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Louise Marie

Louise Marie shares a passion for creative writing, and enjoys being detail-oriented in her work. Working as an SEO specialist and copy editor has increased her ability to meet new challenges with an open mind. A degree in Industrial Technology (Major in Computer Technology) also made Louise “tech savvy,” and she prides herself on her ability to recognize the latest trends and technologies in the digital industry. She hopes to someday visit many of the best dessert places across the globe. She’s also a proud “parent” to six beautiful cats.

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Position Zero: Everything You Need to Know

Being ranked 1st in the SERPs has been the goldmine of search engine optimization (SEO) for many years, but now top-ranked websites have vacated the spotlight for position zero, the new top-ranked spot in Google.

 

Today, many website owners competing for the position. If you want to land on position zero, we will provide information to help you understand what position zero is about and tips on how to claim the spot.

 

What Is Position Zero?

Also known as Featured Snippet, position zero appears above the organic search engine results. This position is the prime location for brands that want to build awareness and drive organic traffic to their website. 

 

With voice search becoming increasingly popular, Google uses the featured snippet to provide answers to voice searches. Position zero can be a paragraph, ordered or unordered list, table, or video, depending on the search term. Take, for example, a video snippet for a search query “how to transplant a seedling”.

 

Here are the top benefits of claiming position zero in Google Search:

 

  • More SERP territory to occupy 
  • Stronger presence in voice search results
  • Higher click-through rates (CTR)

 

Why Is Position Zero Valuable?

Initially, marketers opposed the introduction of featured snippets in SERPs can be detrimental to traffic, causing people to abandon their websites. Contrary to the belief, position zero significantly boosts your stats, including visits, CTR, and conversions. In addition to its many benefits, it also helps build your brand expertise. Providing a clear and direct answer to a question shows a powerful statement about your brand. 

 

What Types of Content Qualifies for Position Zero

Some content cannot be displayed as a featured snippet. However, specific types have a higher potential of making it to position zero.

  • Comparisons

Most shoppers are more likely to read comparison content to get more information about a certain product, such as gadgets or new phones, before buying. Websites that use tables to compare products are more likely to be displayed in featured snippets. 

  • Provide Answers to Questions (how, what, when, where)

Most information found on the Internet is created to provide answers to the user’s questions. When creating content, think about the most queries people use. This will increase your likelihood of landing on position zero.

  • Definitions

Providing definitions to complex terms are commonly displayed as featured snippets in search engines. Google algorithms determine which content has the best definition. 

 

  • Lists

A featured snippet of content with lists of information often comes in the form of bullet points or numbered lists. Once you click through, you will see more bullet points and additional information. 

  • Step-by-Step Instructions

Instructional content helps solve a certain problem. Take, for instance, how to make a simple cabinet box.  This type of content can be in the form of text or tutorial videos. To optimize your content, choose relevant keywords to increase your chances of claiming the spot. 

 

Optimizing Your Content for Position Zero in Google

 

Many marketers strive to secure the most coveted spot in Google. But what can you do to land in position zero?

Luckily, there are several things you can do to optimize your content to claim this prestigious spot and capture the attention of your target audience. 

  • Understand the Featured Snippet

Before aiming for Position Zero, it’s essential to comprehend a featured snippet. It’s a concise summary of information that appears at the top of some search results. Google pulls this snippet from a relevant webpage to provide users with quick answers to their queries.

  • Target Question-Based Queries

Featured snippets often appear for question-based queries like “how to”, “what is”, or “why does”. Tailor your content to address common questions related to your industry or niche.

 

  • Create High-Quality Content

Content remains king, even when aiming for position zero. Craft well-structured, informative, and engaging content that answers the target question thoroughly. Clear, concise, and easy-to-understand language is key.

  • Focus on on-Page SEO

On-page optimization plays a vital role in achieving Position Zero. Pay attention to your title tag, meta description, headers, and content formatting. Incorporate relevant keywords throughout your content.

  • Provide Clear Answers

Google prefers concise answers that directly address the user’s query. Include a brief, precise answer to the question in the opening paragraph of your content.

  • Use Lists, Tables, and Bullets

Structuring your content with lists, tables, and bullets can increase your chances of getting a featured snippet. These formats make it easier for Google to extract relevant information.

  • Leverage FAQ Sections

Websites with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections are a goldmine for featured snippets. Compile and answer common questions, structuring them in a clear and organized manner.

  • Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup is a tool designed to help search engines understand what the content is all about. Adding appropriate schema markup to your content can enhance its chances of appearing as a featured snippet.

  • Target Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are more specific queries that often trigger featured snippets. Identify relevant long-tail keywords and create content that thoroughly addresses these queries.

  • Monitor Competitors

Analyze your competitors who have secured featured snippets. Identify the strategies they’ve used and brainstorm ways to provide even more comprehensive and valuable answers.

 

  • Create “How-to” Guides

Step-by-step guides are a favourite for featured snippets, especially for instructional queries. Create detailed “how-to” guides that walk users through a process.

  • Utilize Videos and Images

Visual content, such as videos and images, can enhance the appeal of your content for featured snippets. Use these elements to complement your written information.

  • Optimize for Voice Search

As voice search becomes more prevalent, optimizing for voice-friendly queries can increase your chances of claiming position zero. Consider the natural language people use in spoken queries.

  • Test and Refine

Achieving position zero might require experimentation and optimization. Continuously monitor your content’s performance and be ready to adjust your strategies based on the results.

 

Position zero offers a unique opportunity to capture users’ attention and establish your authority in your field. By understanding the intricacies of featured snippets, tailoring your content to user intent, and optimizing your page structure, you can increase your chances of claiming this valuable spot and driving more traffic to your website.

The Impact of AI-Generated Content on Search Rankings

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content is making waves as a revolutionary tool in content creation. From text and images to videos, artificial intelligence has taken centre stage, promising efficiency and scale. However, as businesses and marketers navigate this new territory, a pressing question arises—can AI-generated content hurt your search ranking?

Let us understand the nature of AI content and how it can affect your SERP ranking.

 

Understanding AI-Generated Content

Today, many digital marketers rely on artificial intelligence for content creation. It uses computer algorithms to generate human-like content automatically. AI uses technology to analyze data, identify patterns, and mimic human creativity to reform content production.

People can use it to create different types of content, including written articles, images, and videos, allowing quick production of high volumes of content. This helps businesses maintain an active online presence.

While AI-generated content speeds up the creation of content, reducing the time and effort required to produce materials, it also has drawbacks, mainly producing irrelevant content that needs more human touch.

 

How AI-Generated Content Affects Search Ranking

Search engines like Google use complex algorithms to determine the relevance and quality of content, which directly affects search ranking. These algorithms continuously evolve to deliver users the most accurate and valuable results.

AI-generated content can initially boost search ranking by providing a consistent stream of fresh content. Search engines favour regular updates as it indicates the relevancy and activity of the website.

Yet, quick and automated production of content can backfire. Search engines will start detecting low-quality or duplicated AI-produced content. This can result in a drop in search rankings.

 

These factors can have a significant impact on your search engine rankings:

  • Content Relevance and Quality

Regardless of its origin, content must remain relevant to the audience and maintain high quality. AI-generated content must align with user intent and provide valuable insights to maintain or improve search ranking.

 

  • User Engagement and Interaction

Search engines value content that engages users, evidenced by metrics such as time spent on a page and interaction rates. Genuine user engagement, driven by both AI and human-created content, contributes positively to search ranking.

 

  • Backlinks and Domain Authority

Backlinks from reputable sources and a strong domain authority signal credibility to search engines. AI-generated content should be part of a holistic strategy that also includes manual content creation and link-building efforts.

 

  • Trustworthiness and Authenticity

Users trust websites that provide accurate and trustworthy information. While AI can generate content, the human factor is crucial in ensuring authenticity and preventing the dissemination of misinformation.

 

Risks and Challenges of AI-Generated Content

It has become evident that while the benefits of AI-generated content shine brightly, there are also potential risks and challenges that we need to be aware of. Beyond its automated creation, several factors can impact the core of your digital endeavours.

Let us explore the different risks and challenges that come with using AI tools to generate content:

  • Duplicate and Low-Quality Content

Issues AI-generated content might inadvertently produce duplicate or subpar material. Search engines penalize duplicate content and prioritize original, high-quality content in search results.

 

  • Human Touch and Connection

AI-generated content lacks the emotional depth and empathy that human-created content offers. Establishing a genuine connection with the audience requires a human touch that AI might struggle to replicate.

 

  • Misinformation and Bias

AI relies on patterns and data, which can perpetuate biases or even generate false information. This poses a risk to the accuracy and credibility of the content, potentially leading to a decline in search ranking.

 

  • Search Engine Penalties

Engaging in unethical practices, such as keyword stuffing or content spinning with AI, can result in search engine penalties. These penalties can significantly harm search ranking and online visibility.

 

Strategies for Using AI-Generated Content Wisely

Having a thought approach—finding the right balance, effective use of AI for analysis and human insights, and aligning the voice and values of your brand—can help you maximize the power of technology while ensuring upholding quality and relevance.

Take note of the following tips:

 

  • Balancing AI and Human-Generated Content

A strategic blend of AI-generated and human-created content can harness the efficiency of AI while preserving the human touch. This balance ensures that content remains relevant, engaging, and authentic.

 

  • AI for Research and Analysis

The data processing capabilities of the AI can be used to analyze trends, gather insights, and inform content strategies. Businesses can create informed and targeted content by leveraging AI in this capacity.

 

  • Human Oversight and Editing

Human oversight and editing are crucial to mitigate the risks associated with AI-generated content. Reviewing and refining AI-generated content can enhance its quality, accuracy, and relevance.

 

  • Aligning With Brand Voice and Values

AI-generated content should reflect the brand’s voice, values, and identity. Human intervention is essential to ensure that the content maintains consistency with the brand’s image.

 

Future Trends and Recommendations

With the evolution of AI technology, its role in content generation will continue to expand. Businesses should stay informed about these advancements and anticipate their potential impact on search ranking.

Here are some potential future trends and recommendations:

 

  • Embracing AI Ethically

Ethical considerations should guide the use of AI-generated content. Businesses should prioritize the creation of valuable, accurate, and unbiased content to maintain credibility and search ranking.

 

  • Adapting to Evolving Algorithms

Search engine algorithms will continue to evolve, requiring businesses to adapt their content strategies accordingly. Staying updated and agile is essential to maintaining a competitive search ranking.

 

As we continue to explore different ways to optimize our search rankings, the use of AI-generated content presents both opportunities and challenges. While AI can streamline content creation, its impact on search ranking hinges on factors like relevance, quality, and user engagement. Businesses must navigate the risks and benefits of AI-generated content thoughtfully, embracing a balanced approach that incorporates human oversight and values. It is imperative that we stay informed and ethical in its application to ensure sustained search ranking success.

How to Boost Brand Awareness on Social Media

If you are looking for a way to create awareness for your brand, social media is a great way to do it. No doubt that brand awareness is crucial for the growth of your business. All you have to do is to find ways to build your brand on social media. 

Despite millions of people using social media to research and talk about brands, capturing the attention of your target audience can be a bit challenging, especially for startup companies. 

For instance, if you are a plumber, what social media strategies can you use to build brand awareness? How can you become a familiar face within your audience’s feeds rather than someone they just scroll past?

In this post, we have rounded up a few techniques that will help businesses boost their brand awareness. From choosing the best channel to measuring your social media campaign performance, these tips can help kickstart your game. 

  • Choose the Right Social Media Platform

It is almost impossible to keep up with all of the social media platforms to promote your brand. When it comes to effective social media marketing, the goal is to find your potential customers and focus on which platforms they spend the most time. Limit your efforts to 1 to 3 social media sites to ensure you can effectively manage your profiles and build a strong relationship with your followers.

  • Create Engaging Content

Creating trust and authority with your social media audience is key to brand awareness. When you create fresh, valuable, and informative content, people will see your brand in a positive light. Focus on subjects that are relevant and engaging to your specific niche. Add compelling images to engage your potential clients. 

  • Post Regularly

An irregular posting schedule can have an unpleasant impact on your social media branding effort. No matter how large your community of followers, your absence and lack of posts can make them forget about your brand. 

Use scheduling tools if you do not have time to post consistently on your social media profiles. Tools, such as Sprout Social and CoScheduler, can help you schedule your posts at peak times to ensure the best chances of gaining visibility and momentum when your followers are most active. 

  • Give Your Brand a Persona

The personality of your brand is a critical part of a good social media strategy. To give your brand a persona, create and visualize a unique brand voice that resonates well with your target audience. 

However, if you have a diverse audience, be sure that your brand voice should be flexible enough to speak to them. You might also want to target various audiences using different social medial platforms. 

  • Collaborate with Relevant Influencers in Your Niche

With a huge following on social media, there is no denying that digital influencers have the power to help you build your brand. Their ability to persuade their follower’s decision-making is one of the reasons why you should employ their services to help amplify your brand awareness on social media. Do not just choose any popular influencers—work with someone who is relevant in your industry or niche. Not only do they promote your brand to your ideal audience but also drive traffic to your social media accounts. 

  • Maintain Relationship With Customers

Enhancing brand awareness and increasing sales require building healthy customer relationships. Customer engagement enables you to create an opportunity to get to know your brand better and how they can benefit from your products and services. Others can learn more about your business and professionalism by reading customer reviews and your responses to their questions and concerns. How well you engage and respond to your followers can help you build and maintain trust with both your existing and new customers. 

  • Measure Your Progress

Like every effective digital marketing plan, it is important to monitor the performance of your brand awareness campaign. Keep track of the statistics of your social media engagement to check the efficiency of your posts, ads, and other content. Observe if the visibility of your post has an upward trend and continue to explore until you reach your goal.

8 Must-Have Digital Marketing Tools to Grow Your Business

With limited resources, it can be a challenge for many small businesses to hire a marketing team to plan, develop, and implement a campaign. Not only does it require a large investment, but you may also need to focus your hiring efforts or budget on other important matters.

With many entrepreneurs taking their business online, establishing a strong online presence is crucial. However, the process is no easy job. Luckily, there are different digital marketing tools that can help you grow your business and promote your products and services to your target audience.

What Are Digital Marketing Tools? 

Digital marketing tools are apps and software designed to help you strategize, collaborate, and execute your digital marketing campaign. Whether you are planning a marketing campaign, developing a social media asset, or monitoring results, digital marketing tools helps ensure that your efforts are more efficient and convenient. Also, effective use of these tools can help set up and guide your business to success. 

Essential Digital Marketing Tools

We have rounded a list of the most important digital marketing tools that serve as your marketing foundation that will help you manage customer relationships, acquire more qualified leads and uncover more marketing opportunities. 

  1. Google Trends

This tool is designed to show you the most current trends in specific locations. Type your chosen keyword in the search panel, and it will reveal how much online buzz there is about your topic. This information is extremely useful, especially if you are monitoring your brand name or a competitor. 

  1. Ahrefs

Launching a business in a competitive environment is a common concern for many entrepreneurs. Ahrefs has a set of tools designed to help users monitor their competitors. It also provides you with information about your competitors’ traffic details, ranking keywords, content features, backlinks, and other essential data. This information can help you know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and beat them within your niche market. 

  1. HubSpot

Hubspot comes with a set of marketing tools designed to help users keep their content and data in a single, accessible place. It enables you to manage all your blog and social media posts, focus on your SEO strategy, monitor your digital advertising effort, and more. Also, you can combine HubSpot’s tools with other sales software to help you create strong relationships with your clientele. 

  1. Google Analytics

As the gold standard for website analytics, Google Analytics can provide you with essential information about the people visiting your website, where they are coming from, and the pages they are spending most of their time. Using this information can help you track conversions, enhance your eCommerce setup, and monitor events.

  1. Buzzsumo

This content marketing tool helps you with your content planning and monitoring of content performance to boost your content marketing strategy. Use it to identify the most ideal influencers to partner with and analyze useful metrics to create meaningful relationships with your customers.

  1. Facebook Audience Insights

In addition to being the biggest social network, Facebook is the most effective tool used by many business owners to target their advertising campaigns. It provides users with important information, such as demographic data, habits, interests, devices used, and even household income of Facebook users. 

  1. Mailchimp

Email marketing is another effective approach to reaching and connecting with your target customers. Mailchimp is not only designed to create and send branded emails and newsletters monthly, but also enables you to build landing pages, design digital advertisements, and more!

  1. Hootsuite

Designed as a social media marketing tool, Hootsuite allows users to create, schedule, and track posts. It is also an effective collaboration tool, which enables you to view, manage, and respond to comments and messages from your target audience. Hootsuite also provides you with a comparison of content performance across different social media platforms to help you identify posts that relate the most to your potential customers.

Branding Tips to Boost Your Company Image

Establishing your brand is among the most critical actions you should undertake as a business owner. A solid, identifiable brand helps connect you with existing customers and sell to new ones while ensuring loyalty and awareness. 

In today’s highly competitive marketing world, it can be challenging to stand out and make your target customers recognize your brand. Effective branding can help distinguish your company from the sea of competitors. 

What Is Brand Image and Why It Is Important?

Brand image is how your target customers perceive your business, products, and services. Luckily, the power to create a powerful brand image is in your hand. Your company image is crucial as it helps capture your ideal clientele. Also, it encourages employees to embrace the values and priorities of your company as their own. 

How to Improve Your Company’s Brand Image

Most successful brands constantly look for ways to boost their attributes to target the right customers. It requires precise planning and a well-thought-out approach to ensure success. 

We rounded up a few quick and easy pointers to help your company stand out and improve your brand image.

  1. Define Your Brand

Perform a detailed assessment of your brand by identifying your target customer’s problem(s) and how you can help, understanding their emotional and rational concerns, and determining what makes your brand unique. Give your customers a clear understanding of what you can offer them and inform them about your vision and purpose. 

  1. Meet Your Audience Where They Are

Addressing your target audience with the message they expect to hear on various social media platforms can help expand your brand. However, your brand message aligns with the core values of your company. Also, updating your website regularly should be among your top priorities to ensure a solid online presence. 

  1. Build Trust and Authenticity 

Establishing a good image is extremely crucial, especially for startup companies. Take time to listen to the needs of your customers and their feedback. Treat them with respect, build a connection with them, and ensure exceptional customer service. When creating relationships and earning trust, be transparent, reliable, and consistent in your interactions, products, and services. Additionally, reward your customers for their loyalty once in a while.

  1. Focus on Creating High-Quality Products or Services

Bringing value to your customers is one of the most effective ways to boost your company’s brand. When your clients acknowledge the quality of your business offerings, it will help demonstrate the credibility of your brand through referrals or word-of-mouth. You do not need to invest too much in advertising. Instead, take your time to provide your clientele with premium quality goods and services that create buzz and earn trust.

  1. Improve Your Online Presence

97% of customers use the Internet to search for local companies. Developing a robust digital presence ensures not only the growth of your business but also improves your brand image. If you have a poor digital presence, you will lose plenty of opportunities to connect with your customers and build brand awareness. 

To help you establish a robust digital presence and brand image, be sure to focus on the following areas:

  1. Deliver Excellent Customer Service

It only takes a single unpleasant experience to make customers take their business elsewhere. Losing customers due to poor customer service can significantly impact your company’s image. In today’s competitive market, focusing on providing excellent customer service is essential. 

Delivering customer expectations can help you earn trust. People trust you because they are aware of what to expect. Also, they are more likely to recommend your business. Building excellent customer service and trust help ensure brand loyalty with your client base.

How to Make Your Blogs More Readable [2022 Edition]

Many do not have the luxury of time to dig through blog posts to look for information. A Nielsen Norman Group report claimed that a typical person spends less than a minute (10 to 20 seconds) deciding if they should stay or abandon your webpage. It only shows that you have a really short time to capture the attention of your target audience. 

With millions of blogs on the Internet, making your blog post stand out from the sea of competition is only half the battle. If the reader thinks your blog is unreadable, they still have plenty of options that offer the information they are searching for. That is why engaging your audience long enough to read their entire post is crucial. Satisfied readers are more likely to come back and read your blogs in the future. Readable and quality content not only do you acquire more visitors, but you also get a higher conversion rate. 

Luckily, there are several things you can do to improve the readability of your content and give your webpage a quick boost. Here are 7 practical tips for writing a readable and exceptional blog

  • Use Proper Headings

Headings help split up lengthy blocks of text and promote coherent division in the content. 

While you can find plenty of guideposts about using headings, they never explain how to use them properly. Perhaps, you have probably come across posts where headings are not relevant or helpful.

A proper heading should provide clear meaning to the content. For instance, labelling the sub-heading of this section as simply “headings” can be vague and not helpful at first glance. Be sure to phrase your headings so they can be meaningful to readers. Being precise with your heading helps your audience get the summary.

  • Keep Paragraphs Shorter

When readers look for informational blog posts, they want it concise (more or less 400 to 600 words). However, if you need to write a longer, in-depth post, make sure to write shorter paragraphs, preferably 2 to 4 sentences long. 

Breaking up the paragraphs can make your content more readable. Since most readers are more likely to scan the post, you can help them find important information using bullet points, numbered lists, or bold headlines. It will help summarize information while making them stand out from the rest of the text.

  • Using Good Typography

While plenty of unique and interesting fonts to choose from, simplicity is still the best. Arial and Times New Roman are standard fonts since they are easy to read. 

Also, use a slightly larger font for your introduction paragraph to help capture attention. However, avoid making it too big as it will take up more space and make it harder to read. 

  • Limit Difficult Words

Many readers do not appreciate complex words that are hard to understand. Also, avoid using words with 4 or more syllables as they are difficult to read. However, there are instances when you need to include difficult words in your blog. Make sure to write shorter and clearer paragraphs and sentences to ensure your post is more readable. 

Also, complicated words usually make less useful keywords, especially if you focus on a niche market. For instance, instead of using illustrations (which consist of 4 syllables), ‘visuals’ or ‘images’ are a better choice. Keep in mind that your focus keyword is suitable for the subject of your blog post. Proper keyword research can help you find better options for complex keywords.

  • Highlight Important Words or Phrases

In addition to using bullet points and lists, bolding words or phrases can make your content more skimmable while bringing the attention of the reader to a particular set of word(s). However, be sure to choose carefully the important words or phrases to highlight, or otherwise, you will lose the whole point of why you are doing it in the first place. 

  • Use Variations

Using variations of words can make your blog more attractive and interesting to your readers. Avoid using the same terms throughout the content by shaking things up a little using synonyms. Instead of using ‘and’ or ‘too’ plenty of times, alternating with ‘also’ or ‘moreover’ can make your blog more compelling and readable. 

Top 9 Tools You Should be Using for Your Digital Marketing

In today’s business world, digital marketing is an exciting and fast-moving approach to growing your business. Digital marketers use multiple tools, platforms, and apps to save time and money in promoting businesses and increasing brand awareness. However, with the wide variety of options out there, choosing and testing can be a daunting process, especially in the ever-changing and emerging trends in digital marketing. 

In this post, we have rounded up some of the most popular tools that you should consider adding to your digital marketing toolkit. 

  1. Social Media Marketing Tools

There are various tools and apps that you can use for your social media marketing. With millions of people using social media, it is extremely crucial for businesses to build their social media presence and choose the right tools that will help drive brand awareness and boost ROI. 

Here are some of the top social media marketing tools to consider:

  • SkedSocial
  • Falcon.io
  • Hastagify.me
  • BuzzSumo
  • Hootsuite
  • Meet Edgar
  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools

When it comes to increasing the online presence of your business, SEO is your go-to solution. Here are some of the SEO tools that can help you track your website ranking, conduct keyword research, and obtain significant insights about your competitors. 

  • SEMRush
  • Screaming Frog
  • Moz
  • Ahrefs
  1. Email Marketing or Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing automation tools do not only help you plan and execute your email marketing campaigns. These tools are also essential in helping you find and engage your target audience. You can also use them to personalize emails, allowing you to send the right message to your potential customers at the right time. 

Here are some of the top email marketing automation you can use:

  • MailChimp
  • Campaign Monitor
  • GetResponse
  • HubSpot
  1. Data Analytics Tools

Data analytics tools are important in digital marketing as it helps businesses maximize their performance. When properly implemented into your business model, it helps discover cost-efficient ways of doing business, helps you make better decisions, and analyzes customer trends and satisfaction.  

Consider these data analytics tools for your digital marketing:

  • Google Analytics
  • Kissmetrics
  • Data Boards
  • Whatagraph
  • Google Data Studio
  1. Video Marketing Tools

Over the years, videos have become one of the powerful tools to promote your business and tell your brand story. With the increasing popularity of self-shot videos (or live video streaming) across different social media platforms, several tools enable you to create videos without hiring a professional. 

  • CapCut
  • Animoto
  1. Content Management Tools

Regardless of the type of digital marketing you engage in, you will need great content marketing to attract and engage your target audience. There are several essential tools you can use to help with the creation, storage, and sourcing of engaging and relevant content across various social media platforms.

  • MishGuru
  • CrowdRiff
  • Oroson
  1. Marketing Management Tools

For a digital marketing campaign to be successful, a business needs research and patience, collaboration, project management, and tools that will advocate communication, collaboration, and task assignment. 

  • Asana
  • Teamwork
  • Slack
  • Trello
  1. Paid Search and Social Tools

Paid ads across search engines and social media channels help maintain robust campaigns. However, it requires constant upkeep to reach a specific audience and use your content to boost your brand with clear targeting and obtain more qualified leads.

Here are some of the pay-per-click (PPC) tools for your campaign that will help you get fast results:

  • Google Ads Editor
  • Bing Ads Editor
  • Wordstream
  • AdZooma
  • Revealbot
  • AdEspresso
  1. Influencer Marketing Tools

Influencer marketing has become a widely used digital marketing tool due to its accessibility to businesses. These tools can help you source and reach out to popular influencers who can promote your business to their millions of followers, thus increasing brand awareness. 

Here are some of the most popular influencer marketing tools to consider:

  • Upfluence
  • NinjaOutreach
  • Strawberry Socials & Melody Socials

YouTube SEO: Tips to Rank on the Video Platform

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine (next to Google, its parent company). 8 out of 10 videos displayed on the search engine results are from YouTube. With more than 500 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube, how can you make your uploads stand out from the sea of videos? The most effective way is to optimize your video for search using YouTube SEO best practices.

How to Boost Your Search Ranking

Numerous brands use YouTube SEO strategies to increase their online visibility and search rankings on the major video platform on the web. Like Google, YouTube employs identical algorithms for website and video ranking and goals to provide users with the best experience possible. The combination of Google and YouTube search results not only helped simplify user search queries but also supercharge your digital marketing efforts. 

Before we dive into the tips, here are some of the tools you can use to rank your videos:

  • Canva
  • TubeBuddy
  • VidIQ Vision
  • Cyfe
  • Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Here are 8 YouTube SEO tips that will capture the attention of your target audience and drive more traffic and video views.

  1. Choose Keywords Wisely

The search engine results page is a fierce battleground for millions of brands competing for the attention of their target audience. New products, services, and competitors fight for the top spot daily. That is why it is crucial to diversify your brand—the key to using competitive terms and incorporating the right keywords to get you volume.  

Here are some of the most helpful keyword research tools for SEO or PPC:

  • Google Keyword Planner
  • SemRush
  • Moz
  • WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool

  1. Use Keywords in Your Title 

Businesses must understand the search intent of their audience: informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional. To boost the visibility of your video in search results, you must match the subject of your video to the intent of your target audience. 

You must also understand the purpose of your video and get to know your primary audience. For instance, when you showcase an excellent product review to attract more customers. You need to use the product name in the title and description of the video. While this is a simple step, many video marketers tend to miss this crucial step, causing their videos to appear low on both YouTube and Google search results.  

  1. Include the Keyword in Your Video File

This step is extremely crucial as it is among the YouTube ranking factors that will help boost your video’s visibility in search results. Uploading a file name with a relevant keyword in it increases your likelihood of being ranked and acquiring more search volume.

  1. Optimize Your Video Description

A strong, optimized video description is among the most critical YouTube SEO ranking factors. Make sure to include descriptions, subtitles, closed captions, and thumbnails when changing or updating any important video elements. To optimize your video description, integrate the user-relevant keywords in the first few sentences of your description. Your video description should not exceed 200 words. 

  1. Use Hashtags to Drive Search Results

Across social media, the use of Youhashtags (#) helps people find relevant content that offers answers or solutions to their problems. Incorporating a specific hashtag into your video descriptions and titles can make your video more searchable to your target viewers. 

  1. Choose a Category for Your Video

When uploading on YouTube, be sure to choose the category that best suits the topic of the video. Contextualizing your video with categories can help increase your likelihood of getting found by viewers. 

  1. Customize Your Thumbnails

Thumbnails can make or break your YouTube videos. A strong thumbnail can help you stand out and catch the attention of your target viewers when searching for videos on YouTube. It increases your click-through rates, leading to a higher watch time and improving your YouTube rankings. Customizing your thumbnail enables people to see what your video is about. 

  1. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Using subtitles and closed captions is our final tip for increasing your success on YouTube searches. Both subtitles and closed-caption act as a transcript for your video. Subtitles can help communicate the dialogue to viewers who cannot understand the language used in the video. On the other hand, closed captions are designed for your viewers who cannot hear the audio.

6 Key Elements of a Killer Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing has increasingly grown in popularity over the years. Many businesses with an online presence use content marketing to build and strengthen their brand, attract prospects and retain loyal customers, and boost their bottom line. 

At the heart of every effective and successful content marketing effort are the core elements. Incorporating these elements into your content marketing strategy can boost audience engagement, improve brand awareness, and provide a healthy ROI to your business. To achieve these, you will need to develop a strategic method that demonstrates and targets your company’s realistic goals and measures results. 

In this post, you will learn the significant elements of content marketing and how you can implement them in your strategy. 

  1. Brand Story

Having a thorough understanding of the identity of your brand is crucial for communicating with your target audience. As a business owner, you need to identify who you are as a business, your values, your mission, and what your company does. These factors can help create your unique brand and develop a consistent personality and tone of voice to establish customer trust and confidence. In the fierce world of business, creating a unique brand story can make your voice stand out, setting you apart from the competition and resonating with your target market. 

  1. Audience Persona

It is impossible to tell your brand story without knowing who your target audience is. You will need to identify the audience whom you want to target with your content. Here are some tips to do this:

  • Study your existing customers
  • Get to know the latest trends in your industry
  • identify the people who you want to target 
  • Monitor the customers whom your competitors are targeting

  1. Style Guidelines

To develop consistently high-quality content, you need to follow documented style guidelines. It should cover key points from grammar and punctuation to the unique tone of your voice. Having a unique style guideline enables you to create consistent and well-written content that will engage your audience. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
  1. Business Case and Content Marketing Goals

For your content strategy to be successful, you must provide value to your target audience. It should not only capture new readers and followers, but it must also help drive your business forward. It starts with identifying the goals you want to achieve and determining the ways that will bring you closer to our objectives. For instance, find out the number of resources you need to invest in your content strategy and the results you want to attain. 

In addition to your content marketing goals, having a documented business case can help you gain a better understanding of the benefits and costs of content marketing strategy implementation. 

  1. Keywords

Well-written and engaging content is awesome, but you need to identify and use the right keywords to ensure that your content comes up in the top search results. Know the top keywords commonly used by your target audience and develop a strategic plan as to how your content assets can help you rank for the most crucial ones. 

  1. Action Plan

Lastly, you will need an effective action plan that puts together your primary content marketing campaign and projects that you want to achieve for the year. Consider how they will attain the goals that you have previously established for your business. A carefully thought-out action plan enables you to analyze each step to strategize your content marketing campaign. It should cover the following 

To help you choose the right formats and channels for your content, check your historical content performance and study your audience persona.

Proper implementation of these elements can make you feel confident with your content strategy. However, do not stop making improvements. Assess your strategy regularly and make the necessary adjustments. Always keep your strategy up-to-date and comprehensive to take your content marketing to new heights.

Outsourcing SEO: Top 5 Reasons Why You Should

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an integral part of any business operating a website. It helps boost organic rankings in search engines, which increases traffic and leads for your business. 

Today’s businesses recognize the importance of SEO in their online activity. Without SEO, your business has no online presence and your target audience would not know about the existence of your business. With so many responsibilities, many business owners simply do not have the luxury of time to focus on online marketing. That is why many are outsourcing their SEO efforts to ensure it is executed properly and yields the best results possible. 

However, there are still other businesses that remain unsure about outsourcing their SEO. To help you decide, we have rounded up a quick list of why you should consider outsourcing to a trusted SEO agency and the benefits that come with it.

  1. Save Money and Time

Many do not realize that outsourcing SEO to a team of dedicated experts is both cost and time efficient. A reliable SEO agency has everything they need—knowledge, expertise, and experience—to get your online marketing campaign started to build and strengthen your online presence and promote your business offering to your target audience. 

Working with results-driven SEO professionals ensures that your benefits far outweigh the cost of your investments. It allows you to save more money in the long-term as you do not have to pay for costly traditional marketing, such as TV, radio, or print ads, to reach your potential customers. 

Additionally, with their dynamic expertise and innovative strategies and tools, SEO professionals launch your campaign as soon as possible and optimize your web pages to rank them higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Also, some SEO agency offers services that include developing fresh, engaging, and relevant content that ranks and converts This allows you to focus on other important aspects of running your business. 

  1. SEO Requires Expertise

SEO is a complex field that requires a thorough understanding of how the search engine works. If you are not familiar with SEO, it is best to leave the job to the real “king of the trade.” SEO professionals not only possess the right skills and experience in handling online marketing campaigns, but they are also highly knowledgeable in using the most current and effective SEO marketing tools to ensure more refined improvements. 

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

  1. Get Better ROI

Hiring SEO experts ensure the delivery of the best results. Even if you have successfully ranked your website for specific keywords, working with the professionals ensures you positioned your website on the first page of SERPs. Even if you have someone with SEO skills in your company, it can be challenging for one person to achieve long-term goals. Hiring an SEO agency can help you stand a better chance of acquiring more organic traffic, leads, sales, and better ROI. 

  1. Ensure White Hat SEO Practices

A professional and reliable SEO company only uses white hat practices to improve your website ranking without the risk of being penalized by Google, which is what “black hat” SEO techniques can do. For instance, an SEO company using black hat methods will acquire backlinks from spammy websites and directories, which can hurt both your SEO and domain authority score. 

  1. Stay on Top of the Latest Tools and Trends

For an SEO campaign to be successful, it requires the use of proper tools and an understanding of changing trends. For instance, Google search algorithms change numerous times a year. While these changes are minor, they are still crucial for the optimization and ranking of your website. 

SEO experts are always up-to-date with the trends in Google algorithms, as well as with the new tools in SEO. Outsourcing to the experts gives you access to all updates in search engines and SEO.