by Mark Walker-Ford
Well, it’s that time of the week again – our weekly round-up.
We’re back with ten (10!) of our favorite digital marketing blog posts to hit the screen.
The aim is simple. We save all the blogs our team has read this week and select our favorites.
And we hand them to you on our shiny blog platter. Why? Because we all need good content in our lives.
In this week’s round-up, you’ll earn everything from improving social media engagement rates to optimizing FAQ pages for conversions – and everything in-between.
It’s all for the taking.
Entrepreneur – 7 Quick Ways Every Startup Can Optimize SEO Without Breaking the Bank
Don’t you just love saving time, money, and effort? It’s my favorite thing to do.
They say humans favor the ‘least path of resistance’. Putting your feet up and watching Netflix really is good for evolution.
But when it comes to marketing, it’s not that easy.
Ask anyone – marketing can be expensive. Like, really expensive.
And to become successful, start-ups are expected to pour money in and simply watch it burn before they can expect as much as a grain of ROI.
Such is life.
Or, is it?
Well, nobody ever said starting a business and nurturing it into a successful one was ever easy.
But, there are a few tricks of the trade that, as a start-up, you can get comfortable with.
And many of them reside in that wonderfully simple world of search engine optimization.
From optimizing your content to finally getting around to link-building, Toby Nwazor is here to save your life.
Search Engine Journal – 12 Examples of How to Earn High-Quality Links the Natural Way
So, you’ve decided – once and for all – that you’re actually going to invest in your link building strategy. Great idea.
This sounds amazing. Just think of all those relationships you’ll form with marketers, and all those insightful conversations you’ll have. Not to mention the clicks.
And traffic. Definitely the traffic.
But when you sit in front of your screen, you can see yourself in the reflection. Admittedly, you look worse than you did when you were 3 seasons deep into that average crime thriller. We’ve all been there.
Suddenly you’re hit with the question on everybody’s lips: just what does it take to earn high-quality, valuable links? They’re the holy grail when it comes to building your authority – but just how do you get started?
Thanks to this article by Jason Hennessey over at Search Engine Journal, you don’t need to give the world to get natural, high-quality links so you can rank higher on Google.
From content marketing to Quora, this article has it all.
Do something worthwhile over the weekend, and check it out.
Wishpond – 50 Affordable Giveaway Ideas You Can Use Today
Who doesn’t love free stuff?
Truth is, in an age when you ‘remember when prices weren’t this bad’, giveaways are well-needed respites from this cruel world.
And, the fact is, giveaways aren’t just beneficial for customers, either.
For brands and businesses – big and small – giveaways are the perfect way to drive engagement, interest, and leads.
BeardBrand, for example, was able to generate 700+ likes, followers, and subscribers thanks to a giveaway they hosted for their customers (Source: ReferralRock).
Never again underestimate the raw power of giving away free stuff.
So, now that you’ve decided to launch a giveaway (everyone is so ready for it), you’re excited to see how it can help your business grow.
But wait. Is your budget your best friend at the moment?
Can you really afford this giveaway, no matter how hyped you think your audience will be?
We’re again turning to Victoria Taylor over at Wishpond for help.
We’re all for it, and you should be, too.
CoSchedule – Social Media Management: The Complete Guide to Getting It Right
You think social media is just all fun and games? Sharing GIFs, following similar accounts, and liking someone’s content in the hopes of being recognized, adored, and wanted?
You’re absolutely right.
Well, half right at least.
Because underneath it all, social media is hard. There, we said it.
Social media management is more than sharing viral content in the hopes of picking up some traffic. It takes a shrewd understanding of your audience – and loads more.
And for brands who need to navigate this online maze successfully, they need to tread carefully.
Very carefully.
In this always-on, ever-connected world, the balance between being loved and hated by audiences online is pretty daunting.
When it’s good, it’s really good. Think Wendy’s, or Innocent Smoothies.
And when it’s bad – well, do we really need to go any further than Snapchat’s 2018 Would You Rather campaign?
Managing social media – whether for your business or for your clients – has just been made a whole lot easier thanks to this article by Ben Sailer over at CoSchedule.
Social Media Examiner – How to Get More Social Media Engagement on Any Platform
Let’s get real: social media is complex and often difficult. And driving social media engagement is just the cherry on the cake, isn’t it?
The world is fast – and social media is even faster.
In one second, there are 8,500 tweets. In one second, around 7,500 images are shared online.
These statistics tell us two things.
First, we live in unprecedented times when it comes to connectivity, speed, and communications.
Second, the need to drive social media engagement from your audiences has never been greater.
Why? Because the social media-sphere is a crowded one: and to stand out, you’ll need better engagement rates.
In this brilliant article by Luria Petrucci, you’ll be told to do away with the professional Zeitgeist of the 1970s.
Want better social media engagement? You need to completely change the way you do social media.
And in the age of modern social media, personality sells and drives engagement.
Crowdfire – 25 Creative Ways To Use Social Media For Storytelling
Now that you’ve reached a new social media awakening, how do you use it for one of the most effective forms of marketing?
Storytelling is hugely popular and successful with brands looking to form a better connection with audiences.
How many times have you liked, shared, and even re-watched/re-read marketing content simply because you enjoyed it?
As Kristin Savage tells us in her article, storytelling is nothing new when it comes to marketing.
However, storytelling is the perfect way to offer something new to your audiences’ news feeds other than yet another irrelevant promotional ad.
And by giving something new – we’re really not going to place restrictions here – you can really use storytelling to your advantage.
You might have a few storytelling concepts in mind, but how do you bring it to the people?
And, more importantly, how do you deliver your amazing story across each platform?
From Twitter Moments to Instagram Captions, this blog has it all.
Visme – 6 Steps to Designing Infographics in Less Than an Hour
If you didn’t already know, here at Red Website Design we just love infographics.
Whether they’re about marketing stats to watch out for or the most popular Mexican meals you need to try – infographics are the easiest way to read, share, and collect information.
And we’re all for that.
It’s no surprise then, that when we discovered this article by Chloe West over at Visme, we had to share it with you guys.
And why is that? We metaphorically hear you ask.
For one very good reason.
This article tells you how you can design your own infographic. In less than an hour.
Just think, in under 60 minutes you’ll have an infographic that you’ll be telling everyone about. Even your neighbor.
Can you really look at yourself in the mirror and confidently say you can do anything better in less than an hour?
For new businesses who just don’t have the desired financial muscle yet, the DIY marketing road is a road you’ll need to get familiar with.
And designing your own infographics is the perfect way to seize that golden snitch without upsetting your bank balance.
Single Grain – 12 Reasons Your SEO Strategy Is Failing
If your failing SEO strategy is keeping you awake at night – know that the struggle is real and you are not alone.
But Megan Mahoney at Single Grain is here with the honest advice we all need in our lives.
Your SEO strategy isn’t failing because search engines have some unexplained hatred for you and your business.
Your SEO strategy isn’t failing because your specific website out of the thousands indexed every day is suffering from an undefined penalty that, quite frankly, might not even exist.
Whilst ‘they’ve got it in for me’ is an alluring finger-pointing exercise, the reasons SEO strategies fail are never as mysterious as you’d secretly hope.
In fact, as this article explains, to get to the bottom of why your SEO strategy is letting you down, you need to get to the bottom of your SEO strategy.
Yes – you guessed it.
It’s time for another SEO audit.
But this time, you’ll find 12 actionable tips that will help you solve the ultimate SEO riddle.
From simply having faith in outdated tactics to being outright impatient, this article is about to make your weekend a whole lot more reassuring.
And we could all do with a bit of that.
Quicksprout – How to Build a High-Converting FAQ Page on Your Website
I bet two positive things completely turned your world upside down this weekend.
First: Disney’s announcement that they are going to re-boot several of their classic films from Home Alone to Night At The Museum.
We still don’t know how we feel about this.
And secondly, this: you can build a high-converting Frequently Asked Questions page on your website.
That’s right.
When you think of high conversion rates, we’ll bet you all the toys in Duncan’s Toy Chest that you never even gave the FAQ page a thought.
It’s OK – we’re not judging. Everyone’s in the same struggle for better conversions.
But we are here to tell you that you need to head on over to read Quicksprout’s article.
As you’ll soon find out, FAQ pages are so so important for your website. Chances are, anybody who makes it as far as the FAQ page is on the edge of converting.
Nobody ever clicks on FAQ pages purely for some weird kick, right?
It makes sense, then, to optimize your FAQ pages for conversions.
And you can do this from ‘asking the right questions’ to incorporating SEO.
But wait, there’s more.
Entrepreneur – What All High-Performing Social Media Posts Have in Common
And last but by no means least, we’ve got this article from Entrepreneur – featuring a video from their Empowerista series.
When it comes to high-performing social media posts, what comes to mind first?
Maybe you’re thinking of viral content that’s incredibly fun to monitor and watch sub-memes flourish.
For example, the classic Will It Blend Videos got us all on our edge to see if the original iPhone really could blend.
Or, maybe it’s your old neighbor’s latest Instagram post with all her purring cats that’s just racked up 200 likes.
We know.
But are these two examples really different?
If you think hard about it – not really.
Though their content may differ, they can both be high-powering because they share something in common with each other.
So, enough with the teasing.
What do all high-performing social media posts have in common?
More than you think.
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