Google AMP Pages May Drive More than Just Mobile Results

What are Google AMPs?

Google AMPs (Accelerate Mobile Pages) are ultra-light pages that can be delivered faster and can serve a page 15% to 85% more quickly. Mobile is huge. Google has known this for some time and they effectively threatened to delist anyone that wasn’t prepared to serve up mobile and tablet optimized pages. The industry quickly adopted a responsive web design which looked great on a mobile device, but did little to address the lack of patience that mobile searchers exhibit.

google amps are important for page load speed - brightedge

While AMP has been around a while, it’s adoption is extremely low. This has created a bit of a “land grab” atmosphere where top rankings are there to the first site that, all things being equal, can deliver the fastest load page experience. At BrightEdge, where Google AMPs pages are automatically built for all pages published on the platform, the results for customers have been strong. We’ve seen numerous clients rise to the number one ranking in an otherwise competitive space largely because, we believe, they were the first for a given keyword to publish to the AMP standard.

Beyond BrightEdge data we understand that Google reps are increasingly pushing the AMP standard as a standard for landing pages. Those in the pay-per-click space are seeing significant reductions in their cost-per-click when they landing pages match the user intent of the keyword search phrase and they speed up their landing page delivery with AMP.

We’ve been aggregating data for customers publishing at least 50 pages on the platform and see a couple of clear trends. Customers that optimize with AMP are certainly seeing improvements in mobile organic searches, but more interestingly they are seeing significant improvements in conversion rate, time on page, and pages per session. At first we thought these general improvements were just because AMP performed so well on mobile searches, but a deeper analysis of the data concluded that all these numbers improved on the desktop side as well.

Does Google Reward Desktop Results for Google AMPs?

Yes, Google defined AMP and it greatly increases speed and is preferred and required for some universal search elements, like news.

Automatically build Google AMPs into your pages with BrightEdge!

Definition

What are Google AMPs?

Google AMPs (Accelerate Mobile Pages) are ultra-light pages that can be delivered faster and can serve a page 15% to 85% more quickly. Mobile is huge. Google has known this for some time and they effectively threatened to delist anyone that wasn’t prepared to serve up mobile and tablet optimized pages. The industry quickly adopted a responsive web design which looked great on a mobile device, but did little to address the lack of patience that mobile searchers exhibit.

google amps are important for page load speed - brightedge

While AMP has been around a while, it’s adoption is extremely low. This has created a bit of a “land grab” atmosphere where top rankings are there to the first site that, all things being equal, can deliver the fastest load page experience. At BrightEdge, where Google AMPs pages are automatically built for all pages published on the platform, the results for customers have been strong. We’ve seen numerous clients rise to the number one ranking in an otherwise competitive space largely because, we believe, they were the first for a given keyword to publish to the AMP standard.

Beyond BrightEdge data we understand that Google reps are increasingly pushing the AMP standard as a standard for landing pages. Those in the pay-per-click space are seeing significant reductions in their cost-per-click when they landing pages match the user intent of the keyword search phrase and they speed up their landing page delivery with AMP.

We’ve been aggregating data for customers publishing at least 50 pages on the platform and see a couple of clear trends. Customers that optimize with AMP are certainly seeing improvements in mobile organic searches, but more interestingly they are seeing significant improvements in conversion rate, time on page, and pages per session. At first we thought these general improvements were just because AMP performed so well on mobile searches, but a deeper analysis of the data concluded that all these numbers improved on the desktop side as well.

Does Google Reward Desktop Results for Google AMPs?

Yes, Google defined AMP and it greatly increases speed and is preferred and required for some universal search elements, like news.

Automatically build Google AMPs into your pages with BrightEdge!

How is AMP Changing Mobile Content Strategies?

What is AMP?

Google supported the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, known as AMP, in response to the growing demand by customers for fast-loading, efficient websites. These pages are stripped-down versions of the regular web pages that contain only the bare necessities so that the page loads faster. In 2015, Google claimed that making webpages AMP-compliant can lead to 15 to 85 percent decreases in load times.

Page load speed is a factor you need to focus on because customers often do not want to bother with sites that take a long time to load. An estimated 40 percent of users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. For retail websites, you could use a lot of annual sales by having poor loading speeds. With the introduction of Accelerated Mobile Pages, Google can assure users that certain websites are going to load quickly and meet their standards. This helps to improve the user experience and also works to decrease bounce rates on websites.

Discover what your AMP content strategy should look like - brightedge

How is AMP used?

Sites that are designed to load on AMP will have to make a few adjustments to their design. These adjustments include:

  • The HTML will offer a limited number of styles and tags
  • .JS, and external resources will be loaded asynchronously and any external scripts that are preventing page renderings will be stopped.
  • CDN will be available as an optional content delivering network that will cache any compliant pages so that they can be instantly accessible on mobile.

Is AMP important for SEO?

Mobile is huge and simply put, AMP is very important. Pages that are AMP-compliant rank better in the SERPs. With the introduction of AMP, there have been shifts in how mobile sites should be optimized for mobile search. Websites that are not compliant risk being pushed further down the organic search results. And with the decreased visibility, these websites will now have to try even harder to qualify for top positions. For this reason, brands that want to remain relevant on mobile should consider making AMP adjustments a part of their content strategy.

Definition

What is AMP?

Google supported the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, known as AMP, in response to the growing demand by customers for fast-loading, efficient websites. These pages are stripped-down versions of the regular web pages that contain only the bare necessities so that the page loads faster. In 2015, Google claimed that making webpages AMP-compliant can lead to 15 to 85 percent decreases in load times.

Page load speed is a factor you need to focus on because customers often do not want to bother with sites that take a long time to load. An estimated 40 percent of users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. For retail websites, you could use a lot of annual sales by having poor loading speeds. With the introduction of Accelerated Mobile Pages, Google can assure users that certain websites are going to load quickly and meet their standards. This helps to improve the user experience and also works to decrease bounce rates on websites.

Discover what your AMP content strategy should look like - brightedge

How is AMP used?

Sites that are designed to load on AMP will have to make a few adjustments to their design. These adjustments include:

  • The HTML will offer a limited number of styles and tags
  • .JS, and external resources will be loaded asynchronously and any external scripts that are preventing page renderings will be stopped.
  • CDN will be available as an optional content delivering network that will cache any compliant pages so that they can be instantly accessible on mobile.

Is AMP important for SEO?

Mobile is huge and simply put, AMP is very important. Pages that are AMP-compliant rank better in the SERPs. With the introduction of AMP, there have been shifts in how mobile sites should be optimized for mobile search. Websites that are not compliant risk being pushed further down the organic search results. And with the decreased visibility, these websites will now have to try even harder to qualify for top positions. For this reason, brands that want to remain relevant on mobile should consider making AMP adjustments a part of their content strategy.

5 Benefits of Content Marketing You Haven't Thought Of Yet

Why is content marketing important?

Believe it or not, content marketing has been around since 1732 when Benjamin Franklin published the Poor Richard's Almanack in order to promote his printing business. While the times have changed and the printing business has become the era of digital the fact remains, there continues to be many benefits of content marketing. Surprisingly, many marketers have not implemented a clear strategy for it and some even resist, thinking it's just a fad. After 284 years of leveraging the benefits of content creation and marketing it is safe to say it is here to stay. In fact, 39% of today's marketing budgets are spent on content marketing, which produces 27 million pieces of content every day. 

If you're already sophisticated in your approach to it you probably have an effective performance strategy but here are five benefits of content marketing that you may not have considered yet:

1. Content Marketing can turn customers and prospects into advocatesBenefits of Content Marketing - brightedge

Engaged customers and prospects generally become active brand loyalists. If you can connect the dots between content and the business impact for your customers, and prospects, you have a winning formula.

Think about how you found this blog post. Were you looking for the "benefits of content marketing"? Are you trying to implement a more effective marketing strategy? Maybe you are just getting started in your content plan and are looking for ideas. If you find value out of this topic there is a good chance you will post this on your social networks or email it to a co-worker. It may seem like a small gesture but this type of endorsement will help to grow your base of brand advocates.

2. Content Marketing connects the dots between marketing and sales

Sales and marketing alignment can feel as easy as aligning Republicans and Democrats. But, it doesn't have to be this way. In many orginizations marketing is responsible for generating leads and sales is responsible for closing deals. The implication of this mindset on your content strategy is that your content ends up producing the dreaded "low-quality lead". We are all in a evolved business environment where a Smarketing (Sales + Marketing) approach helps support the buyer throughout the buyers journey.

One effective way to align your content strategy with the buyer's journey is to work with your sales and customer success teams to determine the different stages of the buyers journey and the persona's that influence each stage. Once you have collaborated and agreed on the stages you can start developing smart content that relates to each stage of the journey. Now, instead of hearing about "low quality leads" you can start discussing how to convert the prospects through a seamless path from prospect --> opportunity --> customer --> upsell and renewals --> references. Once you have valuable content for each stage you can start mapping the content throughout the sales process. This will not only help your sales team sell more efficiently without having to painstakingly search for relevant content but, it will ensure your marketing message is aligned to the needs of the customer.

3. Content Marketing builds on your core vision and drives a productive working culture

Your content is a reflection of how your company positions itself within the market. The employees are the driver of this position, in short they are the ones to get stuff done. If your content is aligned to the corporate messaging, and the corporate messaging is aligned to the efforts of your employees, it becomes difficult to be disjointed. Additionally, whether you realize it or not, your future employees are reviewing your content and making an informed decision if this is a place they will want to dedicate their livelihood to.

4. Content Marketing can be leveraged to build your own personal brand and professional portfolio

You may have heard the term "Thought Leadership" and wondered how you can position your unique perspective into becoming an established thought leader. Think about your perspective as the engine and content marketing as the car. If you have an engine without a car you aren't going to go very far. You need the engine (your perspectives) to power your car (content) in order to drive your company, and personal, brand forward.

Taking this approach will not only help you in real-time to generate results but it will expand your networking reach. When you combine the performance of the results with a connected network it is easy to see how your own personal career interests quickly becomes one of the default benefits of content marketing.

See how the DataCube can help understand the demand and performance of your content. This is a great way to test the market demand for the type of thought leadership you are looking to provide.

5. Content Marketing is cheaper than traditional marketing channels

SEO and content marketing go hand and hand. In order to generate significant organic traffic you will need effective content that is optimized to find your buyer. It is important to understand that it's not a quick fix. It is going to take time and a strong commitment to see the benefits of content marketing. One piece of killer content is not going to be the game changer, but if you can find the striking distance keywords and develop relevant content you will be in a much better position on ROI than if you deployed an exclusive SEM strategy. It may be tempting to get the quick fix of a windfall of PPC leads but once your program is over the leads are over and you are stuck in the same position you were in prior to the PPC campaign. Alternatively, your optimized content will continue to compound, which is really where the ROI kicks in.

Check out your organic Search ROI Opportunity with this calculator.

Definition

Why is content marketing important?

Believe it or not, content marketing has been around since 1732 when Benjamin Franklin published the Poor Richard's Almanack in order to promote his printing business. While the times have changed and the printing business has become the era of digital the fact remains, there continues to be many benefits of content marketing. Surprisingly, many marketers have not implemented a clear strategy for it and some even resist, thinking it's just a fad. After 284 years of leveraging the benefits of content creation and marketing it is safe to say it is here to stay. In fact, 39% of today's marketing budgets are spent on content marketing, which produces 27 million pieces of content every day. 

If you're already sophisticated in your approach to it you probably have an effective performance strategy but here are five benefits of content marketing that you may not have considered yet:

1. Content Marketing can turn customers and prospects into advocatesBenefits of Content Marketing - brightedge

Engaged customers and prospects generally become active brand loyalists. If you can connect the dots between content and the business impact for your customers, and prospects, you have a winning formula.

Think about how you found this blog post. Were you looking for the "benefits of content marketing"? Are you trying to implement a more effective marketing strategy? Maybe you are just getting started in your content plan and are looking for ideas. If you find value out of this topic there is a good chance you will post this on your social networks or email it to a co-worker. It may seem like a small gesture but this type of endorsement will help to grow your base of brand advocates.

2. Content Marketing connects the dots between marketing and sales

Sales and marketing alignment can feel as easy as aligning Republicans and Democrats. But, it doesn't have to be this way. In many orginizations marketing is responsible for generating leads and sales is responsible for closing deals. The implication of this mindset on your content strategy is that your content ends up producing the dreaded "low-quality lead". We are all in a evolved business environment where a Smarketing (Sales + Marketing) approach helps support the buyer throughout the buyers journey.

One effective way to align your content strategy with the buyer's journey is to work with your sales and customer success teams to determine the different stages of the buyers journey and the persona's that influence each stage. Once you have collaborated and agreed on the stages you can start developing smart content that relates to each stage of the journey. Now, instead of hearing about "low quality leads" you can start discussing how to convert the prospects through a seamless path from prospect --> opportunity --> customer --> upsell and renewals --> references. Once you have valuable content for each stage you can start mapping the content throughout the sales process. This will not only help your sales team sell more efficiently without having to painstakingly search for relevant content but, it will ensure your marketing message is aligned to the needs of the customer.

3. Content Marketing builds on your core vision and drives a productive working culture

Your content is a reflection of how your company positions itself within the market. The employees are the driver of this position, in short they are the ones to get stuff done. If your content is aligned to the corporate messaging, and the corporate messaging is aligned to the efforts of your employees, it becomes difficult to be disjointed. Additionally, whether you realize it or not, your future employees are reviewing your content and making an informed decision if this is a place they will want to dedicate their livelihood to.

4. Content Marketing can be leveraged to build your own personal brand and professional portfolio

You may have heard the term "Thought Leadership" and wondered how you can position your unique perspective into becoming an established thought leader. Think about your perspective as the engine and content marketing as the car. If you have an engine without a car you aren't going to go very far. You need the engine (your perspectives) to power your car (content) in order to drive your company, and personal, brand forward.

Taking this approach will not only help you in real-time to generate results but it will expand your networking reach. When you combine the performance of the results with a connected network it is easy to see how your own personal career interests quickly becomes one of the default benefits of content marketing.

See how the DataCube can help understand the demand and performance of your content. This is a great way to test the market demand for the type of thought leadership you are looking to provide.

5. Content Marketing is cheaper than traditional marketing channels

SEO and content marketing go hand and hand. In order to generate significant organic traffic you will need effective content that is optimized to find your buyer. It is important to understand that it's not a quick fix. It is going to take time and a strong commitment to see the benefits of content marketing. One piece of killer content is not going to be the game changer, but if you can find the striking distance keywords and develop relevant content you will be in a much better position on ROI than if you deployed an exclusive SEM strategy. It may be tempting to get the quick fix of a windfall of PPC leads but once your program is over the leads are over and you are stuck in the same position you were in prior to the PPC campaign. Alternatively, your optimized content will continue to compound, which is really where the ROI kicks in.

Check out your organic Search ROI Opportunity with this calculator.

Improve Your Website Rankings in 2021

To rank higher on Google, you need to optimize your content, such as alt tags, keyword placement, and the meta description, your content itself will have an important role in determining how well your site ranks. Google wants to match content that will best answer the user’s queries. This means they want to track down content that provides authoritative, comprehensive material and obvious value.

As you develop your content, you also want to remember the reading habits of online visitors. According to the Nielsen Norman Group, on average, people read only about 20-28 percent of theIncrease your website ranking in the Google SERPs - brightedge words on the page in front of them. Rather than reading each sentence, people are scanning your content to see if you answer their question.

Improve Your SEO Rank

This means that your content should ideally contain a few factors that will help increase the comprehension of these modern visitors and boost chance to rank higher on Google.

  • Include clear headings that describe what you will answer in the upcoming paragraphs
  • Use bullet points and lists when possible to make it easier to scan your material
  • Address your primary topic in the beginning of your piece so that people know they are on the right page
  • Add engaging images that relate to the text to help people further engage with the information

Increase your website rankings

Knowing the topics that resonate with your target audiences is key to attracting traffic to your site and building a positive reputation for the insights and clarity that you bring. Conduct keyword research using the BrightEdge Data Cube to better understand the terms and topics that are attracting the most attention.

Complement this research by performing competitive research using the Recommendations engine. Select strategic keywords, then analyze the top ten pages for these keywords. By reviewing the aspects of high-ranking content, you can better understand how competitors are treating these keywords and the types of content they are offering. With this insight, you can determine the optimal content for your website to outperform the competition and earn better placement on search results.

Website ranking factors to focus on

To rank higher on Google, it is important to track the impact throughout the process. Technology, such as the StoryBuilder from BrightEdge, makes it easy to quickly understand how your content is performing on individual pages, including locally. You can monitor how your content is impacting conversion rates, bounce rates, and traffic rates, which will help you appropriately gauge your success.

Creating content that will show up for all relevant queries and compels searchers to click through to learn more is what every website owner wants to accomplish. The task requires effort and is a careful balance of art and science. You must uncover the topics that will be the most interesting to your audience and develop engaging content that will be easily read and understood by online visitors.

Definition

To rank higher on Google, you need to optimize your content, such as alt tags, keyword placement, and the meta description, your content itself will have an important role in determining how well your site ranks. Google wants to match content that will best answer the user’s queries. This means they want to track down content that provides authoritative, comprehensive material and obvious value.

As you develop your content, you also want to remember the reading habits of online visitors. According to the Nielsen Norman Group, on average, people read only about 20-28 percent of theIncrease your website ranking in the Google SERPs - brightedge words on the page in front of them. Rather than reading each sentence, people are scanning your content to see if you answer their question.

Improve Your SEO Rank

This means that your content should ideally contain a few factors that will help increase the comprehension of these modern visitors and boost chance to rank higher on Google.

  • Include clear headings that describe what you will answer in the upcoming paragraphs
  • Use bullet points and lists when possible to make it easier to scan your material
  • Address your primary topic in the beginning of your piece so that people know they are on the right page
  • Add engaging images that relate to the text to help people further engage with the information

Increase your website rankings

Knowing the topics that resonate with your target audiences is key to attracting traffic to your site and building a positive reputation for the insights and clarity that you bring. Conduct keyword research using the BrightEdge Data Cube to better understand the terms and topics that are attracting the most attention.

Complement this research by performing competitive research using the Recommendations engine. Select strategic keywords, then analyze the top ten pages for these keywords. By reviewing the aspects of high-ranking content, you can better understand how competitors are treating these keywords and the types of content they are offering. With this insight, you can determine the optimal content for your website to outperform the competition and earn better placement on search results.

Website ranking factors to focus on

To rank higher on Google, it is important to track the impact throughout the process. Technology, such as the StoryBuilder from BrightEdge, makes it easy to quickly understand how your content is performing on individual pages, including locally. You can monitor how your content is impacting conversion rates, bounce rates, and traffic rates, which will help you appropriately gauge your success.

Creating content that will show up for all relevant queries and compels searchers to click through to learn more is what every website owner wants to accomplish. The task requires effort and is a careful balance of art and science. You must uncover the topics that will be the most interesting to your audience and develop engaging content that will be easily read and understood by online visitors.

What Does Video Content Mean?

What does video content mean?

Video content is a source of traffic that many brands and businesses are utilizing rather than text content to attract users to websites. There are several ways you can use video and video SEO to engage your audience including creating videos to show tips, to get people excited about upcoming events or new products, to give consumers a look at your business and help them feel more connected. You can also use video to provide content concentrated on how-tos, best practices, to help develop your brand as a thought leader, and more that's not completely on brand. This will help drive consumers to trust you and feel like you're not consistently trying to sell them on your products.

How effective are videos?

The growth of video content has been enormous. Some estimates say that in 2020 about 80 percent of online traffic will be used for consuming video content. There is a growing appreciation of video content format and this form of visual marketing is also now preferred over text by an estimated 59 percent of senior executives. Brands that want to remain relevant will need to dive into video creation to develop the type of content that customers are demanding.

Why is video so important in marketing?

Marketers often focus their video content marketing efforts on YouTube, where successful videos can go viral and help draw major attention to the brand. However, there is also considerable benefit to offering a number of different videos right on your website. These videos will help to enhance the personal connection between the viewer and the brand. By providing powerful imagery, video content provides readers with an easy means of connecting with the brand and seeing how a particular product or service might help their lives.

How do I know which videos to post on my site?

The videos that should be posted on your website are often those that are more oriented towards your brand and late-funnel visitors. For example, online product demonstrations can be a great way to help potential customers feel as though they are almost touching your item. Seeing this firsthand can boost their confidence in your product’s performance and its ability to serve their needs. Video interviews with organizational leaders and customer testimonials can also be great options for posting on your website.

Videos are a wonderful way to improve your website by adding more variety to your content and making your material more appealing to a greater audience. Understanding how videos work for you can help you create an effective strategy and elevate the performance of your site.

Discover more video SEO best practices and get started with BrightEdge today!

Definition

What does video content mean?

Video content is a source of traffic that many brands and businesses are utilizing rather than text content to attract users to websites. There are several ways you can use video and video SEO to engage your audience including creating videos to show tips, to get people excited about upcoming events or new products, to give consumers a look at your business and help them feel more connected. You can also use video to provide content concentrated on how-tos, best practices, to help develop your brand as a thought leader, and more that's not completely on brand. This will help drive consumers to trust you and feel like you're not consistently trying to sell them on your products.

How effective are videos?

The growth of video content has been enormous. Some estimates say that in 2020 about 80 percent of online traffic will be used for consuming video content. There is a growing appreciation of video content format and this form of visual marketing is also now preferred over text by an estimated 59 percent of senior executives. Brands that want to remain relevant will need to dive into video creation to develop the type of content that customers are demanding.

Why is video so important in marketing?

Marketers often focus their video content marketing efforts on YouTube, where successful videos can go viral and help draw major attention to the brand. However, there is also considerable benefit to offering a number of different videos right on your website. These videos will help to enhance the personal connection between the viewer and the brand. By providing powerful imagery, video content provides readers with an easy means of connecting with the brand and seeing how a particular product or service might help their lives.

How do I know which videos to post on my site?

The videos that should be posted on your website are often those that are more oriented towards your brand and late-funnel visitors. For example, online product demonstrations can be a great way to help potential customers feel as though they are almost touching your item. Seeing this firsthand can boost their confidence in your product’s performance and its ability to serve their needs. Video interviews with organizational leaders and customer testimonials can also be great options for posting on your website.

Videos are a wonderful way to improve your website by adding more variety to your content and making your material more appealing to a greater audience. Understanding how videos work for you can help you create an effective strategy and elevate the performance of your site.

Discover more video SEO best practices and get started with BrightEdge today!

How Can I Gain Attention with Content Marketing?

Are you being noticed in the overcrowded digital marketplace? Dumping heaps of money into advertising will not grow a loyal audience. Enter the world of content marketing. The curtain lifts and your company story begins.

What is Content Marketing, Exactly?

Content marketing is the creation and dissemination of branded digital content (online material). It differs from public relations and sales in that it does not overtly promote the brand or its products. Yet, content plays an increasingly expanded role in courting the digital consumer. Content marketing aims to identify, speak to, and stimulate the interests of target audiences. Rather than focus on products, it focuses content around consumer desires and identity. Branded content is created around clear guidelines that communicate a company’s character. Companies with clear and consistent brand mission, values, and identity are better trusted by consumers. Content-rich websites increase traffic. They provide material customized to online searches and targeted audiences.  Content marketing best practices include evaluating keywords, trending searches, and user behavior. This increases the customer base and generates marketing leads. Ultimately, this contributes to brand recognition and trust. That, in turn, leads to increased sales and a bevy of other benefits.

What is Content?

Content includes visual and written text and multimedia. (All of which can be optimized independently and in relation to each other.) It is not just blog posts and newsletters. Content includes everything —Instagram, photos, Tweets, white papers, advertising copy, UI text, Facebook statuses, briefs, user generated content, et cetera. It also includes live or scripted video content marketing or awareness infographics.

More importantly:

  • Content is a single piece of content; or, more broadly
  • Content is how discrete content and/or text comes together to tell a story about your brand, product, and the customer.

Branded content is a little misleading, since all copy reflects the company.

What is story?

Content is the sum of every visual and written textual message that goes out. Content creates your story. But what does story mean? Story is the digital landscape all your messaging creates. People navigate in that space, hoping for adventure and discovery. This is the customer journey. Plainly, the brand is no longer an entity. It’s a total environment where the digital consumer is the hero.

The consumer can choose any digital landscape they picture themselves in (and there are lots). The proliferation of rich visual landscapes, rising prominence of UX, and high bounce rates prove the user’s primacy. Within the first few seconds, your content must answer, “How is this relevant to me, the viewer?” Today it is about the user journey through your world. Hopefully, that is towards your CTAs. It is not enough to have a good product. This is how SEO and content marketing can help. SEO helps you grab attention and divert traffic. Quality content keeps that traffic moving through your domain.

So, stop brandishing your logo. Cast the spotlight on your visitors. How do you make your story part of their journey? First, you have to know your audience. Second, your story and product need to be central to their needs. Content is the way you reach audiences and build consumer trust. It is how those individual chapters scattered across platforms and pieces coalesce into a known brand with strong appeal.

Customer Journey in Storied Content

Since the customer is your hero, here are content must-haves:

  • Setting (Brand) – Identifies the context of the story
  • Characters (Consumers) – Locates the hero within the context
  • Mission (Identity) – Is the wants, needs and values that motivate the hero’s journey
  • Obstacles (Disincentives) – Understands the obstacles
  • Outcome (Value offered) – Creates meaningful ends for the customer

Your content should be able to integrate all five of these categories.

Content must understand and communicate its identity and purpose. (Remember: your brand is the setting!) That setting should compel a target audience. It should appeal to audience desires. Understand the obstacles. And, openly promise to fulfil user needs.

Since the customer journey guides user behavior, it bears on multiple departments. Content is increasingly a cross-functional area. Companies are restructuring around digital spaces. Content runs through an growing number of overlapping organizational teams. Because, how do you get noticed in a crowded digital marketplace? There are over 3 billion internet users. 60% of time on mobile devices is spent on social media. The fact is: we live digitally. Outcomes depend on attracting and keeping audience attention. Integrated marketing leverages content to carry marketing messaging to captivated audiences. And loyal audiences journey towards marketing outcomes.

Integrated Marketing. Where Does Content Come In?

Siloed approaches to marketing are gone with the 20th century and VHS. Integrated marketing campaigns unify the various marketing communications’ expressions and strategies to ensure:

  • Messaging is consistent across channels
  • Story is centered around the customer’s need for information
  • Outcomes are clear, reliable, and build continued engagement

At the heart of integrated marketing, is content. Content guides the customer journey. It is the total environment that carries and connects advertising, PR, sales, and social media across various media channels and activities. Although content marketing is a more nebulous, watching for corollary growth and revenue as content increases can show dramatic increase in consumer attention.

Content writers can also be incorporated into traditional copywriting and messaging roles. This will help extend brand impact by infusing voice and value at all touchpoints. A brilliant content writer will wield persuasive, subtle rhetoric that goes far deeper than syntax. They should be able to apply conceptual (meaning structures) and lexical (relations between words) semantics to messaging. These root connections between your audience and your brand more deeply. It’s not just what you say. It’s how you say it.  

The Benefits of Content Marketing

Content marketing is distinct from advertising campaigns in that it plays a long game. Its goal is not a specific revenue boost for a product. Your SEO tools provides invaluable insight into what users want. From those keywords and searches, providing quality content will capture the ongoing attention of increased traffic. Content marketing:

  • Increases brand visibility and positions brand as a dependable authority.
  • Generates more inbound traffic by catering to target audience interests and improves lead generation.
  • Content rich websites make visitors more likely to purchase products by keeping them within site. Strategically create links that continue or augment the visitor’s journey.
  • Audience-oriented content increases engagement, sharing, and return visits and opens communication with audience and proxy audiences
  • Improves brand recognition and deepens familiarity with brand identity (values, mission, and purpose) for a lasting consumer base consumer trust and identification
  • Ensures brand and content consistency across platforms, products, departments, and campaigns
  • Soft touch points avoid expensive and off-putting hard pitches
  • Grows exponentially, providing the framework for organic growth

 

Definition

Are you being noticed in the overcrowded digital marketplace? Dumping heaps of money into advertising will not grow a loyal audience. Enter the world of content marketing. The curtain lifts and your company story begins.

What is Content Marketing, Exactly?

Content marketing is the creation and dissemination of branded digital content (online material). It differs from public relations and sales in that it does not overtly promote the brand or its products. Yet, content plays an increasingly expanded role in courting the digital consumer. Content marketing aims to identify, speak to, and stimulate the interests of target audiences. Rather than focus on products, it focuses content around consumer desires and identity. Branded content is created around clear guidelines that communicate a company’s character. Companies with clear and consistent brand mission, values, and identity are better trusted by consumers. Content-rich websites increase traffic. They provide material customized to online searches and targeted audiences.  Content marketing best practices include evaluating keywords, trending searches, and user behavior. This increases the customer base and generates marketing leads. Ultimately, this contributes to brand recognition and trust. That, in turn, leads to increased sales and a bevy of other benefits.

What is Content?

Content includes visual and written text and multimedia. (All of which can be optimized independently and in relation to each other.) It is not just blog posts and newsletters. Content includes everything —Instagram, photos, Tweets, white papers, advertising copy, UI text, Facebook statuses, briefs, user generated content, et cetera. It also includes live or scripted video content marketing or awareness infographics.

More importantly:

  • Content is a single piece of content; or, more broadly
  • Content is how discrete content and/or text comes together to tell a story about your brand, product, and the customer.

Branded content is a little misleading, since all copy reflects the company.

What is story?

Content is the sum of every visual and written textual message that goes out. Content creates your story. But what does story mean? Story is the digital landscape all your messaging creates. People navigate in that space, hoping for adventure and discovery. This is the customer journey. Plainly, the brand is no longer an entity. It’s a total environment where the digital consumer is the hero.

The consumer can choose any digital landscape they picture themselves in (and there are lots). The proliferation of rich visual landscapes, rising prominence of UX, and high bounce rates prove the user’s primacy. Within the first few seconds, your content must answer, “How is this relevant to me, the viewer?” Today it is about the user journey through your world. Hopefully, that is towards your CTAs. It is not enough to have a good product. This is how SEO and content marketing can help. SEO helps you grab attention and divert traffic. Quality content keeps that traffic moving through your domain.

So, stop brandishing your logo. Cast the spotlight on your visitors. How do you make your story part of their journey? First, you have to know your audience. Second, your story and product need to be central to their needs. Content is the way you reach audiences and build consumer trust. It is how those individual chapters scattered across platforms and pieces coalesce into a known brand with strong appeal.

Customer Journey in Storied Content

Since the customer is your hero, here are content must-haves:

  • Setting (Brand) – Identifies the context of the story
  • Characters (Consumers) – Locates the hero within the context
  • Mission (Identity) – Is the wants, needs and values that motivate the hero’s journey
  • Obstacles (Disincentives) – Understands the obstacles
  • Outcome (Value offered) – Creates meaningful ends for the customer

Your content should be able to integrate all five of these categories.

Content must understand and communicate its identity and purpose. (Remember: your brand is the setting!) That setting should compel a target audience. It should appeal to audience desires. Understand the obstacles. And, openly promise to fulfil user needs.

Since the customer journey guides user behavior, it bears on multiple departments. Content is increasingly a cross-functional area. Companies are restructuring around digital spaces. Content runs through an growing number of overlapping organizational teams. Because, how do you get noticed in a crowded digital marketplace? There are over 3 billion internet users. 60% of time on mobile devices is spent on social media. The fact is: we live digitally. Outcomes depend on attracting and keeping audience attention. Integrated marketing leverages content to carry marketing messaging to captivated audiences. And loyal audiences journey towards marketing outcomes.

Integrated Marketing. Where Does Content Come In?

Siloed approaches to marketing are gone with the 20th century and VHS. Integrated marketing campaigns unify the various marketing communications’ expressions and strategies to ensure:

  • Messaging is consistent across channels
  • Story is centered around the customer’s need for information
  • Outcomes are clear, reliable, and build continued engagement

At the heart of integrated marketing, is content. Content guides the customer journey. It is the total environment that carries and connects advertising, PR, sales, and social media across various media channels and activities. Although content marketing is a more nebulous, watching for corollary growth and revenue as content increases can show dramatic increase in consumer attention.

Content writers can also be incorporated into traditional copywriting and messaging roles. This will help extend brand impact by infusing voice and value at all touchpoints. A brilliant content writer will wield persuasive, subtle rhetoric that goes far deeper than syntax. They should be able to apply conceptual (meaning structures) and lexical (relations between words) semantics to messaging. These root connections between your audience and your brand more deeply. It’s not just what you say. It’s how you say it.  

The Benefits of Content Marketing

Content marketing is distinct from advertising campaigns in that it plays a long game. Its goal is not a specific revenue boost for a product. Your SEO tools provides invaluable insight into what users want. From those keywords and searches, providing quality content will capture the ongoing attention of increased traffic. Content marketing:

  • Increases brand visibility and positions brand as a dependable authority.
  • Generates more inbound traffic by catering to target audience interests and improves lead generation.
  • Content rich websites make visitors more likely to purchase products by keeping them within site. Strategically create links that continue or augment the visitor’s journey.
  • Audience-oriented content increases engagement, sharing, and return visits and opens communication with audience and proxy audiences
  • Improves brand recognition and deepens familiarity with brand identity (values, mission, and purpose) for a lasting consumer base consumer trust and identification
  • Ensures brand and content consistency across platforms, products, departments, and campaigns
  • Soft touch points avoid expensive and off-putting hard pitches
  • Grows exponentially, providing the framework for organic growth

 

How Do You Make An Effective Video?

The first step in creating effective video content is knowing what your audience wants to see. Performing keyword research, using the BrightEdge Data Cube, will help you find topics that are the most commonly searched for by your targeted audience. Data Cube will also tell you if the keywords in question serve effective video content on the SERP, which will make it clear which topics are highly relevant for video.

Follow these tips to ensure that your video captures your audience’s attention and ensure that they watch it from beginning to end:

  • Create an engaging and helpful video script. People are not looking for a commercial or sales pitch; they want to be entertained or informed.how to create an effective video - brightedge
  • Choose appealing customers, employees, or actors to be in the video. People need to be interested in your video to watch it all the way through, so select subjects that will be able to hold their attention and articulately share a compelling story.
  • Create a high-quality video. Videos that are shot with poor lighting or low grade cameras, for example, tend to be distracting and can even detract from your brand’s reputation.

Once you have uploaded your new content, make sure you optimize it. This includes adding tags and descriptions that will help it stand out from the rest while also being clear about the content topics you cover. You will also need to distribute and promote your video as much as possible by linking to the video from your social media platforms, emails and website.

What makes a video good?

There are three factors that can help create an effective video.

  • Create an engaging video script
  • Choose appealing customers, employees, or actors to be in the video
  • Create a high-quality video using professional equipment

Why is a video so effective in marketing?

Videos are becoming an increasingly popular means of communicating with visitors. An estimated 59 percent of senior executives prefer videos over text content. And 82 percent of businesses say that videos have had a positive impact on their success. With customers finding value in accessing video content in their online journey, brands are responding by creating interesting and informative clips, to more effectively engage with a greater percentage of their target population.

What role do videos play in establishing relationships with prospective customers?

Effective videos can be a helpful means of building relationships with target customers. Site owners are encouraged to include images with their content because it helps to establish a more personal connection. Videos take this benefit to the next level. Now, instead of just viewing static images of people from your organization or your products, viewers can hear you speak, listen to other customers describing your service, or see your products in action. This will help you to build a more personal relationship with the prospects and thus encourage greater trust and loyalty, boosting your site success.

Creating an effective video can be a major asset for your website. Understanding what makes a video effective can help you develop content that excels.

Discover the best ways to optimize your video content with the SEO platform industry leader, BrightEdge!

Definition

The first step in creating effective video content is knowing what your audience wants to see. Performing keyword research, using the BrightEdge Data Cube, will help you find topics that are the most commonly searched for by your targeted audience. Data Cube will also tell you if the keywords in question serve effective video content on the SERP, which will make it clear which topics are highly relevant for video.

Follow these tips to ensure that your video captures your audience’s attention and ensure that they watch it from beginning to end:

  • Create an engaging and helpful video script. People are not looking for a commercial or sales pitch; they want to be entertained or informed.how to create an effective video - brightedge
  • Choose appealing customers, employees, or actors to be in the video. People need to be interested in your video to watch it all the way through, so select subjects that will be able to hold their attention and articulately share a compelling story.
  • Create a high-quality video. Videos that are shot with poor lighting or low grade cameras, for example, tend to be distracting and can even detract from your brand’s reputation.

Once you have uploaded your new content, make sure you optimize it. This includes adding tags and descriptions that will help it stand out from the rest while also being clear about the content topics you cover. You will also need to distribute and promote your video as much as possible by linking to the video from your social media platforms, emails and website.

What makes a video good?

There are three factors that can help create an effective video.

  • Create an engaging video script
  • Choose appealing customers, employees, or actors to be in the video
  • Create a high-quality video using professional equipment

Why is a video so effective in marketing?

Videos are becoming an increasingly popular means of communicating with visitors. An estimated 59 percent of senior executives prefer videos over text content. And 82 percent of businesses say that videos have had a positive impact on their success. With customers finding value in accessing video content in their online journey, brands are responding by creating interesting and informative clips, to more effectively engage with a greater percentage of their target population.

What role do videos play in establishing relationships with prospective customers?

Effective videos can be a helpful means of building relationships with target customers. Site owners are encouraged to include images with their content because it helps to establish a more personal connection. Videos take this benefit to the next level. Now, instead of just viewing static images of people from your organization or your products, viewers can hear you speak, listen to other customers describing your service, or see your products in action. This will help you to build a more personal relationship with the prospects and thus encourage greater trust and loyalty, boosting your site success.

Creating an effective video can be a major asset for your website. Understanding what makes a video effective can help you develop content that excels.

Discover the best ways to optimize your video content with the SEO platform industry leader, BrightEdge!

What Is the Value of Keywords in SEO?

Keywords are words or phrases that help search engines identify the topics that your content covers. Algorithms have sophisticated systems for analyzing the keywords that users employ in their queries as well as the terms that are used throughout a given piece of content. This helps them match the user with the content that will best answer their needs.

Why is keyword research important?Answer: what are keywords in SEO? - BrightEdge

Before semantic search, keywords were the primary means of communicating to search engines the topics you were covering. Generally, the more often you used the keyword the more relevant your content appeared. Unfortunately, this led to practices, such as keyword stuffing that were designed to trick the search engine and ended up hurting the user experience.

Google has introduced various updates over the past few years that were designed to better understand the concepts within the query and website. This has resulted in a shift in the importance of keyword usage.

This does not mean that keywords are obsolete. They are still used by the search engines to discern the topics that are being covered, but they are looked at as a part of a larger picture. Instead of pulling out keywords, the search engines look at how various topics are related to better understand the content that your material covers and how it relates to various queries. They are thus able to return more relevant and applicable search results for users, enhancing the user experience.

How do I perform keyword research?

Since you know that Google is not looking to match a string of data in a query with a string of data in a particular article, you do not need to stress about including certain keywords a minimum number of times in your piece while creating your keyword planner. Instead, you should use a keyword research tool to familiarize yourself with the topics that seem to have the most importance for your target audience. Leverage BrightEdge Instant to perform extensive keyword research for your brand.

Once you have identified the topics, you can make enhancements within your content in order to show relevance to the search engine and to the user scanning the results on the SERPs. You should use your keyword in the title, H2 headings, the meta description, and occasionally throughout the content, provided it is natural in all of these instances. You should also look into including semantically similar keywords. An example of semantically similar keywords would be the phrases ‘laptop repair’ and ‘fix a broken laptop.’ This will help Google’s new semantic algorithm see your content as more related to the topic at hand.

Keywords are not obsolete in modern SEO, but the best practices have changed. The cornerstone of successful keyword usage is to keep the focus on adding value and being helpful and natural, while creating content around topics that you know interest your intended readers.

Definition

Keywords are words or phrases that help search engines identify the topics that your content covers. Algorithms have sophisticated systems for analyzing the keywords that users employ in their queries as well as the terms that are used throughout a given piece of content. This helps them match the user with the content that will best answer their needs.

Why is keyword research important?Answer: what are keywords in SEO? - BrightEdge

Before semantic search, keywords were the primary means of communicating to search engines the topics you were covering. Generally, the more often you used the keyword the more relevant your content appeared. Unfortunately, this led to practices, such as keyword stuffing that were designed to trick the search engine and ended up hurting the user experience.

Google has introduced various updates over the past few years that were designed to better understand the concepts within the query and website. This has resulted in a shift in the importance of keyword usage.

This does not mean that keywords are obsolete. They are still used by the search engines to discern the topics that are being covered, but they are looked at as a part of a larger picture. Instead of pulling out keywords, the search engines look at how various topics are related to better understand the content that your material covers and how it relates to various queries. They are thus able to return more relevant and applicable search results for users, enhancing the user experience.

How do I perform keyword research?

Since you know that Google is not looking to match a string of data in a query with a string of data in a particular article, you do not need to stress about including certain keywords a minimum number of times in your piece while creating your keyword planner. Instead, you should use a keyword research tool to familiarize yourself with the topics that seem to have the most importance for your target audience. Leverage BrightEdge Instant to perform extensive keyword research for your brand.

Once you have identified the topics, you can make enhancements within your content in order to show relevance to the search engine and to the user scanning the results on the SERPs. You should use your keyword in the title, H2 headings, the meta description, and occasionally throughout the content, provided it is natural in all of these instances. You should also look into including semantically similar keywords. An example of semantically similar keywords would be the phrases ‘laptop repair’ and ‘fix a broken laptop.’ This will help Google’s new semantic algorithm see your content as more related to the topic at hand.

Keywords are not obsolete in modern SEO, but the best practices have changed. The cornerstone of successful keyword usage is to keep the focus on adding value and being helpful and natural, while creating content around topics that you know interest your intended readers.

Using a Workflow Process for your Content

What is a workflow process?

A workflow process for your content takes a piece of content from its earliest inception to its publication. This includes all the people who contributed to the development of the piece, its editing, and the final version.

How do I set up a workflow process?understanding an efficient workflow process for your content- brightedge

When a workflow process is efficient, it will help an organization to complete numerous pieces of high-quality content on a regular basis and experience fewer obstacles that could slow down the process. An efficient workflow is often a sign of digital marketing maturity. By creating and implementing a successful workflow, you're able to prove your team is aligned and your content is progressive. Here are a few key characteristics of a quality workflow process:

  • The content production team stretches across specialty lines so that everyone from PR to customer services has the opportunity to submit ideas for content. Avoid silos as they only distance and separate team members from one another.
  • Everyone involved in the content production process can easily see how a piece of content is progressing and who it will be going to next.
  • It is easy for everyone on the content production team to find and review the latest version of the piece of content.
  • Everyone on the team has a uniform idea about the job the content will perform and the style and tone it will have when it goes to publication. The team members must all be synced up at this point in case any of them need to make changes to the content.

How do you improve your own workflow process?

Improving your workflow requires analysis of your process current state and the reduction of repetitive steps to increase efficiency.

First, review your current workflow. You should detail every step in the creation of a piece of content, even steps that may seem insignificant, so that you get an accurate overview. For example, if the editor emails the writer with a question about the third paragraph, you should still include this point in the list.

Examine this overview and look for areas that are very repetitive or otherwise slow down the process. For example, if you are emailing copies of the article to multiple different people, it is likely that everyone involved has several copies of the material downloaded on their computers. This can lead to difficulties with version control and duplicative efforts when editing the document.

When you have identified points in the process that could be improved, devise solutions that address these inefficiencies. For example, if emailing the document is causing multiple versions to exist, consider adopting a cloud-based system, such as Google Docs. This will allow the document to be stored in a single location and everyone can edit and make notes on the same version, which makes it easier to follow the suggestions.

Finally, maintain strong communications between all team members. Create a common editorial calendar that lets everyone review the projects and their status.

Definition

What is a workflow process?

A workflow process for your content takes a piece of content from its earliest inception to its publication. This includes all the people who contributed to the development of the piece, its editing, and the final version.

How do I set up a workflow process?understanding an efficient workflow process for your content- brightedge

When a workflow process is efficient, it will help an organization to complete numerous pieces of high-quality content on a regular basis and experience fewer obstacles that could slow down the process. An efficient workflow is often a sign of digital marketing maturity. By creating and implementing a successful workflow, you're able to prove your team is aligned and your content is progressive. Here are a few key characteristics of a quality workflow process:

  • The content production team stretches across specialty lines so that everyone from PR to customer services has the opportunity to submit ideas for content. Avoid silos as they only distance and separate team members from one another.
  • Everyone involved in the content production process can easily see how a piece of content is progressing and who it will be going to next.
  • It is easy for everyone on the content production team to find and review the latest version of the piece of content.
  • Everyone on the team has a uniform idea about the job the content will perform and the style and tone it will have when it goes to publication. The team members must all be synced up at this point in case any of them need to make changes to the content.

How do you improve your own workflow process?

Improving your workflow requires analysis of your process current state and the reduction of repetitive steps to increase efficiency.

First, review your current workflow. You should detail every step in the creation of a piece of content, even steps that may seem insignificant, so that you get an accurate overview. For example, if the editor emails the writer with a question about the third paragraph, you should still include this point in the list.

Examine this overview and look for areas that are very repetitive or otherwise slow down the process. For example, if you are emailing copies of the article to multiple different people, it is likely that everyone involved has several copies of the material downloaded on their computers. This can lead to difficulties with version control and duplicative efforts when editing the document.

When you have identified points in the process that could be improved, devise solutions that address these inefficiencies. For example, if emailing the document is causing multiple versions to exist, consider adopting a cloud-based system, such as Google Docs. This will allow the document to be stored in a single location and everyone can edit and make notes on the same version, which makes it easier to follow the suggestions.

Finally, maintain strong communications between all team members. Create a common editorial calendar that lets everyone review the projects and their status.

How To Create A Webinar?

Can you make money with webinars?

Webinars offer a range of benefits for brands. To begin, they are a fantastic means of establishing trust with your target audience. You will be casting yourself as the authority and acting as a helpful resource for others when you create a webinar.

Live webinars also allow you to interact personally with prospective customers. Your attendees will have the opportunity to hear you speak on topics that matter to them. Offering a question and answer (Q&A) section is a great way to get to know the questions and concerns of your target customers while establishing your authority in providing answers to these questions.

Effective webinars can also support other parts of your marketing strategy. You can use the registrant list to help grow your email lists so that you can continue tocreate a webinar that works for your audience - brightedge engage with prospects. After you create a webinar, it can be recorded and offered as gated content after the session and continue to bring in more prospects and leads. You can use your CTA at the end of your webinar to offer your products in order to profit off of a webinar.

How do I decide what topics to cover?

When you decide to create a webinar, the right topic is crucial for having an effective one. It will help you attract registrants and keep everyone engaged throughout the webinar. The key to understanding the topics that will interest people is researching the latest trends in your industry, including what other industry leaders are covering. This does not necessarily mean the topics that others are covering in webinars; if you repeat what everyone else is saying, you will not have an effective webinar. Instead, you want to find the topics that are attracting attention in articles, blogs, movies, and other formats that would also translate well to a strong webinar.

Use organic search research, such as through the BrightEdge Data Cube, to better understand the topics that people are searching for the most. This will help you find the topics to create a webinar on that will attract audiences to your webinars. Consider the buyer’s journeys of your target customers and their pain points. This will help you understand what customers would like to read about that will help encourage them to progress through to conversion.

How do I develop an effective webinar?

To create a webinar that is effective, you will need three main parts:

  • A strong draw that attracts people to register and attend
  • A quality presentation that leaves people feeling encouraged and enthusiastic about you and your brand
  • A strong follow up that encourages people to access recordings from the webinar or decks from your presentation as gated content

How does a webinar work?

1. Creating a strong draw

  • Begin by creating an engaging and search-friendly headline.
  • Advertise your webinar throughout your distribution network. Creating preview videos, blog posts that describe what participants will learn, promotional announcements on newsletters and emails, and even using some paid search can all attract traffic to your webinar.
  • Create an appealing offer for those who attend the webinar, such as a 10 minute consultation or a new download, such as an infographic or white paper.

2. Assembling a quality presentation

  • Use an experienced presenter who knows how to deliver information in a friendly yet authoritative manner.
  • Do not fill up your presentation deck with too much text or dry bullet points. Instead, keep the text minimal and use engaging images.
  • Remember that people are more likely to recall feelings than numbers - so do not just read off lists of statistics. Instead, incorporate the data into a greater story that connects with the users.

3. Ensuring a strong follow-up

  • Create articles and blog posts after the webinar, articulating the most important information that was shared and some of the best questions you received. Include a link to the gated webinar content.
  • Promote the recording and gated content on social media and your website.
  • Webinars can be great tools for boosting brand reach and reputation. Keeping these guidelines in mind will help guide you towards success.

Create other optimized content that engages your customers and offers the opportunity to rank higher in the SERPs!

Definition

Can you make money with webinars?

Webinars offer a range of benefits for brands. To begin, they are a fantastic means of establishing trust with your target audience. You will be casting yourself as the authority and acting as a helpful resource for others when you create a webinar.

Live webinars also allow you to interact personally with prospective customers. Your attendees will have the opportunity to hear you speak on topics that matter to them. Offering a question and answer (Q&A) section is a great way to get to know the questions and concerns of your target customers while establishing your authority in providing answers to these questions.

Effective webinars can also support other parts of your marketing strategy. You can use the registrant list to help grow your email lists so that you can continue tocreate a webinar that works for your audience - brightedge engage with prospects. After you create a webinar, it can be recorded and offered as gated content after the session and continue to bring in more prospects and leads. You can use your CTA at the end of your webinar to offer your products in order to profit off of a webinar.

How do I decide what topics to cover?

When you decide to create a webinar, the right topic is crucial for having an effective one. It will help you attract registrants and keep everyone engaged throughout the webinar. The key to understanding the topics that will interest people is researching the latest trends in your industry, including what other industry leaders are covering. This does not necessarily mean the topics that others are covering in webinars; if you repeat what everyone else is saying, you will not have an effective webinar. Instead, you want to find the topics that are attracting attention in articles, blogs, movies, and other formats that would also translate well to a strong webinar.

Use organic search research, such as through the BrightEdge Data Cube, to better understand the topics that people are searching for the most. This will help you find the topics to create a webinar on that will attract audiences to your webinars. Consider the buyer’s journeys of your target customers and their pain points. This will help you understand what customers would like to read about that will help encourage them to progress through to conversion.

How do I develop an effective webinar?

To create a webinar that is effective, you will need three main parts:

  • A strong draw that attracts people to register and attend
  • A quality presentation that leaves people feeling encouraged and enthusiastic about you and your brand
  • A strong follow up that encourages people to access recordings from the webinar or decks from your presentation as gated content

How does a webinar work?

1. Creating a strong draw

  • Begin by creating an engaging and search-friendly headline.
  • Advertise your webinar throughout your distribution network. Creating preview videos, blog posts that describe what participants will learn, promotional announcements on newsletters and emails, and even using some paid search can all attract traffic to your webinar.
  • Create an appealing offer for those who attend the webinar, such as a 10 minute consultation or a new download, such as an infographic or white paper.

2. Assembling a quality presentation

  • Use an experienced presenter who knows how to deliver information in a friendly yet authoritative manner.
  • Do not fill up your presentation deck with too much text or dry bullet points. Instead, keep the text minimal and use engaging images.
  • Remember that people are more likely to recall feelings than numbers - so do not just read off lists of statistics. Instead, incorporate the data into a greater story that connects with the users.

3. Ensuring a strong follow-up

  • Create articles and blog posts after the webinar, articulating the most important information that was shared and some of the best questions you received. Include a link to the gated webinar content.
  • Promote the recording and gated content on social media and your website.
  • Webinars can be great tools for boosting brand reach and reputation. Keeping these guidelines in mind will help guide you towards success.

Create other optimized content that engages your customers and offers the opportunity to rank higher in the SERPs!