The Ultimate SEO Checklist for 2022

Does this topic sound a bit familiar? There’s a good reason for that.

Every year, there are new SEO trends every website owner should be aware of. Sometimes it might just be a fresh approach to a classic SEO tactic, and other times, it’s something new that could give your website an advantage over your competitors.

However, while these new trends and innovations emerge, many of the tried and tested SEO methods still play an important part in improving your website’s rank. Ultimately, isn’t that what every website owner wants?

To help you out, I’ve compiled the ultimate SEO checklist for 2022, an all-purpose tool for website owners to optimize their traffic.

First, though, let’s get started with a look at some emerging SEO trends.

What’s Happening in 2022 In SEO?

Voice search, mobile SEO, long-form content, local SEO, and user intent remain strong. They were around in 2021, they’ve been a constant for a long time before that, and they’re likely to remain a core part of your online marketing efforts for the foreseeable future.

Now I’ve got some of the mainstays of your SEO checklist out of the way; what’s new? Well, Hubspot points to tightened page headers for additional context, or Google’s snippet feature, People Also Ask, and using emotive headlines. I’m sure most of us have clicked on a headline just because it resonated with us, so we can all relate to that one. You know what I mean:

‘You Won’t Believe What This CEO Did To Save His Company’ or ‘How One Simple Change Can Transform Your Life’

Then there are some more innovative trends that we’re all set to see plenty more of. Many of you have heard of AI and its use in content creation. If you haven’t, you soon will. Other continuing trends for 2022 are:

Core Web Vitals, which illustrate how your webpages perform.
Content optimization software to help your content in the SERPs.
Structured data, like schema markup/rich snippets.
GPT-3, which is a language generator.
Keyword clustering, which is the process of grouping related keywords together.

Your 2022 SEO Checklist

As I stated in the intro, regardless of new trends and advances, the major staples for SEO remain unchanged for 2022. However, even though you may be familiar with these SEO tactics, drawing up a clear strategy can seem like a challenge. It doesn’t have to be, though.

To help guide you, I’ve drawn up an SEO checklist to optimize your site. Just follow along, stage by stage, and see how your rankings can grow.

Let’s begin with the basics.

1. Set Up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

If you’re looking for a free way to monitor your site’s performance and traffic, enhance your website listing performance, and fix errors, then Google Search Console needs to be at the top of your SEO checklist.

Other benefits include:

Monitoring which keywords are driving traffic
Searching analytics for viewing impressions and clicks
Checking which pages Google is indexing
Understanding your website’s visibility

Sound good? Then you may want to set up an account by:

Signing up for a Google account
Adding your domain name or URL prefix to Google’s Search Console page
Verifying your account
Once verified, start viewing reports by clicking the ‘overview’ option.

Although Google is the king of search engines, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sign up for Bing or other competitors.

Bing Webmaster Tools can help you identify and fix any errors preventing your website from appearing higher in search results. Additionally, it’s a great resource for optimizing your website for Bing and improving your overall SEO health through identifying duplicate content issues and checking loading speeds.

If you’re new to Bing Webmaster Tools, follow these steps:

Open an account or sign in. You can use your Microsoft, Google, or Facebook account details or sign up for a new Microsoft account.
Add your site/s to your website by importing from your Google Search Console or manually adding your site/s.
Verify your account by doing a DNS auto verification, an XML, or a Meta Tag authentication. Alternatively, add a CNAME record to DNS.
Once Bing verifies your account, a green checkmark appears along with a message saying Bing has added your site to Webmaster Tools. A red cross indicates an error you must fix before trying again.
Finally, you can upload a site map and develop a search optimization plan, but these steps are optional.

If you want some guidance for drawing up an SEO strategy, I’ve created a comprehensive list of resources.

2. Set Up Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful tool used to track website traffic. It’s important to set up Google Analytics before you start publishing content so that you can track your website’s progress.

It’s hugely popular, and major companies such as Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber use it.

Here are the steps to get started with Google Analytics:

Sign up for a Google Analytics account. Just select ‘Get started today.’ Alternatively, sign in to your existing account.
Set up Google Analytics. You can use it on your website, app, or both. You can do this by selecting ‘admin’ in the account column and choosing ‘create account.’
Add an account name and configure your data sharing options.
Click ‘next’ to start adding your domains to your Analytics account.
Google also provides a list of optional activities, including adding more users to Analytics and linking your Google Ads account.

3. Install an SEO Plugin if You’re on WordPress

WordPress users can easily optimize their sites by including a plugin as part of their SEO checklist.

There are many great SEO plugins available for WordPress, such as Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack. These plugins let you optimize your website for search engines, and they provide handy checklists so you can ensure you’re doing everything you can to improve your site’s visibility.

Other SEO plugins include:

The SEO Framework. Free and paid options are available.
SEO Press. (choose from freemium or premium packages).
Rank Math, which has an extensive list of features.
Nitropack. Free and paid plans are available.

Regardless of whichever keyword plugin you choose, look for one that:

Is easy to use. The plugin should be easy to install and configure and should be intuitive to use.
Can track all of your keywords, not just a few of them.
Updates frequently for efficiency and security. Ideally, you’d want a plugin to update at least once weekly.

4. Create and Submit Your Sitemap

By creating and submitting a sitemap, you make it easier for crawlers to index your pages and identify any changes you’ve made since the last time the search engines crawled your site. Additionally, a site map increases visibility while aiding navigation and improving poor linking.

There are several different ways to create a sitemap, but the most common is an XML file. Once you’ve created your sitemap, submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. They’ll crawl your site and add it to their indexes.

However, not every site needs a sitemap. According to Google, sitemaps work best if:

You’ve got a large site
Your site contains a substantial archive of isolated or poorly linked content pages.
You’ve got a new site with limited external links
Your site contains rich media, like video and photographs.

Now that you’ve done that, it’s time to set up a Robots.txt file.

5. Create a robots.txt File

When you’re creating or editing a website, don’t forget to add a robots.txt file! This file tells search engine bots which parts of your website they’re allowed to crawl and index.

The benefits of including robots.txt as part of your SEO checklist are:

Helping improve your website’s load time by preventing unimportant pages from loading.
Preventing search engines from indexing duplicate content on your site
Blocking search engines from indexing spammy or low-quality pages
Focusing your SEO efforts on the most important pages of your site

Here are things to consider when creating your robots.txt file:

Which pages on your website do you want search engines to crawl and index?
Which pages do you want to block from crawlers?
What parameters do you want to set to crawl specific pages or sections of your website?
How often should the robots.txt file be updated?

When it’s complete, your Robots.txt. might look like something like Nike’s.

6. Make Sure the Search Engines Can Crawl and Index Your Website

If you’re running a website, it’s vital to ensure the search engines can crawl and index it. After all, you want potential customers to find you online, right? Here are a few things to tick off your SEO checklist to help ensure the search engines can do just that.

Check your site is accessible to crawlers. Search engines need access to all the pages on your website to index them. You can check this by using the URL Inspection Tool in the Google Search Console.
Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions on your pages. This can improve your site’s ranking in search results.
Add links to other related pages on your site, so search engines understand the topic of your page and rank it accordingly.

You should also consider the recent changes to Google’s scoring system: Now, Googlebot crawls and indexes just the first 15MB of your web content. Therefore, it’s imperative you place your most essential content first.

As part of its update, Google announced changes to its Product Structured Data Guidelines, so read all about those, too.

7. Be Sure Your Site Is Mobile-Friendly

Is your site mobile-friendly?

According to research, nine out of ten consumers have at least one mobile shopping app. The top reason people are using apps? Because of the superior user experience.

Visitors who have a negative user experience may not come back for more. Therefore, it’s well worth including this on your SEO checklist.

How do you do this? It’s easier than you think. You can:

Use responsive design, so your site adapts to different screen sizes.
Optimize images for mobile by resizing and compressing them. Imagify offers a free monthly plan for up to 200 images.
Check your site on different browsers/devices. If you need a tool for this, here’s a list.
Use Google Search Console to test your website performance and get tips to enhance it.

Here’s an example from Zappos:

Note its clear images and intuitive, highly visible search function.

8. Check for Oversized Image Files

It’s a simple enough equation: the larger your image files are, the longer they take to load.

To check for oversized image files, use a tool like ImageOptim or Google PageSpeed Insights. The PageSpeed tool checks for loading times and offers tips to improve them.

ImageOptim compresses images without compromising quality; you can use it with Mac, Linux, and Windows.

These tools will analyze your images, tell you how large they are, and how you can optimize them for better performance.

9. Look for 404 Errors

Broken links and 404 errors can have a negative effect on your website’s SEO.

Not only do they create a poor user experience, but they can also impact your site’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). To avoid this, it’s imperative you regularly check for and fix broken website links.

To check for broken links and pages, use a tool like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console. These tools allow you to spot broken links and find pages that Google has yet to index.

When you’ve found a broken link, you’ve got a few options:

1) Edit the link so that it points to the correct page

2) Create a 301 redirect so that the broken link is redirected to another page on your website.

3) Remove the link from your website altogether.

10. Look For Duplicate Content and Keyword Cannibalization

If you use the same keyword phrase too many times, the search engines may penalize your site.

In addition, if you have multiple pages that target the same keyword phrase, the search engines may not know which page to rank higher. What does this mean for your website? It’s called keyword cannibalization, and it could mean lower search engine rankings for all your pages. That’s the last thing you want when you’ve worked hard to establish your website.

To avoid this, use an SEO checklist that details your keywords to ensure that you aren’t inadvertently optimizing your pages for the same keyword phrases.

In addition:

Vary your keyword usage throughout your site. Don’t just focus on using them in your titles and headings; include them in the body of your text as well.
Make sure each page has its own unique title tag and meta description.
If you have several websites with similar content, ensure that you aren’t using the same keywords on all of them.
Use Google Search Console to check for duplicate content and cannibalization issues.

11: Research Your Competitors’ Keyword Profiles

Just because you rank first for a particular keyword or set of keywords doesn’t mean that traffic and conversions automatically follow.

To truly optimize your website and its content for your target audience, you should research your competitors’ keyword profiles and understand what terms and phrases they are targeting.

By doing this research, you can get a good idea of the competition you’re up against, along with the terms and phrases that are most important to your target audience. Armed with this information, you can then begin targeting those same terms and phrases on your own website, helping to improve your rankings and visibility over time.

The result? They can be spectacular, helping you to rank higher, save money and maximize your ROI.

However, how do you find these keywords?

As a starting point, I’d recommend my tool, Ubersuggest, for finding competitor keywords. It’s easy to use. Just enter the URL, choose your country, and click ‘search’ to discover:

Common keywords
Keyword gaps
Traffic over time.

12: See What Search Intent Your Primary Audience Has in Google

Search intent is one of the top factors for SEOs to consider. However, what do we mean when we’re talking about ‘search intent,’ and why should it be on your SEO checklist?

Well, first, search intent is a critical ranking factor, with many top SEOs basing their content strategies on this concept.

When you understand what the searcher wants, it enables you to create content that meets their needs and provides them with the information they’re looking for.

To find search intent, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask:

What are your prospects typing into Google or whatever search engine they’re using? Google’s ‘People Also Ask’ feature is a great starting point for this.
What questions are searchers trying to answer? Again, ‘People Also Ask’ can assist you with this.

Then:

Use keyword research to determine popular keywords and phrases related to your topic.
Look at SERPs and see what results appear (Keywords appear in bold).

13: Choose Focus and Secondary Keywords to Optimize For

Your primary keywords work best when you use them alongside focus and secondary words. Secondary keywords are words that relate to your primary keywords. When you use them in content, they can get it in front of a broader audience and help bolster your website rankings.

When selecting focus and secondary keywords, you should focus on a select few with the biggest impact. Here are some tips to help you do that:

Choose keywords relevant to your business and audience.
Make sure you target your keywords for your ideal customers, but also ensure they are popular enough that people actually use them in search engines.
Use a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords to get the most out of your SEO efforts.
Research what your competitors are targeting and try to find gaps you can fill.
Once you’ve selected your target keywords, make sure they appear throughout your website, including in the title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content.

14: Learn What it Takes To Rank for Your Chosen Keywords

This one should be on everyone’s SEO checklist, Your chosen keywords are no good to you if you’re not ranking for them. With that in mind, how do you rank for them? You can start by following these pointers:

Understand data points, such as search volume, cost per click (CPC), SEO, and search difficulty.
Draw up a list of content ideas.
Then, carry out keyword research. You can either use Ubersuggest or any of the other keyword tools out there.
Analyze the data to identify the best keywords. Again, Ubersuggest is your friend here.
Optimize for featured snippets and meta descriptions.
Include keywords in anchor text and use your main keywords strategically.

To help you out, I’ve published a comprehensive guide that talks you through all the above steps.

15: Be Sure to Create Useful, Actionable Content

Okay. Creating content is already on your SEO checklist. However, it can’t just be any content; it needs to be engaging, useful, and actionable. Why?

First, you need engaging content because you don’t want readers leaving part way through before they’ve got to the CTA or taken up your lead magnet offer. If your content is dull and uninspiring, and your reader isn’t doing what you want them to do, you’re wasting your time. Looking for some inspiration? Here’s a great infographic that tells you how to create epic content.

Next, it goes without saying that your content should be useful. You want readers to leave feeling like they’ve learned something.

Finally, write actionable content. You want readers to finish your article knowing what they can do to implement your ideas and get results.

Here are some tips for making your content actionable:

Include how-tos and step-by-step instructions
Ask questions and answer people’s pain points
Add CTAs, so readers know what to do next
Incorporate stats, storytelling, and images
Get personal. Share your story and inspire readers

Just one last thing: when creating content, always keep Google’s guidelines in mind.

16: Make Sure You Have a Descriptive URL

Descriptive URLs assist with your SEO efforts and make it easier for customers to find your website. Also, by using descriptive URLs, it’s easier for searchers to understand what your content is about. Plus, it enables the search engines to deliver relevant content to the right people.

Additionally, more descriptive URLs can improve click-through rates, as users are more likely to click on a link that accurately reflects the page content.

To help craft more descriptive URLs, you can use tools like Ubersuggest, Google AdWords Keyword Planner, or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to find popular keywords related to your business. Then:

Use clear, concise language that accurately reflects the page’s content.
Do not use unnecessary words or symbols like & or %.
Make sure each URL is unique and does not duplicate another page on your site.
Keep URLs as short as possible without compromising readability.

17: Add Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Image Tags

One of the most important parts of an SEO checklist is adding title tags, meta descriptions, and image tags to your pages. These tags provide information about your page to search engines and can help them rank higher.

You see, title tags are one of the main factors search engines look at when determining a web page’s rank.

Then there are meta descriptions. You’ve all seen these before. They’re the short blurbs that appear under your title in search engine results pages (SERPs), and they’re your opportunity to persuade people to click through to your site.

They look like this:

A set of meta titles and meta descriptions in Google search results.

Finally, adding image tags to your pictures is one of the simplest ways to improve your SEO. Image tags tell search engines what your image is about, which helps them rank your page higher in search results.

18: Use Schema Markup to Target Rich Snippets

One way to improve your website ranking is by using schema markup. Schema markup is code that you add to your website, which tells search engines what your content means. This can help the likes of Google better understand your content and rank it accordingly.

Rich snippets allow you to add extra information to your search results. Snippets come in different formats like movies, recipes, and maps:

A Google rich snippet showing gas stations in Toronto.

These rich snippets can help you stand out from the competition and attract more visitors to your site due to improved click-through rates (CTRs). This signals to the search engines that you have quality content and can ultimately help you rank higher in SERPs.

19: Have a Plan in Place to Report on Ranking Success

You’ve worked carefully on your SEO checklist but are you forgetting something? Like tracking your ranking success, maybe?

If you’ve made it this far, you’re doing awesome, but unless you’re tracking your progress (rankings), you don’t know that for sure.

When you create a report, it should cover things like:

Your technical SEO efforts and overall technical health
Traffic
Backlinks
Conversions

However, you can include additional info, as pictured below:

An infographic depicting essential facets of an SEO report.

To assist with tracking your efforts, Backlinko has a free SEO checklist/report template you can download.

20: Begin Planning a Link-Building Strategy for Finished Content

You’ve just about made it all the way through your SEO strategy checklist. Just one more thing, though.

Now, you want to start creating a link-building strategy for all your amazing content to further enhance your SERPs.

Where do you begin, and why is link building important? Hold on while I talk you through it.

Aside from the lift it can give your SEO, link building can increase organic search results and conversions. For example, one brand found that its revenues increased by 808.87 percent, and organic search sessions increased to 82.3 percent. Impressive, huh? And it all took was six months of off-site SEO.

Below are some simple tips you can use to start link building today:

Create high-quality content and post it on authoritative blogs as guest posts
Start a resource directory on your website
Make sure your content is well-written, useful, and relevant to your target audience.
Research which websites may want to link to your content, and reach out to them directly
Link to authority sites in your articles, and reach out to authors/website owners to let them know

FAQs

What Are the Three Main Areas of SEO?

The three areas you should focus on are on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. This includes on-page optimization, link building, keyword research, title tag, meta description, headings, images, and other elements on the page.

What Are the Most Important Ranking Factors of SEO?

This depends on who you ask, but for many, the most important ranking factors are links, quality, content, and website authority. You should also focus on speed/mobile-friendliness, search intent, and usability.

However, Google often updates its guidelines, so ensure you keep up-to-date with these, too.

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Conclusion

A lot of stuff to cover, right?

It may seem overwhelming at first, but following these simple SEO tips can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages and improve your online visibility. Although this SEO checklist includes the mainstays of search optimization, it’s essential to stay up-to-date on the latest SEO trends to ensure your website continues to rank well.

While trends are changing, the constants like competitor keyword research, minimizing image size, optimizing for mobile, and using free tools like Ubersuggest paid tools to analyze keywords are all aspects on your SEO checklist that serve you well long term.

Use this article as your guide and remember that SEO is a long-term project, not a once-off. Keep working at it, and it’s likely your site is going to reap the rewards over time.

Which SEO tactics work well for you?

The Ultimate Guide to SEO for E-commerce Websites

If you’re retailing products and want to reach the widest audience possible, having a well-optimized e-commerce website is an absolute must.

Why? Well, there are several benefits.

A great e-commerce website helps you understand the basics about your customers, for example, demographics like their locations, age groups, and how they found you.

By using tracking, you can then use your visitor’s information for behavior analysis to get to know them even better.

An e-commerce website does more than this, though. It can also help you understand where things are going wrong. For example, which traffic sources don’t work, which offers don’t appeal, and cart abandonment issues and their potential causes.

Of course, the more obvious reason you would want to have your site fully optimized: the growth of e-commerce worldwide. Year on year, e-commerce keeps growing, and this pattern looks like it will continue.

If you’re already online, that’s great. However, you risk remaining invisible to fresh prospects and new leads if you don’t take proactive steps to increase visibility.

How do you do that? It’s simple enough: with SEO for e-commerce.

What Is SEO for E-Commerce?

SEO for e-commerce is a strategy that helps web retailers rank higher in search engine results. A well-designed and optimized website with high-quality content will rank better in search engines such as Google, increasing your store’s visibility and driving traffic.

In other words, SEO for e-commerce concentrates on optimizing your site, which makes it easier to get leads and conversions.

However, unlike SEO for content-focused websites, SEO for e-commerce is more than just adding keywords, writing blog posts, and gaining links. You need to understand how search engines work and what they reward.

That means having a working knowledge of SEO for e-commerce, considering Google’s guidelines, analyzing buyer intent, and implementing it strategically.

E-Commerce SEO Best Practices

E-commerce for SEO is a complex field, and with millions of online retail sites in existence, it’s not always easy to make your site stand out.

While it might seem like a huge challenge to build your SEO rankings, you can make a positive start by applying some best practices. In time, this increases your chances of visibility and gaining more organic leads and customers.

For the unfamiliar, what do best practices for SEO for e-commerce look like? Well, you could start by addressing fundamentals like:

navigation
internal links
avoiding clutter
creating unique content
including alt text for images

However, there’s far more you can do. Below, explore our list of SEO for e-commerce best practices you can implement today.

1. Perform Keyword Research the Right Way

There are many different ways to optimize your e-commerce site, and not every approach is suitable for every site or product. However, some guidelines apply to every online retailer, and one of them is performing keyword research correctly.

Yes, you want the most relevant and popular keywords in your industry, but you must also understand buyer intent.

Keyword intent is the intention behind a search query. You can identify it by looking at the specific phrases and terms people use when looking for an item online.

There are two main types of keyword intent you see most often.

Informational Keyword Intent

Informational keyword intent is used in SEO to describe the type of information the searcher is looking for.

These types of searches usually consist of:

How tos: These are searches that contain questions such as “how do I?”
Direct purchase: These involve searches with keywords like “buy this.”
Factual queries: These use words such as “fact” and “information” when a searcher wants more details about a subject.

Commercial Keyword Intent

Commercial keyword intent is when people are looking for information to help them make a purchase. This means that they want to find what they need and buy it as fast as possible.

Consumers typically use commercial keyword intents when they know what they want but don’t know where to find it yet. You see this when you’re typing specific terms into Google like “buy digital camera” or “find new laptop deals.”

Commercial keyword users typically have more intent to purchase and are less likely to search for information about the product or service than just researching where to find it.

Determining Keyword Intent

Deciding consumers’ keyword intent seems challenging, but you can make it easier on yourself. For example, AgencyAnalytics breaks it down into stages.

Analyzing SERPs: Pay special attention to paid ads, knowledge graph results, and organic listings.
Look at Google ads for commercial intent: Seeing bid prices for keywords gives an idea of how competitive keywords are.
Review your analytics: Look for content with high bounce rates as it may mean it doesn’t match with searcher intent.

You could also use keyword tools like Google’s keyword planner. Others you can try include:

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a free online tool that can find long-tail and related words to any topic or keyword, or you can opt for the paid version.

This tool is great for content writers, bloggers, copywriters, and marketers who want to generate new content ideas or find out what users are searching for about a given topic.

Features include:

backlink data
rank tracking
site audit reports

Backlink Data

To see what backlinks you are getting from other sites, go to the backlink analyzer under SEO Explorer. This can help you see who is already a fan and what related sites you can target for more linkbuilding.

Rank Tracking

See how you rank in organic SERPs for your target keywords with Ubersuggest rank tracking. That way, you can see how you have improved over time. This is under Dashboard on the left side.

SEO for ecommerce tracked keywords example

Site Audit

Run a site audit to track what issues need to be fixed on your site that could be affecting user experience and organic traffic. Think of the audit as a starting point, then review it regularly to make sure you’re fixing other issues. This is under the SEO Analyzer section. One the audit has run, it will tell you your top SEO issues and how to fix them.

It also has a free chrome extension to do keyword research while you’re conducting Google or YouTube searches.

Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a great tool. It lets you uncover what people all over the world are curious about and going through.

Answer the Public is intuitive, too. Just enter your keyword on the homepage to understand precisely what people are asking. It can also help you find which topics are most popular at any given time, which might be helpful as another tool for keyword research. However, if you want further guidance, there’s a set of tutorials available.

It’s free to use, but you can upgrade to pro for more features. The following example uses “multivitamins.”

Guide to SEO for E-commerce - Perform Keyword Research the Right Way (Answer the Public Image Search)

The results give a detailed picture of the kind of questions people are asking and give a better idea of intent.

2. Optimize Product Pages to Improve Ranking

If you want to attract and acquire new customers, look at your on-page user optimization. It matters because it gets your site a higher rank, meaning fresh streams of organic traffic and more conversions.

Not every area of your e-commerce site needs optimizing, so in this section, let’s focus on the ones that matter most to online retailers: product descriptions, images, and reviews.

Optimize Your Product Descriptions

A product page is interesting because it has a lot of different features that all need attention. You also want a few things to stand out from the page to gain visitors’ engagement and get them to click through.

To begin optimizing your e-commerce product pages, you need to keep in mind three key aspects:

What are the most crucial things on the page?
How can you maximize visibility and impact with these elements?
How can you use this information to improve your product description’s effectiveness?

Now, start looking at what you can do to maximize the impact of your product descriptions. This could be things like.

adding multiple, high-quality, unique images
including keywords
including detailed, keyword-rich descriptions
adding calls to action (CTAs)
including testimonials

Optimize Your Images

A sometimes neglected area of SEO for e-commerce is images. Photos are an excellent way to communicate a message and draw in an audience. However, they can also distract people from the message you are trying to convey, so be careful not to use too many images and crowd your descriptions.

Although quality images are vital to show your goods at their best, there’s more to it than that. Optimizing your images for SEO will give you higher search engine rankings and more traffic from potential customers and may gain you traffic from social media channels.

Here are some pointers for optimizing your images:

Choose suitable images for your platform. Your host usually specifies optimal image sizes and other image guidelines.
Provide captions with alt tags for pictures.
Use the right keywords in file names.

Feature Reviews

Reviews provide a snippet of information that helps shoppers weigh whether to go with a particular product or store.

Reviews are vital for success in e-commerce as so many people rely on them. Additionally, they help you build trust with your potential customers and improve conversion rates.

You can encourage customers to leave reviews by sending automated messages whenever they purchase. You can also set up email campaigns to send out reminders or offers once they have left a review on your site.

Before moving on, here are more optimization tips:

Use canonical tags to link duplicate product pages and similar group products together.

Create a well-written page that includes the necessary information about the product, an image of the product, and a video of it in action.
Include at least one CTA on your product page. For example, “Add To Cart” or “Check Availability.”
Make sure you include shipping details and policies upfront so customers know what they’re paying from the start.

3. Make Sure Your Site Is User Friendly

UX stands for user experience. You can enhance UX by good design, making the aesthetics more visually appealing.

However, it’s not just about making a website look good; it’s about making it work well. UX includes everything from navigation, ease of use, and the overall “feel” of the website.

UX is also about making sure people can find what they are looking for, keeping them engaged while browsing, and giving visitors the best experience possible.

You may not think that UX affects SEO, but the interaction between the two began some years ago, and UX is also imperative for discoverability.

Additionally, recent changes mean that UX is soon to be a Google ranking factor. According to Search Engine Land, that means if Google thinks your website offers visitors a bad experience, it may rank lower. Google measures the new ranking with “Core Web Vitals” and has set out its guidelines online.

Many things can influence UX, but a few key factors are apparent:

Ads shouldn’t interfere with the user’s view of content.

Your site should load quickly and be mobile-friendly.
Any website should be clutter-free and easy to navigate.
You should include CTAs, so customers know what to do next.

Finally, use consistent styling throughout, and make it accessible.

4. Don’t Forget Long-Tail Keywords

You usually see long-tail keywords on the right side of a search engine results page (SERP).

A long-tail keyword is a term that typically has low search volume but still meets the criteria for relevancy to your business. They also tend to convert well because they’re a better match for what the searcher is looking for, and they typically give higher traffic.

For those reasons, you shouldn’t be afraid to rank for long-tail keywords because they’re a valuable source of traffic.

Long-tail keywords are great for:

competitive niches
increased conversion rates
ranking new sites more easily

You can find long-tail keywords by using Google’s “People also ask” or use a free keyword tool like Ubersuggest. There are plenty of other tools available too.

The following example uses Wordtracker, where the search for “dumbells” delivered this:

E-Commerce SEO Best Practices - Use Long-tail keywords

As you can see, they give you a firm idea of what your customer is looking for and of their intentions.

5. Use a Simple URL Structure

There are more detailed guides on URL structures, but this section gives you the basics.

A simple URL structure not only enhances the user experience but also improves your SEO e-commerce efforts to some extent.

Additionally, when your e-commerce site has a simple URL structure, it’s easier to share products on social media and other websites, and it can improve SEO for e-commerce as it provides more relevant data for search engines.

For the best results, URLs should be as readable and understandable as possible.

For instance, here’s an example of what NOT to do: https://www.example.com/article-about-hiking/

It would be much better to use this URL structure: https://www.example.com/hiking-articles

Google also has some advice on improving URL structure.

Additionally, you can:

Use Keywords

Search engines scan the URL and use the keywords in the URL to determine where that page should rank in the SERPs. The keywords in the URL are called “metatags” and help tell search engines what the content or topic of that page is.

That’s why you must spend some time thinking about your keywords before deciding on a URL structure.

When people search for your business online, they often type in the precise words they’re looking for. As an example, a person may type in “online shoe store” into a search engine.

Therefore, when someone types in “online shoe store,” it’s crucial those words are somewhere in your URL structure.

Use Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are a navigational tool. They allow website visitors to retrace previous steps and return to where they started. Breadcrumbs are not just a usability technique but also provide additional SEO benefits.

For example, if you visit a blog post from your main homepage, the breadcrumb for that post would be “Home > Blog > This Post.”

You find breadcrumbs in many web design tools, and you can add them by using markup tags or via JavaScript.

Avoid Stop Words

Common stop words are “the,” “and,” “of,” and “a.”

Stop words can decrease your content’s readability and may lower your SEO rankings.

In addition, stop words are less likely to hold a reader’s interest. By removing these words from your website, you can use those spaces for more creative and relevant copy.

6. Use Schema Markups to Help Google and Users Understand Content

Schema markups are HTML tags that provide additional information about the content on web pages. By using these markups, it can improve your SEO for e-commerce efforts.

When you use schema markup, it produces rich snippets. These are a way for search engines to show more information about specific items in the search results.

They also help people find what they are looking for faster and easier by showing different types of information.

There are many different types of rich snippets, such as:

product markup snippets
music snippets
review snippets

E-Commerce SEO Best Practices - Use Schema Markups

The kinds of e-commerce schema are:

Product schema: This is an extension for products, services, and organizations. It enables discovering new products and services in web search queries by providing rich product information such as images, price, and availability. Product schema also allows the display of product ads on the SERPs.
Review schema: This enables online reviews. The author and title filters allow you to find specific people who have written reviews on your website or blog post and for searchers to find product reviews.
Product availability schema: The product availability schema is a list of products that are available to purchase. It can be a single page, or it can be within an online store. Such lists typically detail the product name, description, price, images, and variants.
Video schema: Video schema is a type of metadata used to describe the content and format. For example, video schema may include the audio language, video resolution, or age rating of the video.
Price schema: Price schema is a technique for the pricing of products or a price range.

7. Avoid Duplicate Pages and Content

Have you ever visited a website and got the feeling you’ve read it all somewhere before? That’s all too common with production descriptions and category descriptions when online retailers use duplicate product catalogs and images.

It’s understandable why e-commerce sellers just republish the same descriptions. Usually, it’s simply because they don’t have the resources to produce fresh content themselves.

However, even if you don’t have time to rewrite everything, you can still significantly reduce the amount of duplication on your site in product descriptions and other areas.

For instance, by

using a CMS with site-wide 301 redirects or adding canonical tags on every page that you know might have duplicates (pages with similar titles, pages that share an identical URL, etc.)
adding a suffix to the URL
using different product images
adding unique keywords on other pages

8. Don’t Let Page Speed Kill Your Ranking

Website page speed loading time is the measurement of how long it takes for an internet user to open a web page. You can measure it by adding up the time to download all the non-hidden assets, such as images, scripts, and stylesheets.

Page speed is a ranking factor, and survey after survey shows consumers aren’t willing to wait around while a site loads.

Web-users say their ideal site speed is just two seconds, but the faster, the better. If you’re not sure about your current speeds, you can test it at Cloudflare or try Google’s tool.

What should you do if your site is too slow? First, you need to find the reason. It could be:

Your site simply has too much content for your server to handle.
Too many scripts are slowing down load times.
Images take an excessive amount of time to load.
There’s a problem with your web host.

While not all e-commerce site owners can guarantee a perfect 100 percent on Google’s PageSpeed Insights, you can try and fasten load times by:

having fewer images on the pages

compressing files
using fewer social media widgets
optimizing your images
avoiding clutter and using plenty of white space
limiting redirects and HTTP requests
fastening your server response time

Additionally, you might want to think about changing web hosts or upgrading your hosting package to accommodate your needs better.

9. Content Does Matter for E-Commerce

E-commerce isn’t just about images and keywords. Written content should also be part of your SEO for e-commerce strategy.

Posting regular content not only attracts organic traffic. It can gain your customers’ trust, boost your website rankings, and solidify your reputation as an expert in your niche too.

There are many types of content you can focus on:

sharing how-to pieces and answering FAQs
new product launches and anything newsworthy
a glossary page
including user-generated content (UGC)
testimonials and launches
video demonstrations and Q and As
webinars

For more ideas, take it a step further and get to know your audience so you understand their main concerns and problems. This allows you to write content that addresses their everyday worries and offer products that solve these.

Now you’ve got some ideas for content. However, content isn’t worthwhile without a strategy behind it. Let’s break it down:

Get to know your customers better with buyer personas.
Understand their preferred content. If you’re tracking your content data, you should see which content types get the most views. Additionally, you can ask customers and prospects through surveys or groups.
Establish a content calendar and create the content.
Publish the appropriate content for the various stages of the buying cycle.
Use A/B testing in key areas like titles.
Measure the results and tweak.

10. Link Building for E-Commerce

Link building is a ranking factor for SEO. Quality links tell Google that your site has credibility. Backlinks also influence how your website ranks for keywords.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? But just how do you go about creating these all-important backlinks?

A few ways to do this are:

creating internal backlinks
writing guest posts
using social media ads
sharing content on social media
issuing press releases
writing blog comments and sharing on forums (if allowed)
creating infographics and sharing them online
issuing whitepapers and case studies

These are all legitimate ways to build quality links. Although they can take time, you shouldn’t take shortcuts by buying links. Some paid links violate Google’s guidelines, and if you’re buying cheap links, the quality is usually questionable. Poor quality links lead to lower SERP rankings and reduced traffic, as well as a potential negative impact on your site’s reputation.

11. Add a Sitemap

A sitemap is a visual representation of your website or digital product. It provides visitors with a bird’s eye view of the website and explores different pages.

Your sitemap should detail all of the pages on your site, from category pages to product pages. It should also include all the subcategories, products, and other content within those sections.

You can develop a sitemap manually or use an automated tool such as Google’s Webmaster Tools to generate one. Sitemaps use both XML and HTML, although HTML sitemaps are more helpful to visitors.

Other tools for creating a sitemap are:

Lucid Sitemap Generator

The Lucid chart sitemap generator is a user-friendly tool that makes creating a sitemap for your website easy. It has many features, like adding categories and subcategories.

Powermapper

Powermapper is an easy-to-use tool for creating and updating sitemaps and allows you to generate one-click checkouts.

It’s a web-based tool with no coding expertise required. However, there is a fee.

12. Make Social Sharing Easy

Google’s Matt Cutts once said that social sharing doesn’t impact SEO, but many would disagree.

While social media sharing may not directly affect your SEO, sharing your content on social media increases brand exposure and gets people more familiar with your business.

Further, the more mentions you get on social media, the more influence this can have on your SEO by:

driving organic traffic and increasing visibility
improving local SEO
expanding your content reach and enhancing brand recognition
increasing backlinks

If you want an easy way to increase your shares on social media, consider getting a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to automatically post content from your site across all of your social media accounts at scheduled intervals.

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO for E-Commerce

How do I Find the Right Keywords For my E-commerce Store?

There are several free resources that you can use to find keyword ideas, such as Google AdWords, Ubersuggest, and Google’s Keyword Tool. You should also look at what your competitors are using to find the best keywords for their audience.

Finally, avoid using broad keywords that generate many clicks but don’t provide much conversion value. Use long-tail keywords where you can.

How Much Does SEO for E-Commerce Cost?

The cost of SEO depends on many factors, including the number of keywords targeted, competitive landscape, and how much effort you need to optimize each page for ranking.

It’s not easy to put a price tag on SEO because it depends on how many resources you allocate and what you want to achieve. To help you budget, Search Engine Journal provides an SEO budget calculator.

What Is SEO for E-Commerce?

SEO for e-commerce is the process of optimizing a website so that it can rank more highly in search engines. Several factors affect how well a website ranks on the SERPs, such as the quality and relevance of the content, the use of appropriate keywords to optimize the site, and the site’s load speed.

How Is SEO for E-Commerce Different?

When it comes to SEO for e-commerce, there are different areas you need to focus on, such as optimizing:

product pages and descriptions
diversifying product content and information
images on your website
your homepage

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SEO for E-Commerce Conclusion

SEO for e-commerce helps boost your website visibility, brings new queries and customers, and helps build your loyal audience.

It may seem like there’s a lot to think about. However, by concentrating on the main SEO best practices and optimizing the critical areas of your website, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as it sounds.

The most important thing to remember is SEO for e-commerce doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it’s an ongoing strategy that requires updating as you go to get the optimum results.

What is your experience of SEO for e-commerce? Tell us below.

The Ultimate Guide to Copywriting

Copywriting is content writing to make a sale. Copywriting is precise, effective, and revolves around creative problem-solving. Ideally, a brand’s copy is driving conversions while creating meaningful experiences for the target audience.

The features, the benefits, and the price of a product help determine whether a consumer is willing to convert. Copy is the way you communicate value to these potential customers.

Today we’re focusing on the power of copywriting.

What, Exactly, Is Copywriting?

There’s a lot of confusion out there when it comes to copywriting.

No, it’s not about who has the right to publish a book or a photo (that’s copyright) nor is it just about writing blogs or social media posts, though those two can blur the lines of copywriting and marketing, depending on your goals.

Copywriting is content writing with the direct goal of making a sale.

Copywriting might be found on:

Website pages
Brochures
Paid ads
Landing pages
Product pages

Here’s a copywriting example from my website. It’s actually a popup that displays after a reader has been on the page for a few minutes:

Notice how it’s short, to the point. There’s no fluff; instead, it focuses on the benefits and the next action users should take.

How Does Copywriting Differ from Content Marketing?

Copywriting is content directly aimed at making sales. Content marketing can have different goals (which might include making sales), but focuses on less direct goals, like educating, amusing, or building brand awareness.

Copywriting is more direct, more precise, and leaves less open for interpretation. Here is what we sell, this is why you should buy it, and here’s what it can do for you.

What Is a Copywriter?

To put it bluntly, copywriting is about sales. Your objective is to create content and experiences that drive conversions, plain and simple. Still, all this talk about writing brings up an important question. What’s the difference between a copywriter and your typical content writer?

It’s easy to understand the confusion. After all, they’re both technically writers. In my experience, I’ve found that talented copywriters are often just highly evolved content writers. While a content writer has mastered the art of creating compelling blog posts and articles, the copywriter goes beyond that.

An effective copywriter understands what drives conversions and incorporates that into their copy. They aren’t just capable of creating blog posts. They understand how to market through Google Ads, email newsletters, and Instagram posts.

Savvy copywriters go a step further, conducting product research, analyzing behavioral psychology, and generally developing creative solutions to complex marketing problems.

What Skills Do You Need to Become a Copywriter?

To become a copywriter, it’s not enough to be a talented writer. You need a flexible, adaptive style that can adjust to the needs of your brand. One day, you might need to craft a press release. The next, you’re writing clever captions for Instagram ads and writing an email for your latest product launch.

Being flexible with your writing is important, but having the ability to think creatively and solve your brand’s marketing problems will make you extremely valuable.

There’s the usual collection of skills you’d expect for a position like this, such as strong research and technical skills. Unsurprisingly, communication skills can make or break copywriters.

Not just communicating through your writing, but communicating with your team and coworkers. Having a great idea is one thing; convincing your peers of its value is another.

If that sounds confusing, just picture this: Imagine two possible directions you can take your brand. In theory, you can test on a small scale and develop your brand over time. Of course, when resources and time are a factor, being right the first time is exceptionally valuable.

One of the company execs wants to lead with direction A, and they have some data that supports their claim. You, on the other hand, want to focus on direction B, and you’ve also got some data to support you.

Neither direction has airtight data, and the team can’t afford to waste time. What direction will they choose?

The answer is, they’ll support whoever makes the most compelling case. As a copywriter, you should always be your brand’s best salesperson. If you have the brand know-how and can communicate that to your team, there’s a good chance you can save your team a lot of money.

Types of Copywriting

Not all copywriting is created equal. Depending on what you choose to specialize in, you could be working on anything from a nationwide commercial to an Instagram post. It’s all a matter of identifying the marketing that best serves your brand’s audience.

Brand Copywriting

When you tell people you work in marketing, this is typically what they imagine: commercials, billboards, and jingles for brands like Pepsi, Burger King, and Netflix. Brand copywriters go beyond the typical features and aim to create strong emotional responses. Creative copywriting is less about proving a brand is better than the competition and more about creating a memorable experience.

Social Media Copywriting

As a brand, your goal when crafting copy for social media is to engage audiences through posts and ads. The challenge with this style is adapting your brand messaging into a variety of unique formats. For example, the copy you write for a post on Facebook shouldn’t be identical to the copy on a TikTok or Instagram post.

SEO Copywriting

SEO is all about getting your content to rank highly on the search engine result pages (SERPs). To rank highly, your content needs to deliver genuine value to users while mixing in a healthy amount of keywords and phrases. Essentially, you’ll be breathing life into copy that needs to meet certain keyword criteria.

Insight Copywriting

At its core, insight copywriting is about establishing your brand as an industry authority. As a copywriter, you achieve this by producing high-value educational content. Some audiences just want simple, detailed solutions to their key pain points. For brands with a more experienced audience, thought leadership can be particularly valuable.

Email Copywriting

Writing an email that’s compelling is a unique challenge, specifically because its presentation is so unusual. You have to write engaging email headlines that aren’t ignored. Clarity is a priority, but so is value. Your call to action (CTA) needs to be strong enough to convert your audience, but the commitment should be small enough that it doesn’t alienate your audience.

Copywriting Examples (Examples of Great Copy)

Here are two examples of excellent copywriting.

Slack

One look at Slack’s homepage, and it’s clear its copywriting team understands how to target its audience’s pain points. The first header highlights how it understands what users really need from them. Slack’s audience wants to maintain connectivity, no matter where they are in the world.

The copy shows that its product isn’t just a temporary solution to the user’s problem. It functions as a future-proof service, able to keep up with the growing demands of the user’s business.

It might seem simple, but finding an engaging way to label and properly address user pain points is no easy feat in under 250 words.

RXBar

We often imagine traditional marketing materials like articles, social media posts, or commercials when we think about copywriting. While that’s certainly an important part of crafting copy, you’ll need to tackle other creative challenges as a copywriter. One of my favorite examples of this is how RXBar blended its brand and packaging.

RXBar has a very clear goal in mind. Create a no-nonsense protein bar that offers simple, healthy ingredients. The copywriting work begins here, developing the brand message and presentation.

The team at RXBar decided that their packaging should match their brand message. So, instead of having packaging that talks about all the product’s benefits, they decided to simply list the ingredients.

Egg whites, almonds, pecans, cashews, and dates. That’s it. Honestly, it’s such a perfect fit for a no-nonsense brand identity, that I can’t believe no one else thought of it first!

How to Write Killer Copy Like a Pro

Now that you know what a copywriter does, it’s time to dig in and figure out how to do it yourself. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating copy that will reach your target audience and drive sales.

Step 1: Get to Know Your Audience

You wouldn’t start cooking a meal before knowing how many you are cooking for and what meals they like, right? The same applies to writing copy. Before you begin writing, you need to understand who, exactly, you are writing for.

Start by creating a buyer persona, or a fictional representation of your ideal customer. This will outline who your audience is, including their demographics, job title, location, age, and general information about income.

Consider using a tool like Xtensio, they offer templates that make it easy to create detailed user personas.

Xtensio buyer personal template copywriting guide

Don’t just wing this. Dig into your current customer data and look for customers with a high lifetime value or retention rate.

Once you have your buyer persona outlined, dig a little deeper by asking yourself questions like:

Who are you currently selling to?
Who would you like to sell to?
What do your current customers love about your offering?
What struggles do your customers face, and how do you help them solve those problems?

This information will guide you as you begin to write your copy.

Step 2: Use the Right Tone for Copywriting

Writing well is about more than choosing the right words. Tone, or the attitude your writing uses, gives your writing far more context than just the words you choose. It tells prospective customers if you are fun-loving, serious, quirky, or uber professional.

Consider these two copywriting examples for a fictional company that sells sales software:

Understand your customers better using state of the art software designed to take your business from zero to hero.

It’s professional, shares the tool’s major benefits (it’s advanced and helps you understand your customers better.) But it also uses a bit of a quirky tone “zero to hero” is a slang phrase that shows they don’t take themselves too seriously.

Now, consider this:

Gain a deeper understanding of your customers using our AI-powered sales software. SellingPlus software helps streamline your sales funnel and drive revenue.

This example has the same general information as the first, but the tone is more professional and digs a little deeper. They use AI to power their software and help improve the sales process. The tone is more professional, and is likely better suited to a C-suite executive or an enterprise company.

While the information is essentially the same, the tone is adjusted to the audience. It helps customers feel like they are in the right place and this software is right for their business.

If getting the right tone is a struggle, I’ve got great news. Grammarly has a built-in tool that helps you adjust your writing tone to fit your audience.

It allows you to outline exactly what tone you want to use based on your audience.

For example, if you choose a “general” audience, the tool will highlight complex sentences that might be hard for a general audience to understand.

Step 3: Stress Your UVP (Unique Value Proposition)

The internet and the rise of globalization has given us more options than ever.

If you want a new mattress, you don’t have to choose from the two local furniture stores — now you can order a mattress from anywhere in the world and have it delivered to your door in days.

Having more options is a good thing. For businesses, however, an increase in consumer options means there are more competitors

Which is why your copy needs to focus on what sets you apart, or your unique value proposition.

Let’s be honest — your business isn’t perfect for everyone, and you shouldn’t be!

Maybe you focus on helping small businesses handle their social media marketing or provide software that helps free-range chicken farmers track egg production.

Your UVP should be laser focused on explaining why you are the right fit for your specific audience.

For example, small businesses have a smaller budget and might want to focus on organic growth rather than paid social ads. Free-range egg farmers might need sensors that cover a wider area than factory farms.

Uber focuses on their convenience. They might not be the cheapest option and they might not be a good option for groups of 10, but they are convenient.

You don’t have to be good at everything. Rather than focusing on all the amazing things you do, take the time to settle on what really sets you apart.

Then focus on that in your copy.

Step 4: Use Copywriting to Solve the Pain Points

When you write copy, it’s tempting to focus on the good stuff like how awesome your product is or how much your current customers love you.

However, customers aren’t looking for a product or service because everything is sunshine and rainbows — they’re looking for a solution to a problem. Those problems are pain points, and they should be the main focus of your copy.

For example, when people consider using the key research tool Ubersuggest, they are looking for more traffic. That is the problem they are trying to solve.

The copy on the landing page focuses directly on that problem by asking, “Want more traffic?”

We could focus on what our tool does, or how it helps you research your competitors. Those are great features that users love. But that’s not what they are worried about — they just want more traffic.

According to copywriter Rose Crompton, there are six main pain points customers face:

Financial
Risk and trust
Ease and convenience
Productivity and time
Processes and journey
Communication and support

Think about what pain points your customers face and drive home how you help them solve that problem.

Step 5: Leverage Social Proof

Social proof is a powerful marketing principle. Here’s why it works: when we see that someone else has had a good experience with a product or service, we want to enjoy the same benefits.

Why is it so effective? Because we trust information that comes from other users, like family members or even celebrities, more than information that comes directly from brands.

Say you are looking for a new Indian restaurant. Are you more likely to trust your best friend’s recommendation or an ad you see on Facebook? In fact, 70 percent of consumers trust review sites, while only 33 percent trust advertising.

Social proof can help make copywriting more powerful by increasing trust.

There are two ways to leverage social proof in copywriting:

Use social proof to inspire your copywriting: Reviews and customer surveys can help you understand what customers love about your product. Use social proof to determine what pain points to focus on and what benefits to highlight.
Include social proof near copy: Add reviews and case studies to landing pages, homepages, and your website to strengthen your copy and show that other people like what you have to offer.

Step 6: Delete the Fluff

It’s easy to get long-winded when writing. You might be used to writing emails explaining decisions to your boss or crafting workflow documentations. In those situations, a few extra words won’t matter and might actually be helpful.

Even in a blog post, like this one, longer prose can work.

Not in copywriting.

When you write copy, every single word must serve a purpose. If it doesn’t educate, stress a benefit, or build a connection, it needs to go.

Here are a few common words and phrases to ditch when writing copy:

That
In order to
Maybe
Very
A little
Even
Just
Perhaps
So
Really
Of
Like

Now, your copy does have to be readable. Sometimes these words are necessary, but consider whether they actually bring anything to the table or are just filler.

Consider running your copy through the Hemmingway app, which looks for overly complex sentences and phrases.

Then, substitute these filler phrases with powerful words that drive action rather than taking up space.

Step 7: Test, Test, and Test Again

Copywriting is a process. Part of the process is figuring out what resonates with your prospective customers. No matter how much research you do or how many times you poll your audience, you need to A/B test your copy.

I’m consistently surprised by what works and what doesn’t in copywriting. Sometimes leads have different problems, sometimes the tone needs a bit of work. In addition, tastes change over time.

For example, two years ago telling customers you use AI might not have meant anything. Today, with the rise of AI and machine learning, that could be a selling point. If you stuck with the same old copy, you’d never know!

However, there’s one catch — don’t test drastically different versions of your copy. Instead, test one or at most two element changes and see which drives the most conversions. Pick the version that is most successful, then test again. And again.

Here’s a few elements to consider testing:

Point of view: “You can save” versus “Save now,” for example.
Button copy: “Buy Now”, “Get your free account” or “Sign up.”
Headlines: Focus on different features or pain points.
Formating: Bullet points versus numbers lists, for example.
Calls to action: What drives consumers to take action? Test multiple CTAs to see what works best.

Several tools make A/B testing you copy easy, including Google Optimize and Optimizely.

Remember, A/B testing should be an ongoing process you use to help improve your copy over time. Don’t run one or two tests and call it good.

How to Become a Copywriter

There are a few paths to becoming a copywriter, each with its perks and challenges.

Some copywriters choose to work for an agency and become staff copywriters. Let’s get one thing out of the way. The variety of assignments at these agencies can be overwhelming at first. After all, you’re expected to create copy for multiple products instead of just one. On the plus side, you’ll gain an impressive amount of experience pretty quickly.

Becoming a copywriter for an in-house marketing team is another common path. If you’re wondering the difference between agency copywriting and in-house copywriting, here’s an easy way to think about it.

Agency copywriting is a bit like teaching a group exercise class. You’re a great instructor, but you can’t commit your focus to any single person for the entire class. In-house copywriting is similar to a personal trainer. You’re able to lock onto your client and make them your absolute priority.

To be fair, most high-quality agencies do their best to make sure clients feel that 1-to-1 connection, but in-house teams simply have more freedom to dive deeper into their brands. This distinction is the reason so many established brands elect to hire an in-house copywriter. They need someone who lives and breathes the brand, brainstorming and strategizing 24/7.

I should also mention that as an in-house copywriter, it’s important to work with a brand you’re excited about. I’ve always found that the best salespeople are the ones who genuinely love a product. You might be able to craft technically competent content for them, but crafting copy for a brand you aren’t interested in means there’s little chance for inspiration to strike.

How Much Do Copywriters Make?

According to Glassdoor, a survey of over 4,000 salaries found that the average base pay for a copywriter in the U.S. is around $57,000 per year. On average, Lead Copywriters earn $67,000 per year, and Senior Copywriters earn over $90,000 per year.

Seven Step Guide To Better Copywriting

Copywriting can establish your brand, drive sales, and increase revenue. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating copy that will reach your target audience and drive sales.

Get to know your audience
Create a buyer persona to outline who your copy targets.
Use the right tone
Help customers feel like they are in the right place by adjusting your tone to fit your audience.
Stress your unique value proposition
Your UVP should be laser focused on explaining why you are the right fit for your specific audience.
Use copywriting to solve the pain points
Think about what pain points your customers face and use copy to drive home how you help solve that problem.
Leverage social proof
Reviews and customer surveys establish trust and help you understand which pain points to address.
Delete the fluff
Every single word must serve a purpose. If it doesn’t educate, stress a benefit, or build a connection, it needs to go.
Test your copy
No matter how much research you do or how many times you poll your audience, you need to test your copy to understand what messages resonate with your audience.

Conclusion

Learning to write powerful copy is key to a successful digital marketing strategy. The best product or service won’t sell if you don’t know how to write persuasive copy.

The copywriting tips above will help you understand your audience and focus on what matters so you can write copy that converts.

Need help with copywriting? Our team of expert copywriters and content marketers creates epic content that gets clicks, shares, and sales.

Do you have copywriting tips to add to the list? Share your best tips in the comments.

The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads Campaign Management

We’ve all seen Google Ads. Whether you call it Google AdSense, AdWords, or Ads, they’re the ads displayed in the search results on Google. Learning how to set them up is important, but learning how to manage and maintain their performance is a whole different ball game.

In this guide, we’re pulling back the curtain and looking at what steps you’ll want to take after you have the ad set up. Whether you have a high or low-performing Google ad, you’ll want to do these things regularly.

What Is Google Ad Campaign Management?

Setting up your Google Ads campaign is an important and essential piece of the puzzle, but the work doesn’t stop there. There’s no such thing as “passive income” when running and managing Google Ads campaigns.

Those who have successful ad campaigns spend a lot of time on the backend evaluating the performance of their ads, looking at different keywords, switching up the designs and copy, and testing everything against key metrics to see how they perform. These are the necessary steps toward building a campaign that can pay you for months and even years if you hit the nail on the head.

It’s worth the work in the long run, but you need to get your Google ads campaign management right if you expect to have those types of results.

Good thing Google provides us with some simple ways to track everything in the backend. First, you can set email notifications to alert you whenever something happens with your campaign.

For example, if you want to receive alerts for possible policy violations you can do this from your Google ads account under setup and preferences. Determine what you would like to trigger an email notification. Some people only want to receive an email for critical issues while others want to stay up to date on every little detail.

Step 1: Check Current Google Ad Performance

Before you can determine what you need to change, you need to first look at your ad performance and see what’s working and what isn’t. There are five key metrics to pay attention to:

impressions
clicks
cost
conversions
click-through rate (CTR)

Let’s break each of these down a little more.

Impressions

An impression occurs each time your ad is displayed and seen by someone on Google. The best way to increase your impressions is to increase your campaign budget. This can push you higher on Google, thus giving you more visibility. Budget plays a role here but ad quality and relevance are ultimately the most important factors.

If Google decides that your ad isn’t relevant to the audience you’re targeting, Google won’t display your ad high enough and you will end up with low impressions and poor performance.

Clicks

This is the bread and butter of a Google ads specialist. Everyone wants more clicks. A click happens when someone sees your ad and then clicks it. Ideally, you want as many clicks as possible but if your ad isn’t getting clicks, you may want to rethink your copy or ad targeting.

Cost

Cost is the amount of money you spend, simple right? What’s more important is your “cost per click,” or CPC.

The way talented advertisers are able to scale ads is by determining how much money they need to put in to get a click or conversion. If you can determine that spending $2 on Google ads results in you making $5 for every click, it’s simple math at that point. Spend $4 and you’ll make $10, and keep building it up from there.

It’s not that simple, though. Your bid, quality score, and ad rank will impact how much you need to spend. Your bid is the maximum amount of money you’re willing to pay for a click. The quality score is a rating Google provides from 1-10 based on how relevant your ad, landing page, and keywords are. The ad rank is Google’s value to determine where they will place your ad in the SERPs.

Conversions

A conversion occurs when someone takes the action you want them to take; this happens off the search engine results page and on your landing page or website. For example, if you’re running an ad for an e-commerce store and you want people to see the ad, click it, and then buy a suit on your landing page, each time someone buys the suit, that would be a conversion.

Google provides ways for us to track this using conversion tracking as discussed in the video above.

Click-Through Rate

Your CTR is the best way for Google to measure the relevance of your ad. It also allows you to determine if the ad is resonating with the audience you’ve chosen. A high click-through rate means that a lot of people are seeing the ad, clicking it, and converting. That’s a high-performing ad.

If you get a lot of impressions or clicks, but little conversions, it could mean your ad copy is good but the product or service you’re selling doesn’t align with the ad. Your CTR is a percentage based on the number of clicks and impressions.

Click-through rate = number of clicks / number of impressions x 100

The standard in most industries is five percent but you can still have success with a lower click-through rate.

Step 2: Reevaluate Your Ad Targeting

With every type of digital marketing, targeting is an important factor. You want to understand the buyer intent of your audience and if you don’t have a solid buyer persona drawn up, you’ll want to start there.

What does your ideal customer want? What do they look like? Where do they live? How much money do they make? What are their interests? What upsets them? Think about all of these things when determining your ad targeting because you need to get inside their head if you can expect them to click on your ad and convert.

Here are some examples of the metrics you can use for Google ad targeting:

Demographics: targeting based on location, age, gender, and devices
Affinity: reaching your audience using search and display networks
In-market: showing ads to people with a history of searching for products just like yours
Custom intent: choosing keywords related to the people who have engaged with similar content
Remarketing: targeting people who have interacted with you in the past but might not have converted

Step 3: A/B Test Ad Copy and Design

Now let’s take a look at your ad copy and design. It’s broken down into a few different segments:

your offer
your headline
your description
the URL
zny extensions

If any of these factors are hurting the performance of your ad, test them up against something else. The most important thing to learn is you only want to change one thing at a time. That’s the only way to figure out if that was the culprit.

For example, if you find yourself getting a lot of impressions but you’re not converting well, you might want to change the headline because it’s not enticing people to click. If you find that you’re getting a lot of clicks but little conversions, maybe your offer isn’t relevant enough.

Dynamic ads are a great way to work around this because they pull content directly from your site to ensure that the headline and description are relevant to the offer. This takes some of the thinking out of it and it’s worth testing up against a custom ad.

Step 4: Dig Into Negative Keywords

No need to complicate this: Negative keywords are keywords that you don’t want to display your ad for. There are many reasons why someone would do this but one of the big ones is you’re letting Google make a lot of the decisions for you. In that case, you might want to use negative keywords for things such as brand names, competitors, or other keywords that you know won’t lead to a conversion.

To add negative keywords, you’ll go into the Google ads campaign manager, select keywords, Negatives, and add the keywords to the proper ad group.

Step 5: Optimize Your Landing Pages

Remember that a big part of Google ads campaign management actually happens off the SERPs. It happens on your landing pages as well. If you have an ad that is getting a lot of impressions and clicks but you’re still not converting, chances are there is something wrong with your landing page. You’ll want to fix this quickly before Google finds out and drops your ad lower due to low relevance.

Optimizing your landing page requires you to take a look at the overall offer, the headline, structure of the page, CTA, and placement of buttons and calls to action. The best way to identify the problem is to A/B test.

If you think that you don’t have enough CTA buttons on the landing page, create a duplicate page and add a few more to see what happens. Doing so will require you to get a high-quality landing page builder and optimization tool like Unbounce and Convert.com. Convert is a great tool with A/B testing and it allows you to really pinpoint certain steps to take to improve the performance of your landing page.

Step 6: Consider Switching to Automated Bidding

When you create a Google ad, you have two choices: automated or manual bidding. Each has its pros and cons.

Automated bidding allows Google to decide how much you’ll pay per click based on a few key metrics.

Increase site visits: If you’re trying to increase visitors to your site, you can choose to optimize your ad based on clicks.
Increase visibility: Target impression share sets bids with the goal of showing your ad as high on the page as possible. You may end up getting less clicks this way, but you can quickly spread awareness.
More conversions: If you want more conversions on-site, you’ll optimize for your target cost-per-action. You may pay more per conversion but you’ll convert more visitors.
Target ROAS: If you want to meet a certain return on ad spend, you can allow Google to pay what it thinks you should based on how you value each conversion.

Keep in mind that choosing manual bidding requires you to figure this all out yourself. You won’t have the luxury of picking a “blanket” goal and having Google optimize your ad spend for you. However, manual bidding does give you more control.

Step 7: Avoid Common Google Ad Mistakes

There are a few critical Google ads mistakes that can kill your ad from the get-go. Here are a few examples:

Using the Wrong Keyword Match

We’ve all heard of keyword match: broad match, phrase match, and exact match, right? Choosing the wrong one will make it more difficult for your ad to reach your audience.

For example, broad match will display your ad when someone searches for a phrase similar to your target phrase. This can work well in the beginning when you’re experimenting and gathering data. If you don’t know a lot about your audience, you wouldn’t want to use “exact match” because you don’t have the data to back it up.

Bad Ad Copy

Your ad copy is the key to the mint essentially. If you know how to write great copy, you shouldn’t have a problem converting as long as your audience, ad match, and everything else is in place. Be sure you squeeze in every character Google allows. The goal is to make your ad stand out.

Not Having Clear Margins

Keep in mind no matter what you do, Google isn’t looking out for your finances. You’re the only one who knows what you can spend to break even or profit from your ads. If you don’t have this figured out and established ahead of time, you can end up spending way too much on ads and having to play catch up later on.

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Ads Campaign Management

What is a campaign in Google ads?

A campaign is simply a set of ad groups that share a budget, targeting, and other settings. You can have multiple ads within the campaign you’re testing.

How do I run a successful Google Ads campaign?

The best way to run a successful campaign is to try and try again. Don’t be afraid to test a lot of different factors, too. You never know what will work.

What is a good daily budget for Google Ads?

If you’re just starting out, you shouldn’t spend more than $10-$20 per day until you see how everything is performing. In the beginning, the goal is to gather data so you can optimize your ads. If you’re just starting out, you shouldn’t spend more than $10-$20 dollars per day until you see how everything is performing. Don’t expect to hit a home run right away.

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Google Ads Campaign Management Conclusion

Remember setting up your ad and hitting start is only one piece of the equation. The steps you take after that will really determine the success of your ad. You can start out with a low-performing ad but take steps to optimize, test, and change the ad, and end up with a highly successful campaign, resulting in a lot of money in your pocket. If you need help getting your ad off the ground, we can help.

What do you think is the No. 1 thing that kills a successful ad campaign?

The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads Campaign Management

What Is Google Ad Campaign Management?

It’s worth the work in the long run, but you need to get your Google ads campaign management right if you expect to have those types of results.

Good thing Google provides us with some simple ways to track everything in the backend. First, you can set email notifications to alert you whenever something happens with your campaign.

Step 1: Check Current Google Ad Performance

Before you can determine what you need to change, you need to first look at your ad performance and see what’s working and what isn’t. There are five key metrics to pay attention to:

impressions
clicks
cost
conversions
click-through rate (CTR)

Let’s break each of these down a little more.

Impressions

If Google decides that your ad isn’t relevant to the audience you’re targeting, Google won’t display your ad high enough and you will end up with low impressions and poor performance.

Clicks

Cost

Cost is the amount of money you spend, simple right? What’s more important is your “cost per click,” or CPC.

Conversions

Google provides ways for us to track this using conversion tracking as discussed in the video above.

Click-Through Rate

Click-through rate = number of clicks / number of impressions x 100

The standard in most industries is five percent but you can still have success with a lower click-through rate.

Step 2: Reevaluate Your Ad Targeting

Here are some examples of the metrics you can use for Google ad targeting:

Demographics: targeting based on location, age, gender, and devices
Affinity: reaching your audience using search and display networks
In-market: showing ads to people with a history of searching for products just like yours
Custom intent: choosing keywords related to the people who have engaged with similar content
Remarketing: targeting people who have interacted with you in the past but might not have converted

Step 3: A/B Test Ad Copy and Design

Now let’s take a look at your ad copy and design. It’s broken down into a few different segments:

your offer
your headline
your description
the URL
zny extensions

Step 4: Dig Into Negative Keywords

To add negative keywords, you’ll go into the Google ads campaign manager, select keywords, Negatives, and add the keywords to the proper ad group.

Step 5: Optimize Your Landing Pages

Step 6: Consider Switching to Automated Bidding

When you create a Google ad, you have two choices: automated or manual bidding. Each has its pros and cons.

Automated bidding allows Google to decide how much you’ll pay per click based on a few key metrics.

Increase site visits: If you’re trying to increase visitors to your site, you can choose to optimize your ad based on clicks.
Increase visibility: Target impression share sets bids with the goal of showing your ad as high on the page as possible. You may end up getting less clicks this way, but you can quickly spread awareness.
More conversions: If you want more conversions on-site, you’ll optimize for your target cost-per-action. You may pay more per conversion but you’ll convert more visitors.
Target ROAS: If you want to meet a certain return on ad spend, you can allow Google to pay what it thinks you should based on how you value each conversion.

Step 7: Avoid Common Google Ad Mistakes

There are a few critical Google ads mistakes that can kill your ad from the get-go. Here are a few examples:

Using the Wrong Keyword Match

We’ve all heard of keyword match: broad match, phrase match, and exact match, right? Choosing the wrong one will make it more difficult for your ad to reach your audience.

Bad Ad Copy

Not Having Clear Margins

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Ads Campaign Management

What is a campaign in Google ads?

A campaign is simply a set of ad groups that share a budget, targeting, and other settings. You can have multiple ads within the campaign you’re testing.

How do I run a successful Google Ads campaign?

The best way to run a successful campaign is to try and try again. Don’t be afraid to test a lot of different factors, too. You never know what will work.

What is a good daily budget for Google Ads?

Google Ads Campaign Management Conclusion

What do you think is the No. 1 thing that kills a successful ad campaign?

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How to Create Ultimate Guides to Drive Leads, Traffic, and Conversions

Ultimate guides are everywhere. You’ve probably read your fair share, and maybe you’ve even written a couple.

They can be a great way to get traffic, build links, and increase your authority, but they’re far from easy to create. The issue most people run into is the sheer amount of content out there nowadays. How do you create an ultimate guide if there are already tons of posts on your chosen subject?

In this post, we’ll look at the steps to creating the ultimate guide on just about anything.

What Is an Ultimate Guide?

What turns a lengthy blog post into an ultimate guide? Well, there are a few things that almost every in-depth guide has in common:

It goes very deep into a pretty broad topic.
It contains several chapters that look at the topic from a variety of angles.
An industry expert or researcher writes it.

Apart from that, what you put in your ultimate guide and how you design it is up to you.

Why You Should Create an Ultimate Guide

If you didn’t know how powerful ultimate guides are already, here’s why you should start creating them right now.

Rank for Many Keywords

The length, depth, and authority that go into ultimate guides make them a fantastic weapon in your SEO arsenal. The fact that they are so detailed means they should rank for a huge number of keywords. Including internal links to your other blog posts boosts their rankings, too.

Get Backlinks

A big, in-depth resource like an ultimate guide can be a fantastic source of links. Not only can you use it to go out there and request a backlink as part of your link-building process, but other sites naturally start linking to an authoritative resource, too. So much so that your ultimate guide can continue to attract links for years to come.

Build Your Authority

There are few pieces of marketing collateral better at positioning your brand as an authority in your industry than an ultimate guide. This is your opportunity to showcase how much you know about your subject to the world and go above and beyond what has previously been written about your topic.

How to Pick Topics for Your Ultimate Guide

Picking a topic can be a huge stumbling block for many aspiring writers. Don’t get bogged down overthinking it, though. Here’s how you can find the perfect topic quickly.

Choose a Topic You Know About

This first point is obvious, but it needs to be said. You need to know your topic inside and out if you want to write an excellent guide. That doesn’t mean you can’t use a freelance writer to help you out, but you should give them a thorough brief and create the outline of the guide yourself.

Choose a Topic With High Search Traffic

Not every guide needs to be written with the express purpose of ranking in Google, but it can seriously help drive traffic and generate customers. That’s why I recommend you enter your topic ideas into a tool like Ubersuggest to see the keyword volumes of the main topic and the volumes of every other related keyword.

Don’t just pick the topic that has the main keyword with the highest search volume, however. You may find another topic has so many more related keywords that it could actually generate more traffic overall.

Choose a Topic That’s Trending

Ultimate guides are successful when they’re written about trending topics. When people are excited about a topic, they want to consume all the information they can find about it. Your guide should be a part of that, too.

That’s not the only reason you want to focus on what’s trending, though. The newer your post is, the better it might do in search results if someone is searching by posts made within the last week, month, and so on.

How to Create an Ultimate Guide

With your topic picked, it’s time to get to work creating your guide. Here’s how I recommend you go about it.

1. Consume as Much Content as You Can

Even if you’re an expert in your field, you’ll still want to read blog posts on your topic before you start writing. Doing so will help you understand the level of content currently out there, the common threads writers pull, and the things you need to mention.

Pay attention to the results that Google serves up, too. You’ll find that specific formats are more popular than others, and you’ll want to try to mirror these when it comes to writing your content.

2. Identify What’s Missing

While you’re reading other people’s content, make a note of everything that’s missing from the posts. If you’re writing a how-to post, be sure to go through the steps yourself after reading posts by others.

Then, jot down things you notice during the process that others might have missed or not explained thoroughly. It also might help to sit down with someone who is unfamiliar with your topic and see what questions they come up with.

3. Do Research

You can write an ultimate guide off the back of your expertise alone—but you can make it stand head and shoulders above everyone else’s content if you conduct your research.

For some, this is a case of canvassing their colleagues and contacts for their opinion on a certain topic. Others might want to commit to more detailed research and partner with a market research company that’ll carry out a study on their behalf.

The more effort you put into the research, the more valuable and link-worthy your ultimate guide will become.

4. Put It All Together

To create your ultimate guide, simply combine the basics plus the additional details you found were missing from other posts and your research. This way, people coming across your guide as the first piece of content they have read about a topic will get all of the basic information, and people who have read many other guides will be wowed by all of the missing pieces that you included.

5. Promote, Promote, Promote

An ultimate guide is no good if no one reads it. Considering the amount of time and energy you have spent on your ultimate guide, you owe it to yourself and your readers to promote it well. Do so by:

Sharing it on all of your social networks: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are the best. Promote it on your personal and business accounts, if possible.
Sharing it in groups on social networks: LinkedIn, for example, has some great groups on particular topics. Facebook has some as well, although many are full of spammers who are just there for their promotions. This will expand your guide’s exposure from just your network to all of the members of the groups you select.
Emailing your list: If you have a mailing list, let them know about your latest and greatest piece of content.
Repurposing your content: If you can turn your ultimate guide into an infographic, video, slide presentation, or PDF document, you can spread it on even more networks.

4 Tips to Create an Awesome Ultimate Guide

If you want to take your ultimate guide to the next level, bear in mind these four tips when writing.

Write Clearly and Format Appropriately

You don’t have to be Hemingway to write a great ultimate guide, but take a lesson from Ernest regarding clarity. Short, clear, punchy sentences win out here, especially when writing thousands of words on your topic. Long, convoluted paragraphs may help you get your message across, but they’ll only cause the reader’s mind to wander.

Formatting will also help in this regard. Clearly labeled titles and subheadings will make your guide much more digestible. Short paragraphs will, too. Don’t forget that most of your audience will be reading your advice on a screen, so consider how they might skim it for the information they’re looking for.

Include Images and Screenshots

One thing I sometimes find missing from other ultimate guides is good screenshots. Take yours using your account of the topic as opposed to generic stock photos. This will make it easier for others to follow along and visualize the process.

Use Real-Life Examples

Once you have the basics and missing pieces down for your ultimate guide, look for some good examples of your tips in action. If you’re talking about creating great timeline cover photos, then include some examples from pages in different industries.

If you’re talking about using Pinterest to drive traffic, then link to top Pinterest users who are doing things right. Think about your target audience and find examples that they can easily relate to so they feel they must follow your advice to be successful.

Don’t Break Up Your Hard Work

There is a lot of advice out there suggesting you should take long posts and break them up into a series, so you can get people to come back to your website over and over again. However, I find that if someone hits a piece of content that says 101 Tips on ___, and the post only includes steps 1–20 with the promise of more to come, they move on to find everything they’re looking for elsewhere.

People want to consume information now, not wait for it. When they read the words ultimate guide, they’re going to expect to get everything in one chunk, so unless you are planning to write 5,000+ words on a topic, keep it in one piece.

Examples of Great Ultimate Guides

There are a lot of great ultimate guides out there, but here are some of my all-time favorites.

The Ultimate Guide to Startup Marketing

Examples of Great Content Guides - Neil Patel

If you’re looking to grow your startup, I’m pretty sure you’ll get a huge amount of value out of my ultimate guide on the topic.

How to Design a Logo: The Ultimate Guide

With 12 chapters and virtually every angle covered, there’s no reason to read another guide before creating your logo.

The Ultimate Guide to Cart Abandonment

Examples of Great Content Guides - Cart Abandonment

If you’ve ever wondered why shoppers are leaving your website at checkout, this mammoth guide by VWO will answer all your questions.

The Ultimate Guide to Writing & Illustrating Your First Children’s Book

Examples of Great Content Guides - Guide to Writing Your First Children's Book

Ultimate guides don’t have to be about marketing, as this guide by Eevi Jones proves.

How to Pick a Career

While Tim Urban hasn’t called this an ultimate guide, you’re unlikely to find a more thoughtful or detailed blog post on picking a career anywhere online.

Further Resources on Ultimate Guides

This blog post isn’t exhaustive by any means. If you want to dive deep into creating high-quality long-form content, then check out these five resources:

How to Create an Ebook From Start to Finish by HubSpot
The Ultimate Guide Template by Copyhackers
Your Ultimate Guide on How to Write an Ultimate Guide (Infographic) by Express Writers
The Ultimate Guide to Creating a True ‘Ultimate Guide’ by Search Engine Journal
The Ultimate Guide To Content Promotion by Marketing Insider Group

How to Create Specs for an Ultimate Guide

You don’t have to write your ultimate guide yourself. If you’re hiring a freelance writer to write your guide for you, here’s how you can create a spec they can follow with ease.

Give an overview.
A top-level overview can help a writer quickly get to grips with the topic and goals of the ultimate guide.
Create a clear structure.
Take the initiative and write an outline that includes all of the major points you want the writer to talk about. This makes sure all of the gaps you identified in other pieces of content get covered.
Include keyword research.
If improved rankings are one of your main goals, then highlight the keywords you’re aiming to rank for.
Note or record your expertise.
Where appropriate, make notes for the writer to help guide them. Alternatively, you can record yourself talking about the topic.
Provide additional resources.
Highlight a handful of top-quality resources your writer can turn to for inspiration.
Set a deadline
Expect an ultimate guide to take a fair bit longer to write than a standard blog post.

Ultimate Guide Frequently Asked Questions

How long should my ultimate guide be?

There isn’t a defined length for an ultimate guide, but most are at least 3,000 words in length.

How do I distribute my ultimate guide to my target audience?

You can use social media and email to get your ultimate guide in front of your target audience.

Should I create more than one ultimate guide for my website?

Absolutely. Ultimate guides offer a lot of value in terms of SEO and building your authority, so you should write as many as you can.

At what part of the funnel are ultimate guides most useful?

Ultimate guides can be used at any part of your funnel, but they’ll be most useful towards the top. They are great at attracting users into your funnel and converting them to email subscribers.

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}

How to Create Ultimate Guides Conclusion

Ultimate guides are an incredibly valuable marketing resource. I’ve used them to generate huge levels of traffic, build my reputation as an authority in the industry, and improve my site’s SEO.

Follow the advice I’ve given above, and you’ll be on your way to achieving your content goals while sharing valuable insights about your chosen topic.

Have you created an ultimate guide on your website or blog? What other tips would you add to making your ultimate guide a success?

The Ultimate Guide to Customer Acquisition: Examples, Tips, and Resources

Customer acquisition is a huge pain point for many business owners. Even more difficult is developing a consistent way of bringing in new business.

Your goal should be to put together a system that acquires customers almost on autopilot. That’s easier said than done, though.

This guide should help get you started.

What Is Customer Acquisition?

Customer acquisition is your business’s process of bringing in new customers. The goal of every business is to create procedures that make acquiring new customers simple and systematized. Unfortunately, many small businesses and freelancers have a hard time developing a process for bringing in new clients.

An important piece of the puzzle is a business’s ability to measure its customer acquisition cost. In the digital marketing realm, this is often referred to as “CPA” or “cost-per-acquisition.”

It applies across the board, whether you’re using paid advertising, organic reach, print, radio, TV, or anything else. You should know how much you need to spend to acquire a customer. Once you determine that, it becomes much easier to scale up your marketing because you know you can pump more dollars into your campaigns and get XYZ in terms of customers out the other end.

What Is the Purpose of Customer Acquisition?

The purpose of customer acquisition is self-explanatory. Without a customer, you don’t have a business. Without consistent customers, you don’t have a stable business.

A little caveat here is businesses should also focus on customer retention, which is different from an acquisition. Retention is your effort to keep the customers you already have rather than going through the vicious cycle of constantly needing to acquire new ones. Increasing your retention by only five percent can increase your profits by as much as 95 percent.

When you combine customer acquisition and retention, you have a sure-fire recipe for success. Here’s why:

It helps you make the money you need to cover costs and pay employees, allowing you to reinvest in the business and drive better results for your clients.
It shows steady growth and success to partners, investors, and outside influencers.

Being able to continually drive new business towards your company keeps everyone happy, but it’s not the end goal. The goal is to retain the customers you have as long as you can. Although it costs money to acquire new ones, it doesn’t cost anything to keep them.

Customer Acquisition Versus Lead Generation

There may be some confusion about the difference between the two, but it’s actually simple: Lead generation is one step of the customer acquisition funnel. A person or entity must first become aware of your business before they can buy anything from you. This generally happens as a result of lead generation.

For example, let’s say your business is running a Facebook ad. This usually happens to cold traffic (people who have never heard of you). They see your ad and pause to look for a second. They’ve now become a lead and are no longer cold traffic because they are aware of you.

Maybe they click the ad, fill out a form, and end up having a conversation with you. All of these are steps in the overall customer acquisition funnel. Lead generation is simply one step.

How to Create a Customer Acquisition Plan

Now let’s talk about some of the actionable steps you can take to develop the best customer acquisition strategies.

1. Identify Your Customer Avatar

The first step for every business (before they’re even a business!) should be to create a customer avatar or buyer persona. This is your ideal customer: who they are, what they like, their problems, and their demographic information.

It’s a great strategy for a business to know who their customer is as early as possible. For example, if you sell anti-aging cream, you have a very clear audience who would be interested in that product. Your audience might be women ages 40+ who have a developed skincare routine but are looking for a little extra help. They might be middle to upper-middle class and can’t afford surgery or cosmetic procedures, but they can afford your cream.

If you know exactly who your target is, you’ll have a much easier time acquiring them because your ad copy, text, images, and products will speak their language.

2. Determine Goals

Once you have your customer avatar, jot down some goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your marketing efforts? Here are some examples:

Awareness: Are you trying to spread awareness of a cause, shed light on something, or make yourself known to a specific audience?
In-person: Does your business require people to physically come into a brick-and-mortar location?
Phone call: You might need to convert the online traffic into a phone inquiry.
Form: Is your traffic still in the early stages of learning about you? If so, you might just want them to complete a form.
Conversion: If the traffic you’re targeting already knows who you are, you might simply be trying to get them to convert into a sale.

Regardless of what your goal is, you need to have one. The clearer the direction you take, the easier it will be to convey the proper message and get your audience to do what you want them to.

3. Choose a Platform or Avenue

Once you’ve figured out who your audience is and what you want them to do, you need to determine what method to use to reach them. There are many different customer acquisition channels, both online and offline. Here are some of the most popular:

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a great long-term way to develop customer relationships and drive traffic to whatever it is you’re looking to accomplish. Best of all, there’s no right or wrong way to do it because you can put together content based on your niche.

Just keep in mind that content marketing isn’t as simple as blogging on your website and expecting people to find it. You need to understand basic SEO and realize that this is a long-term strategy and can take months before you see results.

Social Media

Acquiring customers on social media offers a few different avenues. You can use paid ads, which I’ll discuss shortly, or you can do it the slow way by building up an organic following, posting regularly, and reaching out to people to start conversations.

I like using social media in the most natural way possible, and that’s by “being social.” Start conversations, send messages, and provide value to people. They will respond. Seventy-three percent of marketers find social media “somewhat effective” or “very effective” in their business. It all starts with a conversation.

Paid Advertising

Whether you choose PPC on Google or social media ads like Facebook, paid advertising is a great way to get your business in front of the right audience right away. Keep in mind that Google Ads have a 100 percent ROI, but that does require you to understand how to do it right.

4. Set a Budget

You need to have a budget and customer acquisition cost formula if you plan to have success. Marketing can quickly run more expensive than you expected if you don’t have a set budget in place ahead of time.

Start with a small budget and work your way up as you start to experience success.

5. Optimize and Tweak

Once you’ve had a chance to compile data on how people are receiving your ads, pieces of content, etc., you can optimize and tweak as necessary. For example, if you find that a specific demographic is converting the best on a social media ad, you might want to allot more ad spend to those people and take some away from the people who aren’t converting.

3 Examples of Successful Customer Acquisition

One of the best ways to understand how to implement and measure customer acquisition is to see other companies do it successfully. Here are some examples you can piggyback off of:

Shopify: Interactive Content

Examples of Successful Customer Acquisition - Shopify

Shopify is the e-commerce giant responsible for thousands of successful e-commerce stores. One great way that they drive customers towards the site is with interactive content such as business name generators, quizzes, and even product choice suggestions. This is not only fun, but it keeps you on the site longer, which looks good to Google.

The content you create needs to be interesting and unique. The internet is a highly competitive environment, and you can’t just post anything and expect people to read it and react.

Turbotax: Free, Free, Free

Examples of Successful Customer Acquisition - Turbotax

Turbotax is a great example of using multiple platforms to convey your message. We’ve likely all seen their ads somewhere when they talk about how their service is free for individuals and always will be. If you understand neuro-linguistic programming, you know that “free” is a big buzzword.

Make sure you’re offering enough value to your customers in exchange for what you’re asking. Advertising has changed, and it’s no longer as simple as telling people what you do. You need to provide value.

Swagbucks: Referral Marketing

Examples of Successful Customer Acquisition - Swagbucks

One of the best ways to get more customers is to have your customers get them for you. Referral marketing is a powerful method because it doesn’t cost much, and you’re rewarding the customers you already have, which can help increase customer retention.

This method is especially useful at the beginning of a business’s life when you’re trying to grow your network and establish credibility. Offer something to your customers for every lead they bring your way.

5 Tips to Improve Your Customer Acquisition Strategy

Here are some bonus tips to help you nail down your customer acquisition:

1. Master the CTA

Your call-to-action (CTA) needs to be perfect once you know your audience and have traffic. At this point, it becomes all about what you’re doing to convert the traffic you have. Conversion rate optimization becomes the key, and it usually starts with having a crystal clear and persuasive CTA.

2. Track Everything

You should be tracking every little detail about your prospective customers. Most importantly, focusing on the right metrics will take things to the next level. Demographic information, heat maps, abandoned carts, retargeting—all of these are important. This data can help you understand more about your audience so you can further optimize the ads for future success.

3. Make Sure the UX Is Perfect

If you’re getting traffic, the ads are working, and everything seems to be going well, but you still don’t have customers, there could be another reason. Make sure your site is fully functional, mobile-optimized, fast-loading, and easy to use.

4. Be Patient

It can take as long as a week to build up enough data on Google ads. If you change or cancel an ad before that time, you might be shooting yourself in the foot. The same applies to content marketing. It takes a long time for Google to recognize your content and index it properly.

5. Diversify

I believe in spreading yourself around and making sure you’re reaching as many people as you can. If you think some of your audience would respond to a different method of customer acquisition, set a budget for it, and give it a go.

Customer Acquisition FAQs

Below, see some of the most frequently asked questions about customer acquisition.

What is a good customer acquisition cost?

A good customer acquisition cost is whatever you need to be profitable. It will vary from business to business. All that matters is that you’re not spending more to acquire a customer than they will pay you. Keep in mind operating costs as well.

How do you manage customer acquisition?

Many businesses have people in charge of this or an entire department. Of course, it can be difficult for small businesses, so it might make more sense to outsource it.

Is it more cost-effective to keep a customer than to acquire a new one?

Acquiring new customers has been deemed the “startup killer” for a reason. It’s much cheaper to retain than acquire, but you can’t have one without the other. Make sure you’re focusing on both.

What is acquisition rate?

Find this number by dividing the total number of people who opted into your campaign by the total number of people who saw it.

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Summary of The Customer Acquisition Guide

There are many ways to approach customer acquisition, and while most of the methods lead to the same place, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You need to figure out what marketing method works best for your business and how you can implement it consistently.

Most importantly, understanding your customer and their objective is crucial. Once you’ve done that, the rest falls into place.

What customer acquisition methods do you use in your business?

The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for E-Commerce

Social media for e-commerce has become a critical element in sales growth for many businesses. Using social media to boost your marketing offers many benefits to help build your business, so don’t wait to explore these valuable channels.

Sprout Social reports that after following a brand on social media, consumers continue to engage in other ways. Ninety-one percent check out the brand’s website or app, 89 percent make a purchase, and 85 percent recommend the brand to someone they know.

Let’s look at what you can do to promote your e-commerce business with social media and which tools and best practices you should use.

14 Steps for E-Commerce Companies to Find Success Using Social Media

The more people integrate social media platforms into their daily routines, the more it makes sense to market to them here. Consumers spend almost two and a half hours per day on social media channels.

Why not reach them with social posts where you know they spend a significant amount of time? For example, eye-catching posts with appealing visuals like these posts from Sephora are a great way to market products on Instagram.

Social Media for E-Commerce - Sephora on Instagram

How can you stay on top of new developments and know what you should be doing to serve your customers best? Follow industry leaders in your feeds and keep tabs on trending topics in your industry. You can also discreetly watch what other companies are doing that seems to gain traction.

While social commerce is still relatively new, it’s making a significant impact on e-commerce businesses and how they market to customers. As each platform improves its features to help users sell, opportunities grow for businesses to tap into these audiences to boost their marketing.

The steps below can help you develop best practices in your business to optimize your social media for e-commerce.

1. Define Your E-Commerce Company’s Social Media Goals

There are two main ways to use social media for e-commerce: to drive traffic to your company website or drive sales. While each can be important in its way, it’s essential to identify which you value most so you can effectively plan how to use your resources.

It’s essential to establish your goals before investing time into strategy and implementation to ensure you’re taking action to move you closer to your goals.

If you don’t set goals, you can’t measure your success or repeat what works.

2. Decide If You Want to Become a Social Commerce Company

Social commerce is selling directly to your customers on social media platforms. Everything from discovering your product or service, to a buying decision, to the checkout process happens in the app or platform they are already using.

Target’s Facebook page, for example, has a shop built right into it where customers can browse and purchase products.

Social Media for E-Commerce - Target on Facebook

You might find success with social commerce if you sell products that a potential customer can quickly evaluate online from a photo and might buy on impulse. Think lower price points and items that aren’t likely to need returning.

An apparel company might successfully sell their clothing and accessories on social media as the process suits how people tend to buy these products.

When is social commerce perhaps not a great fit? If your products or services are higher ticket items where customers want to discern quality in-person. A customer buying an engagement ring will want to spend more time evaluating options and vetting sellers than social commerce might allow.

Start by focusing on the networks your ideal customer and target audience uses the most. Take time to engage your audiences and respond to their comments and questions.

Whether or not you want to pursue social commerce for your business, you should still be investing in social media marketing. Social channels can help boost your visibility, increase website traffic, generate leads, and help you engage with your customers.

3. Create a Social Media Strategy for Your E-Commerce Company

You’ll need a social media strategy for your e-commerce company that considers your goals, your resources, and the best platforms that will help you reach your customers. Once you clarify these parts of your strategy, you can expand on each element to create effective campaigns that fit your goals.

When you work from a social media strategy, you’re also more likely to use best practices to help you be more effective overall. Get a clear idea of your target audience, where they spend time, and their worries. From here, do some research to check which platforms are most popular with your target demographic.

With this information, you’ll be better able to plan where your time and effort will pay off.

4. Determine Which Social Media Channels Your E-Commerce Company Should Target

First, look for established platforms that offer a range of features, different ways to advertise and sell products, and focused targeting. Some may appeal to you because they are an excellent fit for your products.

The apparel brand we mentioned earlier would likely want to use Instagram because it is image-focused, and consumers are already used to discovering and purchasing apparel on the app.

Next, consider which platforms attract your target demographic. You’ll want to go where your ideal customers spend time.

What kind of data might inform your decision? With some research, you might discover 60 percent of Pinterest users are women, and 98 percent of Facebook users access the site via mobile devices. From these and other data points, you’ll be able to pinpoint which platforms might be best for your business.

5. Optimize Your Social Media Accounts for E-Commerce

One of the first steps you’ll need to take is to optimize your social media accounts. Fill out your profiles completely, adding helpful information wherever you can.

Make it easy for people to find the information they need at a glance to understand your business and buy from you. Perform research to identify relevant keywords and hashtags to use so you show up in search results. Make your location obvious.

Be sure to link to pages where customers can find the products they clicked through to see. Use clear CTAs so people know what to do to buy from you.

6. Run Social Media Paid Campaigns Optimized for E-Commerce Companies

Nearly every social platform has a version of paid advertising that can allow you to raise visibility even as organic reach becomes more challenging to achieve.

There are also different ad types on each, so it can be valuable to explore the various options. You may try different types of ads on each platform. You might try retargeting ads on Facebook, but use Shoppable posts on Instagram. Take advantage of audience targeting capabilities on each.

7. Use Automation Tools

If social media is a part of your sales strategy, you’ll need to explore automation tools and use what you can. Why is automation so key to social selling? People expect timely and personal interaction on social media networks. To meet their expectations, you’re going to need help.

It’s simply not possible to run a successful business and spend every waking moment online replying to comments and answering questions. Social media is like a storefront that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week (plus holidays!), so don’t take the chance of turning people away or missing crucial requests or concerns.

8. Consider the Mobile Experience

More people are accessing social media networks and websites via their phones than ever before. When it comes to social media for e-commerce, however, mobile design is just the first step. The whole purchase journey needs to be seamless.

Payment options should be mobile-friendly. Apple Pay, for example, allows you to let users make purchases from their phones. We’ll look at more payment options further down the page.

Consider content formats as well. With more than 100 million hours of video consumed on Facebook every day, you’ll want to offer videos in vertical format for mobile users. People like convenience, a personalized experience, and to feel like they can easily navigate and engage with your site.

9. Optimize Landing Pages for E-Commerce

Optimizing your landing pages for e-commerce helps create a better user experience by providing people with all the information they need to make a buying decision.

If they click through to your site, you want them to understand quickly they’re in the right place. They should be able to move seamlessly to purchasing the item they wanted.

Ensure you have high-quality product images and videos, if appropriate, with well-written product copy outlining features and benefits. Include sizing or specifications on the product page and clear calls to action (CTAs) to help them convert.

10. Create Clear CTAs on Social Media Optimized for E-Commerce

CTAs are what motivate your user to convert to a customer. Take the time to craft these carefully and include them in each interaction you have with potential customers.

You can use different CTAs, like asking questions, including hyperlinks, or simply adding clickable buttons. Your page design might include banners with clear offers, sidebar clickable buttons, or pop-up ads to help customers convert.

11. Ensure Easy Website Navigation

User experience (UX) should be your priority when you launch your e-commerce site. You want shoppers to find products quickly and understand how to move from browsing to purchasing without confusion.

The easier you make it for people to buy from you, the better the chance they’ll convert from visitor to customer. Keep your navigation simple to understand and avoid design elements that are too unusual for people to use easily.

Organize your site information with clear labels for product categories and avoid tricky navigation styles that could create confusion.

Social Media for E-Commerce - H&M site navigation

12. Offer Easy Payment Options for Customers

If you’re going to run a successful e-commerce site, you need to offer reliable and trustworthy ways for people to pay for your products and services.

You can explore a wide range of payment options for your e-commerce business, each with its features and policies. Options include Square, PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and many others.

Some social media platforms allow customers to purchase directly from the app, depending on what features you choose to use. A few of these options include Facebook (with Facebook stores, Messenger Chatbots, and Ads), Instagram (with Stories, Shopping, Live, IGTV, and Ads), and Pinterest (with Promoted Pins, Rich Pins, and Shop the Look Pins.)

You also can investigate third-party websites as a way to advertise and sell your products. Keep reading to learn more about a few of these that may support your e-commerce business.

13. Advertise and Sell on Third-Party Websites

There are other options for boosting your sales beyond your website. Third-party websites allow you to benefit from established functionality and huge audiences while building your legitimacy and website traffic.

One example of third-party website selling is Amazon. While shoppers on Amazon may realize they’re buying from you instead of directly from the retail giant itself, you still benefit from the credibility of their brand and purchasing capabilities. You also get to tap into their vast audience of visitors with a solid intent to buy.

Another option is using sites like Like to Know It, which allows readers to purchase an item or items from an Instagram post by linking the product emailed to them.

RewardStyle is an invitation-only affiliate network focusing on lifestyle, fashion, and beauty products, allowing sellers to earn money through content creation featuring certain products.

14. Track the Success of Your E-Commerce Company’s Social Media Strategy

It’s essential to track your strategy’s results as you implement your ideas, so you can accurately analyze your successes and where you need to improve.

Choose quantifiable metrics representing engagement (such as likes, shares, comments, or retweets). Track your website traffic and how much traffic you are getting from your social media channels. Keep track of sales generated by social media marketing and sales completed online or through your campaigns.

It’s not always easy to tie your efforts to your results, but you can try. With specific metrics, you’ll be better able to repeat the working tactics and revisit the areas that don’t seem to be offering you the same return on investment.

Conclusion

Social media is a big part of everyday life for many people and offers an excellent opportunity to get in front of potential customers and sell your products and services. You can use various platforms to strengthen your brand, increase sales, and develop loyal fans.

If you also sell online, using social media for e-commerce is a natural step for your business as you plan future growth. If you haven’t tapped into the benefits of social media marketing yet, start now, so you don’t miss out on the opportunity it represents.

With the steps outlined above, you’ll be ready to reap the benefits of social media for your e-commerce business. If you haven’t explored these options or want some help to make them work for you, reach out for digital marketing support.

Have you invested in social media for e-commerce in your business? Which of the above tips will you try next?

The Ultimate Guide to Guest Blogging

We’ve discussed how you can build authority in your industry through blogging. Today, we are going to look at exactly how you can get guest blogging opportunities and make the most out of them.

Determine Your Guest Blogging Goals

Before we begin, your first task is to decide what your goal for guest blogging is. Knowing this goal ahead of time is key in determining the right kind of blogs to submit guest posts to. Typically there are three main goals for guest blogging.

Positioning yourself as an authority and well-known name in the industry.
Getting exposure (traffic) back to your website.
Building backlinks to your website (though this should never be the main focus, as Google frowns on this).

With the right kind of content on the top blogs, you can do all three of these things.

If you are trying to accomplish either #1 or #2, then you will want to find blogs that have a wide and engaged audience.

If you are just trying to accomplish #3, you need to pinpoint blogs with strong root domain authority. You can check this for free using tools like Ubersuggest.

Knowing your goals in advance will help you in determining which blogs will be the best for you to submit guest posts to.

How to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities

The first thing you will want to do is find guest post opportunities. When looking for places to guest post, your main goal is to find sites relevant to your niche or industry. You are looking for blogs that fit the following criteria:

the content is focused on your niche/industry
the audience of the blog will be interested in your industry
the blog has engaged readership (posts have been shared socially and commented upon)
the blog owner is active on social media (so you know that they will be promoting your work on their site)

If you are selling plant seeds, for example, you will want to find gardening blogs with an engaged audience of gradeners. The following should help you find the right kind of guest post opportunities

Google Searches

Google is a great place to start in the search for guest posting opportunities. You can use any of the following keyword searches to find blogs that accept guest posts. Just replace keyword with keywords from your industry.

keyword “submit a guest post”
keyword “guest post”
keyword “guest post by”
keyword “accepting guest posts”
keyword “guest post guidelines”

These searches should lead you to a blog’s guest post guidelines page, guest post submission page, or actual guest posts by other writers.

Prolific Guest Bloggers

Know of any prolific guest bloggers in your industry? If you read enough blogs in your industry (which you should), you’ll know some of the same names that repeatedly pop up in guest bogs.

Just as few of the top influential marketing guest bloggers include Neil Patel, Jeff Bullas, Mark Traphagen, Tony Right, Jenny Halasz, Brian Harnish, Kevin Indig, Adam Riemer, Robyn Johnson, Benji Acciola, Kevin Rowe, Anna Crow, and Kirk Williams.

Using Google search, search for the name of prolific guest bloggers in your industry plus the phrase “guest post by”. This will reveal all of the sites that these guest bloggers have posted upon. They should be good places for you to guest post upon as well. A bonus would be if you actually know a guest blogger in your industry that can make an introduction for you to the owners of blogs they have guest posted upon.

Competitor Backlinks

If you (or your online marketing agency) have ever pulled up a backlink analysis of a competitor while working on your SEO campaign, chances are one or more of your competitors have backlinks from guest posts they have done.

If you have access to tools like Open Site Explorer, you can look at the backlinks of your competitors and spot any of the blog posts they have written.

If you don’t find any, you can do a Google search.

link:domain.com -domain.com “guest post” (replacing domain.com with your competitor’s domain) which should reveal sites that a competitor has written for.

Example:

link:backlink.io -neilpatel.com “guest post”

Social Searches

A lot of bloggers and guest posters will share their latest guest posts on social networks. Since the easiest one to search is Twitter, you should try running a Twitter search for the keyword “guest post” to get the latest tweets about guest posts in your industry. Just follow the links to see which blogs are accepting the guest posts.

Seek Guest Blogging Opportunities

Need more keyword search ideas or just a list with lots of different guest posting opportunities?

Check out this post on 14 additional ways to syndicate your content.

MyBlogGuest

Last, but definitely not least, is My Blog Guest, a community of guest bloggers. Sign up for free and search for blogs accepting guest posts. Better yet, post your own information to say that you are looking to write guest posts on a particular topic so blog owners can find you!

Preparing to Pitch a Guest Blogging Post

Notice that we don’t just jump from finding guest blogging opportunities to contacting the blogs. That’s because there are a few things you need to do before you propose a guest post for a site you’ve just found.

Get to Know the Blog’s Content

Getting to know your target blog’s content is key. Sure you know they have content about the keyword you searched for while looking for guest post opportunities. But you need to know even more about that content such as…

What level of audience are they writing for (beginners, intermediate, advanced)?
What type of audience are they writing for? If your business is B2B, then you will want the blog audience for your guest post to be businesses, not general consumers.
What type of content do they write? Is it mostly general concepts or specific, detailed tutorials? Do they like lists?

See How Other Guest Posts Do

While a blog may have guest posts, the question is do the guest bloggers do well? Do guest blog posts on the site get as many comments and social sharing as blog posts by the owner? Some sites might accept guest posts, but if the audience is only tuning in for the blog owner, then you won’t do so well if your goal is to build authority or get traffic back to your website.

See Who the Guest Bloggers Are

Some blog owners are more likely to accept guest posts by certain types of people over others. Peruse a few guest blogger bios on the blog to see if they are fellow bloggers, freelancers, consultants, business owners, and so forth. This will be important when you introduce yourself to the blog owner for your pitch. You can read more about the success rates of guest posting outreach in this study on SEOmoz.

Find Out What Posts Do the Best

To ensure that your guest post gets accepted, you will want to pitch the blog owner with topics that will do well with their audience. To get some good ideas of topics that will work with the blog’s audience, use the following sites to see what posts have been popular on social media.

Oktopus: Oktopus tracks and reports on your social media performance.
Digg: This will show you the \blog posts that have received the most amount of Digg votes.
Buzzer: Buzzer schedules your social media posts and provides data and analytics.

Become a Familiar Face in the Blog Community

To increase your chances of getting accepted as a guest blogger, you will want to get some recognition from the blog owner first. The best way to do this is to take a week or two and comment on their latest posts. You’ll get bonus points for sharing those posts on Twitter too – just be sure to include the blog owner’s @username on Twitter. This way, when you pitch your guest post, you won’t be a complete stranger.

The Best Times to Pitch a Guest Blogging Post

You won’t always have a golden opportunity to pitch a guest post, but there are certain things to take advantage of when they arise. These include the following.

when a blog mentions you in one of their posts or on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.)
when the blog lists you, your business, or your product in one of its posts
when the blog specifically advertises they are looking for guest posts
when the blog publishes another guest post

Basic Pitch Best Practices

The following are absolute musts when pitching a guest blog post to another blog owner.

Read the Guidelines

The last thing you need to do before contacting the blog owner is read the guest posting guidelines, if applicable, and follow them closely. Does the blog owner want you to pitch an idea or actually submit a full post? What format do they want it in? Do they want you to create an account and enter it into WordPress? These are all things to know ahead of time before you contact the blog owner.

Personalize Your Email

As a blogger who receives daily guest post pitches, nothing turns me off more than an email starting with “Dear Sir or Madam,” “Dear Webmaster,” “To the owner of Neilpatel.com,” or simply “Hi.”

Somewhere on the blog, there should be the name and contact information for the owner of the blog you are targeting for your guest post.

You might have to ferret around for it on the about page or on one of the blog’s social media accounts, but it is more than likely out there. Find it, and use it to start the email.

Who Are You?

Remember the part about seeing who guest bloggers are on your target blog? Some blog owners are particular about only allowing other bloggers to submit guest posts on their sites.

If you noticed that most guest bloggers are bloggers themselves, then you might want to introduce yourself as a blogger at [insert your personal or business blog here]. You can always be a business owner on the side; just focus on your blogging skills first.

Why You Should Be a Guest Blogger

In your pitch, be sure to include why you should be a guest blogger. Add a few links to posts you have published elsewhere, including your own blog. Preferably go with posts that have a good bit of social engagement so the blog owner will see your potential value with their audience.

How to Pitch a Guest Post Idea

If the guest post guidelines ask you to submit a topic idea, then (based on your research of previously popular posts), pitch a few different ideas so the blog owner has some to choose from.

How to Submit a Great Guest Post

One of the common questions about guest blogging is whether you should be using your best content for your own blog or for your guest posting. It really depends on the quality of the blog you are submitting your content to.

If the blog has nothing but 900+ word posts with lots of screenshots, then your post should be similar. If the blog has nothing but posts with 500 words or less with only one image, then your posts (again) should be similar. The following are other good tips for making your guest post as awesome as possible.

It’s Not About You

The first thing to remember about a great guest post is that it is not about your business, your products, or your services. Guest posts should be valuable sources of information; not advertisements.

Any information about your business and related items should be reserved for the author bio. Occasional mentions, stories, or examples are okay to illustrate a point, but the majority of the post should be focused on something other than your business.

Format Posts Like the Ones on the Site

Take a look at posts on your target blog. Do they use lots of headers, bolded text, images, quotes, or other special formatting? Make sure that your post has similar elements to match other posts on the site.

Include Internal and Source Links

Show the blog owner that you know their content by including a few internal links back to some of their posts. The easiest way to do this is to do a Google search for site:domain.com intitle:keyword.

This will get you their top posts on a particular keyword so you can link that post to the keyword in your post. Also, if you mention any specific products, books, etc., be sure to link to those too (assuming it’s not self-promotional).

Include a Call to Action for Comments

At the end of your amazing guest post, be sure to include a call to action for comments. The more discussion your post generates, the better!

How to Craft a Great Guest Bio

The most important part of guest blogging (for you) will likely be your guest post bio. This is usually the only place you should include self-promotion links back to your website, blog, product, service, book, etc. What you write in this section will depend on your guest blogging goals.

If your goal is to get good backlinks, make sure your bio includes a link back to your website with your target anchor text and you are all set.
If your goal is to get traffic back to your website, then you might want to consider where you want that traffic to go. Depending on the subject of your guest post and the audience of the blog you place it upon, you might want to send traffic to a custom landing page or page about a specific product/service.
If your goal is to increase followers of your social accounts, do this by adding a line to the end of your bio that says something like, “Follow me on (insert your top social network and link here).”

How to Be the Best Guest Blogger

If you’re aiming to become a regular contributor to a blog, or simply want the blog owner to brag about what a great guest blogger you are, then be sure to do your best to promote your post to throughout your own audience. The blog owner will love it if you send new readers their way.

Also, be sure to reply to comments or questions that people leave on your post. That will go a long way if you are working to build authority in your industry.

Tracking Your Results

When the goal is traffic, the results of your guest blogging should definitely be measured. The best way to do this is to create an Advanced Segment in Google Analytics.

You can learn how to set up an Advanced Segment in this post on how to find out which online marketing strategy drives the best traffic. All you need is one segment using the source dimension with multiple statements for each domain that you have guest blogged for. This can be up to 20 per Advanced Segment. Mine looks like this:

google analytics guest blogging advanced segment

Using this, you can view all of your Google Analytics data based on referrals from your guest posts. This can help you determine the success of your overall guest blogging strategy in terms of getting traffic and making conversions.

If you’re not sure how to track conversions, see this post on getting actionable data to learn how to set up goals.

How to Get Guest Bloggers for Your Blog

Finally, don’t forget that guest blogging can be a two-way street. It’s tough to maintain your own blog content while guest posting on a lot of other blogs.

Be sure to open an invitation for the blog you wrote for to write a guest post for you as well. This keeps your content fresh content on your own blog, which can help gain perspective on your audience, and hopefully get new readers from your guest blogger’s community. It’s a win-win situation!

Conclusion

Guest blogging on reputable sites is a great way to leverage the success of blogs that are already popular in your industry. To get the spot for a guest blog, you need to send engaging pitches that show your worth.

Guest blogging is just one of many strategies to incorporate in your content marketing campaigns. If you need help shaping or tracking your content marketing methods, our agency is here for you.

Do you use guest blogging as part of your online marketing strategy? What other things would you suggest for a business looking to increase their guest blogging success?

Ubersuggest 8.0: The Ultimate Competitor Analysis Tool

You may have noticed some small changes to Ubersuggest recently, but now it is time for another major release.

In the last few months, you have seen the application get faster, we are slowly (but surely) working on increasing data quality, and we have even made multiple updates to our Chrome Extension.

But today, we are announcing a new feature that will make finding lucrative keywords even easier.

So, what is it?

It’s a competitor analysis report!

An easier way to find keywords

I want you to head to Ubersuggest and type in the name of one of your competitors.

Ideally, you’ll add a popular one. The more popular the competitor the more keywords it will show you.

If you don’t know of a competitor, just perform a Google search for any keyword that you are trying to rank for and grab the top site.

Or you could just use “neilpatel.com” to see how it works.

At this point, you should see a report that looks something like this.

I want you to go to the sidebar and click on “competitors.”

From there you should see a report that looks something like this.

The top part of the report shows your main competitors in a graph.

You can easily see who is getting more traffic (keep in mind subdomains are counted as separate sites).

And, if you want, you can click on the “more domains” drop-down and unselect some of the competitors or even add more that may not be listed.

As you scroll down you’ll also see a long table.

In the table, you’ll see the competitor domain, the number of common keywords you rank for, keyword gaps (the keywords they rank for that you don’t rank for – this is your main opportunity), their estimated traffic, and the number of backlinks that you have.

So, let’s dive into the keywords.

Common keywords and keywords gap

Within the table you can drill down on the common keywords. All you have to do is click the “view all” button under that table column and you’ll see something like this.

It breaks down the common keywords that both you and your competition are ranking for.

This is useful because it shows you which keywords you are focusing on that they may also be focusing on.

When drilling down on this table, pay attention to volume, position, estimated visits, and CPC.

Volume tells you how many times a keyword is searched.
Position tells you where your competition is ranking on Google.
Estimated visits breaks down roughly how much traffic they get from that keyword.
CPC tells you how expensive a keyword is if you had to pay for it through advertising.

Generally, you want to make sure you rank higher than your competition for keywords with high volume and high CPC. Ideally, they need both. That way you know a keyword can not only drive traffic but also sales.

And my favorite part about this report is the keywords gap. This shows you the keywords that your competition ranks for that you don’t.

To see those keywords, you just have to click on “view all” and you’ll see a list.

Again, you’ll want to pay attention to the same metrics and you’ll want to look for keywords that have a high volume and high CPC.

It means those keywords drive traffic and typically drive conversions as well.

I highly recommend that you go through all of the keywords that each of your competitors rank for that you don’t.

Within the table just keep clicking the “next 10” button to keep seeing more keywords.

Or you can just click “export to CSV” if you want to download all of the keywords.

Now head to Ubersuggest and give it a try to find more keyword opportunities.

So, what’s next?

Well, hopefully you’ll start using the Competitors report because it will give you more keywords.

But over the next few months you’ll see some big changes that will make all of the reports more useful.

More accurate data – from traffic estimations to keyword volume, you’ll start seeing better estimations that are much closer to people’s actual traffic. Our new estimation formulas take much more data into account, so we are able to come up with better data for you.
More link data – over the next few months you’ll see a much more robust link dataset as we are working to expand our database. It will be much more comparable to competing products and the link data will be indexed much faster. So, when you build new links or lose new links, we will pick it up faster.
More accurate metrics – from domain authority to keyword difficulty scores, the data will also be more accurate on that end so you can make better-informed decisions.
Better filtering of keywords – within Ubersuggest and even other SEO tools, sometimes you see keyword recommendations that don’t make sense. We have new logic that is coming out soon that will remove most of these irrelevant keywords so you can focus your efforts going after terms that don’t just drive more traffic, but they also drive sales.

Conclusion

You’ll see big improvements in the accuracy of our data by the end of the year if not in January, worst-case scenario.

We are already starting to slowly roll out the changes over the next few weeks and it will continue until the end of January.

And after that we even have a few cool new features coming out that you haven’t seen on any competing tools yet, which will help you get more SEO traffic faster. 😉

So, what are you waiting for? Go give Ubersuggest a try.

What do you think about the new feature?

The post Ubersuggest 8.0: The Ultimate Competitor Analysis Tool appeared first on Neil Patel.