Snapchat has launched a desktop app, called Snap Camera, which lets users add filters to live streams and video chats. The post Snapchat Launches a Desktop App for Adding Filters to Streaming Videos by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal. The post Snapchat Launches a Desktop App for Adding Filters to Streaming Videos by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Sorcerer Digital.
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Google Rolls Out '.new' Domains as Shortcuts for Creating G Suite Files by @MattGSouthern10/26/2018 Google has created '.new' domains that people can use as a quick way to create new G Suite files. The post Google Rolls Out '.new' Domains as Shortcuts for Creating G Suite Files by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal. The post Google Rolls Out '.new' Domains as Shortcuts for Creating G Suite Files by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. Are these spooky images captured on Google Maps really as scary as they seem? The post Google Debunks Spooky Google Maps Myths by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal. The post Google Debunks Spooky Google Maps Myths by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. Check out these 15 alternatives to the popular online payment processing platform – Paypal. The post Top 15 PayPal Alternatives to Power Your Ecommerce Site by @KristiKellogg appeared first on Search Engine Journal. The post Top 15 PayPal Alternatives to Power Your Ecommerce Site by @KristiKellogg appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. Posted by BritneyMuller Log file analysis can provide some of the most detailed insights about what Googlebot is doing on your site, but it can be an intimidating subject. In this week's Whiteboard Friday, Britney Muller breaks down log file analysis to make it a little more accessible to SEOs everywhere.
Video TranscriptionHey, Moz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Today we're going over all things log file analysis, which is so incredibly important because it really tells you the ins and outs of what Googlebot is doing on your sites. So I'm going to walk you through the three primary areas, the first being the types of logs that you might see from a particular site, what that looks like, what that information means. The second being how to analyze that data and how to get insights, and then the third being how to use that to optimize your pages and your site. For a primer on what log file analysis is and its application in SEO, check out our article: How to Use Server Log Analysis for Technical SEO 1. TypesSo let's get right into it. There are three primary types of logs, the primary one being Apache. But you'll also see W3C, elastic load balancing, which you might see a lot with things like Kibana. But you also will likely come across some custom log files. So for those larger sites, that's not uncommon. I know Moz has a custom log file system. Fastly is a custom type setup. So just be aware that those are out there. Log dataSo what are you going to see in these logs? The data that comes in is primarily in these colored ones here. So you will hopefully for sure see:
So log files traditionally house all data, all visits from individuals and traffic, but we want to analyze the Googlebot traffic. Method (Get/Post), and then time taken, client IP, and the referrer are sometimes included. So what this looks like, it's kind of like glibbery gloop. It's a word I just made up, and it just looks like that. It's just like bleh. What is that? It looks crazy. It's a new language. But essentially you'll likely see that IP, so that red IP address, that timestamp, which will commonly look like that, that method (get/post), which I don't completely understand or necessarily need to use in some of the analysis, but it's good to be aware of all these things, the URL requested, that status code, all of these things here. 2. AnalyzingSo what are you going to do with that data? How do we use it? So there's a number of tools that are really great for doing some of the heavy lifting for you. Screaming Frog Log File Analyzer is great. I've used it a lot. I really, really like it. But you have to have your log files in a specific type of format for them to use it.
Splunk is also a great resource. Sumo Logic and I know there's a bunch of others. If you're working with really large sites, like I have in the past, you're going to run into problems here because it's not going to be in a common log file. So what you can do is to manually do some of this yourself, which I know sounds a little bit crazy. Manual Excel analysisBut hang in there. Trust me, it's fun and super interesting. So what I've done in the past is I will import a CSV log file into Excel, and I will use the Text Import Wizard and you can basically delineate what the separators are for this craziness. So whether it be a space or a comma or a quote, you can sort of break those up so that each of those live within their own columns. I wouldn't worry about having extra blank columns, but you can separate those. From there, what you would do is just create pivot tables. So I can link to a resource on how you can easily do that. Top pagesBut essentially what you can look at in Excel is: Okay, what are the top pages that Googlebot hits by frequency? What are those top pages by the number of times it's requested? Top foldersYou can also look at the top folder requests, which is really interesting and really important. On top of that, you can also look into: What are the most common Googlebot types that are hitting your site? Is it Googlebot mobile? Is it Googlebot images? Are they hitting the correct resources? Super important. You can also do a pivot table with status codes and look at that. I like to apply some of these purple things to the top pages and top folders reports. So now you're getting some insights into: Okay, how did some of these top pages resolve? What are the top folders looking like? You can also do that for Googlebot IPs. This is the best hack I have found with log file analysis. I will create a pivot table just with Googlebot IPs, this right here. So I will usually get, sometimes it's a bunch of them, but I'll get all the unique ones, and I can go to terminal on your computer, on most standard computers.
I tried to draw it. It looks like that. But all you do is you type in “host” and then you put in that IP address. You can do it on your terminal with this IP address, and you will see it resolve as a Google.com. That verifies that it's indeed a Googlebot and not some other crawler spoofing Google. So that's something that these tools tend to automatically take care of, but there are ways to do it manually too, which is just good to be aware of. 3. Optimize pages and crawl budgetAll right, so how do you optimize for this data and really start to enhance your crawl budget? When I say “crawl budget,” it primarily is just meaning the number of times that Googlebot is coming to your site and the number of pages that they typically crawl. So what is that with? What does that crawl budget look like, and how can you make it more efficient?
ReevaluateLastly, it's really helpful to connect the crawl data with some of this data. So if you're using something like Screaming Frog or DeepCrawl, they allow these integrations with different server log files, and it gives you more insight. From there, you just want to reevaluate. So you want to kind of continue this cycle over and over again. You want to look at what's going on, have some of your efforts worked, is it being cleaned up, and go from there. So I hope this helps. I know it was a lot, but I want it to be sort of a broad overview of log file analysis. I look forward to all of your questions and comments below. I will see you again soon on another Whiteboard Friday. Thanks. Video transcription by Speechpad.com Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! The post Log File Analysis 101 – Whiteboard Friday appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. Google Images has updated to add the Lens feature. This has the potential to send more traffic to online retailers. The post Google Images Update – Google Lens is Live by @martinibuster appeared first on Search Engine Journal. The post Google Images Update – Google Lens is Live by @martinibuster appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. OK, ya'll… this is going to be fun.
I'm going to SEO this blog post in WordPress as I write it for you. How meta is that?
There are 5 on-page SEO factors you need to consider while creating blog posts or pages on your website:
(RELATED: Designing Your Search Marketing Strategy)
Now, while I'll be walking you through the process in WordPress, you can SEO these elements in any Content Management System (CMS) or shopping cart solution that is worth a darn.
In fact, if you can't alter even 1 of these 5 elements in your CMS or shopping cart-start planning a move to something else (like WordPress).
First, let's make sure you have the right tools for this job…
Which SEO Plugin for WordPress?
The clear decision here is the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress. Anything less is uncivilized. 5 On-Page SEO Elements (+1 Bonus Tactic) to Optimize in WordPress appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. I've got two and a half words that will help you solve this problem: Long-tail keywords. Why should you care about long-tail keywords? Because they can drive a TON of high-converting traffic to your website and dramatically increase revenue for…
Read more ›
The post Long-Tail Keywords: The 'Secret' to Getting TONS of Search Traffic appeared first on SEO Blog by Ahrefs. The post Long-Tail Keywords: The 'Secret' to Getting TONS of Search Traffic appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. Google is making it easier for users to delete their search history without having to go through multiple account menus. The post Google Makes it Easier for Users to Delete Search History by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal. The post Google Makes it Easier for Users to Delete Search History by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. A successful content marketing funnel moves people from awareness of your product to satisfied customer of your business. It's a multi-stage process.
On average, a person consumes 11.4 pieces of content before making a purchase decision, according to Forrester. Some of that content is likely a direct answer to the question, “Should I buy X or Y?”
But think about your own purchasing behavior. Did you start by comparing the prices of two or more existing options? It's fair to assume that many buyers (you and I included) start the process long before we get to that final choice – we search, we talk to friends and colleagues, we read reviews and a blog post or two (or three or 10).
Marketers know this. According to a 2018 study by HubSpot, 61% of marketers stress that generating more traffic and leads is their top priority.
But leads and traffic don't come to our content just to buy something – they come to learn, to educate themselves. This is why having a strong content marketing funnel is vital to your business.
A content marketing funnel is also a clear path of return on your content investment. And what business doesn't want to be able to tangibly reflect ROI on its marketing?
BONUS! Grab our Content Marketing Funnel Worksheet right now to begin crafting a customer journey that grows your business!
If you are trying to grow your business through the use of content but having trouble putting a clear marketing funnel together, then this article has you covered.
Here's what we'll tackle:
Let's start with the most basic thing.
What is a Content Marketing Funnel?
Many marketing gurus split the funnel into numerous parts, but there are generally three points that you need to remember:
Top of the funnel (ToFu)
What is the top of the funnel?
The top of the funnel is the first stage where you capture your audience's attention. You want to make an impression with some type of value-add content. This content can answer questions or solve problems. It must be offered without asking anything in return.
Brand awareness is the name of the game here.
Disseminating your content to various marketing channels like social media networks is a good way to get your audience's attention.
Middle of the funnel (MOFU)
What is the middle of the funnel?
The middle of the funnel converts site visitors to sales leads. Once people have been introduced to you and have received some degree of free value from you, it's time to convert them to an actual lead.
To do this, present an enticing offer in exchange for permission to contact them, typically via email, so you can begin to “nurture” the relationship, building trust and rapport with the user.
There are many ways to capture a lead, as you probably know. To keep things simple, we're going to be focusing on the idea of email lead capture as the goal.
Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)
What is the bottom of the funnel?
The bottom of the funnel convinces leads to buy your product or service. In other words, once you have nurtured your leads, it's time to convert them into actual customers.
By now a lead has gotten to know your brand. They've gotten free value from you. You've emailed them useful, relevant information.
It's time to present them an offer that naturally transitions them into a paying customer.
Converting leads to customers is tricky. It requires moving people from receiving free information to giving you their hard-earned cash. Personalization, which we will discuss later in this article, is important at this stage of the funnel.
Why Should You Care About Creating a Content Marketing Funnel?
According to a study done by Kapost, content marketing produces 3x more leads per dollar spent when compared to paid search.
How is that possible? Well, it may have something to do with another fact. Content marketing (specifically creating blog content for your website) is the best kind of SEO you can do.
Content Marketing leads to more indexed pages, more backlinks, and more reasons for your brand to spread via word-of-mouth. It's like leaving thousands of little breadcrumbs all over the internet to guide potential customers to you.
And if that's not enough, according to Content Marketing Institute:
To recap:
Pretty compelling reasons to create an actual content marketing funnel, right?
Start with the Audience In Mind
It all begins with identifying the audience for the content.
If you are planning to create content, you should first understand the target market and build a funnel that caters to their needs. The more details you can fill in about your audience, the better.
Why is this step important?
If your target customer is a 30-something stay-at-home mom, her needs are going to look much different than a 50-something single male nearing the end of his corporate career.
Once you fully understand your target customer's day-to-day challenges, you can start asking the question, “how can we solve one of their challenges using content?”
Here's an example from Buffer:
The target audience for Buffer in this case is a social media manager struggling to keep up with the end-of-year content planning.
To solve that specific problem, the Buffer team created a Q4 content calendar for businesses. It identified the important dates to keep in mind for the rest of the year.
The calendar is a simple thing, but incredibly helpful for the social media content manager who hasn't yet finished their Q4 content plan.
Now that you have identified the things that your audience is looking for, it's time to create the actual content that will solve their problems.
Creating Successful Content
There is much to consider if you want to create successful content, so pay close attention.
The steps are:
Research popular content (learn from the success of others)
Once you have your target audience in mind, you need to know what types of content they are interested in.
Use BuzzSumo to search for the topic of your choice over at the Content Research > Content Analyzer tab.
The results show you the most engaging social content in your topic area.
Social engagement indicates interest, making these results useful for identifying audience needs.
You can then ride the wave by creating similar content.
Alternatively, you can try a different yet related approach and create something that will be helpful in a way that previous articles have missed.
Search for the Top Influencers in your topic
You should also find the top influencers for your topic and see what they are saying about the topic.
Head over to BuzzSumo again and search for your topic under the Influencers tab.
There are two tabs here that will show you different results.
Search Bios reveals the most popular influencers who are interested in your topic. If you are looking for people to follow or want to know who to check out regarding your topic or industry, then export this list.
Meanwhile, Search Content Shared will give you a list of the most popular people who recently shared content about your topic. This is the one you are looking for since you want to create content that might get the attention of these people.
By knowing what types of content influencers engage with, you can create something that they might also share with their audience.
And when your content gets shared with an influencer's audience, you get exposure to people who might never have heard about your brand before.
You know, people from the top of the funnel!
Creating the actual content
Now that you have a highly engaging topic, it's time to craft the type of content that will get noticed by people.
1. Top of the Funnel
ToFu content focuses on reaching a wide net of people that might become prospective customers. Remember, attention is the goal here.
Here are some of the best types of content to create for this part of the funnel:
Of course there are other ToFu content types. But if you're just getting started, these are the easiest formats to work with.
2. Middle of the Funnel
The best types of content for the middle of the funnel are educational resources. You get bonus points if you can also make them highly shareable (pulling more people straight to the middle of the funnel).
If the first part of the funnel focused primarily on getting the attention, this part should be laser-focused on being useful and practical. Your audience should be able to apply the knowledge in this content and get some sort of “quick win.”
The main objective of this content is to capture some contact information from the user. This is how we're going to begin to nurture the relationship with them, eventually leading to the bottom of the funnel.
So whatever this content is, the only way the audience can get it is by giving you their email address. This type of content is often called a Lead Magnet.
It's a win-win situation. The person gets an amazing resource; your business gets a lead. for the person who has an amazing resource, and for your business who is getting a lead.
Important Note: Ever since the EU begin enforcing GDPR regulations, be sure you read up on best practices for email lead capture.
Some popular resource types for this part of the funnel include:
Think “utility” when coming up with a Lead Magnet. What can you give to your audience that will provide real, tangible value? It should be something they can use right away.
3. Bottom of the Funnel
Bottom of the funnel content, as we said before, should be very “personal.” This content should bridge the gap between the free value you've been giving them and your paid product offering.
This type of content is best delivered via email autoresponder sequences, and it can be sent to people who provided their email addresses in order to get the Lead Magnet described above.
Email sequences build gradually and connect the dots little-by-little, from the original problem to your product's solution. Once the dots are connected, you can ask for the sale.
Moz has created a great guide on how to create winning CTAs. It's worth bookmarking to help you refine your calls to action in email sequences.
Some MoFu content can also be used here, but it needs to be “interactive”. Again, it is all about personalizing the experience your would-be customers are going to have.
The most popular type of content for this are demos or trials. Since your service or your product is a form of content the natural progression should lead to the audience actually using your product.
Other popular types of content that you can use are:
Your content marketing funnel does not end with converting your audience into customers. This is where most businesses fail to follow-through, leaving money on the table.
What to Do After Converting Your Audience to Actual Customers
We believe the customer journey goes further than the sale.
What you need to do now is to restart your funnel! Keep the cycle flowing, and let your customers help you this time.
If you've done a great job, that new customer will continue to want your free ToFu content, and they'll be even more likely to share it with their friends, family, and coworkers.
You can create this follow-through by providing ways for your customers to do your work for you. Here are some examples:
Businesses that provide excellent customer service are highly talked about on social media, and that is the best way to fuel the top of your funnel!
Creating a successful content marketing funnel is not easy. It takes work and discipline to pull it off. If you try to focus on your audience rather simply dishing out content, you can create a system that will be highly beneficial for your business.
And if you haven't grabbed it yet, don't forget your copy of our Content Marketing Funnel Worksheet so you can start building your own funnel today!
The post How to Create a Successful Content Marketing Funnel appeared first on BuzzSumo. The post How to Create a Successful Content Marketing Funnel appeared first on Sorcerer Digital. |
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