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Proven Ways to Increase Your Site Traffic

JULY 29, 2019

Feeling overwhelmed by all of the options for driving traffic to your website?

Join the club.

Don’t fret though…

The folks at Ahrefs put together a comprehensive list of tactics they used to help grow their revenue by +65% year over year. Outside of word of mouth marketing, their blog serves as their second-best marketing channel driving over 230k organic visitors per month.

Ok, let’s dive in.

Write about topics people are searching for: To do this, use Ahrefs Keyword Explorer Tool to see hundreds or thousands of ideas. The tool will show you search volume and keyword difficulty. They also have a content explorer tool that’ll show you low-hanging content ideas.
Write guest posts: Yes, it can be tedious and time-consuming, but writing guest posts will increase referral traffic, give you more backlinks, and increase brand awareness. Try searching in Google to find sites with “write for us” or “become a contributor.” Also, if you can find websites that have written about a particular topic before, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in a guest post about a similar topic.
Promote content in relevant online communities: Facebook Groups, Reddit, and Slack are great places to start. Don’t get post happy though. It takes time to build trust in these communities. Make sure you cultivate a relationship with the group admin and adhere to the group rules.
Answer questions on Quora: Ahrefs has brought in hundreds of thousands of views by consistently answering questions on Quora. Head over to Quora and sign up today. If you want to find questions as it relates to your niche, we recommend the Ahrefs Site Explorer tool.
Appear on podcasts: Data tells us that 44% of you have listened to a podcast. Starting your own podcast is hard work, so why not look for podcast opportunities? Head over to Google and search for “top [your niche] podcasts.” Find the host and pitch yourself as a guest.

We highly recommend checking out the Ahrefs blog post (below) on increasing traffic to your site. There are 6 more tactics we didn’t cover and they are 🔥.

4 Social Media Platforms to Keep an Eye On

JULY 25, 2019

The social media landscape is always changing.

Remember when Facebook was only open to college students? Nowadays, our parents are all over it.

As marketers, it’s important to pay close attention to the up and coming platforms to determine if they’re worth your time and money.

Check out 4 new(ish) platforms below and a few tips on how to navigate them.

TikTok: TikTok allows users to upload short videos that play on repeat. Think Vine and Musica.ly combined. With over 500m monthly active users, TikTok is gaining some serious steam. 60% of the app’s monthly active users are 16 to 24 year-olds.
Caffeine: Caffeine.tv, a platform built by ex-Apple designers, allows you to create live broadcasts for friends and followers. The broadcasts show up in a feed where you can give an emoji reaction or respond with comments. Caffeine is still really fresh to the scene. The number of users is unspecified, but it’s reported that Caffeine has over $140m in investments. If live-streaming is your game, you should check out Caffeine.
Lasso by Facebook: Lasso is basically a TikTok knockoff targeted at younger folks. Users can upload short videos with music overlays and filters. Over 70k downloads have been accounted for to date.
Houseparty: Houseparty is a group video messaging app that allows video chats that can host eight users at a time. The app started as Meerkat and rebranded to Houseparty in 2016. There are over 20m users. Creative uses could include “influencer” house parties, hosted games and more.

Keep in mind that it’s important to balance the old platforms with the new.

Ask yourself the following questions before you go all in.

How many actives users are on the platform?
Are other publications talking about it?
Do older platforms have a similar tool and bigger user base?
What type of content could you post to the new platform?

6 Ways to Boost Your Open Rate

JULY 24, 2019

How do you measure success with your email newsletter?

We’re gonna go out on a limb here and say ‘open rate’ and ‘click-through’ top the list.

Before we dive into tactics on achieving a stronger open and click-through rate, it’s important to know where you stand as it relates to your industry.

You can find a very detailed benchmark report courtesy of Sign-Up.To here. Again, very detailed.

Now that you know where you stand and what your goals are, let’s dive into the tips.

Give a personality to the “from” field: Your “from” field will depend on your industry. If you’re a well-known brand (ie: Nike), go with the brand name. If you’re a B2B or SaaS company, consider sending from your community manager or CEO in order for your audience to make a deeper connection. Whatever you do, don’t send “from” no-reply@brandname.com. Not cool. Just not cool.
Segment your dang list: Look, we get it. It’s a lot easier to hit the send all button, but your open rate will thank you for segmenting your list. Some audience segments include: stage in funnel, last email opened, specific clicks, etc.
Pay close attention to your subject line: Your subject line is important. Very important. It’s all about piquing enough interest for an open. Check out our tool feature below for some subject line assistance.
Make sure they want your email: Don’t confuse list size with success. Consider using a double opt-in and a strong welcome message ensuring they want to be on the list.
Be consistent with your sends: Here’s a simple one. Determine your send time and frequency based on data and stick to it. For us, it’s every weekday at 7am (EST).
Re-engage your subscribers: Email fatigue is real. Keep your newsletter relevant and clean your list regularly.

How to Mine Old Content for New Ideas

JULY 22, 2019

The pressure to pump out new content every day can be overwhelming (to say the least). However, your best sources of inspiration for new content might be closer than you think.

Here are some quick tips for repurposing your existing content without coming across as stale:

Remix successful content: Take the core insights of different pieces that have proven to be popular and recombine them into a new piece of content. For example, your article on improving clickthrough rates and tips for better email subject lines can be turned into an ultimate email marketing guide.
Reuse your best content in a new format: Different content formats allow you to reach different audiences. Example: some folks don’t prefer to watch videos, so why not turn a video into an article or a long-form interview into a listicle? Boom.
Republish content in new channels: Find your highest-performing content and distribute it through other publications. This will not only help you maintain and improve search rankings, but it’ll also help get old content in front of new readers.
Record what lives where: Don’t overlook this tip. To avoid using the same content, it’s crucial to keep everything organized. There are plenty of tools to do this, but we’re big fans of Airtable.

6 Content Planning Tips for a Growing Blog

JULY 22, 2019

Happy Monday folks.

Managing a blog can have a lot of moving parts – especially if you’re working with multiple authors. Below are 6 tips to help you come up with a proper plan.

Create an editorial calendar: Having an editorial calendar is key for managing content and keeping your team on track. We recommend a tool like Trello where you can assign authors to posts and categorize with ease.
Sit down and brainstorm: Sit down with your team of writers at the end of each month to fill your editorial calendar. The goal is to bring new ideas to the table and ensure that content will be finished a few days before the publish date.
Decide on frequency: Your frequency will depend on your bandwidth and overall strategy. Whatever you do, make sure your audience knows how often you post and stick to your plan.
Mix things up: Keyword cannibalization is real folks. That means you have various blog posts or articles on your site that can rank for the same search query in Google. To avoid this, try to vary your subjects as much as possible.
Use news and current events: News and current events are great for content development. Check out some online publications to ensure that your content is relevant and up to date.
Create a style guide: Take a few minutes and develop a style guide to ensure that your team is on the same page when it comes to brand voice, post length, image use, etc. Make sure everyone on your team has access to it and understands each element.

How to Gamify Your Marketing Efforts

JULY 18, 2019

Fact: Games are fun.

There’s something about them that pulls people in and gets them excited.

What if you could capture that same level of excitement with your marketing efforts?

Lucky for you, you can. It’s called ‘gamification‘ and we’re about to show you a few ways to gamify your marketing.

Before we get into the specifics, check out this case study from Ford Motor Company. They increased sales by more than $8 million and boosted Facebook likes by 600% by gamifying their content in the form of interactive video advertising. Check out the video here.

Ok, let’s get into the specifics:

What’s your goal? Considering you can gamify just about anything, it’s crucial to know your goal. Maybe you want to increase the LTV (lifetime value) of a customer; a loyalty program would be a solid choice. Looking to increase engagement? Consider gamifying your social creative.
Audience and Incentives: If you’re targeting a dad in his mid-30s, TikTok likely won’t be your channel. It’s important to have a clear idea of who you’re trying to reach in order to choose the appropriate incentive and channel.

The possibilities for gamifying your marketing strategy are endless.

Here’s some inspiration for you.

Social media marketing: M&Ms ran a gamified social content campaign for their new line of Pretzel M&Ms where users were tasked with finding the pretzel amongst a sea of M&Ms in the image they posted. Results: 25,000 new likes on the brand’s Facebook page as well as 6,000 shares and 10,000 comments. All organic.
Retention / Re-engagement: Look no further than the Starbucks loyalty app. Over 48% of Starbucks regulars have downloaded the app and it accounts for over 30% of the company sales. Check out the interworkings of the app here.
Lead generation: Have you ever taken an online quiz? (Um, yes.) Whether you were testing your IQ or your Myers-Briggs type, there’s a good chance you were prompted to enter your email to get your results. Try using an online-quiz builder to drum up your own leads.

3 Ways to Make LinkedIn Work Harder for You

JULY 17, 2019

610 million – that’s how many professionals use LinkedIn, and 40% of those visit the site daily.

45% of LinkedIn users are upper management – think “C-Suite” residents, and 57% of LinkedIn use is on mobile devices.

Whether you’re a consultant, advisor, marketer, designer, etc., you need to spend more time linking in.

Ok, now it’s time to open up LinkedIn and follow these 3 steps to make the most out of it.

Share your voice: Do you have professional work experience? We’re gonna assume that’s a ‘yes.’ So, why not share short and meaningful lessons you’ve learned along the way? LinkedIn is all about connecting with people. Share stories that resonate with your network and beyond.
Use notifications to re-engage with contacts: Notifications should be your best friend on LinkedIn. Why? They’re a super, simple way to re-engage and stay connected with your contacts. Next time you see a work anniversary or new job notification, take 5 seconds and respond directly to your contact.
Put the Link in LinkedIn: Ok, pay attention here. Most professionals move fast. Let’s say someone finds you on LinkedIn and wants to schedule a call or consult right away. Do you have a scheduling link in your LinkedIn profile? Probably not. We suggest a scheduling tool like Woven. It allows you to create custom scheduling links with ease.

Spam Traps You Must Avoid

JULY 16, 2019

Is email marketing part of your channel strategy?

We hope so.

If not, here are 2 stats that’ll nudge you in the right direction:

59% of B2B marketers say email is their most effective channel in terms of revenue generation.
80% of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention.

Even if you’re not in the B2B or retail space, email marketing is undoubtedly one of the best marketing channels. Why? You own the audience.

There’s nothing worse than your emails not getting to your audience though.

Today, we’re sharing some tips on how to avoid ending up in the spam filter.

You didn’t get permission to email them: Self-explanatory here. Make sure your visitors know what they’re signing up for. Don’t try to scam them into your email list. Be upfront and transparent from the get-go.
Your open rate sucks: The average open rate across all industries is 20.81%, according to hundreds of millions of email campaigns analyzed by MailChimp. It’s good practice to regularly clean your list. Cue “It’s so hard to say goodbye” by Boyz II Men and let them go.
You haven’t sent anything in a while: Consistency is key. Whether it’s daily, once a week or once a month; be consistent with your sends. Otherwise, your subs will forget who you are. If you haven’t sent anything in a while, send out a re-engagement campaign asap. Here are 10 good ones.
You’re using spam trigger words: Spam filters love words like “free, lowest price, buy, etc.” Before you hit the send button, run your email through Mail Tester to test the spammyness of your email. It’s free.
Big image, no text: We’re all for nice imagery in emails, but it’s a fine line. Make sure you’re using text as well as imagery and always, always split test.

See 10 more spam traps to avoid below.

Evergreen Content Formats for Long-Term Success

JULY 15, 2019

If you’re involved with content marketing, SEO or any type of web-based marketing, you’ve likely heard the phrase “evergreen content.”

Evergreen content defined:

‘Evergreen content is search-optimized content that is continually relevant and stays “fresh” for readers over a long period of time.’

Technically, anything you post on the interwebs will be discoverable. The goal is to have your posts be searchable, valuable and timely. Here are some evergreen content formats that’ll get you on the right track.

Reference ‘books’ for tools: If your audience uses any type of online tools, create a go-to reference guide for them. Break down the tools into one or several articles. Keep it updated and don’t use a date in your URL. Brian Dean does a killer job on his site with his top SEO tools.
Glossaries: Create an industry-specific glossary. Why it works? The terms rarely change and they’re easy to update. Here’s one from ‘The Balance’ for you all you marketers out there.
Infographics: Yep, they’re still a thing. The beauty of infographics lies in the fact that they break down a system or process in a digestible, appealing way. Pick a timeless theme and include all of the stats.
Q&A interviews: Interviews are a great (and relatively simple) form of evergreen content. Find an in-house or industry expert and grill them with questions. If you wanna get fancy, create a video of the interview and include a transcript in the post.

See a few more forms of evergreen content below.