16-Step
Blueprint to Master Your Digital Marketing in 2016
by: Jason Parks
from: Entrepreneur
1. Google AdWords
Have you started to bid on keywords related
to the product you are selling or the service you are offering? Google now
processes more than 40,000 search queries every second on average, which
translates to more than 3.5 billion searches per day.
People are clearly looking up information
on the search engine behemoth before making a purchasing decision. Bidding on
the proper keywords targeted towards your demographic and region can drive
instant new business, if executed properly.
2. Landing-Page Design
According to Search Engine Land, only 25
percent of advertising accounts average above a 5 percent conversion rate. How
do you break through the 10 percent barrier? The answer is custom landing
pages.
Using a service like Unbounce, you can
build, publish and launch A/B test landing pages without special I.T.
Search Engine Land states that to break
into the top 10 percent of landing-page performance, you need to test 10
different landing pages to find one that really sticks. What are you waiting
for?
3. Moz
Are you curious why your competitor
outranks you on Google and they are sitting on top of the first page while you
are buried on page three?
Moz allows you to compare competitive
metrics, such as domain authority. Domain Authority is a score (on a 100-point
scale) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search
engines.
Once you start to learn the reasons why
your competition performs well on the major search engines, you can formulate a
strategy for your business.
4. Help a Reporter Out
If you are looking for amazing and free
publicity for your company, you need to sign up for HARO.
You will receive daily queries from
reporters all over the country that are looking for quotes from business owners
and entrepreneurs.
In order to be successful with HARO, you
need to dedicate at least 20 minutes per day to respond to the queries and
offer expertise within your field. If you think you can handle this, get ready
for some awesome publicity, which will also be beneficial for your SEO.
5. Outreach
Become an expert within your industry by
contributing content on well-known websites. This is a great way to drive
referral traffic back to your site from readers, who are interested to learn
about your insight.
Create a “dream list” of 10 websites you
want to write content for. Make sure to send each of these 10 publications a
compelling pitch that conveys what you will bring to the table by sharing your
insight on their site.
6. Sidekick
Let’s say you reach out to a prospect through
email and a couple of phone calls, but nobody gets back to you. Is it time to
throw in the towel? Not so fast.
Sidekick, which is powered by HubSpot,
tracks whether or not a recipient opens up your emails and clicks on any links
inside.
Is this somewhat stalker-ish? Sure. But the
bottom line is if you see a prospect open your proposal 10 times, you know they
are interested! Sidekick can be a game changer for your business strategy, and
they have a free package.
7. Postable
Another great way to close the door on
prospects is to utilize Postable, which offers really nice cards mailed for you
all over the Internet. They have a wide assortment of thank you cards that you
can customize to reflect your brand image. The best part is each postcard
typically costs less than $3.60 to ship and be delivered into your hot
prospect’s actual mailbox.
8. Display Remarketing
Have you ever wondered how the jeans you
looked at on Nordstrom’s website magically appeared on your Facebook newsfeed
10 minutes later? This is called display remarketing, and it is a great way for
you to follow up with website visitors who do not make a desired action on your
website.
Display remarketing builds brand awareness
and is a cheap way to get customers to come back to your website to convert.
People will think you’re spending a lot of money on your advertising when your
advertisement appears on CNN.com, but little do they know that you’re only
paying around $0.30 per click because of an awesome remarketing campaign!
9. Video Content
Online video advertising is on the verge of
explosion. It seems that right now, only larger businesses with a substantial
advertising budget are investing in video advertising, but this doesn’t have to
be the case.
Facebook revealed that the number of videos
posted to the platform per person in the U.S. has increased by 94 percent over
the last year.
Homepage videos are shown to increase
conversion rates by 20 percent or more, according to Adelie Studios.
You can implement video-remarketing ads to
tell your brand’s story for you when visitors drop off your site.
All you need to do is schedule a three- to
four-hour shoot and strategically script out the video content you are looking
for. You can obtain amazing video content that can play a crucial part in your
marketing strategy in 2016.
10. $5 Boosted Facebook Post
You can write the greatest novel in the
world, but if nobody ends up reading your book, what purpose does it serve?
Rebecca Coleman, a social-marketing guru,
conducted a case study on the $5 boosted Facebook post. The results?
"Awesome," Coleman said. "My post reach soared and I got a ton
more comments, as well as a few shares. My advice: Every once in a while, it
can be completely worth it to give Facebook $5.”
If you want to be seen in 2016 on Facebook,
you will need to invest money into promoting your content. Otherwise, you’ll go
unnoticed.
11. Instagram Advertising
Schedule a two-hour photo shoot for your
business and show off your awesome pictures on Instagram for your target
demographic to see.
Facebook (which owns Instagram) now offers
advertising to businesses of all sizes, everywhere!
Follow these eight simple steps to set-up a
killer Instagram ad in under 10 minutes.
If you don’t want to spend money on
advertising on Instagram and want to grow your following organically, make sure
to ask local businesses to follow you and return the favor. You can create a
network of local businesses and influencers elevating one another.
12. Email Marketing
Are you sending out at least two emails per
month for your business for marketing purposes?
According to Marketing Sherpa, 60 percen of
marketers believe email marketing produces positive ROI.
Make an effort to collect more email
addresses in 2016. From obtaining the email addresses from customers on your
website to grabbing business cards at trade shows, the larger your email list
and the more effort you make in sending out memorable messages, the more
business you’ll get for very little cost.
13. Mobile Friendliness
It’s official: Google says more searches
now take place on mobile versus desktop.
Is your website mobile friendly? Do you
have an easy way for site visitors to get in contact with your business when
they visit your site on mobile? For instance, including your phone number at
the very top of your mobile site is crucial for B2B businesses to increase
their conversion count.
Are you tracking conversions that take
place on mobile versus desktop? Make sure mobile becomes a focal point for your
business in 2016.
14. Google Analytics
In 20 steps, you can master Google
Analytics to understand the visitors coming to your website and make
implementations to your online marketing strategy to convert those visitors
better.
Dedicate at least 10 minutes per day to dig
into GA to become an expert on the traffic coming to your site.
15. Online Reviews
Create an email template for your business
to send out personalized messages to satisfied clients or customers.
Marketing Land says that 90 percent of
customers' buying decisions are influenced by online reviews.
Ensuring that that your Google+ and Yelp
pages portray your company in a positive light will help generate more business
for your company.
16. A vs. B Testing
You and your coworker could have different
ideas on what piece of creative will perform the best for an advertisement that
you’ll be running for the holiday season.
Rather than getting into an argument, why
not run an A vs. B test to determine the winner?
Approximately 61 percent of companies carry
out fewer than five A vs. B tests every month.
Make sure your business is on the forefront
of the online frontier by running tests to generate more conversions and lower
your cost per acquisition.
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