GnuCreations - November 2014 by GnuCreations

6 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR A WEBSITE REDESIGN

GnuCreations November/December 2014

12 THINGS YOU CAN TEST TO OPTIMIZE YOUR BLOG HOW TO MASTER CONTENT MARKETING TO DRIVE SALES HOW TO FIX COMMON MISTAKES ON BUSINESS WEBSITES 1

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CONTENTS

4 | 12 THINGS YOU CAN TEST TO OPTIMIZE YOUR BLOG If your blog isn’t generating leads, here are 12 things that you can test to optimize your blog and increase your blog’s conversion rate.

6 | HOW TO MASTER CONTENT MARKETING TO DRIVE SALES Content marketing should increase your brand’s visibility, help you develop relationships with customers, and drive sales.

9 | HOW TO FIX COMMON MISTAKES ON BUSINESS WEBSITES Business websites are more than online brochures. By avoiding these common mistakes, your website can be an effective marketing tool.

11 | 6 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR A WEBSITE REDESIGN A website redesign can be an effective way to grow your business. In this article, we’ll talk about six ways to prepare for a website redesign.

12 Things You Can Test to Optimize Your Blog If your blog isn’t generating leads, here are 12 things that you can test to optimize your blog and increase your blog’s conversion rate.

ou probably already know that a blog is a great way to increase traffic to your website. But are your blog posts also producing qualified leads for your sales team? If you are creating engaging content, but are not seeing a noticeable increase in leads, there are some things that you can do to optimize your blog. Just don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. 1. Blog Frequency On average, you should be posting two to three blog posts each week. However, you may need to increase the frequency of your blog posts in order to see better results. Suggested Test: Increase your publishing frequency for two weeks. Then compare the number of views and conversions during this time to those of older posts. Continue testing until you find your optimal frequency. 4

2. Blog Timing While blogs that are published on weekday mornings tend to do best, you may want to experiment with publishing at a variety of times. Suggested Test: If you consistently publish your posts early in the morning, try publishing a few posts in the afternoon. You may also want to try publishing on weekends. Then view your blog analytics and look for trends. 3. Blog Topics Even if your company is in a narrowly defined field, you can still deal with topics that are directly or indirectly related to it. Suggested Test: Test different topics on your blog to determine what topics do the best.

On average, you should be posting 2-3 blog posts each week. However, you may need to increase the frequency of your blog posts in order to see better results.

4. Blog Content Types It’s easy to get in the habit of publishing the same type of post over and over again. But most people are interested in a variety of content types. Knowing what blog content types perform best for you can greatly increase website traffic and leads. Suggested Test: Test different content types on your blog, then analyze how the posts perform. Blog content types include “how-to” posts, SlideSharebased posts, posts promoting a marketing offer, and curated posts. 5. Subscriber CTAs If you have recently launched or re-launched your blog, you need to focus on growing your list of subscribers. To do this, test a subscriber opt-in CTA at the end or side of each post. Suggested Test: Place a prominent subscription form at the end or side of each post. This form should only ask for a visitor’s email address. 6. Top-of-Blog CTAs While most blogs have a callto-action at the bottom of their blog homepage, you may want to experiment with a prominent call-to-action at the top of your blog homepage. Suggested Test: Place a prominent CTA at the top of your blog homepage for two weeks, then analyze the results. If your blog posts are still not converting, move the CTA back to the bottom of your blog homepage or use a different offer.

7. Slide-In CTAs Slide-in CTAs are calls-to-action that appear as readers scroll down a post. They are proving to be more and more effective. Suggested Test: Add slidein CTAs to a sample of old blog posts that still generate traffic. Wait two weeks, and then compare the visit-to-lead conversion rate of these posts to the visit-to-lead rate prior to adding the slide-in CTAs. 8. Text CTAs Text CTAs are calls-to-action within the copy of your blog posts. They are a subtle way of directing readers to a landing page or to one of your posts on a related topic. Suggested Test: Add text CTAs to a sample of old blog posts that still generate traffic. Wait two weeks, then compare the visitto-lead conversion rate of these posts to the visit-to-lead rate prior to adding the text CTAs. 9. End-of-Post Forms Rather than using a CTA that takes visitors of a separate landing page, you may want to build a form right into the endof-post CTA. Suggested Test: Take two separate posts, similar in subject matter and format, and publish them both at the same time of day and day of the week, one week apart. On one post, use a standard CTA; on the other post, use an embedded form. Use the same offer, copy, and form for both CTAs. Wait one week, then compare the view-to-submission rate of the CTA to the view-tosubmission rate of the form.

10. Subscriber Email Subjects The number of subjects in your subscriber emails can significantly impact clickthrough rates. Therefore, it’s important to determine whether your audience prefers single subject emails or multiple subject emails. Suggested Test: Send only single subject emails for two weeks. Then send only multiple subject emails for the next two weeks. Compare the clickthrough rates and find out what your readers prefer. 11. Subscriber Email Timing Your subscriber emails may be triggered every time you publish a new post. But you may want to know if there are more effective times to send those subscriber emails. Suggested Test: Send a sample of emails at a certain time of day and week, and compare the click-through rates of those emails to a sample of emails sent at a different time of day and week. Continue testing until you find the email timing that results in the best click-through rate. 12. Subscriber Email CTAs The design and copy of your email CTAs can impact their performance. So can the type of offers you are promoting. Suggested Test: A/B test variations in copy, design, and offer types in your email CTAs. Compare click-through rates and apply your findings to optimize your subscriber emails.

How to Master Content Marketing to Drive Sales Content marketing should increase your brand’s visibility, help you develop relationships with customers, and drive sales.

What Is Content Marketing? Content marketing can mean different things to different people. For some, content marketing is a way to earn the attention and interest of prospects. For others, content marketing is a strategy to improve search rankings. And still for others, content marketing is a sustainable way to build and maintain customer relationships. In a way, content marketing is all of these things and more. But the best definition for content marketing that I’ve come across is from Forrester research. They define content marketing as… 6

“A marketing strategy where brands create interest, relevance, and relationships with customers by producing, curating, and sharing content that addresses specific customer needs and delivers visible value.” 1. Content must create interest, relevance, and relationships. The key here is that you’re doing something that is both immediate and enduring. In other words, content marketing is not only about influencing customers early in the buying cycle, it’s about establishing long-term relationships with them so that they continue to come to you for valuable information.

Content marketing is not only about influencing customers early in the buying cycle, it’s about establishing long-term relationships with them.

2. Content must address specific customer needs. In other words, your content must be centered on the customer and his or her situation rather than your brand or product. 3. Content must deliver visible value. In other words, your content must have an intrinsic benefit to the audience, even if they choose to buy from you or not.

What is Driving Content Marketing? Customers have a veracious appetite for content when they’re considering a purchase. In the report, Zero Moment of Truth, Google reveals that people use an average of 14 pieces of content before they make a purchase. The dynamic that is driving content marketing is the switch from a push model to a pull model. In the push model, a brand buys third-party data and guesses what content its audience will want. In this model, the content is primarily brand/productcentric. In the pull model, however, a brand invites the audience to select the content it wants, freely gaining first-party data. In this model, the content is customer-defined and valuable to the audience. The demand for relevant content is only getting stronger. So here are four things that companies need to get good at in order to master content marketing.

How to Master Content Marketing 1. Make valuable content First and foremost, you need to create content that customers will want to consume.

The key to creating valuable content is to balance customer need with brand expertise. Unfortunately, brands tend to err on one side or the other. For example, consumer brands tend to err on the side of giving customers whatever they want, even though it doesn’t say anything about the brand. This is basically pandering to the audience, but not necessarily saying anything of value about the brand that’s behind it. On the other hand, B2B companies tend to err on the side of being too brand-centric. Their product teams are influencing the content creation too much. They are more interested in driving a sales message than providing valuable information to a prospect. In order to arrive at a proper balance between customer- and brand-centric content, you need to do research. For the brand, your research will come down to what your company is uniquely good at. What expertise does your company have that nobody else does? What are your company’s unique values? What are your company’s unique assets? On the customer side, there are many different way to gather information. You can conduct interviews, listen to what your customers are saying on social media, and gather data about your customers’ decision making process. Buyer personas—which include your ideal customers’ behavior patterns, pain points, and goals—can help you discern what content to create as well as when, where, and how to deliver it. 2. Build audiences Building audiences for your content is a key factor in the success or failure of your content marketing efforts.

Joe Chernov, Content Marketer of the Year in 2012, says, “Marketers always ask me how to make more or better content, and it’s almost always the wrong question. The right question is: ‘How do I get my content in front of the right people?’” There are three key ways to building audiences. Tell a Story. Think about developing content against a broader narrative. That is, not every particular piece of content needs to be whole in and of itself. Your content should leave people wanting more. In other words, you content should be valuable enough to gain attention and interesting enough to bring them back. Opt-In. Make it easy for customers to become your audience. Many companies make the mistake of requiring people to fill out a long form as a means of opt-in. But this isn’t a very inviting way to build an audience. Instead, use short forms and be sure to give your audience something valuable in return for their personal information. Data. Use data to carefully manage future interactions with each customer. In other words, just because a person joins your subscriber list, this doesn’t mean that you should send them every piece of information. The content you send them should always relate to their needs and interests. 3. Maintain relationships Once you build an audience, you need to serve them. To do this, you need to tune content to your audience’s expressed interests. For example, let’s say a customer arrives on your website and clicks on a particular article. You should tune your content so that the next time that customer visits your website, he or she sees content that relates to the 8

article they previously read. You should also personalize callsto-action (CTAs) based on where customers are in the buying cycle, so that they’re encouraged to move to the next step. 4. Optimize performance When it comes to content marketing, many marketers argue that it’s all about clicks. But Jonah Peretti, founder of BuzzFeed, says that “chasing clicks is for fools.” This is because clicks don’t necessarily produce sales or brand credibility. Ryan Skinner, senior analyst at Forrester, recommends structuring your measurement of content marketing around three dimensions. Content Performance. How does content drive a specific goal and contribute to visibility? Audience Performance. How does content deliver relationships with valuable groups? Business Performance. How does content contribute to business outcomes and marketing goals? In other words, content marketing should increase your brand’s visibility, help you develop relationships with potential and current customers, and drive sales.

ONCE YOU BUILD AN AUDIENCE, YOU NEED TO SERVE THEM. TO DO THIS, YOU NEED TO TUNE CONTENT TO YOUR AUDIENCE’S EXPRESSED INTERESTS.

How to Fix Common Mistakes on Business Websites Business websites are more than online brochures. By avoiding these common mistakes, your website can be an effective marketing tool.

usiness websites used to be nothing more than online brochures. Not any more. Today, companies need to have a dynamic and relevant website to engage with their customers. In this article, we’ll look at the most common mistakes that companies make with their business websites and show you how to fix them. Mistake #1: Not Having a Blog Business websites that have a blog get 55% more web traffic and 70% more leads than those that don’t. Blogging is the best way to reach your target audience with the useful, educational information they’re looking for. When it comes to blogs, there are several types to consider: • Industry news/trends.Write a blog about the latest industry trends and how they might affect your customers.

• Tips and how-to’s. Share your expertise by offering tips to make their lives easier. • Case studies. People are more likely to purchase a product or service when they see how it’s helped others. • New product information. Have you recently launched a new product or service? If so, then blog about it. Just be sure to focus on the benefits your product or service will bring to your customers, rather than focusing on the technical aspects of it. • Special events. If your company is hosting a workshop or conference, then write a blog about the details and why your visitors should attend.

Blogging is the best way to reach your target audience with the useful, educational information they’re looking for.

Mistake #2: No Calls-toAction (CTAs)

Mistake #4: Difficult to Navigate

CTAs prompt visitors to click on an offer. This offer may be “Get a Free Quote” or “Request a Consultation.” The CTA links to a landing page, which captures a visitor’s contact information through a form. This turns the visitor into a lead! Websites that don’t use CTAs miss out on the opportunity to connect with possible leads. Here are a few tips to follow when creating your own CTAs: • Make it action-oriented by placing an action-oriented verb at the beginning of your CTA. • Include keywords that are consistent with offer and landing page. • Make it attentiongrabbing. Use an accent color for your CTAs to indicate that they’re clickable. • Ensure appropriate onpage placement. Keep CTAs above the fold (except on a blog post).

As the use of mobile devices continues to grow, the importance of easy navigation does as well. Just a few years ago, it was popular for business websites to have complex drop-down menus. But this trend is quickly fading. Today, the trend is to avoid drop-down menus altogether and opt for a minimal menu instead. Take a look at a few of these websites that were voted ‘Best Websites of the Year’ by Time and notice how simple they are to navigate. These should give you an idea of how your site could be re-worked to be more userfriendly. Any.do FileThis HaikuDeck Pocket

Mistake #3: Not Mobile Friendly According to MarketingLand, “60% of Internet access happens on mobile devices and 74% of mobile users say a mobilefriendly website makes them more likely to revisit the site.” These statistics tell us that if your website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you’re losing potential customers. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, consider a website redesign. A good web designer will lknow how to make your website look great on any device. 10

BUSINESS WEBSITES ARE MORE THAN ONLINE BROCHURES. THEY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CONVERT VISITORS INTO LEADS AND CUSTOMERS. Mistake #5: Too Much Information While it’s true that your website should have plenty of quality content, you should also make sure that your information is well-organized and easily digestible.

Research indicates that people read websites in an ‘F’ shape pattern. In a few seconds, their eyes move at amazing speeds across your website’s content in a pattern that’s very different from what you learned in school. First, visitors read in a horizontal pattern across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F’s top bar. Next, visitors move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal pattern that typically covers a shorter area than the previous one. This additional element forms the F’s lower bar. Finally, visitors scan the content’s left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan. This element forms the F’s stem. So instead of crowding too much information on your home page, try these tips: • Have a top navigation bar that clearly explains how to find different information. • State the most important information in the first two paragraphs. • Use call-to-action buttons to help convert visitors into leads. • Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with informationcarrying words that users will notice when scanning your content. Business websites are more than online brochures. They have the potential to convert visitors into leads and customers. By avoiding these common mistakes, your website can be an effective marketing tool to grow your business.

6 Ways to Prepare for a Website Redesign A website redesign can be an effective way to grow your business. So here are six ways to prepare for a website redesign.

The better prepared you are for a website redesign, the better results you will have

A website redesign can be an effective way to grow your business. For instance, a new and improved website can help you generate more qualified leads, educate prospects, and deepen your relationships with existing customers. In addition, the better prepared you are for a website redesign, the better results you will have once the redesign is complete.

Here are 6 ways to prepare for a website redesign. 1. Benchmark Your Metrics Before you begin planning your website redesign, benchmark your website’s current metrics. You should analyze your existing site over its history in areas such as: • Number of visits/visitors • Bounce rate • Time on site • Domain authority This information will help you determine what aspects of your website needs to be changed and whether or not any future changes are effective. If you don’t have access to this information, then consider adding Google Analytics to your site and begin tracking this information. 2. Set Realistic Goals Be really clear about why you’re doing the redesign in the first place and tie it to measurable results. Consider the following objectives for your own website: • Increase number of visits/ visitors by 10% • Decrease bounce rate by 25% • Increase time on site by 2 minutes • Improve domain authority Once you’ve determined your goals, share them with your team, designer or agency. 11

3. Define Your Buyer Persona In order for your website redesign to be effective, you must properly define your buyer persona. A buyer persona is a semifictional representations of your ideal customer based on real data (and some select educated speculation) about customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. For instance, if you are a marketing manager at a hotel might target these buyer personas: a business traveler, an event planner, a vacationing family, and a couple planning their wedding reception. 4. Analyze Your Competition While you shouldn’t obsess over your competition, it helps to know how your website compares to others in your industry. • Get a report on how your website and online marketing efforts are performing. • Assess your competitors so you are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. • Take a look at competitor websites, and note what you like and what you don’t like about them. Once you run the analysis, put together an action list of what areas you can improve . 5. Determine Your Keywords As you prepare for your website redesign, consider the keywords that you would like to rank for. These keywords will then be used in page titles, meta descriptions, content, and headings.

When choosing keywords, you might want to use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool or HubSpot Keywords. The HubSpot Keywords tool can tell you the difficulty score for each keyword you enter. The lower the difficulty score, the more likely your company will rank well for it. 6. Inventory Current Assets While a website redesign is a great way to improve results, there are countless ways it can hurt you. Your existing website contains many assets that you have built up, and losing those during a redesign can damage your marketing. For example, if you remove a page that has a higher number of inbound links, you could lose a lot of SEO credit. Therefore, it’s good practice to inventory your current assets and make a list of the following: • Most shared or viewed content • Most trafficked pages • Best performing/ranking keywords and associated pages • Number of inbound links to individual pages Once you’ve created this list, share it with your team, designer, and agency and make sure they have a plan to protect these assets. A website redesign can be an effective way to grow your business. Start with clear benchmarks and realistic goals. Then define your buyer persona and analyze your competition. Finally, determine your keywords and inventory your current assets.

FINAL THOUGHT

“In order for your website redesign to be effective, you must properly define your buyer personas.” 12

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