re clearly covering the intent of those searching for a direct comparison between the two. However, our digging shouldn’t stop there. We’ve satisfied the user intent of these individuals, but there may be others that arrived at our page through search queries that may provide us with hints to improve our content.

In the above screenshot, which is taken from the same search queries list as the one before it, we can make a couple of interesting observations. Several individuals have searched for the comparison of the two pieces of software, but for a different use case than the one we covered in our content. There’s also a cohort of individuals looking for a 3-way comparison with another, newer product that’s come on the market.

Using this information, there are several paths we can take to improve traffic, and fulfill user intent in a more complete way. Firstly, we can improve the content of the original piece of content to cover these queries. Or, if appropriate, we can create a companion piece that would link directly to the existing one.

Based on this lesson, here’s a list of things to keep in mind when performing this exercise with your, or your clients’’, sites.

The following are guidelines, rather than rules but they’ve worked for us

1. First and foremost, make sure your content is answering the users’ search intent exactly. If you can expand your content to hit all aspects of that intent, so much the better.

2. Use MORE of the keywords that are being searched for within that content. Whilst expanding the content on the user search intent, drop a few more keywords around the search queries.

3. Add more images and use search phrases as part of the name of the image, and in the image alt and description.

4. If possible – add a YouTube video that is also tuned towards the users’ search intent. If it doesn’t exist – create it yourself!

5. Tune your H1 title to the search query which is generating the most hits in this case.

6. Tune your meta description and meta keywords to the user’s search intent. If there are missing keywords, try to include them.

7. Be prudent – don’t overstuff your content with keywords – just make sure you have killer content for the user’s search intent.

If you do this for both the content that is generating good CTRs and especially for that content which is not generating good CTRs, you should be able to get a very good organic traffic boost.

This won’t happen overnight of course, but working in conjunction with your other SEO efforts, you should see your organic traffic climbing steadily. We’ve seen instances where the organic traffic increased by more than 30% using these techniques.

As always, also work on retaining the increased traffic. Make it easy for your new visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter or at least follow you on social media. 

Hope this helps you out!

The post Growth hacking: Analyse user intent to see search traffic shoot (Updated 2021) appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Information made available by a website or other electronic medium- The Oxford Dictionaries
Defining the word is easy – but actually understanding exactly what it entails and how to include it in your marketing strategy is a whole other level.

What?

Though ‘content’ trends more on Google, the term ‘content marketing’ is steadily rising in popularity. This is because of the trend in inbound marketing which revolves around the creation of content in order to attract readers, followers, and, therefore: buyers.
From 2014 onwards there was a sudden surge in the use of content marketing – leaders in the industry started to realise that digital marketing couldn’t function the way traditional marketing does. You couldn’t simply shout at people in order to sell your product – the internet can’t just be used as an extension to billboards. If you really want to be successful you’ve got to engage your audience.

But how?

Content is whatever is found on your website or social media platforms. It’s anything you produce or create – from images to text to video. Great content inspires and generates interest – great content is shareable. So the main aim for you and your content should be for it to be interesting and shareable so that it creates discussions about and around your brand.
One of the best (but not easiest) ways of doing this is through a blog. These days most websites have a blog which is used as an extension of their brand. That doesn’t mean that everyone with a blog is using it properly. Posting once every blue moon won’t get you anywhere, neither will boring content which doesn’t provide any value.
The first thing you’ve got to do if you’re serious about your content is to come up with a content marketing strategy. Plan out the next three months’ content with an easy to understand schedule with clear deadlines. Don’t be afraid to plan topics in advance, but do allow for some posts which are relevant to things happening at the time.
 
For your blog’s content to be successful it must be actionable, interesting, and engaging. Remember that you’re not talking at your readers… you’re engaging in long term dialogue, and if you work at it you’ll see the same people interacting with your brand over and over again, these are the most loyal people who will take your brand to the next level.

Why should I care?

• It makes your brand more human, it shows who you are, and can be used to establish you as a leader in the field.
• It’s great for your SEO because fresh, frequent content will help you rank higher in search results since it shows you’re more than just an advertising space.
• It directly drives traffic to your website, and can boost overall engagement with your brand.

This is of course just the tip of the ice berg and there are many more reasons as to why content is king. It’s a world of many interconnected layers waiting for you to explore it – so if you haven’t delved into the world of content it’s about time you did.

The post C is for Content appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1. Take a break

This might sound like the most counterproductive thing to do, but if you’ve been staring at your screen for the past hour then it’s safe to say you’re not going anywhere. So take a break – brew yourself a cup of tea, and stretch your mental muscles by focussing on something else for a few minutes.

2. Look back

Okay, break over – sit back down  and take a moment to re-visit old posts, check the analytics and find out what worked and what didn’t, after all a little bit of pruning can make all the difference!

3. Plan

Now that you’ve figured out which aspects work for you, start planning a strategy. Decide on how frequent your posts will be, whether they’ll have themes, or whether they’ll be split into a series or categories.

4. Visualise

Imagine what your audience would want to read about, check out what the latest market trends have been and what kind of articles people shared. Think of what kind of end result you want your post to have – this will help you decide on your direction of writing.

5. Skip the title

Don’t confine yourself to a title before you’ve written a single word, it will only limit you. Try having a general idea of what you’d like to write about and then work around that. Adapt the title to your content – never the other way around!

6. Skip the intro

Seeing as we’ve skipped the title, why not also skip the intro and leave it for last? Get started with the main elements of the text and your intro will form itself…just don’t forget to actually write it!

7. Go back to basics

You’re obviously going to be writing your work digitally, but sometimes it’s easier to draft it out on a piece of paper first. Jot down a variety of points, drawing inspiration from different sources. This gives you a different perspective and makes adding ideas and notes much easier. Plus, it’s always rewarding to scrunch up the paper or rip it into shreds before tossing it into the (recycling) bin.

8. Ask for help

You don’t have to go it alone, ask a colleague or friend to read your work, suggest ideas, or provide helpful edits. It could be that you just need a fresh pair of eyes!

9. Prepare in advance

Sometimes you know you’re going to have a tricky topic to deal with. Start working on it in advance so that you can tackle it in stages. This gives you time to go back and re-read your work, change the layout, or add better images.

10. Go into isolation

We’re not talking about becoming a nomad – but if all of the above hasn’t helped then it’s time to sit down, block out all distractions (like e-mails, your phone, or Facebook notifications) and just get into the zone. Maybe music will help, or a big mug of coffee – find what makes you work and use it!
We’ve shared our knowledge with you, now it’s up to you to make it work. If you’re still completely stuck why not drop us a line and maybe we can offer some solutions.

The post Beating a Content Marketer's Nightmare – Writer's Block. appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Instagram for Business tutorial

Instagram started off way back in 2010, however it was only over the past few years that it really became huge. Huge enough for even marketers to start using it!
Originally a social media platform where users could share polaroid-style snaps, Instagram has grown to a state where companies use it to reach out to particular audiences. Of course, it’s up to you to know whether Instagram is right for you, but if you think that there’s even a slight possibility that it is, then read on to find out how to make the most of it.

1. Know your audience

You’ve got to know who you’re communicating with. Instagram is generally used mainly by a younger crowd, with most users’ ages ranging from early teens to late twenties. Moreover, most Instagram users are female, which explains why big brands like TopShop make it a point to invest time in creating great content for their Instagram followers.

2. Refine your brand strategy

If you’re doing your marketing well, then you probably have a brand strategy. (If you don’t, last week’s article will help you get started). It’s important that when setting up an account on a different social media platform you keep the same brand identity. Use the same colours, logo, and tone of voice for a consistent, recognisable feel.

3. Separate your content

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram all have similar things in common, but at the end of the day they are successful social media platforms because they’re not replicas of each other. So if these social media platforms aren’t exactly the same, then neither should your content be a copy + paste from one platform to the next. Learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt your style in order to pitch the same information to different demographics.
After all, the same people could be following you on different social platforms – if all they see is repeated content, they’ll lose interest. If you keep things interesting by offering different content for each platform, you’ll keep them checking in again and again.

4. Follow sparingly

Ideally once you’ve created your account you’ll announce it on other social media platforms, inviting people to follow you on Instagram. Once people do start engaging with your brand, keep calm. Don’t follow everyone back.
Be nice, but don’t be desperate. If an Instagram account has 200 followers but is following 600 then something is clearly wrong in the marketing department. Keep your follower to following ratio at a stable level, where you’ve got a majority of followers. You’re not expected to follow everyone back, you’re a business… not an attention-seeking teenager. Remember that it’s quality over quantity. (Check out the discrepancy on Intel’s Instagram account! That’s right, with a little creativity, any brand can be an Instagram hit.)

5. Social Media flirting

Flirting? Yes!
While we’ve just explained that you shouldn’t go crazy and follow everyone back, you are allowed to flirt. Find companies with similar interests and keep an eye on their posts, like the ones related to your work, and even comment if you feel it’s the right thing to do! Don’t be shy to do the same with fans. Look up trending topics and like posts by people with similar interests. They might get curious to see who you are, and they might even follow you back. Just remember to be subtle and play it cool – just like flirting in the real world.

6. Engagement

This one’s a no brainer, but we’ll say it just to make sure it’s clear. Engage your audience. Keep in mind that they’re human beings and like to be treated that way. Be friendly, informative, and witty. Reply to comments, even if it’s just a simple “thanks, have a great weekend”. People like to feel appreciated and are always flattered when brands respond.

7. Show your fun side

First of all, if you’ve read this point and find yourself desperately trying to figure out what your fun side is, you might want to rethink your marketing strategy. If you’ve got a fun side don’t be afraid to show it. Whether it’s a costume party at the office, or a funny quote about the business you’re in, don’t be shy!

8. Faces, faces, faces

Imagine if you’re scrolling down a feed, faces automatically catch your eye. Throwing in a slightly different post every once in a while and instead of uploading a picture of your product, upload a picture of the staff, or a happy customer!

9. Good visuals

Speaking of visuals, when uploading photos be sure that they’re good quality. Don’t go crazy with filters, (sometimes they’re not even necessary), and try to include an artistic flair to your photos. Whether it’s stacking products in an eye catching way, or placing them in a different location (try a pair of sunglasses on a dazzling beach), be creative, giving your followers something different to look at each day.
Oreo excel at this. They have 1 product: A classic cookie. The cookie has looked the same for years and years, but they always manage to show it in a different light through great images that keep fans hooked day in, day out:

10. The special club

Make your followers feel as though they’re part of a special, elite club. Create competitions just for them, or have special giveaways targeted to Instagram followers only. It will boost brand loyalty, attract more people to follow you on Instagram, and make your followers feel appreciated. And we all know that a happy customer is a loyal customer!
If you feel you’re now confident enough to join Instagram and start marketing, why not check out this handy post on GrowthHacking your way to the top by using the platform?

The post Instagram for business in 10 easy steps appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

You care

Start by working on having a genuine care and concern for your customers’ goals, objectives and needs. This is the foundation for everything you hope to build with them. It can work with B2B too, if you keep in mind that there is a person sitting at the heart of every business decision.
As marketers and brand stewards, client relationship is key. The structure and goal of individual campaigns may change from time to time, but if you think about it a little, there is always one constant: We are all seeking to move a person to take action, to buy our product and to do business with us. Ultimately, those people won’t do business with a logo or a mission statement, they’ll do business with people they know, like and trust.
If you keep this relationship in mind and speak to them truthfully, as regular people, using a voice that is both clear and authentic, you’ll begin to build that trust you’re after.

You collaborate

Social platforms are here to stay, and as we’ve said over and over again, it’s no longer an option for brands to avoid the social media landscape. The most successful companies to use it won’t be the ones using social to market to their customers, but those marketing with them. (Last week’s post was all about ‘being social’ as opposed to ‘doing social’, if you missed it.)
Giving customers a seat at the table has never been easier or more important, and this is where collaboration with affiliates comes in.
According to the 2014 Ipsos Social Influence Study, user-generated content is more memorable to readers, and 50% trust it more than they trust other media. In fact, millennials trust peer reviews a lot more than they trust professional ones – think about your online shopping habits: don’t you check the user reviews before you place an order?
You can use peer reviews to your advantage to make your brand more trustworthy. A collaborative approach that focuses on including your customers will make the conversation around your brand more positive – a refreshing change to the old approach of interrupting clients to blast them with one-way messages, don’t you think?
This is exactly why we at Switch Digital are in constant contact with the largest network of bloggers on the island. Through collaboration with bloggers, we’re able to encourage and, to a certain extent, manage the creation of quality blog posts that generate trustworthy brand awareness among blog readers.
Tapping into resources like this could get your brand well on its way towards becoming a household name through effective endorsements and quality affiliate marketing.

You inspire

Heart-centered marketing is what won President Obama his 8 years in office. The same strategy can also sell anything from an idea, to a service, to a bottle of water.
By getting to know your customers through the collaborative dialogue we just discussed, you’ll learn what it is that drives them on an emotional level. More importantly, you’ll be able to give them exactly what they want. You could speak to them with confidence, knowing that that you are offering something they find valuable. Just like Obama did.
The results will then speak for themselves: People will give you ‘likes’ because they actually like you, not because you badgered them into it. People will know about you because you’ve taken the time to get to know them. People will appreciate that you have invested in the relationship and listened to them. And when you then speak from the heart with the intention to better your customer’s life in some way, you will leave people feeling inspired.
TL;DR – What’s love got to do with it? As it turns out, a whole lot.
Finding the authentic voice of your brand and respecting your customers enough to develop and cultivate a real relationship with them will lead to a win-win scenario which seriously pays off in terms of long-term equity and loyalty. Heart-centered marketing FTW!

The post Be Trustworthy: Why heart-centered marketing could be your game-changer. appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1) Evoke interest with your title

Your title is the first thing that gets read on your blog post, so you have to make sure that it’s clear and delivers a glimpse of what your blog post is about (see 100 great ideas here). It has to immediately set the mind of the reader so they’ll decide if they should read the article or not. That’s why your title serves one goal; grab attention so people feel compelled to read your opening.

2) Grab attention in the first 3 to 4 sentences

If you get people to read you first 3 to 4 sentences, they’re more likely to read your entire article. Delivering a sense of urgency is  crucial at this point so promising some benefits is always a great start. That said, the point of your opening is to get people to read the rest of the blog post… and that’s it. Whatever approach you take, just ensure that your first 3 to 4 sentences have to be compelling and evoke interest.

3) Visual appearance

How can I make my readers keep coming back for more? The visual appearance is crucial, so these are some tips to attract your readers’ attention:
– Fewer characters per line, so that it won’t take too long to read and the readers will feel that they are reading it very fast. A half width image shortens the line length of the opening and will make it easier to read.
– Always try to include at least one image; it will surely increase your readership.
– Choose a font that is clear enough to read.

4) Emotional connection

If you can understand and implement the psychology of connecting emotionally with your readers, then your website can keep driving traffic. Write unique content which readers will think about after reading it. That way they will come back for more and be more likely to click on a link to your blog the next time on of their friends shares it. When people get emotional, they pay attention. They’re also more likely to take action after being put into an emotional state.

5) Give readers practical advice that is easy to implement

One of the main goals of writing an article is to get people to take action, and that should be done religiously. Readers will look for step-by-step methods and how-to sections. Make sure you explain clearly and give practical, easy to implement advice. Get people results, and they’ll remember you forever. As an added bonus, practically useful content is more viral than other types of content.

6) Optimise your blog post for search engines

What’s the point of writing blog posts that no one reads? Optimising your articles for search engines will help the article rank higher on search engine results and be visible to people searching about the related subject. Also, make sure that you have someone who can proofread your article and check for spelling and grammar.
It’s important to utilise keywords throughout your post:
– Title, page name and URL
– Headings and subheadings
– Title tags and meta descriptions
– General content
– Anchor text (links to other related pages on your site)
Make sure that you have a mobile friendly website, so that every reader using a mobile device will have it well displayed and clear to read.

7) Check your word count

There’s basically no rule on how much words one should write in a blog post. However, after doing some research I found that the ideal length of an article is between 1000 and 1500 words, and if your goal is search engine traffic, longer is better. Neil Patel’s blog posts can go up to 40,000 words… But it depends, focusing on blog word count might not be as important as you think. Some topics take 100 words to explain, others take 1000.

8) Inspirational conclusions

Your conclusion is as significant as your opening – here’s where you close out your article with another call to action. Buy, subscribe, call, email and share are some examples of calls to action you can include. The image below is a great example of different ways to close an article with a small simple form to subscribe, sharing buttons, other article recommendations and a commenting system.

To write a great blog post you need to know about the subject and polish your writing skills. And most of all, you need to sneak into the heads of your readers and potential clients. But magic will happen when you truly care about the subject you’re writing and your readers. Understand what they’re trying to achieve and know what they’re struggling with so that you can help them with the right advice.
You can’t expect to have a lot of traffic immediately after writing your first blog post. It takes time, be patient and your traffic will multiply over time.
If you keep up the good work, your social shares and comments will skyrocket. Other bloggers will start linking to your content. And most importantly, an endless stream of quality leads will flow to you.

The post 8 tips for writing the perfect blog post appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

People have much less time to read about your brand

In fact, they have nearly no time to read about any brand at all (with the exception of a handful of brands that has achieved superstar status). Just like you are only interested in your products and services, people are only really interested in one thing: their lives
The difference is that customers are entitled to only be interested in themselves. You, as a brand, are not (well, unless you want to fail). To succeed online, you need to be able to think in terms of what you can offer to your customers. You need to have a long and hard think about what they need and how you’re going to solve it.

To succeed online, you need to be able to think in terms of what added value you can offer to your customers.

Now I hear you screaming: But my customers need to know that I have 58 colours of canopies in 4 different materials! So my marketing strategy should work after all. Well, if I needed a canopy right now, I would benefit from that particular tidbit of information, but you’ve taken no extra benefit compared to traditional advertising. You’re screaming out a message to 10,000 people in the hope that 10 of them need to receive it.
We believe in online advertising. We’ve run some very successful campaigns that saved our customers thousands of Euros. But there is more to online marketing than simple advertising. If you just want to use the internet like you use current media, then I’m pretty sure you can do so and save money too, but what we’re proposing here is an improvement.
Content marketing allows you to shift your advertising spend from a direct cost into a long-term investment. Rather than simply placing direct response ads that get people to act immediately on instinct, you could be putting your money in building long-term relationships with clients.
And how do you do this, I hear you ask?

Stop talking about your brand. Start talking around it

Once again I can go back to my days in publishing. The companies who saw the light were the ones coming to us with offers to give us content that was interesting. Content that we wanted to publish. Content that, as a publisher, I would usually have paid for.
As a content marketer, that should be the kind of material you should be producing. As a customer I’d want to see that you have a knowledge of the business that goes beyond the product you’re producing. I want to see that you care about the industry you’re working in. I want to see that you can help me make an informed decision. I want to feel comfortable in the knowledge that you are the right person to give my hard-earned cash to because you know what you’re talking about, so I can trust you to have the best choices for me.
You also have to understand that I, your customer, have wants and needs that go beyond your product. I am interested in all the things I can do with it. I want to know how I can get the best out of it, and how I can improve my performance around it.
Here are some examples of people doing content marketing right:

B&Q

Their site contains a wealth of knowledge for DIY enthusiasts that goes beyond the products it sells. It does not simply tell you why you should buy your tools and DIY materials from B&Q, but it helps you become a better DIYer.

IBM

IBM has really understood that marketing around their brand is far more powerful than shouting out about products and features. With great content marketing sites like The Big Data and Analytics Hub (which increased their social referral traffic by 291%) and the Cognitive Computing portal, IBM shows that the line between publishing and marketing is a very fine one indeed.

Hubspot

Hubspot should know a thing or two about content marketing since they are in the business themselves, however they do go beyond the call of duty with the vast wealth of content they publish on a regular basis. They run a very informative blog, they publish ebooks and great marketing resources, they have a fantastic (and somewhat hilarious) youtube channel, and an entire inbound marketing academy. They know their stuff, but they also communicate around it brilliantly. And you’ll never catching them attempting a hard sell.

Red Bull

OK, we can’t all send someone up to space to attempt a skydive nor can we all buy a couple of Formula 1 teams, but the bottom line is simple. Red Bull does those things as publicity stunts that generate thousands of mentions (and links), but you’ll never see them flaunting their product’s ingredients or its unique properties. They just market around the brand in a way that associates it with fun and daring.

Anthropologie

And finally, one of my favourite content marketing efforts around. Anthropologie, which carries women’s clothing, accessories and home decor, runs a blog that shows the brand’s understanding of content marketing for B 2 C. From cocktail recipes to playlists, Anthropologie has understood the importance of building a brand by simply being itself and writing about stuff that’s interesting for their customers in a tone of voice and with an aesthetic that matches the Anthropologie brand perfectly.

The post 5 brands that really get content marketing appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.