#Website Getting Traffic but No Sales

[shopifyseoexpert]

Boost Your Shopify Sales: 10 Proven Tips!

Here are 10 tips to optimize your Shopify e-commerce store for higher conversions:

1-Optimize for Mobile:

Ensure your store is fully responsive and provides a seamless shopping experience on mobile devices. With a significant portion of traffic coming from mobile users, this is crucial.

Action: Use mobile-friendly themes and test your site on various devices

2-High-Quality Product Images and Descriptions:

Use clear, high-resolution images and detailed, persuasive product descriptions to showcase your products effectively.

Action: Include multiple images from different angles and zoom functionality.

3-Simplify Navigation:

Make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for with a clean, intuitive navigation structure.

Action: Use clear categories, search functionality, and filters.-

4-Fast Loading Speed:

Ensure your site loads quickly to prevent potential customers from bouncing.

Action: Optimize images, leverage browser caching, and consider using a content delivery network (CDN).

5-Trust Signals:

Include trust badges, customer reviews, and secure payment icons to build credibility and trust.

Action: Display reviews prominently and ensure your site has SSL certification.

6-Streamline Checkout Process:

Minimize the steps required to complete a purchase and offer multiple payment options.

Action: Enable guest checkout, auto-fill address details, and reduce form fields.

7-Effective Call-to-Actions (CTAs):

Use clear and compelling CTAs to guide customers towards making a purchase.

Action: Use action-oriented language like “Buy Now”, “Add to Cart”, and “Checkout Securely”.

8-Email Capture and Retargeting:

Capture visitor emails and use retargeting to bring them back to your store.

Action: Use exit-intent popups, offer discounts for email sign-ups, and set up retargeting ads.

9-Offer Free Shipping and Discounts:

Highlight offers like free shipping, discounts, or bundle deals to incentivize purchases.

Action: Promote these offers on the homepage, product pages, and during checkout.

10-Customer Support and Live Chat:

Provide excellent customer support and consider adding live chat functionality to assist customers in real-time.

Action: Ensure easy access to support via chatbots, live chat, or prominently displayed contact information.

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[artdotpage]

Problems facing modern artists & creators

I've talked with hundreds of artists and creators about the difficulties they face trying to earn a living from their craft.

This post covers two of the big ones (social media algorithms & bargain basement marketplaces), and what tools are available to grow your business despite these issues.

Social Media Algorithms and Audience Ownership

Social media platforms are a godsend for getting your work in front of potential clients and building a loyal fan base.

However as you will all have experienced, it can take a mastermind to figure out what kind of content the algorithm wants you to post, and if you don't do that you'd be as well throwing your content into the void as even your own followers might not see your post, never mind new viewers.

It also means you don't truly own your audience, if you post something slightly controversial your account could be deleted without warning, or perhaps a billionaire buys the site and everyone flocks to a new platform where you have to start growing your following all over again.

Solution: Build a mailing list

This is perhaps the single best marketing tool available to any business, and is sorely overlooked by artists and creators.

It's cost effective and because you own your mailing list it doesn't matter what's happening on social sites, you can always keep in touch with them.

The tricky part is converting people into mailing list subscribers. However I've seen plenty of creators successfully build one by offering incentives including free digital downloads, early access to content, discounts on your store etc.

Those who sign up to your mailing list would be considered high quality followers, someone who is much more likely to convert to a paid client and buy from you again in the future compared to the average follower on social media.

Tools

https://art.page/

https://substack.com/

https://convertkit.com/

Losing clients to undercutting competitors on the same platform/marketplace

If you run your business on a marketplace or platform, your clients are one click away from finding plenty of other choices who are willing to undercut everyone else to land a sale.

These sites have no incentive to make sure that traffic you drive to your profile actually purchase from you. Whether a sale is made through your listing or another seller, they collect their fee either way.

They also use uniform designs which reduce you to a generic product listing. Whilst this can simplify the customer experience, it means you have no control over the sales funnel and ability to differentiate yourself, making it harder to convert potential clients into paying customers.

Solution: Direct clients to your own site

Use your own personal website to make sales from, there are plenty of options with no monthly charge and lower fees than marketplaces. This lets you make dedicated marketing pages showcasing your best work to make a client excited about doing business with you, instead of just being a generic product listing.

Take advantage of marketplaces purely for their customer base. Don't rely on them as your sole business platform. This way, any fees you pay are worthwhile to generate sales you wouldn't have had otherwise. 

Tools

https://art.page/

https://www.bigcartel.com/

https://squareup.com/

Interested in more?

There's plenty more I have to share on this topic, including:

How to properly use Print on Demand without getting ripped off

Streamline managing your business so you spend more time creating and growing your business.

How to better utilize your brand to connect with clients and increase sales

So let me know if you’re interested and I’ll get writing!

Transparency

I'm building https://art.page to solve these exact issues, with the goal to create the best all in one site builder for artists and creators that makes running your business easy.

[fernsnailz]

i'm sure that you get asks like this a lot so i apologize if i'm beating a dead horse to the ground LOL but for someone who owns an online shop, do you have any tips for beginners just starting off / looking into starting one? not really asking for anything specific, but just rather anything you'd be willing to share based off your experience...!

OOF okay so there's quite a lot that goes into running an online shop, so best general advice i can give is to do your research! there's a lot to an art shop that you need to consider and understand before running into things. sometimes it's a bit hard to figure out where to start your research though, so here are the biggest things i think you should look into first:

manufacturing your stuff: some artists hand make merch at home, but if you don't have the means to do that then you'll need to find places that can manufacture your designs for you. like if you're making stickers, look into custom sticker printing sites like StickerApp or Sticky Brand. a lot of manufacturers will have sample packs you can order for free to get a better idea of what their items are like.

shop hosting websites: figuring out where to actually host your shop and sell your art is very important - my shop is through Big Cartel which i really like, but isn't for everyone. other shop hosting sites include Shopify and Etsy, and Shopify is sorta similar to BigCartel from what i know? Etsy is very different, selling through Etsy means your stuff will be easier for people to find through the Etsy search function (BigCartel and Shopify don't have this, any traffic you get will have to come from off-site and you'll have to advertise the shit outta it). HOWEVER Etsy has some pretty bad practices when it comes to how they treat the artists that sell on there. most people i know that use/used Etsy have been burned by them in some way, so be warned.

money stuff (accounting, budgeting, taxes): LEARN HOW TO MAKE SPREADSHEETS!! spreadsheets with just a few simple addition/subtraction formulas will be a huge help when it comes to budgeting and keeping track of your expenses - and you'll need to keep track of ALL your expenses! taxes can also be tricky, most shop hosting websites will collect sales tax for you but do some research on what freelance/small business taxes look like in your country.

shipping: the two main aspects to shipping are your shipping supplies and shipping labels. you'll want to find mailers that fit and protect whatever art you're selling, and tbh the best way i figured this out was from buying from other artists and seeing how they packaged their stuff! shipping labels are their own beast - some sites like Etsy will make them for you, but not BigCartel. i use a site called Pirate Ship to import BigCartel orders and buy shipping labels for them.

thats about all i got for now, running an online art shop is very hard not gonna lie!! but it's very fun and rewarding to make your own funny items :] best of luck to ya!!

[antisocialxconstruct]

RE: the spotify post you reblogged and your tags about owning your music again.

I wanna do the same...but...how??? Where do you buy music nowadays? CDs arent really a thing anymore, i cant buy digital versions that I can keep. Records are making a comeback, but like the process to get that digital????

Do you know/have any insight on where to actually buy music (to own it) and legimately supporting artists??? Thats not streaming???

This is such a good question and honestly I WISH I could hit you with a bunch of reliable links 😭

I feel like I've heard some criticism of Bandcamp as well, but two things they definitely have going for them is 1) a lot of indie and non-English language artists are on there, and for a lot of them it may really be the only sorta-mainstream platform where they can sell music directly to fans, and 2) musicians still get like an 80% cut of sales (I think), and you can download real, actual MP3 files that are Yours and can be copied and transferred and preserved.

I also think it's worth looking up individual artists that you want to support. Most of them have websites, and often (though not always) they have online shops where you can still buy their music directly, along with other merch. If they're selling merch but not CDs or downloads... idk, you could pirate their music and then buy a shirt or an enamel pin or something, that's still materially a lot more useful to them than streaming their music on spotify especially if they're not very well known what with that whole "you only get paid if you're already famous" policy.

Also depending on where you live it's still worth checking out brick and mortar music stores! Contrary to how it feels, CDs really are still A Thing, and stores that sell vinyls are likely to also still sell CDs, even if the selection may not be y'know... the entire broad wealth of music you can find on the internet. But in this era of streaming, I would imagine physical music stores could use all the foot traffic and sales they can get, so you're supporting musicians AND local businesses. (Just remember to mask up 👍)

[homestuckreplay]

Webcomic 'Homestuck' Canceled For Promoting Bad Password Security

(page 456-459)

8/10/2009 Wheel Spin: Parent Bad :( Verdict: INCORRECT

8/11/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: CORRECT, but behind at least 10 layers of irony

In the far future, somebody might call this update a time capsule of the 2000s. If computers change significantly, or something. page 456 comments on Dave's bro's computer being password protected, suggesting that this isn't a cultural norm - the newly-released Windows 7 still doesn't require user accounts to have a password. In Homestuck, the password is used to protect 'incredible top secret shit,' so password protecting a personal home computer might be associated with shadier online behavior.

Bro's password is six characters, and is 'the most awesome thing it can be' according to Dave and his bro, so it's probably lilcal. (It could also be puppet, but personally my passwords are always specific characters, song titles etc, not general concepts. I don't know if other people are different. for what it's worth lilcal is also a slightly more secure password than puppet which is A SINGULAR DICTIONARY WORD). Bro also trusts Dave with his password - either because he doesn't think Dave will do anything to mess up his computer, or because he's daring Dave to use it, similar to leaving the Xbox switched on mid-game.

On page 457 we see Bro's desktop, which we can compare to Dave's desktop on page 323. They both have wallpapers from And It Don't Stop, showing us a chain of game recommendations from Bro -> Dave -> John. Dave, like Rose and John, has some character in the names of his desktop folders, while his bro has seven identically named New Folders scattered around the screen. This adds to the sense that Bro is paranoid about people looking at his computer - he's purposefully making it impossible to navigate. The hidden-identity hat and dark glasses iconography on the password entry screen has the same effect.

Bro also has a program called Delirious Biznasty, which has a rad skater dude for its icon. This could be a web browser, but I think it's more likely some kind of torrenting application, I think that'd fit his vibe. The web browsers we know are Typheus, Cetus and Hephaestus, which are all Greek mythological references with cartoon-styled icons, and Delirious Biznasty doesn't fit the pattern. Based on Dave's relationship to his bro, Bro probably uses Hephaestus too and just doesn't have a desktop shortcut.

Dave and his bro both use the Complete Bullshit content aggregator, which we are forced to witness on pages 458 and 459. Content aggregators are pretty common customizable feeds that people use to keep up with a lot of websites at once, when checking 20+ separate sites a day gets too time consuming. RSS readers are a common form of this that can host a lot of different types of content, but there are also aggregators specifically for webcomics. These are controversial - they're generally well intentioned projects made for free by webcomic fans who want to check for updates easily and keep up with a lot of stories, and want to help other fans do the same. However, they can redirect traffic away from actual sites that host webcomics, meaning that independent webcomic artists might miss out on ad revenue or merch sales, or are less likely to sell ads because their sites don't look as well-trafficked as they are. I don't know if Andrew Hussie has a strong opinion on comics aggregators, but it's possible this terrible to use, unstable and unreadable version is a criticism of the concept.

Complete Bullshit also feels like Dave's bro's equivalent of Serious Business, as they're both digital programs with adjective-noun titles. I wonder if Rose's mom will get her own software.

It's sweet that Bro keeps up with Dave's projects, including Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff and his GameBro review blog. It shows that their relationship isn't 100% one sided, Bro cares for Dave and/or thinks he's cool at least a little bit. It's also fun that Dave is checking to see if his own webcomic has updated, which could be bad memory due to having a lot of projects on the go, or could be Dave checking to make sure his update has gone through and posted successfully. Very reasonable, as it must be a challenge to upload such high quality images.

I will probably make a post digging into Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff at some point, but I'm still peeling the onion of its irony right now so I'll just say: when exactly did Dave find the time to make these comics?

[bunabi]

The freebie & support brushes are up early! Shiny Sparkly Jewelry Pack & Shiny Sparkly Jewelry Pack Plus, all hand-painted, all Clip Studio compatible only.

There's a sale going on for Clip Studio Pro and EX until March 20th, but the website is getting so much traffic right now with the launch of 2.0 I recommend waiting a bit until things stabilize!

Anyway, the list of past posts if you missed them:

Grunge Brushes (Krita) | Valentines Lace | Twiggy Patterns & Brushes | Grunge Brushes (Support+ Only) | The Pack With Cracks | 2022 Brushes & Patterns Master List | And the freebies tag!

[allinonedigitalbusiness]

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[colorisbyshe]

as someone who has pirated for... decades now, it's very clear that a lot of companies know their shit is being pirated but on some level are fine with it (because, again, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that piracy does not hurt sales and in some cases boosts them) but in order to ~defend their turf, they smack down any website/source that gets too publicly big

because they have to continue to pretend to be victims of piracy to guilt people into buying shit and when that doesn't work... they have to scare people into buying shit by pretending that You, Too, Can Get In Trouble for Piracy

sooo many websites ARE NOT HIDDEN but can only get away with that by being lowkey and not spoken of too loudly. the second they are perceived as a threat, as too big, they get shut down. too much traffic? shut down. trending on twitter? shut down.

if they stay on the peripherals, no one cares enough to do the legal work to get them shut down. when they become household names, that's when shit gets precarious. lots of people hosting these websites do not have legal teams or the means to constantly switch their domains to other nations less likely to prosecute.

they're lucky because most companies would rather go find the sources of leaks/uploads rather than just websites hosting them but... again, they get too big, they're fucked.

so everyone... just be subtle about sharing the names of these places. i have watched websites, series get wiped from existence. sometimes, teams can rebuild and sometimes they say fuck it and disappear because it's too much work and too high risk.

[bliptype]

This is for all you crochet and knitting designers out there selling patterns on Etsy:

Copyright applies only to your pattern. While a person cannot legally sell your pattern, you can not stop them or threaten them with "you do not have my permission to sell a finished item made with this pattern". And why would you even expect that? So you can make money, but the person who bought the pattern and supported you can't? Did you think you were going to make more sales of your pattern that way?

You better research copyright laws more thoroughly before you get your heart broke... like intellectual property, and the fact that you can't copyright a garment. I assure you that the garment you designed has most likely in very close similarity been designed before by someone else. Anyone who makes an item from your pattern can sell the item as long as they disclose that they didn't personally design the item, and they may not even have to do that much, especially if variations were made. You're welcome... and go fix your self-entitled Etsy listings that have that wack "warning" in them. You yourself may in fact be infringing on someone else's design with your own.

UPDATE 2023-05-19-FRI - 3:46 AM CST:

Since writing this post, I have as of the timestamp above purchased a crochet pattern on Etsy at ShopTigerCrochet. The seller states in his or her listing, the following:

Permissions: You have my permission to use this pattern to create physical pieces for yourself and your loved ones for free. - - - Well I would hope and expect that after I paid money for this pattern that I can surely make the item or some variation of it from the pattern... you know since I paid for it, otherwise what was the point of the transaction when I bought the pattern? You do not have my permission to share the pattern with others. - - - I can agree to that, since it's not my pattern to share. You do not have my permission to sell the pattern or physical creations of the ctrl top using my pattern. - - - I don't plan on selling anyone's pattern, however there is no law in the United States that says I cannot sell a garment I create using the pattern. Also if I create variations of the pattern, that becomes a new design, and there is no law stopping me from then selling MY pattern, and I can, but don't have to, credit you for being "based off of". Please credit me each time you post a photo of the ctrl top on social media. - - - That also is not a legal requirement, but we'll see.... and I understand why they ask this one. It's so they can drive more traffic to their stores and websites.

After my purchase of the pattern I left this review: "The pdf is beautifully put together, and the instructions seem to be explained well. I couldn't give less than a 5 star review since this is a pattern, and as of this comment haven't actually used it. So the 5 stars is based off of ease of purchasing. I do however want to point out one thing in the seller's "Permissions" section of the listing. While a seller has the right to copyright his or her pattern, and to forbid sharing or selling of the pattern, can not forbid a buyer of the pattern from selling finished items made using the pattern, as garments can not be copyrighted, and due to intellectual property. I recommend all sellers do more research on final usage of patterns that buyers have rights to."

The only way these sellers are going to learn is if buyers start telling them.

I get it. People put a lot of work in to writing crochet and knit patterns, however your work, and your pride in it, has no authority over what someone does with a finished item he or she creates with the pattern after buying it.

[tekesutasuta]

True Opinions About Similarweb Traffic For Sale

Similarweb's web traffic is a vital source of data for businesses marketers. The ad-peeking feature of the platform allows you the ability to see other companies' marketing tactics in order to avoid energy and time in copying they. Similarweb is a reliable market intelligence system utilized by professionals across a range of fields. Their free plan gives five results per search while enterprise subscribers get access to 28 months of Mobile app information and three years' of website data on traffic. In the event that users of this website visit this website online, they'll find info on similarweb traffic.

[rydengg]

What gets you more money percentage wise if we're buying /subscribing

the differences in percentages are honestly so small that it isn’t the deciding factor, or at least in my eyes it isn’t. i think every site has their payout pros and cons.

apclips arguably has the best percentage compared to other clip sites and i find i get the most out of the purchases i get because of that. i love it because it’s like the little lovechild godsgirls birthed before that era ended. it only pays out twice a month and i don’t get a SUPER ton of traffic there, but it’s an alternative porn site so it naturally isn’t going to have the same organic traffic as bigger sites. there are a few times a year where i don’t meet the minimum for a payout which can definitely be frustrating and a little discouraging. still it’s an option i absolutely encourage just as much as the others.

manyvids pays us out a lesser percentage but it has far more organic traffic. i almost never miss a payout when it comes to them so any purchase you make is gonna get into my pocket on time. my biggest gripe is that manyvids can feel cluttered and glitchy on the user side. these are pretty easy to deal with though so it’s the main clip site i suggest of the couple that i’m apart of.

it’s worth noting that i have two different membership types. my official website is all of my content created for the above clip sites. it also includes a little of the stuff that gets published to my more amateur style membership feeds: onlyfans, apfanclub, and manyvids fanclub. OF is my favorite of the three tbh simply because i can request a payout whenever i want. both my official website - which does weekly automatically - and my OF pay out more frequently. there’s some stuff on those feeds that never make it to my website since the “club” style sites have different content than my official website, so there are good reasons to choose either option.

i also send out new clipstore clips to all OF subscribers to unlock at a super discounted price when they go up for general sale on my clip sites.

aaaaaaaaand yeah. i think that covers it lol. i’m not sure how other SWs go about it but that’s the pros and cons from my POV.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, March 2024

Welcome to my roundup of SEO and marketing news and useful resources for ecommerce businesses, March edition. There is a lot going on with Google, and some really strong marketing pieces this time around, so let's get right to it.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google launched both a core algorithm update and spam updates on March 5, with the spam update ending on the 20th. Core updates now include the Helpful Content algorithm. In early observations, Etsy and Reddit both picked up visibility in the UK. 

The Helpful Content algorithm updates late last year destroyed a lot of sites’ Google traffic. Avoid the things they had in common.  You can read the full study here. 

Ecommerce sites were some of the biggest losers in Google visibility in 2023, with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Target and Best Buy in the top 10 of sites whose Google appearances slipped. 

New to Google SEO? They’ve revamped their SEO starter guide for people like you. And if you are more advanced and want to learn how to optimize your website product pages, this is a good overview. 

This lengthy article on backlinks for ecommerce websites covers pretty much all the angles, including the really difficult ones. 

Reminder that if you want to rank on Google for a search term, you need to look at what is already ranking, and make decisions based on that content. [video and transcript] This works for most search engines, not just Google. 

Yes, Google crawls “high quality” content more often. I used to refer to this as Google thinking the page is “interesting”, so I guess I will need to change my wording...

While Google sends the most traffic to websites, people spend a lot more of their online time elsewhere. Market where people are, not just where your stats say they came from. 

Sadly, Google has stopped providing caches of website pages in its search results. While you can still see the caches of some pages by using the Google search Cache:[page link] as in cache:https://cindylouwho-2.tumblr.com that will eventually stop working as well. Bing still provides caches, but unfortunately both it and the Wayback Machine do not crawl often enough to give really recent results most of the time. 

Missed Google news in February? Here’s your update. And just in case you are really behind, here is January. 

Not Google

Unsure if your website has enough good backlinks? Bing Webmaster Tools will now tell you if you don’t. 

Yandex - the top search engine in Russia - was sold by its Dutch ownership group to a consortium in Russia. 

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

A US study of social media use found that the most popular site was YouTube, with 83% of adults using it. Two-thirds of American adults use Facebook, while TikTok is up to ⅓ of the US population. 

Because they do change periodically, here are the latest image and video sizes recommended for the top social media platforms. [infographic]

Bluesky is now open to everyone - it was previously invite-only. 

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta has introduced several changes to its Ad options, applying to Facebook and Instagram. 

Meta had a great 4th quarter in 2023, with revenue, users, and earnings per share up. “Fast-growing upstarts Temu and Shein, which originated in China, have been pouring money into ads on Facebook and Instagram. Li said on Thursday that revenue from China-based advertisers accounted for 10% of sales for the year and 5 percentage points of growth.”

Instagram

An updated post on Instagram's algorithm and how it works. 

Instagram is still beta testing longer Reels for some users. 

If your account is a brand account, you can now run ads on Instagram with coupon codes right in them. (Some Facebook users can already do this.)

LinkedIn

Among other recent changes on LinkedIn, the algorithm is now looking to boost important content longer than just the first day or two after publication. 

Pinterest

Pinterest has its own stats package, called Pinterest Analytics, but only for “Business” accounts. They show how many people clicked on the outgoing links, how many people saw your pin on their screen, and much more. Here’s everything you need to know. 

Reddit

Reddit successfully launched on the stock market this past week, but questions remain about how this will change the site. 

Google is paying Reddit to scrape its content through the API instead of from the web. 

Snapchat

Snap was a little later than most tech companies doing layoffs recently, waiting until February 5 to let 10% off staff go. 

Threads

Threads is so new that the algorithm is bound to change a lot in the next year, but for right now, here is how it works. 

TikTok

There is an overwhelming amount of info out there on the US attempt to either ban TikTok or force its sale, and much of it is incomplete, so I will let you Google to your heart’s content if you want to learn more. If you are relying on TikTok to drive sales, this would be a good time to make sure you diversify your promotional strategy. 

You can now track trending terms on TikTok through the Creator Search Insights section. “Creator Search Insights will highlight frequently searched topics, which creators can organize by category (for example, tourism, sports, science) or tailor to their content type with the “For You” option. Additionally, creators can filter for “content gap” topics, which are highly searched but have relatively few videos on TikTok covering them.“

TikTok may be testing a photo app, which would obviously compete with Instagram. 

Twitter

What? Twitter may have lied about its Super Bowl ad performance? I’m so not shocked. 

Tumblr

Tumblr will be selling data access to AI companies. 

YouTube

This is a pretty decent article on YouTube SEO. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Small and micro-businesses need an email list. An email list is:  

portable (unlike most social media followers or marketplace buyers) 

is available to almost everyone, as we all need at least one email address if we are online

less susceptible to the whims of algorithms (unlike SEO, marketplaces, social etc.)  

I keep seeing people argue that no one opens emails, but the chart in the article above is proof that is still wrong. (My blog email list averages close to a 70% open rate, depending on the topic and the time I send it. My jewellery email list - which I hardly ever send to - still has an over 30% open rate. My click rates are well above the industry averages, usually 30 to 40% of all recipients for the blog list. These are much better numbers than social, and astronomically better than my clickthrough rate on Google and other search engines.)

Gmail and Yahoo both changed how they handle bulk emails such as newsletters in February. Here’s what you need to know on the basics, including authenticating yourself so your email gets through. 

Find out how to get people to read all the way to the end of your content. 

Get ready for April marketing with 5 topical ideas. National Handmade Day is April 6. 

We should all think twice before deciding to use AI to create content. “Circa 2024, generative AI does not produce new ideas or even develop its own conclusions. Rather, it regurgitates information that it has indexed.” Not convinced? Here’s another article. “AI-generated content represents the literal “average of everything online.”

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES) 

Google Ads can now be tracked in Google Analytics 4. 

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising were up in the 4th quarter of 2023. 

STATS, DATA, TRACKING 

Google Analytics 4 tracks organic traffic differently than the previous version. Here’s how to figure it out. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

I’ve probably posted this specific article before, but it is worth another read: how to communicate with customers.  For example, “Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you’re on their side. If a customer is formal, for example, hold back on the LOLs. If they’re more casual, relax your tone.”

According to a US study, Generation Z is skewing the traditional marketing funnel. “Per Archrival’s data, 77 per cent of Gen Zs and 79 per cent of millennials in the US are actively seeking style inspiration at least monthly, with almost half of those looking for style inspiration on social media. When asked where they learn about new brands, products and experiences, video reigns supreme: YouTube is the most popular platform with Gen Zs, followed by TikTok, then Instagram.”

Trend alert: bag charms are back. 

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Almost all of these 12 video tools are free, and some can be used on your phone. 

MISCELLANEOUS

This is an older piece, but it checks out: IKEA Hacks for Craft Show Displays. A few of these could be done with non-IKEA items. 

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[sean-parnell]

How Manufacturers Can Leverage Content Marketing to Grow

Cold calls, print advertising, tradeshow participation, and knocking on doors once worked well manufacturers can no longer rely on them to generate leads that fuel sustainable, double-digit growth despite having an effective sales team that may still have some skills in these areas.

Inbound lead generation in commercial and industrial markets requires compelling brand storytelling and thought leadership that educates prospects along the buyer’s journey, who don’t want to talk with salespeople before they’re good and ready as they fear being “sold to” by people that don’t have their best interest in mind.

Problems Solved vs. Products & Services, Features & Benefits

Powerfully resonating with prospects requires brand storytelling that converts website visitors into prospects then into customers.

Your brand story begins with having a deep understanding of the problems faced by your prospects, what they need to overcome them, and the value to them in doing so before promoting all of your products and services and their features and benefits. Prospects are searching for who can solve their problems and may have a limited understanding of what will solve their problems, so claiming your solutions are “the best” and that you’re an “industry leader” may mean nothing until they have an understanding of how your products will help them.

The hero of your prospects’ story is themselves, so you need to educate them on how you can solve their problems, and how your people, process, products, and services – not just products – do so. This is what will resonate powerfully with them. In this way, you serve as a guide for achieving success and avoiding failure. Your products and services with their features and benefits are how you solve these problems..

Thus, your “brand story” needs to be told throughout all of your marketing: on your home and about pages, blogs, guides, case studies, marketing collateral, presentations, proposals, press releases, third-party website profiles, direct mail, email campaigns, your tagline, and anywhere else you promote your company.

A brand story for each product and service you sell can also be developed as each of them solves different problems in different ways for different markets. This “sub-brand storytelling” is also effective for different vertical and geographic markets as each has different requirements.

Extracting & Promoting Thought Leadership

When they have a problem that they want to solve – because the pain of not changing exceeds the pain of the change – prospects self-educate themselves by researching the internet before speaking with any vendors, so it’s important to provide educational content that will help them understand how you can solve their problems:

TOFU: Top of Funnel: this content builds awareness by providing an overview of the problems you solve and how your products solve them

MOFU: Middle Funnel: this content goes one level deeper and helps them consider between different options that can solve their problem

BOFU: Bottom Funnel: this content gets very specific and helps prospects make their final decisions

OOFU: Out of Funnel: this content is created in a misguided attempt to maximize keyword rankings and website traffic as part of a flawed search engine optimization strategy (SEO) but fails to generate leads though can be quite costly

Tip: it’s important to have a good balance of all types of content (except OOFU).

It’s especially important for manufacturers to understand that, in addition to learning about how you solve their problems with your products and services, your prospects want to know how your solutions and business practices compare with both direct and indirect competitors. They also want to understand how their investment can be cost-justified so they can sell the idea of buying from you to internal decision makers that may not be in communication with you. Product comparisons are very useful because this is what prospects try to compile themselves, especially if they include areas where your competitors have an advantage over yours. Case studies that include return on investment (ROI) estimates are also highly useful for prospects.

Lead-Generating Content Begins with Keyword Research

Understanding and prioritizing what your prospects are searching for is a critical first step for lead generation, which begins with conducting keyword research on all the different terms your prospects may use.

Onsite SEO then fully leverages the content you’ve already developed when you work the highest priority keyword phrases into your page titles, meta descriptions, H1 headers, and throughout the content of each page – just remember it has to read well and should only be performed by someone that thoroughly understands your business and what prospects value.

Brainstorming content ideas that incorporate these keyword phrases and educates prospects along the buyer’s journey is the next step, following by prioritizing these content ideas into an editorial calendar. The best content comes from getting a professional copywriter to interview your company’s thought leaders and then writing up what is learned in the form of foundational website content, blogs and guides.

Best Practice: Google Search Console reports the keywords people searched for to find you.

Creating Lead Magnets

When your prospects discover that you are providing education and thought leadership for how you can solve their problems, many will be willing to provide their contact information to download this gated content – especially long-form, MOFU and BOFU content including guides, whitepapers, ebooks, and webinars. It’s also important that your contact forms ask prospects where they found out about you so you can attribute each download to the marketing or other activities that generated them. It’s not recommend to gate promotional material that prospects expect to be freely available, including blogs, brochures, data sheets, infographics, case studies, and similar materials.

Promoting MOFU and BOFU also generate even more website traffic and leads, including in Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaigns, Microsoft Ads and other pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, your social media profiles (especially LinkedIn and Twitter), on third-party article publishing sites (e.g. Medium), and throughout your public relations activities.

The Manufacturing Content Creation & Lead Generation Process

Here are the steps for creating content that has been proven to generate leads and product sales from many commercial and industrial manufacturers:

Conduct keyword research and optimize all of your current content for search

Develop brand storytelling and implement it throughout your home and about pages, marketing collateral, presentations, and all other marketing materials

Write blogs and publish them on a consistent schedule, educating prospects on a wide variety of topics that help them understand how your products and services will solve their problems

Syndicate unique versions of this content on high ranking, third-party websites

Launch Google ads and email campaigns to bring more prospects in

Create microsites to promote how you solve specific problems in your top vertical markets

Launch ecommerce to supplement sales through your channel partners for people that want to speak with and buy directly from you – just don’t undercut them, so selling only at list price is recommended

Evaluate new market opportunities where your current competitors are irrelevant with Blue Ocean Strategy

This approach routinely generates sustainable, double-digit sales growth with an ROI of over 300% within 12-18 months when executed by an experienced industrial marketing agency – and your company will no longer be a well-kept secret in your markets.

The Case for a Marketing Audit

While it may be appealing to hire a full-time content marketer, SEO specialist, or to outsource to a manufacturing marketing agency that may wow you with shiny objects, conducting deep dive marketing due diligence with an experience marketing consulting resource understands your industry is typically a better way to start.

An effective marketing audit will identify what it will take for you to generate sustainable, double-digit growth by leveraging brand storytelling, content marketing, SEO, content syndication, email campaigns, marketing automation, social media, advertising, PR, and more.

Most marketing audits focus only on promotional marketing communications, so you may want to find an industrial marketing agency that can auditing the other three Ps of your marketing: products and services, pricing and placement (selling through channels and go-to-market strategy).

[theambitiouswoman]

Hi

How do you start a blog on a website of its own?

What to write in the about and what to publish as the first article?

1. First you pick a niche for your blog.

2. Choose a blogging platform. I recommend Wordpress.org / Wordpress.com. You can also use Blogger.

3. Choose a domain name for your blog and web hosting provider.

4. Download a blog template and design your layout. You can use Envato market place (I use this one but there are loads)

5. You want to start off with about 5 posts. Here are some things you can do to figure out what to write about:

a. Look at your audience. What are their pain points, concerns, and obsessions when it comes to your products?

b. Use sites like Quora where there are millions of people asking questions to get the best answers.

c. Use blog directories to search by topic.

d. Research competing blogs. Other blogs’ ideas for content in your niche can be a valuable source of inspiration.

e. Use Semrush’s Topic Research tool. With the Topic Research tool, you can enter any blog topic to get a list of related topics and questions that people are searching for.

f. Ask your readers. You can get feedback from your readers on what they want to read about by asking them directly or through surveys.

6. You can use your existing platforms, as well as Pinterest, or other social media platforms to promote your blog and drive traffic to it. It can be under your name or you can make an anonymous account.

7. There are several ways you can monetize your blog:

a. Sell a product or service. You can sell your own products or services on your blog, such as ebooks, courses, or coaching services.

b. Create gated content. You can create premium content that is only available to subscribers or members who pay a fee.

c. Promote external brands. You can promote other brands’ products or services on your blog and earn a commission for each sale made through your affiliate link.

d. Offer sponsored content opportunities to other brands. You can offer sponsored content opportunities to other brands that are relevant to your niche.

e. Provide coaching services. You can offer coaching services related to your niche.

f. Market your freelance writing skills. You can market your freelance writing skills and offer writing services to other blogs or websites.

g. Participate in affiliate marketing. You can participate in affiliate marketing programs and earn a commission for each sale made through your affiliate link.

8. You can use a free image website like: unsplash, pixabay, pexels or canva to create content.

hope this helps!

<3

[rafijaman]

The Basics of Digital Marketing For Beginners

Tips for Beginners

As a digital marketing beginner, you don’t have to feel intimidated or lost. Here are some tips to make digital marketing for beginners easier to grasp and get going.

Know everything you can about brand awareness

Building brand awareness is an essential element to your marketing strategy and your success. Start out by knowing everything you can about it and its benefits.

Essentially, brand awareness is the recognition and familiarization by others of your brand, product, or service. To boost such awareness, you will need to help consumers learn more about your business, the products or services you offer, and what makes you stand out from your competitors.

There are several ways to build brand awareness. Consistency in how you present your brand across channels and platforms will be key. Consumers will be able to look at a blog or social media post and instantly know it’s yours if you do it right.

SEO is everywhere

Search engine optimization (SEO) is everywhere today! Once you acknowledge this, it’s time to get in the game by understanding how SEO works and ways to use it to your advantage.

Sure, it can be a little intimidating at first, so start slow and easy. Identify keywords and phrases that your target audience uses to conduct searches. Incorporate these into all your content so your audience can find you more easily. From here, you’ll want to consider a link-building strategy to boost your SEO even more.

If you start feeling anxious, remember to take action one step at a time and keep learning all you can about SEO techniques and available tools. Soon you’ll be using it to increase website traffic, gain higher-quality leads, and more.

Discover the online potential of your brand

One of the most empowering moments that can occur as a digital marketer is to discover the online potential of your brand. Digital marketing is the perfect avenue for generating high-quality leads that result in more interaction with your brand and, ultimately, higher sales.

You may discover opportunities to offer webinars to customers, create courses, sponsor events, or become a thought leader in your field. The online potential of your brand is vast, and cashing in on that is possible with targeted marketing and planning.

Get to Really Know Your Customers

While you may already know everything about your product or service, it is essential to step away from that and get to really know your customers. By doing so, you can build a better marketing strategy that appeals to them and other potential customers.

Conduct your own market research by sending out surveys to existing customers and by asking for feedback. Closely study customer reviews and comments to gain a sense of what they want most. Learn all you can about who they are, what they want or need, and the type of interests they have.

Once you collect this information and start to understand your customers, develop your buyer personas. You will use these to plan your marketing strategy and the type of content to share.

Build a significant presence on social media

Consumers today spend tons of time on social media platforms. Since that is where they are, it is where you should be also. The goal is to build a significant presence on one or more platforms.

Create your social profile to match your brand and how you present yourself on your website. Now it’s time to start publishing content. Consider mixing it up a bit at times, providing informative, educational, or entertaining content to show your brand’s confidence and personality. Don’t just focus only on your products or services, but add posts that speak to your target audience’s interests and desires.

Online consumers are highly visual these days, so be sure to always include the highest quality videos and images with your posts. As you gain more followers, increase your interaction with them by responding to comments. You can even use interactive content to draw them in further.

[techniquetodayy]

How To Utilize The Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

Semrush is among the best SEO tools available in the market. Many professional bloggers and top industry leaders widely use Semrush. Semrush offers a magical tool named Semrush Keyword Magic Tool that makes keyword research much easier. Keyword research is one of the most prominent pillars of SEO, which helps improve business by leveraging organic traffic by targeting the right keywords. In this article, we will learn about the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool, its features, filters, and how to use it.

What is the Semrush Keyword Magic tool?

The Keyword Magic tool is a powerful keyword research tool on Semrush. It allows you to gain access to the publicly available billion keywords and offers an adaptive interface for research. All you need to do is enter the required word that you want to research into the search bar. This tool shows you a dynamic table with related terms split into subtropics.

Features of the Semrush Keyword Magic tool

Some of the key factors of the Semrush Keyword magic tools are as follows:

Extensive keyword database: This tool has access to a large public database of more than a billion words covering a variety of industries and niches. This database helps the user find the most relevant keyword for the target audience.

Automated keyword grouping: This tool automatically groups related keywords into topic-specific categories, making it easy to identify the most relevant keywords by organizing them.

Intent analysis: The Keyword Magic Tool lets you determine which keywords are transactional, navigational, or informative. It can help you better understand the intent behind search queries, allowing you to focus on keywords that have a higher chance of producing leads or sales.

Search volume calculations: This tool can help you discover how frequently people search for certain phrases. It gives you precise estimates of search volume for each keyword, which is required for setting priorities for your keyword research.

Keyword difficulty estimations: For every keyword, the Keyword Magic Tool offers difficulty estimates that show how competitive it is to rank for that particular phrase. By focusing on phrases that you have a strong probability of ranking for, you can use this information to help you prioritize your keyword research efforts.

SERP Features Opportunities: This tool allows you to determine which terms result in SERP elements like Knowledge Panels and Featured Snippets. You can then use this information to optimize your content so that it appears in these worthwhile search results.

Advanced filtering and sorting: The Keyword Magic Tool allows you to filter and arrange your keyword lists based on various factors, such as search volume, keyword difficulty, purpose, and SERP attributes. It facilitates the process of identifying the best keywords for your requirements.

Save, manage and export keyword lists: This tool allows you to export your keyword lists to CSV and XLS files, as well as other Semrush tools, and save them for later use.

Conclusion

Hence, you must go through this ultimate guide to get deeper knowledge regarding this what role the semrush keyword magic tool plays in uplifting your website.