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Month: April 2021
7 Tips for Creating International PPC Ads
Have you ever thought a struggling ad campaign would perform better outside of the country? International PPC campaigns work best when you understand your target audience and appeal to the local culture.
Here are seven top tips for running international PPC ads to give you the knowledge necessary to succeed anywhere on the planet.
International PPC Ad Strategies
There are many reasons a marketer or company would want to run international PPC ads in another country. For example, you want to earn more revenue, or your product or service caters to another culture. Or, perhaps you are doing well in your current country but are ready to expand your market.
If you’re not entirely sure but want to give it a shot, running ads outside of the country might prove to be lucrative if you can get past the hurdles to developing a successful ad campaign.
This article guides you through setting up your first international PPC campaign. After reading these seven tips, you’ll have the knowledge and understanding necessary to put together a strategic ad campaign to target a unique audience.
1. Decide Which Countries to Target With Your International PPC Ads
Before you start diving into targeted ads in specific countries, you’ll want to determine which countries will respond to your ad.
One of the most important first steps you can take is to throw all of your biases out the window. Even if you think you know everything about a country and a culture, it might not be not as cut and dry as you think.
You’ll want to research the market in the country, see what types of advertising guidelines they have, and start to understand what the economics are like in the country.
Pay attention to purchasing and spending habits. Before you advertise a specific product somewhere, make sure the country spends money in a way that aligns with whatever it is you’re selling.
For example, certain products are impulse buys, where others require a day or two to decide. Impulse buying comes naturally to many Americans. Approximately 54 percent of US shoppers admit to spending more than $100 on something without even thinking about it.
That might not be true in other countries, so if your product requires shoppers to make a quick decision, look for countries that share a love for impulse buying.
2. Create International PPC Ads That Appeal to Local Culture
As advertisers, we want our ads to stand out. When someone scrolls through a Google search or flips through posts on Instagram, we want our ad to be the one they recognize. However, we don’t want our ads to stand out in the wrong way.
Having a buyer persona doesn’t end at the border. You still need to create ads to appeal to the local culture and address concerns or issues.
To do this, you need to research the local culture and understand their unique interests. This could be as simple as finding what colors and images appeal to them.
The tone of your ad is also essential because certain cultures relate to language differently than others. Take weight-loss products, for example. Weight loss products are very popular in the United States but may not resonate well with other cultures. Talking about something like weight may even offend some.
Another great example would be thinking about a typical workday. In the US, a 9-5 workday is common. Many people work from Monday to Friday, and they might not convert during that time.
As a result, we may want to advertise specific products and services later in the day and on the weekend when we find most people are browsing the internet and social media.
In Southern and Eastern Asian countries, work hours there are much longer. It’s not uncommon for them to work as many as 80 hours in one week. This poses unique challenges for advertisers, but it could also be advantageous for advertising something to help people work less or relax more.
3. Optimize Your Budget by Country
Your cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition will vary from country to country. The only way to know for sure will be to experiment by stretching your audience out wide and narrowing it down as you learn which country is receiving your ad the best.
To get an idea of how much to budget for specific countries, use a tool like Ahrefs or SEMRush. If we go into Ahrefs, you can input a particular keyword and see what the traffic looks like in another country.
If there’s a lot of traffic for a low competition keyword, you may want to give the keyword a try by allotting a larger amount of your budget to that word.
If we continue with the weight loss example and try “best weight loss pills” in the United States, we see a ton of search volume, and it’s super competitive.
It would be tough to rank organically for this keyword, and the CPC is $1.10, which is high.
When we switch the audience to India, the search volume drops dramatically to 150 and a CPC of $0.35. We may not want to advertise this keyword to this audience, but if we do, we don’t need to budget as much as in the United States.
4. Advertise Where the Locals Are
You’ll want to understand how different countries use search engines and other platforms. Targeting Google will ensure you cover most of the world and exclude as few people as possible, but what about when you narrow down to a more specific audience?
There might be a high concentration of people using a different search engine in that country, and now your CPC has gone way up because you didn’t do your research.
As expected, Google carries the entire planet with a 92.41 percent market share of worldwide internet usage. If you’re starting a campaign and want to see which countries respond best, advertising on Google sounds like the right way to go.
Look what happens when we narrow it down to Russia: 44.54 percent of users use Yandex. In this case, advertising on Google would exclude nearly half of the people in the country because they wouldn’t see your ad.
Google provides many resources to help advertisers, and statcounter.com is a great way to get data about foreign, unfamiliar countries.
5. Organize and Keep Tabs on Your Campaigns
The organization is an overlooked but crucial aspect of managing international PPC ads. It’s even more important because if you’re not keeping individual tabs on each country, you’ll have a harder time determining which ads are converting—and which aren’t.
If you aren’t careful, countries with low CPCs and high volume will use all of your ad spend even though they’ll never convert. While this is happening, countries that might have a higher CPC, but also higher conversion rates could be left behind.
So make sure you have a robust tracking program in place before you launch.
You’ll also want to track varying time zones. If you put two countries on opposite sides of the globe into the same campaign, you’ll need to keep in mind that raising or lowering the bids during certain times will do the same for the country on the other side of the planet.
A better choice is to separate campaigns by country and stay on top of your stats more than usual.
6. Take Advantage of Localized Concerns
Another reason to keep each campaign unique to a region is that you shouldn’t use the same ad copy across the board. Even when you start with a broad ad, you’ll still want to keep the message exclusive to a certain region and change the copy as you transition from one region to another.
The same ad copy rules apply no matter where your target audience is. Identify pain points people in that region may have, things that excite them, and what causes them to buy. These factors will vary from region to region, however.
For example, seasonal trends will vary from place to place. Google Trends is a great way to identify this.
Suppose we use the example of weight loss pills. The trend has generally been consistent for the past 12 months, with a slight dip during the winter months.
This tells us that Spring would be the best time to advertise something like this because more people are likely thinking about losing weight as Summer approaches.
Research the same term in Italy, and the interest is almost non-existent for months at a time. The culture in the country may not recognize weight loss pills as a method of losing weight, or they may simply not have as much interest in weight loss as in the United States.
The point is, your ad copy needs to address the concerns of the specific region or country. You don’t want to serve the same ad to every area because they may not relate to it or have an interest in the topic.
7. Use a Local Domain Extension
Credibility and trust are important factors for any campaign, but it is doubly essential for international PPC ads. Use a domain extension to match the country you’re advertising in to build trust fast—which is crucial when you only have a few seconds before someone bounces.
While having a “.au” or “.co.uk” domain extension might not seem like a significant change, it can make a massive difference in the long run. Plus, think about the advantage it might give you over someone using a standard “.com” or “.org” extension.
Having a domain extension to match the country gives you the local appearance and increases the chances of someone clicking on your link. If you think about it like this, we have certain trust signals in the US as well. It’s like the endless battle between choosing “.com” or “.org.”
The same trust signals apply all over the world, and every little bit helps. ICANN.org provides a long list of domain extensions based on specific countries.
Conclusion
When it comes to international PPC ads, you can’t cut corners or take shortcuts and expect to have success. Keep your campaigns organized by country, keep tabs on your ROAS (return on ad spend), and be sure to factor in little details like time zones and domain extensions.
The good news is, there are plenty of marketing resources to help make your worldwide dream a reality.
What countries are you targeting with ad campaigns? Let me know in the comments.
What Should You Look For When Choosing a Shopify Theme
A recent study found that 70 percent of Americans are shopping online more than ever.
E-commerce is booming, and there’s never been a better time to start an online store. One of the best platforms to launch your e-commerce store is Shopify.
Why do so many people love Shopify? In part due to its:
- affordability
- ease of use
- scalability
- security
One stand-out reason many e-commerce store owners love Shopify is the flexibility it offers through Shopify themes. With thousands of paid and free themes available, you can create a unique e-commerce store that offers your customers a positive user experience (UX).
That could be why over a million businesses use Shopify to build their e-commerce stores.
What Are Shopify Themes?
Shopify themes are a template that determines the way your website looks and feels to customers who visit your store. Different themes offer different styles and layouts. Also, each theme offers a different UX, depending on how it is designed.
Design plays a massive role in the way your store attracts, engages, and converts. That’s why the Shopify theme you choose is critical to your business’ success.
In e-commerce, your theme of choice must reflect your industry and niche. For example, if you’re in the health and wellness niche, you’ll want a theme that looks professional and feels reassuring.
If, on the other hand, you’re into electronics, you’ll want a theme that’s sleek and energetic.
Will Changing Themes Break Your Store?
One fear that most store owners have when changing themes is that it will break their Shopify store.
That’s not true.
Changing your Shopify theme (or editing your current one) doesn’t affect your content or other parts of your account.
So feel free to play around with your theme settings or even getting a new Shopify theme that you fancy. Your e-commerce store won’t break, and you’ll rarely have any downtime if you do it right.
Why Your Shopify Theme Matters
Now that you know what a Shopify theme is, let’s briefly look at why your theme choice matters so much.
Helps Project Your Brand Personality
One of your most important assets as a business is your brand.
And no—branding doesn’t just mean logo.
An essential aspect of branding is your brand personality. Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that can be attributed to a brand. For example,
- sophistication
- excitement
- fun-loving
- sincerity
- ruggedness
Your theme plays a critical role in helping you project these characteristics. As a result, your Shopify store will attract customers who share and love your personality.
Determines Your Website’s UX
Your theme is a crucial aspect of your store’s design because it determines your website’s UX. That’s because your theme determines essential facets of your e-commerce store like navigation, layout, color schemes and aesthetics, and more.
Your theme determines the experience your customers will have as they navigate your store, consume your content, and search for products. If the experience is positive, they’re likely to keep coming back. A negative experience, on the other hand, leads to high bounce rates.
7 Tips to Pick the Perfect Shopify Theme for Your Store
Ready to shop around for the perfect Shopify theme for your store?
Here are a few tips to help you find the perfect one.
1. Decide on Your Budget
Shopify stores come at varying price points. That’s why your first step to choosing your Shopify theme is to determine how much you’re willing to spend on a theme.
Examples of factors that impact the theme’s price include:
- The developer: More experienced and well-known developers tend to charge more for their themes.
- Flexibility: The level of customization of your theme impacts its price. For example, if it has drag-and-drop functionality, you can expect to pay a bit more.
- Level of functionality. Some themes are limited in functionality, while others allow you to turn your e-commerce store into anything you want. Those with extra bells and whistles, like forms or SEO features, tend to cost more.
Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for when it comes to Shopify themes. Make sure to read the fine print and understand what features and functionality a theme has before buying.
2. Prioritize Themes on the Shopify Theme Store
Shopify theme developers are a dime a dozen. You can get a theme for your Shopify store from many theme marketplaces.
However, I highly recommend choosing from the themes on Shopify’s theme store.
One of the main reasons is that Shopify carefully screens all themes submitted, so you can be sure to get a quality, secure theme.
Another reason to prioritize themes on Shopify’s theme store is that you’ll be assured of regular updates and world-class support.
3. List the Main Features and Functions You Want
The key to finding the perfect Shopify theme for your store is to consider the main features and functionality you want for your store.
Do you want a slide-out cart drawer?
Is a video player a priority?
Do you need forms, landing pages, or a blog?
Finding a theme with most of the features you’re looking for will help you cut down on development costs. When you find a theme with one of the most important features you’re looking for but not the others, move on. The key is finding one that has most of the themes you want. You can always have a developer add the missing feature(s).
To find features included in a theme, check out the theme preview page. However, because not every feature may be listed there, you may want to play around with the theme demo.
You can also use the live store examples to help you get a feel of all the features of a theme you’re considering.
4. Consider Your Niche
Most themes are developed for specific industry types. When picking a Shopify theme, you must make sure it was designed for your niche. For example, an e-commerce store that sells various electronics and accessories can’t easily use a theme designed for fine art pieces.
That’s because the electronic store needs a theme that can handle many categories and advanced search capabilities. The art store, on the other hand, doesn’t need as much advanced functionality.
As you hunt for a Shopify theme, make sure to filter your top picks by niche. Fortunately, the Shopify theme store makes it easy to search for themes by niche and number of products.
5. Design and Aesthetics
Global e-retail sales is a whopping $4.2 trillion industry.
To get a piece of the global e-commerce action, you must attract and retain customers to your e-commerce store. That’s the key to growing a successful Shopify e-commerce store.
Attracting customers can be achieved through search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, like keyword research.
But retaining customers on your site is all about your design and aesthetics. The right Shopify theme makes design simple by providing:
- an attractive storefront
- color palettes that match your brand
- clean and easy-to-understand user interface (UI)
A well-designed Shopify store will not only look amazing, but it will also encourage more conversions.
6. Favor Lightweight Mobile-Friendly Shopify Themes
Website speed is crucial to online success, as it can impact search rankings, conversions, and bounce rate. To offer visitors the fast page speed they want, you need a fast, lightweight theme.
Lightweight themes focus more on performance and tend to avoid busy elements like animations, fancy scrollers, and other unnecessary features that increase the size of the file.
Another advantage of lightweight themes is they’re designed to be simple. Their main goal is to help customers navigate around your store and perform the action they came to do.
To deliver a fast, easy-to-use site, you’ll want to choose a mobile-friendly theme.
7. Optimized Checkout
Studies show that the average e-commerce store losses about 75 percent of its sales to cart abandonment. The same studies show that one of the leading reasons for cart abandonment is a complicated checkout process.
That’s why you must make sure the Shopify theme you choose offers an optimized checkout experience.
The best Shopify themes offer a fast and intuitive checkout process, well-designed add-to-cart buttons, and an easy way to check the total cost.
Making the checkout process easy should be a priority, so ensure the theme you choose makes this as easy as possible.
3 Examples of Great Shopify Themes
Now you know how to pick a suitable Shopify theme for your store. Before you run off to find yours, let’s look at a few great Shopify themes and discuss what makes them stand out from the rest. You might just find your perfect match right here!
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is one of the top free Shopify themes out there.
The theme is designed for the apparel and accessories niche. Because of that, it focuses on a brand image by enabling you to show off your inventory with stunning visuals. Some notable features include:
- A Slide Out Cart: Helps customers easily add items to their cart without leaving the current page.
- Home Page Slideshow: Use the top of your homepage to showcase multiple products or brand images.
- Video integration: Grab attention, tell your story, and showcase your best products in action by featuring a YouTube or Vimeo video on your page.
If you’re bootstrapping your way to e-commerce success in the apparel niche, Brooklyn is a the Shopify theme to help you get there. (Did I mention it was free?)
Icon
Looking for a lightweight and easy-to-use Shopify theme that will help you set up a stunning store quickly?
The $180 Icon Shopify theme could be what you’re looking for.
One of Icon’s greatest strengths is that it’s built to power omnichannel marketing campaigns. That’s thanks to seamless social media integration and a blog to power your content marketing. Other features include:
- Sticky Navigation: Keeps your menus fixed to the top of your page as customers scroll down.
- Product Quick View: Customers can view product details in a popup, so they don’t have to leave the current page
- Multi-column menu: Helps you feature product images in a large, multi-column drop-down menu.
As the name suggests, Icon is one Shopify theme that will help you build an iconic e-commerce store and generate a lot of revenue.
Expression
Have a large inventory of products?
Then you need a Shopify theme that can help you display them all beautifully. Your theme should also make it easy for your customers to find what they’re looking for.
Expression is one of the best Shopify themes that can help you do that and more.
That’s because some of the theme’s prominent features include drop-down menu bars, advanced search functionality, and a dynamic slideshow.
Other notable features you can expect are:
- Versatile Sidebar Area: You can use your sidebar to display blog posts, images, advertisements, and more.
- Product Image Rollover: Hovering over products reveals different product images, giving customers a clearer picture before they buy.
- Grid-Style Layout: This allows you to feature multiple products or promotions in a grid-style layout throughout your store.
Expression will set you back $180, but it’s worth the investment as it helps you create an e-commerce store with attention-grabbing visuals. It’s also designed to make your promotions stand out, thereby encouraging more conversions.
Conclusion
The e-commerce space is fast growing as more entrepreneurs are launching e-commerce stores. One of the most trusted platforms to launch a store is Shopify. As you design your store, pay careful attention to the Shopify theme you use.
Remember, your theme affects your store’s:
- user experience
- aesthetics
- performance
All three are factors that have a huge impact on your conversion rates.
Which Shopify themes have you had experience with? What do you like about it?
Equipment Financing and Leasing
If You Need to Modernize, Equipment Financing and Leasing Can Make that Much More Affordable
Does your business need equipment? Some of it can be extremely expensive. For a new business in particular, affording equipment can feel like an impossible dream. But you have got to have that equipment to make money! How do you make it past this frustrating Catch-22? You do it with equipment financing and leasing.
What is Equipment Financing and Leasing?
Equipment financing is when you use a loan or lease to purchase or borrow hard assets for your business. It is a business financing option you can use to buy or lease any physical asset. Physical assets can include items such as a restaurant oven or a company car. See nav.com/business-financing-options/equipment-financing.
Why Do Companies Use Equipment Financing and Leasing?
A recent the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) survey found that 80% of American businesses lease a portion of their equipment. The list of companies using leasing ranges, from the Fortune 500 to a mom and pop store. See entrepreneur.com/article/225959.
Advantages
You will pay predictable amounts every month. You can build business credit on a program such as this. The equipment is great collateral, the lender probably will not want any other collateral.
You will often put down less money than you would if you were buying the piece of equipment. You may be able to negotiate flexible terms with an equipment lease. It is easy to upgrade equipment after your lease ends. This is helpful if your equipment is something like a computer which quickly becomes obsolete.
Disadvantages
You may have to pay a large down payment. You will often need to have good personal credit in order to qualify. If your financed equipment becomes outdated, your business is stuck with it until the end of the lease for loan.
Also, leases can often end up costing more than purchasing. When the lease ends, you will need a new lease or to make some other arrangement. Buying a piece equipment means it is yours to keep or to sell.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
Questions you Should be Asking
What equipment do you need and for how long? Do you want to bundle service, supplies, training, and the equipment lease into one contract? Have you anticipated your company’s future needs so you get adequate equipment? What is the total payment cost?
Important Things You Need to Know About Any Lease
Who will you be dealing with? Is there a separate company financing the lease? How long has the company been in business? Do you understand the terms and conditions during and at the end of the lease?
Is casualty insurance a requirement to cover damage to the equipment included? Who pays the personal property tax? What are the options regarding upgrading and trading in equipment before the lease period expires? Who is responsible for repairs?
Fair Market Value Leasing
Also known as an FMV lease. With an FMV lease, you make regular payments, while borrowing the equipment for a set term. When the term is up, you have the option to return the equipment, or purchase it at its fair market value.
$1 Buyout Leases
This is a type of capital lease. You pay off the cost of the equipment, plus interest, over the course of the lease. In the end, you owe exactly $1.
Once you pay the $1 residual. which is essentially a formality, you fully own the equipment. This type of lease is very similar to a loan in terms of structure and cost.
10% Option Leases
This lease is the same as a $1 lease. But at the end of the term, you have the option to buy the equipment for 10% of its costs. These tend to have lower monthly payments than a $1 buyout lease.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
How Much Can a Lease Cost?
Here is an example. Let us say you are leasing a $25,000 piece of equipment. Call it a 10% option, and a 36 month term.
The value of the Equipment is$25,000. The interest Rate is 15%. The term Length is 36 months. The monthly Payment is $780. The total Cost of Leasing equals $28,079. And the cost to Purchase is $2,500. Hence the total Cost of Equipment is $30,579. See merchantmaverick.com/equipment-financing.
With the example, you would be paying an extra $5,579 over the course of the lease. That is over 1/5 more added, to your total cost for the equipment.
If you bought the equipment from the start, you would pay $25,000. So you would be in $25,000 in the hole from the beginning. But with leasing, you have not spent the total $25,000 until over 2 ½ years have gone by. In the meantime, you can invest that money or earn interest on it.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
Did You Know Credit Suite Offers Equipment Financing and Leasing?
We offer equipment financing and leasing programs. Companies must have at least one year in business. You can get approval even with challenged credit. You will not need financials to secure equipment financing. Approvals take as little as 24 hours.
Check out the easy qualification process. You can get approval with as low as a 640 personal credit score. For approval, lenders will request details on the equipment you are getting. After a quick credit review, you can get approval for as much as $10,000,000 in equipment financing.
Equipment leasing is powerful! We help business owners get financing to lease equipment. With equipment leasing you receive even more favorable terms than typical business financing programs, with even more benefits. Whether you are a startup business or a well-established business, we have hundreds of equipment lenders who would like to help.
Equipment Leasing Rates and Payments
You can qualify with only two monthly payments as a down payment. And you can get approval with a credit score as low as 640. Rates are affordable and 100% of your interest is tax deductible. Plus, you can get financing up to $10,000,000.
Benefits
You can enjoy 24-hour pre-approval. And you pay no application fees. Interest is tax deductible. Go all the way from application to funding in 2 weeks or less. Purchase, lease, or borrow against existing equipment.
Heavy equipment financing is available. We have loans for up to $10,000,000. And you can get approval with average credit. The equipment serves as collateral. Note: financials are necessary.
Equipment Financing and Leasing: Takeaways
Businesses often have fluctuating revenue. But they still have to have equipment. And for new businesses, they have to have equipment to get going, but they can never seem to be able to afford it.
This type of funding can be the ideal solution. There are advantages and disadvantages to leasing equipment, just like any other form of lease versus purchase. Credit Suite offers equipment financing and leasing. We help you navigate multiple dissimilar offers and make sense of it all. Let’s take the next step together.
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The Convenience of Applying for Business Credit Cards Online
The Convenience of Applying for Business Credit Cards Online
The net is not just a great area for making contrasts in between the numerous organization credit rating card provides, however it is additionally a wonderful network to make your applications. When you ultimately locate the organization credit history card which finest matches your company, you can use for that service credit report card instantaneously.
If the possibility of utilizing the Internet to store and also obtain organization bank card does not truly attract you, there are various other approaches you can make use of to use as well as assess for a card. You can check out the lots of service bank card supplies that show up in your snail-mailbox, compose letters to the providers asking for sales brochures and even pay them a see personally, if that is your choice. It is just on the Internet where you can right away locate all the details you require, contrast all the functions used to your heart’s material and also see what the different customers as well as specialists have to claim regarding the various organization credit rating card bundles … all in one location.
By merely inputting the words “organization credit score card deals” in a search engine’s area, you will certainly get an entire lot of organization credit score card provides that would certainly never ever have actually or else come to you by snail mail. Must you for instance desire to tighten down your search to locate those company credit history cards that provide for individuals with negative credit scores, you just include the word “poor” to the search.
A few of the websites are intentionally developed with the ability to enable comprehensive contrasts in between the different company bank card. These thoughtful websites can inform you every little thing as well as anything you require to find out about the various company charge card on the marketplace. They permit you to pierce down in order to collect detail info under different organization bank card classifications, such as benefits as well as discounts company charge card, company charge card for individuals with a poor credit rating, cash money back organization bank card, absolutely no APR organization bank card as well as a lot even more.
You ought to not use for the initial company credit rating card you see online. As soon as you have actually determined the proper organization credit score card plan for your company, you can finish the online organization debt card application.
When you have actually effectively sent your online company credit rating card application, a staff member from the company credit score card provider will certainly call you to talk about both your credit scores card application and also the problems and also terms. If this is the situation, you will usually be able to publish the debt contract.
When you lastly discover the service debt card which finest fits your service, you can use for that company debt card instantaneously.
They permit you to pierce down in order to collect detail details under different service credit history card groups, such as benefits and also refunds organization credit history cards, company credit history cards for individuals with a poor debt background, money back service credit scores cards, no APR organization credit history cards as well as an entire great deal even more.
When you have actually recognized the ideal company credit rating card plan for your company, you can finish the online service credit rating card application. As soon as you have actually effectively sent your online organization credit report card application, a staff member from the organization credit scores card company will certainly call you to talk about both your credit history card application as well as the problems and also terms.
Ep. #554: Jimmy Kimmel, Charlotte Alter, Matt Welch
Bill’s guests are Jimmy Kimmel, Charlotte Alter, and Matt Welch. (Originally aired 2/5/21)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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How to Run Pandora Music Ads
Pandora, the popular music-streaming service, boasts over 81 million users, and the average Pandora user spends 2 hours and 15 minutes per day listening to music on the platform. With ad options on both their free and paid platforms, Pandora music ads are a great opportunity for advertisers who want to increase their audience. Let’s …
The post How to Run Pandora Music Ads first appeared on Online Web Store Site.
10 Powerful Instagram Marketing Tips (That Actually Work)
Since Instagram’s creation, it has grown into the ultimate platform for sharing photos. Over 1.16 billion monthly users are active on the site. Daily users spend about 8 minutes on the app and 500 million use Stories daily. There’s also a large number of influencers on the site with a massive amount of followers. And …
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New comment by lzucchetti in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2021)"
Airteam | Australia | Remote options available (Australia only) | Full time permanent and contract positions available | No visa sponsorship available
We have 2 open positions:
Senior Front-end Developer – 5+ years programming experience with advanced javascript skills, Angular/React, JSON, common web patterns and frameworks.
https://www.airteam.com.au/careers/role/senior-frontend-deve…
Senior Javascript Developer – 5+ years of solid JavaScript experience; you must be comfortable with React and modern JavaScript. Plus, experience with AWS (we do full-stack serverless JS) – AWS certifications highly regarded!
https://www.airteam.com.au/careers/role/senior-javascript-de…
Full role details and applications to be made through our website: https://www.airteam.com.au/careers
We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all applicants including people of different ages, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, sexual orientation, religious belief, work experience, educational background. We prefer not to work with recruiters.
Thanks!
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The Complete Marketer’s Guide to YouTube
If you’re looking to get into video marketing, there’s no better channel than YouTube. They’re the second most visited website on the entire internet, with over 2 billion users, have virtually no competitors, and consumers are increasingly spending more time watching more online videos.
With this flood of consumer attention, it’s no wonder companies are putting more of their ad dollars into digital video advertising.
The good news is you don’t need to flood thousands of dollars in YouTube advertising. If you create a good channel that constantly puts out quality content that people want, you’ll get the attention and eyeballs you need to drive customer acquisition through YouTube.
Here’s how to do just that.
Part 1: Create a Great Channel Layout & Organize Your Youtube Content
This blog post won’t get into the weeds of how to upload a profile picture, cover image, or the steps to upload a video. YouTube already has those steps. It’s easy, and you don’t need any instructions from me.
I’m going to use this first part of the guide to talk about why you need a great channel layout.
The first step to YouTube marketing is to have a great channel layout. When people come to your channel, they need to know what you’re about and what types of videos you have.
Here’s how my channel looks:
My value proposition and color scheme are simple and match my website. The CTA says how often I publish new videos. My trailer is like an extension of the value prop.
People want to learn SEO and social media marketing from me. So, I’ve created a ton of videos on those topics and organized them into different sections:
This organization makes it easy for people to get an idea of what types of content I publish. If you have a lot of videos, I’d recommend you do the same.
Create Regular YouTube Video Content
Consistently updating your channel with content will keep your channel feed active, increase your presence on YouTube, and help you build an audience.
You should aim for a minimum of one video per week, but the right amount of content depends on your audience, your goals, and your content.
One simple way to create a steady stream of content is to produce shorter versions of long-form content. Build a theme around a topic and then post bite-size versions of the theme on a weekly basis. This will keep your audience engaged and coming back for more.
How to Write a Great YouTube Title
This is one area you cannot ignore. Titles are very important in YouTube. No matter how great your video content, it won’t matter if you can’t get anyone to actually click on your video in the first place.
There’s a few different tactics I see marketers and creators on YouTube using.
The first one is the sports gossip outlet TMZ Sports. They’re not marketers, but they know how to get attention, and that’s important for marketers. Let’s see if you can find a trend in their titles:
Business Insider follows a similar formula. Let’s see some examples from their YouTube channel:
What TMZ Sports and Business Insider essentially do is write half a sentence and leaves it as a “….”. This means that if you want to find who said what or what the kids should, you’ll have to click on the video to find out.
None of these titles are mistakes. They are intentionally written this way to get you to click.
Is it clickbaiting?
A little bit. But you shouldn’t completely avoid clickbait, because some of it works.
Here’s how to do it yourself.
YouTube’s title character limit is 100, but right around 50-55 characters is where they start to cut off the text on the desktop. This is where you write your cliffhanger. Look what TMZ Sports does when they write their titles.
If I had a video about my SEO hacks, I may write a title like this:
Search Engine Optimization | These four SEO hacks will skyrocket your traffic
The part in italics is what will show as the title on YouTube. You see that I leave a cliffhanger that will make people want to click. I also put in the keywords search engine optimization and SEO in there to make it clear what the video is about.
I’d then put the Google logo in the thumbnail to catch the eye and make sure people know it’s about Google SEO.
Keywords are the other important aspect of YouTube SEO. You need to make sure you put those keywords in your title so it attracts the right audience. Keywords like social media marketing, search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization, ROI, and blogging are all keywords you’ll find me using. If you know your niche, you’ll know what keywords you need to use.
Now that we have the title, let’s move onto the visual title – the thumbnail.
Design The Right YouTube Thumbnails
Don’t skip this part. Choosing your YouTube thumbnail is just as, if not more, important than crafting a great title.
Let’s first go through a couple of the goofy hacks marketers use on their thumbnails.
Use Arrows and Circles
Marketers are increasingly using red arrows and circles in their YouTube thumbnails and their social graph images. Here’s what I mean:
There is clearly no need for a red arrow here. So why do they add it? Because it draws eyeballs and clicks.
I’ve used this tactic as well.
You may want to give it a shot and see if it increases your views!
Include Your Logo to Boost Brand Awareness
Here’s another hack that marketers like to use: putting your logo on the thumbnail. That way, even if no one clicks your video, you’re still drawing awareness and spreading your brand.
CNN puts its logo on every thumbnail:
Look how big that logo is. Does it need to be that big? Of course not, but it spreads the CNN brand, even to people who won’t click and watch the video.
I do the same thing, but instead of a logo, I use my face and include my brand colors.
I don’t need to put my face on this thumbnail, but it helps my fans recognize me. And if people aren’t familiar with me, they’ll see the title of this video and wonder who the heck that guy is and may click and video and be introduced.
Just remember that viewers shouldn’t feel like they’ve been tricked into viewing your video. Your thumbnail needs to accurately represent the content of your video.
Cross-Promote with Other Channels
To increase your reach on YouTube, make it a priority to identify and reach out to other similar channels to cross-promote or collaborate in a mutually beneficial manner.
This doesn’t mean that you need a huge following on YouTube already. You can use your email list, social following, or even embed videos on your website to drive traffic.
We’ve covered how to get people to click on your videos and cross-promoting. Now let’s go on to another facet of marketing on YouTube, which covers optimizing your videos for YouTube search.
Part Two: Use YouTube SEO To Increase Traffic
YouTube is the second most popular search engine, and with 30,000 hours of video uploaded every minute, you have your fair share of competitors.
Here’s how to put your best foot forward to get near the top of YouTube’s search results (without having to pay for it):
Writing Great Descriptions
YouTube has a great section detailing how marketers and creators can write great descriptions. I’d recommend you take a look at that if you need a full guide.
The part that I want to emphasize is the importance of using keywords early in your description. Here are the keywords I put in one of my videos:
When you know what keywords you’re trying to rank well for, you can put those in the title and description. You can also mention those keywords in the video and put those in your closed captions.
Just never force anything and keyword stuff. It just makes you look spammy and untrustworthy.
Your descriptions should be at least one paragraph. YouTube gives you 5000 characters to write. Don’t be bashful. Use as much of it as you need to.
I use my description as a transcript. But I also put links to my blog and social above the fold. So even if people don’t read the entire description, they still see links to read my blog or get in contact with my social:
Write descriptions with keywords. Make it easy for people to find more information about you.
Add Closed Captions on Videos
Ever remembered a great line from a TV show, typed it into Google or YouTube, and found the exact clip on YouTube?
If that great line wasn’t in the title or the description, then you found that because the search engines used the captions to find the video.
That alone should convince you that you need to have captions available for your videos.
You can use the automatic captioning. You can take those and edit them, or add your own.
Use YouTube Tags
The key to optimizing your tags is to place your important terms first. Use quotes for keyword phrases such as “video production” and provide a blend of common and long-tail keywords.
You want to provide enough tags to thoroughly and accurately describe your video. Think about what your potential viewer may be searching for on YouTube.
Drive Comments, Likes, and Subscriptions
When watching a video on YouTube, how often near the end of the video do you hear the phrase, “If you liked this video please give it a thumbs up or make a comment”.
That’s because more likes and comments signal to YouTube that the video is getting audience engagement. People are talking about it and rating it. It struck a chord with them.
As a result, YouTube will rank it higher in their search results.
Another thing that will get a higher ranking is a large number of people subscribing to your channel, and most good YouTube creators and marketers know this. That’s why they ask you to subscribe.
I could write an entire article on getting more YouTube subscriptions. And fortunately, I have. Take a look if you want more subscribers.
Part Three: How to Produce a Great YouTube Video
This is the last part of this blog post, but you should treat it as the most important part of YouTube marketing.
Create a Great Opening and Sustain Viewer Attention
If you’re relatively unknown, then the first few seconds of a video are absolutely crucial to get exactly right. They “hook” the viewer in so they want to watch your entire video.
I’m sure you’ve all seen some ads from Tai Lopez. But have you actually watched them to truly understand what makes him such a great creator?
This was one of Tai’s ads:
When creating an ad, you have five seconds to hook the viewer in so they watch more of your video. You see what Tai Lopez does? The background is him standing in a mansion, and the first thing he says is that he’s going to give you a tour of his mansion.
Then he introduces himself. To keep you watching, he gives you a video tour of the mansion while he talks about himself and what he offers. This is great marketing that few people have done.
Who would want to click “Skip Ad” on this video?
Can you imagine if he was sitting at a desk with a white wall as his background giving the same talk? No one would watch it.
Your videos should work the same way. Even if they aren’t ads, you should treat it them as such. Hook the viewer in with visuals and a few great opening lines. Then keep them entertained. Watch what I do in this video:
My hook comes in with high energy naming companies I’ve ghost-written for. The rest of my intro (which is only 15 seconds) outlines what the video is about and why you can benefit by watching the rest of my presentation.
Create Calls to Action
The key to a successful marketing campaign, even on YouTube, is creating clear and concise calls to action. Depending on the message, you can use the beginning, middle, or end of a video to direct the actions of your viewers.
Having too many prompts can cause confusion, so keep your CTAs minimal and simple. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for viewers to perform an action.
Here are a few important actions to use on your videos:
- Subscribe: Give your viewer a reason to subscribe (e.g., new videos every week or never missing an episode).
- Like / Add to Favorites / Share: Ask your viewers to “like,” “favorite,” and “share” the video so your content appears in more places across YouTube. You’ll be amazed at the reaction you get when you simply ask for it.
- Comments: Encourage your audience to participate by asking a specific question or requesting a topic they’d like to see covered in an upcoming video.
- Video Graphics: Create a video “end slate” that appears at the end of the video to direct viewers to your website.
How to Grow Your YouTube Channel
Want to grow your business with YouTube? Here’s a complete guide to building a successful YouTube channel to market your business.
- Create a great channel layout.
Use branded images, a video trailer, and organize videos by topics.
- Create regular YouTube content.
Aim for a minimum of one video per week, but the right amount of content depends on your audience, your goals, and your content.
- Write great YouTube titles.
Write a cliffhanger, but make sure to include key terms.
- Design the right thumbnails.
Use arrows and circles to draw attention to your video and consider including a logo to stand out.
- Cross-promote your channel on other platforms
Make it a priority to identify and reach out to other similar channels to cross-promote or collaborate in a mutually beneficial manner.
- Get your YouTube SEO right.
Use your title and description to target important key terms and increase your visibility.
- Add close captions to videos.
Ever remembered a great line from a TV show, typed it into Google or YouTube, and found the exact clip on YouTube? If that great line wasn’t in the title or the description, then you found that because the search engines used the captions to find the video.
- Optimize YouTube tags.
The key to optimizing your tags is to place your important terms first. Use quotes for keyword phrases such as “video production” and provide a blend of common and long-tail keywords.
- Ask for comments, likes, and subscriptions
More likes and comments signals to YouTube that the video is getting audience engagement, and YouTube will rank it higher in their search results.
- Create a great opening.
The first few seconds of a video are absolutely crucial to get exactly right. They “hook” the viewer in so that they want to watch your entire video.
- Create calls to action.
Having too many prompts can cause confusion, so keep your CTAs minimal and simple. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for viewers to perform an action.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you made it all the way through this massive guide. Now you are set to become the next YouTube star! Or, at the very least, build a relationship with your target audience through this massively popular platform.
Apply the principles outlined here and grow your presence on YouTube. Remember, it may not work on the first try, but continuing to produce high-quality content on YouTube can deliver amazing results.
Success on YouTube comes with time and practice, so get out there and start shooting your video!
What YouTube marketing techniques have you learned?