It's one week on from BrightonSEO, the shear excitement of the day has subsided and the key learnings have sunk in. Seems like the perfect time to share, what I feel, are words worth repeating.
This blog covers tips on link building, how to produce content effectively and how to be a social media superhero!
You may notice i've tried to leave out the bullet points and instead opted for more of a numerical system, and it's all down to this little guy...
So here we go, here are the best pieces of advice shared at BrightonSEO and the things that you NEED to know.
1) "Quantity matters"
Stacey Macnaught (@staceycav), Tecmark, "What can white hat link builders learn from churn and burn spammers?"
This may at first sound a little surprising, considering everything that Google states regarding quality, but bear with me. Stacey, goes on to explain that if you've attempted outreach before, you will know that cold email response rate is poor, so how do we improve our chances of building those all important links?
1) Email 200 - 300 people to get a reasonable response
2) Try a tiered approach
- Email National papers first, best approach is personal and bespoke
- Email Regionals, these can be semi tailored
- Email your bloggers, try a template approach but still keep it personal
2) "Content Marketing is only one type of link building approach"
Stacey Macnaught (@staceycav), Tecmark, "What can white hat link builders learn from churn and burn spammers?"
There's a whole host of techniques within your link building toolbox, so try mixing it up a bit.
Content marketing is a fantastic approach if you are able to generate high quality, highly shareable content but it is also a high risk strategy. Why high risk I hear you ask? It's high risk because it can be very time consuming, and you may not receive the massive impact that you were aiming for, which could result in slightly miffed clients.
So space it out, try some of the following techniques;
1) Image distribution - Make sure anyone who uses the image links to your website (attribution links)
2) Feature and column distribution - get involved in guest posting, which a lot of regionals do
3) Forward feature calendars - contact editors and ask for this, it will help you pitch at the right place, at the right time, plus it's a great way to introduce yourself to editors
4) Find quick wins - try local and regional press, look out for freelance journalists that publish articles in many newspapers. You'd also be surprised how many times BBC feature regional news, meaning you could end up with a link from these guys too!
3) "Digital PR, it's about relationships and reputation or what other people say about you when you're not there"
Aisha Kellaway (@aishakellaway), White.net, "5 ways to use PR and fuel your digital strategy (beyond link building)"
"Skippy" (Aisha), made a valid point based on "confirmation bias". Confirmation bias is when someone believes something and will pay attention to any information that confirms it rather than disapproves it. This thought process happens before the user has even entered the sales funnel, so when they do get to the sales process they will be focused on looking for reasons to stay on that specific user journey.
So what does this mean? How do you get your user from start to conversion? Enter the digital guru...
1) Reinforce the reasons why the user should stick with you and convert at EVERY touch point
2) Audit your online communication, what information is missing? What else does the user need to know to confirm their decision?
3) Use social media to build a community, not just to flog products and services
4) Remember with social media, it's quality over quantity every time
5) Set up Google Alerts to monitor your brand and what is being said about you
6) Sign up to review platforms, use Trip Advisor, Trust Pilot, Feefo, Reviews.co.uk to find out more about what users think and feel about you and use this information to your advantage
4) "A strangers opinion is more valuable than even the best written sales copy"
Sophie Turton (@TurtonSophie), Bozboz, "Getting your users to do your content marketing for you"
This is something that I strongly believe in. If a user were to stumble across a testimonial on your website and an online review, they would trust the review every time. Users are savvy, and now they are in control of their own digital story. This is why according to Sophie Turton, it's important to guide the user and converse with them rather than straight out broadcasting.
Top tips on how to get customers creating content for you?
1) Encourage customers to leave reviews
2) Reward customers for sharing content
3) Create opportunities for engagement
4) Put your customer centre stage, by getting them to send a photo of themselves, share a story etc
5) Remember a picture tells a thousand words, be visual
5) "Social media video is about more smaller lower quality videos. Focus on quantity, do more random crazy ideas to help grow your audience and community online"
Phil Nottingham (@philnottingham), Wistia, "A strategy for the new wave of video platforms"
Everywhere you look now, you will see video content, it's definitely on the rise and can be super engaging. Question is how do you make this work for you?
1) Think platform first, where is your target audience most likely to be?
2) Don't spread yourself to thin
3) On YouTube, think of your thumbnail as your fingerprint.
4) YouTube's most popular content is music videos, but how to's also work very well
5) Facebook video = mobile video. Create a visual first approach, more often that not people will view it with no audio.
6) Disrupt people's expectations so they will get excited enough to view that video
7) Instagram should consist of quick digestible content, remember to use lots of hashtags to get more people finding your video
8) Periscope is great for exclusive content, events and live streaming
9) Snapchat makes video content more exciting, providing a 1 to 1 experience but you need to get people talking about it
6) "Be extremely picky with targeting, the better your ads will perform"
Greg Gifford (@GregGifford), dealeron.com, "How to be a Facebook Advert Superhero"
Facebook offers fantastic opportunities for advertising, and the targeting available can significantly benefit your campaign. It can turn your campaign from irrelevant and unappealing to #goddamnbatman!
Here's some points made by Greg that can help point your campaign in the right direction and make you a Facebook Advert Superhero...
1) Use awesome images - this is the key to your success
2) Don't have too much text in your ad
3) Always track conversions
4) Always schedule your ads
5) If using call only ads, make sure they run ONLY when your business is open
6) Target life events through demographic targeting
7) Try using custom audience by uploading email addresses to target those specific users, you can also add a negative audience for addresses you don't want to target
8) Try local awareness ads, targeting mobile devices within a set radius of your location
There were so many amazing speakers at BrightonSEO this September, and I could go on, but hopefully this blog has equipped you with some new awesome techniques that will help you boss your future digital marketing campaigns.
Remember, if you need any help with your digital marketing, SEO strategy or online advertising, we can help. Contact our Guernsey or Oxford studio today!
Image courtesy of JD Hancock.
