Untitled

[loungelizardww]

6 Reasons Why Women are Driving Social Media Growth

Do you know the 6 reasons why women are driving social media growth? If not, then keep reading and you soon will!

For some readers this information may be a surprise while for others it will meet expectations; however there are some very interesting facts anyone involved with marketing should be aware of.

Women and Social Media

We crunched the numbers and reviewed the research and the results are in; women are driving social media growth and apparently have been for the past few years. Here’s why:

Women are more active on most social sites – Across the board there are more women being social than men. The one lone exception to this trend is on LinkedIn where men hold a 5% edge over women. We fully expected women to be using a site like Pinterest more than men and according to 2013 stats they do to a tune of 33% of all women online compared to only 8% of all men online. However it is surprising that they are more dominant on Twitter (by 1%), Instagram (by 5%, Tumblr (by 8%) and Facebook (by 10%).

Women are more actively daily – Another interesting stat shows us that out of all the adults online in U.S., 30% of women access sites several times per day compared to only 26% of men. This is an interesting statistic. While the numbers are close, it seems that women are more prone to check back on feeds which would lead us to believe they are more likely to have a higher level of engagement on topics. Aside from daily activity, women seem to be more active in general such as having 55% more posts on their Facebook walls than men and playing more than twice as many Facebook games as men.

Women interact more with brands – Following up the previous point, we actually statistically see that level of engagement at the brand level. While on a comment level adult women in the U.S. are only slightly (3%) more likely to comment on something, they are 10% more likely to show support to a brand and 17% more likely to access offers! Of the top 50 brands on Instagram women make up 53% of their followers. That means at the social level you should be targeting women more often with special offers.

Women dominate visual sites – This is another not so surprising idea, but the actual numbers themselves are rather surprising. More women are using visual sites like Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram then men. They obviously dominate Pinterest and have a healthy 10% lead in Tumblr as well. That isn’t overly surprising but did you know that those three sites have gained over 10 million new users in the past year? That is an incredible statistic making them the fastest growing social media segment. What this tells us is that those sites are prime locations for marketing plans geared towards women.

Men are more active on desktops – What this means is that women are more active on mobile devices for accessing social media. While smartphones are fairly even with women only a few percentage points ahead of men, a surprising 12% more women than men are accessing social media via tablets. For those companies that use targeted marketing, this is an important statistic.

Women get more news from social media – When you look at the two most popular feeds people use for news, Facebook and Google+, statistics show us that 58% of all adult women online are getting their news from these two sites compared to only 42% of men.

Surprised by these numbers? They can be a bit eye-opening and also very useful for the savvy marketer. We can see from these 6 reasons why women are driving social media growth that there are some great opportunities available for targeted marketing campaigns aimed at the female demographic that should be well-positioned for great results!

[loungelizardww]

5 Tips to make your About Us page better

The About Us page of a website is often the most awkward page to write which is why we decided to provide these 5 tips to help make your About Us page better.

What is it that makes the About Us page so difficult? After all you are just talking about yourself, which most people have no problem doing, right? Still, for some reason the page often comes across as awkward and unruly which is a problem that needs to be fixed because the About Us page is one of the most frequented pages on any website.

By having a great About Us page, you are going to ensure that you are showcasing your brand in the best way possible!

Elevating your About Us Page

The focus here is to make the About Us page shine and showcase your brand:

Tell your story – The first step in getting people to relate to your brand is to tell your story. You can even do this if your brand doesn’t have an interesting story. The key is to focus on the things that make you and your business human which is what fosters that connection. Make a point to showcase when the business started, connections it had or has in the local community and how you got to where you are today. Think about the great story of Apple starting in a garage. People will associate trust to your brand when they understand how you got to where you are especially if they can identify with the hard work it took. Now on a similar note, you don’t have to tell people everything and bore them to tears. Instead filter information to provide elements of human interest and important highlights but leave out the boring rigmarole.

Talk about customers – Yes this us About Us but without customers is there an ‘US’? While it is good to toot your own horn and tell your story, it is also smart to include visitors and showcase their importance to you and your brand. There are various methods to do this such as adding a few lines at the beginning of the page that speak to the audience’s objectives and why they are here in the first place. By inserting this at the top you are showing them you see what their needs are. You can also insert facts and testimonials in the middle of the page showcasing awards, products sold, customers satisfied etc.

Provide Contact Details – Always, always, always provide important contact information such as address, city, state, current phone number(s) and current email address(s). If you use Twitter, Skype or other methods of contact showcase those as well. People still have trust issues on the internet, and rightly so, and one of the quickest ways to alleviate that is to be completely forthcoming about your location and ways to contact you in case of a problem. You need to associate trust with your brand at all times.

Use plain English – Or, for our international readers, plain <insert primary language here>. Acronyms, jargon, and slang have really started to take over, especially the younger generation, and while that type of familiarity might bond a small segment of visitors for most it is confusing. When I read a page I want to feel included, not excluded and if I don’t get what “BTdubs” or “#YKit” means I will feel excluded. Clever use of jargon and other terms is really only clever to the writer. Instead write in the conversational style simply because this is the friendliest manner to do so. Also, while we are at it, name the About Us page exactly that – skip things like “Becoming Us”, “Our Journey”, or “Getting Inside”. Focused is much better than vague or confusing because then that gets associated with your brand for some people.

Be consistent – While we are offering tips up to change the About Us page, that page also still needs to reflect you and your company. Some people dive off the deep end in talking about themselves or providing crazy features. Ideally the About Us page should fit within the design of the whole site and match then tenor and tone of your brand. Being consistent provides more brand authority.

Like everything we endorse from creating websites to applications, we are also big believers in proper testing of the final product. Technically this is a sixth tip, but for us it goes without saying that you need to test every aspect and make changes when needed. Use analytics and test the performance constantly and then make small adjustments as needed to make sure your page is the best that it can be. Even if you are utilizing these 5 tips to make About Us about your brand, proper testing is a must to ensure that you resonate with your target audience.

[loungelizardww]

Top 5 Ways to Drive Traffic from Facebook

For those businesses that are not getting the most out of their Facebook accounts, we are happy to present our Top 5 Ways to Drive Traffic from Facebook. After all, with all of the people that are constantly out there on Facebook, it only makes sense to try and optimize your traffic, right?

Now, before we jump headlong into this we do want to point out that while there are tons of people out there on Facebook, it is not driving more traffic that Google. So while paying attention to what you are doing on Facebook is important to the overall picture, it still takes a back seat to search and direct traffic in regards to not only the percentage of visitors it will drive, but also the quality of that visitor.

Arbitrary Facebook Stats

Great headline right?  Yes these are subjective stats, but ones that you need to be aware of before you go further. In general Facebook is driving more traffic than any other social site. They are probably driving more traffic than Yahoo, Bing and YouTube. The “probably” has to do with the lack of all these sites reporting data in an open manner so we are left estimating and trying to determine traffic totals by backing out what we do know.

There is also a difference in the overall quality of Facebook traffic compared to Google or even Yahoo or Bing. Typically people who come from Facebook visit about 1 page on a site. Google and other search engines are usually around 2 to 2.5 pages and direct traffic is anywhere from 3 to 5 visits in a session.

The reason we are providing these stats is to ensure that readers understand what they get with Facebook traffic so it is easier to form a plan to make the most out of it.

Does Facebook even work for you?

While Facebook traffic is nice, you need to first make sure that the audience usage matches your targets and content goals. For example, if you are trying to reach engineers or lawyers then Facebook is probably not the ideal site to focus on compared to LinkedIn. On the other hand if you are selling Epic Sports Fails or videos of Cats Doing Super Cute Stuff then boy is Facebook your market!

After you decide that Facebook is your best medium you need to see which topics work best. There is a great tool out there call BuzzSumo that helps you identify keywords and the associated content that has performed well in the last six months. This provides invaluable information as to what works, what doesn’t, what has just been done and what you might be able to build on in the future.

Finally, before you jump headlong into any changes, you need to set up your Google Analytics to track referrals that come from social sites and then what that traffic does after it arrives and leaves. It is important to see if that traffic then comes back again through regular search methods to see if your efforts are worthwhile.

Our Top 5 Ways to Drive FB Traffic

Finally! Let’s get to it!

Headlines earn clicks – As great as your content might be, having a good headline is more important to earning clicks on Facebook. Of course, your content should be great as well to earn more shares, but those headlines are a big deal because tons of shares only show that 5 to 15 word headline, so if it doesn’t grab people then your virility will tank. Go visual – Visual content is far superior to non-visual content on all media platforms including Facebook. Great visuals get shared more easily spreading your reach. If you don’t do visuals, start doing them. If you don’t do them well, work on getting better at them. Interaction is critical – While this is not a fact validated by Facebook themselves, all the indicators out there show that what spreads a post more than anything else is the size of the audience that is commenting, sharing, or following a link from the post. This also includes time a user spends with a post active in the feed they are looking at (or in the visual portion of the panel). So a key goal of driving traffic is to grow engagement by creating topics that people want to comment on, start arguments, share, etc. and then Facebook will help spread that content as well. Pay to amplify – But only if your Facebook traffic has a good ROI. This is why setting up proper social tracking with your analytics is important. If you can determine that your FB traffic has good ROI then it makes sense to pay to have that reach boosted, just like you would with Google and AdWords. While the Facebook traffic is less targeted, it is less expensive to amplify via Facebook with a benefit of expanded reach. Personal pages are powerful – For a while Brand pages had more dominance on Facebook, but no more. Individual pages have a better chance to get extended reach than a brand page. So how do you use this? One way is to use people to help promote content rather than having (or trying to have) brand associated pages promote it. By having real people follow brands and then look to share and comment on things it will help. Look to encourage employees to use their personal Facebook pages to help promote the business and the business of your partners and affiliates. There you have it: our top 5 ways to drive traffic from Facebook that can help you grow your business.

[loungelizardww]

6 PR Tips to Help Fuel Your Mobile App Marketing

Do you know the most important six PR tips to help fuel your mobile app marketing that will take your next offering to the next level? Well if not, by the time you finish reading this article you will!

Making your app stand out and get noticed is a tough proposition. A great PR plan is one of the components you need to have along with a solid product. Conversely a bad PR plan or no plan is a good way to ensure your product has no buzz at all upon release which relegates your great idea to the cellar of the nearest app store.

Rather than face that sad situation, let’s delve into six great tips to elevate your PR campaign for the next app you launch!

Our Top 6 PR Tips

Well polished product – In todays crowded market you really only get one chance to make a first impression. Your app needs to not only be free of problems and bugs, but it also needs to be polished and deliver what it is promising. People who review apps along with consumers are going to look over your app with a critical eye and you need to ensure that your app impresses as well as your pitch. If it isn’t quite ready yet consider a limited release while you fine tune it so that when you do release it fully, that first impression is memorable because of how well your product delivered.

Create a preview version – Rather than letting journalists, reviewers and the like work off the newly released product like everyone else, provide a “preview version” of your app on a beta test platform that they can look at a week or two prior to the actual launch. Of course this “preview version” should be a polished and ready app that is already approved by Google Play or the Apple Store so that nothing will hold it back once it is set for the media preview. This way you control who sees it initially.

Find the right journalists – Your app is targeting a specific audience. In general that means there is a core audience out there and that core subscribes to only certain media people. Because of this simple fact you need to look for people within your target industry that have written about similar apps or even competitor’s apps and solicit them directly to talk about your release.

Utilize unique app positioning – What is it that makes your app unique? What is the key value it provides over competitors in the marketplace? Before you reach out to the journalists and people you are going to ask to promote your app you need to be sure that you are communicating clearly the qualities that make your offering worth talking about. The pitch not only needs to go to the right people, but it needs to say the right things so that the person on the other end doesn’t just think, “Oh, this sounds like that ABC App I looked at last month.” What feature or aspect makes your app unique?

Make problems advantageous – Hardly anyone has a completely smooth app launch. Unfortunately that is just part of the business. The key is the proper management of those issues. When things go wrong, own it. While some people might see issues, the smart PR head sees opportunities! Keep track of what people are saying, such as the press, about issues you are having or any sort of controversy and take charge of those situations to use any and all attention to your advantage.

Delayed PR method – Rather than perform a standard release with PR, instead opt for a quiet release. During the first few months focus on making improvements to the products and even considering a second version. Then when you feel your product is truly ready launch a full-scale PR party, ideally sometime within the first six months of the actual initial release. Rather than showcasing a beta app, provide this finely polished product with a release that showcases the most recent update or version as the news-peg for your story rather than as an initial release PR. The app will still be fresh and new but the campaign will have a different angle and feel to it with this method.

Utilizing these 6 PR tips to help fuel your mobile app marketing is one of the best ways you can help ensure your app is positioned for the success you have dreamed about.

[loungelizardww]

6 SEO Lies That Are Holding You Back

Do you know that there are 6 SEO lies that are holding you back? For those of us who love SEO, when we run across these SEO untruths, we tend to get a bit irritated because while someone might have good intentions in providing information to consumers, that opinion is misinformed and can cause confusion as well as limiting a business in the highly competitive internet marketplace.

Without further ado…

SEO untruths that are holding you back

Link building is dead – Well this idea has been around the horn a few times and even though the importance of link building has fluctuated over the years, it is most certainly not dead. Now that the black-hat method of link building has been cleaned up (thank goodness), the white-hat method which is completely legitimate and an excellent marketing practice is alive and well my friends!  Search engines still use link authority heavily in their search ranking algorithms which means having high-quality domain-level and page-level links is a very good thing.

You need the #1 Keyword – Many people have a goal of being #1 in search rankings. One way they think they can achieve that is by ranking #1 with their top keyword within an industry or genre which then would translate into being the top of the heap when people search just that word. An example might be “beer” or “cigar”. Many people feel if they can attain that number one ranking for the best keyword they will get more traffic, right? No, that is wrong. It actually makes more sense to focus on long-tail keywords (two to four word phrases) that have focused intent. For example, “making craft beer” or “best Californian beer” both has a bit more focus than just “beer”. The net result in traffic numbers of ranking highly in multiple long-tail keywords, where there is less competition, is often much greater than simply being top dog in the most popular term. Additionally since you have focused intent, those results will turn into more page clicks because the content matches the needs of the searcher.

Google Answers makes SEO worthless – Okay, I will admit that Google Answers is pretty scary. When you ask Google a question rather than typing in keywords you can get an answer or even more specific information and sites depending on the topic rather than links. While that is troubling, that doesn’t mean SEO is worthless. The first thing to understand is that currently less than 10% of searches come back with an answer box or similar information and within that figure about three-fourths included a linked attribution for the answer. Often people then click thru to that linked site for more than just the snippet of information Google shows. Additionally search activity is still on the rise for the mobile user which means there is a lot of opportunity to become that attributed site if you are providing great content in your field or to get hits from the mobile crowd.

SEO is just tricks – Years ago this was somewhat true as you had black-hat SEO messing up the playground for all of the kids, but now that much of that activity has been reigned in we are left with good SEO, which truly helps organize content and provide a better browsing and searching experience for the user. Good SEO involves making content more discoverable by both engine crawlers and people, structuring data for better understanding, creating content based on user needs, sharing content with the right audience and increasing exposure and traffic based on usefulness and popularity plus a lot more. These aren’t tricks, but just methods to showcase the information you have to your audience with ways to earn validation of that information which increase exposure and presence, and rightly so!

SEO has nothing to do with Social Media – This is another big untruth out there that keeps getting spread around, primarily because Google has acknowledged that they don’t use metrics like Facebook shares or Twitter followers directly in their search rankings. However that alone does not consider that Social Media does do for you, which is to help with content distribution that can then boost SEO efforts. For example, someone shares your article on Facebook which leads to more shares with other users who are interested in what you have to say. This leads to more visits and engagement on various levels with the possibility of added links and new users searching your site. The addition of links and new users then causes a boost to your SEO efforts, something which is repeated each time you are able to have some level of content shared socially on various networks.

I already did SEO once – Some people seem to think that if you optimized your site a few years ago then that site is now magically set for life. Unfortunately that is not how it works. SEO efforts need to be maintained for quite a few basic reasons such as outdated content, changing search engine algorithms, added pages to your own site, loss of links and even competitors ranking above you in certain keywords. Some business might not need continual SEO adjustments, like those who have enough of a market that they don’t need new business, but for most people they want more hits, more traffic and more business which requires a regular review of SEO performance and then minor adjustments for optimal results.

There you have it, the six big SEO lies that are holding you back. Now properly armed with the truth you can make adjustments to your SEO program rather than being sucked into the miss-information that limits clicks and results!

[loungelizardww]

10 Ideas for Cool iWatch mobile APPS

April 24 now joins the ranks of such glorious pseudo-holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Festivus because Friday, April 24 is officially iWatch Day! The fabled Apple Watch will finally be released to the masses and with that release the one thing we can fully expect is the race to begin for the next hottest app. To get a head start on that race we have come up with 10 ideas for cool iWatch mobile APPS we hope to see!

10 Ideas for cool iWatch Apps

Improving Sleep Quality – Right now the market is a bit thin in regards to applications and devices that can improve your sleep quality. The Sleep Bed claims to be able to monitor your sleep and look to improve it and there are some apps out there for phones that combine with a heart sensor for feedback, but both should pale in comparison to what we can do with an iWatch. With build in biometric sensors sleep monitoring should move to a new level including offering alarms to wake up at the proper time.

Do Not Disturb App – One aspect of any smart device is that you are more available to be contacted. To combat this, an app should be created to send automatic replies to people letting them know you received their message but are currently unavailable.

Payment App – What if you could simply make a payment by waving your watch over a scanner? How cool would that be? With near field communication capabilities we should be able to accomplish this by linking to a smart phone for the banking transaction. Worried about safety and security? Add a biometric locking system so that only the proper user can make payments while wearing the iWatch.

To Do List – This is a simple, effective, and useful app that everyone could utilize. The key would be to ensure that it stands out in functionality.

Health Monitor – Fitbit has set the stage and with the array of biometric sensors in the iWatch there should be a bevy of fitness apps, but why not health apps? You could monitor for heart disease, diabetes, obscenity, or early detection of tremors, providing long term data stream that would provide much more insight that the snapshots doctors receive during an office visit.

Weather App – This is another simple app that would be incredibly useful at a glance much like the To Do List.

Uber/Lyft App – This is something Android can’t yet do which makes it more of a challenge to get an app going that can call a cab for you. Right now they can let you know when your lift is on the way but why not call for a ride and provide instant location awareness?

Mini Games – This will be a huge niche. Because of the limited screen size finding creative ways to play games will be a must for developers. Word games and flash cards for memory and fun are both intriguing ideas that would fit within the parameters of space and motion actions. Our idea is for a Trivia style game with four answers, one for each direction you can swipe. First person to 20 points wins!

Phone Separator Warning System – This can be either a reminder you are getting to far from your phone or used as an anti-theft device where it sends an alert to the iWatch. You could even step it up a notch by adding Find iPhone capabilities to play Dick Tracy and track it down using only your trusty watch!

Passkey – The ultimate way to sign in to all of your devices!  Using a biometric lock to ensure who is wearing the watch and then combine it with near field communication to allow you to log into your computer, tablet or even open doors with a wave. This app alone would sell thousands of units at the corporate level to lazy people who get tired of logging into 10 things a day and want to save time and effort.

Those are our top 10 ideas for cool iWatch mobile APPS and we can’t way to see them and numerous others come to life over the next few months!

[loungelizardww]

Marketing Like a Con Man

The confidence man is also known as a hustler, a shyster, a swindler or basically someone of ill-repute that looks to separate you from your money by trickery. While not very ethical in nature, they certainly have come up with some very creative schemes and hustling money. Of course we aren’t condoning any sort of unethical practices in business; however we do feel there is some merit in learning about marketing like a con-man because surprisingly the similarities of a scam can be eerily similar to proper marketing and sales strategy.

Are you curious? How can you not be?

The American Hustle

What is it about movies like The Sting, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Grifters or American Hustle that audiences found so mesmerizing? Aside from great acting and scripts, the idea of the “long con” always seems to captivate the imagination as it plays out.

So let’s look at a con:

Preparation – You plan and strategize how this will all play out including lining up players and materials.

Approach – You make careful contact with the subject.

Wind-up – You make the subtle pitch that increasing interest and show the opportunity for lots of money.

Pay-off – You put your own skin in the game to convince the subject that this is real.

Climax – A trigger that shows urgency which gets the subject to commit.

Grab-n-go –Where the subject hands over his money and our anti-hero makes good his escape.

Surprisingly that is almost exactly the blueprint for a marketing and sales strategy funnel with a few different terms.

Classic Marketing and Sales Funnel

The five classic steps of the M&S Funnel are fairly straightforward:

Awareness

Interest

Consideration

Intent

Purchase

This is commonly covered in marketing and sales courses as a way to funnel prospective buyers to a purchase point. Other than preparation that list is fairly on-point for a long con. Really, when you think about it, what is a con-man other than a really good salesman? Aside from the lack of scruples or ethics that is…

The Con that isn’t a Con

So how can you benefit from the con-man mentality? The secret is not in forgetting about ethics, but instead focusing on the various solid sales methods and tactics a con-man (or woman) utilizes during the hustle oh so successfully.

Preparation – One area a con-artist excels is in researching a target extensively. In the movies they study a mark for week or months for a big score. They understand what motivates the target, emotions that drive them, what they are interested in and what they find important. These are all key aspects of sales! When you are considering selling a product start by thinking about who you want to market and sell to and think of them like a mark.

Approach – In the movies the approach is always by chance. You just happen to be at an event where a product a buyer who you are targeting is at that has nothing to do with sales. Maybe you slowly engage with them on a social media platform and carefully develop a rapport. Next ask that person for a favor which creates an odd bond between people.

Wind-up – Now if you have done proper preparation the wind-up is easier because you understand what inspires your target. From there it is just the matter of selling your product in a way that benefits their personal needs such as garnering a promotion or more power after buying or using the product. Of course before you make the pitch you need to make them feel special in some way or another. Make them feel important by doing something for them that they specifically want or need.

Pay-off – Here is where a con-artist goes off the rails but we will stay on them. Rather than pitching some fake data or claims to get the subject to close the deal we show actual testimonials and real returns.

Climax – Again, we stay on the rails and with our ethical angel on our shoulder at this stage. Rather than push a target with scare tactics you might offer price locks, incentive deals because of a time of year, or any other sort of sales promotions that is somewhat unique and not seen in other places.

Grab-n-go – Let’s just skip this step entirely! After you have a prospect that has become a sale with trust earned along the way the last thing you want to do is go…instead you need to grow that connection.

Marketing like a con-man follows a lot of the fundamental ideas of good engagement. You need to understand the target, have personalized communication that speaks to them, inspire them to choose you and your product and then close the deal. It not only gets great results, but you can keep your ethics right where they below; perfectly intact.

[loungelizardww]

A Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing

Do you want to know the big secret to content marketing? The secret is actually fairly simple – consistency. While many people might have great ideas for content that should improve the attention they get online, often they fail in the overall execution of getting that content from the idea stage to final implementation. That is why we are providing our beginner’s guide to content marketing as a blueprint for what you should be doing to achieve content marketing success.

Just as a refresher, content marketing is the process of creating and distributing relevant and useful content which attracts and engages a target audience.

Content Marketing 101

There is no secret to proper content creation and promotion. It is really just a formula-based approach that needs to be consistent and regularly repeated to achieve success.

Ideas – Always the starting point for content is the actual ideas of what to write about. Rather than just coming up with one or two ideas, look to brainstorm dozens or more. At this stage you just need the idea itself, not a full-fledged outline.

Refine Ideas – Take those ideas and cut them down to workable content. This stage might involve the creative head, a manager and even a bottom level employee to try and identify which ideas are the best and most interesting to work with using a variety of opinions to gauge interest.

Research – Now that we are down to a handful of ideas they go back to the writers for some research to see if 1) there is a market that exists for this type of article and 2) if that idea has recently been used or overused by competitors or other factions in cyber world. In the case of recently used ideas, can you create a new spin or add to what has been written for a fresh perspective?

Pick the winner – The decision maker(s) pull the trigger on selecting an article. At this stage, with a few refined ideas that are deemed workable, you might set up a few articles to be written which gets you ahead of the next deadline.

Write the content – Now the easy part, write the content. At this point with a great idea and research done the focus needs to be high-quality, informative content along with a great graphic. Don’t short change the process by just providing text. Instead create an infographic, heatmaps or find great images to make the content that much better.

Decide where to send content – For some people, content is posted only on their site. In our opinion, this is a mistake. Blogs can be syndicated out to any number of locations these days as everyone looks to have the best feed and that should be taken advantage of. Articles can be pitched to a variety of publishers with slightly different angles to ensure they are unique enough to meet guidelines. This is what is going to get those links coming back to your site driving up your traffic numbers.

Pitch content to publishers – Create a refined pitch that showcases your content in its’ best light. Then start emailing that content to publishers. Ideally you will develop relationships with publishers so over time they will look for and be excited for your high-quality content.

The critical nature of a pitch

A good pitch is important, a great pitch is priceless. After taking all this time to create fantastic content, you need to get it published in lots of locations. That means customized pitches depending on who is receiving your content and possibly creating a few unique angles on the idea you have depending on that audience.

What you want is a great pitch that gets the correct person at the right organization excited to publish not only this article, but future articles. That means you need to identify who you are sending to is the right person and that the place you are sending a pitch is receptive to what you are offering.

You need to spend time thinking about what is going to get that person at the other end of the email interested and excited so they read your content rather than deleting it. They need to not only open the email but also read the email before they will even think about checking out your content.

Always do your homework

Before you even launch a content strategy it pays to study what other people are doing. This isn’t necessarily industry or market specific, but just in general. Looks to see who is successful and what they are doing.

Even after your content marketing journey has started you still need to study, looking at trends which will ebb and flow as things come in and out of style. One of the best ways to do this is simply to have people who enjoy reading content on their own time assigned to the tasks of studying trends, because they are already consumers of content.

The bottom line is that there isn’t a big secret to content marketing; it just takes work. While our beginner’s guide to content marketing will save some time and energy in learning the proper process, you still need to work the process before you will reap the results.

[loungelizardww]

Why Framing Messages Motivates Users

How exactly does framing messages motivate users? That is a great question that anyone who is advertising online should understand if they want the maximum benefit from their campaign. Framing, when it comes to design and contact is critical in today’s market.

So what is framing?

From a general definition standpoint, when you are talking about framing communication it all abouthow you say it and not just what you say. Some people call it “spinning” or “slanting” which is a way to make an issue relevant to the target audience.

Keep in mind framing is never lying, but is just a way of presenting details that influences a person and their opinion.

A great example is a TV commercial about texting and driving which shows a brutal impact from a car crash or the Nationwide Insurance Super Bowl Commercial that featured the ghost of a child. In both cases those messages were much more powerful than a police officer lecturing you on the dangers of texting or preventable accidents.

In both cases both the message and how it was delivered were framed extremely effectively in making their point.

Framing and Web Design

From a design perspective, framing should be a top consideration for a great user experience. Your goal is to use words, images, and presentation to communicate to users in a way that influences their opinion and actions.

You can even take it a step further in regards to content that uses the right mix of metaphors and comparisons to best make points.

Consider two examples of framing:

Example 1 – You land on a website for a gym. They have a simple banner that says, “Real Members. Real Fitness. Real Results” Underneath that there is a changing picture that shows different pictures of the inside of the gym while empty. Underneath that it describes the gyms facilities followed by classes.

Example 2 – You land on a website for a gym. They have a banner that says, “Are you ready to get in the best shape of your life?” Underneath that is a changing picture that shows regular people in good shape working out hard in close up frames. Under that is another banner that says, “Work Out for Free!” From there you have Hours, link to the new app and then a menu of classes.

Which example is framed better to get people to check them out? Example two grabs your attention with two great banners with good messages and the images that show people achieving fitness goals. Generally speaking both landing pages are giving the same information but the presentation of Example 2 will get a better initial reaction.

How to Effectively Frame Messages

Here are steps you can take to effectively frame messages:

Identify the target audience – Who are you speaking to? Consider your audience and what type of message will appeal to the largest segment of that audience. Remember, your target cannot be everyone because a one-size-fits-all approach tends to miss everyone. So if you look at your general demographic of customers and identify that single men between 40 and 45 make up 52% of your base, you want to speak to them in a manner they find appealing.

Pick a framing style – There are a few different framing styles that can be used. Each has benefits in helping the target engage in certain behaviors. To avoid a mixed message, only use one style in a message.

Gain – What will you gain from a particular behavior, or not gain.

Loss – What will you lose from a particular behavior, or not lose.

Financial benefit – What will be the financial benefit of engaging in a particular behavior.

Value benefit – Matching a person’s underlying values to induce them into a specific behavior.

Pick a framing element – Like style, there are certain elements that can be added for additional effect.

Urgency – This is very common with things like “last chance” or “best shape of your life” where you use words such as first, last, best, worst, greatest, etc to create a level of urgency in the message.

Simplicity – Always a good choice where everyone easily understands the message.

Metaphors – This works best with complex or abstract topics to provide better understanding.

Visuals – Visuals are very powerful. Along with the content of a visual, placement and sequence can send the right, or wrong message. Consider the gym examples. What do pictures of an empty gym convey other than showing what equipment they have available.

Use powerful statements – There is nothing worse than a weak or unclear statement. You don’t want the target to be confused or uncertain about your message.

Empower users – How can taking action give the target more control in their life. Will it make them smarter? Stronger? Free up more time? Don’t just say what something is good for, show people how it changes their life for the better.

Tell people what to do – Or at least, tell them what you want them to do. Far too many messages skip the call to action or provide it in an ambiguous way. Be specific and direct! You are sending a message because you want them to do something so direct them to it.

Positive language – Avoid negativity and focus on the positive. This is a great cause! This is an amazing product! Talking about how bad the other product is puts the focus on the competitor and not you.

Skip the jargon – Some people incorrectly assumes their audience knows the jargon they use. That tends to limits your message to only users that have background on your product or industry. If your target audience is mostly your industry you can use jargon to create a better connection, but for the most part try and use general terms.

Test it, then test it again – The best messages have been tested multiple times and with people outside the group that creates the message. You can’t always assume people will understand something so it takes an outside perspective or focus group to let you know if you have hit, or missed the mark. An added bonus of testing with groups or surveys is that users will tell you want they want to see if you aren’t currently giving it to them allowing you to hone the message.

The Bottom Line

Effectively framing a message is the difference between getting people to do something rather than doing nothing. By understanding why framing messages motivates users, you can approach content and marketing in a way that will provide messages that resonate rather than just inform.

[loungelizardww]

6 Online Marketing Trends in 2015

With the internet age in full bloom we have seen a tremendous amount of growth and change in digital marketing over the past few years. But with so much recent change, is their room for more in the immediate future? We certainly think so! These are six online marketing trends that we predict will dominate the landscape in 2015.

6 Major Online Marketing Trends

It’s a Mobile World – Spending on mobile ads will eclipse those for desktop this year, primarily because 2015 is the year mobile web usage will rank higher than their desk-jockey counterparts. Between smartphones, tablets and wearable tech, mobile will rise to the top which means effective online marketing strategies need to adjust to the behaviors of this segment. Some people anticipate that within 2 years over 75% of all connected device sales will be tablets and smartphones. That means you need to be ahead of the curve with mobile-friendly websites and marketing plans, rather than losing customers to competitors that have already adapted.

Visual Storytelling Erupts – With enhanced technology we are at a place where marketers and designers can craft amazing animation and effects to help messages stand out from the crowd. Using a well-planned design and videos the rise of visual storytelling will engage audiences in a way that will allow not only the message to be conveyed, but also a brands style and philosophy all while sparking an emotional response.

Content Marketing Sets the Tone – As cool as visual storytelling is, content marketing will be the norm for marketers. Creating relevant, useful and even inspiring content will become commonplace as companies look to connect with customers and enhance each interaction for the betterment of the overall experience. Companies need to build a relationship with its demographic, become an industry voice and create a loyal following. This can be accomplished with a good content marketing strategy that builds a positive reputation across multiple channels.

Videos Dominate – What can a video do better than text and images? The answer is demonstration. Companies have begun to understand the power of a demonstration video for products or services and with people making videos on their phones, it is ridiculously easy. Even a more professional video can be done relatively easily. That, combined with how much faster videos load will make them a bigger role in marketing.

Marketing Analytics will Double – Consumers provide a tremendous amount of detailed information each day about their actions, wants, needs and behaviors. With this data now being tracked in more ways we are able to understand a target consumer on a much deeper level than before seeing how, when and where a customer interacts with a product or uses a service. Because there is more data out there, it will become easier and cheaper to obtain which in turn will lead to it being used more and more for marketing decisions to ensure the best results. That means more companies will be using analytics to make sense of it all.

Micro Targeting goes Big – With all of that data out there on the web it was only a matter of time before people harnessed it to effectively target consumers with ads. By the numbers, targeted ads are twice as effective as non-targeted ads. The idea is more psychological than anything else because by being re-targeted regularly, the product or brand is staying at the top of the consumers’ mind. That makes it a no-brainer as to why this strategy will be employed much more often in 2015.

While these are the only trends we expect to see this year, these six online marketing trends will have the biggest impact and benefits and should be considered if you are looking for audience growth.

[loungelizardww]

Top 3 Ways to Convert Website Visitors into Customers

Do people visit your website only to leave within a few seconds? Are your social media posts getting ignored? Is your business is being overlooked online? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you aren’t alone. But, you won’t have to be part of that group much longer after reading our top 3 ways to convert website visitors into customers.

Getting traffic is often the initial focus of a business owner. You spend time learning about search engine optimization and how to better boost your traffic flow. But then what? That is the big key; getting that traffic to convert!

So what is the best way to go about this?

Understanding a conversion

What is a conversion? By definition it is an action based on needs. For example, when you buy food it is based on the need to eat. Here are some common types of conversions:

Purchase of an item or service

Submission to a contact form

Subscribing to a newsletter

Clicking on an ad

Sharing an article or blog or commenting

Enter social media contests

There are more that can be added depending on the business, but you get the idea; actions you want to get visitors to take.

Understanding your target

Okay, so now you know what you want people to do. They next step is to fully understand your target. While many people are happy enough to define a target in a simple manner such as, “Single female, age 25 to 35, who has a professional job,” but is that really enough?

If it was, then you wouldn’t be reading this article. You need to dig deeper into the target and really understand them. Where do they hang out? How do they spend their time? What do they find interesting? What makes them take action or prompts a decision?

You need to understand what it takes to satisfy your target’s needs from a more psychological perspective. Going back to the earlier example of buying food to satisfy the need of eating, think about where you would go? The answer depends on the situation (grocery shopping, eating out, time of day) and understanding you as a consumer.

Having a virtual profile of your target, which can be discovered with analytics and research, is critical to then budging your targets in the direction you want them to go.

Top 3 Ways to Create Conversions

Did you know that the typical conversion rate is 3% or less? That means only 3 out of every 100 visitors do what you want! Why?

Generally speaking if people aren’t doing what you want it is because you aren’t motivating them properly. That means you are: not providing direction, not being clear, not being relevant, or not providing them something they see as valuable.

What you should be doing:

Increase trust – There are 4 reasons someone won’t buy from you; no need, no money, no hurry or no trust. This idea has been highly touted by Zig Ziglar the sales guru and still holds true. If you don’t trust someone it is hard to want to do business with them. So, one way to increase conversions is to build trust. This can be done by:

Creating website credibility with testimonials, articles in well-known or respected publications, awards, citations or anything else that is verifiable which shows your business as one to be confidence in.

Show that you are a real business. List a physical address, include a Bio Page with photos of key employees, include a photo of your office, or show your local memberships with organizations like a Chamber of Commerce. Show that you are a real business and not some quasi-corporation that is actually based out of India.

Showcase your expertise. People want to turn to experts for questions and services. List credentials of employees, showcase your business partners if they are credible, and show off affiliations to respected organizations.

Make contact easy. Have a clear contact page with phone numbers, physical address and email addresses prominently displayed.

Update your site regularly. Updated sites add credibility and trust because they are current which means you are here, now.

Look professional. Your website should be professional, useful and easy to use with no errors. Spelling issues, broken links, amateur-looking sites, pop-up banners, blinking ads and the like simply do not seem professional.

Make it easy to complete a conversion – People should not have a hard time doing what you want them to do. Your goal should be to make it easy as possible by creating a site that is intuitive and self-evident so they can get from Point A to Action B in a couple of clicks.

Guide users to actions you want them to take. Make the primary step stand out on a page.

Limit options. If you present people with too many choices the easier it is for them to choose nothing. If you sell too many products, use filters to limit what is displayed to what they really need.

Limit fields on forms. Signing up via Facebook or Google is a wonderful option because it is a single click affair. If you are using forms limit fields for information and never ask for something you don’t need; if the form is a hassle the person will leave.

Never force people into actions. Give people the option of creating a user account or logging in as a guest and never require that people sign up to buy something.

Offer free shipping. This might seem crazy, but free shipping is a huge motivation for a large percentage of buyers.

Create a clear value – Why should people buy from you or sign up for your newsletter?  What is the value for them? You need to have a good value proposition for both your company and product that shows someone why you are better than the competitors.

What is unique about your offering? Think about what makes your company better than Joe Schmoe or why your product is better than his. You can match someone else on almost every aspect, but what is the area you are better?

Communicate your value! No matter how good that difference is it needs to be communicated properly to your target audience in a well-crafted single sentence.

Test your value proposition! Even if you think it is perfect you still need to see how it resonates with your target group and then even be adjusted if necessary.

The Bottom Line

The simplest way to boost your sales is not by garnering more traffic, but simply making the most of what traffic you have. If you currently have a conversion rate of 2% and you increase it even just 1% you have increased business by 50%!

By understanding what a conversion is, in-depth understanding of your target and applying our top 3 ways to convert website visitors into customers, you can expect your conversion rate to improve which equals a better bottom line!