Isda AGM: Knot takes dim view of banks piling up leverage blind The post FSB warns on Archegos-style leverage appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
Tag: Leverage
How to Leverage Ubersuggest SEO Reports to Keep Your Strategy in Check
There are no two ways about it: SEO works. It’s one of the main tools I used to build this site, and I’ve seen it work for hundreds of clients around the globe.
However, SEO is complicated. It requires data insights, analytics, tracking, and constant upkeep. While there are plenty of SEO tools on the market, many of them are expensive and hard to use.
This is why I created Ubersuggest—to help marketers and business owners get access to the SEO insights they need to drive massive amounts of traffic and increase revenue.
Why Should You Use Ubersuggest SEO Reports to Support Your Digital Marketing and Content Strategy
Ubersuggest’s SEO reports provide a massive amount of insights into the overall health of your website, including SEO opportunities, backlinks, content ideas, and a whole lot more. Why should you use it?
If your SEO is lacking, you risk losing traffic to your competition. Consider these statistics:
- 75 percent of users never scroll past the first page of search results.
- Organic traffic is responsible for 53 percent of all site traffic.
- The typical person will search Google four times a day.
If you want traffic to your website, you need to be on top of your SEO game—and Ubersuggest can help. More than 50,000 users, from small businesses to enterprise companies, currently use Ubersuggest.
Why do they love it? Here are a few reasons:
- Ubersuggest is 70 percent cheaper than alternative SEO tools.
- It’s easy to use, and we provide tons of support to make sure you can make the most of it.
- We keep adding features, which means you’ll always have access to the tools you need to drive traffic and improve your SEO.
- Gain access to tools, worksheets, and templates to increase the ROI of all your digital marketing efforts.
If you’re just getting started in SEO, I highly recommend watching the video below to understand the basics. Keep reading if you want to learn how SEO reports from Ubersuggest can help increase your SEO ROI.
Ubersuggest is a full-featured SEO tool that offers tons of SEO reports and tools to help your site succeed. Here are seven ways Ubersuggest will help you stay on top of your SEO game.
1. Use Ubersuggest SEO Reports to Identify Top SEO Opportunities
The first five organic results account for 67.60 percent of all the clicks, while results ranking 6 to 10 account for only 3.73 percent of clicks. This means if you want traffic, you need to find and leverage SEO opportunities.
Ubersuggest makes this process simple with our Top SEO Opportunities report. Here’s how to access it:
Sign in to Ubersuggest, then look at the Top SEO Opportunities in your dashboard. This list serves as a checklist to improve your current SEO strategy. The list will automatically update as you make changes and as new opportunities arise. For example, if a competitor starts to gain traffic with one of your core keywords, we’ll let you know.
Check it at least once a week, and try to tackle at least one suggestion a week from the list to keep your momentum going.
This report doesn’t just tell you what’s wrong—it also tells you how to fix it. Take a look at the screenshot above. If you click “Optimize for Keyword,” Ubersuggest will tell you what topics to cover and even provide a basic outline you can use to create the high-quality content Google loves.
It’s kinda like having your own personal SEO consultant keeping an eye on your website 24/7.
2. Use Ubersuggest to Perform Monthly SEO Audits
SEO audits should be performed regularly to ensure your website stays in good SEO standing. Most businesses, however, only perform an SEO audit two to four times a year.
It’s easy to understand why SEO audits are time-consuming and difficult, especially if the process is unfamiliar.
SEO audits don’t have to be a pain. With Ubersuggest, you can easily perform an SEO audit in just a few minutes. Here’s how:
- Log into your Ubersuggest dashboard.
- Click on the “Site Audit” button in the left sidebar.
- Enter your website URL.
That’s all you have to do. Ubersuggest will crawl your website and deliver a detailed SEO audit. If you have a large site, this could take a few minutes, so be patient.
Ubersuggest shows your on-page SEO score, organic traffic, number of backlinks, organic keywords you are ranking for, insights into load time, and SEO issues.
This is a great place to go to understand the current state of your website. You will get a detailed SEO overview of your website, as it stands today, so you can understand your technical strengths and weaknesses.
You can use this information to prioritize what’s most important and create monthly to-dos to tackle.
If you decide to hire someone to help with your website, just hand over the prioritized list to them each month. We tell you what changes will make the most impact on your website and how difficult the updates are, so you can decide what to tackle yourself and what to outsource.
3. Use Ubersuggest SEO to Find Profitable Keywords and Track Your Progress
Keywords are the backbone of a solid SEO strategy. However, finding the right keywords can be a challenge. Just because a keyword has a high search volume, for example, doesn’t mean it will drive traffic to your website.
You should perform keyword research on at least a monthly basis. The good news is that Ubersuggest can do it for you.
Use the Keyword Overview report to understand search volume trends, SEO, and paid difficulty, plus the average CPC for your targeted keywords.
This will help you find other keyword ideas that might be easier to rank for within the Overview report (think lower volume, lower-paid and SEO difficulty, lower CPC.)
Note, these change with seasonality for a lot of companies, so check this at least once a month.
You’ll also see a table of Keyword Ideas. Keep special note of the keywords that have a low SEO difficulty, as these are generally easier to rank for. If you don’t currently have content covering that topic, now is the time. Just make sure those terms are relevant to your customers.
You can also see what keywords drive traffic to your competitors’ websites with the Keywords by Traffic report. I recommend checking this monthly to see how keyword trends change for them as well.
Track how you perform for your targeted keywords with the Rank Tracking report. It’s best to have at least 30-50 keywords saved in any given month and to check weekly to ensure you aren’t losing ground with keywords you’ve worked hard to rank for.
You’ll also see which keywords you are ranking well for. If you’ve recently updated content, earned new backlinks, or made other changes, this data will tell you it’s working. (And that you might want to use those same strategies on other pages.)
4. Use Ubersuggest SEO to Discover New Content Ideas as Your Company Grows
Every day, more than 6 million blog posts are published on the internet. That makes finding new content ideas a challenge. If it feels like every topic has already been covered, you’re not alone.
Finding new content ideas is challenging, but Ubersuggest can make it a lot easier.
Use the Content Ideas report to discover what types of blogs are popular on the internet. Get inspiration from the list and choose topics you’re comfortable writing about that you may have a different angle to talk about.
This report also helps you to stay away from writing about a topic that others have already covered and are ranking well for, which makes them harder to compete with.
Don’t ignore topics that have already been covered. Instead, look for ways to create better or more in-depth content. For example, you could:
- Write a longer post that covers a topic in more depth.
- Share insights or case studies that show how to implement a strategy.
- Consider other content formats, such as videos, infographics, or white papers.
The list of ideas in this report is ever-changing, giving you endless ideas to work from.
5. Use Ubersuggest SEO to Identify Backlink Opportunities
According to research by Backlinko, the number of domains linking to a page has the highest correlation to Google ranking. In fact, the number one result in Google has an average of 3.8 times more backlinks than those in positions 2 through 10.
One of the best ways to improve your SEO is to increase your backlinks—the right way. Buying links, trading links, and other black hat strategies won’t deliver the results you want. Instead, I recommend using the Ubersuggest Backlinks report to see how your competitors are performing and find opportunities for your own site.
Links to both your and your competitors’ websites change regularly (for some, it’s happening daily). Head to the Backlinks Opportunities report often to see who’s linking to your competitors but not to you, then reach out to those companies with similar (not the same) content and ask them to link back to you.
Not sure what to say? Here’s a link to backlinks email outreach ideas and templates
Once you’ve gained some momentum, check your Backlinks Overview report at least monthly and pay special attention to the Backlinks Overtime report. This will show your backlinks growth and understand how many new websites are linking to you each month (and how many you’ve lost).
This can also help you find other websites similar to the ones linking to you already, and you can reach out to the ones who stopped linking to you to understand why.
6. Use Ubersuggest SEO for Weekly Check-ins for the Biggest Impact
Google’s algorithm uses more than 200 factors to determine which website to rank for a specific search, and those factors are constantly changing. This means the most effective SEO strategies are constantly changing, too.
So how do you keep up? By using Ubersuggest to get weekly notifications about the health of your site’s SEO.
Turn on weekly notifications here to get a quick view of the following:
- Rank Tracking Alerts: Get email and in-app notifications about important rankings gained and lost, new positions conquered and lost.
- Site Audit Alerts: Get email and in-app notifications of new SEO issues and errors found on your website, as well as on-page improvements that can increase your rankings.
- Keyword Opportunities Alerts: Get email and in-app notifications about keywords that are rising in popularity and when it’s the perfect opportunity to invest more time and effort into ranking for these keywords.
Successful SEO is an ongoing process, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend hours every week digging into analytics. These SEO ranking reports allow you to keep an eye out for issues while you stay focused on your long-term goals.
7. Use Ubersuggest Support for Personalized Assistance
We’ve covered how to use Ubersuggest to pull the best SEO reports you need to track your performance. What happens if you have a question or aren’t sure what a suggestion means? The Ubersuggest team is here to help.
In fact, there are five ways to get additional SEO support from Ubersuggest, including:
- Coaching Call: If you get stuck with anything, Ubersuggest offers monthly coaching calls where you can call in and get your questions answered by one of their SEO experts. Register here.
- SEO Unlocked 8-week Free, self-paced course: My course covers everything you need to know about SEO, from what SEO is to performing keyword research and optimizing your website.
- Customer Support: Have issues with Ubersuggest or aren’t sure where to find something? Submit a ticket and my team will get back to you ASAP.
- Knowledge Base: This post covers the SEO reports in Ubersuggest, but there are even more features to love. Search in the Knowledge Base here to learn more.
- Chat: Want immediate help? You can ask a question in the chat box at the bottom right of any page in Ubersuggest.
SEO Reports Frequently Asked Questions
What should an SEO report include?
A good SEO report should include overall traffic, keyword ranking, a list of backlinks, time on site and bounce rate, top traffic by page, keyword search volume, competitor data, SEO tasks to complete, and an overview of the entire SEO report.
What does a good SEO report look like?
A good SEO report should provide the data and insights you need to improve your ranking in search engines. Ideally, it should cover overall traffic, keyword ranking, backlinks, traffic per page, and SEO errors. The format should be easy to use and understand. With Ubersuggest, you can view all this data in the dashboard or screenshot the charts and embed them in a Google Slides presentation.
How do you read SEO reports?
It depends on the report you’re viewing and what type of data you need. I recommend starting with the overview of the SEO ranking report, then drilling down into specific areas based on your goals and needs. For example, if your overall traffic is dropping, the SEO errors are a good place to start as there might be an issue impacting your entire website.
How do you create an SEO report?
The best way to create an SEO ranking report is to sign up for Ubersuggest, add your website, and use the SEO report tools to pull the data you need to drive traffic. Alternatively, you can dig into Google Search Console and Google Analytics to pull the relevant data. However, those tools often don’t provide the level of detail or recommendations you need to drive SEO success.
{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “FAQPage”,
“mainEntity”: [
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What should an SEO report include?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
A good SEO report should include overall traffic, keyword ranking, a list of backlinks, time on site and bounce rate, top traffic by page, keyword search volume, competitor data, SEO tasks to complete, and an overview of the entire SEO report.
”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What does a good SEO report look like?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
A good SEO report should provide the data and insights you need to improve your ranking in search engines. Ideally, it should cover overall traffic, keyword ranking, backlinks, traffic per page, and SEO errors. The format should be easy to use and understand. With Ubersuggest, you can view all this data in the dashboard or screenshot the charts and embed them in a Google Slides presentation.
”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How do you read SEO reports?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
It depends on the report you’re viewing and what type of data you need. I recommend starting with the overview of the SEO ranking report, then drilling down into specific areas based on your goals and needs. For example, if your overall traffic is dropping, the SEO errors are a good place to start as there might be an issue impacting your entire website.
”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How do you create an SEO report?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
The best way to create an SEO ranking report is to sign up for Ubersuggest, add your website, and use the SEO report tools to pull the data you need to drive traffic. Alternatively, you can dig into Google Search Console and Google Analytics to pull the relevant data. However, those tools often don’t provide the level of detail or recommendations you need to drive SEO success.
”
}
}
]
}
Conclusion: Get the Best SEO Reports from Ubersuggest
The cost of SEO varies based on the size of your site and your goals. However, the average small business can expect to pay between $750 and $2,000 per month for ongoing SEO support or up to $35,000 for one-time projects.
Despite the importance of SEO, those rates can be difficult for many businesses to manage. Luckily, Ubersuggest’s SEO Reports can provide visibility into your SEO for just a few dollars a month, and you won’t have to sacrifice results.
If you’d rather have an SEO expert do the work for you, we’re happy to help. Reach out to my team, and let’s talk about your SEO goals.
Have you used Ubersuggest’s SEO reports? What is your favorite feature?
How to Optimize Google My Business and Leverage It for More Sales
One of the simplest ways to gain traffic and customers is claiming and optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Google My Business (GMB), is a listing of your business’ operating information, reviews, posts, and so much more.
To that end, there are a few things you should consider before diving into how to claim your business on Google.
For example:
- What are your customers finding when they search for your business online?
- If they need to know your phone number, how quickly can they access it?
- If they want to know if you have parking available, how will they find out?
You need to make sure this information is available to consumers before they even reach your website.
Although most of this information can likely be found on your website, Google My Business indexes the content you provide for consistency across Google Search and Maps (Google Local Guides can also review and edit your listings for consistency).
But it’s not just a place to find basic information about your business.
When used correctly, Google My Business is a powerful tool that can increase your revenue and provide valuable insights about your customers.
I’m going to explain its importance and how you can optimize it to generate more sales.
The Number One Mistake Business Owners Make with Google My Business
Let’s face it. Google dominates search.
According to Net Marketshare, approximately 80% of all searches happen on Google.
To put things into perspective, there are 3.5 billion searches per day.
The kicker? Most people don’t get past Google’s first page of search results.
A study examined the number of click-throughs for each Google search result, and they exponentially decreased on page two.
In other words, your customers are finding what they need on Google’s first page.
Although there are other ways to get your business to show up on the first page of Google, Google My Business is an incredibly valuable (and easy) tool to use that helps you:
- Control, index, and display pertinent business information
- Interact with potential customers and manage your online review reputation
- Curate customer photos, videos, and other user-generated content
- Gather insights regarding how your customers are arriving on your site
The signals sent from Google My Business even play a role in local SEO strategy.
56% of local retailers haven’t claimed their free Google My Business account.
This is surprising because a Google study found that “50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day.”
There is an enormous upside for using Google My Business, and the process to claim your business only takes a few steps.
To start, visit https://www.google.com/business.
Next, input the basic information (name, address, phone number, website) about your business.
Then, you’ll be required to verify your account by submitting a code that is mailed to your business address. This step is necessary to unlock all GMB features.
After your company information is added, you can access your dashboard to start personalizing your listing.
But don’t stop there. You’re not done!
Most companies make this mistake. They claim their Google My Business account, add the bare minimum details, and abandon it.
They’re leaving money on the table.
You need to optimize it.
Claiming the account is just the start. There are so many ways you can use it.
When leveraged correctly, Google My Business can lead to increased sales and improved customer loyalty.
How to Claim a Business on Google
Claiming your business on Google is one of the easiest ways to reach new customers–but you need to make sure you follow some best practices in order to get the most out of your listing.
1. Ensure Your Information Is Accurate, Comprehensive, and Up-to-Date
There are many different parts of your Google My Business listing, so let’s start with your core business information:
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Website
- Description
- Category
- Attributes
Google My Business requests your name, address and phone number (otherwise known as NAP) to begin the listing.
This information will be indexed by Google Search, Maps and Google+, providing a foundation for your local SEO.
Your information should be consistent with what is currently listed on your website.
Actually, you need to ensure the information is exactly the same.
Inconsistencies in the information will negatively impact your search ranking.
When inputting your address, make sure it matches with the correct coordinates on the map and include the same zip code (5-digit vs. hyphenated 9-digit code) provided on your website.
Additionally, it’s better to have a local number as opposed to a national or call center option.
After you’ve provided NAP, you can focus on two very important pieces of your listing: your business category and your company attributes.
These areas require you to be specific in regards to what type of business you operate.
You should consider your keyword strategy when adding your business category and attributes.
Be careful, though.
I don’t recommend you stuff your listing with keywords.
Google My Business prohibits that type of behavior. In 2016, they eliminated users’ ability to edit GMB descriptions and introduced attributes to provide a more accurate listing.
While your category is meant to be very specific, attributes can paint a clearer picture of your business and the experience you provide.
It is beneficial to browse the complete list of 2,395 business categories to make sure you’re capturing the correct classification of your company.
Remember to be specific. Don’t put “Cosmetology” if you run a “Nail Salon.”
Attributes allow business owners to expandtheir business’ capabilities in ways that might not be apparent from the business category they have selected.
Does your restaurant have a patio or bar seating? Is it kid-friendly?
What are the amenities in your apartment complex? Tennis courts? Indoor pool?
Does your coffee shop offer free wifi? Public restrooms?
These attributes can be added to answer questions your customers will likely have and provide a better understanding of the business’ capabilities and offerings.
After your basic information is complete, you can move on and personalize the visual aspect of your listing.
The first thing your customers will notice when searching for your business?
Your profile picture.
No listing is complete without a photo.
A Synup study found, “Listings with photos are 2x as likely to be considered reputable and get 35% more clicks.”
Google My Business encourages you to upload a profile photo, cover photo, and video to showcase your business. Each has their own purpose shown below:
Not only can you upload your own high-quality content, but you can also feature user-generated content too.
Someone snapped and posted a great pic of your flagship entrée?
Use it as your profile picture by selecting it under the “Photos tagged of your business” option.
Encouraging your customers to add photos of their interactions with your business can lead to a plentiful gallery of user-generated content on your listing.
But they don’t have to just share their experiences in photos.
They can write about their experience too.
2. Ask for Reviews (and Respond to Them)
Reviews are the lifeblood of local search.
It’s a really simple equation:
Good reviews = sales. More good reviews = more sales.
Bad reviews can also present you with an opportunity.
Almost everyone likes a second opinion. That’s why 90% of people read reviews before purchasing.
The frequency of searches for reviews is increasing too. A 2016 study found, “53% of consumers search for local businesses at least one time per month.”
That’s a 10% increase over 2015.
How do you get reviews from your customers, though?
It’s simple. You ask them!
Some sites discourage this, but Google My Business actively encourages it. You can send a link to your customers in a few easy steps.
Open www.google.com/maps in a new web browser.
In the top left corner, search the name of your company. (This is also a great opportunity to check if your address is correct on your Google My Business dashboard.)
After selecting your business, click the menu option in the top-left corner.
Click “Share or Embed Map.”
Click “Copy Link.”
Share with all your previous customers by sending the link via email or text.
After you start to gather reviews on your listing, you need to respond to them.
All of them.
Every last one of them.
The good. The bad. The neutral.
Take time to write a message to each reviewer using the Google My Business dashboard.
53% of people expect responses to negative reviews.
If your reviews are arriving with a perfect 5-star rating, this is your opportunity to turn a customer into a passionate supporter of your business.
Whether you’re a national company or a local flower shop (as shown below), it is important to reach out and acknowledge the experiences your customers have with your brand.
If things are bad, this is your opportunity to make things right. Donatos Pizza monitored their reviews in Columbus, Ohio and leaped at the chance to enhance a customer’s experience.
Upon receiving a neutral 3-star review, the owner actively reached out to see how he could “raise that 3-star review to a 5-star review.”
Now, that’s customer service.
3. Speak Directly to Your Customers through Google My Business Messages
What if your customers can’t find something on your listing or website?
They aregoing to want to contact you. But how?
You might be thinking, “Simple. My phone number is included in my Google My Business listing.”
But actually, sometimes your customers don’t want to callyou.
In fact, a study found “90% of business leads would rather receive a text message than a phone call.”
That’s why mobile messaging can be a highly effective part of your marketing strategy.
It can lead to increased customer engagement and can help close the sale.
Studies show direct SMS messaging even has a higher conversion rate than mobile advertising.
That’s why Google introduced its messaging feature as a solution.
Now, you can activate this feature and communicate one-on-one with your customers, answering questions, fielding comments, and increasing loyalty.
By activating the Google My Business messaging feature, you unlock the option for customers to ask you a question via SMS text straight from your GMB listing.
You can turn this feature on by clicking the “Turn On Messaging” button in your Google My Business dashboard.
Next, you will be asked to input a phone number you’ll want to use to chat.
It’s important to note that this phone number will not be shared publicly since your customers will be clicking the “Message” button.
If you don’t want to use a personal number, there are a number of alternative options.
Once you add your number, you will be required to verify it with a code you receive on your phone.
You’ll have complete control to turn this feature on and off and can update the number as needed.
Google also calculates a response time for you that will be shown on your listing. This is averaged from the length of time it takes you to respond to inquiries.
Finally, you can add a “Welcome Message.” This is what users will receive when they start a message to you.
A sample message could read, “Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate the ability to serve you and will respond to your request momentarily.”
Now that the feature is activated and ready to go, you will receive an SMS text message any time someone asks a question via the message button on your listing.
You can then directly respond in the form of a text message.
This feature fosters a closer connection between your business and customers. Your business can be perceived as more transparent, which can lead to increased credibility and sales.
But this service is only effective in sharing information with customers who activelyinquire.
Google also created an option to share news and updates right on your listing for those who may be passivelybrowsing.
Let’s take a look at how Google Posts can optimize your listing.
4. Add Posts to Share Business Updates
Now that I’ve shown you how to manage user-generated content on your Google My Business listing, let’s focus on the content you create.
This is where Google Posts come in.
Google opened its post feature it to all businesses in 2017. This feature allows you to share content about your business in a variety of ways. Some examples include:
- Highlighting a new line of fall clothing with various product images
- Showcasing an upcoming event you are trying to promote
- Using a gif to relive a game-winning shot with your audience
- Sharing a text update on a recent company advancement
The Seattle Mariners are a great example of how a brand is using Google Posts to promote highlights of their games.
Google Posts allows you to add text, photos, gifs, and even call-to-action buttons including:
- Buy
- Sign up
- Learn more
- Reserve
- Get Offer
You can begin creating posts after you have verified your Google My Business account. Once the verification is complete, your “Posts” option will appear on the left-hand menu.
After clicking “create post,” you can add text and visuals.
When creating your post, you should consider:
- Google allows a maximum of 300 words per single post but only 60-70 characters will show up on the mobile and desktop display if you use a CTA button.
- The entire text post will show on mobile if no CTA button is used.
- The image you select should be a high-quality representation of your business. Google uses a 4:3 ratio, so the minimum dimension required is 400×300 pixels.
- Speak directly to your audience. Don’t use industry jargon, but rather focus on sharing content that will move your audience to engage with the post.
- Google provides insights (more on that in a bit) and engagement metrics for each post, but it’s also a good idea to set up UTM parameters for links as well.
After clicking “publish,” you can check out your post on your listing.
Now, it is ready and waiting for view by all those searching for your business. Make sure you review it within a week of publishing it since Google Posts disappear in a week.
Google Posts disappear after seven days unless you set a shorter time frame. That’s why it’s important to be timely and hyper-specific when crafting your posts.
Consider having a strategy in place and drafting an editorial calendar designated for your Google Post content.
That way, you can better integrate posts into your marketing plan and examine their impact on your business.
5. Track Customer Paths Through Google My Business Insights
As with any marketing tactic, it’s important to measure the impact of your Google My Business listing.
Google has built-in tools to help with that.
Google My Business Insights can tell you:
- How customers are finding your business (direct vs. discovery searches)
- Where on Google your customers are finding your listing (Search vs. Maps)
- The actions your customers are taking on your listing (Visiting your site, clicking on directions, browsing the photo gallery, calling you)
- Areas that your customers are living (based on direction queries)
- Total phone calls and time when customers are calling
Let’s start with the most important question: How your customers are finding you?
They are using two types of searches: direct and discovery.
Direct searches show that your customers know about your company and are using your business name or address to find you.
Discovery searches involve searching for the business type or category—not necessarily the business’ name. This is common for people who aren’t familiar with your company.
Once you figure out how they are finding your listing, you’ll want to understand what they are doing with it.
Are they visiting your website?
Requesting directions?
Calling you?
Browsing through your photos?
While it is important to set up UTM parameters for links, Google My Business also provides an in-depth look at your customers’ actions in your listing.
Google My Business tracks user actions in their insights dashboard, which can help you understand what your customers find valuable in your listing.
Google also enables you to benchmark your user-generated content (specifically your photo gallery) against your competitors.
You can analyze your gallery’s photo views and compare them to other businesses similar to yours.
All of this information can be used to track your customers’ conversion path and provide a comprehensive understanding of your customers’ actions prior to reaching your website.
Conclusion
There are many ways customers can find your business. Google My Business positions your important business information in front of the eyes of potential customers who are looking for your product, service, or experience.
GMB helps with local SEO, offers a chance to engage with your customers via reviews or posts, and provides useful insights on your customers’ purchasing paths. On top of everything else, it is a free and valuable tool.
Not claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing is like saying, “No thanks” to someone offering you a free digital sign for your restaurant right off a highway exit.
If you want help setting up your Google My Business account, or with your digital strategy in general, we are here for you!
How will you optimize your Google My Business listing to generate additional revenue for your business?
How to Leverage Testimonial Examples in Paid Campaigns
No matter how creative and convincing your marketing can get, when you are trying to sell to someone, they sense they are being sold to. Maybe they are primed for that sale and ready to buy, or maybe not.
On the flip side, someone telling a story about their experience with a brand and recommending it is a lot more convincing, especially when they aren’t paid to do it.
Testimonial examples can boost the social proof in your paid ad campaigns, adding authenticity to your online marketing. Adding recommendations from your customers or clients into your digital ads can help them stand out from the competition, stop people from scrolling by, and encourage users to click through to learn more about your brand.
Why Are Testimonial Examples Important in Paid Ad Campaigns?
There are many considerations when you are building paid ad campaigns: images, text on the images and in the copy, calls to action (CTAs), URL, click-through landing page, and more.
With all these constraints and necessities, you may be tempted to lean into the direct sell as you build your paid ad campaign. You may want to get to the heart of things and tell people why you are amazing and why they should buy (and where).
There are also a lot of reasons to slow down and think about incorporating testimonial examples into your paid ads.
Below are four reasons to incorporate customer reviews in your paid campaigns.
1. Testimonial Examples Improve Credibility
Whether your product works better than anyone else’s, or your prices just can’t be beaten, a skeptical customer is always going to wonder if it’s too good to be true when they see your ad. If they haven’t heard of you, they may wonder what you’re all about.
They might click to read more and explore, but maybe they’ll just assume you aren’t legit and keep scrolling past your ad.
Testimonial examples can change all that by adding credibility to your ad and your brand. Suddenly, there’s some proof you’re worth it.
2. Testimonial Examples Set the Stage for Great Customer Relationships
Customer service is a critical element for many buyers. In fact, Microsoft reports that as many as 90 percent of consumers consider customer service when thinking about working with a company.
It’s not just about a good product at a reasonable price; customers want to know they will be supported if they have questions about your product or service.
Testimonial examples give you a chance to share happy customers’ best experiences. They can speak to the customer service they interacted with or the overall experience working with your brand. This can help make potential customers feel more confident in their decision to use your brand.
3. Testimonial Examples Show Authenticity
People feel sold to all day and are always on the lookout for real authenticity. An Edelman report shows that nearly three-quarters of consumers actively try to avoid ads.
Testimonial examples give you the chance to tell real stories about real experiences. People love hearing stories, and when they feel connected to them, they may be more emotionally inclined to work with you.
4. Testimonial Examples Increase Conversions
While all the above reasons are great psychological reasons for using testimonials in your paid campaigns, at the end of the day, your marketing is about making more sales for your brand. Your paid ads should be designed to convert.
When people feel more confident about your offerings and feel an authentic connection with your brand, they are more likely to click through your ad and get to your landing page or website. From there, they are more likely to learn more and eventually make that sale. In fact, a VWO study found that using testimonials increased sales by 34 percent.
When it comes down to it, one of the best reasons to add testimonial examples to your ads is to make more sales.
How to Use Testimonial Examples in Paid Ads
Is it time to start incorporating testimonial examples into your paid ads? There are different ways to do this, but let’s talk about the high-level considerations for getting those testimonials into your ads.
1. Incorporate High-Quality Images
A photo of your product or people interacting with your product (with a quote incorporated in it) is a great way to get started with testimonials in your ads.
Make sure you use a high-quality image with a testimonial quote that is short and easy to read and grabs a buyer’s attention quickly. You want people to “get it” immediately.
Another way to use images to showcase your testimonials is a screenshot of reviews or star ratings from your website. Again, make sure you have the highest quality image you can so buyers don’t strain to read or struggle to understand what you’re trying to convey. Keep it simple.
More about this below, but remember to make sure you have legal rights to the reviews you are sharing. You can’t just go and copy them from anywhere without the consent of the reviewer.
2. Experiment With Different Formats
Testimonials from your happy customers can come in a lot of different formats. They might be text quotes, full case studies, or video testimonials.
As you build your marketing campaign funnel, you can experiment with different formats and integrate different types of testimonial examples throughout the various touchpoints of your ads.
For instance, you can use a simple, short quote in the images or text of your digital ads. That introductory text should really deliver a punch such as “This product changed my life” or “I couldn’t do my work without this service.”
You may want it to be pithy and draw the readers’ attention so they are interested in reading more.
You could also use video interviews or testimonials from customers or clients who love what you do. Even as these are more interactive and engaging, they should still be short and sweet, grabbing the viewers’ attention quickly.
3. Decide What Narrative You Want to Share
Carefully consider what kind of story you want your testimonial examples to share. Of course, they should be positive endorsements, but you will want to figure out the angle you want your testimonials to take.
They should be more nuanced than just “it’s a great product” or “you should buy it.”
Make sure your testimonial examples are framed around a compelling reason. Why is your product different from others? Why are your happy customers actually happy? Why would they want to tell others?
Imagine your customers talking to their best friends. What’s the reason they endorse your product? What brought it up in their conversation in the first place, and why are they excited to talk about it?
Especially if you decide to try some A/B testing or a variety of ad types to see what works best, building all your ads around a single narrative can help keep everything cohesive, improving the chances you connect with and convert your customers.
4. Make It Conversational
Testimonial examples in your ads can be a way to engage with your customers rather than just speaking at them. Keeping the tone of the ad approachable and conversational can add to the authentic nature of your message.
Maintaining a human touch is the key to this kind of message. Make sure it sounds like friends talking together, not a keynote presentation or a car salesperson.
One way to do this is to incorporate user-generated content, such as videos or photos. This kind of content brings honesty and a genuine feel to your ads.
Be careful to watch that narrative, as we discussed above, to ensure your message isn’t muddled. By setting those parameters for the message you are trying to convey, you can filter which user-generated content will be best for your paid ads.
5. Lead From the Ad to the Page
Keep the whole customer journey in mind as you put together your paid campaign using your testimonial examples. Remember that it’s not just about the ad; it’s about where they go next and what they will do once they get there.
You can use your ad to build intrigue and interest, then continue that story on the page you send them to.
Start with a short testimonial quote, an image of the customer sharing the testimonial, a quick video clip, or another snapshot that is going to get people interested.
Maybe it starts with a question such as, “How did this product change my life?” Perhaps it contains the first part of a testimonial and includes a CTA to tell the reader to click to hear the rest.
Your next step is to deliver. On the page, make sure you tell the next part in written text, graphics, a longer video, or a case study.
Don’t forget to make it easy to close the sale by including a buy link or another way to capture their information.
6. Don’t Overlook the Legalities
There are a lot of legal regulations surrounding how you use testimonials. This isn’t legal advice, and you should consult an attorney if you have specific questions. However, there are a few things to consider as you use testimonials in your ads.
- Make sure you have permission from the people whose testimonials you are using. Don’t just cut and paste a great review you find out there.
- Reach out and make sure the customer gives you written permission to use the review for marketing purposes. You can also include this information on your website or other places you are collecting reviews so customers aren’t surprised, but you should still get that permission.
- Ensure your testimonials are accurate and typical for most buyers. In other words, don’t exaggerate or oversell using testimonials. Let’s be honest: this isn’t just about the legalities. It’s also the right thing to do. Your testimonials should be about honesty and authenticity.
2 Great Testimonial Examples
Are you still wondering what testimonial examples look like in a paid campaign? Here are a couple of examples to get you started:
Peet’s Coffee
Using a real review from a user of their coffee subscription services, this Peet’s Coffee Facebook ad catches your eye with its simplicity and the star bar.
It puts a positive review of the subscription service right in front of you. The review retains a bit of authenticity as well with the exclamations and random capitalizations. It isn’t “cleaned up,” so to speak.
The rest of the ad continues with specifics about the services and a quick video overview. Starting with the review, it draws you in to learn more about what makes Renee so happy.
Fabletics
This Fabletics Facebook ad showcases a series of quick testimonial video snippets from happy wearers of their products. It’s instant proof these pants do what they’re advertised to do. They also show people actually wearing the pants, which is an added layer of authenticity.
You’ll notice the line on the bottom of the video that reminds people these people were compensated for the use of their reviews.
Conclusions
As you gather reviews from your customers, it may be time to start thinking about how you can incorporate them into your paid ad campaigns. Paid internet advertising can help you find your ideal audience and connect your brand with what your audience is looking for.
By setting up testimonial ads, you can bring social proof and realness to your brand, encouraging your audience to click to learn more and convert to customers.
Creating and maintaining your paid campaigns may be overwhelming to some. If that’s true for you, we can help. Our team of experts specializes in paid ads, as well as SEO and content marketing.
How will you be using testimonial examples in your next paid ad campaign?
How to Leverage Storytelling to Increase Your Conversions
In the not so distant past, I embarked on a journey to grow NeilPatel.com to 100,000 blog readers. At the end of every month, I shared my traffic stats and the changes I’d made. That storytelling strategy went on to help my blog reach over 100,000 views a month — in only about eight months.
As marketers, we use storytelling to help make our ideas stick. We create stories to help prospects understand our products, use company stories to build trust and transparency with consumers, and include stories in sales pitches to help persuade.
Why does it work?
Competition in native advertising and social media marketing is fierce. And, the rate at which great content is being produced and published on the web and across the media channels is expanding. Our readership is drowning.
Most people scan web content, looking for something that stands out. If they don’t find it, they’ll leave.
Visual stories and corporate storytelling can connect the dots and get people to ACTUALLY read your great content and take action. This is the essence of successful media marketing.
If you want to increase your potential customer conversions, then start captivating your target market by making emotional connections through storytelling.
Storytelling is like a vitamin. When it gets into your readers, it permeates their whole being and fights every objection that might otherwise stop them from becoming loyal customers.
In short, it’s an amazing secret weapon when it comes to your marketing strategy.
In this article, I’ll explain the five simple steps you can improve your potential customer conversion rate by combining storytelling and data.
The breakdown of what you’ll learn is:
- What Storytelling Is
- The Elements of Storytelling
- How to Use Storytelling to Increase Conversions
- Build Authority Through Storytelling
- Storytelling Success Stories
Step #1: What is Storytelling?
Storytelling is the art of communicating your idea, message or event, by creatively weaving words, images, and sounds into a narrative. Visual stories, written stories, and verbal stories – this is the content we love.
When you tell a true story, your message is perceived as authentic. In the same way that live events get more retweets than general tweets on social media channels, your content will impact the lives of your target market, and improve your credibility.
Why should you use corporate storytelling in content marketing? We breathe visual stories. Even in the Stone Age, humans understood how to tell stories that evoked interest and made that emotional connection.
And, it’s one of the most effective ways to engage and persuade your audience.
Humans are born storytellers and adore visual communication. Storytelling gives life or meaning to a scenario and makes that emotional connection, provoking feelings of ecstasy, sorrow, or peace, and captivating your audience. This is exactly what you need when it comes to your digital marketing strategy.
It is little wonder that posts with visual stories and visual communication generate more Facebook and media channel shares than any other content type.
As it turns out, visual stories and communication (e.g., infographics, videos, memes, screenshots) get widely shared on major social media channels.
Your potential customers aren’t looking for another sales pitch or a proposal that sounds too good to be true. They’ve heard enough of those.
For example, when you write, use relevant images and great visual stories that pique people’s interest.
Or, if you’re recording a podcast, you could use emotion-triggering music and sounds. For video creation, you can use words, images, visual stories, and sounds at the same time.
A study conducted by Forrester Research found that 88% of executives and organizational decision-makers long to have conversations, not pushy sales presentations.
With visual stories, you can create and promote infographics, which have collectively generated over 2,500,000 million visitors and 41,142 backlinks for me, over a two-year span.
I usually publish new infographics every Friday, and the results have been amazing.
You can also create visual stories and content and submit it to authoritative media sites and platforms, such as Slideshare, Vimeo, and Animoto. This helps you gain a new target market and potential customers for your business.
Corporate Storytelling in Persuasion
Persuasion is the master key that will unlock your conversion vault with your potential customers. Robert Mckee was right when he said that “Storytelling with persuasion trumps statistics.”
Marketing is for people, and people are emotional beings.
Our brains are wired to respond to emotional connections and triggers. Storytelling is the most natural source of those triggers.
When you understand how to persuade others, you’ll no longer struggle to get more traffic. Instead, you’ll focus on improving conversions, because that’s what matters.
So, how do stories persuade a targeted group of readers or potential customers to take action? That’s the goal of setting up a content marketing strategy and writing in-depth content.
Moment of truth: What potential customers perceive to be true will ultimately guide their actions and decision-making processes. Consumer perceptions may or may not be accurate, but they’ll live by them, nevertheless.
When people visit your website or your media sites, what truth do you instill in them? Do you give visitors the hard sell, when they’re still trying to get to know you?
Instead of starting with “once upon a time,” or some variation of it, weave your story into your content. Stories can even appear on your headline, introduction, and, most importantly, on your landing page.
Add experiences, case studies, research studies, and significant results that you’ve helped your customers achieve. These are the foundation of your story.
I’ve used storytelling in the past to engage my readers, as well. For example, I shared a story on how spending $162,301.42 on clothes made me $692,500.
Personality: The Norwegian author Rune Belsvik once said that the concept of story was “one of the first things that came to the world.”
Our personality is born out of stories. We’re created to share and listen to stories, to fall in love with visual stories. So, storytelling is a natural tool to help grow your audience and increase your conversions.
In the same way, storytelling gives your content new flavor and amplify its benefits, because it’s coming from a “personality” – a set of characteristics that makes you special and appealing to others.
In the beginning of your content, open strong, and establish your story. In the middle, build interest in the message.
Highlight the benefits of the topic and close with a call-to-action that’s persuasive, not pushy.
David Siteman Garland, founder of The Rise To The Top, uses this strategy to write his copy. He starts out his story on a strong note, gradually evokes interest by showing the results in the middle, then calls his readers to action at the end.
Here’s the beginning:
Here’s the middle of his copy, where David builds interest through success stories:
And finally, the call-to-action at the end:
Note: Established bloggers and internet marketers who have built solid businesses use content segmentation to improve their conversion rate. And, because they’re creative at storytelling, they’re able to experience greater levels of success.
The sooner you master the art of storytelling, the better for your brand and online business. Social media is redefining storytelling in a significant way. Know your audience and be authentic in your written and visual stories.
You’ve already gone through a lot in life and have endless stories to share.
I don’t believe that you should make up stories; instead, you should tap into the wealth of stories from family, friends, customers, entrepreneurs, and brands.
Then, align those stories to the audience you’ve come to know like the back of your hand.
Step #2: Learn the Elements of Storytelling
When you’re telling or sharing a story with your potential customers, you want to achieve a specific outcome.
You want enough general knowledge to take your content marketing efforts to the next level. Then, make sure to include the following elements of storytelling.
A Defined Target Audience
Have you defined your audience yet? Before you can successfully tell a story, there must be a qualified audience to enjoy it. Most people get it backwards, if they do it at all.
But, you have to define your target audience first, because they’ll, in turn, define your product both in and out of social media marketing.
As time goes by and you build relationships and engage with your potential customers and target audience, they’ll send you great feedback that will help define and improve your product.
So, how do you define your target audience and your potential customers clearly? There are several ways to go about it, but I’ve personally found that demographics are the first step.
If I can truly understand who my target audience is and where they’re browsing my site from, I can align my content and tell a better story.
Your audience demographic is just a market segment, but it will give you a great understanding of their complete persona or profile.
Here are the four simple steps to define your audience, based on demographics:
Go to Alexa.com. Type in your site URL (e.g., lewishowes.com) and click “Go.”
To find your results, scroll down the Alexa result page and you’ll find this:
From the screenshot above, you’ll notice that LewisHowes.com visitors are mostly female, are college graduates, and browse the site from home.
If I were Lewis, now that I know my audience is predominantly female, I would align my content with storytelling nuggets that will appeal to both males and females, but weighted towards the females. I might not do anything further on the education aspect, because college graduates can effectively read and live their dream lifestyle.
But, since the majority of this target audience browses from home, I’d also try to give them worksheets or actionable tips that they can implement right away since they would have no boss around to audit what they are doing.
Armed with your audience demographics, you’ll want to dig deeper. Knowing your audience’s interests is a critical step in unearthing their biggest challenges and using storytelling to solve their problems.
The suggestions below paint a clearer picture of how you can best utilize each social media channel:
- If you deal in fast-moving consumer goods (i.e., not luxury goods), Facebook is your ideal social media channel for attracting an audience, because the users are mostly young people.
- Twitter is a microblogging platform for news-like updates. Use the social media channel Twitter to keep your target audience abreast of what’s happening with your site, business or community. It’s not for selling.
- Besides clothing and decorative arts, Pinterest favors food and drink-related products. Family and relationship-related products also tend to receive more likes and repins.
- Clothing, accessories and entertainment-related products do extremely well on Instagram because the users are primarily female.
Finally, LinkedIn is the platform of choice for business-related communications. So, if you’re looking to acquire business-minded customers, LinkedIn will out-perform Twitter and Instagram, by a long shot.
Measurable Goals
The second most important element of storytelling is a measurable goal.
Anybody can set a goal, but how many people can effectively measure it?
Smart marketers want to track their progress.
When you set a goal that you can’t measure, you’ll miss out on the potential of expansion. For example, you won’t know what other factors are required, when you set a bigger goal.
Here are some tips for setting measurable goals:
Start small: I believe in thinking big, but you should also keep your goals realistic. When you start on a smaller note, you’ll certainly hit the target and know exactly where you’re going.
“10,000 visitors in a month” isn’t realistic in the beginning.
But, you can set a smaller, specific, and measurable goal, such as “Generate 1000 blog visitors per week, by targeting 25 long-tail keywords and spending an hour every day at relationship-building on discussion boards and social media platforms.”
This latter goal is measurable because you can check your Google Analytics to determine which keyword phrases are performing well in the search engines. You can also track your social media marketing activities and understand the best times to tweet.
You also want to measure your progress when using storytelling to meet marketing goals. Otherwise, you won’t be able to know whether or how your conversion rate is growing.
Set a schedule: For your goals to be measurable, you have to set a schedule. What will you do daily to achieve your goal?
A schedule gets you organized and increases your productivity.
Your schedule should match your deadline and help you focus on the most important tasks.
For example, if you’ve set a measurable goal to generate 1,000 search visitors per week by targeting 25 long-tail search queries, your daily schedule could be:
- Research and select five longer tail key phrases: If I were in the weight loss/fitness niche, I could select these easier-to-target key phrases: how to lose 20 pounds, I want to lose weight, best weight loss exercise that works, top 10 fat loss programs and help me lose weight fast.
- Read books, blogs, watch videos, etc.: I want to learn about the topic as much as I can before writing. There are helpful resources that I can easily access with a quick Google search.
- Write my headlines: This is critical if you want people to click, read, and share your content. Spend 20 minutes to an hour on your headline, because if you don’t nail the headline, you’ll waste a lot of potential. In order to save time on headline writing, find a headline in any industry that catches your attention, then use it as a model to create a better one that’s relevant to your own industry.
- Write the content: First, create an outline for your content, then expand on it to create your content or video.
- Set a deadline: According to Nolan Bushnell, “the ultimate inspiration is the deadline.” Without a deadline, you aren’t inspired to act now to achieve a significant result, because the clock isn’t ticking.
In leveraging storytelling to increase your conversions, every piece of content that you write and every landing page that you create should have a measurable goal with a schedule and a deadline.
Relatable data: The grudge match between storytelling and statistics rages on. But instead of choosing one or the other, why not combine both when creating your content?
I rarely write content without using data to back up my claims. Personal opinions have a limited ability to engender trust in your target audience. But, if you can prove what you say with statistics, then you win loyal customers.
Take a look at my recent post, to see how I positioned myself as an authority, by referencing something that Google said:
Sharing a story on how you went from being broke to being a millionaire may not do much for your customers unless you use data to prove it.
If there’s no data or case study relating to the story that you’re sharing, you can share your own data.
Go ahead and create charts and make it plain that this is what you found after a series of experiments.
Persuasion
The fourth element of effective storytelling is persuasion. You can’t influence people if you can’t persuade them.
In his bestselling book, Influence, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini noted that reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity are the strongest factors in the psychology of persuasion.
The focal point is this: these six factors move people to change behavior, follow the course that you’ve set, subscribe to your email list, and buy your product, even if they don’t necessarily need it right now.
Let’s see an example of how social proof can increase sales.
Cialdini defined social proof as “the art of doing something because you see others who do the same thing.” You simply follow the crowd.
Here’s an example of how social proof increases conversion: Modcloth is a clothing commerce site.
It’s a great community, where shoppers vote on the styles that they believe the site should sell more of in the future. Such styles have a “Top-Rated” badge.
The evidence of this unique form of social proof is that products with this badge sell twice as well as products without it.
Here are other examples of top brands using social proof:
To learn how the other five principles of persuasion increase conversions, see Peep Laja’s resourceful post, how to use Cialdini’s 6 principles of persuasion to boost conversions.
Use Storytelling to Increase Conversions
I’m amazed at how Huggies used storytelling to increase their conversion rate. Huggies and Ogilvy had a definite and measurable goal – to connect with and deepen a relationship with expectant moms. They wanted to build engagement even before the baby is born.
To accomplish that goal, Ogilvy decided to get expectant moms involved. Through their campaign, “Delivery Hugs,” they created a powerful video that triggered a strong emotional response from people – especially mothers and moms-to-be
The video was viewed by millions of people. When those people shared the video and the story behind it, people were moved to tears.
Here are actionable ways to increase conversions through storytelling:
Develop a Content Strategy
Your content strategy simply refers to a structured plan by which you create content, promote it, test your campaigns, and track your progress.
The content structure gives you ample opportunity to boost the effectiveness of your content strategy.
And, you can easily achieve that by leveraging social media. Taking inventory of the leads that you acquire, the sales that you get, and the underlying trends in your industry is critical, when you’re developing a content strategy.
Leverage a Story People Already Know
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You could leverage other people’s stories to create a powerful, high-quality, evergreen piece of content. Stories are the secret recipe for other people’s success.
In All Marketers Tell Stories, Seth Godin poses three essential questions to every marketer:
- Do you have a story?
- When the right people hear the story, will they believe it?
- Is the story true?
The harsh reality is that if your story is great, but you can’t tell it well, no one will believe you. All marketers tell stories, but only those who have mastered the art of storytelling catch our attention.
Millions of other people’s stories are available online. All you have to do is find one or more, create tailored content around the stories and reference original content.
This has nothing to do with duplicate content, plagiarism, or content curation. You’ll be creating unique content based on other people’s stories.
For example, I’ll be creating an in-depth article on how Shopify tripled their sales. I’ll give all due credit and appreciation to Shopify, but the content will increase my search traffic and probably bring in clients.
You can read people’s stories on blogs or by listening to their presentations, reading their books, or engaging them in one-on-one conversations.
There should be a beginning, a narrative to show what happened and the lessons learned, then a conclusion that shows exactly how the same story can change the reader’s life for the better.
Lead With Dialogue
Storytelling that focuses on two-way communication will yield faster growth.
Seth Godin says that “fast growth comes from overwhelming the smallest possible audience with a product or service that so delights them that they insist that their friends and colleagues use it.”
I have to agree because when your product isn’t worth talking about, no amount of marketing will help. Both the content and the product have to be highly useful first, then everything else follows. It’s all about getting feedback from your target audience.
Vanessa Van Edwards, the founder of The Science of Things, uses dialogue in storytelling.
Vanessa understands that when her audience gives honest feedback by taking a quiz, she can use the data pertaining to body language from 5,000 readers and create high-quality information products for them.
She even goes the extra mile by accepting research studies from readers. This single act gives the readers a sense of belonging. They’ll look forward to getting Vanessa’s newsletters and participate in anything related to body language because they’re a part of the community.
QuickSprout provides an interactive tool, as well. It literally talks to you, when you plug your URL into the search box.
Sonia Simone tells thought-provoking stories by leading with dialogue. A few years ago, she posted a simple question that got my neurons fired up:
If you already have an audience via social media networks, an email list, or a mastermind group, you can get feedback from them by sending questionnaires through SurveyMonkey.
Focus on Emotions
Our brains respond to stories more than anything else. Robert Plutchik’s “wheel of emotions” reveals some of the underlying emotions that influence your customers, which – when leveraged – can boost your conversions.
Lisa Feldman noted, in her book The Science of Emotion, that for the most part, people have little control over their emotions. Often, they’re automatic responses to our experiences. What we like or hate and what we perceive as pain or pleasure are just two kinds of emotional triggers, among many.
Happiness is one emotion that makes us want to share. Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott noted that our response to our mom’s smile with a smile of our own is usually the first emotional response we make in life.
When your content drives people to a state of happiness or joy, they will automatically respond to your offers, feel obliged to share your content, and will stop at nothing to tell others about you.
This is because happiness is hard-wired into the human brain. When experienced, it’s found in the left prefrontal cortex of the brain.
It literally functions from there. But, it may remain dormant until something – such as a story – triggers it.
A baby’s social smile further tells us that when happiness is shared, it ultimately increases and creates an atmosphere that encourages more happiness. What you share will actually come back to you multiplied.
Speak to your customer’s mind, but appeal to both logic and emotions.
Measure the Impact of Your Story
If you’ve ever wondered why most brands get media publicity with ease, while others stay on the sidelines, it’s because they were able to use storytelling to its full potential. You have to measure your success – because it’s critical to making smarter content marketing decisions.
Planning, execution, and consistent learning are key factors that will help you increase your conversions. But, you have to measure the impact of your brand story.
Measuring social media activities is easy. But, measuring the impact of storytelling is a little more difficult, because it has so much to do with emotional communication.
Step #4: Build Authority Through Storytelling
Social networks influence nearly 50% of all IT decision makers. Truly, the world as we know it is changing.
It was all about mass media in the past. But today, social media is taking over. We’re living in the age of authority. Traditional media might still be popular, but it lacks effectiveness because it’s a one-way communication channel.
Social media is different. When you send a tweet, you can get a retweet or comment from a follower and, over time, build trust.
When it comes to building authority through storytelling, you need a level of influence in your business, family, society, and spheres of contact, before people can trust you.
What you believe in can be amplified if you’re able to convince a select group of people.
So, how do you start building your own authority? Here’s a simple three-step game plan that’s proven to work:
- Affirm that you’re an authority in your industry
- Focus on your creative voice
- Share stories that pull people instead of pushing them
Affirm You’re an Authority in Your Industry
There is power in affirmations. When you affirm to yourself what you want to happen in your life or business, you can see it come to pass when coupled with smart action. Of course, you can’t just fold your arms and expect miracles to happen.
But, if you think you’re not qualified, competent, or decisive enough to influence people, it’ll show in your conversation.
Affirmations are positive statements that describe or convey a strong desire to achieve a specific goal or state of being, which is then repeated consistently until it’s imprinted on the subconscious mind.
For example, you can wake up every day and affirm, “Today will be an awesome day.” And, it most likely will be for YOU (though maybe not for EVERYONE).
Affirmations work because when you continually repeat a statement verbally, it influences your thoughts and actions.
For example, repeating to yourself, “I’m increasing my sales this month,” plants the thought into your subconscious mind, which then begins to imagine the amount of money that you’ll make.
Repeat to yourself, “I’m telling better stories” and again, your mind will call you to order and nudge you to search out a powerful story for your next blog post or product.
In his bestselling book, You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One), Jeff Goins said that “becoming a writer starts with a simple, but important belief: you’re a writer and you’ve got to start writing.”
And today, Jeff Goins runs a successful online self-publishing business. Even if no one ever believed in him, he affirmed it to himself repeatedly and it became so.
Jeff’s latest book, The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do, is also full of affirmations. Goins’ work has been endorsed by the biggest names in the internet marketing world.
If you want to truly become good at something, you first have to believe in it.
Focus on Your Creative Voice
Storytelling is an art and therefore requires uniqueness and creativity. Your creative voice is what sets you apart from the crowd, just like your Unique Selling Point.
A post on Oprah’s website suggests that you find a quiet place to meditate and assimilate all of the information that you’ve accessed during the day.
When everything else fails, your creative voice will give your story a rhythm. It’ll alleviate boredom and take people on a journey of experience.
I love how the creative Gary Vaynerchuk builds authority through social media and blogging. He even advocates growing your brand by leveraging someone else’s.
In summary, here are a few ways to discover your creative voice and focus on it:
- Heed Oprah’s advice. Set aside quiet time to meditate.
- Learn from other people. Position your brand to benefit from their own.
- Know your target audience inside and out.
- Use storytelling to express your worldview, not to impress anybody.
Share Stories That Pull People, Instead of Pushing Them
Storytelling is meant to pull people in, not push or repel them. It’s about helping people become better.
Your story shouldn’t just be about you. Instead, it should relate to your audience and customers. It should pull them in and retain them.
When using stories to capture an audience, keep in mind that they may not necessarily want to know every detail – the outcome is what counts. Many people don’t want to know how painful giving birth to a child is, but we all want to hear the cry of a baby, right?
Seth Godin has authored over 20 books. His style of writing, which incorporates storytelling, pulls people in. Godin has many brand associates, who regularly refer clients to him. Take a look at this opening in a post:
As a content creator, writer, and business owner, you’re in this world to make a difference.
It’s not all about the money that you’ll make, but the joy of seeing your target audience and customers improve their lives, meet their goals, and smile again.
Step #5: Learn from Storytelling Success Stories
I’ve shared several success stories of how brand distinguished their products, customer service, and relationships with customers, all by telling real stories.
But, there are more storytelling success stories left to tell.
ITV’s Storytelling Launch
ITV had plans to create a new multi-screen ad format, which could be synced into other platforms. Their audience was mostly composed of smartphone and tablet users.
When ITV combined this innovation with visual storytelling, they were able to merge the benefits of broadcast TV advertising with modern tablets and smartphones.
During the X-Factor finale last year, the ad format was launched and it resulted in over 1,300,650 page views, with an average click-through rate of 8.75%
Jon Morrow
Jon Morrow is one of the bloggers that I deeply respect.
He once shared a powerful guest post on Problogger, telling the story of how he was hit by a car in April 2006.
His leg was broken in 14 places. For the next three months, he endured significant pain and misery.
Then, he got brave and quit his job. He sold everything he owned and stopped paying most of the usual bills. The story got even more interesting, when he recounted how he moved to paradise to get paid to change the world.
In that post, Jon persuaded readers so strongly that it generated over 72,000 visitors.
Today, Jon runs a very profitable online business and his flagship blog, Boost Blog Traffic, gets over 100,000 monthly visitors. In fact, he earns over $100,000 per month.
Dallas Morning News
Dallas Morning News, a regional media company in the U.S., wanted to expand its reach through social media. They understood that traditional media is fast becoming tiring for viewers and fans unless it’s integrated into their social lifestyle.
Using Hootsuite, they were able to control their social activities from one portal, streamlining their endeavors.
They empowered and persuaded their team to cultivate the habit of sharing news and updates on social media platforms. This strategy increased the company’s engagement with a growing local readership.
And, they succeeded. Here’s the result of their social media integration:
Conclusion
The human brain is wired to remember memorable and visual stories.
The sooner you start using storytelling in your content creation and marketing, the easier you’ll find it to increase your conversions.
There is no shortcut to improving your ROI as a content marketer and blogger. You have to consistently feed Google and your target audience with fresh, high-quality content.
As you do that, you’ll get more organic traffic and improve your long-tail keyword rankings significantly.
Have you leveraged storytelling to increase your conversions? What is your experience and how do you respond to other people’s stories?
The post How to Leverage Storytelling to Increase Your Conversions appeared first on Neil Patel.
Leverage Your Work Downtime and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week
The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Take the Best Advantage of Your Work Downtime and More
Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Your work downtime won’t know what hit it!
Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.
And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!
#10. Drop Bad Data for Better Data
Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about dealing with bad data and better visualizing sales performance. HubSpot says there are all sorts of ways for data to go a little, shall we say, ca-ca.
In the interests of full disclosure, your intrepid blog writer used to work in data analysis. And this article brings it all back.
Excuse me while I crawl into a corner and cry for a few minutes.
Okay, I’m back.
There’s an Error for Every Occasion
Or so it seems.
The biggest issue with bad data is that it wastes time. And we all know what time is.
So, what’s wrong, and how do you fix it?
One should be obvious-ish. Human error! For every time a human must touch data, there are opportunities for error.
Another issue is not having what they call ‘one source of truth’. Hence, your sales figures from Des Moines (for example) should have but one origin. That origin can be fed from several places. That part’s no problem. After all, you get online sales data from a different place from where you get the offline data. But it’s up to the Des Moines office or someone in charge to put that data together and make it the one number – the sales figures.
Another issue was not accounting for seasonality – and yet another was not accounting for differences. You might be expecting, say, $100,000 from Des Moines, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. Don’t go into data analysis with preconceived notions of what the answers are going to be. That way lies madness.
A Personal-ish Plea
While this isn’t in the article, it kind of should be.
Hire a data professional.
Once your business gets big and you start making regular money, you might want to make a data person one of your hires. This person can be part time and they can be a junior person. But with a person who knows what they’re doing with data, that can make all the difference. It can also save you time and money, because that person will oversee tracing down errors and cleaning up data to make it usable.
Let them have those headaches, so you don’t.
#9. That Lead Shoots! It Scores!
The next awesome tip is about lead scoring. Opt in Monster notes lead scoring is a way to rank your prospects to better understand their sales readiness.
Wait, you don’t do this?
Er, you probably should.
Separate the Wheat from the Chaff
More accurately, this more like separating the mature wheat from its seeds.
What’s the difference between someone who got on your mailing list three years ago and never interacted again, versus someone who did that, plus follows you on Facebook and retweets you?
If you don’t see a difference, you might want to reconsider this entrepreneur thing, mmkay?
The difference, of course, is that the second person is far more engaged in your brand. So, it should follow that you want to concentrate your efforts more on them than the other.
This doesn’t mean abandoning the other person! It just means treating them differently.
Scoring adds an objective angle to this. It’s hard to argue with hard numbers.
If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.
#8. Dashboarding Through the Snow (or Falling Leaves)
Our following life-changing tip concerns building an ecommerce dashboard. Sumo lays it all out for us. Dashboarding is a great way for you to see how your business is doing at a glance. Specifically, this tip is all about setting up one within Google Analytics.
We were so happy that this article has step by step instructions. Hence, we highly recommend reading it in its entirety. Heck – print it out and make a poster out of it.
Google Analytics is an exceptionally powerful tool, and it’s 100% free. It would be a shame for your business to not use it to its fullest capacity.
#7. It’s All in the Presentation
For our next sensational tip, we looked at presenting business proposals to win clients. Succeed as Your Own Boss says that leading with stories is helpful. This is as opposed to facts and figured – stories are compelling!
A lot of this article concerns relating to your proposed clients. You want to show them data as a backup, yes. After all, without data, you have no proof that anything you do will work. But then dovetail that with a story.
Make it personal, and make it relate to your prospects. And talk to your prospects – ask them questions and show an interest in them and their business.
If you don’t, then someone else will.
#6. Save the Simoleans With Accounting
This tip is so unexpected, but it works! The Self Employed tells us there are ways to save money with accounting.
Yes, accounting.
Ya Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated
So, of course this article starts with our old chestnut tip – separate your business and personal money. Keep the spending in separate buckets.
You will not only be more organized; you’ll be so much happier at tax time.
But it was with the third tip where we really felt the article hit its stride.
Make Your Payment Teams Clear
Now, how many times have you dealt with someone just getting started who was wishy-washy about the due date for getting paid? You may very well have.
That person may even be you.
So, cut that nonsense out. Yesterday.
The best way to be clear about payment terms is to put them in writing. Not just on your website. Slay a tree and put those terms on paper if your clients are at all local. There’s just something about getting a paper bill in the mail which can help to spur people to action.
This should be in addition to electronic billing, and not in place of it. Clear bills are also 100% vital if you find yourself in court.
Date of service. Add whatever your terms are (say, Net 30). And add the due date for the invoice. Make it clear which percentage is due when, if you do that. So, for example, if you own a construction business, you will probably want a percentage on the first day, more in the middle if the job goes on for a while, and the balance upon delivery.
Why? Because you’ll need cash to buy materials. And you’ll need income to hold you over until the final payment comes in. Protect yourself with clear billing and payment terms.
With less time spent chasing payments, you might get some work downtime, which we’re covering next.
#5. Take Advantage of Your Work Downtime
Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!
Every single one of us has work downtime. Find out how to make the best possible use of yours and your employees’.
The Work at Home Woman says there are a lot of great ways to fill up those unexpected moments when suddenly everything is clear.
Not like we would know what those look like. So, in theory ….
Use Your Work Downtime and Change Things Up
We loved two separate tips which certainly go together well. One was to take on a new challenge. The other was to learn something new. Take the time to learn a new skill.
So, for example, if you’ve always been mystified by mail merge or how to best set up your email folders, do it now! It’s a great use of your work downtime.
What Do You Mean, You Don’t Love Procedures?
Heh, just kidding. We find them kind of regimented and often not well-written at all.
Therefore, why not edit and improve and update them during your work downtime? Or write them if they don’t exist at all.
How do you lock up for the night? Make it a procedure. How do you answer an angry customer on social media? Write that down, too.
You will be so glad you did this.
Organization
One thing which wasn’t mentioned in the article was something we highly recommend during work downtime – getting organized. Change up your email rules (or add them in the first place) and get incoming mail foldered before you ever see it.
Personal pro tip: you know all those emails which you need to get to but not at this very moment? If you’re keeping them unread, then you might be messed up if you accidently convert one from unread to read. Or, heaven forbid, all of them.
So, this is what I do.
Create a separate email folder and name it something like Inbox Overflow or Almost Urgent or whatever works best for you. Place those emails which require attention but not right now in there. And, please remember they’re in there, of course.
This way, you can pluck them from the stack without having to worry about keeping them unread. And email folders are sortable and searchable in every system. Hence you can get a handle on which of those emails are more pressing than others.
It also beats pawing through your entire mailbox to try to find these emails.
If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.
#4. Get on the Right Track
Check out this spectacular tip, all about tracking website traffic the right way. Success Harbor notes that tracking the wrong data does you no good. It’s almost a subset of tip #10, above.
We loved that this article discusses Google Analytics (tip #8, above) – but it doesn’t stop there. The article adds several other helpful sites to track valuable metrics.
However – a caution – the article was originally posted in 2017. And at least one recommendation (Attention Meter) seems as if it is no more. So, take it with a grain of sale.
#3. Instagram Stick-to-itiveness
It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you increase Instagram engagement. Foundr tells us all about Instagram stickers.
Oh, we so loved these! What amazing ideas these are.
Seriously, collect the whole set. They’re that awesome.
Engaged? We Barely Know Each Other. Still, That’s an Awfully Nice Ring You’re Offering
Oh, wait, engagement on Instagram doesn’t involve getting down on one knee. Ah, well.
Rather, engagement on Instagram (or any social platform, for that matter), is all about who comments, who likes, who swipes, etc.
Consider how engaged your followers would be if they could buy your products and services directly in the ‘Gram. Or how you could do a bit of informal customer research with a quick one-question poll. Another idea is to ask a simple question. You might get unexpected answers, and they could give you more ideas of how to better serve your customers.
Read this whole article. It is exceptionally helpful.
#2. Soar Past Seasons Greetings
Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on creating holiday emails in your business. Sleek Note reveals all about it.
Yes, the holidays are coming. And faster than you may think.
As of the posting of this blog, it’s 10 days to Columbus Day, and it’s just under 8 weeks to Thanksgiving and 11 and a half days to Xmas. So, if you’re going to send out holiday emails, you’d better get cracking.
The examples are all related to gift products, and they tend to be great examples of concepts we’ve gone over before. For example, separating gift givers by price or recipient, the email effectively divvies up your customers. This gives them far better user experiences. Plus, you don’t waste their time. If I’m shopping for my hairdresser, I’m probably not getting her a new car (sorry, Katie).
By the way, their best tip was the last one.
Sensitivity Rocks
No, it’s not salesy. And that’s 100% okay.
We loved the idea of giving people a heads up in case they want to opt out of some emails. The example was a stellar one – allowing an opt out of Mother’s and Father’s Day emails. Consider the people this helps. It’s not just people who are childless by choice. It’s especially helpful and kind to those who aren’t childless by choice.
In this and in all areas, kindness goes a long way.
#1. Round Up and Brand Your Social Media
We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on social media branding. Women on Business says there are a few simple ways to stand out on social media.
We really loved the first tip.
Stop Being All Things to All People
What does that mean? It means, your business isn’t suited to every single social platform out there. So, stop trying to fit your square peg business for seniors into a Snapchat round hole. And quit trying to force your business for tweens onto LinkedIn.
Neither will work very well. They’re just a waste of time. And time is the one thing you never have enough of.
So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now? Thank you for reading during your work downtime!
If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.
The post Leverage Your Work Downtime and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.