Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Dr Konstanze Alex, Dell

Within the world of B2B influencer marketing, there are a handful of brand experts who have been charting a course within large enterprise organizations for the rest of us to follow. One of those pathfinders is Dr. Konstanze Alex (@konstanze), Head of Corporate Influencer Relations at Dell. My first experience with Konnie was several years ago when TopRank Marketing was working with Dell to develop relationships with IT influencers as part of an online publication initiative. Since then, we've worked with Dell to help develop an influencer marketing playbook, support influencer engagement at events and through content, but her relationship focus on working with influencers has stuck with me through it all. In this interview, we'll learn about the uniqueness of B2B influencer marketing, practical tips, a few of Konnie's favorite influencer programs and where influencer marketing for the enterprise is headed. What brought you to the world of Influencer Marketing? About 5 years ago I stepped into a new role in Social Media Marketing and one of my first projects had me investigate social selling experts for who understood the social media from a social business and sales perspective, specifically for a large global organization like Dell. One important aspect for us at the time was to educate our marketing leadership on social analytics and insights to help build programs for our marketing teams that would in turn lay the foundation for successful social selling programs and campaigns. How is influencer marketing different for B2B than B2C? In my experience B2B and B2C influencer marketing are not even siblings in the same family. They might be distant cousins at best. B2B influencer marketing has a much slower and longer lifecycle. It is truly a long-term relationship business in which trust and mutual value creation are built over a long time via ongoing engagements and constant knowledge sharing. B2C influencer marketing, in general, is focused on capturing the attention of large online consumer audiences which makes sense given the more transactional nature of the business.

Cutting edge B2B influencer marketing focuses on both, online and offline engagements.

Cutting edge B2B influencer marketing focuses on both, online and offline engagements by the influencers with their highly targeted, smaller business and IT decision maker audiences. The understanding of the off-line aspects of B2B influencer marketing is evolving as long-term relationships mature, trust grows and an alignment of values has been clearly established. For example, strategic partnerships with influencers can lead to the very natural incorporation of brand content into the influencer’s event and conference keynotes, personal and professional conversations, strategic writings, etc. At that point a B2B influencer relationship resembles traditional relationships with industry analysts.

In B2B influencer marketing it is not the audience size of an influencer but the trust level an influencer has built with his/her audience that matters.

In B2B influencer marketing it is not the audience size of an influencer but the trust level an influencer has built with his/her audience that matters, especially when it comes to high value purchase decisions and long-term commitments a customer makes with a brand. For a brand, the stakes lie in constantly briefing and engaging the influencer on a strategic vision and technical level. What are 2-3 of the main benefits of collaborating with influencers for B2B companies? Working with B2B influencers allows our brand to have a constant pulse check with purchase decision makers. Informed influencers who share our vision of the future based on their own experience and expertise provide for independent, third party validation.

Strategic partnerships with influencers provide for an outside in view when creating content for our customers.

Strategic partnerships with influencers provide for an outside in view when creating content for our customers. We need to constantly ensure that, as a brand, we don’t start talking to ourselves, but keep a keen focus on the evolving challenges our customers have and on language they use to express these challenges. How is influencer marketing positioned within your company? Ex: independent department that serves the brand and departments / business unites or is it more decentralized? What are the advantages of that structure? At Dell, relationship building and maintenance with influencers, media, press and analysts is housed in corporate communications. We firmly believe that relationships based on trust, aligned values, independence of opinion and mutual value creation are key to successful collaboration between brands and influencers. What tips can you share about being more effective about influencer identification, qualification and recruitment? You have to invest time and due diligence to the identification process. A sophisticated influencer program doesn’t rely on a single identification method or one-time vetting process of to start and maintain a relationship with an influencer but rather develops a scorecard that gets constantly reviewed and, most importantly, evolves as this emerging field matures. At this point, we review strategy, methods, tactics and measurement on an ongoing basis. Are there specific B2B influencers that you keep going back to because they are so amazing? Yes, of course, we have a number of strategic partners who never stop evolving or expanding their expertise. We value them highly and feel that they represent a reflection of our brand’s values and long term vision. Do you have a favorite B2B influencer marketing campaign that you can share? What made it successful? There are numerous, but a couple stand out for me: A year and a half ago we started an influencer hosted business podcast called Luminaries – talking to the brightest minds in tech where we focus on technology visionaries and the very human face of innovation. Our hosts are phenomenal digital storytellers and bring the outside-in view into every episode, every conversation with every guest with a deep commitment to and appreciation of our combined audiences. We built successful long term influencer engagement around our Realizing 2030 research reports that explore and examine the impact of new technologies on life and work in the year 2030. In strategic partnerships we are able to illuminate the report results from a number of distinct perspectives to make them accessible and relevant to our diverse audiences.

Successful (influencer marketing) programs will continue to lead from a human perspective and understand that technology remains only a tool for humans to achieve progress.

How do you think influencer marketing will have evolved in the next year or two? What will it look like in 2020? We will leverage new technologies such as AI for increasingly nuanced influencer identification, especially for micro targeting of audiences. We will use intelligent tools to find new ways of measuring results and new roles will have been defined within an influencer marketing team. But successful programs will continue to lead from a human perspective and understand that technology remains only a tool for humans to achieve progress. If you would like to learn more about B2B influencer marketing from a panel of brand experts, be sure to check out our sesssion at MarketingProfs B2B Forum November 13-15th featuring Konstanze Brown from Dell, Amisha Gandhi from SAP Ariba and Lucianna Moran from Dun & Bradstreet. Here are the details: The Confluence Equation: How Content & Influencers Drive B2B Marketing Success Content and influencer marketing are hot topics for B2B marketers all over the world as two of the most promising strategies for attracting, engaging and converting ideal customers. What many marketers don’t realize is how collaborating with influencers can create even more credible, relevant, and optimized experiences for target accounts. Join moderator Lee Odden and an expert panel of B2B brand influencer marketing executives from SAP, Dell and Dun & Bradstreet to learn how working with influencers and their communities can help scale quality B2B content that gets results.  You'll learn:

• The variety of benefits from B2B influencer collaboration
• How major B2B brands plan, implement and measure influencer content
• About processes and technologies that support influencer marketing success

We hope to see you there!

The post Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Dr Konstanze Alex, Dell appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2018/09/enterprise-b2b-influencer-marketing.html

Digital Marketing News: Haptic Marketing, Twitter’s Ranked Feeds, B2B’s ABM Challenges, & YouTube’s Vertical Video Ads

The Power of Micro-Influencers [Infographic]
A look at the benefits of working with highly-targeted audiences, and how micro-influencers can work to build brand awareness and drive sales. MarketingProfs

Twitter will soon let you switch between chronological and ranked feeds
Twitter announced that it will change how its feed works, with a forthcoming update allowing users to switch between ranked and chronological settings, offering a new layer of control. The Verge

Despite buzz, only one-third of B2B businesses are committed to ABM, report says
A newly-rleased Dun & Bradstreet B2B marketing data report shows limited account-based marketing implementation, and a few other surprises. Marketing Land

Four Effective Techniques for Working With B2B Influencers
Finding the right influencers and getting their attention can be a challenge. MarketingProfs Tom Whatley examines the situation and how to overcome many obstacles. MarketingProfs

Twitter gives video ads a subtle lift, puts livestreams atop the timeline
Twitter has rolled out changes which will boost video ads on the platform, and put live-streaming content in the spotlight, but will marketers benefit from the more prominent app placement? Marketing Land

What the 2018 Forbes Cloud 100 List Has to Say About the Current Trends in B2B Technology
An examination of Forbes recently-published report and list of private cloud companies and what it says about B2B technology trends. G2 Crowd

Vertical video ads are coming to YouTube
YouTube announced new vertical video ads in a mobile-friendly format, and ability to tailor ads to its users’ personalized feeds, among several featured rolled out recently. The Drum

Amazon’s B2B Marketplace Could Surpass $10 Billion
Amazon announced that its B2B Marketplace may top the $10 billion mark, and that it is on track for a tenfold sales increase from 2016 when it began. ASICentral

The Next Marketing Skill You Need To Master: Touch
Forbes takes a fascinating look at haptic marketing and why digital marketers are taking notice. Forbes

How marketers are seeing value in a proven standard: The Drum and GumGum release a report on contextual advertising
A new report looks into how marketers are finding benefit in contextual advertising. A semantics analysis and various computer vision findings are among insights the study reveals. The Drum
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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at marketing automation by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Dos Toros Created a Burrito-Themed Meme Account to Boost Its Own Following – AdWeek

Cash-Strapped Zuckerberg Forced To Sell 11 Million Facebook Users — The Onion

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — 5 Actionable Tips from Content Marketing World Speakers to Improve Your Marketing Now — Austin Copywriter
• Lee Odden — Lend an EAR to understand Lee Odden’s approach to B2B influencer marketing — B2B News Network
• Jane Bartel and Ashley Zeckman — What’s Trending: Mastering Marketing’s Many Vocations — LinkedIn (client)
• Lee Odden — 43 Most Influential Social Media Marketers You Should Be Following — Animatron

What are some of your own top marketing news items this week?

Thanks for joining us, and we hope you’ll check in again next week for a new array of the most relevant digital marketing industry news, and in the meantime you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don’t miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2018. | Digital Marketing News: Haptic Marketing, Twitter’s Ranked Feeds, B2B’s ABM Challenges, & YouTube’s Vertical Video Ads | https://www.toprankblog.com

The post Digital Marketing News: Haptic Marketing, Twitter’s Ranked Feeds, B2B’s ABM Challenges, & YouTube’s Vertical Video Ads appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2018/09/digital-marketing-news-haptic-marketing.html

Interactive Content Marketing: Why B2B Marketers Should Take Their Content from Boring to Bold

Show of hands, B2B marketers: How many of you know which Hogwarts house you belong in? Or which Disney princess best represents your personality and relationship ambitions? via GIPHY Don’t be shy. I’m a Gryffindor wizard through and through—and apparently, I’m more of a Jasmine than an Ariel. And I know all this thanks to the rise of interactive content. From quirky quizzes to ROI calculators to guided eBooks, interactive content is a rising content marketing star. BuzzFeed is perhaps the most prolific example, creating dozens of quizzes each week that are making their way into social feeds and search results. (And almost all users reportedly finish them). But why should B2B marketers consider adding interactive content to their mix? Because B2B is often pegged as bland and boring. And in a crowded content market, not to mention the fact that buyers' content preferences are turning increasingly visual, interactive content is the next evolution. But if that doesn't convince you, read on for a few more reasons why its time for B2B to embrace interactive content.

#1 – Interactive content is more engaging than static content—for the long-term.

Interactive content may seem a little gimmicky for some marketers—especially those in the B2B space. But the vast majority of marketers who use interactive content agree that it not only grabs attention, but can also hold that attention beyond that initial view. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and Ion Interactive 2017 Interactive Content Study:

• 87% of marketers agree that interactive content grabs the attention of the reader more effectively than static content
• 77% of marketers agree that interactive content has reusable value, resulting in repeat visitors and multiple exposures
• 73% of marketers agree that interactive content, when combined with other more traditional content marketing tactics, enhances message retention among their audiences.

So, if you’re aiming for awareness, engagement, and attention, interactive content holds incredible potential. But I’d also add that this is only true if you deliver quality, relevant content in an interactive format. As my colleague Josh Nite points out: “[Interactive content is] absolutely designed to grab attention. But if your content provides value—if it’s worth paying attention to—interactive elements can help you bring in an audience.” [bctt tweet="#InteractiveContent is absolutely designed to grab attention. But if your content provides value—if it’s worth paying attention to—interactive elements can help you bring in an audience. - @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

#2 – Interactive content can differentiate you from your competitors.

Content has always been a foundational element of B2B marketing. Buyers don’t make hard and fast decisions. Instead, they do their research, weigh their options, and have multiple engagements with sales reps before they sign on the dotted line. Interactive content can help you make an impression and stand out in a crowed, competitive content landscape. In addition, according to the aforementioned report, just 46% of marketers report using interactive content right now—which was flat year-over-year. And if history is any indicator, I’d wager that interactive content adoption among B2B marketers is far lower since the industry is typically slower to adopt new tactics. But that won’t always be the case. Harnessing the opportunity right now has the potential to differentiate your B2B brand from the competition early on, showcasing your commitment to innovation.

#3 – Interactive tools can provide you with exclusive data and analytics.

Savvy marketers are driven by data insights. And many of the interactive content tools you’d leverage for an asset come with their own analytics dashboards, allowing you to get near real-time data on how your audience is interacting and absorbing your content. For example, Ceros, an interactive content software that simplifies the creation process, provides all the basic KPIs such as visitors, opens, and pageviews, as well as engagement metrics like time spent and interaction clicks. But they also track inbound referrals, social shares, video plays, and outbound link clicks. Oh, and that data is viewable in its Analytics Dashboard within second of it happening. While traditional analytics platforms and the data within them is invaluable, from my perspective, this more niche data can help uncover some insights that can help you refine your asset on the fly or consider how to improve other content types moving forward.

#4 – Interactive content can drive results at every stage of the funnel.

From educating buyers to creating customer loyalty, interactive content can serve a purpose (and drive results) at every stage of the funnel. Interactive content users report using the tactic for lead generation, lead nurturing, customer retention, and the list goes on. And interactive is especially powerful, when combined with other tried-and-true content marketing tactics. For a top-of-funnel example, Prophix, a leading provider of corporate performance management (CPM) software solutions, wanted to drive awareness around its report on the evolution of financial planning and analysis, as well as its solutions. By repurposing its original research and adding influencer perspectives, we created an interactive quiz to help empower their audience to crush their jobs now and into the future. This anchor asset, which was promoted using a supporting mix of blog content, social amplification, email, and more, saw a view rate 6-times higher than the benchmark for a similar resource. In addition, the page where it lived garnered 3-times the average share rate.

What Opportunity Does Interactive Content Hold for Your B2B Brand?

Interactive content is here to stay. But the real opportunity doesn’t lay in the interactivity itself. The real value creation is in the excitement or connection that you can make with your audience, as well as the potential to hold their attention for long enough to engrain your message or inspire action. [bctt tweet="The real opportunity with #interactivecontent doesn’t lay in the interactivity itself. The real value creation is in the excitement or connection that you can make with your audience. - @CaitlinMBurgess" username="toprank"] So, B2B marketers. If you’re ready to break away from boring and drive better engagement, interactive content deserves your consideration. How can you leverage interactive content? Check out our post featuring five ways of making marketing magic with interactive content.

The post Interactive Content Marketing: Why B2B Marketers Should Take Their Content from Boring to Bold appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2018/09/interactive-content-marketing-why-b2b.html

Death to SEO: Why Marketers Are Increasingly Disenchanted By The Original Digital Marketing Tactic

Just over two decades ago, search engine optimization (SEO) burst onto the internet scene and kicked the digital marketing doors wide open. Today, marketers consider SEO an effective and required part of their digital marketing mix — well, some of us at least. Many thought leaders, marketers, and brands have speculated that SEO is dead, but we’d argue that it most certainly isn’t. Rather, it’s being reborn. However, it appears to be fading as a core digital and content marketing strategy. Why? There’s no one answer. Instead, multiple challenges and frustrations have fused to create disenchantment with the practice.

The Current Sitch

While HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2018 report indicates that 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority, a recent survey from Clutch shows that SEO is the least popular digital marketing tactic, with just 44% of marketers leveraging SEO. (And just think of how many articles you’ve seen — including this one — pondering whether SEO is dead or alive.) Now think about this: 91% of B2B marketers and 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing as part of their marketing strategies, according to Content Marketing Institute’s 2018 benchmarking studies. Setting aside the different methodologies and sample groups used for these reports, I think we can all agree that many marketers today are struggling to see the value of SEO (and some may even be missing its important connection to content marketing). [bctt tweet="I think we can all agree that many marketers today are struggling to see the value of #SEO. - @annieleuman" username="toprank"] *Cue the dramatic music.* But why are marketers shying away from this foundational digital marketing tactic? At TopRank Marketing, SEO is part of our company fabric, playing a role in nearly everything we do. And while it hurts our emotions to know that many marketers are turning away from the tactic, we aren’t entirely surprised.

The Modern Marketer’s SEO Struggle

It’s a Dog Eat Dog World

We’ve all heard (and maybe said) the top complaint: Thanks to high content marketing adoption, the organic search landscape has become too [expletive] crowded. And as a result, many marketers feel they can’t effectively compete. “SEO has become way more competitive than it was about five years ago,” Joe Manier, our Digital SEO and Advertising Manager, agrees. “With more content to compete against for rankings every day, I think more and more marketers probably discount SEO as a worthwhile tactic.” As a result, more marketers are forgoing the long-term play and turning to paid search to get top placement in SERPs. In fact, paid content promotion has increased almost 400% since 2014, according to a survey from Orbit Media. Furthermore, digital marketing budgets are slowly growing. According to August 2018 CMOsurvey results, in the next five years, digital marketing spending is expected to overtake the majority of marketing budget spend, rising from 44% to 54%. To us, this not only signals that marketers feel the required SEO effort is too taxing and competitive, but also that they’re under increasing pressure to deliver fast results. And with larger budgets to allocate to digital, marketers may be looking to other options that can show results more quickly. [bctt tweet="Why are #marketers turning on #SEO? They feel like the effort isn't worth the reward, and they're under pressure to drive results. " username="toprank"]

It’s Not Black and White

Since its inception, Google has been constantly leveling up the sophistication of its ranking algorithm — much to the dismay of marketers. In fact, just this summer there were several Google updates such as mobile site speed and HTTPS, all of which had SEO and ranking implications. Savvy marketers have been paying attention to these updates. They understand that while Google will never divulge its full ranking algorithm, there are key ranking factors such as relevant, user-friendly content and quality backlinks that are important for SEO and user experience. And they know content optimization requires tweaking and testing to see what works for them. However, with so much on their plates, the fast paced change is hard to keep up with. And couple this with the content saturation mentality, SEO can feel like a losing battle. As our own CEO Lee Odden recently wrote, some marketers simply feel like Google “hates” SEO:

“With Google algorithm and platform updates including Florida, Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon, RankBrain, Mobile, Possum, Fred and the thousands of launches, live traffic experiments, side-by-side experiments, and over 130,000 search quality tests, it makes you wonder: is this all for improving the customer experience or is some of it to thwart SEO?”

It’s a Waiting Game

When black-hat tactics went extinct, marketers had to get used to the notion that SEO was the long-play. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been happy with the waiting game, especially if other tactics have the potential to work more quickly. But marketers aren’t the only ones who want fast results — so does the C-suite. And if marketers don’t deliver, they sow seeds of doubt and stand to disappoint executives, who are likely the ones who approve their budgets. “If your company stakeholders expect to see an increase in organic traffic or more Page 1 rankings within a couple months of launching an SEO strategy, they’re going to be disappointed,” Joe says. “Therefore, marketers may end up leaving SEO behind as they’re failing to meet stakeholder expectations.” And, of course, hearing phrases like “Rome wasn’t built in a day” or “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” adds to the frustration — and doesn’t quell pressure from higher-ups.

Our Hot Take: Now Is Not The Time to Quit

The changing and challenging search landscape is frustrating. There are trillions of unique web pages and counting to compete with. Algorithms and search styles are constantly evolving. And, to top it all off, you’re under pressure drive results and meet internal stakeholder expectations. We get it. But here’s the thing all marketers should remember: Change is inevitable. Our world is increasingly digital, which means the digital marketing landscape will continue to experience rapid shifts. Also, many of the changes and challenges you’re experiencing now aren’t new. “Easy win” or black-hat SEO tactics have been dead and gone for a while now, and Google has been tweaking algorithms on the daily for a decade or more. Furthermore, content marketing is closing in on a decade of growing use—and shows all the right signs to continue as a staple digital tactic. So, rather than abandoning a tried-and-true tactic, perhaps it’s time to shift your strategy. As founder of SparkToro and Moz, and one of SEO’s most recognizable experts, Rand Fishkin once said:

“SEO is powerful precisely because it’s hard to predict and hard to measure.”

So, it’s not a matter of “can” you get results with SEO, it’s a matter of “how” you’ll adapt to find success. We know quality content that matches search intent is a key ranking factor. And we also know quality backlinks are important, too. So, how do you create link-worthy content? Check out our post featuring five types of link-worthy content.

The post Death to SEO: Why Marketers Are Increasingly Disenchanted By The Original Digital Marketing Tactic appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2018/09/death-to-seo-why-marketers-are.html

Magento SEO Best Practices: 7 Traffic Boosting Tips That Work

Getting to the top of the search results with an ecommerce product page is hard work. If you don’t have all of the right elements in place, it can almost seem impossible at times.

But thankfully, you’re not alone in your quest to get more organic traffic for your product pages.

Entrepreneurs have been at it for decades now, and a few of them just so happen to be good at coding.

In 2008, they created an open-sourced platform called Magento, and it’s been helping technically-savvy entrepreneurs sell their products ever since.

I want to briefly take a look at everything that Magento has to offer and then provide some SEO tips that will help you bring in more traffic if you decide to use it.

So let’s start by seeing how Magento stacks up as an ecommerce platform.

Should You Consider Magento?

Magento is an open-sourced, cloud-based ecommerce platform that boasts a moderate build-time and a user-friendly approach.

Unlike a plugin like WooCommerce, Magento is built to house your entire online presence with minimal issues. That means your website, shop, blog, and everything else will all be through Magento.

This has the added benefit of everything looking and feeling the same across the board. It’s one of the many reasons Magento is flexible for both B2B or B2C selling. And the national brands that use Magento display that quite well.

Magento can also hook you up with order management and omnichannel selling capabilities, which are huge factors for ecommerce stores that want to grow.

Pricing ranges from free to reportedly $22,000/year, but that price tag is very rare. Your biggest cost is your web hosting, so your ultimate price tag is going to be based on how big your site is.

But since Magento is an open source platform, anyone with a knowledge of Php can dig in and utilize every ounce of flexibility it has to offer. Of course, that also means that if you have no knowledge of coding, Magento could be a horrible choice.

But the technical aspects don’t dissuade everyone. As many as 240,000 Magento-powered sites are currently up and running, which is about half the sites run by the popular Shopify platform.

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So for the more technically gifted entrepreneurs, Magento is an enticing platform. With a low-cost barrier and tons of flexibility, it’s hard to see downsides.

But now for the most important question of all: how does it do with SEO?

Is Magento a Good Ecommerce Platform for SEO?

Despite its more technical leanings, Magento is one of the most search engine friendly services when used just as-is. If you were to not change anything at all, you would still have a decent SEO framework.

And with the recent Magento 2.0 (an update of Magento 1), the early adopters see some impressive success.

As of this post, only about 8,000 sites use Magento 2.0, and as many as 500 are in the top 100,000 sites on the Internet.

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Of course, seeing as there are only about 240,000 Magento sites overall (including both Magento 1.0 and 2.0), these statistics aren’t too bad at all. Your chances of ranking are high, which is a major plus.

One of the biggest points in Magento’s favor is that they offer a mobile-responsive site out of the box. That means you’re taking full advantage of Google’s mobile-first indexing with little to no effort.

Another great plus is that you can easily expand to multiple different languages with your site, which improves the world-wide reach of your online store.

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So all in all, Magento is not too bad. The bones are good, and there are a few extra bells and whistles to help you expand.

But the best way to describe Magento in terms of SEO is to compare it to the fictional character Peter Parker (or Spider-Man).

In some cases, Magento has extreme power and can outperform anyone. On the other hand, it also has regular, everyday problems that can trip up your SEO.

That means you’ll still need to brush up on your SEO best practices and keep at least four major tips in mind.

SEO Tip #1: Keep Magento Updated

In 2015, Magento released the second version of their platform known simply as Magento 2.0. With this update, they sought to eliminate many of the common issues that store owners experienced.

As we’ve already seen, Magento 2.0 has been an impressive success so far.

The most significant difference between the two boils down to site speed. Magento 2.0 makes your site much faster than in Version 1.0, which means that users and Google will view it more favorably.

Magento 2.0 also makes it easier to do basic SEO legwork like creating and uploading your XML sitemap.

 

The key is that you have to update to Version 2.0 or start out with it when building your site. If you didn’t know to look for it, you might end up saddled with a needlessly slower site.

SEO Tip #2: Use an SEO Extension

As with many other ecommerce platforms, Magento does have app-like extensions that can be used to enhance your SEO significantly.

One such option for users of both Magento 1.0 and 2.0 is the SEO extension from Mageplaza.

SEO extensions are always a good option because no matter how much you know about SEO it’s still easy to miss something. The right tool will help you minimize these errors and keep your traffic growth steady.

SEO Tip #3: Create Search Friendly URLs

One of the most significant downsides with ecommerce is how many pages you have to create, optimize, and edit on a regular basis. That can lead to some pretty gnarly URLs if you’re not careful.

And in turn, that can impact your SEO. Magento isn’t immune to this issue, and can at times exacerbate it.

When you’re building a URL structure, the most prominent element that impacts your SEO is the path that follows your domain name.

If this isn’t keyword optimized, or if it’s too jumbled and confusing, Google and other search engines won’t know how to analyze it.

That means you could be losing traffic from poorly optimized URLs, which is never good. The only solution is to implement a strategy to make them perfect.

For Magento in particular, it’s recommended to take a three-tiered approach:

• Category pages: website.com/category/
• Sub-category page: website.com/category/sub-category/
• Product page: website.com/category-sub-category/product-name/

If you keep this structure throughout your site, Google will always be able to tell what your page should be about and crawl it appropriately. The same goes for any content marketing you do as well.

SEO Tip #4: Use Best-Practice Navigation Techniques

How your customers use your site plays a major role in your SEO. If it’s difficult to get from one place to another, then Google will notice and dock you on the results page.

In order to combat this, you need to optimize your navigational structure. This means creating a hierarchy of pages that create a logical flow through the site.

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The primary objective here is to creating something called an information scent. This occurs when a user comes to a page, sees the information they want to follow, and then clicks to the next page.

According to research shared in 2003, you can keep people clicking through your site for a long time if you get this correct.

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And when users stay longer, Google will see that as a positive signal for your SEO. But without the right navigation in a place like we saw above, this will never be possible.

SEO Tip #5: Optimize Your Robots.txt File

When you create a site with Magento 2, the robot.txt file will automatically be placed in the root of your store. This file’s purpose is to give direction to search engine crawlers as they assess your site.

So without a doubt, it’s a vital part of your overall SEO.

In Magento 2, you have the ability to dictate what this file says fairly easily. You have four different options:

1. Noindex, Nofollow – This tells crawlers to not index a page, and not to check for any updates.
2. Index, Nofollow – This tells crawlers to index your page, but not to check back for updates.
3. Noindex, Follow – This tells crawlers not to index your page at the time, but to check later back for updates.
4. Index, Follow – This tells crawlers to both index your page and follow it for updates.

You can update these instructions in the backend of Magento on your admin panel.

For best results, you’ll want to mix and match the instructions above based on what each page does. For example, crawlers shouldn’t need to index or follow cart or checkout pages, as those will be private to each customer.

On the other hand, a product page that you want to update and keep fresh should be both Indexed and Followed. That way, any changes you make to improve SEO can be registered.

SEO Tip #6: Don’t Neglect Your Headers

On your website, each page has a hierarchical setup of headings that rank from <h1> to <h7>. These are a vital part of your SEO, as they are one of the first signals Google looks at when ranking your page.

When you create a product page on Magento, the default setting is to put your logo in the <h1> </h1> area. While that’s generally acceptable for a homepage, it’s not the best practice for your product pages, content, and landing pages.

To fix this, you’ll need to manually change the <h1> area for each of your product pages. Make sure you include keywords in your title as well.

It may sound tedious, but it’s the only way to ensure that your SEO is in the best shape.

SEO Tip #7: Work on Your Loading Speed

Last but not least, it’s essential to do everything you can to ensure that your Magento site is loading as fast as possible.

Slow load times are a well-documented reason for losing traffic and rankings. The longer it takes to load, the higher the rate people will leave your site.

Image Source

As I mentioned earlier, loading speed is one of the major pitfalls of Version 1.0, so it’s best to stay ahead of that no matter what version you use.

The best way to optimize your loading speed with Magento is to enable something called flat catalogs if you have Version 2.0. Or the most recent Version 1.0.

To do that, you’ll navigate to the Stores tab, and then change your Configuration settings to enable Flat Cataloging.

With this in place, your site will be able to share its data much faster when a user clicks on a product page. That means you’ll have faster load times and see less bounce related to slow site speeds.

Conclusion

Getting to the top of search rankings may be difficult, but platforms like Magento do their best to make it easy for today’s ecommerce entrepreneurs.

With more than 240,000 Magento-powered sites, it’s hard to see an overwhelming flaw that would turn you away from considering it for your site. It’s easy to use, can build a flexible and powerful website, and has good SEO capabilities with minimal effort.

But just, because it’s good out of the box, doesn’t mean you can just ignore your SEO altogether.

Your best bet is to keep Magento updated at all times, and update to Version 2.0 if you can.

Beyond that, you should look into adding an SEO extension that will help you do most of the basics and legwork for your individual product pages.

It’s also in your best interest to rigidly adhere to a search friendly URL structure. Without it, things will get confusing quickly. When paired with a logical navigation, your site will be easy and pleasant t use.

Next, make sure that you optimize your robots.txt file to ensure that Google knows which pages to index and check for updates. This will increase the crawlability of your site and help Google understand it.

And don’t neglect your headers, as Magento puts your logo in the <h1> section by default. Change this to keyword-based titles instead for best results.

Lastly, make sure you emphasize your efforts to decrease load times. It’s Magento’s biggest pitfall, but it has workable solutions.

In the end, Magento can be an excellent choice for growing any ecommerce business. Brands of all sizes use it, and it has great SEO potential for the taking.

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Invisible Content Syndrome and the Content Promotion Tactics to Cure It

Eyes fixed on his computer monitor, Jack felt perspiration form on his forehead as he waited in anticipation for the flood of visitors to the new campaign he and his team just launched.

Anticipation turned to nervousness as he looked around the room and asked, “Who’s promoting this content?”

All Jack got in return were blank stares and a bad case of Invisible Content Syndrome.

According to research by the Content Marketing Institute, 83% of B2B marketers use social networks for traffic, making it the most preferred tactic. At the same time, research from BuzzSumo reports that social sharing has dropped by 50% since 2015. With only 23% of CMOs feeling they are producing the right content and delivering it at the right time and format, lack of visibility is a disease content marketing is suffering across the industry.

The good news is that our client, “Dr. LinkedIn”, offers some cure. According to Digiday, likes and shares on LinkedIn are up more than 60% year-on-year, and LinkedIn tops just about every list including the B2B Content Marketing Report as the most effective social media platform for B2B marketers.

But what more can marketers do to cure Invisible Content Syndrome? While you consider engaging a capable marketing agency like ours for help, I’ve asked some of the top marketers in the industry for their best medicine. Here are their prescriptions:

Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs (and first inductee into the Content Marketing Hall of Fame!)

Wrap your content in context wrapping paper. Your content marketing is a gift you give your audience. Or it should be. If it’s not, stop reading this article on distribution immediately and go back to create something that people want and value. (You know, like an actual good gift.)

Still here? GOOD! Gold star! You’re awesome!

Anyhoosie… share your content gifts on social channels. You know, like you’ve always done.

But now: make sure you wrap it first, using Context as your gift paper. In other words, share not just what the content is… but why it matters to you and your audience.

Your content marketing is a gift you give your audience. @marketingprofs

Why did you write it/produce it/film it/publish it? What about the topic is particularly relevant to this audience on LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebookstagram? What news item does it relate to? What’s so special about your take on it?

Wrap gifts individually for each distribution channel.

Bonus points if you do this by shooting a quick video, so that people can actually see and feel how excited you are.

I did this on LinkedIn with our announcement about our B2B Marketing Forum keynote speakers. I could have just shared the speakers and told how excited I truly am… but instead I shared why we picked them, and how excited I was about it. My excited face and googly eyes say it all.

People love nicely wrapped gifts. Because getting one is way more fun than getting a gift “wrapped” only in a shopping bag from the airport Hudson’s News, right?

Context = the best kind of content gift wrapping paper.

Andrew Davis, Keynote Speaker and Best Selling Author at Monumental Shift

Most of us write a blog post, upload our podcast, or finish editing our video, and as soon as it’s released, we promote it everywhere. We tweet it and summarize it on LinkedIn. We post it on Facebook and email it to everyone. We create an Instagram story and Snap it. In an hour our content is distributed everywhere. We vomit our content on our audience all at once.

Some of the most successful content creators see massive success when they focus less on WHERE they distribute their content and instead focus on WHEN. @DrewDavisHere

It turns out that some of the most successful content creators see massive success over a more extended period when they focus less on WHERE they distribute their content and instead focus on WHEN to distribute their content.

For example, first, send your content to your email subscribers. Now, before you post it anywhere else wait. Wait until your most loyal audience has had time to click and consume your content. (Maybe this takes 24 hours or even a couple of days.) Next, promote your content on one social channel at a time, watching the consumption rise and fall before moving on to the next channel.

The result is a much more successful content distribution and promotion strategy that builds momentum and social proof. Go ahead, give it a shot. You’ll be so glad you did.

Ursula Ringham, Head of Global Influencer Marketing at SAP

Social media influencers are an important ingredient in creating and promoting memorable content. As you’ve seen from industry reports, people are more opt to trust influencers than brands. But you must start by including influencers in the content creation process. Whether it’s a blog, video, podcast, or live-stream, collaborate with the influencer on the story you want to tell and how best it will resonate with their audience.

Whether it’s a blog, video, podcast, or live-stream, collaborate with influencers on the story you want to tell and how best it will resonate with their audiences. @ursularingham

Secret Tip? While the content is being created, have the influencer create anticipation about it before it even comes out, like a teaser of what’s to come. That way, their audience will be hungry for it. And that’s when the value of an influencer kicks in. They can take your promotion strategy for that piece of content to the next level with their reach across multiple social platforms.

Larry Kim, CEO at MobileMonkey

When we promote MobileMonkey’s great content, we don’t “give away” the ending in its distribution and promotion. We hint at the payoff in a way that leaves the reader shouting, “Tell me more!”.

“Don’t ‘give away’ the ending in your content’s distribution and promotion. Hint at the payoff in a way that leaves the reader shouting, ‘Tell me more!” @larrykim

A secret weapon, a major loss, something personal, a traditional model turned upside down… just a hint can avoid invisible content syndrome. This isn’t revolutionary, but it’s overlooked and a constant in MobileMonkey’s campaigns.

Cathy McPhillips, Vice President of Marketing at Content Marketing Institute

Have a plan. You spend so much time creating epic content, so why not spend that same amount of time coming up with a plan for distribution and promotion? It can be a down and dirty spreadsheet — fill in dates, audience, messaging, and what you’re trying to achieve.

Marketers spend time creating epic content, so why not spend that same amount of time coming up with a plan for distribution and promotion? @cmcphillips

Mix up the messaging, hashtags, keywords, days, times that best suit your customers, set up UTM parameters to then analyze what’s working. Find ways that your content can help someone solve a problem. Don’t assume they’ll find you or your content without you doing legwork on your end.

Michael King, Managing Director at iPullRank

It’s remarkable to me that brands will spend a considerable amount of money on building something, but very little on promoting it. I believe brands should take the same approach that networks do with televised content: Spend 5X what you spent to make something to promote it.

Brands should take the same approach that networks do with televised content: Spend 5X what you spent to make something to promote it. @iPullRank

The tactic that we use to drive a wealth of high value traffic is creating bite-sized relevant content pieces that we can guest post on other high traffic sites and link back to our tent pole content. Effectively, you end up borrowing traffic from sites that already have your audience. We tend to make the content asset freely available in HTML format, but with key capture points such as Wistia’s Turnstile feature, which creates a point in a video where you can’t watch any further without giving your email address.

We’ll also use Pay with a Tweet to offer the audience download versions. So, you end up creating more opportunity to capture leads and drive social sharing without completely gating your content.

Carla Johnson, Programme Director, Digital Marketing at HARBOUR.SPACE

Great content brings expertise to the table, but there’s hardly anyone who’s learned all the tough lessons themselves. To help promote content, tap into people who have solved the problem that your content helps your audience with. Get their insights, expertise and, if they’re really honest, epic fails so that your audience can get some leap-frog learning and avoid the same mistakes.

To help promote content, tap into people who have solved the problem that your content helps your audience with. @CarlaJohnson

Doing this helps make invisible content visible in two ways – it’s sure to hit sore spots and pitfalls that your audience deals with, so they’re more likely to share. And when you make it easy for the experts you’ve tapped to share the final content, you’ve added breadth, depth and credibility to it as well. People like to be a part of, and share, great advice.

Mike Stelzner, CEO/Founder of Social Media Examiner

My secret to getting content seen is to focus on the real needs of my audience. If they are social media marketers struggling with exposure in the Facebook News Feed, you can bet I’ll be talking about that. When you hit a real need, people will share your content and talk about it.

The secret to getting content seen is to focus on the real needs of your audience: conducting studies, getting on the phone, or meeting them in person. @Mike_Stelzner

The only way to really understand the pains of your audience is to really know them. That’s where conducting studies, getting on the phone, or meeting them in person can be exceptionally valuable.

Sujan Patel, GM and Co-Founder of Web Profits

There’s one thing I do every time to ensure my content gets seen, I create a promotion plan for every content idea that I come up with. This sounds very simple and it is however it’s an extra step rarely taken by content marketers.

If I can’t come up with at least 5 ways to promote the content I want to make, than it shouldn’t be written. @sujanpatel

My rule of thumb is that if I can’t come up with at least 5 ways to promote the content than it shouldn’t be written. When you start with promotion you build content promotion into the article itself which ensures it receives maximum visibility.

It’s also important to note that content promotion takes significant time so you need to carve out time and resources for promotion. I often spend 80% of my time promoting content.

Joe Pulizzi, Co-Founder and Board Member at The Orange Effect Foundation, Founder at Content Marketing Institute

I call this the “Core 20” rule of promotion. In my experience, there are generally 20 people in your universe that will highly benefit from the content you create. If you do your homework correctly, those 20 individuals have loyal audiences themselves. They don’t have to have large audiences, just loyal ones.

The “Core 20” rule of promotion: Get 20 people with loyal audiences involved BEFORE you create your content. Insert their wisdom and then ask them to promote. @JoePulizzi

Get those 20 people involved BEFORE you create the content. Insert their wisdom into the text, the video, the podcast series, the event. Consider these 20 your executive committee. Keep them updated as to how your content is progressing and when it will be released. Then, ask them to do one thing. Possibly an email to their audience. A few tweets…a FB post. Email is always my favorite. In this way, you have built a content promotion team that does not just rely on your own distribution.

Get Started Promoting Your Content Today

We all know that “Build it and they will come” advice was great for the movies but not so great when it came to Jack and his less than healthy approach to content marketing. Take the advice above to heart and give content promotion some serious consideration during the planning phase of your next content marketing program.

Speaking of content planning, be sure to check out the 2018 Content Planning Report from DivvyHQ and TopRank Marketing.

Whether you partner with influencers who will help promote the content you collaborated on or take full advantage of all the opportunities available, it’s important to make content promotion an essential part of your content marketing regimen.

If you would like even more content promotion tips, here is a list of 50 content promotion tactics. Are you more into more visual content? Here’s an ebook version of this post:

A version of this post was originally published on the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions blog. 

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The post Invisible Content Syndrome and the Content Promotion Tactics to Cure It appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2018/09/invisible-content-syndrome-and-content.html

How Can Marketers Create Stronger Customer Bonds? Focus on Convenience, According to Shep Hyken

Savvy digital marketers have their ears to the ground and eyes to the sky, striving to be on the cutting edge of the latest and greatest trends, tactics, strategies, and tools. After all, change comes hard and fast in this industry—especially when it comes to evolving buyer demands and expectations. However, innovation doesn’t have to be net-new. To put a slight spin on a classic line, everything old can be new again. And that’s where convenience as a strategic digital marketing tool. Convenience has been a core customer service principle for decades. And more often than not, convenience is a defining characteristic of customer experience and the brand as a whole. Think about what 7-Eleven did for weary travelers or time-crunched professionals. Think about what Amazon first did for avid, deal-seeking readers—and what they’re doing now for folks from all walks of life. They disrupted the industry and created loyal followings by offering a convenient customer experience. And according to customer service and experience guru Shep Hyken, marketers can learn a thing or two from these examples—and what he calls “The Convenience Revolution.” [bctt tweet="What separates rockstar companies from all the rest? They’re just easier to do business with. - @hyken #CX #ConvenienceMarketing" username="toprank"] For marketers, convenience isn’t just a competitive differentiator to be touted in marketing messaging—it’s also a creative lens. According to Shep, there are six convenience principles: Reducing friction, self-service, technology, subscription, delivery, and access—all of which he details in his latest book, The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience That Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty. Recently, Shep was gracious enough to sit down with me to explore what some of these principles and an eye on convenience can do for marketers.

Meet Shep Hyken

Shep’s been in the customer service and experience industry for nearly 35 years—it’s in his DNA. “I started my first business when I was 12,” Shep recalls. “It was a birthday party magic show.” That’s right. Shep worked his way around the local birthday party circuit performing magic tricks for oohs, awes, laughs, and a bit of cash. But his success was rooted in consistently innovating the service he was delivering. “Writing thank you notes was the minimum,” Shep explains. “But my parents encouraged me to also ask the parents which tricks they liked the most—and drop the tricks that didn’t make the cut. So, you see, at a very young age I’m saying thank you, I’m asking how the service was, I’m gathering feedback, and I’m using that feedback to make changes—all fundamentals of customer service.” “And this is all certainly relevant to marketers,” he adds. “Customer service experience is the new marketing; it’s the new brand.” [bctt tweet="#CustomerExperience is the new #marketing; it’s the new brand. - @hyken" username="toprank"]

Eliminating the Customer Experience Enemy

Your goal is to deliver the right information, at the right time, to the right person, on the right platform. This is the essence of convenience. You want to make it easy on your audience to get the information they need and to make a decision—and you want to enhance the journey and create a better experience for all. How do you do this? By reducing friction. Why? Because where friction exists, frustration exists—and frustrated buyers and customers will seek out the path of least resistance. “Reducing friction is perhaps the No. 1 opportunity for marketers,” Shep states. “It’s simple. If you don’t know your friction points, you can’t improve the customer experience and build customer loyalty.” Where should you start? As Shep suggests: “Map and study your customer journey, and ask yourself: What are my top customer touch points? Where is there friction? And how can I reduce that friction?” [bctt tweet="Where friction exists, frustration exists—and frustrated buyers and customers will seek out the path of least resistance. #Convenience #DigitalMarketing" username="toprank"]

Strengthening Existing Customer Relationships & Attracting Prospects

The customer journey is anything but linear. We know prospective buyers and existing customers are increasingly self-directed in their quest for answers. Many turn to the internet-at-large and social media to research solutions, engage with brands, inform their decisions, and troubleshoot issues. Marketers have the opportunity to create on-demand content that not only aids existing customers, but also engages prospects. For Shep, this falls under the convenience category of self-service. [bctt tweet="#Marketers have the opportunity to create on-demand #content that not only aids existing customers, but also engages prospects." username="toprank"] “Salesforce is a great example of this principle in action,” he says. “They offer great explainer and how-to content online, which gives their existing customers answers at their fingertips. If customers have a question or issue, they don’t have to call support." Here's an example of one of Salesforce's How-To videos, one of many featured on their YouTube channel: “What makes this a fantastic marketing piece is that anyone who happens to be considering their products can see this great content, allowing them to learn more about how a product works and the level of support offered,” he says. But what about those who stop the search early and just pick up the phone? Shep says self-service content still plays a pivotal role. “This content is a great supplement for live support,” he says. “Your team member can answer questions live, but also offer more convenient, digital solutions customers or prospects can walk away with.”

Defining Your Own Brand of Convenience

Here’s an important thing to remember, marketers: Convenience is objective. As Shep points out, what’s considered convenient for one business may simply be unacceptable for another—even within the same industry. That’s why it’s important to define your own brand of convenience—and not fall victim to what Shep calls “We Can Do It Too” Syndrome. “Marketers need to stop placing so much emphasis on catching up or edging out their direct competitors,” he says. “Customers don’t compare you to your competitors anymore—they compare you to other positive experiences they’ve had. “If you keep chasing what your competitors are doing, you’re always a step behind,” Shep adds. “That’s a good way to go out of business because you’re just doing what someone else is already doing.” Aim to delight and surprise—not just satisfy—if you want to build relationships and create meaningful connections with your customers and prospects. “Convenience is a separator between a satisfied customer and a loyal customer,” Shep says. “Satisfactory is a rating. Loyalty is an emotion. So, you need to figure out a way to create a lasting emotional bond.” [bctt tweet="Satisfactory is a rating. Loyalty is an emotion. So, marketers need to figure out a way to create a lasting emotional bond. - @hyken #CX #DigitalMarketing" username="toprank"]

Create Convenience. Create Loyalty.

Simply put, your customers and prospects want to do business with companies that make their lives easier. They want fast answers to their questions. They want service they can count on, every time. They want convenience. And they’ll pay with their budgets and loyalty. By adding the convenience lens to your marketing efforts, you can uncover and mitigate friction points, and provide better on-demand content that fosters connections with your customers and prospects throughout their journey. “As a marketer, you need to think it’s beyond just creating awareness, and think about creating an experience that your customers will talk about to create more awareness,” Shep shares. “The best marketing is when other people market for you.” [bctt tweet="The best #marketing is when other people market for you. - @hyken" username="toprank"] A big thank you to Shep Hyken for sharing his expertise and insights. If you want to get ahold of his new book, it’s on pre-sale now. How can you foster deeper connections with your customers, prospects, and audience at-large? Create content that resonates. For inspiration on how to do just that, check out our post featuring lessons in resonance from 10 content marketing experts.

The post How Can Marketers Create Stronger Customer Bonds? Focus on Convenience, According to Shep Hyken appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-can-marketers-create-stronger.html