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Author: Team Position Squared

  • Content Syndication: A Must for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

    How to get your best content promoted on third party sites to drive brand awareness.

    Let’s start with a question – if you had to say just one thing, what is the single most important goal of your digital marketing strategy?

    It’s a fair guess that some of you answered: “to drive more traffic to the brand website.”

    Aside from SEO and Pay Per Click, Digital marketers have one key tactic for increasing click-through to a client website – getting as much branded content as possible distributed on different sites to increase presence and create a network of links back to the main site.

    Since search engines like Google started clamping down on content duplication and click baiting, this has become harder and harder. Unless you want your pages to disappear off search engine top tens, you can no longer simply repost the same keyword laden content on every article directory you find.

    What you can do, however, is reach an agreement with third party sites to promote your content. Search engines differentiate between duplication, which they view as unnecessary cluttering of the internet and what they call syndication.

    Syndication is an old media practice of different outlets sharing the same stories. For web content such as news articles, blogs, infographics, tutorials, videos, etc., Google views syndication as a positive way of helping users find content they are interested in.

    Content syndication has therefore become a powerful means for brands to drive traffic back to their own site. Syndicated articles are often not republished in full, so are therefore not duplicated. Instead, under agreement with the third party site, syndication provides links back to the original content, perhaps with a thumbnail and summary.

    Content Syndication Networks will even do the work for you. Subscribers’ sign up, submit their content and narrow down their target audience by topic and demographics. The network then does the hard work pushing the content to third party sites.

    Syndication Strategies

    A study from Curata suggests that syndication should account for around 10 percent of your content marketing mix. But that is an important 10 percent, as that is the section of your content that you wish to be promoted and endorsed by other sites.

    The content you choose to syndicate should therefore be the very best you have to offer. Unlike advertising, the purpose of syndication is not to get audiences to click through to buy, but to click through out of interest. As they are reading the host article or watching a video clip, you want them to spot the link to your content in the ‘Related Articles’ section and be engaged enough to click.

    If your aim is to get your content promoted alongside specific influential sites and blogs in your sector, try approaching them yourself to talk through a deal. Write a pitch focusing on the topics you produce content on, with any examples of previous syndication.

    Paid-for services like Taboola and Zemanta will make your content available to a wide range of sites, many of them with high visitor numbers. A free alternative is to adapt your social media strategy to cover syndication. If you have enough followers and engage well enough with your audiences, posting content to sites like Facebook and YouTube can result in high organic distribution through reposts.

    Repurposing Content

    Some large influential news and opinion sites – the Huffington Post, Life Hacker, Forbes etc. – will republish articles in full. In these instances, there are several benefits to not posting word for word the same content as you have on your site, and not just because of duplication.

    Repurposing can help drive traffic back to your site by tailoring content for specific audiences. A Forbes article may benefit from more of a business angle to something written for the Huffington Post. Different things work on different sites, plus you may have to consider word length and house style.

    Some sites, such as Hubpages and LinkedIn, allow you to publish articles in full. Because there is no editorial oversight crediting the original source, there is more of a risk of being picked up for duplication if you simply paste a piece word for word. In these instances, it is advisable to change content more substantially, perhaps with a different angle, to create a new unique piece of content.

    Conclusion

    Syndication is one of the most effective content marketing distribution strategies available to digital marketers today. Leaving behind the old clickbait practices, the focus of syndication is on quality and endorsement, providing direct links back to content on your site your audiences will be engaged with.

    To learn more about how Position2’s syndication subscription service can help promote your brand to a wider online audience, click here. To stay in touch with the latest trends in digital marketing, you can subscribe to receive alerts from our weekly blog

  • Changing with the times comes easy with jQuery

    The term ‘User Experience’ or ‘UX’ is essentially demand based development on ‘User Analytics.’ It focuses more on users’ needs, limitations of the interface and improvising them to give a better experience. And improving quality to provide ease of navigation to the users. One such plugin is the jQuery inline pop-up.

    What is jQuery inline pop-up?

    It is a simple plugin that shows content and images within an inline frame using a simple jQuery code. It enables users to expand preview as can be seen in Google Image. jQuery inline pop-up not only improves user engagement and interaction but also helps in providing high-quality images or add more content.

    With user mindset either changing or adapting to new user experiences, jQuery inline pop-up is here for the long haul or till such time developers find a better way. This may be the reason why major technology players such as Google, Twitter Bootstrap, WordPress, and other open source technologies have them as a feature. Also why most websites are likely to have this as a feature.

    Interested in the jQuery inline popup, here are the links for you to use.

    GitHub URL to download:
    https://github.com/Position2/jQuery-Inline-Popup

    Demo URL to check functionality:
    https://position2.github.io/jQuery-Inline-Popup/demo/

    So, what are you waiting for? Get on with providing a better and greater user experience with jQuery plugin and what’s more; it is free.

  • Demand Acceleration in Ten Steps

    Great content brings in a great audience, and no one knows this better than our team at Position². We hosted a webinar in collaboration with SiriusDecisions – ‘The Secret Sauce of Demand Acceleration Is in Your Content’. Here are the 10 steps we follow to help grow your business.

    Skill sets: An often overlooked step zero is identifying the resources that can execute the functions. Every step has components that require very different skill sets, and one of the first things you need to do is decide what can be done in-house and what can be outsourced.

    Step 1: Goals

    Set goals for each stage of the funnel. A basic step is to establish what business marketing wants to be responsible for. Then, work backward from that to see what you need at each stage. You can start by setting goals based on industry benchmarks and tweak them as you learn more.

    Step 2: Match to Funnel Stages

    Each component of Demand Acceleration (Content, AdTech, and MarTech) needs to be adjusted by the sales stage and the state of your funnel. The content you need at each stage is going to be different and therefore must be prioritized based on where your biggest leads are. Similarly, the ads you want to run will change too, and the nurture and programs you want to execute will also vary.

    Step 3: Personas

    Identify personas and define the content, ads, and nurture for each persona. To get off the ground quickly, start a campaign targeting one persona before you do the work for the others.

    Step 4: Mind the Gaps

    Inventory existing content and identify where the gaps are. Based on what you have available and how long it will take to develop what you don’t have, you can form a strategy for programs that you can kick off now and those that need more time.

    Step 5: Amplify

    Amplify the content that exists by repurposing. Take one or two startup pieces of content and break them into a smaller, more snackable set of assets. Match the assets to the personas and the sales stages, and because they are quick and easy to produce, you now have a way to fill out your matrix.

    Step 6: The Theme

    Campaigns typically do well when you have a visual theme. As your audience receives multiple communications from you about a single campaign, it will be clear to them that they are on a journey together with you.

    Step 7: Media Mix

    As we mentioned earlier, great content deserves a great audience, and a central piece of any campaign is the use of paid channels to bring new visitors to consume your content. Start with the total number of leads you want at the end of the campaign and work backward to figure out the ad spend media mix.

    Step 8: Deploy AdTech

    Optimize your spends to get the most out of your money. Start a lead level optimization to figure out how many leads you’re getting from each of the different channels. What paid channels are producing leads that make it through the pipeline to MQL and opportunity? Which ones are doing so at a good velocity? This information will give you valuable insights to make some marketing mix adjustments.

    Step 9: Optimize Deeper Into the Funnel

    Use the data you get at every stage of the funnel to adjust and fine-tune your sales funnel, differentiating between MQL, SQL, and SAL opportunities. This will help you restructure your budget and bucket campaign spends in different lead gen stages.

    Step 10: Map and Share

    Choreographing Content, AdTech, and MarTech, and mapping out how they play together is what the last step is all about. Use charts and hand-drawn sketches to map it all out and answer questions about the campaigns. What channels are bringing in leads? What should happen to the leads once they come in? If they do not convert on a landing page, do we use retargeting? By doing so, you will avoid a lot of confusion and make it clear to everyone working on the campaign what the next step is going to be.

    The Demand Acceleration Framework is designed around the buyer’s needs. At Position², we use the ten steps to deliver significant improvements in our clients’ B2B sales programs across awareness, engagement, and purchase stages.

    View our recorded webinar for a more comprehensive view on Demand Acceleration.

  • The Year Ahead: Top Trends That Will Shape Digital Marketing in 2017

    The past 12 months have certainly been eventful in the digital world, with a number of developments that are expected to play a significant role in shaping marketing for years to come. The key takeaways we should remember from 2016 are:

    • Online advertising spend has overtaken TV. For the first time, global ad spend on the internet has totaled more than television advertising. Online video advertising has now doubled since 2013 to £5 billion.
    • Mobile is on the march. The percentage of web visits on desktop and laptops has dropped by nine points to 56 percent while browsing on mobile phones has soared by 21 percent, significantly closing the gap on PCs to stand at 39 percent of all web hits.
    • Live video stream has arrived. The importance of online video has been growing for the past couple of years, and in 2016 it accounted for half of all mobile web traffic. That has been given a significant boost by the rapid emergence of live video streaming, first by specialist services like Periscope and Meerkat, and now brought into the social mainstream by the arrival of Facebook Live.
    • Social has diversified. Whether it is e-commerce on Facebook or Twitter or advertising on Snapchat and Instagram, social platforms have entered the marketing mainstream with nearly all leading services now providing a suite of business services. Spend on social has increased to 14 percent of total marketing spend and can be expected to keep rising.

    What to Expect in 2017

    Some of the trends that dominated 2016 will continue to shape digital marketing through the coming year. What we can expect is the use of increasingly sophisticated technologies which will add value to the interaction between brand and customer.

    From Live to Immersive

    Live video streaming announced itself in 2016 and should be a priority for marketers seeking to keep up with consumer trends in 2017. Faster connection speeds will iron out glitches in delivering smooth streams to mobile devices, while brands will be keen to explore advertising options in this new and exciting space.

    But that will not be the end of video innovation in 2017. Shoppable film is a natural evolution in content marketing, marrying high-quality films packaged as entertainment with e-commerce – viewers can simultaneously purchase as they watch. The idea was a high profile success for Ted Baker in its spy-themed collaboration with Guy Ritchie.

    Another hot trend in video could be the development of immersive content. With virtual reality headsets becoming increasingly popular, the development of 360o video offers a new dimension for brands to engage their audiences.

    Native Advertising

    Native advertising is nothing new, but its importance to digital marketers could be on the rise. Although online took the largest share of total advertising spend for the first time in 2016, the click-through rate for display advertising was 0.6 percent, with more than half of the internet users saying that they will not click an ad because they don’t trust them.

    Given those statistics, marketers have to be creative in how they present advertising online. Native advertising is about effectively hiding the fact that it is an advertisement at all, blurring the lines with content.

    Augmented Reality (AR)

    AR exploded into public consciousness in the summer of 2016 with the overnight success of the Pokémon Go app. With 650 million downloads within 80 days of launch, the game has brought to notice the potential AR has to engage audiences, especially on mobile. Digital marketers will be keen to cash in on this potential with imaginative branded AR offerings.

    Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    The rise of Virtual Assistants like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa means AI is now part of the mainstream when it comes to accessing the internet. For marketers, this demands fresh thinking in areas like SEO and ensuring websites are optimized for the way people search and browse online using their voice.

    AI also presents brands with new opportunities for interacting with customers. Chatbots are growing in popularity for providing one-to-one interaction with their customers, and as AI develops, those dialogues can become more and more personalized and responsive.

    The Future is Near

    We can expect some real technological innovations in 2017. With futuristic technologies like Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence ready to go mainstream, brands can now add a certain depth to their brand experiences in a way that was never possible before.

    The evolution of video will lead to brands fully embracing the interactive opportunities of live streaming and immersive content to capture audience imagination the way television and film have for half a century. Let’s stay tuned for 2017!

    For further updates on the latest digital marketing trends, subscribe to our blog here.

    Sources:

  • Key to Successful Facebook Ad campaigns

    890 million people are signing into Facebook every single day. Whether your potential customers are college students or CEOs, they’re probably on Facebook right now. The trouble is, posting on Facebook alone isn’t enough anymore for most brands, especially for those just starting out. Spending money on Facebook to drive people to your page and sending them to your website works only if you’re smart about it.

    One way to be smart is to create Optimized Facebook Ads targeted at the right audience. Optimized targeting will help you spend the budget wisely and see a positive return on investment. It utilizes key Facebook targets like Interests and Lookalike Audiences while focusing on defining a process to identify your key audience segments. Just Interests and Lookalike Audiences targeting simplifies the process and works well for short-term success. For more consistent results, here’s a three-step process to build the perfect audience for your Facebook campaigns.

    1. Build the audience
    2. Building up the leads
    3. Sell your services

    Build the audience

    A large built-in audience is very essential. Aggressively and efficiently build an audience in volume by promoting engaging content. Use articles and videos to drive traffic and create a website custom audience.

    For this, you need to have two on-going campaigns, with two separate objectives. The type of audience can be chosen from lookalike audience or interests. The key here is not to waste money on the entire audience but trying to get engagement in terms of opt-in for the product/service. Lookalike Audiences and interests are not that accurate since these audiences may not be ready to provide their credentials.

    The first campaign – Clicks to Website, should be the promotion of your most successful blog posts to create awareness which could be regarding helping people to solve problems without a motive to sell product/services. On the other hand, carousel ads can also be used to promote multiple blog posts as long as it can solve problems your audience might have.

    For this to work, you need to install Facebook pixel on the website. Then choose your custom audience as – “Visited Your Website – 30 Days” and “Viewed [Popular Blog Post] – 180 Days”. Let’s target both Lookalike Audiences and Interests, thus creating 2 different ad sets as:

    • Ad Set #1: Lookalike Audiences
    • Ad Set #2: Interests

    When promoting blog posts, it is essential to exclude those who’ve already read the blog posts and the ones who’ve opted to buy. And no manual bidding, let Facebook optimize for website clicks.

    The objective of the second campaign should be video views to get the relevant audience in volume. Create two ad sets targeting the same audiences as Campaign-1. Choose your Facebook Custom Audiences as follows:

    1. Viewed [Your Video] 50% – 30 Days
    2. Viewed [Your Video] 50% – 365 Days

    Percentage of view depends upon the length of the video. Smaller the percentage, larger the audience and less relevant it will be. Again, exclude the audience who have already viewed the video and those who have opted for buying.

    Now, start building up the leads

    Now that you have an audience who have engaged with your content, it’s time for the next step. Offering free giveaways in exchange for an email address. This could range from newsletters to discount offers as long as it is valuable. Once again, it requires two separate campaigns. The primary reason is to find what works best for you.

    Campaign-1- To drive audience to a landing page

    In this approach, your objective should be website conversions. Before starting, create two Website Custom Audiences: Visited Opt-in Thank You Page for 30 and 180 days separately. This will have different ad sets. One ad set for audiences who have visited your website in 30 days and another set for audiences who have viewed your video in 30 days.

    Campaign-2- Using Facebook lead ads

    Facebook lead ads generate a greater volume with ease. Create Lead Ad Custom Audiences for – Opened and Submitted Lead Form for 30 days and 90 days.

    The ad sets and targeting in the second campaign will be the same so will the exclusions. Below are the Campaign-1 exclusions:

    • Visited Thank You Page post Opt-in – 180 Days
    • Opened and Submitted Lead Form – 90 Days
    • Registered (Email Custom Audience)
    • Bought the product we’ll promote (Thank You Page Website Custom Audience – 180 Days)
    • Bought the product we’ll promote (Email Custom Audience)

    Finally, you are ready to sell your services

    The objective of this campaign should be Website Conversions with two different ad sets. Ad set one will be for the audience who have visited the thank you page (post Opt-in) in 30 days while ad set two will be for the audience who have opened and submitted the lead form in 30 days with following exclusions:

    • Thank You Page Website Custom Audience in 180 Days
    • Email Custom Audience

    For bidding, we recommend using Daily Unique Reach as the targeting is much smaller and relevant. Follow this process and let us know how well it worked for you!

    Source:

    Facebook Ad Campaign Process: Build Audience, Leads and Conversions

  • Sales and Marketing – The Evolving Relationship

    Sales and marketing are different sides of the same coin. While marketing team’s job is to generate qualified, purchase-ready leads for the sales team, it is the sales team’s job to turn those leads into sales. Although it may seem that both departments have different objectives, in the end, the goal remains the same: marketing to drive sales and generate revenue.

    According to research by Marketo and ReachForce, half of sales’ time is spent on unproductive prospecting, with sales ignoring as much as 80% of marketing leads. It’s important to empower the sales team with the right information by the marketing team, and that both teams know exactly when to handover the qualified leads from marketing to sales. Marketers have to prepare the sales team with necessary information and content to add value to existing relationships with leads.

    Marketing and sales alignment basically means the process of getting the two teams to work together toward a common goal efficiently.

    The Situation:

    The sales and marketing departments are different bodies, which causes differences in the following ways:

    • No Common Objectives
    • Misunderstood Goals

    Set Common Objectives

    Marketing and sales teams work toward the same goals: converting new leads to revenue closure. However, because of the perceived handoff from marketing to sales, this process can seem like two separate stages.

    Marketing goals are mostly long-term – which is generating potential sales leads by building a foundation with strong branding and content. It focuses more on scoring and nurturing leads for the long term.

    Sales goals, on the other hand, are short term – it’s mostly monthly or quarterly targets to achieve.

    Incorporating marketing into sales activities and working closely with the sales team allows marketers to see how they contribute towards the success of the sales team. Marketers can get a better understanding of the impact of lead quality, and sales teams can understand the need to follow up quickly.

    Misunderstood Goals

    Creating the right goals between marketing and sales is imperative for proper alignment. Defining roles for marketing and sales helps move leads through the funnel more effectively. Defining specific roles ensures that every part of the lead’s journey is accounted for.

    Marketing supports revenue goals by generating more qualified leads to pass on to the sales team. It helps to focus on many things, including full-funnel marketing programs, lead nurturing, and analytics. Marketing supports sales enablement through content creation, understanding the sales process, and product and data sheet creation. This team creates valuable and instructive content to help the sales reps and provide materials for lead gen and nurturing.

    The Solution:

    Create Service-level Agreements

    SLAs contribute to another critical part of sales and marketing alignment: making sure no qualified lead is left behind. The SLAs prioritize and assign a time stamp to leads. When marketing passes on a lead, sales teams have a certain window of time before making the first call. Once a given amount of time has elapsed, reps receive a reminder email.

    Replace the Sales Funnel with a Revenue Cycle

    The traditional sales funnel modeled a process whereby a large audience was sorted down to leads, then prospects, and then finally sales.

    Marketo’s Revenue Cycle Is an Evolution of the Traditional Sales Funnel:

    • At the top of the Marketing Funnel (TOFU), your prospects are aware of the brand. This designates when a name has officially entered the database. People move onto the next stage after meaningful engagement.
    • And in the middle of the funnel (MOFU) is where the traditional sales begin. Leads have displayed buying behavior and have engaged with content, making them a potential sales lead. We use lead scoring to determine whether it’s time to reach out. If leads aren’t ready to convert, we start the lead nurturing process. If leads are sales-ready, they are passed on to an account executive.
    • At the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), once leads have reached the bottom of the funnel, they are close to becoming a customer. Leads in this stage are sales-accepted and actively being worked on by the sales team.

    Define the Common Terms and Goals

    • Lead Scoring
    • Lead Generation Metrics – MQL, SAL, SQL

    Sales Development Representatives

    Sales Development Representatives can further help you streamline the sales qualification process and ensure the best results in the handover from marketing to sales. More consistent the follow up on leads better the conversion of leads into opportunities.

    Sources:

  • Why Is User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Important for Your Business?

    Research shows that rejection or mistrust of websites is 94% design related1. Good design is the difference between organizations that know what they’re talking about and ones that don’t. UI/UX can play a major role in establishing just how well. There are a few sure-shot ways to make a great impression on your customers – and having a well thought of and well-developed website is one of them. UI/UX is primarily focused on making highly engaging interfaces. It’s no surprise then that companies having an excellent user experience (UX) generate higher revenues.

    Every marketer out there knows the importance of good content. It is the most crucial element in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which in turn, is critical for your business. But, how do you pique your customers’ interest to read through everything? You guessed it, UI/UX. It enables better customer service, more conversions, brand loyalty, higher retention, and positive recommendations.

    A peek into User Experience (UX)

    It’s the tiny details that make the big picture look flawless. UX development puts an emphasis on carefully crafting an experience for the target market. Making sure all aspects of a website from the homepage to the checkout page, from site architecture to the sign-up button are intuitive, relevant and straightforward.

    Where does User Interface (UI) fit in?

    Simply put, user interface (UI) in the presentation and appearance. A good UI is all about perfectly balancing the science of functionality with the art of compelling design, creating visual cues for ease of use. When you want to give your potential consumers something to remember you by, give them a great UI design. It is the biggest takeaway of a website and has the final say on the number of conversions. Now that’s what you call real value.

    Source:

  • How Do You Stand Out in the Content Jungle?

    75% of content marketers release new content every month, and 16.52% put content out daily. There are 2.5 million blog posts created every day.

    Content marketing is said to be one of the most important trends in the digital world of marketing. Good content is essential to connect the customer to the brand. By regularly updating the content and ensuring its relevance with current marketing trends, a successful marketing strategy can be maintained.

    Content Serves Two Very Important Purposes:

    • Inspires your readers and influences them to engage with your brand.
    • Educates your audience about your brand which in turn results in sales.

    In this era of information overload, it is crucial that each piece of content you produce is engaging to the audience and serves a purpose for your company or website. There are few essential elements which make your content stand apart from your competition and gets consumer engagement.

    Elements are:

    • Educative information
    • Human element
    • Clear, specific and familiar language
    • Intriguing content
    • Credibility

    Content should be sufficiently informative so the audience can get solutions to their challenges. An educative content engages with a user at a grass-root level and plays an important role in explaining product/service technicalities.

    The human element has its own place in the content creation with a strong purpose to gather attention. A human element could be anything from storytelling to current trends with careful usage of words/phrases that provoke a positive vibe from a reader. This element connects your brand with the users’ emotions and makes your brand stronger.

    A well-written content with an engaging tone works better as it takes a lesser amount of effort for a user to understand your brand. It’s always better to write in clear, specific and familiar language to avoid technical jargons and slangs. Faster, quicker, and memorable are 3 words that define this type of content.

    Intriguing content is helpful in generating curiosity and stimulates the reader’s thoughts. Your content should be intriguing enough to trigger the consumer’s mind to learn more about the brand. It should evoke emotions.

    Lastly, there should be a bridge of trust between your brand and the consumers. Credible content establishes consumers’ belief and trust. Always remember, more trust equals more visibility for your brand and you being positioned as a market/thought leader.

    Click here, if you want inspiration to put together a really compelling content for your next marketing campaign, or if you want to learn more about content marketing tactics.

    Source:

    • From an SEO’s Guide to the Insane World
    • Wyzowl

  • Profit on the Go: How to Boost Conversions on Mobile

    When it comes down to it, everything that happens in digital marketing has one simple aim – drive sales.

    Converting ad click throughs, website and Landing Page visitors, Social media likes, shares into purchases is why businesses spend so much on their online presence. Successful companies are differentiated from the average ones, by their ability to maximize conversions while optimizing efforts and spends.

    And, that is why more than half of companies now use Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) as part of their digital strategy. CRO is any one of a whole range of strategies for improving the performance of a website or other online platform using analytics and user feedback. Given the exponential growth of mobile medium, marketers now are focusing on mobile optimization and have started including it as part of their marketing plans.

    Mobile Optimization

    Mobile is becoming the number one means people use to access the internet. According to Google, most searches are now conducted using mobile devices.

    The importance of mobile should alert businesses to two objectives. First, it is now virtually essential that businesses optimize their web pages for mobile devices. If more people are viewing your pages on mobile than desktop, not having the correct layout and functionality could be costing you leads.

    Once your site is optimized for mobile, then you can focus on optimizing conversions from mobile. With almost a third of all commerce transactions in 2016 originating from a mobile device, getting the best from your mobile presence means opening up huge potential revenue streams.

    In fact, for new initiatives it makes sense to have a Mobile First approach, where a website or any online presence is built keeping the mobile audience in mind.

    What Makes Mobile CRO Work?

    Moving beyond mobile-ready web design to boost conversion is all about careful data analysis and smart decisions. Input costs can be minimal, but the benefits of turning page visits in sales can be enormous. So much so that nearly two thirds of companies say they will engage in some mobile CRO activity in the next year.

    Fine tuning the user experience

    Mobile CRO is partly about focusing on the little things which will make the user experience intuitive, straightforward and enjoyable. In this sense, Mobile CRO is a different discipline to desktop optimization – tweaks made to improve the desktop experience can actually damage functionality on mobile. The two platforms need to be optimized separately.

    Mobile-specific tweaks which boost conversion include:

    • Condensing copy. Make text copy more readable on a smaller screen by using shorter headlines, shorter paragraphs, more read more buttons and basic sans fonts.
    • Vary your Call To Action buttons. Smaller screens make it necessary to navigate more to access content. Varying Call To Action buttons can make a site more dynamic and engaging.
    • Optimize load times. 3G/4G and public Wi Fi connections can be variable. Minimize the time it takes pages to load as much as possible.
    • Mobile-specific support. Quick links to maps to your premises and one-touch call buttons help customers on the move.

    Put your data to work

    Mobile devices are extremely useful tools for harvesting user data, as they log such large volumes of personal and usage information on the go. The first step to analyzing mobile data is to separate it from desktop and other access points – Google and online tools like Mobilizer make this a simple task nowadays.

    The analytics process is much the same for mobile as it is when looking at all forms of conversion. Look for drop offs and blocks in the funnel, paying particular attention to rates of click through from product pages to shopping cart, and from cart to check out.

    The wealth of data mobile devices supply is also useful for tracking lead quality. A/B Testing is still the most popular means used by analysts to track conversion rates, but businesses should bear in mind that mobile may be driving more conversions than expected – customers who view a product online still often head in-store to buy.

    The Future of Mobile CRO – 3 Trends to Look Out for

    Mobile CRO is an evolving science, and will keep improving the opportunities for businesses to improve conversion over mobile. Here are three trends to look out for.

    • Cross-channel promotion. The majority of time consumers spend online on their mobile devices is concentrated in just a handful of sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Using social campaigns to promote your digital content will ultimately boost conversion.
    • Site Personalization. Offering different content to different groups of people can have a big impact of optimization. Companies offering optimization have reported a 14% increase in optimization, while Adobe claims that 90% of consumers purchasing decisions are influenced by personalization.
    • Mobile App CRO. Apps are growing in importance as the channel consumers use to navigate the web when mobile. This opens a whole new avenue for specific optimization based on functionality and layouts, connections to other platforms and user feedback.

    Conclusion

    Conversion Rate Optimization is what a business must invest in as it helps you give guaranteed results and help you track and analyze your leads better and, to walk with the current trend all you need is work on optimizing mobile presence to keep conversion rates healthy.

    If you find it any complicated, we have got you covered! All you need to do is contact us right away and we can guide you.

    Sources:

    1. Econsultancy blog
    2. Searchenginepeople
    3. Emarketer
    4. Mobify
    5. Vwo.com/blog

  • Affiliate Location Extensions: Google Launches a New Service in AdWords

    Three quarters of the people who do a ‘near me’ search on their phones visit the store within a day.

    Google introduced Location Extension in 2009 to help advertisers drive more footfalls into their stores. This year Google is testing a new beta ad extension called ‘Affiliate Location Extension’ (officially announced on Google+ on Oct 20, 2016) for some AdWords accounts.

    What is an Affiliate Location Extension?

    The purpose of launching this ad extension is to help manufacturers drive traffic to third-party US retail locations that sell their products. For example, if you are a TV manufacturer, you can use this extension to help someone searching for a TV to find the nearest retail chain where he or she can buy the product.

    Some AdWords accounts have been enabled with Affiliate Location Extension, in the coming weeks this will be rolled out to other accounts.

    Google Affiliate Location Extensions

    How will Affiliate Location Extension Help

    As per Google, CTR tends to improve when ad extensions are included in an ad copy. Having an affiliate location extension will help manufacturers drive customers to the locations near them where they can buy the product they are looking for.

    Setting Up Affiliate Location Extension in AdWords

    You can easily select Affiliate Location Extension in the Ad Extensions Tab. Simply add the new extension and select the 3 categories: ‘Relationship type,’ ‘Country’ and ‘Chains.’ The ‘Relationship type’ states the type of retailer. ‘Chains’ lets you choose the retail chains where the manufacturer sells his/her products (Refer to the images below). In contrast to standard location extensions, Affiliate Location Extensions do not require you to link to a Google My Business account.

    Affiliate Location option in AdWords Account

    Affiliate Location Extension Settings

    How Affiliate Location Extension Works

    1. The User searches for a product on Google
    2. Your ad shows up with Affiliate Location Extension
    3. The user sees the nearest retail store that sells your product, either as an address or on a map
    4. On mobile, the user can tap on the extension to get directions to the store
    5. The user heads right to the nearest store and buys your product

    Conclusion

    By promoting retail location on search ads, the ads get more functional and give customers relevant information to drive store sales and visits. Since the end goal of a manufacturer is to drive more sales, Affiliate Location Extension enables manufacturers to reach their goal. Additionally, Google says that using this extension may enable some manufacturers to be eligible for ‘Store Visits Data’ in AdWords Currently, Affiliate Location Extension has been rolled out in the US only. We will learn over time how this extension actually works and how successful it is in driving product sales.

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