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Which “Link in Bio” Platform Should You Use?

MARCH 13, 2023

If you’re using a social media landing page to funnel your followers to a list of links (#linkinbio) instead of a custom website, you should consider how it may be affecting your visibility in search results.

Search Engine Land compiled a comparison matrix to rank popular platforms from an SEO perspective. Those that ranked highest allow users to add “follow” links, use short and customizable URLs, have a large number of indexed pages, and limit interference from Javascript-dependent links and Robots.txt.

According to this matrix, the Top 10 link-in-bio platforms are:

Linktr.ee
Taplink.cc
Carrd.co
Instabio.cc
Carbonmade.com
Solo.to
Direct.me
WithKoji.com
Wlo.link
lynxinbio.com

Check out Search Engine Land for the full assessment.

4 Ways to Leverage TikTok for Startups

MARCH 7, 2023

Startups have an opportunity to leverage TikTok strategically to drive growth. Here’s how to take advantage of this powerful experimentation channel:

TikTok is a rapid product-market fit testing channel. Develop creative that addresses what market need your product can satisfy, the benefits that separate it from the competition, and the technology behind it. High engagement will signal product-market fit.
TikTok is a top-of-funnel awareness driver. Inspire loyalty and establish your startup as an easily recognizable authority that provides consistent value through educational content, backstories, growth milestones, and trending conversations.
TikTok generates user feedback to inform growth. Analyze video comments for user confusion and roadblocks, FAQs, points that resonate, and additional problems you might be able to solve.
Leverage TikTok content on other channels. Repurpose and test assets on Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Put money behind winning TikTok videos and reuse successful messaging across your other content channels.

Read the full post at Entrepreneur.

Use ChatGPT for These 4 Digital Marketing Tasks

MARCH 6, 2023

If you’re not incorporating AI into your workflow, you might be missing out. Despite early limitations on the quality of content that ChatGPT can generate, marketers everywhere are finding the tool helpful for brainstorming. Try these tasks:

Create audience personas. That’s right—ChatGPT can generate fairly detailed audience personas based on your brand’s service or product. Still, you should use these as a jumping-off point, not a final draft.
Perform a SWOT analysis. The bot can SWOT! When you ask for an analysis of a given brand, it will return a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Generate SMART goals. ChatGPT can help offer some objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, and time-bound.
Compose complicated spreadsheet formulas. Even if you’re a freak in the Google Sheets, building certain formulas to monitor analytics can feel like rocket science. Ask ChatGPT for a formula that accomplishes what you’re after in plain language.

Head over to Search Engine Journal for 24 tasks that ChatGPT can help you with—from SEO to content creation.

8 Keys for Effective Online Reputation Mgmt

MARCH 5, 2023

The tides can turn quickly online. That’s why it’s important to audit, monitor, and optimize your online reputation with these tactics:

Audit your online reputation. Get a gauge on what customers are saying about you online by reviewing your site and blog, social profiles, and third-party business profiles, or use a listening tool.
Establish a strategy. Identify your online reputation mgmt priorities and compile guidelines, policies, and tone for communications.
Monitor mentions. Set up a Google alert for your brand, as well as manually search your brand name on each platform.
Plan for crisis. Use media monitoring tools to identify potential issues and respond quickly with pre-drafted messages.
Encourage reviews. Increase visibility and build your reputation by encouraging customers to leave truthful reviews.
Manage negativity. Respond publicly in a timely manner with courteous tone. ‘Fess up to mistakes and apologize with discounts, refunds, and improvement.
Create on-brand content. Improve customer recall by branding all of your content.
Choose influencers wisely. Make sure an influencer is a good fit for your brand’s ethos and budget.

Check out Semrush’s infographic for the full scoop on ORM.

What is Call Tracking?

MARCH 1, 2023

Call tracking is the process of tracking the source of incoming calls to your business in order to understand the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, determine trends in behavior, and identify opportunities to improve sales.

When a customer contacts your business via a call-tracked phone number, the call is routed through a tracking system to record details such as the campaign it is associated with, date, time, call duration, wait time, unique vs. repeat, etc.

Call tracking services provide businesses with unique phone numbers, which can be placed on websites, social channels, digital ads, and other collateral.

Here are the most common sources to track:

Direct traffic: User visited your site directly.
Organic: User searched for something related to you and landed on your site.
PPC: User clicked an ad and arrived on your site.
Google Business Profiles: User called the number from your Google Business Profile.
Call extensions: User called the phone number attached to your Google or Microsoft search ad.
Social channels: User called number on a social ad.
Local service ads: User called a local service ad.

If you’re ready to get started with call tracking, check out Search Engine Land’s guide.

3 Location-based Marketing Methods

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

Location-based marketing delivers highly relevant ads to potential customers based on their location in the world. This is achieved through GPS coordinates or Bluetooth-based technology.

Here are the 3 primary methods of location-based marketing:

Geofencing: This method pinpoints where consumers are in real time via mobile apps. A retailer might set up geofence boundaries to send discounts to rewards-program members whenever they are within a set radius.
Geotargeting: This method enables marketers to show targeted content to specific groups of people who have engaged in specific behaviors in a location. For example, a restaurant might run a geotargeted campaign to encourage repeat business from customers who have recently visited.
Geoconquesting: This method delivers notifications to customers when they are near a competitor’s business. Burger King successfully deployed the “Whopper Detour,” for example, which sent coupons to people within 600 feet of McDonald’s locations.

Think you’re ready to try location-based marketing tactics? Check out the full post at MarTech.

4 Takeaways from Google’s Updated Link Guidance

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

Google recently updated its guidance on SEO Link Best Practices. These recommendations are generally aligned with HTML recommendations. Here are some things to note:

Title Attribute Can Work Like an Anchor Text. The title attribute applied to a link element can be used in the absence of anchor text (see below) to describe the purpose of the link.

Extra Long Anchor Text is Bad. Google’s new guidance recommends that anchor text serve as a concise description of the link’s purpose.
Context and Natural Language Matter. You know the drill. When it comes to link anchor text, write naturally—for humans—using only those keywords necessary to understand the page you’re linking to.
Don’t Chain Links. Chaining links—or adding links close together so that each linked word does not adequately communicate what the linked page is about—is bad practice.

For more, check out Search Engine Journal’s recap of the updates.

How to Market Your Product on Amazon

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Do you have an Amazon marketing strategy? Here are 8 ways to market your product on the platform to boost sales and close margins:

Study your competition and their strategies. Browse your competitors’ top-ranked product descriptions, reviews, and Q&A sections to gain valuable insights on what to do (and what not to do).
Set your product’s price. Determine an optimal product price to remain competitive without being underpriced.
Deploy an Amazon SEO strategy. Amazon is more than an e-commerce platform. It’s a search engine. To rank well, optimize your content for discoverability, relevance, and sales by including keywords and relevant information.
Develop an Amazon reviews strategy. Encourage reviews from customers with thank-you notes in shipments or follow-up emails.
Create an Amazon Advertising strategy. Get noticed in Amazon’s SERPs with a Product Display ad, Sponsored Product ad, or Headline Search ad.
Participate in promotions. Join in on Amazon Prime Day with coupons, promo codes, and discounts.
Integrate an Amazon affiliate marketing strategy. Pay a small fee to have your product featured in product round-ups and blogs.
Promote your products and Amazon Store on social media. Share product updates, announce sales and giveaways, and invest in paid social ads.

Read the full scoop at HubSpot.

5 Social Media Don’ts

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

We share a lot about what you should be doing on your social channels. Let’s shake things up with 5 things you shouldn’t do:

Don’t Expect Instant Results. Social media is about relationship-building, which requires sustained effort over time.
Don’t Take Haters Personally. Address genuine concerns, of course. But when it comes to the trolls, stay focused on your goals and your true audience.
Don’t Focus on Vanity Metrics. You know what matters more than your follower count? The rate at which your content is resonating with your audience and sparking conversation.
Don’t Ignore Comments. Social media marketing is a two-way street built on authentic connection between brands and consumers. Jump in.
Don’t Be Overly Promotional. Forsake the hard sell. People follow brands that provide value to their feed and their lives. Build trust by entertaining, empathizing with, and engaging your audience.

For the full list of 24 Social Media Do’s and Don’ts, visit Angie Gensler’s blog.