Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

7 eCommerce Blog Ideas To Boost Your Content Marketing Strategy

Creating a blog is a fantastic marketing tactic for your eCommerce business. Did you know that brands that blog generate 67 percent more leads than those who don’t? We want to make sure you don’t feel overwhelmed starting your blog. That’s why we have compiled 7 eCommerce blog ideas to boost your content marketing strategy! If you have trouble brainstorming for content ideas, look no further.

A blog offers value in several ways: it gives your company the possibility to tell readers about your brand, company, and the services offered, it can boost awareness, and further, it increases the chance your site will rank high on search engines.

Convinced? The next step is to start the content creation process and write your first blog post! This can be the hardest part for many eCommerce businesses.

Why Your eCommerce Site Needs A Blog

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to ensure your company’s digital marketing strategy is successful and bolster your company’s online marketing campaigns.

Boosts Organic Traffic

It may seem daunting to set up a blog for your company’s site, however setting up a consistent blogging schedule could boost your organic traffic ten-fold. Why? Well, if you are utilizing your SEO properly, your blog helps link your site higher in search results. The higher the search results, the more people will organically come across your site.

Boosts Awareness

As stated previously, the more high-quality content your site has, the more likely Google will recognize your company and boost it up in the search results. The higher your site and blogs rank when people search relevant terms that relate to your business and blog topics, the

Boosts Authority/Credibility

Blogging allows you to use your platform to get you noticed. Blogs help you specifically share what you want and more about your story, with more people! This is one of the biggest advantages of using a blog. Your content writing team can write on several topics that will inform your potential and current audience, and further, build your authority and credibility within your industry.

SEO Importance

Another important aspect of blogging, and utilizing your blog successfully is making sure you are optimizing your content for the search engines (SEO). Using the right keywords and keyphrases matters with ranking. You can spend hours writing a fantastic blog…and still get no views if it isn’t SEO optimized!

Why Keyword Research Matters

As stated previously, it is important to do the right keyword research, before you even start writing. Don’t do all the work and spend a large amount of time crafting a content that won’t get read. Doing keyword research can give you an edge on your competitors, it will help you choose which keywords to incorporate into your blog, what keywords are ranking, what keywords your competitors are ranking for, and will help tell you what people are searching for!

Once again, there is no point in writing a blog that no one is going to read. Do the right research and then craft a highly relevant piece of content.

7 eCommerce Blog Ideas To Boost Your Content Marketing Strategy

Now that you understand why you need to start writing, the importance of SEO, and how content marketing can position your business for success, it’s time to start writing. Here are 7 ideas for your eCommerce blog to help spark your creativity.

1. Current Events And News Within Your Industry

If you are stuck and aren’t sure what to write about, a great place to start is covering relevant news within your industry. If you sell gaming software, perhaps you write about what’s new in your industry. Take time to research what your target audience would care about, then write about that.

For example, a few weeks ago the Activision Blizzard Walkout occurred, where staff at the gaming company staged a walkout to protest against workplace harassment. If you are in the gaming industry, this would be extremely relevant and highly searched in your target audience.

You may want to cover big events like this on your blog. You want readers to stumble across your blog and then stay for your products! This is a great way to showcase your authority in your industry as well.

2. Answer Relevant Audience Or Customer’s Commonly Asked Questions

A great way to build a relationship with your customers is to answer their questions. It is a great idea to craft a blog that fully answers commonly asked questions, for people to not be warded off and clear up any confusion. The last thing you want is for an interested potential buyer to choose not to buy because of an unanswered question.

3. Blog About Personal Stories From Your Team Members

People buy from people. Use your blog to showcase the people behind your brand and to show off your company’s personality. Use images of your staff, share about their interests and hobbies. Blogs offer a fantastic platform to humanize your brand and separate it from the mass of information floating around in the digital world of today.

94 percent of customers are likely to show loyalty to a brand that offers complete transparency! Transparency, honesty, and showing the people behind the company are key in selling effectively.

Another great idea for blog content is to simply showcase what your product can do. If you sell cleaning supplies, share stories of which remover works best for certain stains. Complete some experiments showing how the products work!

4. Run a contest or giveaway

Running a contest or giveaway is a fantastic way to get your donors and volunteer community involved online. By asking for participation in exchange for winning something for free, you encourage engagement. This also works to help boost traffic to your site and remind people of your nonprofit’s online presence.

5. How-To’s

Similar to writing about product reviews, how-to blogs are always popular! There are many ways your product can be used, so show your customer those ways. While this does depend on your industry, there are many ways to be creative with your content. If you sell paint supplies, explain to artists how to paint a certain image or mix paints to create a new color.

6. New Product & Sales Announcements

Another benefit of a blog is that it also serves as a great way to release new breaking news and updates about your company. Instead of just sending out a press release, announce important product updates right away on your blog! Share with your customers what they can expect and look forward to.

7. Customer Testimonials

Testimonials are a powerful way to influence a customer’s buying decision. 91 percent of 18-34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations! Further, 93 percent of customers read online reviews before purchasing. This is a great way to encourage customers to buy your product and reassure them that others trust you, too.

Start Writing Today!

Now that you have the ideas, tools, and motivation to start your eCommerce blog, it’s time to start the writing process.

We understand that writing, in and of itself can be difficult, and that’s where we come in. Our marketing agency is highly experienced and qualified in creating content. Any type of content that you need, we can help it succeed – from social media marketing to website building to content marketing we can do it all.

If you want to strengthen your eCommerce content marketing strategies, feel free to reach out to us today for your free consultation.

Happy writing!

7 Tips for a Successful Blog

So you’ve decided to start a blog for your business. Great! A high quality blog can be a key part of your company’s digital marketing strategy. However, if you don’t want your blog content to crash and burn when it hits the internet, it’s important to check all the boxes to ensure success. Follow these 7 tips for a successful blog!

Does My Business Need a Blog?

If you are asking yourself this question, the answer is probably a big yes. The main reason your company needs a blog is because it can drastically increase visibility.

The more blog content you create, the more opportunities you will be given to appear in the search results. This increases the odds of your site being placed in front of more eyes. And more views equal more potential clients.

This should be all the incentive you need to get started writing your blog. Even if you don’t have much blogging experience, don’t worry! Whether you are writing for your small business or a large agency, these blogging tips can be applied to any type of blog content.

Write An Eye-Catching Headline

Just like an elevator pitch, your headline should present all the right information that will interest your readers and potential customers. Your blog’s headline should include two things: give an indication of what the blog is about and make the reader want to at least take a peek at your first paragraph.

Your headline needs to pull people in and keep them reading what you have to say!

This can sometimes be accomplished by adding emotional wording to the headline. People are often moved to act by emotion. In other cases, the information in the headline could capture interest right off the bat.

Writing an interesting headline can be done in hundreds of ways! To show you how to do this, we took our headline and rewrote it as a question, appealing to emotion and as a value proposition.

As a question: How Do I Write A Successful Blog?

Appealing to emotion: An Open Letter to Struggling Bloggers

Offering value: The Ultimate Guide to Successful Blogging

There are endless ways to craft a compelling headline. All you have to do is decide which variation works better for your purposes and audience. Get brainstorming!

Your First Paragraph Should Be Compelling

Your first paragraph is like a movie trailer. It should show all the important aspects of your post, but not offer enough information that the reader will want to stop there. This paragraph serves as a lead into the rest of your blog.

Just as your headline should intrigue the reader, your first paragraph should pull the important parts of your story to the front right away. A well-written first paragraph will hook the reader in and encourage them to keep reading all the way to the end.

Write an Engaging and Informative Body

The beauty of blogging is that you can write about anything! However, you must ensure your content is worth reading.

The body of your blog contains the meat of your post. Write well, use proper grammar and don’t make spelling errors! All of these things will turn readers away.

Your small business’ blog should be packed full of informative information. This helps to build your authority and credibility.

If you don’t feel qualified to write on a topic that you may not have much knowledge on, feel free to bring in outside help. Hire a content writer or reach out for a guest post. Guest posts are an easy way to bring in an “expert” in to help you out. It also provides free publicity for them.

Remember, the most important aspect of blogging is to write for humans! It used to be a rule to include a certain number of keywords in the body, however recent research indicates that keyword usage and density is less important to Google than it used to be. The algorithm is intelligent enough to determine if your blog is well-written, so you don’t have to squeeze in hundreds of keywords.

If you are interested in a more in-depth explanation of how Google decides your search rank, check out this article.

Insert High-Quality Images

Adding images into your blog post can increase readership and break up the text in a visually appealing way.

But, you can’t just use any images. Make sure your images are high quality and are not pixelated. If you aren’t taking your own photos, you can use stock image sites. A few free sites are Unsplash and Pixabay.

Including images in your text can also boost your SEO score and increase the time readers spend on your pages. So, it’s a great idea to include aspects of your blog that will keep readers on your page longer. Images, graphics, and typography can encourage people to stick around.

Include A Call-To-Action

You are writing your blog for a purpose, right? Your blog should always include a powerful call-to-action (CTA). CTAs encourage readers to act – to buy a product or service, write a blog comment, join your Facebook group, download a file, or sign-up for a newsletter. Before you start writing your article, you should determine what your CTA is and keep that goal in mind.

Take a look at nearly any social post or a well-written blog post. All of them lead their audience in the direction they want them to follow. For example, you have probably seen hundreds of Instagram captions that advocate a discount code with the words “get yours now!” Creating a sense of urgency is one way to encourage action. Telling your audience what to do works surprisingly well.

Use Clear and Relevant Subheads

Are you effectively using subheadings? Subheads should serve three purposes. First, they work to break up your writing and make it more visually appealing and easier to digest. People will become disinterested if they see a huge block of text and not be encouraged to continue reading.

Second, they help readers navigate to the important parts of the blog. Readers love to skim and extract the most main parts of the text. Third, they boost search engine optimization (SEO). Google will pick up on the keywords in the headings, thus, you might want to be strategic about these.

Include Relevant Internal Links

Have you ever Googled something and then ended up, hours later, down a rabbit hole? You may not even be sure of how you got there!

You want to replicate this with your blogs. Your goal is to bring new prospects in and keep them on your site. A way to encourage this is to include links to other articles on your site (this is called backlinking).

If a reader enjoys your blog, they will click on the link and be led to another page and then later another page. This cycle will continue to ramp up the time spent on your website.

On top of keeping clients around, internal links help build credibility and are considered a good SEO practice. They benefit your SEO ranking as they can increase the number of pages per visit and time visitors clock on your website.

Final Thoughts

These 7 tips for a successful blog are only the most important aspects of your article! If you are having trouble writing a blog post that gets views, make sure you are incorporating these helpful hacks.

While you must remain mindful of SEO tactics such as doing the appropriate keyword research, and writing a great meta description, remember you are writing for a human audience, not the Google algorithm. Google will reward your content if people genuinely value and enjoy it.

In the end, blogging and content marketing should just be one piece of your marketing strategy. You should also be utilizing marketing tactics that encompass social media, ad campaigns and web development. All of these play into the bigger picture. If you need assistance with your marketing needs, feel free to contact us today for your free consultation. We specialize in content marketing and can guarantee you’ll see results.

Happy blogging!

How Technology Changed Advertising

After realizing we all survived Y2K, the 2010s hosted many societal changes like the rise of social media, two royal weddings, and the Game of Thrones phenomenon. We started the decade with the release of Instagram and Snapchat, which have become essential aspects of daily life and career building.

Just ten years ago, these platforms did not exist. Now companies hire teams of experts, spending millions of dollars, to craft their social media presence.

Submerged in Social Media

Before dog filters and viral memes, the marketing industry-focused their budgets on TV commercials, newspaper ads, and radio sponsors.

It is no secret that newspapers and magazines have been replaced with YouTube and Instagram, and advertisements follow the masses. Through the decade, the dramatic rise in social media site usage has altered the advertising industry’s role in society.

In 2010, Morgan Stanley executive Mary Meeker gave a presentation on digital advertising opportunities. Meeker pointed out that companies spend 39% of their advertising budgets on television, while only 13% goes to internet advertisement. She estimated that it was a missed opportunity evaluated at $50 billion.

In later years, a PwC report evaluated the 2017 U.S. advertising market size as $86.4 billion online, while TV came in lower at around $71 billion.

It seems that the marketing industry took Meeker’s advice, and learned from their past mistakes. The past decade has tipped the scale in favor of the internet, increasing the opportunity for digital marketing.

Multimedia messaging app Snapchat has made just over $1 billion in revenue since its 2011 release. Advertising accounts for a whopping 99% of the 2018 revenue evaluation after introducing the ‘Discover’ feature, where users can view content from a variety of other media sources.

The app has also introduced sponsored filters such as Taco Bell’s Super Bowl filter which was viewed 224 million times. As more effort was focused on targeted ad placement for its younger audience, Snapchat’s U.S. ad revenue increased by 89% between 2016 and 2017.

At what cost?

The rise of the internet and digital marketing has also come at a price, as user privacy is under suspicion. Voice-activated assistants like Alexa or Siri listen for their programmed commands and record everything in earshot along the way.

Within the last decade, privacy concerns have evolved from a debatable skepticism to a confirmed fear. Google confirmed that it’s Google Assistant does record user interactions for employees to review.

Google claimed only 0.2% of all audio snippets fall under review. The fact that Google employees are listening to any private conversations is a problem in itself.

Social media platforms can then take this information, along with search history and messages, and use it to personalize advertisements. If a user posts, messages, and searches about an upcoming trip to their favorite amusement park, odds are they will see amusement park advertisements pop up all over their social media feed.

In the past few years, Facebook has become the antagonist in this internet privacy story. After all, they were accused of selling user’s personal data to advertisers. While the technological powerhouse has denied selling data, they have in fact sold advertisers access to their users.

Facebook may not collect all personal data to ship to the highest bidder, they do, however, sell access for companies to advertise.

Brand Clarity

Advancing into the digital age, consumers are now smarter than marketing professionals would like to admit. In 2010, the world had 1.99 billion internet users, a number that jumped to 4.54 billion users in just ten years . Internet users now make up 59% of the global population. With so much access to the internet, it is easy to find any brand or product. This has built the necessity for companies to be more transparent than ever.

In the past, if a television commercial claimed their product was organic or ethically made, the consumer had no reason not to believe it- but widespread internet accessibility challenges claim.

Rather than sell consumers with a fictional story like campaigns of the past, modern marketing revolves around the testimonies of trusted social media personalities. Old Spice’s popular 2010 commercial “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” featured a satirical story, claiming Old Spice deodorant could make a man the ideal romantic partner. Now, up and coming hair-care brand Function of Beauty markets their product solely through social media influencers hired to post candid videos sharing their honest endorsement.

With transparency so accessible, honest endorsements are a great brand strategy.

What will the future hold?

As internet usage increased, digital platforms have spoken. They have chosen the path of advertisement-based media. This choice continues to define the way users consume digital media throughout the decade.

After the past few years of weaving through a maze of pop-up ads just to read an article, I think I speak for everyone when I say monetizing digital consumption is getting old. Many users have taken to ad blocking sites, paying to remove advertisements from internet searches and social media feeds.

According to a PageFair report, 615 million devices were using ad blocking technology in 2017. These numbers are projected to only increase as more and more frustrated users would rather break the bank than watch another Candy Crush commercial.

While this may be a temporary solution, changing the advertisement-heavy online culture should start with the companies. If platforms can meet frustrated consumers halfway, both can establish a middle ground where companies profit and users are not bombarded with over-advertisement. Check out our blog on Making Money with Social Media to learn more about monetizing social media.

As the decade comes to a close, the door to online marketing has swung open. With growing accessibility and usage, online platforms are replacing traditional entertainment media and taking the advertisement industry along for the ride.

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Making Money with Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, and Youtube are just some of the social media outlets available online today. Nearly two thirds of the world’s population spends roughly five hours per day online. With all of that opportunity to meet other people and experience the world, how can individuals and businesses make money with social media? With these special tips from our expert team, we’ll show you the most successful ways to go about making money with social media.

Utilize Your Best Channel(s)

Knowing how you communicate on an individual or business level is extremely important. The options out there are limitless, but you are the only one who knows what your goals are and what you need to accomplish. Here are our 7 best channels and suggestions to begin making money with social media.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the first social media channels ever to come into existence. Your most active demographic are both male and female users between the ages of 13 and 40. Facebook should be used for light, fun, and basic information. Join groups, attend events, and reach out to your acquaintances from the past and present. If you’re providing a special sale, service or offering, make it sweet, simple, and fun, and you’re guaranteed to make money using Facebook.

Twitter

The key to using Twitter is to keep it short and to the point. If you’re not gifted in the art of short conversation, making money with Twitter may be a challenge for you. Twitter is the place to make brief announcements, such as a product release that leads to your website or a new partnership agreement. Even letting the world know about the one or two words that you may be feeling because your hockey team lost last night isn’t a bad idea.

If you’ve just published a book or started a blog, Twitter is the place to announce it. Not sure how to use Twitter? Check out our latest blog for some useful pointers. Making money using Twitter won’t happen overnight and it’s essential to have a decent following before you try to start. Not sure how to get a Twitter account started? Check out companies like Twiends.com to help you get the ball rolling.

This social media outlet is the most difficult and expensive to utilize; but, for good reason. Making money with LinkedIn is not for the faint of heart, and can yield substantial results. If you’re an individual, the best way to use LinkedIn is to help find the perfect job.

If you’re a business, LinkedIn is the perfect way to align yourself with professionals within the industry you want to reach. This will also help showcase your product or service to the right people. Advertising on LinkedIn can be expensive, so make sure to really consider how you’re spending your advertising dollars. If you’re not sure how to make the most of your advertising dollars on social media, you may want to reach out to a professional agency.

Instagram

The world of pictures awaits you, and consists of everything from breakfast food to dogs playing Frisbee, when you use Instagram. If you’re an individual who sells art, crafts, merchandise, food, or any other tangible item, Instagram would be your social media jam. Making money with Instagram is easy if your business caters to all things visual. Make sure to build your followers and then post pictures of the latest and greatest that you or your company have to offer. Linking your images back to a source where your item can be bought is key to making money using Instagram. Never leave a photo un-linked.

Idea central. Ever needed an idea to help you make the most of the left over materials from your last remodel? Is your five year old’s birthday coming up and they want a themed party that you can’t seem to find any inspiration for? Pinterest is your place.

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, Pinterest can allow you to share your life-changing ideas with others. Making money with Pinterest is simple, but remember one thing. Just like with Instagram, your images should always be linked to a source that consumers can purchase your product or service from. Dead links or pictures result in lost revenue.

Google+

This lost, yet sometimes relevant, social media outlet isn’t without it’s perks. Google+ is the best social media platform to use to make new friends and customers. According to Huffington Post writer, Bianca Boster, Google+ is, “an interests network, not necessarily a social network”. Boster also stated that there is, “potential for a social media trifecta: Facebook as social…, Twitter as information… and Google+ as interest…” Utilizing Google+ to make money is all about getting to know new people based on common interests. This will lead to expanding awareness for your products, services and business.

Youtube

If you’re a ham in front of any camera, then Youtube is the best channel for you. Investing in a small in-house or in-office studio with decent lighting would be a great way to start. Pick a fun background or conduct an informal interview to introduce your new ideas or products. Do a demo, create a new, catchy theme song about your latest invention or conduct a review of services. The sky’s the limit with Youtube, but you have to be into being more on camera than off. YouTube is also a great way to brand yourself and your company. Take a look at these successful Youtube entrepreneurs from 2016 for some inspiration.

Making Money With Social Media

When trying to make money with social media, make sure that you’re using the best information at the most relevant time. Always try to make your information as visual as possible as well. Posts should always have an image or picture associated with them on any channel. Videos need to be relevant, full of information, and attractive to the average consumer. Making money using social media is possible, but takes time, hard work, and the ability to know and study the audience you want to reach. Keep it simple and you’ll be successful.

Elevare is an all-inclusive marketing and business development agency that offers the services and skills necessary to help businesses of every size to be successful. Fill out the form below and we will get back to you quickly.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to learn more about how social media can help develop your professional career.

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5 Reasons Your Small Business Should Be Blogging

Blogging may appear to be yet another thing to accomplish each week with little chance to yield results, but appearances are deceiving. A few words here and there can quickly add up to an online presence that further establishes your relationship not only with customers but other businesses in your industry. There are many reasons why you should be blogging, but we narrowed it down to our top five.

The 5 Benefits of a Blog

1. It Makes You Think

If you’ve been tasked with creating a company blog and keeping it updated, you’ll be thinking – a lot. Sure you may start off with a list of brainstormed topics and ideas to write about, but once that list begins to dwindle, it’s not the time to sign off from blogging. Think of ideas beyond daily tasks and lists, such as newsworthy topics, industry events, and trends, nearly anything in the world around you.

The best way to look at this is to think about what you know, how you know it, and why you know it. Blogging can be energizing, stimulating, and help you position yourself – and company – as leaders in your business and industry.

2. Build Relationships with Your Customers

A blog can quickly build itself into a reliable resource for information about your industry. Through this, people will see you know not only your business, but the industry as a whole. Being a reliable source means you are trustworthy and a good choice to do business with. Blogging is an easy way to connect with customers and share information in an easy-to-use and simple platform.

3. Give Your SEO a Helping Hand

Everyone enjoys a little help from time to time, including your search engine optimization. Consistently blogging lets Google and other search engines know you are an active and engaged business. With a steady stream of new content to index and opportunities to use keywords to increase visibility on SERPs (search engine results pages), even two blogs per month will pay off in the long run.

4. Create Lead Generation Through Building Trust with Your Audience and Brand

Odds are lead generation is an evergreen meeting topic for marketing and sales teams. But what does blogging have to do with this? Lots.

If you have an ebook or white pages project in the works, a handful of blog posts related to those are a great way to tie them together. Offer readers the chance to read more about the subject through backlinks to other posts or the opportunity to have an all-in-one source such as an ebook. Anything that can provide practical value and or advice to your targeted audience can be tied into your blogging efforts.

5. Drive Traffic to Your Website

Everyone wants more visitors to their website because it means more eyes learning about your business and services. But how do you get those eyes to your website? A two-for-one deal is through your social media. Blogging is an endless abyss of content for your social media presence. With previously created content, gone will be the days of digging deep on Tuesday at 9:04 a.m. to come up with a post or several for the week. The same blog can be used across platforms, with or without the same teaser information, though we recommend customizing the teaser to the platform.

Don’t Have Time to Blog?

Life – and work – happen even with the best-laid plans which mean there may not be time to churn out a blog or two for your company on a consistent basis. Elevare provides blogging services for any budget. We work with you to get a feel for what the trending topics in your industry may be and create compelling blogs to inform your customers. Whether your vision is for a once a month blog or several new posts a week, we work with you to create a deeper relationship with your customers.

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