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Fundamentals of International SEO
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PASS OR FAIL: Tips for Grading Your Customer List
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Why is Your Content Not Converting?
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Digital Ad Creative Checklist
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THE SECRET OF SEO Often those responsible for the success of their enterprise get bogged down in the intricacies of the practice of search engine optimization, concerned more with the science of the details rather than the art of the experience. From a high level, however, the foundation of SEO success relies on three pillars: content, links and experience. Let’s explore how each of these elements is changing.
THIS MONTH IN WEBSITE MAGAZINE Using the Wrong Metric?
Innovative Use Cases for .IO
When it comes to measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, what looks like a winner may actually be a loser upon further examination.
Securing a memorable .com domain name can be expensive and time consuming, but new TLDs, like .io, are proving to be good alternatives.
Click-Worthy Subject Lines
Best Practices for a Post-Algo Instagram
Avoid a summer activity lull by leveraging these effective techniques for keeping busy contacts clicking all season long.
With the recent changes to Instagram’s news feed, it’s a good time for brands to get a refresher course on how to increase organic reach.
Apps’ Influence on Customer Service
Reasons to Invest in CRM
Rich in-app experiences are changing the way digital shoppers expect to interact with brands on every channel.
With more lead generation channels than ever, it’s time companies skip the spreadsheets and leverage a customer relationship management system.
A Warning for Marketing-Focused SMBs
5 Ways to Fix Your Affiliate Program Right Now
Smaller enterprises must proceed with caution when marketing on all the various channels, or risk doing more harm than good.
Without an experienced manager in place, most affiliate programs fail. There are, however, ways to ensure that doesn’t happen.
.io
EXPLORE WEBSITE MAGAZINE’S DEPARTMENTS Net Briefs: Richer Pins, Better Matches & More
Stat Watch: Web Performance
Enterprise Ready: The ERP Wars
Small Business Lab: Social Media Costs
Quiz Time: Cross-Channel Content Marketing
Top 50: Customer Relationship Management
Mastering Search: Is Your SEO Reaching the Right People?
E-Commerce Express: Edgy Technology for Retailers
Design & Development: Web Design Trends Here to Stay
Commentary: The Future of Work
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YEAR
2012
Brittany Henderson
First Image Post of Uneaten Food. Even before she could legally drive, Brittany blazed a social media trail
across the internet far and wide, reaching dozens of people. But it was an image of her mother’s homemade macaroni and cheese with signature graham cracker crumble that made her an internet pioneer.
This same year in WebAward History: Best of Show - UrbanDaddy Top Agency - Biggs-Gilmore
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From the
EDITOR The SEO Secret is… Change The practice of search engine optimization is changing — for the better. In the past, many of those responsible for SEO were focused exclusively on doing whatever was in their control, whatever was possible, to move forcefully to the top of the search results – and at any cost. While there are still certainly those who engage in practices that aim to manipulate search engines into returning their websites as the top listing, the savviest enterprises now understand that it’s less about the hard “signals” that are provided, and more about the experience created for users, from the content to the links and everything in between. Those SEO professionals who focus on optimizing the experience are those that will see positive results. In this month’s feature article at Website Magazine, readers will discover how the SEO best practices of yesterday are today’s (and the future’s) essentials and how to improve their performance in the channel by focusing exclusively on the user experience. While it won’t provide all the answers to a brand’s SEO troubles, it’s an excellent round-up of what’s required in the highly personalized, real-time, knowledge-driven search results today. In addition to the feature of this month’s issues, readers will also find insights and guidance on other important trends, techniques and tactics to help accelerate their ’Net success; including how to ensure you’re using the right Web metrics, tips for email marketing subject lines and some insights on how to fix affiliate programs to name but a few. There’s much more in this issue as well that Website Magazine readers shouldn’t miss including best practices for a post-algorithm Instagram, innovative use cases for the .io domain extension, a commentary on the future of “work” and more. As always, we hope you enjoy this issue and join us on the ’Net, where our editors and industry contributors provide daily, in-depth coverage of today’s most important tips, tech and trends. Best Web Wishes,
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The Third Wave
Website Magazine, Volume 11, Issue 5, May 2016, (ISSN# 1942-0633) is published 12 times a year, January through December by Website Services, Inc., 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018. Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Plaines, IL and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Website Magazine, 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018.
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Net
BRIEFS
QUICK HITS Sell on eBay with Bigcommerce E-commerce platform Bigcommerce and online marketplace eBay have entered into a rather interesting partnership that enables Bigcommerce merchants to list products and manage their inventory on the eBay marketplace. In fact, merchants can sync stock levels and eBay orders with their online store, create hundreds of eBay listings automatically thanks to customizable templates and sell their inventory in front of eBay’s 162 million active buyers.
Match Made on Google Last year Google introduced Match Content, a solution to help websites increase engagement by promoting relevant content to website visitors. Recently, however, the tech juggernaut made it possible for AdSense Publishers to use the content units to generate revenue by allowing ads to appear alongside recommended content. When publishers opt to allow ads through Matched content, ads appear within their units and are styled to look and feel just like content recommendations. Publishers get paid with every click.
Etsy Starts a New Pattern Etsy unveiled a new seller platform called Pattern, which enables users to create their own custom website. With the platform, sellers can use their own domain for a website that is powered by their Etsy shops. Not only does the platform import all shop listings and content, but it also syncs orders and inventory between sites, provides analytics integrated with Etsy shop stats and uses the same tools for checkout and shopping that Etsy sellers already use. Pattern also offers five themes, and sellers can further customize their sites with logos and brand colors.
$ WHO GOT PAID? $12 Million
Video distribution platform Virool raised $12 million in a Series A funding round, which will help to accelerate its presence in the global advertising market.
$30 Million
Cognitive content generation platform Persado closed a $30 million Series C funding round led by Goldman Sachs.
$3.8 Billion
Team collaboration startup Slack raised $200 million, giving the company a post-money valuation of $3.8 billion. Thrive Capital led the funding round.
$4 Million
Flywheel, a managed WordPress hosting platform for designers and creative agencies, raised $4 million in a Series A funding round, which was led by Five Elms Capital.
?OF THE MONTH
QUESTION
What SEO best practice is most important to your business? To answer this question and possibly be included in an upcoming issue of Website Magazine, visit wsm.co/mayqotm.
Rich Pins Get Richer Pinterest has welcomed a new Rich Pin format called “How-to Pins,” which cater to the social network’s large DIY audience by displaying a snapshot of the steps required to create the objective of a Pin. What’s more, users can click or tap on any of the steps to get the full instructions and a list of supplies without leaving Pinterest. At launch, How-To Pins are only available on Android and the Web, with iOS being rolled out later.
FedEx Adds Surcharge to Big Packages
Visa Users Swipe through Checkout Visa Checkout users can now slide a virtual image of their card across the screen of a smartphone, tablet or laptop to complete their purchase. The payment solution, which was introduced in 2014, formerly used a lightbox that may have turned off some customers and limited interaction. Now, however, consumers will see a picture of their card on the Visa Checkout button. Swiping that card to the right and entering the password inside the button will provide the necessary authentication to complete the purchase. According to Visa, shoppers who used the interactive button in pilot tests were twice as likely to click through and complete their purchase.
Starting June 1, FedEx is adding an extra charge on packages 48 inches or longer (instead of 60 inches). The company cites a significant increase in nontraditional items being purchased online, from mattresses to swing sets, as the reason for the charge. The company says it’s important that it prices these big packages accordingly to account for the operational complexities they cause.
POPULAR WITH WM READERS Local SEO Guidance from Google +
wsm.co/bestlocal
Google recently provided some updated advice on how it determines a company’s local ranking in its search results. If you are optimizing a business for a specific geographic area, it is information that should not be missed.
Brand Predictions for Snapchat +
wsm.co/brandsnap
The percentage of those on social media who use Snapchat is low, but the ephemeral network’s audience is one of the most active and savvy marketing executives are already finding ways to reach them.
3 Warning Signs Your Website Annoys Users +
wsm.co/webannoy
What truly matters in the realm of Web success is whether or not a site is usable, and to what degree. Thankfully there are a few warning signs that indicate whether information on a site is easily digestible and navigable.
Net
BRIEFS WEB TECH WATCH
APP FOCUS
Check out what has the digital community all abuzz with Website Magazine’s #WebTechWatch series, a monthly roundup profiling emerging and established technologies and some of the most useful solutions for today’s Web workers. Submit your own recommendations by tweeting us at @WebsiteMagazine.
Koncept Medium for Publishers
Usability testing and interactive mobile prototypes.
A publishing platform for publishers, bloggers and organizations.
Build an API on top of any website
Microsoft is making it easier for people to run their businesses from their phones with the launch of the Sprightly app. Sprightly is yet another application from Microsoft Garage, a project lab that lets Microsoft employees work on developments that typically have no relation to their primary function within the company. The app helps users quickly create digital content for both business and personal needs. For instance, small- and medium-sized businesses can leverage the app to make flyers, catalogs, price lists and e-card reminders directly from their phones. Discover additional apps at ApplicationMagazine.com.
SurveyMonkey Intelligence WrapAPI
DIY Marketing on The Go
Usage and download metrics for mobile applications.
PureChat
Instaparser
See who is on a website in real-time and start a live-chat directly.
An API that enables developers to pull content from any website.
GoCo Team Feedback Manage one-on-one meetings with startup employees.
Sherlock Analytics system that delivers a ranked list of users.
Imgix Page Weight Tool Measure site resources and learn how to improve load time.
CleverTap Behavioral analytics, segmentation and message personalization for mobile apps.
Have tips, stories, or funding or acquisition news to share?
Tweet us @WebsiteMagazine
Stat
WATCH Seconds Count:
All about Web Performance By Matt Young, Performance Evangelist at Radware
Top websites across multiple industries are failing user expectations, Radware found in its latest report, 2016 State of the Union: Multi-Industry Web Performance (Desktop Edition).
egory fared the worst, however: Only six percent of the sites tested were below three seconds, with 34 percent exceeding six seconds.
Analyzing the top 50 websites in each of the e-commerce, news, travel and sports categories, there is evidence of page bloat and spiraling complexity. The result is slow load times, which often force users to wait more than three seconds – the attention threshold for most visitors – to interact with a website’s key content; referred to as “time to interact” (TTI). Multiple studies have found that the overwhelming majority of users will abandon a website after that three-second window has passed, leaving behind any potential purchases, subscriptions or impressions. Not to mention that slow sites damage the customer relationship and result in significant lost revenue. With so much at stake, it’s critical to identify the culprits to ensure a better Web-wide experience for site users.
Different websites are, of course, built for different purposes, and as the above results show, each category performed differently based on its composition. This was also due, however, to how effectively Web performance optimization (WPO) best practices were followed. Typically, images are a key component of transactional sites. This is especially true for e-commerce and travel, although JavaScript can end up being used heavily where there are forms to be filled out, including product searches or where consumers are looking for information on travel packages. Images were the number one reason for the slowdown in the sports category, and they played a major role in the news sites that had a more tabloid-style layout. The page composition of the median sites was relatively varied among the categories:
Sites are rendering feature content too slowly Radware found that while the load times and the TTI varied by industry, all four categories were missing the three-second target users expect. E-commerce sites had a median size of 1.4 MB, had 97 requests and a TTI of 3.1 seconds. News sites were slightly larger than e-commerce sites at 1.6 MB, had 122.5 requests and a TTI of 4.1 seconds. Travel sites weighed in at 3.3 MB, had 92 requests and tied news sites in their TTI of 4.1 seconds. Sports sites’ bulky median size of 4.2 MB was accompanied by a median of 148 requests and a disappointing median TTI of 5.2 seconds. The best-performing category was e-commerce, with 48 percent of the tested sites landing at three seconds or less. News sites were middling, with 22 percent in the green, followed by travel sites, with 20 percent meeting the three-second target or better, but 28 percent of those sites exceeded six seconds for their TTI – double the expected time and well within the danger zone for site abandonment. The sports cat-
Page composition and optimization levels vary by industry
E-commerce: 81 percent of requests were images, 8.6 percent for JavaScript. The page weight was 80.2 percent images and 13 percent JavaScript. News: 58.3 percent of the requests were for images, 25.2 percent for JavaScript. However, the JavaScript requests accounted for 38.7 percent of the page weight, with images sitting at 41.1 percent. Travel: 59.2 percent of the requests were for images, 29.6 percent for JavaScript. Sports: 74 percent of the requests were for images, and only 5.98 percent for JavaScript, but those JavaScript requests made up 31.3 percent of the total page weight. For any site, optimization is key. Properly formatting and compressing images will reduce the page’s footprint and load time, and limiting JavaScript and redirects will improve page speed, as will minifying code, which is essential to keep things moving. Across all verticals researched, most sites fail to employ core image optimization techniques. Discover image optimization best practices, and how automated Web Performance optimization platforms can help, by reading this article in its entirety at wsm.co/getperformance. M A Y 2016
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READY
Picking a Side:
ERP WARS By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor
Of all the applications and platforms catered toward business operations today, it may be surprising to some that the enterprise resource planning (ERP) industry can be one of the most cutthroat – despite its innocuous-sounding name.
I
MY ERP
Experts share their success stories with top ERP vendors at wsm.co/besterp.
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As brands are tasked with finding the right ERP for them, the mud-flinging between some providers can be quite a distraction from their original mission: replacing stand-alone systems like traditional accounting software and inventory management systems to streamline information across the entire organization (e.g., a sales manager for a distributor could check a client’s order status before a call and a merchandizer could simultaneously see inventory levels on which to make ordering decisions while executives maintain key information on overall financials, etc.). The transparency that ERP technology provides is really quite impressive, and its fueling a multibillion dollar industry, which is expected to reach $48.22 billion by 2022 according to April 2016 data from Hexa Reports. With so much industry competition, available cash (which fuels plenty of acquisitions) and mediumand large-sized customers to obtain, however, some obvious hostility has developed between providers that plays out in the press and in advertisements. One example is that of Oracle (a top vendor in the space) versus Workday (an “alternative to ERP”). A recent headline, “Oracle Corporation: The Gloves Are Still Off Against Workday” (ValueWalk, April 2016), sums up the situation pretty well in that there is a roughly 10-year history of back-in-forth rhetoric .com
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MAY 2016
between the companies – primarily due to Workday being co-founded by Dave Duffield who founded PeopleSoft, which Oracle acquired (which many say was by “hostile” means) in Jan. 2005. That’s not the only storyline; FinancialForce, which provides a cloud ERP solution for Force.com (the cloud computing platform from Salesforce) showed its hand last year as attendees arrived to NetSuite’s annual conference (a leading provider of cloud-based ERP) with airport ads like “ERP FrankenClouds are NotSuite” (wsm.co/airportads), even launching a website to tout similar content. There are even more examples to choose from; and the finger-pointing is interesting to say the least; but these distractions come at an expense. With so much at stake, end-users must stay above the fray, which is probably good advice for the providers too as there are plenty of unhappy ERP customers available for the taking. The “2015 ERP Report” from Panorama Consulting Solutions found an increase in implementation costs from 2014, an increase in failure rates and fewer companies saying they would have chosen the same ERP software vendor if they could do it all over again. What Panorama says this data suggests is that companies are struggling to select and implement ERP systems in a way that they would consider a success. The definition of success might be skewed from the get-go, however, as Deacom Founder and CEO Jay Deakins cites “that it’s easy” as a big misconception businesses have about what an ERP can do for their company. ERP seekers should not only ask providers the big questions (e.g., “Does your system handle procurement and logistics processes?”), but also, and more importantly, sub-questions (e.g., “Can a drop shipment package look like it came from my company?”). Without the right answers to sub-questions, Deakins says companies will be forced to still use workarounds. Brands that haven’t used an ERP in the past or are seeking a new one to provide greater transparency within their operations, must also know that a complete cultural shift might be needed according to Deakins. For instance, certain departments may be used to operating in a silo and may resist having all their information available to others and the need for accountability that may result. With increased transparency over everything from inventory to costs, business communication can be eased dramatically through ERP implementation, getting rid of roadblocks for both enterprises and their end-users. Choosing the right ERP, however, will require an astute team of professionals who can wade through the mud.
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BUSINESS LAB Baller on a Budget:
SOCIAL MEDIA COSTS
By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor
A majority of brands, small and large, are utilizing social media to market their businesses but many are still in the dark about their return on investment (ROI) from the various networks as well as how to properly budget for both the time and money it takes to actively acquire and retain customers on social. In fact, 2016 data from the Content Marketing Institute indicates that one of the top challenges for business-to-business marketers is the lack of content marketing budget (a category in which social is the most used tactic). There is likely a reason for that as we’re seeing a snowball effect in that marketers have a lack of buy-in from higher-ups – and thus no budget flexibility (see sidebar). Understanding (and being able to show) how social media efforts are contributing to a company’s bottom line (both revenue and reach) is crucial as is budgeting for these initiatives. The following are some cost considerations to make when formalizing a budget:
STAFF
Track Social’s ROI Get a high-level overview of tracking social’s return on investment at wsm.co/trackroi.
Thirty-three percent of marketers devote 1-5 hours weekly to social media followed by those spending 6-10 hours weekly (25 percent) according to Social Media Examiner. The more mature a social media strategy is, the more time is spent. Even so, employee hours are not often calculated within a social media budget. This shouldn’t be the case as those responsible for posting and strategizing a brand’s social presence (as well as responding and delegating incoming customer service inquiries and brand mentions) have a dollar amount associated with them. What’s more, with anywhere from 1-10 hours a week spent on so-
cial, they are not doing other tasks. Enterprises would be wise to account for staff hours allocated to social with their overall investment on the channel.
ADVERTISING
Social networks are marketing hubs but their features come at a cost. Facebook, for instance, has made it incredibly easy for businesses to target very specific groups (e.g., by location, other pages liked, occupation, age) in order to gain new business or activate old. Brands should allocate budget toward social advertising because it will prove to be more difficult to reach audiences organically (without paying for it). Instagram, for instance, just announced its own newsfeed algorithm. What this means is that before posts were sorted by time on the Facebook-owned property; now, what users see first will be determined by Instagram’s algorithm for showing photos and videos based on the likelihood individuals will be interested in the content as well as the relationship with the person (and brand) posting and the timeliness of the post. As more networks adopt a pay-to-play model, enterprises will need to explore the many options available for their budgets. To get started, check out, “Accelerated Guide to Social Ad Targeting” at wsm.co/adtarget16.
SOLUTIONS
Many social media management platforms have free plans available but those dedicated to their success on the channel will need to select a subscription offering that provides more robust features like reporting, multiple account management and brand monitoring. Aside from platforms such as Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite, enterprises may also want to consider a stand-alone analytics platform (e.g., Simply Measured, Quintly). Other social solutions worth exploring are BuzzSumo (content research/analysis), Pagemodo or Canva (to create professional graphics on the cheap) and bitly (to share vanity short URLs).
CAMPAIGNS
Social media is nothing without content but if the material is primarily for website audiences, content creation should likely be a separate budget altogether. That said, social-specific campaigns should be charged to the social media department, because initiatives like giveaways and Twitter chats take time to conceptualize, implement, promote, manage and analyze.
Balling On a Budget
Despite access being free, social media marketing takes time and money. Enterprises that allow for allocation of funds to help managers improve their acquisition and retention initiatives on the various networks are those on the fast track to success.
Quiz
TIME
Cross-Channel Content Marketing Most people associate content marketing with blogging, but this popular marketing strategy actually spans across channels. From email to social, successful content marketers work with many other departments to create the optimal assets for each channel’s audience. A list of “3 Must-Have Summer Sandals,” for example,
1. What is the top content marketing objective for business to business marketers? a. Sales team support and enablement b. Thought leadership c. Lead generation d. Web traffic generation Cheat sheet: wsm.co/stat1to1
may prove to be the ideal content type for email subscribers; while a video tutorial demonstrating “How to Make a Perfect Martini” may work better for a social audience.
2. True or False: 83 percent of marketing leaders say that social media is generating a return on investment (ROI). Cheat sheet: wsm.co/socialroi16
Regardless of channel, one thing is certain – brands are spending more of their marketing budgets on content. In fact, data from the Content Marketing
3. What is the top content format B2B marketers ask their audiences to subscribe to?
to content marketing. This is a significant increase
a. Newsletters b. Blog c. Print magazine d. Podcast
from the 25 percent in 2015.
Cheat sheet: wsm.co/subgoals
Institute reveals that B2C companies are allocating 32 percent, on average, of their total marketing budget
To help keep Web professionals up-to-date with all of the latest content marketing headlines and strategies, Website Magazine regularly writes about the topic at wsm.co/netnews16. Before joining us on the Web, discover how much you know about the state of content marketing by taking May’s quiz.
Get the results of Quiz Time at wsm.co/qtmay16 or by scanning the QR code on the left.
4. True or False: Content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, but costs 62 percent less. Cheat sheet: wsm.co/contentstate
5. The use of the word “video” in email subject lines increases open rates by how much? a. 4 percent b. 19 percent c. 36 percent d. 67 percent Cheat sheet: wsm.co/videopercent
M A Y 2016
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RANK WEBSITE
Customer Relationship
Management Solutions The most valuable asset businesses (digital enterprises in particular) have is their customer and prospect list. The fresher and more detailed that list is, the more useful it will be when it comes time to market and sell to a potential and existing audience. Few enterprises, however, spend the required resources (time or money) to manage their customer database, but those who do are those that reap the greatest rewards, most notably increases in revenue and retention. Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to the practice, strategies and, of course, technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. The goal of using these systems is to improve relationships with customers, assisting in retention and over time, and most importantly, driving sales growth. Today’s CRM offerings are incredibly powerful and there is a solution designed for every type of enterprise. CRM software suites most often provide a mix of sales force automation functionality including contact, account and opportunity management. They also offer marketing automation features such as lead and campaign management, customer support tools like support case and knowledge management, and an underlying and unifying database for companies to manage all customer information and their customer-facing applications. CRM solutions are fast becoming a key part of the sales and marketing software stack and billions of dollars are spent each year on these solutions. In this month’s Website Magazine Top 50, readers will discover some of the most powerful and popular solutions available today. There are enterprise-level solutions from some of the biggest brands in technology including Salesforce, Oracle and Microsoft, mid-tier vendors including Zoho and Nimble, and a long list of solutions catering to the small business market. If ’Net professionals take the time to explore this exciting landscape, they are sure to find a solution that meets their needs and fits in with the demands of their enterprise.
CRM Buyer’s Guide
What features should a customer relationship management platform offer? How much should it cost and how long will it take to integrate into your brand’s existing workflow? Discover answers to these important questions and more in Website Magazine’s new CRM Buyer’s Guide at wsm.co/crm2016.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.
microsoft.com oracle.com salesforce.com zoho.com hubspot.com sap.com netsuite.com infusionsoft.com infor.com podio.com sugarcrm.com insightly.com getbase.com highrisehq.com nimble.com bullhorn.com act.com nutshell.com vtiger.com odoo.com pipelinedeals.com futuresimple.com pipedrive.com capsulecrm.com contactually.com pipelinersales.com civicrm.org aptean.com salesforceiq.com batchbook.com reallysimplesystems.com sagecrm.com maximizer.com lessannoyingcrm.com goldmine.com bluenose.com apptivo.com onepagecrm.com veeva.com bigcontacts.com workbooks.com bpmonline.com oncontact.com greenrope.com chaossoftware.com iseeit.com avidian.com worketc.com marketing360.com commence.com
CONNECT WHEN “THEY” UNCONNECT Print captures and keeps the attention of today’s millennial business buyer more than any other medium.* Reach these motivated ’Net professionals by exploring Website Magazine’s many acquisition opportunities.
Reach millennial business buyers now at wsm.co/printsells.
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Mastering
SEARCH 4 Ways to Find the
Right Audience Through SEO By Danica Jones, Marketing Manager at ConsumerAffairs for Brands
The SEO landscape continues to grow more complex. As the evolution of ranking factors continues, every business needs to step back and ask the critical question: Am I actually targeting the right people? All traffic is not equal. An increase in visits is good, but improvements in traffic quality with high time on site is better. What is best, however, is visitors that eventually convert into leads or sales. Neglecting how end-users discover your brand could likely result in optimization initiatives reaching the wrong people. Here are a few ways to find the right audience through SEO:
1. Be Where Users Search Life for well-known brands is easy. They get all the love from search engines and awareness from prospects. For the less fortunate businesses that are working on building that brand awareness, it’s a tougher road. One key thing to keep in mind though is that prospects who aren’t familiar with brands by name are using completely different queries to find resources where they can learn more about an industry or product, and view different brands. If they’ve never heard of a brand, they won’t be able to search “reviews for Brand X.” Instead, they may search “reviews for best headphones,” or “what are the best headphones for studying” or other long-tail search phrases. Many brands focus too much time on boosting rankings for owned properties but avoid leveraging third-party listings (such as review sites) to better populate search in spaces where ready-to-buy prospects are trying to make decisions. Both are important in today’s SEO landscape.
2. Know Experience Extends Beyond Owned Listings Review sites and buyer guides rank extremely high for consumer-focused queries, and brands need to take this into consideration as part of their overall SEO strategy as well as consider in parallel that sites with strong negative 16
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reviews and feedback can be hurt in SERPs according to Google itself. Simply type in variations of “reviews of” + “competitor brand name,” or “review of best” + “product or service” and see which review aggregation website appears for the different search terms.
3. Don’t Push Down Negative Reviews No brand is immune to online complaints. The larger the enterprise, the bigger the potential universe of complainers, no matter how loved it may appear. Apple is the number one brand according to Interbrand’s annual ranking, and the iPhone is a huge percentage of their business (almost 2/3). Yet a search for “complaints Apple iPhone” returns quite a few low stars on review sites, but because of Apple’s beloved status, negative listings do not impact them nearly as much as they would a smaller brand. Complaints (whether they are on review sites, buyer’s guides, forums or private blogs) should always be dealt with directly and quickly. Brands too often see negative reviews as an enemy, doing what they can to push them down. Instead, claim the review and respond on how the complainant can seek a resolution. SEO teams should work with customer experience teams to take advantage of the high SERP placement of review sites by working with those sites to improve sentiment and engage unhappy customers.
4. Recognize Alternative Paths for Searchers Brands will want to use buyer personas and existing customer journey data to outline some alternative paths consumers may take to arrive not just at their own websites but also from third-party destinations. Too often, user experience is overlooked in the rush to focus on factors such as demographics. One example is the popular question-and-answer site Quora. With 80 million unique visitors, Quora has turned into a valuable platform to gain exposure and even generate leads. As its popularity has grown, Quora ranks very high for many long-tail queries on search engines. Marketers can simply follow topics related to their business, and receive email notifications when someone posts a new question. Additionally, companies will want to take the time to craft a thoughtful response using the same strategies in creating high-value, long-form content. Over time, thirdparty listings such as these can contribute to high quality organic inbound traffic precisely because they offer the best user experience for that particular situation. SEO is all about relevance. Google and other search engines reward websites that provide the best answers to queries. The goal of any SEO strategy is to go where the searchers go. Understanding these four practices can aid in broadening the universe of optimization to places on the Web where real prospects truly reside.
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E-Commerce
EXPRESS
Edgy E-Commerce
Breaking Away from the Status Quo By Allison Howen, Associate Editor
The status quo is perfectly acceptable for many online retailers. Those that are willing to take risks, however, are the ones that will excel. Fortunately, there are many retailers doing business on the Web who are pushing the existing boundaries, and even more innovative technology vendors ready to support them in achieving their goals. For some inspiration on how your Internet-based retail enterprise can break away from the pack and improve key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversions and engagement in the process, check out the five edgy e-commerce technologies featured below:
Advance On-Site Discovery with Fluid XPS Fluid’s expert personal shopper (XPS) software, powered by IBM’s Watson, enables brands to replace traditional search functionality with a guided conversation. The product recommendation platform creates an experience where shoppers engage in dialogue similar to talking to an in-store expert. The North Face is the first retailer to leverage XPS, with the company using the technology to provide outerwear recommendations. Shoppers simply need to answer a series of questions, such as who the item is for, and where and when it will be worn. This conversation enables XPS to refine its recommendations and deliver a variety of products based on the information provided by the customer. 18
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Fluid XPS uses a dialogue-based conversation to improve product discovery like in this example from The North Face.
Offer Cross-Channel Customer Service with Shopkey Digital customer service is undoubtedly evolving, with recent data from Aspect revealing 38 percent of consumers would rather use messaging apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp than make a phone call for their customer service needs. To help its retailers expand their digital customer service offerings, Shopify recently launched its Shopkey app. Shopkey is an e-commerce keyboard app for iOS that gives retailers instant access to their product catalog across mobile messaging (SMS) and social apps. For example, retailers can leverage the keyboard to quickly send links for products and paste product images into conversations. What’s more, since Shopkey works in other apps, the keyboard makes it easier for merchants to post links and photos to social sites via mobile.
The Shopkey keyboard helps retailers service customers through messaging apps. Schoolhouse’s shoppable blog images click through to each item’s product page.
Strengthen Shopper Confidence with Reserve In-Store Most retailers are familiar with “buy online, pick up in-store” functionality, but some apparel retailers are putting a twist on this concept by allowing customers to reserve items online to try on in-stores later. The Reserve In-Store feature from Sku IQ, for instance, enables brick-and-mortar retailers to offer reservation functionality on their sites. With this option, shoppers can research products online and take action even if they are not ready to convert. This functionality is beneficial because it removes uncertainty from the purchasing process, as shoppers can visit a brick-andmortar location to pick up their reservation, try on the items and then make a confident purchase (likely decreasing return rates). Plus, store associates can answer questions to close the sale as well as upsell.
Reserve In-Store enables shoppers to research online and take action in-stores.
posts to help consumers discover all available items in the picture. Home furnishings retailer Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. tested the solution and reported a 110 percent increase in click-through rates when compared to its traditional blog posts.
Provide Payment Flexibility with FuturePay Savvy retailers offer a variety of payment options at checkout to increase the chances of conversions, but some retailers are gambling on options outside of popular choices like PayPal and Visa Checkout. FuturePay is an example of a payment option that can be leveraged to let customers “buy now and pay later” – all without a credit card. Once the order is processed, FuturePay pays the retailer the full amount and customers settle their balance with FuturePay via monthly payments. Retailers interested in the technology can leverage FuturePay’s API or integrations with many top e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento and 3dcart.
Avoid the Rut There is a fine line between sticking with the status quo and being stuck in a rut. To avoid the latter, it is important for e-commerce retailers to continually push boundaries and test new technologies.
Monetize Blogs with Curalate Reveal Seventy-seven percent of B2C marketers leverage blogs as a content marketing tactic according to the Content Marketing Institute. The problem with blogs, however, is that while they are great for customers in the discovery stage, there are roadblocks standing in the way of conversions because content is not always connected to product or checkout pages. To solve this problem, some retailers are experimenting with solutions to help them monetize editorial content. Curalate Reveal, for instance, enables retailers to create shoppable images that can be leveraged in blog
FuturePay gives shoppers a flexible payment option that is particularly useful for high-price items.
Design and
DEVELOPMENT
Like Them or Not, 7 Web Design Trends Here to Stay By Larry Alton
The world of Web design moves quickly, and as always, it’s in a designer’s best interest to stay ahead of the curve. An increase in mobile technology usage, the emergence of virtual reality (VR) systems, new features in common social apps and different user expectations in website offerings are just a handful of trends and topics inspiring the development of these Web design crazes. Whether you’re well-versed in their origin points or completely disinterested in the volatile shifts occurring within the tech world, user expectations for websites are going to grow regardless. Keep watch for these major Web design trends as we move further into 2016 (and beyond), and consider updating your site to keep in line with them:
1. The Confluence of Design Despite having even more design options and greater technological flexibility, most Web designs are starting to mimic each other. How many times have you seen a homepage with big, bold, yet simple white text on a 20
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darkened or blurred-out background? It’s ridiculously common. Is it because people prefer to copy old ideas rather than come up with new ones? Is it because it’s simply the most effective design from a marketing perspective? The answer to both questions is probably yes. Either way, enterprises will face a difficult decision to either run with the crowd in the established grooves of Web design or go it alone in some bold, new direction (each decision has its merits).
2. Long Scrolls Thanks to the ease of scrolling on mobile devices (and the difficulty of displaying lots of content at once), long scrolls have cemented their position as a necessary Web design feature. This feature stands to become even more popular and even more important. Most sites centered on content should have an infinite scroll layout, allowing users to scroll down as far as they want rather than clicking on new pages. Even non-content oriented sites can stand to benefit from stacking as much material as possible in a single, scrolling page.
3. Increasing Minimalism Minimalism has been a dominant theme in design for the past several years, but especially on the Web. Phrases are getting shorter, navigations are getting narrower, pages are getting smaller in number, and images are getting less obtrusive and more suggestive. In the coming months, this trend is only going to increase — images and colors are going to become even more basic, words will become simpler and interactive elements will be reduced to their smallest state.
mobile sites and apps is falling out of favor. Hiding the core pages behind a simple and recognizable icon seemed like a good idea, but too many webmasters have found that pages buried in a hamburger menu never get seen or clicked. Instead, more Web masters are opting for a tab-style menu (like Twitter’s app), which more obviously shows the available navigation options and encourages further exploration and interaction with the digital property.
Inspiration for Minimalists Check out three brands embracing the trend of digital minimalism at wsm.co/attminimal.
4. Saturated and Bright Colors Saturated and bright, neon colors have emerged as a growing trend. Take Spotify’s simple yet impactful logo change earlier this year as an example. All the company did was take the shade of green closer to a bright, neon color, falling in line with the increasing saturation in other popular products, like Apple’s iOS. Major brands and publications are using saturated colors in on-site images, so the ’Net community should expect to see more of these on websites well into the next year.
Tabbed-style navigation is becoming a popular option for apps.
7. Less Dependence on Clicks
Spotify’s use of bright, neon colors falls in line with many of the most popular brands on the Web.
5. Friendlier Loading Options Nobody likes waiting for a page to load. Page loading times can not only negatively impact Google search rankings, but also ensure visitors leave without accomplishing their goal (e.g. buying, researching, etc.). Every brand needs friendlier loading options, especially if any of their content takes more than a second or two to load. Pre-loading certain content, reducing site loading times overall and coming up with more innovative loading icons or screens are a few of the ways some enterprises are excelling.
6. Tab Menus (Instead of Hamburgers) The traditional “hamburger” menu often found in
Clicks used to be the ruling force in the world of Web design. Getting a user to click on a website element was akin to securing a real interaction, meaning a site was effective in this specific instance. As a result, many websites were developed around the idea of getting more clicks by any means necessary. Since clicking is more difficult and less common on mobile devices these days, however, clicks are less important. Instead, Web designs will focus on emphasizing user gestures and actions not relegated to a mere click, such as scrolling past a particular point, playing a video or interacting in some specific way. Consumer tastes and new technologies seem to cycle out more rapidly with each passing year. With 2016 nearly halfway over, Web professionals may want to consider running a complete audit of their website to see if it adheres to at least a few of today’s biggest trends.
Larry Alton is a regular contributor to Website Magazine as well as other national publications. Follow him @LarryAlton3.
Insights on
ANALYTICS
Is the Wrong Metric
Misleading Your Marketing? By Glenn Pingul, Amplero
When it comes to measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, what looks like a winner at first glance may actually be a loser upon further examination. “Response rate” is a metric commonly used for measuring the success of marketing campaigns. The problem is that it’s misleading. For example, a marketing manager at a large enterprise may see that 20 percent of customers have responded to a new offer. This would typically be deemed a success in many organizations and a good indication that it’s time to launch the campaign more broadly and start thinking about similar offers. This is an all-too-familiar scenario because the majority of today’s marketers rely on offer acceptance rates to evaluate a campaign’s effectiveness. The assumption is that the more redemptions, email opens or clicks a campaign gets, the more successful it is. It’s not surprising why marketers rely on this metric. Acceptance rates are easy to report on, simple to understand and quick to calculate. At the same time, these figures don’t tell the whole story. Metrics such as open rates and click rates can provide important insight into brand strength and customer engagement, as well as aspects of an actual campaign execution (e.g., the creative or the incentive). The problem is that they provide no indication of what happened after the customer clicked. They can’t tell a marketer about the monetary uplift generated by the campaign. Moreover, they can’t tell brands about the potential cannibalistic effects of marketing efforts. 22
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Real-world evidence: positive reactions can have a negative impact on outcomes While it’s been argued by a small minority that acceptance rate can be a misleading marketing metric, what has been lacking in these discussions is any hard evidence. What many find when looking further at this issue, however, is proof that response rate as a marketing metric can be deceptive. A recent examination of one of our large enterprise consumer-facing clients explored the correlation between the acceptance rate of offers and the impact of the offers on actual profitability. The objective was to determine whether or not acceptance rates predict revenue lift. More specifically, researchers wanted to explore whether offers with low acceptance rate can have a strong positive impact on revenue lift, and whether offers with high acceptance rates can have a strong negative impact on revenue lift, thus getting at this question of reliability. The client was executing trigger-based marketing campaigns to several million consumer customers via SMS. The campaigns utilized a mix of messages, offers and incentives; the latter offered customers a variety of bonus credits based on a range of purchase behaviors. The testing of all of the different customer experience variants was performed using control groups. For each customer that received an offer, a control was used so that a comparison could determine revenue lift. The metric the team used was “total realized revenue” 14 days post marketing. Here is what was found during the research.
1. There was no correlation between acceptance rates and revenue lift. As can be seen in the graph below, the slope of the line is not statistically different from that of zero. What this confirmed is that acceptance rates do not shed insight on long-term business key performance indicators (KPIs), in this case 14 days trailing revenue. Acceptance rates can’t help marketers answer the question whether a campaign positively or negatively impacts revenue over the long term.
In this real-world example, there was no correlation between acceptance rates and revenue lift.
2. Response rate can mislead marketing. It’s entirely possible to have a high acceptance rate and a negative impact on revenue. The opposite can also be true – low acceptance rates can have strong positive revenue lift. The client found that one of their offers having the lowest acceptance rate (<1 percent) correlated with the highest revenue lift (25 percent), while an offer acceptance rate of 7 percent, which they had deemed a winner, had an 18 percent negative impact on revenue. 3. Incentive type matters. Why? Because incentive is closed linked to how cannibalizing an offer may be. We all know that marketing can be highly cannibalistic (eating up the sales and demand of an existing product). What we found is that some incentives with high acceptance rates had a very negative impact on revenue lift. Included in the study were two offers that had the same call-to-action (CTA) but different bonuses. One generated positive lift while the other highly negative. The difference was due to a cannibalization effect. 4. Beware of big bonuses. For some of the offers, the client offered bonus credits for future product use. After running the numbers, it turned out that the bonuses
awarded were routinely too large for a specific CTA. What the study showed is that it doesn’t matter how large the bonus is that is given to customers to incent behavior as long as it is within a minimum acceptable range. Of course this requires being able to test a broad range of incentives and getting a statistically valid measurement on which ones impact performance.
Leveraging machine learning to understand something more meaningful If marketers have been using offer acceptance rate to measure the effectiveness of their marketing, it’s time to ask whether they’re getting a read on what really matters. What some marketers are realizing is that more advanced testing capabilities combined with machine learning allow them to optimize customer interactions according to long-term KPIs, going well beyond response rate. The ability for marketers to leverage more rigorous and automated experimental design allows them to measure matched target and control lift for their KPI of choice, whether they have a revenue, engagement, retention or loyalty objective. Furthermore, it allows marketers the flexibility to optimize performance against more than one KPI simultaneously. For some customers, brands may want to trade short-term revenue for a longer-term retention benefit. The key is being able to weigh those tradeoffs and adapt marketing efforts accordingly. The real power of controlled experimentation combined with machine learning is that it provides marketers much better insight into the actual outcomes of marketing efforts – resulting in smarter, faster decisions about how to engage each individual. Today, most marketers are convinced they need hundreds of data scientists to construct these types of controlled experiments, test for statistical significance and measure the outcomes. What they don’t realize is that machine learning marketing platforms can do this for them. Marketers don’t have to use response rate as a proxy for how marketing efforts impact revenue or retention. If what they really want to do is understand the outcomes of marketing and automatically optimize for long-term performance indicators, marketers should consider the fact that machine learning can yield measurement that is more meaningful as well as consider that both marketing and the bottom line will benefit. Glenn Pingul is VP of scientific marketing for Amplero. His background includes extensive marketing strategy, communications and branding through executive positions at companies such as Corbis, T-Mobile USA, Nordstrom, AirTouch Wireless (Verizon Wireless) and Starbucks.
Unifying Marketing and Sales Learn how data can better align the efforts of these teams at wsm.co/acrossaisle.
The Secret of
SEO By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief
The practice of search engine optimization (SEO) today is not completely unlike that of years past. In order to rank in a competitive position for a variety of keywords relevant to the products and services (or information) being sold, enterprises need to create a digital presence that is fast, accessible and secure, as well as produce an information experience that is in demand by the target audience and one worthy of sharing and distribution by influencers. With the appeal of other Internet channels (social, email, advertising) competing for enterprise attention and resources (both the time and financial investment required), however, today’s brands must be willing to change with the times if the aim is to top the search results pages – and there is plenty of work to be done within every business. A study recently released by Conductor revealed that the amount of inbound marketing jobs is actually expected to drop for the first time in four years. Conductor’s report indicated, however, that the decline actually means that SEO is on the rise. How could that possibly be? Instead of existing as a siloed function, SEO has expanded into a common skill universally featured among different roles. That means that while there are fewer SEOspecific jobs (which tend to be entry level – with corre24
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sponding salaries), businesses are integrating the skills of SEOs (and the practices they employ) into broader positions within their company. It should be clear, that SEO as a practice, a skill and a profession, is changing. That, in essence, is the secret of search engine optimization: change is simply inherent in this digital practice; it’s dynamic and evolving (never, ever the same from day to day). As search engines like Google and Bing are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they crawl, process, index and rank websites and roll out new and more useful features for consumers (e.g., the Knowledge Graph in the case of Google), enterprises that keep pace, that change their outlook, as well as the processes and practices they use to capitalize on the new demands, are those that stand to gain the most. Essentially, SEO has become so important, and so fundamental to the success of enterprises, that now everyone in the organization is responsible (at least in some regard) for the practice – from the content development and public relations team, to the customer service and IT staff. As a result, SEO jobs and salaries might be in decline, but the required skills most certainly are not. In many ways, this indicates (and quite clearly) that the practice of SEO is maturing and if an enterprise isn’t keeping pace with the trends, the numerous opportunities available for the optimization of a digital presence will simply evaporate.
Enterprises looking to be discovered (or rediscovered) by their audience – prospects and existing customers – must meet or exceed the demands of the Web experience today. Fortunately, the opportunity is immense. In this month’s feature article from Website Magazine, discover not only the elements that for years have served as the foundation of SEO success, but also how they have changed over time and for the benefit of users and the companies that want to serve them.
Foundations of SEO Success Often those responsible for the success of their enterprise get bogged down in the intricacies of the practice, concerned more with the science of the details rather than the art of the experience. From a high level, however, the foundation of SEO success relies on three pillars: content, links and experience. Let’s explore each of these (in particular what we mean by ‘experience’). For many just starting on their search engine optimization initiatives, the following guidance will prove invaluable, and those individuals and enterprises that adhere to the principles outlined herein are those that can best position their website for success immediately and in the future. Those with some or a vast amount of experience with SEO, however, might think the information provided is too basic. They can rest assure it most certainly is not as a majority of websites still create digital experiences that come up woefully short, which negatively impacts their success with SEO initiatives. Take these proven insights seriously and any company – large or small, novice or experienced – will see (or continue to see) positive results. The On-Site SEO Basics While emphasis is typically placed on content and links (more on both in the following sections), the methods that are used to design and structure specific elements on Web pages also carry some weight in the virtual eyes of search engines. Website Magazine routinely covers these topics, but below readers will find some general guidance about on-site optimization fundamentals to ensure the experience they are creating resonates not just with users, but search engines as well. If you start anywhere, let it be here: URL Formatting: Consistent, readable URLs are preferred by both search engines and website visitors. Some best practices include using keywords, keeping the length at modest levels and avoiding special symbols. See how top ranking sites construct their URLs at wsm.co/righturls. Title Tags: Search engines and users look to page titles to determine relevance, which means SEO professionals must consider how they appear on the site itself and in the search results. Some best practices to consider include
STAY IN THE KNOW Visit Website Magazine’s Mastering Search channel for timely updates and best practice guidance on search engine optimization every day on the ’Net at wsm.co/mastersearch. using keywords early on in the title and using symbols to save space/characters. Looking for some inspiration? Review the listings at popular search engines for keywords an enterprise is optimizing for. Headings: HTML heading tags (e.g., H1-H6) are used to indicate to users what section of the content is being shown within the context of the whole page; and they also provide search engines other important relevancy signals as to what content is about. Make sure not to overuse them or employ them out of order (H3 before H1). Schema Markup: While not necessarily a ranking factor (yet), rich snippets do provide an opportunity to help a listing stand out on the results pages, which increases the click-through rate, and, in turn, is likely to provide a ranking improvement. Keywords in Content: The importance of content and specifically the mechanics of its development, is of immense importance in SEO. Best practices include using keywords (and related terms and phrases) at the beginning of any content item and using synonyms and related words (liberally). Content Length: Numerous studies have been conducted which indicate that the longer the content, the higher it ranks on search engines (perceived authority being the reason). While there is no ideal content length per say, content items with roughly 1,000 to 2,000 words regularly outperform those with fewer.
SEO BASICS IN DETAIL Much more could be said about each of these on-site optimization opportunities, so Website Magazine has put together a quick guide to on-site SEO basics at wsm.co/pageseo, which details how high-ranking websites are using these elements to achieve better position on the search results pages.
Non-Text (Multimedia) Content: The presence of images, videos and dynamic charts and graphics on pages can dramatically improve the user experience, and can also be used for the benefit of search engine optimization campaigns. Learn how to optimize multimedia content at wsm.co/mediaseo. Links: Providing links to internal and external pages also provide search engines with additional relevancy signals. While having an excessive number of links can be overwhelming, presenting a few (perhaps 2-4 for every 1,000 words) indicates a page may be a hub of quality information.
Content If an enterprise were to engage in only one SEO practice, it should be, without question, the development of content as there is no more valuable means to acquire customers and help existing audiences fully utilize what’s being offered by brands. Content attracts and educates, informs and entertains and those brands that recognize its importance are those best positioned for ’Net success. Content development of course can be quite time consuming – who wants to constantly come up with new, unique and creative ideas over and over and do so day after day (besides traditional publishers, of course)? Fortunately, with a little digital elbow grease and a commitment to the practice, developing content can result in significant dividends – and in more ways than just achieving higher ranking on the search results. The “State of Inbound” report from HubSpot last year, in fact, revealed that by 2020, 85 percent of customers will manage their relationships with brands before ever speaking to anyone from the company. As consumers’ online habits change, an effective content development initiative will help position brands in front of their audience as they seek out information on products and services. While there aren’t any shortcuts per say, conducting keyword research (which reveals the queries used by consumers), getting creative with the theme and angle and testing out different formats are just some of the best practices today’s digital enterprises should consider. Web professionals know they need content, and content that inspires consumption and action (as well as
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT IN ACTION Content comes in many different forms, but the best method is perhaps the traditional “article” format. Discover a formulaic approach to creating article content that not only resonates with end-users, but appeals to search engines too at wsm.co/mastersearch.
shares and links) but it is an immense burden to produce at a high level and to do so consistently. Is there a better way? Yes, of course. Brands that are struggling with the pace of content production required today should consider repackaging and repurposing what has already been done (by their own company or by other brands). What that ultimately means is simply putting it into a new format (adding something custom or from a unique point of view) and there are plenty of ways to get that done. Some possible ideas include turning long-form content articles into a SlideShare presentation, an Animoto video, a drip email course, an infographic or an eBook. The list of content opportunities is really endless; what is really important to remember is that the content being repurposed is the company’s and different enough in the new format to provide users with something of genuine value (be it the manner in which it is consumed or the method used to convey the information it contains). What’s more, the benefit of engaging in this practice also carries with it a chance to promote content and acquire the inbound links necessary to achieve a top position on the search results pages for competitive keywords and phrases. With an understanding of what search engines require in terms of on-site optimization, and a few ideas to develop content that appeals to both end-users and search engines, it’s essential to turn attention toward perhaps what always has been and always will be the single most influential factor in ranking: links.
Link Building In the “2016 State of Link Building Survey” from Moz, the very first sentence of the report confirms that the practice of search engine optimization is changing. “SEO futurists have predicted the death of links as a ranking signal for years on end. That hasn’t happened yet, and I’m happy to say that link building as a practice has greatly evolved.” Link building was once a rather sloppy collection of tactics that for some produced results, and for others simply wasted valuable time and resources. The practice, at least for the savviest enterprises, has changed dramatically over the years of course in parallel with the rise of other digital promotion tactics such as content marketing and the shifting responsibility of link building to others not designated purely as an SEO (for example, public relations departments). The means by which today’s enterprises acquire or build links to their websites isn’t really all that different than it was 10 or 15 years ago. The Moz report indicated that content publication and promotion was used by 90 percent of respondents, while resource pages and link list pages (a rather old-school tactic if ever there was one) was used by 56 percent. That alone shows how significantly the practice of search engine optimization has changed – today’s enter-
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prises are taking control of their digital destiny by being the change they want to see in the virtual world and producing content that not only attracts links, but consumers too. SEO used to be a rather manual undertaking, but thanks to some rather powerful solutions, it’s more accessible than ever and when done right, more effective as well. Some of the most popular offerings on the market today include Moz, BuzzStream, Ahrefs, SEMrush, BuzzSumo and Majestic. For some emerging alternatives, check out “Search Tools Every SEO Should Try” at wsm.co/shinyseo. Despite knowing full well that some link building tactics are, if not less effective, more time consuming than others to engage in (e.g., sending out direct link requests or reviewing other websites for broken links and suggesting your own), it is quite common to engage in these practices. SEO gets its often well-deserved poor reputation when money (direct payment for links) comes into play. Despite search engine’s technical sophistication, it is still nearly impossible for search engines to control incentivized/paid links. Google, for example, published a notice on its Webmasters blog stating that bloggers who received free or gifted products from brands or manufacturers should follow some “best practices” so they don’t get penalized. That might be an empty threat, digital posturing perhaps, as they don’t necessarily have any method to differentiate sponsored content from that of the organic variety. Regardless, Google is advising that bloggers who write about products and link to the provider of the product in exchange for the free product, should “no-follow” link, disclose that the writing is a result of the free product, and create compelling, unique content so that it adds value beyond what’s already available on the Web.
Experience When enterprises put themselves in the place of a consumer, a great deal is revealed about the optimal experience; in fact, it is proving increasingly impossible to serve an audience (at least well) without such an understanding. What that ultimately means is that today’s ’Net professional must focus on optimizing those elements that convey to the user that they are respected and the experience that has been developed has been done so for their value and benefit. A good example of this came in the form of an announcement from Google about its refusal to display app interstitials to mobile users – those pop-ups that encourage users to download a mobile application (when a user is on a mobile device) instead of viewing the regular website. Imagine how annoying it would be if a shopper wanted to walk in a store, but had to go across the street to another destination first. Doesn’t make much sense offline, and it doesn’t on the Web either. There are plenty of methods to optimize the experience and increasingly, these elements are being used as
ranking factors as well, which makes them quite important in the practice of SEO. Speed: If customers are waiting (which no one appreciates) in the brick-and-mortar world, retailers can use additional staff to handle the influx. It’s the exact same in the digital realm, but few websites actually take steps to speed up their ’Net presence even though there are myriad ways to do so – from leveraging content delivery networks to lazy loading images below the visual fold. Speed is a key component of optimizing the user experience; discover several ways to accelerate page load times at wsm.co/webspeedy. Security: Google’s made it clear that secure websites will rank (marginally) higher; basically, websites that have “https://” are favored in SERPs over sites with “http://”, but the difference is fairy miniscule. The search engine explained that encryption is only a very lightweight signal, impacting less than one percent of global queries, and carrying less weight than other signals such as high-quality content. At the same time, that’s not to say that Web masters should discount the factor as insignificant to SEO outcomes. Eventually, Google’s likely to accord more weight to encryption as a ranking determinant because, quite simply, they want to make the Internet a safer place for users. Moving a site to HTTPS can be complicated; access a quick guide to ensuring a seamless transition at wsm.co/securemove. Mobility: One of the most significant developments to emerge in 2016 has been the introduction of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). While it has long been postulated that websites that are mobile rank higher, Google indicated in no uncertain terms that websites producing AMP-compliant pages would receive a ranking boost – and that alone should be motivation to consider using the HTML framework. Website Magazine is continuously covering the roll out of AMP and has put together a roundup of resources to help ensure every digital presence is mobile and presenting the optimal experience to their users at wsm.co/quickamp.
The Secret of SEO is Change The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just like it was many years ago, what’s important to end-users is still going to be important to search engines. Today’s brands need to create compelling and useful on-site experiences, develop content that satisfies the needs of their audience, and craft an experience where users know and can feel that they are respected and valued. That in itself won’t change. The opportunities that those responsible for search engine optimization have to influence their enterprise’s success are immense, which is why staying ahead of the game and on top of key developments is such a powerful place to start.
EXPERIENCE A Summer of Subject Lines
Tips to Keep Busy Contacts Clicking this Season By EJ McGowan, General Manager of Campaigner
With summer around the corner, winter-weary email contacts are eager to get outside and make travel plans. While these work reprieves are beneficial for burnt out Web workers and business professionals, they can be detrimental for marketers who find themselves with fewer contacts in front of their computers. This season in particular, it’s imperative that email marketers rev up their subject line efforts and craft emails that make contacts pause their summer activities to see what content awaits on the inside of their emails. Read on for some crucial dos and don’ts to help create eye-catching and open-inducing subject lines this summer.
DO:
Employ the emoji While email contacts are on vacation, it’s time for emojis to get to work. These eye-catching icons are a great way to make a brand’s email stick out from the rest in the inbox. Use emojis that are seasonal or related to the email content. For example, if a retailer is having a summer sale, it should try using a sun emoji in the subject line. Insert personalization Customized subject lines can make contacts feel special enough to pause fun activities and make a purchase. Marketers will want to use basic contact demographic information as well as more advanced data like purchase behavior and geolocation if its readily available. These insights will help marketers drum up special offers that contacts can’t resist. Test and segment accordingly Smart vacationers wouldn’t embark on a road trip without looking over their car first. In the same vein, it’s crucial to test out which subject lines resonate
most with specific contacts before hitting send to the entire list. If marketers don’t test first, they risk having their entire campaign go kaput.
DON’T:
Go overboard Like lines at amusement parks, the shorter the better when it comes to subject lines. Companies only get seven seconds to capture readers’ attention, and on top of that, some email servers truncate subject lines at 35 characters, so brands will want to keep it under 50 characters maximum. Be deceptive Offers like “Lose 10 pounds in 5 days with this pill” may capture attention during beach season, but there is aggravation that comes along with too-good-to-betrue offers. As such, marketers shouldn’t make any offers in the subject line that they don’t follow through with in the body of the email. Not only will contacts delete emails if their expectations are not met (and be more hesitant to open future ones), but they may also file spam complaints against the sender. Ignore the junk folder If contacts have little time to check their inboxes this summer, they have even less time to check their junk folders, so marketers should make sure that messages are getting through by cutting down on spam triggers. Though senders might view it as their worst enemy, the junk folder can also be a top resource in crafting viable subject lines. Use the emails that are in there as examples of what not to do as marketers will likely see a lot of exclamation points, phrases in all caps and sales jargon like “free” or “cash bonus.” Implement these best practices for subject lines this summer, and as an email marketer, you too will be able to enjoy the season without having to worry about low open rates. M A Y 2016
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The How & Where of Email Opens Android vs. iPhone, Gmail vs. Outlook, see who’s winning at wsm.co/mailwins. .com
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Mobile
MATTERS
How Apps are Shaping Customer Service Expectations By Diwiyne Johnson, Marketing Manager at Vanity Point
A. Keep users in-app by providing all the location information they need (including directions).
There is much that has changed about the modern day consumer. This is especially true when looking at how mobile has become a source of immediate answers and satisfaction – with apps being no exception. Brands now have the opportunity to provide rich experiences that not only leverage the functions of mobile devices but also motivate users to interact with their app often. Such experiences are changing the way shoppers think of customer service and how they’ll expect to do business
B. Some brands, like Target, take location information to the next level even showcasing maps inside the store to allow customers to easily find what they are looking for.
with every brand. The following are some tips on how to use apps to be more direct, more interactive and more personal:
Create convenience
Modern customers want to access information through their phones, therefore a branded app will need to cater to that demand even more so than the Web. For example, mobile apps can provide customers with instant access to company information like product prices, reviews and availability. They can also help them find the nearest location where they can pick up a company’s products as well as maps to the store and even maps in the store (see images A and B). Rather than consulting the search engines for this information, consumers can trust their favorite apps.
Get to know customers
It is important that retailers are able to survey their customer base. With mobile surveys, everything is simple, quick and effective. This lets the retailer receive valuable feedback to improve customer service. LeTote, for instance, is a clothing subscription company for women and its app allows for feedback on the items sent as well the ability for a user to upload a picture of herself wearing the item, allowing the company to learn about a person’s preferences and improve the next shipment (to help prevent churn). Additionally, many customers are happy to provide companies with demographic data and let brands improve their user experience based on pur-
C. LeTote further personalizes its brand experience by asking for in-app feedback. D. Companies like StitchFix offer in-app messaging to improve the customer’s experience. E. Sears provides updates to its buy online, pick up in store customers via its app.
chase history or other usage patterns. Apps allow companies to create personalized experiences that modern day consumers expect.
Be reachable
Mobile is going to be a key component of the business world for the next several years, so marketers should expect the need to leverage mobile communication channels to provide service and support to an even greater number of their mobile customers. Mobile is an ideal tool for this as customers enjoy having the option to email, call or chat with a brand about service and support issues. In fact, according to Gartner, 63 percent of American adults use their mobile device at least once a month for customer support. Further, 75 percent of those polled between 35 and 44 seek support more than once a month via their mobile device. Another subscription service for women, Stitch Fix supports in-app messages, which is one more way the company personalizes its services and exceeds customer service expectations (resulting in brand advocates and more lifetime value). It’s important to remember that in order to truly succeed with a mobile app and create a positive experience for customers, brands need to account for the fact that people use their mobile devices for a wide range of activities, including social media, text messages, GPS navigation, chat and more. Regardless of what a customer might need to do while in the app – whether it is learning about a product, processing a return or contacting customer or technical support – they should be able to do it easily and feel positive about the experience after-
ward. This type of strategy will distinguish companies from those that think mobile support is an afterthought.
Keep customers informed
Often a company’s customers will miss out on sales or promotions because the news reaches them too late, or not at all. To avoid such inconveniences, businesses can make sure that their mobile app notifies their customers of special sales or offers that are available. These offers work best if they are relevant to a customer’s interests. With mobile, brands should remember that they have every opportunity to put together a program allowing them to deliver personalized messaging relevant to each user. From content to ads to push notifications, companies should be utilizing data to create programs that are relevant to each user. Take Sears for example, if a “buy online, pick up in store” customer has the mobile app and chooses in-vehicle pickup, they will get a countdown as to when their products will be delivered to their car.
Entice customers
Traditionally, one of the best ways of engaging consumers has been through coupons. However, much has changed with the modern day consumer. Coupons have to be delivered based on each user’s interests. The timing has to also be right. Take advantage of geo-locating to truly embrace an effective mobile coupon system. Customers appreciate learning about offers that save them money on products they are interested in purchasing.
Conversion
CORNER
Digital Marketing:
How to Proceed with Caution if You’re a Small Business By Tom Tate, AWeber
In 2015, business owners said “yes” to digital. Not only did companies increasingly realize the importance of digital marketing, but they also committed to creating great content, managing their customer relationships through email marketing and optimizing everything through testing. A year later, small businesses are still at it based on a recent survey of more than 1,600 businesses conducted by AWeber.
Small business is still small business Despite a slight decrease over the previous year, 71.7 percent of respondents identified themselves as “solopreneurs.” An additional 20 percent of respondents reported 2-5 full-time or part-time employees at their business. 32
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There are no less hats to wear, so small business owners must continue to balance their time across multiple areas outside of just marketing. Throughout the year, these solopreneurs plan to increase their efforts in email marketing, social media marketing and in optimizing their business website. These areas of digital marketing provide an opportunity for small businesses to find their most engaged prospects and customers. However, there are a few points of caution for small business owners seeking to expand in these areas.
Set fewer goals It’s clear from the survey results that business owners want to grow. Survey takers say they hope to send more email, get more subscribers, increase their open and click rates, drive more engagement and produce more revenue. It’s a natural tendency to want to drive all metrics up and to the right.
For entrepreneurial superheroes, trying to do everything all at once can be kryptonite. When asked to describe digital marketing, 11 percent of respondents said, “I’m a pro at it,” 67 percent said, “I’m better at using certain channels more than others,” and 22 percent said, “I’m completely overwhelmed by it.” For the majority of small business owners who do not claim to be a pro, they need to set realistic goals in the channels that will have the greatest impact on conversions – focusing on what they are best at, and avoid becoming overwhelmed by new technologies, platforms and social networks.
Experiment with measurable intent That’s not to say small business owners shouldn’t try out new platforms, or marketing through new channels; they’ll just need to be sure to understand why they’re worth trying, and have a concrete plan on how success can/will be measured. Whenever exploring new technologies, small business owners will always want to dive in with a hypothesis. What do they intend to get out of their investment? What are the risks, or opportunity costs? Why is this technology or platform important to grow the business? Not all marketing channels yield a direct ROI. For example, engaging in live-streaming video, which 46 percent of respondents plan to do in 2016, may not immediately increase revenue. If the intent of using this medium is to increase awareness and engagement, track followers and traffic to the site, rather than revenue.
Always be learning Over half of the survey respondents receive their marketing industry information from blogs, email newsletters and social media. Digital marketing trends change monthly. To be a smart and sophisticated marketer, it’s essential that small business owners are keeping up with what’s working. Even so, they should be careful not to get tempted with trying and learning every flashy new platform on the market. Instead, select a few key blogs, or information sources, and stay aware of just enough news to keep a finger on the pulse. When a piece of content speaks to a company’s core marketing channels, small business owners should dig deeper to learn more. Gain a firm grasp on what’s
working for others, as well as what’s not working. As always, SBOs should be inspired to optimize their marketing efforts and test tactics for themselves. Tom Tate is the product marketing manager at AWeber where he is passionate about helping customers grow their businesses with email marketing tools and tips. Tom is also the host of the Ask Me About Email Marketing podcast.
Conversion Coverage from Industry Contributors + 4 Tasks Every Small Business Can Automate By John Swanciger, CEO of Manta By automating certain tasks, small business owners can offload time-consuming responsibilities. Here are a few tasks that, with the right tools, can easily be automated for better business operations and higher conversions. Read more at wsm.co/sboautomate + 4 Email Metrics Begging to be Tracked By Neil Berman, Founder and CEO of Delivra It’s no secret that a successful email marketing campaign can significantly impact several areas of a business, from sales to lead generation to brand awareness. Email’s ability to help companies achieve a variety of goals is what makes it so powerful, but sometimes email marketing can seem a bit mysterious—marketers think it’s working, but they’re not always sure. Read more at wsm.co/fivetrack + How to Build Compelling Onboarding Experiences By Nancy Hua, CEO of Apptimize Creating compelling products that re-engage users and encourage repeat conversions is not an easy task, especially when each app and its audiences are unique. Techniques that work for some apps may perform terribly on others. That’s why it’s important for teams to think critically about how to best implement these techniques, and test them before deploying to their entire user base. Read more at wsm.co/compelapp
Domain
MASTERS
Is .IO the TLD Your Startup Needs? By Pete Peranzo, CEO of Imaginovation
Some call it a fad, some say it fulfills a need; either way the .io domain extension keeps gaining popularity among startups here in the U.S.
.io
.IO is the Internet country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the British Indian Ocean Territory. It has existed since 1997 and has steadily become popular, though it has never been as visible as it is today. The increasing acceptance of .io is an interesting trend since most Web professionals associate TLDs with specific countries: .au for Australia, .ca for Canada and .uk for the United Kingdom. The .io extension, therefore, would give the impression of the website being registered in the British Indian Ocean Territory, but that is not the case. We have seen over the past few years that TLDs have ceased to matter in the way they used to. They no longer denote the geographical registration/ location of a website. Instead, startups have been having fun with domain extensions and the popularity of the .io TLD seems to be yet another example of this trend.
IS .IO RIGHT FOR OUR BUSINESS? A compelling case can be made in favor of the .io domain for those starting out as a tech business and are about to set up a website. For instance: You can come up with clever domain hacks With an extension like .io, companies can come up with original and interesting domain names. For startups, this can be a way of showcasing creativity as well as character. Some popular domain hacks that come to mind are Goo.gl, Bit.ly, time.ly, instant.ly, inter.net and blo.gs. Time.ly is an especially clever and appropriate domain name for that company, given what it’s about (website calendar software). Domain hacks are easier to remember because they stick around in the minds of people. That can be a huge marketing advantage for a startup. Pistach.io is another memorable domain hack with the .io extension (although it currently leads to a parked website). .io can help position your company In a very crowded market, a startup should use all the marketing leverage it can gain. With the .io extension, startups have the opportunity to create a name that can tie in with the branding (capturing the essence of a business) to uniquely position the company. 34
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It’s especially relevant to technology startups “IO” can also refer to input/output. A glance at the .io extension can convey the nature of the startup to its audience, which makes it a tremendous marketing tool. Prominent examples include: socket.io, firepad.io, forecast.io and AdStage.io. It has an artistic vibe to it This is a matter of personal preference, but the .io extension sounds slick. A Reddit user called it “the TLD for techies with taste.” The kind of companies that have chosen this TLD also seem to be doing a commendable job on the whole (particularly with the “quality of service and user experience”), which has set a good precedence for those that follow. It could be said that there is credibility associated with this TLD. .IO extensions are available Almost any .com name one can think of is taken, whereas .io’s comprise a mere 0.1 percent percentage of websites worldwide (according to W3Techs). Since the .io TLD is still gaining in popularity, there are many interesting domain names up for grabs. For startups that want to stand out or position themselves in a particular way, .io extensions provide much greater options than the standard .com variants. But they are expensive .IO domains do not come cheap. They are priced relatively higher (because of the high demand at the moment) at $32.88 per year. Compare that with other TLDs, some of which cost less than a dollar (e.g., .xyz, .tech, .trade). That said, they aren’t the most expensive domain extension either. If it is within an enterprise’s budget, an .io domain can make a memorable name for a technology startup.
STAND OUT WITH .IO There are more than a billion websites in the world and .com is by far the most popular extension, comprising of about 50 percent of all TLDs. Contrast that with the tiny market presence of .io (and other established and emerging TLDs), and it’s no wonder other extensions are gaining mainstream acceptance. While much is required to run a successful website (and have it show up in search results), a unique domain name is still very much desirable for marketing and visibility.
THE WAIT
IS OVER
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Social Media
MAVENS 6 Basic
INSTAGRAM PRACTICES By Allison Howen, Associate Editor
Instagram has made a big update to its news feed that will make the social network a whole lot more like its parent company, Facebook. The update impacts how content is displayed within a user’s news feed. Essentially, Instagram will begin showing moments that a user is most likely to care about first. All content will still be displayed in a user’s feed (for now), but it should not come as a shock to Web professionals if low-quality content is eventually filtered out. Not only will the update impact what content Instagram users see, but it could also result in a reduction in reach for brands on the social network – similar to what has happened to Facebook over time. This, of course, opens up revenue opportunities for Instagram in that enterprises will pay to appear in the news feed. Regardless of these changes, companies are wise to have a strong presence on the image-based social network. Not only does Instagram boast more than 400 million members and attract a variety of audiences, but consumers are also open to following brands on the network (with more than half reported to do so). If your digital enterprise is looking to get started or step up its Instagram efforts, consider these six basic best practices.
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link back to their website in the bio space (which does support hyperlinking). Then, when a brand posts to the news feed, it can include a “link in the bio” caption to encourage followers to take action.
3. Use hashtags and emojis. It’s typically a good idea for brands to limit the amount of hashtags and emojis they share on other networks, but brands can be a little bit more generous on Instagram. Since Instagram is a mobile platform, hashtags help consumers discover content easily and emojis are displayed correctly. It is important to note, however, that data from Curalate shows that two hashtags per post may be the optimal number, as these posts tend to get more likes and comments for brands. Conversely, posts with no hashtags tend to generate less engagement and posts with more than four hashtags tend to come off as spammy.
4. Do more than just promote. Just as it’s important for brands to show a variety of content on Facebook and Twitter, the same is true for Instagram. Instead of promoting product after product, brands should switch it up and highlight other things too, such as their employees, events and business-related interests. Instagram presents the perfect opportunity for behind-the-scene photos, for instance.
5. Foster relationships. Social networks provide brands with a unique opportunity to not only foster relationships with their followers, but also business partners. For example, since users can “tag” their friends in photos, brands can leverage this feature to share important information about their products and at the same time build goodwill with their business partners. Urban Outfitters, for instance, regularly tags the model and brand of clothing it features in its posts.
1. Use a recognizable icon.
6. Think about looks…a lot.
While it is always fun to get creative with personal icons on social networks, brands need to take a more conservative and consistent approach on Instagram. In order to be easily identifiable when a user is scrolling down their news feed on their mobile device, brands should stick to a logo-based icon (a widely accepted best practice).
Last but certainly not least, brands should remember that Instagram is strictly a visual social network. In other words, looks matter…a lot. Enterprises should make an effort to be creative with the images that they post as well as to maintain consistency across their page. (e.g., realworld photos versus flat images).
2. Fill the bio space wisely.
Business Gram
Instagram gives every user a small space for a bio, requiring a thoughtful approach to filling the area. It’s important to provide a short description of the brand as well as any relevant links. For the latter, since it is nearly impossible to share links within an Instagram post (because they are not hyperlinked), brands can include a
While part of Instagram’s appeal is its focus on users, businesses will need to proactively improve their efforts on the network because with each update, they are likely to lose their organic reach. That said, this list of best practices will serve companies well now and in the post-algorithmic future.
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Software
EVERYWHERE Skip the Spreadsheets
5 Reasons to Invest in a CRM By Radhika Mohan Singh Roy, Sr. Product Evangelist at Agile CRM
The process of getting sales leads, along with filing them and following up with them, is a tedious and often unorganized process. This is especially true now that the average small and medium-sized business (SMB) has added more channels to their lead generation efforts. Take the following leads as examples: 1) Mr. Jake Manson, CEO, Excalibur Software Solutions Ltd., interested in Enterprise Application package, call scheduled on 26th Jan at 1:30 p.m. 2) Ms. Paloma Balmer, COO, Comcolst Ventures Ltd., interested in Enterprise Application package, demo scheduled on 27th Jan at 5 p.m. Thus goes a typical spreadsheet of marketing and sales professionals at SMBs. Then there is a stream of leads followed by a note on their status along with remarks. The elementary thing here is to maintain a spreadsheet to manage the relationship with potential customers, but that should be the last way to do business in today’s tech-focused business environment. Here are five reasons why an SMB should skip the spreadsheet, and invest in a customer relationship management (CRM) solution.
1. Bring Transparency to Marketing & Sales
It’s a gargantuan task for sales and marketing teams to work on different platforms and yield phenomenal results. To ensure sales are delivered leads and marketing is able to see the value of the leads their campaigns brought (and various other use cases), a CRM will need to be implemented.
2. Encourage Competition
The conventional ways of gauging the performance of sales reps is outdated. Using spreadsheets and skimming reports is a waste of time and doesn’t tell managers much other than the number of deals closed. Further, these reporting practices do little to motivate other sales team members. CRMs, on the other hand, often have gamification elements built in as a way of spurring healthy competition to close more sales.
3. Improve Productivity
Centralized sales data saves teams from going through inboxes and stacks of paperwork hunting for information on leads, and also avoids those bulky spreadsheets to profile a lead. This can be achieved only through CRM adoption, and SMBs can see a dramatic increase in the efficiency of sales personnel. A CRM ensures that stakeholders can access multiple layers of data, run a quick search, pull out a lead and track the entire process that went into nurturing the lead. The entire relationship chain of the prospect with the company can be viewed with the use of CRM, which could otherwise be a cumbersome process to go through.
4. Better Contacting Options
Another benefit of CRM adoption is seamless integration of leading third-party service providers, including email, accounting packages, social media management, Web forms, landing pages and many others. Brands can also use integrations for content management systems, e-commerce platforms and more to get a unified look at the lead and contact them in more modern ways (like one-click dialing from the CRM).
5. Enhance Customer Service
CRM is not just a system for filing leads; it also houses the data of existing customers, which allows customer support to provide better service. They can use it for troubleshooting and 360-degree profiling of the customer. This reduces call times and allows the support team to serve more customers and avoids the customer having to go through a volley of questions whenever he/she calls the support (e.g., past order history, brand knowledge and even Web pages visited). A customer’s entire relationship history can be obtained from the CRM when employees put the relevant information where it belongs and core functions and integrations help fill in more insights about the customer or lead. The discussions, support requests and other relevant actions and notes can be logged into the CRM for retrieving later as well. If benefits of decreased business costs and higher productivity are appealing to your digital enterprise and its stakeholders, then it is time to get started with customer relationship management. M A Y 2016
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Top B2B Sales Trends Discover what’s working this year at wsm.co/b2btrendy. .com
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Net
ADVERTISING
5 Ways to Fix Your Affiliate Program Right Now By Greg Hoffman
Thousands of affiliate programs launch without a strategy and without anyone accountable for their success. A few of them take off naturally in an unmanaged or semi-managed state but most flounder as merchants are generally too inexperienced with the channel to run the program. If an experienced program manager has not been hired for an affiliate program, here are five simple things that can be done right now to make the program more profitable.
1. Sign your name on all signup pages, emails and newsletters. By calling an individual an “Affiliate Team,” he or she is telling affiliates several things: the site can’t keep the manager position staffed so they will have to wait for the next available person to get questions answered; there really is no one in charge and there is little chance for meaningful interaction; the site doesn’t value their opinions or it doesn’t have time for questions and feedback. Site owners should talk to their affiliates as partners. They sometimes know more about the customers, especially in this channel, than the site owner does. Relationships are everything in affiliate marketing, and it starts with the relationships between the affiliates and the manager.
Affiliate Brand Protection Check out a list of monitoring services at wsm.co/easymonitor.
2. Purchase a subscription to a trademark monitoring service. Every audit of unmanaged programs will show violations that were never enforced. Just stating in the “Terms of Service” that affiliates can’t perform a particular promotion or action doesn’t mean they will comply. Even some of the best content affiliates don’t read the terms; or think they don’t apply. Managers need to keep the affiliate playing field level and protect their other online marketing channels. It takes
about 30 seconds to scan a monitoring service email each morning (see sidebar). When a site owner finds a violation, they need to deal with it immediately. He or she can warn the affiliate, start dialogue about why they don’t want them bidding on those keywords and build a mutual understanding on how to move forward. The relationship can also be ended immediately if the Terms of Service indicate that.
3. Review the 10 affiliates with the highest sales and visit their referring URL pages. Are they promoting the brand and products from relevant or high-quality sites? Are there any promotions that are questionable? Have other managers added feedback on their network profiles about things to look out for? Are they being paid an appropriate commission? Has the site owner met them in person or at least traded emails? After answering these questions, the site owner can brainstorm ways to help optimize their promotions to bring more traffic, then make suggestions. Next month, they’ll give these 10 a quick skim to spot any glaring differences, then move on to review the next 10.
4. Review the 10 affiliates that have the most clicks without sales. Are they sending thousands of clicks with no conversion? Is that traffic negatively affecting the site’s earnings per click (EPC) and conversion numbers? Or, are those affiliates sending good traffic but it’s not converting for a technical reason? Is the problem on the merchant side or the network side? Are the site’s links working properly? Merchants sometimes change URL structure or image locations without telling the manager. Both of these will break affiliate links and kill conversion. If everything seems to be working, then the site owner should reach out to that affiliate and see if a simple conversation about what products convert best will help.
5. Round up 50 affiliates with no clicks and no sales. If they are in a relevant niche, tag them or group them in the system and create an offer they can’t refuse. “We value your partnership and are glad you chose to join our program. Now it’s time to get some promotions up and we are going to reward you for those efforts. For the next 8 weeks, we’ll bump your commission by x% (whatever you can afford on a VIP level) and/ or we’ll give you a bonus of $xx (again, whatever you can afford) if you send us at least three (or four or five) sales.” Bonuses, when handled well, can have lasting results for the program as many affiliates will remain active after they’ve received a bonus. Greg Hoffman is an award-winning outsourced program manager in the affiliate marketing industry. He’s an advocate for good affiliates, merchants and managers.
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COMMENTARY
As Employee Confidence Rises,
WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF WORK? By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief
It certainly doesn’t take a visionary to see how dramatically different the world is even compared to a few years ago.
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Technology has changed not only the ways in which we communicate with each other, but also the way we spend our working hours. Despite fewer face-to-face interactions, experiences are more personalized than ever before, more immediate in their received benefit and on the whole, simply better; perhaps that’s just my personal worldview showing though. For those who were unprepared for the incredible change in the job market over the past two decades (either because they didn’t have access to technology or never developed the skills required), times have never been tougher, and it’s led to a shrinking middle class and poorer prospects for the future for millions around the globe. Those that embraced the change, however, immersed themselves in the opportunity and kept at it, are those now best positioned for success in the years to come. It’s a much different work landscape than ever experienced before and that millennial generation so often discussed and surveyed, is well aware of the prospects. As a result, employee confidence around the job market, job security, pay raises and future business outlook appears quite strong according to a new Glassdoor survey.
+ 53 percent of American employees believe if they lost their job they would be able to find a new job matched to their experience and current compensation levels in the next six months.
+ 46 percent of U.S. employees expect a pay raise or cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months.
+ Concerns about being laid off have reached a new low, with 14 percent of employees reporting concern they could be laid off in the next six months.
+ 42 percent of employees believe their company’s future business outlook will improve in the next six months. “In 2009 our country faced its worst recession in years and uncertainty made employment confidence weak,” said Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor career and workplace expert. “Today, employee confidence around the job market, job security and likelihood of a pay raise is among the highest it’s been in the past seven years. We’ll keep an eye on employee confidence around employers’ future business outlook as recent market uncertainty could be impacting employee optimism related to company performance.” What’s important to remember is that things change and those that embrace this change will be those not just surviving but also thriving in their professional lives. To maintain the standards is insufficient; to be successful at work it will be necessary to focus on the relationships we have with co-workers and colleagues (even competitors), acknowledge and work within the constraints of the environments (with an always-on eye toward the policies, procedures and practices that can be improved) and work rigorously toward this aim. The future of work in unknown; your position might very well be soon done by a robot, but if you continue learning, building relationships, optimizing your approach to the world and just keep working, good things will happen. While there’s certainly no guarantee of that, it beats not trying at all.
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