The 7 Top Social Media Trends That Will Impact Your Marketing In 2015

2014 saw the world of social media take some new turns; some for better, others for worse. We’ve seen mobile use skyrocket; activity on social media during TV shows rise (according to research by Virgin Media) and the arrival of shopping via Twitter.

 

 

But with the year coming to a close, it’s time to have a look at which of these social media trends will take centre stage in 2015’s social landscape.

 

1. Mobile as Priority

 

According to Roger Katz of clickz.com, carriers’ shelf space for mobile handsets with screens sized 4.7 inches and over has grown from 4% to a third, whilst the number of daily active mobile users on Facebook has grown 15% in 2014 alone. If these stats aren’t enough to send a clear message, consider that the number of mobile-only users on Facebook grew by 34% – a startling spike that suggests mobile is no longer a secondary channel. It’s fast becoming first-choice.

 

Taking Facebook as a guide, Katz suggests ‘mobile-aware’ should become ‘mobile-first’ and think about how their social presence can cater to the mobile user. Big platforms have already been doing this, with Facebook creating its separate Messenger app and purchasing smaller mobile apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and Karma.

 

Twitter, on the other hand, recently purchased the MoPub ad exchange platform in 2013 and even Google Adwords is focusing more on mobile-centred display ads.

 

2. Paid Amplification

 

A recent Forrester report stated that organic interaction on Facebook brand posts has shrunken to just 0.073%. For a while now, Facebook has been pushing its promoted posts feature as a way to further monetize the platform and allow businesses to increase their outreach. And Twitter’s promoted tweets, have become more prevalent, attracting more users with each quarter (Thomas Armitage, site-seeker.com).

 

Katz believes brands ought to “ditch thinking about social media as a free-place market”, and instead take the time to think about audience segmentation and the needs of their particular audience.

 

Once brands have chosen carefully which social platform(s) to focus on, they can invest money into expanding their reach; capitalising on promising demographic and/or encouraging engagement from otherwise passive users.

 

3. Social Shopping

 

The idea of shopping via social media is probably an obvious one in hindsight, but it wasn’t until Twitter rolled out the idea earlier in 2014 that marketers started to consider it as a realistic possibility. With the integration of a ‘Buy’ button in certain tweets, visible only to a small segment of users, Twitter was able to test out the service through select brands like (RED) and Rihanna.

 

Facebook soon followed, rolling out a ‘Buy’ button trial of its own, and even microblogging site Tumblr recently announced it will try out the feature.

 

If engagement rates are satisfactory and there’s no decline in user-base, the chances are companies could be making more of this new feature. And for good reason too – social ‘buy’ buttons would potentially enable them to increase their sales; acquire concrete revenue figures from specific social media activity, and involve users in their brand in a whole new way.

 

4. Vlogging

 

Vlogging is becoming an increasingly common advertising channel for brands both large and small, giving blogging a run for its money as consumers’ go-to platform for reviews and advice. With the growing emphasis on unpolished, human-centred and consumer-generated content, companies are realising that customers want to hear the truth from other customers – not so much brands themselves.

 

YouTube is a platform with over one billion unique monthly visitors, and the second largest search engine according to Laura Harrison of Socialnomics. It has a wide demographic of 18-54, and videos are known to be shared “12 times more than links and text posts combined”.

 

A brand can either host its own vlogging channel or offer indie vloggers free goods in exchange for reviews and exposure. With the rise of young ‘celebrity’ vloggers like Zoella, Alfie Deyes, Tyler Oakley and Lily ‘Superwoman’ Singh, it’s now a strong contender for engagement that brands would be crazy not to take advantage of.

 

5. Social Wallets

 

Earlier in 2014, a Stanford student leaked hacked photos that revealed a line of code in Facebook’s Messenger app that suggested a payment and transfer platform could be on the cards. The payment system would allow Facebook users to not just make payments for goods over social media (hence the integration of a ‘buy’ button) but also send money to friends via direct debit.

 

The concept yet remains inactive, but if it were to come to fruition it would make social media a financial arena as well as a social one. Were users to trust Facebook and other networks with their money, these players would certainly enjoy increased power as a result (and brands would no doubt be able to cash in on this new relaxed willingness of users).

 

When we consider the rise of mobile contactless payment systems such as Apple’s iPay and EE’s Cash On Tap, combined with social media users’ shift towards mobile, the idea of social wallets makes perfect sense.

 

6. Interest-Based, Not People-Based

 

The last couple of years have seen a wave of new social platforms enter the foray; from image-based sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr; to Google+ and Ello. The changing trend here has been in how we consume our updates (images over text-based; short GIFS and videos etc). But a new trend emerging is altering the kind of updates we choose to consume.

 

Newer platforms like Foodie, Fitocracy and PlantWorking are geared towards individual audiences rather than taking a ‘everything, everyone, everywhere’ approach. While Foodie is a place for chefs and cooks to share and explore recipes, Fitocracy allows gym bunnies to share workout plans and talk fitness, while PlantWorking is a social network for gardeners.

 

The main takeaway here is that new social networks are likely to be more interest-focused in 2015, uniting users through common hobbies and passions.

 

7. Continued Quest for Personal Privacy

 

With an increasing level of publicity surrounding data sharing and privacy on the internet, several platforms have tried to step it up a notch in 2014 by promising more privacy to their users.

 

Newcomer Ello, for example, promises never to sell user data, whilst Snapchat, Whisper, YikYak and Telegram have each taken a different approach to the social stratosphere. These platforms allow users to engage in conversations privately among their friends, or in some cases, connect with strangers while still keeping their identity private.

 

However, incidents such as the Snapchat hacking and Whisper’s secret compilation of posts and locations (for use in its own search database) have proven that the battle for privacy is not yet won. Ryan Holmes of Time.com has commented that the pressure for privacy will only grow stronger in 2015.

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/12/24/the-7-top-social-media-trends-that-will-impact-your-marketing-in-2015/

 

How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide

Today, age and experience no longer necessarily determine your credibility. Instead, people care about your ideas, your generosity, and your willingness to take risks and learn from mistakes -- those are the kinds of things that can give you a voice in the conversation.

 

We've witnessed a blogging revolution over the past fifteen years, where individuals have become famous on the back of 500-word snippets or rants that resonate with some online audience. Many of the thought leaders of our time became well-known because of their blogs. But as more people blog, the quality of blog content is becoming more important -- and this is especially true for businesses who are blogging to get found on the internet.

 

 

It isn't enough to simply have a blog -- businesses need to spend time creating a blogging strategy that allows for high quality content creation so you can, slowly, build a reputation for thought leadership that will pay off big time in the long term.

 

It's the strategy part that trips up a lot of businesses. I've found that documenting your blog strategy is a great way to bridge the gap to successful execution. Check To help you get started, here's a nine-step process for creating a successful blog strategy for your business. Each step is marked by a question. Adapt it based on your business needs and experience. 

 

1) Purpose

 

Why does your blog exist?

 

What to document: One defining statement articulating the purpose of your blog.

 

Before you can dig in to the strategy of your blog, you need to clearly articulate its underlying purpose. Take a moment to ask yourself these questions:

• What is the greater purpose your company is trying to fulfill?
• What story supports this purpose?
• Who shares your passion for this purpose?
• Is your team aligned with the meaning of this purpose?

If you can answer these questions with some clarity and then collate them into one defining statement, you create a powerful anchor for all future blogging (and marketing) decisions.

 

2) Buyer Personas

 

Who are your ideal customers?

 

What to document: A clear, detailed description of your ideal customer(s). 

 

Ideally, you'll tailor your blog content to people who might buy from you -- after all, your blog will become a great lead conversion tool. But who are these ideal customers? Once you can answer that question in detail, you'll be able to write blog posts that are better tailored to their interests. (Here's a helpful template for creating a buyer persona to get you started.)

 

Once you've arrived at detailed descriptions of your ideal customers, you'll need to research their behavior so you can adapt and tailor blog content for their biggest challenges, interests, and curiosities. But isn’t customer research expensive, you might ask? Sure, it can be -- but if you want to bootstrap it, here are a few places to start:

• Question and answer forums like Quora, Yahoo! Answers, and Fluther.
• Social media. I find LinkedIn Groups, Twitter Advanced Search, and Google+ Communities excellent resources.
• Tools that tell you about other content being created in your niche and how popular it's been with your potential customers (at least according to social shares). Examples include BuzzSumo and Topsy.
• Blog comments on other blogs your potential customers might read. What type of content are they already engaging with on other blogs?

One main goal of inbound marketing is to build trust with your audience. If you discover the information your customers seek and then become the go-to blog for providing that information, they will likely start to trust you. This trust gains momentum over time, and before you know it, that high trust relationship will bring your customers back time and time again -- and they'll probably bring their family and friends with them.

 

3) Competition

 

Which of your competitors have blogs?

 

What to document: A list of 5-10 of your closest competitors with blogs you could conduct a content audit on.

 

Do you want your customers seeking purchasing information from your competitors? This is a rhetorical question -- of course you don’t. But if your blog doesn’t provide the information your customers are looking for and your competitors’ blogs do, what choice do they have?

 

Try conducting a content audit of your biggest competitors. If they're ranking higher than you for crucial keywords, then write and promote better content for those keywords. If you see gaps in the content on their site, capitalize on those gaps.

 

4) Keywords

 

Which keywords are you targeting?

 

What to document: A list of 5-10 keyword groups you want to rank for and their associated long-tail keywords you can include in blog content

 

Keywords let search engines understand what your content is all about. When one of your customers searches for a specific phrase, you want them to find your blog (or web page), not a competitor’s. But what are your potential customers searching for? You'll need to dedicate some time researching which keywords they tend to type into search engines, and then including those keywords in your blog posts.

 

Just remember: Google's algorithm is constantly changing and is becoming more and more intuitive -- and old tactics like keyword stuffing will hurt your ranking nowadays. Instead, marketers are better off writing copy that engages humans first, and search engines second. 

 

5) Distribution Platforms

 

Where will you distribute your blog content? 

 

What to document: A list of the platforms where you will distribute your blog content.

 

Rand Fishkin, SEO Expert from Moz, once quipped: "'I hit 'publish' for the first time, and everyone just showed up' – said no blogger ever."

 

I love this quote. Writing quality blog content is a great start toward running a successful business blog, but the hard part is getting that content discovered and turning your platform into an authority.

 

But creating blog content can be time consuming, especially when you aim to command authority in your niche with well-researched posts. One tactic I've found very useful is repurposing your blog content. Take a look at the content you used to write a blog post -- the ideas, research, structure, and stats -- and using that same information in a different form. You'll reach a wider audience and engage with people that may not have read your blog the first time.

 

There are many things you can do to get better results from your blog. Here are a few:

• Take key quotes and takeaways from your blog post and schedule them across your social media networks, including links to the blog post. Even better, put these quotes into images using a platform like Canva and post them on social media.
• Split up the blog post as a string of emails to your community, with links back to the blog post.
• Create a SlideShare using content, stats, and so on from your post.
• Create an infographic. This isn't as hard as it sounds, and all you really need is PowerPoint.

 

6) Promotion

 

How will you promote your blog content? 

 

What to document: A list of potential influencers in your niche, as well as all the other promotional tactics you will use to get your blog content discovered.

 

When it comes to blog strategy, "promotion" simply means getting your content out there so people discover it, read it, and (hopefully) share it with others. There are lots of inbound marketing tactics for promoting your blog posts, but for the purpose of this post, I’d like to focus on influencer marketing.

 

Using an inbound approach to promoting your blog content requires a lot of deliberate effort up front. You need to identify key influencers in your industry -- people your customers perceive as credible and trustworthy. These influencers command authority in their field and provide access to authoritative sources.

 

First, create a list of influential people in your niche. Then, you can start placing deposits -- for example, if they have a blog, read it, comment on it, and share it. If they have an email list, sign up for it and respond to (some of) their emails with thanks, and encourage others to join up. If they have a book, read it, review it, and generously promote it to your network. In the words of Adam Franklin, “Lead with generosity."

 

It's important to remain in regular contact with your list of influencers. I schedule time into my calendar to place further deposits with certain people. Typically, this looks like a brief email message or a social share, but sometimes it might play out as something more meaningful. If you work hard on placing deposits you expand your network to a group of people that command great authority with your ideal customers.

 

Now you can leverage the combined power of an extended network next time you publish a blog post. Influencer marketing is just one component of my blog promotion strategy, but I believe it's the most important.

 

7) Headcount

 

Who will run your blog?

 

What to document: Exactly who is accountable for each role within your blog strategy.

 

You need to decide exactly who will execute on your strategy. As you can see from this blog post, there are lots of moving parts -- and if you don’t create ownership around each of those components, your chances of success decrease. Here are some examples of the roles you need to effectively implement a blog strategy. (Depending on the size of your marketing team and the skills available, you may find one person holds responsibility for multiple roles.)

• Keyword research
• Facts, stats and examples research
• Copywriting
• Editing
• Strategy and editorial calendar governance
• Creative
• Promotion
• Repurposing

 

8) Rhythm

 

How many blog posts can you commit to scheduling?

 

What to document: An editorial calendar and the number of blog posts you can commit to scheduling per week.

 

The beauty of creating a blogging rhythm and publishing that in an editorial calendar is that it’s not about frequency, it’s about creating accountability. It makes sure that every blog is optimized for keywords, CTAs and is developed and scheduled on time. This gives you a consistent stream of blog content that your readers can get in sync with.

 

Your editorial calendar should be designed to align with the rest of your blog strategy. I like to incorporate the specific promotional tactics, goals and resources required for each individual blog post.

 

9) Metrics

 

Which metrics matter to you?

 

What to document: The goals you aim to achieve from blogging and the metrics that contribute to those goals. (I recommend setting goals over a 60-day period. This gives you long enough to see whether your strategy is working, and allows you to then adapt and change your goals based on the results you experience.)

 

Traffic, likes, plus ones, re-tweets, follows, backlinks, subscribers… What do all of these metrics mean? How do any of them contribute to your bottom line?

 

Metrics are helpful, but they're pointless if you can’t track them back to a meaningful outcome. Perhaps the most important element of an effective blog strategy is accurately defining the goals you want to achieve. Here are three helpful questions you can ask yourself while defining a goal or outcome:

• Does this goal help us achieve our purpose, or is there something more relevant we can aspire to?
• Is this goal aligned with the initiatives of other parts of our business?
• Which metrics track the progress towards this goal? Are these metrics complementary or counterintuitive?

Answering these questions will help you set meaningful goals, and consequently, understand the metrics that will help achieve them. There is no exact science to measuring the effectiveness of your blog strategy, but this process creates a direct line of sight from your activity to a desired outcome. Once you understand exactly how many of a specific metric -- say, a social share -- contributes to a specific outcome -- say, a sale -- then your strategy becomes more targeted.

 

Growing an influential blog in your niche is a surefire way to nurture your potential customers. By creating regular content that solves the challenges of your readers and fulfills their biggest curiosities, you'll start to build a vault of trust and advocacy, which will inevitably contribute to the overall success of your business. Start with your purpose -- the big why -- and slowly unpack the individual levers that will contribute to your blog marketing performance.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-strategy-guide?utm_campaign=blog-rss-emails&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=15415390

 

The 10 Biggest Social Media Myths for Small Businesses

Despite the mind-boggling pervasiveness of social media today, certain myths persist about its relevance for small businesses. Can social media really help drive sales and, if so, how and where? Is social media genuinely worthwhile or an enormous waste of time?

 

Here are 10 common social media myths about small business, and reasons to disregard them.

 

1. When I set up a social media account, sales leads will follow.

 

Establishing a presence on Twitter or LinkedIn is just the first step in the process. What you do after that determines whether or not you can generate new business.

 

2. Time spent on social media might be better spent elsewhere.

 

A commitment to social media marketing might seem to be robbing you of time better spent elsewhere. But when you look at social media as a long-term resource for building customer loyalty and gathering a community around your brand — the ultimate benefits of an effective social media strategy—there’s little question that the time and effort are worth it.

 

3. Social media activity requires a daunting amount of time and effort.

 

Mastering a few social media activities will quickly make it clear that you don’t have to be hunched over your keyboard 24/7 to make it work for you. If you post engaging content — a survey question, a fresh idea, eye-catching imagery — people will respond. Plus, online tools to streamline and automate the posting process reduce your own time commitment.

 

4. If my Tweet or Facebook post doesn’t go viral, it’s not worth the effort.

 

Corporate marketing campaigns have the limitless funds and creativity to come up with a message or image that snags millions of views. For your small business, going viral isn’t critically important. The objective is attracting a steady stream of visitors due to the value you offer, one Tweet or blog post at a time. If you keep at it, your fan base (and pool of prospective customers) will grow.

 

5. I can’t attract older customers on social media.

 

This might have been true in the earliest days of social media, but the facts make this myth one of the least convincing. A recent Pew Research Center and Docstoc study shows that people aged 30-49 use social media, and more than half of those aged 50-64 (52 percent) are active on social media, too.

 

“Don’t neglect social media as a means of connecting with older customers,” says Monique Torres of Business 2 Community. “You will be excluding a significant number of potential clients if you ignore places where they can already be found.”

 

6. Twitter works for rock stars and high-profile athletes, but not for me.

 

Any small business would love a million followers, but the truth is, a small but targeted group of loyal followers will likely translate into more revenue. It’s not necessary to tweet 10 times a day, nor do you have to depend on an avalanche of mentions and retweets to succeed (though they’re nice to have).

 

“To make Twitter matter, you need to make your tweets timely, relevant to your customers, and not entirely self-promotional,” says Michael Mothner, CEO of the online marketing firm Wpromote. “Also, make sure that you use Twitter to monitor and engage with Twitter users who reach out to you or mention your company or products.”

 

7. A Twitter profile or photo is unimportant.

 

No one wants to buy something from a business with no description or image. Taking time to craft an appealing profile (and adding a people-friendly image) makes a difference, as does the careful selection of keywords in your bio. 

 

8. The more I post on Facebook, the greater the returns.

 

Posting selectively on Facebook for your small business is different than a teenager posting 12 times about her upcoming prom date. In this particular area, less is better than more. In fact, as Monique Torres notes, “Facebook’s ranking algorithms can penalize too-frequent posters, reducing the chance that future posts will be seen.”

 

9. Video social media is too costly and time-intensive to work for me.

 

Video content marketing is getting a lot of buzz these days. The good news is, it doesn’t require expensive equipment or Spielberg-level production values to work. Something short, snappy and produced on the cheap can attract a surprisingly large number of users.

 

10. Personal branding doesn’t work.

 

These days, it’s hard to separate one’s personal brand with his or her business reputation. Consumers still want to connect with people, and the more they understand who you are as a living, breathing person (through your profile, the type of content you share, etc.), the more inclined they are to seek out your business as well.

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240502

 

Is Your Blog an Asset to Your Business?

Readers of Social Media Explorer will already know how content marketing can improve your site’s SEO, but what else can a blog do for your business? A blog is more than just an SEO tool, it can also be a valuable asset to your business, demonstrating your authority in your industry and helping you to generate leads online. In this article we will look at how you can turn your business blog into a valuable lead generation tool by building your company’s authority in your industry.

 

Building Trust with Your Blog

When it comes to online marketing, many of the same concepts of offline sales and marketing apply. No one is going to buy from a person they don’t trust, whether that’s via a website or face-to-face in a meeting.

 

Nowadays, it’s essential to overcome any trust issues with your customers before you even make contact with them. In the old days, sales reps would diagnose customers’ needs, align products and services to those needs, then sell these solutions. But with the wealth of information that the internet provides, customers now define solutions for themselves, contacting vendors much later in the buying process. In fact, a study by CEB showed that 57% of B2B customers typically made a decision on a purchase before even speaking to a supplier. This means your blog and website content needs to assure visitors that you are a credible business before they will even contact you, and you can do this by building trust with your content.

 

Using Offline Trust Signals

 

A lot of the same trust signals for the offline world also apply to the online world when it comes to B2B sites. Ultimately, the purpose of your business blog is to generate leads and enquiries for your services, so the trust signals that you use to show the quality of your offering can also be used on your blog.

 

For example, suppose you were a management consultant or other business service provider. You may therefore want to use your blog to build trust with potential clients, showing your service is high quality and can easily compliment your clients existing processes. One way of doing this is becoming ISO 9001 certified, which is often a prerequisite to working with government and blue chip contracts.

 

If you already have ISO 9001 certification to work with these types of businesses, make sure your blog talks about your certification! This is because as the CEB research shows, the majority of potential clients will be conducting their own research prior to contacting a supplier, so it’s essential that they are made aware of your certification if this is an important factor in their decision. Similarly, for potential clients where ISO certification isn’t a make or break factor, your blog needs to have content to show why being certified sets you above the competition.

 

Therefore, a great starting point for your business blog would be to consider all the factors that are important in a client’s decision to choose you, as well as ‘nice to have’ benefits of your service. Then, ensure you have a detailed blog post on each of these, optimized for relevant keywords. For instance to capture management consultancy buyers where having a quality management system in place is essential, your may want to optimize a post for “ISO 9001 Certified Management Consultancy”.

 

Blog about Case Studies

 

Client case studies are another great topic for blog posts. Chances are, however, that you already have case studies on your site; however, if you’re not repurposing content for other channels, then the cost of your online marketing is multiplied.

 

So how can you repurpose case studies into blog content? One way might be to group several case studies that used a common service or strategy to deliver results. You could convert those three case studies into a single article that specifically talks about that single strategy used as part of all three campaigns, and how this helped each of the clients. This post can then be optimized for a keyword relevant for that particular strategy.

 

An example of this in the SEO industry could be to write about three clients who each had link building as part of the SEO strategy. A new blog post could be crafted to explain the importance of link building in SEO and three examples of how this tactic specifically helped improve their online visibility.

 

Ensure Articles Live Up To the Promise of Their Titles

 

A business blog is a great way of humanizing your brand, which means similar rules about promises made by sales people in face-to-face meetings need to be adhered to online, as well. For example, if you were in the market for a new car and the sales person made exaggerated claims about its mileage or performance which you knew to be false, you’d likely be skeptical about anything else they said. Similarly, anything you convey about your brand is a promise. Every conversation, download, or subscription is an agreement that you promise to provide something of value, while they promise to engage with you as a result.

 

In a study by Salesforce of over 400 B2B buyers, 71% had been disappointed with the content they downloaded from a business, with 25% of those saying they would never read content from that business again due to disappointment.

 

This also applies when it comes to writing your blog content. To establish your blog as an authority in your industry, building trust is essential, meaning your content needs to live up to every promise you make. That means if you write an article about “how to double your revenue in 5 steps”, be sure to have evidence to back your claims up through citing external resources, studies, or case studies of your own clients or projects.

 

Without credible content that lives up to the promises you make, your authority can be eroded in time, negatively reflecting on your brand. Over time, this can cost you traffic and sales.

 

Wrapping Up

 

Ensuring your blog presents your business as an authority in your industry is essential if you want your blog to become a lead generation tool. A great way to apply the advice above is to consider all your brand values, write them down, then look at your blog content and decide whether it conveys those values. However, beware of being overly bias about your own site. One way around this is to utilize User Testing, a service allowing you to recruit people in your target market to test your website. You are able to design a test for them with questions to establish whether they trust the information presented or if they are unsure about its credibility.

 

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-establish-your-business-blog-as-an-authority-in-your-industry/

 

7 SEO Predictions That Could Determine the Success of Your Website in 2015

Do you want to improve your search engine ranking in 2015? Want to know the SEO trends likely to hit the web and shape the success of your website?

 

Google is constantly changing and we see 2015 being no different, they’ll continue to update existing algorithms and introduce new ones to keep up with the spammers and scammers that try to game the system.

 

We’ve scoured some of the top SEO blogs on the interweb for their top tips and predictions for 2015 and have collated the most common in the infographic below.

 

 

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/12/15/7-seo-predictions-that-could-determine-the-success-of-your-website-in-2015/

 

Nobody Knows What They Are Doing, Not Even the Experts.

Recently I attended WordCamp SF, a 2 day collaborative conference on all things WordPress. Being new to the WordPress community, with numerous stories of it being very ‘cliquey’ and cult-like, I was worried about fitting in and speaking the language of these WordPress experts. Fortunately these fears were misplaced, instead I found a wonderful community of passionate people excited to help each other learn, swap ideas and share stories of success and failure. It was inspiring to see people from all walks of life coming together to advance the Internet and the WordPress mission ‘to democratize publishing’.

 

Amongst all the really great content, one talk in particular stood out: New to WordPress Development.

 

The speaker Mickey Kay had asked some Web Development experts the following question:
 

When coding what % of the time do you know exactly how to do something?

The Answer?  42% – that’s less than half the time!

 

This was so stunning I had to share it on Twitter…

 

 

This statement must have struck a chord as it rippled through the twittersphere with 100’s of RT’s and Faves. Being really surprised by this response I thought it worthy of of further exploration.

 

Why did this comment resonate with so many people?

 

For many of us there is a constant fear of being “found out”. The dirty little secret that you ‘borrowed’ a few lines of code being discovered by your boss, your client, or your peers, and that somehow this will devalue your work. We constantly worry that people will see us as amateurs who stumble across our answers by hacking until we get it right, rather than the professional who knows exactly what they are doing at all times. So to find out that not even the experts know what they are doing all of the time (or even most of the time) is very comforting.

 

We think of an expert as someone who knows everything there is to know about a subject, a master of their craft. But here’s the real secret, the Internet is evolving so fast that there are no ‘experts’, there can’t be. The internet never stops growing, morphing and evolving, it is the embodiment of billions of ideas, a collective consciousness that can never be mastered, only learnt from.

 

 

The reality is Web Development is more science than art and that means following the scientific methods of establishing theories, testing them, and assessing the results. The Internet doesn’t move forward in leaps and bounds. It edges forward one line of code at a time, slowly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible by constantly blending new and old ideas and concepts to produce a desired result.

 

This is precisely the principles that WordPress, perhaps the most powerful open-source project in the world, is built on. A global community evolving by sharing ideas, constantly adding to, modifying, and testing (and fixing!) each others’ code. Incorporating new ideas and technologies to create something that no one person alone could imagine.

 

So don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know all the answers all the time. This doesn’t mean that you don’t know what you are doing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The fact that you can ‘borrow’ disparate ideas from multiple places and mash them up to create something functional is in itself quite masterful. Indeed, take comfort in the knowledge that you can’t ever become an ‘expert’ at Web Development. No one can. The best you can do is keep learning and trying something new everyday. As long as you’re learning, you are an expert.

 

http://www.pagelines.com/the-big-secret-in-web-development/

 

6 Ecommerce Design Mistakes That Can Cost You Heavily This Holiday Season

The Christmas and New Year holidays are a real lottery for Ecommerce businesses. Some of them earn as much as 40% of their annual revenue during the last quarter of the year.

 

With such a big occasion approaching, you need to make sure your website and online store is in the best possible shape to benefit from the additional customer influx.

 

But this can only be done if your store and website design is tailored for this visitor surge.

 

Even seemingly small design mistakes can cost you heavily because of the sheer volume of Ecommerce traffic generated during the New Year holidays.

 

 

Here are 6 design and user experience mistakes that you should look to correct before the surge begins.

 

1. Using the Same Store Color Theme

 

Your website looks great and you’ve branded it properly with your distinct color combinations. But you can’t leave it untouched during the holiday season.

 

A different color and design theme for the holiday season would immediately get your customers interested in what you have to offer for this holiday season. You need to become a part of the celebrations. You can incorporate holiday colors, videos and a festive logo to create the right atmosphere.

 

2. Not Using Responsive Design

 

Using a mobile friendly website design and online store is not an option anymore, it’s an absolute necessity. A mobile friendly or responsive design adjusts according to the dimensions of the device it’s viewed on.

 

If you’re using a custom developed Ecommerce website or online store, make sure it’s built using responsive design. You can also hire professionals to create a mobile friendly version of your website.

 

3. Placing the Email Opt-In Box at the Wrong Place

 

Email list and subscriber base is the backbone of any Ecommerce website. Throughout the year, you should make a conscious effort to find different ways of building your email list and subscriber base.

 

But during the holiday traffic surge, list building becomes even more important. A large mailing list gives you the opportunity to work on your subscribers, build a relationship with them and generate repeat sales.

 

But for effective list building in Ecommerce websites, you need to use a multi-dimensional strategy. Instead of just placing an opt-in box in the side bar or the footer, aggressively promote it at the most prominent places of your website.

 

Use pop ups and offer holiday season discounts in return for the user’s email address. Add it to the main header of your website and in the sidebar. Also make sure your payment processor can be linked with your mailing list at the checkout stage, so that all the buyer email addresses are collected. Both Gumroad and Selz offer this functionality.

 

Remember, this traffic hike would go away in a few weeks. If you don’t add these visitors to your mailing list, you’ll be losing thousands of dollars in potential sales over the next 12 months.

 

4. Using Multiple Redirections in the Check Out Process

 

Using multiple redirections at the checkout and payment stage is the prime reason for shopping cart abandonment. Sometimes buyers get frustrated with the number of redirections involved. Other times, they don’t complete the transaction because of slow internet.

 

Whatever the reason, multiple redirections are known to increase incomplete checkouts. There are two ways you can counter this.

 

• Use a payment processor that uses Java script and completes the payment process in the same window. (eg. Selz and Ecwid).
• Route the buyers to a reliable third party payment service that can handle the payment for you (eg. PayPal and Stripe)

 

Whichever service you choose, make sure it involves minimum redirections and offers the most flexible and widely accepted payment options.

 

5. Not Integrating Social Media Sharing on Product Pages

 

According to research, almost 80% of Ecommerce purchase decisions are influenced by word of mouth or recommendations from close friends. To maximize your Ecommerce sales this holiday season, make social media sharing and discussions on product pages as easy as possible.

 

Here are a few things you should do.

 

• Add a social media sharing widget to the individual product pages and encourage sharing. You can use widgets like AddThis or DiggDigg.
• Enable Twitter cards on your ecommerce website. Twitter cards display additional product information like price and stock details when your products are shared on Twitter.
• Enable Rich Pins in Pinterest. Similar to Twitter cards, Rich Pins also display additional product information when products are shared on Pinterest.
• Embed Facebook comments in the product pages and encourage discussions.

 

The holiday season traffic surge offers a great opportunity to maximize your product reach with social media websites. Failing to take advantage can cost you significantly in terms of referral sales.

 

6. Not Creating Holiday Specific Blog Content

 

Apart from attracting 200% more inbound links and almost 400% more indexed pages, blog content also has a huge impact on Ecommerce purchase decisions. According to Neil Patel, an entrepreneur and content marketing expert, almost 61% of US customers read a blog post before making online purchases.

 

But surprisingly the majority of Ecommerce websites and online stores ignore this highly effective form of marketing. Creating content does take time, but it offers much higher returns and attracts additional customers. You can simplify content creation to an extent by hiring professional freelance writers. Wrapping It Up Almost all Ecommerce businesses benefit in the short term by the additional traffic and higher sales during the holiday season. However there are very few online stores that approach this occasion with a long term strategy.

 

http://blog.fiverr.com/5-ecommerce-design-mistakes-can-cost-heavily-holiday-season/

 

5 Simple SEO Tips for Better Rankings

Many people believe that SEO is hard but this is not true. Basic SEO configurations are very easy to implement and sometimes this is all you need to do to for maximum exposure on all major search engines.

 

If you are looking for a quick guide with simple but yet effective SEO tips then you are on the right page, read on!

 

1. Optimize Your Titles, URL and Descriptions

 

This is probably the oldest tip in the SEO industry but it is still the most important. Have a look at the examples below and ask yourself these questions:

 

• Which one is more descriptive?
• Which one is catchy and friendlier to the user?
• Which one gives you a very good idea of what the website is about without clicking?
• If you saw both in the search results, which one would you choose?

I am sure that the ‘first example’ is your answer to the above questions and this is expected because it presents:

 

• A unique and meaningful title
• A catchy description
• A well formatted URL

 

Examine your website using this way of thinking and if there is room for improvement in your titles and descriptions, this is your first priority and a great first step for getting better rankings.

 

2. Provide Useful and Fresh Content

 

One of the reasons you have a website or blog is to provide content to build an audience, keep your existing readers happy or gain new customers. By content we mean anything from articles, videos, infographics, slideshows, music, comments, reviews or anything else that is suited for your niche.

 

If your content is static, old or out of date then most probably your visitors will go away quickly and never come back. What is your first reaction when you visit a website that has out-of-date content? It’s exactly the same as the users visiting your website.

 

A couple of years ago we used to say to our clients that updating was not a very important SEO factor but this has changed due to the competition. There is big competition in every keyword you search and those websites that have the most useful and fresh content have more chances of winning the race.

 

Does this mean that you have to post new content daily? Not necessarily. Your publishing strategy depends on a number of other factors as well.

 

3. Improve Your Website’s Loading Time

If this is the first time you are reading that page speed is important for SEO then soon after reading this post you should do whatever is needed to improve the loading time of your website. If you have read about this before and have not yet done anything about it, you are doing a big mistake.

 

Because this is important I will keep it simple:

 

 

Page speed is a ranking factor – if you have two similar websites and the one is faster than the other, you can expect that it will also rank higher (provided that other things are equal).

 

Faster websites generate more conversions – This means more sales, more RSS subscribers and more clicks on your ads (if you are using Adsense for example).

 

More page views – When a website loads fast users are likely to visit more than one page before they leave.

 

 

How can you improve the speed of your website? I know that it is not an easy task especially if you are not a technical person but it is important to handle page speed without further delays.

 

If you cannot afford to hire an SEO or a developer to make your web site load faster, what you can do is the following:

 

• Remove big images
• Remove unnecessary JavaScript files
• Use sprites instead of small images to minimize http redirects
• Move to a faster hosting provider
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) service
• Use resources from Google for more tips and tools

 

4. Implement Google Authorship

 

When Google introduces a new feature that is related to their search results, you have to follow their path without delay. The good news is that Google authorship is a feature very useful to the searches as well because:

 

• They get to know before clicking a link, who wrote it, how popular he/she is (from the number of circles) and they can easily find more about the author by clicking the image and or name.

For authors and webmasters Google authorship is important because:

 

• They get higher click through rates (CTR) – studies have confirmed that searches are more likely to click a result that shows the author image as well.
• It’s an indication of Google trust – if Google shows your image next to your results it’s a sign that they trust you and your website.

All you need to do to implement Google authorship is a Google+ profile and then link your content with your profile. Being active on Google+ is also recommended for greater exposure.

 

5. Register your Website with Google and Bing Webmaster Tools

 

In a previous post, when I was explaining the 10 most common SEO mistakes, I said that not having your website registered with the webmaster tools is like driving with your eyes closed. This is true and I cannot think of any valid reason as to why you should not take advantage of the plethora of information given to you by both Google and Bing.

 

Some people believe that by not registering your website with Google you can ‘hide’ things from them and slip under their radar and reach the top of the search results. This is not a ‘hide and seek’ game, good long term rankings can only be achieved if you follow valid methods and techniques. For the record: Google already knows everything they need to know about your website with or without submitting it to webmaster tools.

 

Once you go through the registration process and perform some basic configurations you will get notified if there is a problem with your website and also start looking at some interesting facts about your website like:

 

• Number of index pages
• Number of incoming links
• Search queries
• Crawl errors
• Number of internal links

 

Conclusion

 

The above 5 tips are simple but at the same time they are also very important.  If you are running a blog, ecommerce store or content driven website and you are not getting traffic from search engines, then you need to ensure that you have implemented the above 5 tips correctly.

 

https://www.reliablesoft.net/5-simple-seo-tips-for-better-rankings/

The Best 404 Error Pages (And How to Prevent Them From Ever Happening Again)

In your time on the Internet, you’ve probably stumbled across a 404 page or two. In technical terms, a 404 page is a page on a website that a user is directed to if they try to navigate to a page that either doesn’t exist or can’t be found on the server.

Back in the early days of the Internet, 404 errors usually transported you to a jarringly generic page which proclaimed, “The page cannot be found,” and provided some suggestions to help you find what you were looking for. Nowadays, many websites boast useful, funny, or just plain bizarre custom 404 pages.

• NPR’s amusing 404 page gives you a list of articles about lost people (like Amelia Earhart), places (like the city of Atlantis), and things (like your luggage).
• Blue Fountain Media’s 404 page lets you play Pac-Man in your browser.
• This brilliant 404 page from Nouveller recreates the ill fated system security interface from Jurassic Park. Type a few things into the Control Console and see what happens!

While entertaining 404 pages can be fun to come across, 404 pages are no fun when they appear on your site — and cause your visitors to click away in frustration. Here are a few ways you can prevent your visitors from encountering the dreaded 404:

 

Monitor Your Site for 404s

 

You can use tools like Google Webmaster Tools or Google Analytics to monitor how many 404 errors your site’s visitors are getting. While a certain amount will be attributed to mistyped URLs, if you notice an increase in 404s, you can bet you’ve got either:

• A broken link on your site
• A page you’ve deleted or changed the URL for that users are still trying to access, or
• Another website linking to your site with a mistyped URL

 

Once you know where users are running into 404 errors on your site, you can fix broken links or apply redirects.

 

Keep Track of Your URL Structure

 

To avoid 404 errors caused by pages that have been moved, deleted, or had their names changed, try to avoid doing any of those things. It sounds like a simple concept because it is simple — in theory. In practice, however, there are plenty of valid reasons you may need to move or delete a page. You might misspell the URL of the original page, you might decide to consolidate two or more pages into one, or the page may simply become irrelevant.

 

You can avoid 404s on these pages by keeping track of your site’s URL structure in an Excel document or even a paper notebook and being proactive when you need to move or delete a page. Rather than allowing these pages to become dead links, you can redirect users who try to access them to the new URL or another page.

 

Use 301 Redirects

 

A 301 redirect is a way to automatically redirect users who land on a page of your site that doesn’t exist to another page of your choosing. Applying 301 redirects is an incredibly useful way to ensure your visitors don’t land on a 404 page. Use redirects for:

• Common typos. (For example, Fiver.com redirects to Fiverr.com)
• Pages you’ve moved to a new URL.
• Pages you’ve deleted, if there’s another relevant page users can visit instead.

 

Applying 301 redirects is easy. If you’re using WordPress, you can download a plugin to redirect traffic if a user tries to navigate to a page that has been deleted or moved. If you know PHP, you can use that to create 301 redirects.

 

Don’t Make Your 404 Page a Dead End

 

Even by following all these tips, you won’t be able to guarantee no one will ever get a 404 error when trying to visit your site. Since users will be ending up on these pages anyway, use them as an opportunity to direct users to the part of your site they do want to see — or at least to some of the other useful, relevant content you’ve got on your site.

 

You can use your 404 page to:

• Showcase your most popular posts or products, like Betabrand does.
• Help users find the page they’re looking for by including a search box, like WordPress does.
• Put users in touch with you by linking to your social media channels, email address, or help center, like Dropbox does.
• Encourage users to make a purchase, subscribe to your newsletter, or sign up, like eHarmony does.
• Direct users back to your homepage or another relevant page on your site, like Hootsuite does.

 

As you’re working on updating your 404 pages and redirecting users to other areas of your personal or business website, there are still some thing your website will still need in order to keep users engaged. And potentially making a purchase decision.

 

Here are 5 of those tips for your website:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most businesses stick to functional websites and don’t focus too much on re-branding or changing their website. Why mess with it if it works, right? Sometimes a simple design refresh can make a huge difference. Other times, you just need a complete change to stay up to date with the times.

http://blog.fiverr.com/best-404-error-pages-prevent-ever-happening/

Facebook Launches Call-to-Action Buttons on Business Pages

Great news, marketers: Facebook just announced a feature that can help drive more traffic from your Facebook Page to your website: a call-to-action button.

 

While this feature isn't available to everyone just yet, it'll roll out in the U.S. over the next few weeks and worldwide starting in 2015. So if you don't see it on your Page yet, rest assured that it's coming. In the meantime, you can catch up on all the feature's details in this post.

 

Here's How a Facebook Page Call-to-Action Works

 

Page admins can choose one CTA button from a group of seven pre-made options -- "Sign Up," "Shop Now," "Contact Us," "Book Now," "Use App," "Watch Video," and "Play Game" -- and link it to "any destination on or off Facebook that aligns with a business's goals," according to the official announcement. According to VentureBeat's conversation with a Facebook spokeswoman, Facebook will monitor these links in the same way they monitor current links -- and users can report Pages with malicious links, too.

 

The CTA will show up at a fixed location: the top of your business Page, to the left of the Like button.

 

The location of the CTA button makes your cover photo all the more important. Be sure the color and design of your photo isn't making the button less visible to Facebook Fans who aren't accustomed to seeing it there. At the time of publishing, the CTA buttons don't yet appear on the mobile app -- so note that it might be confusing to mobile users if you integrate the cover photo design with the new CTA.

 

Want to see what it looks like while you're waiting for this feature for your Page? Head on over to online retailer Dollar Shave Club's Facebook Page -- they were given beta access to the new feature and chose to place a "Sign Up" button linking to their home page. After a three-week test in beta, Dollar Shave Club's director of acquisition Brian Kim reported a boost in customer acquisition efforts as a result of the CTA. He told Facebook, "Over the course of a three-week test, the Sign Up call-to-action button delivered a 2.5x higher conversion rate versus other comparable social placements aimed to drive new user acquisition."

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/facebook-call-to-action-buttons-business-pages?utm_campaign=blog-rss-emails&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=15263500

 

8 Pinterest Marketing Tips for the Holiday Season

In the past, it might have been tricky to decide where to focus your energy during the hectic holiday shopping season. For me, Pinterest is an obvious choice — it’s the third largest source of traffic to my Etsy jewelry shop, HappyGoLicky. And, through coupon codes and other strategies, I can track my efforts. According to social analytics tool Piqora, sales generated by Pinterest on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2013 were triple the amount of sales generated during the 30 days prior.

 

Photo by Print Smitten

 

Interestingly, there wasn’t more Pinterest traffic on those days, just more sales. During this time, pinners were in “buy” mode, instead of just gathering attractive images. And most purchases were made from pins that were between two days and four weeks old, which means buyers are shopping now, even if they have yet to step foot in your virtual shop. With that in mind, check out the following tips for using Pinterest to boost your holiday sales.

 

1. Include Prices and a “Call to Action”

 

Let shoppers know your item is for sale by including the price in the written description. Pinterest will recognize that a price has been entered, and might even include your product in a gift guide email, resulting in free publicity for your shop. Then, prompt viewers to make a move with a call to action like “Click here to buy now,” or, “Click today to see details.” In The First Quantitative Study of Brands on Pinterest, Piqora found that “rich pins,” including pins with price info, are repinned 82 percent more often than regular pins. Chalk it up to the power of persuasion; these “call to action” pins show increased engagement.

 

2. Offer Coupon Codes

 

Adding a coupon code to your pin entices potential customers to make a purchase and allows you to track your marketing efforts. I started including the code PIN10 for a 10 percent discount on pins in November 2011. In 2014, I have seen sales that used that code every month. Holiday shoppers might search the term “coupon code” to find great deals, so keep your code simple and consistent so it’s easily remembered. Since pins don’t expire, your coupon codes shouldn’t either. No expiration date ensures that even if your product is found long after the season has past, you can still reap the rewards.

 

3. Join Group Boards

 

Only have a few followers? Instantly enlarge that circle by joining a group board, like the Etsy Group Board of Handmade Art, which is followed by more than 17,600 people with more than 2,100 guest pinners. Ask for an invite for immediate access and start pinning your own product for exponential exposure. All group boards have different guidelines, so be sure to adhere to the rules posted or risk being banned by the owners. To find a group suitable for you, search for a particular theme and filter the results to see relevant boards. A tiny gray icon depicting three people will appear in the top right corner of a group board listing. Click and follow the instructions.

 

4. Launch a PR Board

 

A board of testimonials is confirmation of happy customers and can give apprehensive first-time buyers much-needed reassurance. Pinning links to blogs or magazines where your work has been featured is another effective way of establishing your company as reputable.

 

 Lisa Anderson Shaffer of Zelma Rose created a Love & Press board to showcase her San Francisco-based shop, where she sells hand-stitched jewelry and accessories. “I can expand the story of my brand and show customers how I’ve been vetted, helping them put their trust in me,” she says. Cultivating that connection with customers is key. “It reaffirms I’m a real person,” Lisa says.

 

Uploading photos that offer a peek into your studio space or a photo of you immersed in your craft will also encourage familiarity.

 

Lisa Anderson Shaffer, founder of Zelma Rose, created a Love & Press board on Pinterest to collect rave reviews and press clips about her embroidered jewelry.

 

5. Create Gift Idea Boards

 

Title the boards specifically so they are readily found in searches. “Stocking Stuffers for Teens” or “Gifts for the Foodie” tell viewers exactly what to expect. Incorporate your products in small doses to retain a fresh and diverse collection or viewers will lose interest. Adding key words or #hashtags will optimize search results for more hits. A good trick to avoid being spammy is to collect images you want to pin on a “secret” board, then dole them out to your public boards gradually during the day. This way, you don’t have to spend time curating great pins every time you want to add something new to your followers’ feeds. If the process sounds too time-consuming, try scheduling pins on Viralwoot.

 

6. Put Items on Sale

 

When you lower the price on items from your Etsy shop that you previously pinned, Pinterest sends an email to people who pinned it alerting them of the drop in cost. This is an incredibly easy way to refresh the memory of someone who liked your product enough to save it for future reference or share it with others. The notification might be just the nudge they need to buy it as a gift this season. Think of it as a second chance to seal the deal. Before offering your products at a discounted price, make sure your pricing strategy is taking your time and effort into account.

 

7. Announce Promotions

 

Use Pinterest to tell holiday shoppers about your special offers. Sydney MacIntyre and Richele Penner of print shop Anewall in Vancouver, BC have been using Pinterest as an effective marketing tool for a year and a half. When promoting sales or special pricing on Pinterest, they create a graphic with one of their crisp, clear images, adding eye-catching text, such as “Thanksgiving Weekend Sale,” that calls attention to the deal. Adding text to the image itself matches their shop’s neutral, simple aesthetic and grabs the attention of those who may overlook a wordy description below the image and linking directly to their shop makes it easier for followers to make a purchase.

 

Sydney and Richele from wall decor shop Anewall use Pinterest to promote sales and discounts to their followers.

 

8. Pinterest Search Yourself

 

Find out which of your products are getting the most attention. Following members who have pinned your merchandise can lead to a mutually beneficial relationship, as well as remind them of your work. When I discover a pin that has an unusually high number of re-pins, I might offer that user who pinned it free product in exchange for an additional pin to her board. Currently, I have a rapport with a few pinners boasting followers into the millions. Since Pinterest is the third largest referrer to my shop, these prized liaisons will all be getting sparkly packages from me soon.

 

https://blog.etsy.com/en/2014/8-pinterest-marketing-tips-for-the-holiday-season/?geo=global&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=help_support