In today’s digital age, content marketing has become a critical component of any successful marketing strategy. However, creating content that truly resonates with your audience and delivers value can be a daunting task. In this blog, we will discuss some tips for creating valuable content that resonates with your audience and how to use keywords and metadata to optimise your efforts.
Understand your audience: The first step in creating valuable content is to understand your audience. This involves researching their needs, pain points, and interests. You can do this by conducting surveys, analysing social media engagement, and reviewing customer feedback.
Develop a content strategy: Once you’ve understood your audience, the next step is to develop a content strategy. This involves creating a plan for the types of content you will create, how often you will publish, and how you will distribute it.
Focus on quality over quantity: While it’s important to publish content on a regular basis, it’s equally important to focus on quality over quantity. Creating valuable content that delivers value to your audience will help establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
Use visuals and multimedia: Visuals and multimedia can help make your content more engaging and memorable. Incorporating images, videos, and infographics can help communicate your message in a more compelling way.
Optimise for SEO: Finally, it’s important to optimise your content for search engines. This involves using keywords and metadata to help your content rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
As technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, it is reshaping the way we do business, including strategy development. In today’s digital age, consultants must understand the impact of technology on strategy development to stay relevant and provide valuable services to clients. In this blog post, we’ll explore some key aspects of technology’s influence on strategy development and what consultants need to know.
Digital Transformation: A Game-Changer for Strategy Development
Digital transformation has disrupted traditional business models, making it essential for organisations to incorporate technology into their strategy development processes. Digital technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning have become critical tools for strategy development. Consultants must be well-versed in these technologies and understand how to apply them to their clients’ businesses.
Data Analytics: The Key to Informed Decision Making
Data analytics has revolutionised the way businesses make decisions. By leveraging data, consultants can gain valuable insights into their clients’ businesses, identify trends, and make informed decisions. However, data analytics is a complex field, and consultants must have the right tools and expertise to analyse and interpret data effectively.
AI and Machine Learning: Enhancing Strategy Development
AI and machine learning are becoming increasingly popular tools for strategy development. These technologies can analyse vast amounts of data and identify patterns that humans may miss, enabling consultants to make better-informed decisions. AI and machine learning can also automate repetitive tasks, freeing up consultants’ time to focus on higher-value activities.
Automation: Streamlining Processes and Reducing Costs
Automation is another technology that is transforming the way we work. By automating routine and repetitive tasks, consultants can save time and reduce costs. Automation can also improve accuracy and reduce errors, making it an invaluable tool for consultants who need to deliver high-quality work efficiently.
The Latest Trends and Tools in Technology
Consultants must keep up with the latest trends and tools in technology to remain competitive. Some of the latest trends in technology that are impacting strategy development include cloud computing, edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Consultants must also be familiar with tools such as project management software, collaboration tools, and analytics software to stay ahead of the curve.
Conclusion
Technology is transforming the way we do business, including strategy development. Consultants must understand the impact of technology on strategy development and leverage the latest trends and tools to build successful strategies. By incorporating digital technologies such as data analytics, AI, machine learning, and automation into their processes, consultants can provide valuable services to clients and stay ahead of the competition.
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Social media has come a long way since the early days of MySpace and Friendster. Over the years, social media platforms have become a vital part of businesses’ marketing strategies, allowing them to connect with their target audience in more ways than ever before. In this blog, we will explore the evolution of social media strategies from basic posting to advanced targeting.
Phase 1: Basic Posting
In the early days of social media, businesses simply used social media platforms as a way to post updates and share news about their company. There was little focus on engagement or building relationships with customers. The goal was simply to be present on social media and have a profile that potential customers could visit.
Phase 2: Building Communities
As social media became more popular, businesses began to realise the potential for building communities on social media platforms. They started to focus on creating engaging content that would attract followers and encourage them to interact with the brand. This phase marked the beginning of the importance of building a brand’s social media presence.
Phase 3: Paid Advertising
As social media platforms became more crowded and the competition for attention increased, businesses started to invest in paid advertising. This allowed them to reach a larger audience and target specific demographics. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all introduced advertising options for businesses to promote their brand.
Phase 4: Advanced Targeting
Today, social media strategies have evolved to a level where businesses can use advanced targeting to reach specific audiences. With tools such as Facebook Ads Manager and Twitter Ads, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that reach users based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
Social media platforms have also introduced tools that allow businesses to retarget users who have previously interacted with their brand. This means businesses can create highly personalised campaigns that are more likely to convert.
In conclusion, the evolution of social media strategies has come a long way since the early days of basic posting. Today, businesses can use advanced targeting to reach specific audiences, build communities, and create highly personalised campaigns. As social media continues to evolve, it’s important for businesses to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies to ensure they stay ahead of the competition.
Here’s QL Tech’s comprehensive guide to digital marketing, irrespective of your size or budget.
Whether you own and run a business, or work in the marketing department, you can’t escape digital marketing. It is the buzzword and covers a vast set of opportunities – as well as its own, unique terminology.
In this article, we’ll cover all digital marketing comprehensively, with detailed explanations. After reading through, you’ll know what your options are, and how best to leverage them effectively.
What is Digital Marketing
Digital marketing covers all the activities that involve reaching out to people via the internet. Its foundation is content (information), which is used to attract people to get acquainted with, and buy your products or services.
Speaking of content, remember, that even a well written (and free!) Google My Business listing counts. However, as you get savvier, you’ll want to ramp it up to increase eyeballs and revenue.
There are multiple methods and channels you can use to put your message across. Some are free. Others cost money.
But, the internet is vast and diverse. It accommodates everyone, offering several smart ways to do it, irrespective of your size, or budget.
Why Digital Marketing is Hot (And Will Continue to Be)
Advertising online is the in thing. Any other reasons to join the bandwagon?
Yes, lots!
Reason #1: Digital Marketing Works, Because it’s Targeted and Relevant
Let’s explain that further. Targeted means you can show your message specifically to the people you choose to. Relevant, as you can show different messages to different audiences.
Billboards and TV ads are displayed to everyone watching it. Some may like it. Others might not even relate to it.
Reason #2: When You Market on the Internet, Costs are Way Lower
A billboard costs between $2,300 to $100,000 per month. A sought-after TV spot during the grand finals will cost even more. And that’s not counting the production costs.
On the other hand, you can advertise (with plain text) on Google search pages with a budget of a hundred.
You can also pass on your message for free, with a good content marketing strategy – we’ll be expanding on this later.
Reason #3: With Online Marketing, You Only Pay for What You Get
While there are multiple billing methods on the internet, nearly all involve paying only when a user takes an action. It might be a view or a click – you choose.
Reason #4: The Internet Opens Up a Larger Audience
89% of Australians are on the internet. You have more chance of connecting with them on the internet, than anywhere else.
Reason #5: You Can Change Your Marketing Strategy by the Minute
Once you’ve made an offline marketing campaign, you’re more or less stuck with it, irrespective of the performance. With digital marketing, you can alter your strategy in seconds. You can change your audience, messaging and even the amount you’re willing to pay.
Reason #6: Your ROI is Measurable
It’s really hard to measure how much of your sales were due to a TV, print, or billboard ad. With digital marketing, you know which ad or piece of content resulted in a conversion. This allows you to fine-tune your messaging to a T.
Reason #7 You Can Beat Rivals With Deeper Pockets
The Internet makes the David vs Goliath story an everyday reality. You don’t need to shell out big bucks to fight for limited space on a newspaper. If you play it smart, betting on the right keywords and messaging, you can beat the competition at their game.
How Digital Marketing Works
Effective internet marketing is built on 3 key foundations (ranked in the order of importance):
Audience
While content is king, your audience is your God. They decide what will work, and what won’t.
That’s why it’s critical to understand who your prospects are, their likes and dislikes. You need to know where they hang out on the net. Their lingo. And their online habits.
Content
Once you get to know your audience, you can then create content tailored to them. You speak their language. You address their pain points. You like the things they like. And your pet peeves are the same.
Understanding the Buyer’s Journey
In broad terms, there are 3 stages of the buyer’s journey online.
First comes the awareness stage, when your audience becomes aware that they have a problem, and wonder what the solution could be. You know the answer – you! But, don’t shout it out just yet. Address their problem, and let them in on all the possible solutions, including any you don’t own.
Second, comes the consideration stage, when your prospects are weighing the solutions very seriously. This is the time to give your products or services centerstage, expressing why you’re the best option.
Finally, there’s the decision stage. Your prospects have made up their minds. All they require is a nudge into your shopping cart. Time for a discount maybe?
What are the Elements of Digital Marketing?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Content Marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Social Media Marketing
Email Marketing
Retargeting & Remarketing
Pay Per Click (PPC) & its Variations
Affiliate Marketing
Marketing Automation
Sponsored Content & Native Advertising
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimising your website and content towards search engine queries.
Unless you’re a well-known brand or name, a search engine is the most likely place to be discovered. After all, nearly half of product searches start on Google.
Optimizing your content for search engines is important because users may use different terms to the ones you think they do.
Lets’s say you own a shoe store. You’re wondering which of your products should take centre stage and build your content around. Should you focus on sneakers, trainers, runners or running shoes?
You think about it a lot, and decide that you’ll focus on the word ‘sports shoes’. After all, more people will search for a generic term, right? If you look up the Google search data, here are the results.
As you can see, the word ‘sports shoes’ is not so popular among Australians on Google.
Here’s another insight you can get from search data.
If a person searched for just runners, they might be referring to carpets! So it’s a term you must use carefully.
The key to SEO is to do keyword analysis on Google Adwords, and find the terms related to your product that people search for. You can then build your site content around these terms.
While at it, also create content related to your main keywords. When you’ve covered the topic completely, Google will consider you to be an expert in that realm, and direct more traffic your way.
SEO falls into 3 categories:
On-page SEO
It refers to all the content optimization efforts done on your site, like in the example above. It includes keyword research, and then adding keywords in your content (not stuffing them), especially in the headlines and subheads.
You must also add keywords in your metatags and meta descriptions – they let the search engine bots know what your site is about. Meta descriptions also appear on the search results page, just under your page’s title. Do note though, Google might decide to take other content from the page if it feels that’s more relevant to the search query.
Off-page SEO
There’s another factor besides the quality and authoritativeness of the content on your site, that Google uses to rank you for a certain keyword. It’s the number of backlinks you have.
Backlinks are the links pointing to your site from an external source. And it’s very important to have as many of them as possible.
Consider it to be like a good reputation. You wouldn’t give too much importance to a person himself claiming to be very good. On the other hand, if many other people told you he was really very good, you’d definitely take notice.
At the same time, if a lot of shady characters recommended the guy, you’d be downright sceptical. Therefore, your backlinks must be from good sources.
2 factors determine the quality of your backlinks.
Relevant Anchor Text
Anchor text is the words within which your link is embedded. So, if you want to rank high on Google search results for shoes, it helps if the links to your site come attached to the word shoes or related terms.
It also helps if the links are from pages with relevant content. Plus, links pointing to your homepage are not as beneficial as those pointing to a page hosting the content you’re optimizing for.
Domain Authority
DA is a term that gives you an idea about the quality of a website. It ranges from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the more of a ranking boost you’ll get.
A DA score above 70 is very good, but it’s not easy to get a link from such sites.
DA between 70 to 20 is good, and that’s where you should aim to get links from.
A score below 20 is like a shady reputation. Give it a miss.
Remember, that you can’t trick Google with shortcuts like placing links in comments, or using sites that are built solely for generating backlinks. Tactics you can use are guest blogging, republishing (modified) content, and creating classy infographics.
The bottom line is to simply create awesome and original content that others will want to link back to.
Technical SEO
SEO also has a more technical aspect related to your website, and how it is structured. You need to ensure that all of your pages are accessible to Google’s search engine bot, as it crawls the internet looking to find new pages and categorise them. A good web designer will help with this.
2. Content Marketing
Content is the #1 way to stand out from the competition on the net.
But, creating good content is not enough. You also have to put it out there, calling attention to it.
Content marketing is the process of generating quality content and distributing it across multiple channels across the net.
As you can see, there are two steps to it. First, create useful information that your audience is searching for. Next, share it across multiple channels and fora to bring visitors to your site.
Both the traffic generated, as well as the engagement that your content earns (such as likes and shares will make Google sit up and take notice.
You can only put so much content on your main pages. So to achieve the critical mass required for success, you need to diversify into multiple content types. Some of them are:
Blogs
Having a blog, and posting articles regularly is key. The first step is to figure out the broad topics that you want to cover and write a bunch of articles around each. Answer the questions your audience have on their mind. Address their pain points. Offer solutions and advice. But, don’t hard sell all the time.
Whitepapers, Guides & Ebooks
Such long forms of content serve multiple aims.
They establish you as an expert. They also give your audience something to take home and keep with them.
And the best part is, that you’re giving all this helpful advice for free. Well, kind of! Before giving away your pdfs, you can ask for their email in return. That way, you can build a database of customers – a very important part of digital marketing.
The data you collect can be loaded onto a customer data platform or CRM, and you can send across emails, newsletters, exclusive offers, and more.
The one drawback of giving access to your best information only after filling a form is that Google can’t crawl it. It means that the content in your pdf won’t help your search engine results page (SERP) rankings as Google doesn’t know you have it.
Therefore, put most of that information on the page, with a button that leads to the form.
Videos
Everyone loves visual content. You’re probably watching more videos than you’re reading articles. Videos are a good way to provide value for your audience’s time.
Did you know that Youtube is the most visited site after Google? On average, an Australian user spends 18 minutes on it, visiting 10 pages every day. That’s even more time than spent on the search engine.
Besides, 82% of all consumer traffic on the net will be directed towards videos by 2022. And here’s the best stat – your video has a 50 times higher chance of appearing on the 1st page of Google, as compared to text content on the same topic.
3. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
While SEO and content marketing are free, SEM is when you pay to be placed on the first pages of Google. Your ad appears when a user types in your keyword in the search box – this is called paid search. The ad also appears above the usual search results – also known as organic search.
This is especially useful when you’re starting, or you need a quick burst of sales volumes.
What you need to do, is first identify the keywords that you think will drive traffic and/or sales. Google Adwords indicates the volume and competitiveness of each keyword. The ideal one to pick has high search volumes and low competition.
That way, you can get your message across to a large number of people, without paying as much.
Once you’ve picked your keyword, you’ve got to place a bid for it. That’s what you’ll pay if a user clicks on your ad. There are 2 ways to bid:
Manual Bidding
You manually set how much you’re willing to bid for each keyword.
Automated bidding
You set an average daily budget per click. Google then automatically places a bid, to maximize your clicks within your budget over a month.
So, do you have to outbid everyone else for your ad to be seen? No. Google decides which ad appears based on this formula:
Ad Rank = CPC Bid x Quality Score
What is the Quality Score in Google Ads?
Google measures your quality score based on 3 factors:
Expected Click Through Rate (CTR)
How likely is it that your ad will be clicked on for a certain query?
Ad Relevance
Does your ad content match the user’s intent?
Landing Page
Are the landing pages (where the click takes users) relevant and useful to those who’ve clicked?
The gist of it is, that your ad content and landing pages must closely match the user’s keywords and intent. How your ad performs over time ultimately determines the quality score.
By fine-tuning your content, you can get your ad to appear higher, despite bidding lower than your competition.
Another big advantage of SEM is that you can show your ad to very specific audiences. You can define who sees your ads based on demographics and current location. You can also create different content to be shown to different audiences, even if they type in the same thing.
You can also be picky about the keyword variations your ads appear for. You can choose:
Broad Match
Your ad appears if your keyword matches with the intent of the query
Phrase Match
Your ad is displayed if the keyword phrase is included in the query.
Exact Match
Your shows up only if the exact keyword or a close variation is typed in.
Negative Keywords
You can also choose to not show your ads if a certain word appears along with the query. For example, if you’re targeting the word ‘runners’ for your shoe store. You can ensure your ad does not appear if the word ‘carpet’ and related terms appear.
The wider your net, the more impressions your ad will receive, but it will also increase your costs.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social Media Marketing is simply promoting your content on social media. There are 2 ways to do it.
One is to create highly engaging as well as share-worthy content and promote it among your social communities. This is absolutely free. You can also take part in social discussions, and converse with influencers to spread your message.
Besides, networks like Instagram allow users to follow the hashtags of their choice. When they do, they are shown posts containing the hashtag, even from people they don’t follow.
So, add relevant hashtags that your audience is likely to be interested in.`
The other way to market on social media is to pay for your ad or content to be shown. This is great to connect with new audiences.
Here’s proof. 60% of Instagram users in a survey have followed a new brand after seeing an ad.
Social media is also a great place to sell. More than 33% of the respondents in the same survey have made a purchase after seeing an ad on Instagram.
Some of the top social sites are:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
The most common mistake marketers make when on social media, is taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
Each channel is different, and the same audience does things differently on each. You should do the same too.
Tailor your messaging to mimic your audience’s actions. Use the appropriate content format. And focus on building a community of believers.
Paid social media marketing works very similarly to PPC. Each channel has its version of the quality score. And all allow you to target specific audiences.
But, there’s one additional variable when it comes to user targeting on social media – audience behaviour.
You can, for example, show your sports shoe ads to people who follow a certain athlete, are part of a fitness community, or, liked/shared a post related to sports in the recent past.
This allows you to show your ad to more precise buyer personas, allowing for more clicks and conversions.
Email Marketing
An email is perhaps the one means of communication that you’re sure will reach your prospect. But the drawback is that every other marketer knows this, and inboxes are flooded with emails – most of them unwelcome.
So how do you stand out among the clutter?
Here’s the step by step way to being welcome in your audience’s inbox.
Create a Database of Customers
Offer every visitor to your site something in return for their email id. It could be an eBook download. A discount code. Or a newsletter they’d love to read.
You can do the same across social media channels too.
Segment Your Database
Segment your users according to their personas, tastes, and stage in the buyer’s journey.
Send Personalised Emails
Send emails that are in tune with each user segment’s needs. Also, refer to each person by name. If your database is huge, an email or marketing automation tool can help you achieve this without a sweat.
Avoid Spammy Content
There are certain words email service providers use to classify mail as unwanted and send them to the spam folder. Words like FREE, offer and discount are red flags.
Allow Easy Unsubscribing
Make it easy for a user to stop receiving emails. Otherwise, you might end up in the spam folder, and that’s always a black mark against your email id.
Display Advertising
Display ads are visual ads that appear on websites. To put up a display ad, you can get in touch with a site popular among your audience directly, or link up with a display ad network.
The top display ad networks are:
Google Display Network (Adsense)
Facebook Audience Network Ads
Yahoo! Network
Apple Advertising
Taboola
Airpush
Each of these networks has its own advantages, and it’s up to you to pick the right one. Facebook Audience Network Ads, for example, uses the humungous user data the social network has, as well as its other in-house channels like Instagram and Whatsapp.
Apple Advertising gives access to the apps in the Apple app store. Taboola lets you display ads on its vast network of affiliate sites.
There are hundreds of display networks. Many focus on niche categories and geographical locations. So, find the sites your audience frequent, and create the appropriate messaging for each site you’re advertising on.
In addition to PPC, there are 2 more ways to decide the terms on which you’ll pay.
Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
You pay every time 1,000 users view your ad.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
You pay only when a predetermined conversion occurs.
7. Retargeting & Remarketing
Retargeting is simply sending a relevant message to users who’ve already interacted with your site before.
They may have visited a few pages without taking any real action. They may have loaded an item onto a shopping cart, but haven’t returned since. Or, they could have visited a CTA page, without filling in the form and pressing the button.
In the first case, wouldn’t it be great if you could offer a guide related to the pages the prospect was browsing? For the second, a discount on that very product might turn the tide in your favour. And in the last case, offering that CTA page goodie without having to fill the entire form (only keying the email id) – might be a nice display of empathy.
All of the above actions are possible, and it’s put into action by the humble cookie.
When a visitor visits your site, you can allow the browser to place a cookie on his or her computer. When another site is visited by the same user, you can display the appropriate ad. For this to happen, you’d have to tap into a display network, and give them a collection of display ads. The network will then display the ad.
This form of retargeting is also known as offsite retargeting.
With the help of the cookie, you can also perform actions on your site. Like an on-page popup displaying a discount, or maybe offering to take the visitor back to the page they were last on. This is an example of onsite retargeting.
Remarketing is essentially the same thing, except that you use cookie information to send highly contextual emails.
In addition, display networks also allow you to use a visitor’s email id to identify and send them the right ad. In this case, the line between retargeting and remarketing blur, to mean the same thing.
8. Marketing Automation
As you’re probably wondering, how is it possible to retarget visitors? After all, everything occurs in milliseconds.
The visitor visits your site. Then leaves to visit another site. Between the time your prospect clicks on that site, and the page loads, the decision on which ad to display is made. And when the page content appears, your message is there too.
All of this is possible with marketing automation. It connects all the key players in your online marketing efforts – website, customer database, email engine and marketing systems – as well as your sales and marketing teams.
The perfect marketing automation system helps you identify and segment your audience, create the right content, and automatically perform the appropriate actions based on what your audience is doing – in real-time
Here are some examples.
Email Automation
You can retarget site visitors, send thank you emails on a purchase, and send the appropriate newsletter to the right audience segment. All, without moving a muscle.
Nurturing Leads into Customers
You can send the apt information at the appropriate time to your prospects, to nudge them along in the buyer’s journey. The information can be sent via multiple channels – free as well as paid – and coordinated across your marketing, sales and service teams.
Programmatic Advertising
Targeting the right audience at the right time with the right messaging – automatically, is called programmatic advertising. All of this happens in real-time.
Measuring ROI
There are multiple ways to measure ROI. You might want to calculate your returns based on conversions, sales, or simply brand engagement. With an automated system in place, you can check all of these factors on the go. With such information at your fingertips, you can focus on your marketing strategy, recalibrating it by the minute.
Attribution Modelling
When it comes to online marketing, conversion usually happens over multiple touchpoints. A customer may have read a blog, then viewed a video, and finally clicked on a display ad with a discount before buying.
So, which of these touchpoints do you give credit to?
There are various attribution models. Some give credit to the first touchpoint(s), and others to the last (few). There are also attribution models that distribute the credit to different touchpoints in a weighted manner.
An automated digital marketing system can automatically attribute your successes to the touchpoints you choose. Over time, you can decipher which of your assets are giving you the most returns.
Marketing automation allows you to let the system handle all the mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on the strategic decisions that’ll grow your business.
9. Affiliate Advertising
You can display ads from other brands on your site, to earn additional revenue. To do so, you’ll have to join an affiliate network. After you join, you can open up spaces on your webpage for advertisers on the network.
There are many compensation methods, including:
Revenue sharing/commissions/pay per sale (PPS)
Cost per action/acquisition (CPA)
Cost per click (CPC)
Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
Getting a commission on a sale is the most popular way to get paid as a member of an affiliate network. So, ensure that your audience, the content of the display page, and the ad messaging are aligned, for best results.
10. Sponsored Content & Native Advertising
As you know, ads are sales-y and viewers know you’re making a pitch. To overcome this hitch, there are forms of advertising that are not so obvious.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content may be in the form of an advertorial, where a website or online publication publishes an article that conveys information about your brand and/or products. Influencer marketing is also a form of sponsored content, where you pay social media stars in cash or kind to promote your products.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is creating promotional content for a site in a format and tone that looks exactly like the other material on the site. A good example is this article on the dreariness of filing tax returns on The Onion by H&R Block, a tax payment firm.
Three Ways to Minimize Costs With Digital Marketing
The key to minimizing your online advertising costs is to target your ads to as specific an audience as possible. That way, you display your ad to the people most likely to take the desired action, driving down advertising costs, and pushing up conversion rates and ROI.
Besides the targeting techniques mentioned in the article so far, here are 3 more:
Ad Scheduling
You specify the time periods when your ads are displayed, picking the times your audience is most likely to be online.
Device Targeting
You choose the device on which your ad is displayed, like picking mobiles for queries with ‘near me’ in it. That’s when your prospect is most likely to buy.
Geotargeting
You aim at users within a target radius, ideally when they’re close to your store.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is the holy grail of marketing today, and leveraging it effectively is critical to win customers and make friends in the digital age. The advantage of internet marketing is that small players can punch above their weight, and quick, agile marketers can outfox the heavyweights.
As you transform your business into an online marketing machine, remember to keep your audience at the centre of all your efforts. Focus primarily on your customers, not the competition. Create content that they’ll love. And spread it across the channels they frequent, in their everyday language.
Remember, as the world moves online, a well-thought digital marketing strategy will give your business the immunity to survive the pandemic and its crippling effects.
At QL Tech, we’ve been aiding businesses in their digital transformation efforts with market analysis, process & marketing automation, customer database platforms, and digital marketing. Get in touch, and we’ll help you get ahead too.
Over the years countless businesses and advertisers have used Google Ads to increase their ROI and grow. Having said that, you will also find many businesses that are highly disappointed in the output that Google ads campaigns provide.
Now you might be wondering which line of thought is correct, to that our answer would be both. Google ads, formerly known as Google AdWords like other PPC platforms will spend all your money fruitlessly if not executed the right way.
Here are some of the common mistakes found in Google ads campaigns:
Using broad match keywords
Not adding negative keywords
Not directing your traffic to customised landing pages
However, if you manage to avoid the above-mentioned mistakes and optimise your campaign accordingly this platform will achieve the ROI your business deserves. In this article, we’ll be discussing the tips and tricks to optimise your Google ads campaigns.
1) Personalize messaging
By reaching potential shoppers in their language, you’ll personalize our Google Ads messaging for better results.
With this Google Ads hack, you won’t get to create specific campaigns for a spread of language speakers.
The idea is to attach with bilingual audiences who could also be employing a non-English browser but understand English ads, or are searching in English albeit their browser is about for a special language.
2. Start off with economical automated bidding
Google’s automated bidding will help novice and experienced Google Ads advertisers save both optimization time and unnecessary spending.
Taking the guesswork out of Google bidding, automated bid strategies are created to assist you to match your campaign bidding to your specific eCommerce business goals.
In short, it should be your favourite Google campaign optimisation hack! Here’s an inventory of every of Google’s automated bidding strategies and therefore the business goals they’re best for:
If you would like to release even longer while improving your ROIs and driving good, targeted traffic, then tools like Traffic Booster will make sure you automate every aspect of your Google Ads optimization.
Think of it as getting the advantages of getting a fanatical PPC Marketing agency for your eCommerce campaigns without the large agency costs.
3. Make use of location-based bid modifiers
Bid modifiers that are localised can give great results for ad campaigns good campaigns. As you’ve probably noticed already from your Google Analytics data, not all locations are equal in terms of product conversion performance. This isn’t almost country-specific language changes.
Let’s say you’re selling camping equipment. You’d probably find that your sales are higher in additional rural areas than urban centres. By using location-based bid modifiers, you’ll set higher bids for locations more likely to convert.
4. Work towards a complicated keyword strategy
A robust keyword strategy is an absolute must for ensuring your Google ads are working as they should.
This includes keeping an in-depth eye on your campaign metrics to mine for possible keywords, using negative keywords to prevent irrelevant clicks, implementing brand keywords strategically, and employing a combination of short- and long-tail keywords to account for campaign goals.
However, it’s not just a matter of implementing these from day one; to actually ensure your Google Ads campaigns are optimized, you would like to make sure you’re continuously tweaking and optimising your keywords.
Regularly use Google’s Keyword Planner and other research tools to seek out new potential long-tail keywords. Keep an in-depth eye on your negative keywords list and consciously add terms that are hurting your CTRs or leading to irrelevant clicks.
5. Use RLSAs to rejuvenate old ad groups
This Google Ads optimization must-do relates to your campaign ad groups. Before you kill an awareness ad group or sub-par keyword, you’ll want to undertake using these campaigns with RLSA (remarketing lists for search ads).
Why? Because, by adding remarketing lists, which supply secondary targeting for your keywords, you’re sending campaigns to people that are already conversant in your brand, thus improving the prospect of higher ad performance.
But bear in mind that, to use RLSAs, your online store will have a minimum of 1,000 active cookies.
If you’re already familiar with using RLSAs for optimised Google campaigns, here is an expert strategy we recommend to boost your Google Ads:
Messaging coordination: let’s say someone visited your online store and engaged with one specific product. the thought here would be to make RLSAs that focus on groups of shoppers who viewed that specific product with ad messaging highlighting the advantages of the precise product they already engaged with.
6. Test all Google Ad variants
We know that, before we throw huge money at any PPC campaign, we’d like to check smaller budgets, optimize, then increase spending.
With Google Ads, it’s no different. this suggests testing everything at campaign and ad group level to make sure that you simply have significant performance potential by the time you run your campaigns.
The easiest thanks to Google’s Ad Variants. Using this tool, you’ll test a mess of variations of your ads like headlines, descriptions, promotions, and final ad landing pages.
In conclusion
As we know, pro optimization means increased sales potential. However, there are two vital side notes to think about when optimizing your Google Ads campaigns.
Firstly, you’ll have the foremost optimized campaigns possible, but, if you’re sending shoppers to terrible, non-user-friendly URLs with confusing or irrelevant content, you’re throwing money away.
Not to mention the effect this may wear your Google Quality Score, which can increase your CPCs and reduce the probabilities of your ads being shown.
In case you have any question on optimising your Google ads or need in developing an effective strategy for your business then contact us or simply drop us a line and we’ll get back to you in no time.
At present, digital marketing services algorithms are difficult to understand. When algorithms become familiar, implementation seems like a breeze. But actually, the marketing algorithms are awesome. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is not bounded by just a few techniques. Digital marketing services include SEO that makes every online business stronger.
There are SEO practices in digital marketing that come handy for business websites. These services help to increase their readability, accessibility and revenue-generating paths. At the same time, these services can even drift your business into trouble. If you don’t apply the right one at the right time.
Now, let’s say you know all the digital marketing tactics. Also, you apply them to make your online business successful. But still, does it makes you a good entrepreneur? In SEO, there are many strategies but you can’t implement them all at the same time. To make your online business perform well on a bigger platform, you will have to follow only a few SEO marketing tactics. That will make your work impressive and will make you a better entrepreneur.
Let’s begin with those four digital marketing services that will allow you to become a better business person.
1) Mind-Boggling Content
While surfing on the internet, you will find similar information on different blog pages. The content can be in many storylines but the climax is the same. At present, the audience does not consider going through the same information again. They are always in a need of fresh and informative data.
So, consider gaining more knowledge before publishing your content live. All you have to do is spend more and more time on the internet searching for useful content for your audience. Being a digital marketing person, you should know the taste of your audience. The content on your website should be unique and simple enough to understand.
2) Google Search Isn’t Enough
Is your online business site ranking first on Google? It can be yes but not 24/7. Even if your online business website has all the products that customers want. Still, it will not be retaining its position. The reason will be your competitors using the latest SEO practices.
Google search is not enough to maintain your brand name as a vast part of the audience are mobile users. It’s a modern era and mobile applications are trending like hotcakes. No one considers opening up a browser to search for any item. People consider using apps to find better results.
At present, there are many services apps available in the market that provide amazing customer services. For example food ordering apps, taxi booking apps, medicine delivery apps and many more. People can get whatever they want with the help of these service apps. Now, this is why Google Search isn’t enough for every user.
Also, we should not forget that except Google, there are other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com. You will have to focus on such SEO practices that will allow your website to rank of various search engines.
3) Add Technical SEO
This year many new technologies came up to make our lives better. In the same manner, SEO has also brought many new innovations. Out of these innovations, Speed, Progressive Web Apps, and JavaScript are still the most focused parts of SEO. You may be countering many issues with these three terms while optimizing your website.
Website loading speed should be quick. But, due to heavy JavaScript, the website speed decreases. Consider avoiding bulky JavaScripts to run your online business website smoothly.
Progressive Web Apps are the future of digital marketing. Basically, Progressive Web App is one of the subcategories of mobile apps that are developed using ordinary computer languages like CSS, JavaScript, and HTML. It’s an amazing alternate of service websites that can drive huge traffic on your website. But still, many digital marketers are still not aware of its benefits.
SEO services have no bars, it includes practices that are responsible for optimising website visibility on search engines. SEO services are composed of practices like On-Page and Off-Page activities.
1) On-Page Activity:
On-page activity refers to all those SEO practices that are directly implemented on a web page to improve its ranking. Here are some key On-page activities:
Maintaining content structure
Content quality
Optimising HTML codes
Internal Linking
2) Off-Page Activity:
Off-page activity refers to those SEO practices that are implemented outside the website page to increase its ranking. Some of the key Off-page activities are:
Backlinking
Link Relevancy
Document sharing
Directory submission
But make sure both the page activities are implemented parallelly or else your efforts will go in vain. This is an advantage for you to make your business website reachable to your audience. Not only reachable but you can build brand trust, increase traffic and can improve ROI for your brand.
4) Voice Search Optimisation
According to recent studies, 90% of the world’s population are mobile users. In that 90 %, three-fourths of the people are surfing the internet throughout the day. Do you think people are searching for their information through typing? Of course not, almost 80% of the people are using voice search option to get the desired information.
Voice search is an important feature for every person’s day to day life. People are quite busy in their professional lives and do not get time to even get their fingers on their phones. Here’s why the voice search feature is beneficial as it allows people to get search results in a better form. So, it’s better to add a voice search option in your online business website.
Well, these are the four SEO marketing strategies. These can make your digital marketing services better. It’s uncertain that only these methods will improve your digital marketing skills. But, these can make you a better entrepreneur.
The arrival of General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) has been in the horizons for a while but now as the start date for this upcoming regulation has been set for May 25th 2018; it has become crucial for businesses engaging in digital marketing to be well prepared for this eminent change.
In this article, we have planned to take an in-depth approach while explaining GDPR, for those of you who are seeking clarity on the nitty-gritty details. Having said that the interpretation and perspective built around this regulation can be quiet variable.
Any marketer knows that user info is the currency that determines the success and failure of any marketing campaign. The main intent behind GDPR is to protect the data privacy of the users so that the information provided by them is used responsibly by digital marketers. This implies that everything from an email address, to a name, IP address, photo and more are included when it comes to customer information.
Essentially the main reason behind the implementation of GDPR is to empower the individual rights for web users to control the personal information shared with companies.
How Would GDPR affect digital marketing & Sale?
1. Permission to opt-in or opt-out
Under GDPR, permission has to be explicit. Companies have to have the ability to supply evidence that an individual has chosen to opt-in into communications and did not only fall onto the record by default such as assessing the unchecked ‘opt-in’ box on a form. ‘Double opt-in’ are also best practice; in which opt-in is followed up with a ‘click to validate’ email.
But for corporate or company information, ‘implied consent’ means marketers can email somebody, provided that individual had the choice to opt-in for the emails at the time of purchase.
Unless you are confident that your database doesn’t have any private data e.g. email, telephone number, our recommendation is that you stay as compliant as possible.
2. The cookie Rule
Cookies fall under the GDPR range, provided that they may identify people through device monitoring, mixing information along with different information or by treating folks as unique.
Will cookies require permission? Yes, and so, clear opt-in. As an instance, if a visitor lands on your own website for the very first time. You need to keep cookies blocked or ignored before the person requires any permission activity. Much like email marketing, permission is subject-specific or purpose-specific and, even if the website uses cookies for various purposes, it must find explicit approval for every one of these.
Website managers need to ensure a smooth user experience when surfing and, at precisely the exact same time, supply top selection for permission in a manner that is friendly and also the least intrusive.
3. Third-Party Conformity
For most marketers, third-party tools and marketing technology providers (i.e. advertising automation platforms, CRM etc) form a majority of their digital database. In cases like this, it’s significant that marketers check that their tech suppliers are prepared and ready for GDPR compliance. With steps in place to store and process, and incorporate information appropriately. Ahead of the May 2018 deadline, it is wise for entrepreneurs to:
Ask providers to detail how they are going to store/process information to ensure GDPR compliance.
Ensure there is a point of contact from each side, plus a procedure in place to handle any information breaches. Both sides must Have the Ability to respond fast to manage, react and respond in accordance with ‘Data breach notification’ legislation.
Be sure to simply collect information that that’s necessary, or falls under a ‘legitimate interest’.
Make sure it is possible to delete information if the user stops the service, also they should be able to download their own data when asked.
4. GDPR Scale
Now that we have made it clear how crucial user data security will become once GDPR is fully applied. Now let’s move on to how much of the user information be allowed to be used by businesses.
As most of you are aware that platforms like Google or Facebook.com have certain functionalities. Asking users to provide their personal info for a variety of reasons, now the question is where does GDPR come into all this?
Well, the answer is clear, GDPR will create levels on the basis of which the type of information. That is being been collected will be determined. And platforms need clearly communicate to the user on the details of how their provided info will be used by the businesses.
Let’s call it the GDPR scale shall we, this scale applies the principle of “purpose limitation”. Under which personal data must only be “collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes”
5. Rise of the Inbound Techniques
With all the upcoming restrictions regarding customer privacy and data protection, the increase in the application of inbound techniques by the marketers is bound to happen. As Inbound marketing implicitly dictates that the consumer should come to the business, rather than the other way around. Inbound marketing also knows as content marketing aiming to provide the users with a more personalized experience. Hence resulting in improvement in customer service.
Gated content, organic and paid social media, website registration pop-ups, webinars, event subscriptions, etc. Can generate leads, enrich our clients’ adventures or drive sales or conversion. What we must do today is to make our audiences aware of exactly. What we will do with the data we gather and where we store/use it.
Disclosure:
Although the above-mentioned points are the product of the extensive research done by us, however as we have mentioned above as well the interpretation of the regulation can vary from business to business. It is strongly advisable for businesses to consult an advocate beforehand in order to ensure 100 % compliance.
Few final words!
Now it may appear from the above-mentioned points the arrival of GDPR might paint a bleak picture for the future of digital marketing, however, if business to adhering inbound principals the quality of customer service will amplify through leaps & bounds without having to worry about GDPR restrictions.
Now hate to state the obvious but better customer service means a happy customer. Which results in customer loyalty and so on and so forth, we’re sure you get the gist.
Well, that’s our uptake on this, will keep you posted!!
Blogging in a determined and forceful way with a search-oriented strategy is one of the most killer SEO tips. Whenever we visit any website, first of all, we normally tend to visit ‘about us’ page and ‘blog’ page to know more about the website, business, people that run the business, and read their minds through their blogging pattern.
The blog section is important for all businesses to drive organic traffic to your website. Live blog pages embark better impression and active presence of a business on visitors’ minds. And, if you are a digital marketing agency, how can you afford not doing blogging? This blog is an attempt to help all local digital marketing agencies to know about the most popular of Australia’s digital marketing blogs.
Here We Present Top 11 Australia’s Digital Marketing blogs to follow:
1. Arrow Internet
Arrow Digital (also known as Arrow Internet) is a digital marketing agency based in Melbourne, the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria.
Their core values are aimed at “inspiring and achieving outstanding outcomes for Australian businesses through best in class internet marketing method”.
Their blog categories cover all aspects and all elements of digital marketing. To name a few, categories include SEO, content marketing, conversions, Google algorithms, social media marketing, and website usability. Among all categories, the richest category, in our opinion, is social media marketing. It comprises of various news, updates, events, and ‘how to’ posts.
2. Blogger Sidekick
Blogger sidekick is also a digital marketing agency based in Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Interestingly, their blog categories comprise case studies, promotional tactics, marketing strategies, and others. Among all, we found the “creation” section as the most interesting read. It focuses on all nuances of how to create ‘something’ that adds value to the user – be it content, blog, or keyword research.
3. Canva
Those who are in the field of content marketing and web designing would surely be aware of the tool called ‘Canva’. It is an awesome tool that is extensively used for its drag-and-drop interface, cool fonts, professional layouts, and many user-friendly features. Canva has its presence in Sydney, Australia.
Blogs published by Canva are not just restricted to graphics and designing methods. However, they also cover areas of social media marketing and content marketing. Furthermore, Canva also provides tutorials and webinars in their niche.
4. Digital Buzz Blog
Digital Buzz is ranked #15 in the AdAge Power150 bloggers list, for the most powerful marketing and advertising blogs, around the world.
As the name suggests, it is a fantastic blog that creates a buzz among readers. Once it was ranked as number 1 marketing blog that has its core focus on digital. Digital Buzz was founded by an editor, Aden Hepburn, who proficiently draws readers in with unique concepts and touchy intros.
To note, Digital Buzz is all about advertising and marketing online with creativity and efficiency. It has not only high authority but also good reliability. Digital Buzz Blog covers literally everything from the latest and trending digital campaigns to buzzing industry trends and the latest news. The topmost global web campaigns are shared in this portal on a daily basis which draws Australian as well as a global audience. Those who love case studies and stories over plain text blogs must visit and subscribe to Digital Buzz Blog.
5. Global Copywriting / Lush Digital Media
Global Copywriting, a content marketing agency based in beautiful Perth, Australia was acquired by Lush Digital Media in 2015.
The core functional areas of Lush Digital are content marketing and video production. If you want to excel your knowledge of content marketing and social media marketing, do peep in here for excellent training videos, webinars, infographics, and blogs. Even if you are a beginner in the field of content marketing, do explore the section “writing” of their blogs. Content marketing consultant Sarah Mitchell’s blogs are an awesome mine of fantastic tips, guidance, and views on copywriting that open new avenue to market your online presence.
6. Jeff Bullas
There is hardly anyone in the digital marketing industry that doesn’t know Jeff Bullas from Sydney, Australia. He is a blogger, consultant, mentor, instructor, and speaker who work with companies to optimize their online presence via exploring social media platforms and other technologies.
Also, his website receives over 5 million visitors a year. In addition. his blog topics cover a wide range of spectrum ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation, social media, digital marketing, and content to marketing automation. Even if you are a pro in digital marketing, do subscribe his blogs to read ‘personal growth’ section.
7. Mumbrella
Mumbrella is far more than just a blogging platform. In fact, it can be considered as an authentic media and marketing motivation on the overall Australian marketing view.
Mumbrella serves as industry journalism. Here, marketers rely upon a good story, authentic news, case studies, and any type of content that sounds most interesting. Hence, even if you do not want to surf for digital marketing blogs, this platform is good enough to entertain you with some of the best Australian marketing and media coverage.
8. ProBlogger
ProBlogger is way beyond a normal blogging platform. In addition, the platform has more than 8000 articles and tutorials. However, over and above, you will be able to surf for podcasts, eBooks, job boards, tips, and tools by Darren Rowse that help you build a better blog!
ProBlogger, more than sheer an Australian blog portal, is a globally recognized source of information. ProBlogger is all about useful and sensible content creation. Hence, if you are hunting for tips to improve your productivity and creativity in the content writing, end your search at ProBlogger. It will aid you to gain eyeballs for your writing.
9. SMPerth
SMPerth, i.e. Social Media Perth, is a community for businesses and brands who embrace social media in their marketing strategy to mingle to meet and exchange ideas. SMPerth is considered as a premier networking events platform.
Every month, it organizes a meet up for entrepreneurs, consultants, and businesses that apply and adore social media. Their resources section on the website is rich in the latest and trending digital marketing articles. Furthermore, it offers a number of up skilling opportunities in the field of digital marketing throughout the year.
10. PR Warriors
PR Warrior is owned by a passionate and knowledgeable keynote marketing speaker, Trevor Young. He stays in Melbourne, Australia. PR warrior, founded in 2007, is a useful hub of information for marketers. Here, you will be able to dig most useful articles, podcasts, live video streams, case studies, and slides that will be quite useful to a pioneering blogger, podcaster, or a social media analyst.
Those digital marketers who are looking for trending articles and observations on the latest trends, it’s the perfect place for them to visit. One can keep himself aware of the latest news pertaining to everything that is happening in the industry.
Be it long-form posts or reports, eBooks – PR Warrior is an absolute treasure. The posts of PR Warrior comprise whole and sole. Example, it starts with content creation to book recommendations, interviews with industry personalities, and others.
11. King Content Blog
When we talk about digital marketing blogs, how we can forget the blogs that cater to one of the most important aspects – i.e. content marketing. As you might be knowing, King content has a global presence including locations of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Hongkong, London, and New York. They are into social media marketing, content marketing, and native advertising. Their blog categories have a core focus on content marketing and social media.
However, the blog is not intently or internally focussed and instead offers fantastic resources for content marketers from Australia and beyond. Further, the most interesting read section which you can think of subscribing is ‘This Week in Content Marketing’ posts. These are regular flourishing pieces of advice that help digital marketers.
At last!!
Hope you enjoyed reading this piece and thinking of subscribing. Though we have tried to curate the list of Top 11 Australian digital marketing blogs to follow, feel free to add more in the comments box. We would love to hear from you.
