Four colorful recycling bins on a curbPhoto by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

How to Recycle Content for Your Blog or Website

/in ,

In our last content based article, we discussed how to choose blog topics that will generate the SEO results you hope for. We mentioned that there was certainly value in recycling or repurposing content from your blog or website when done properly. In this article, we will take a closer look at this practice including the proper time and place for it, as well as how to do it effectively. When we have content on our site that has been hugely popular or that has contributed to a high number of conversions, it only makes sense to use it as a benchmark for future content. Instead of allowing that content to sit stagnant on your site, recycling it can both bring back the same visitors who made it successful with a fresh spin, and also generate an entirely new crop.

Benefits of Recycled Content

When creating a new piece of content, in order to be effective, it takes a lot of time and effort. Because your time is valuable, it can be limiting if you are re-inventing the wheel every time you post. The research, planning, and writing of content can be significantly reduced through content recycling. The practice is also valuable to generate a jump in your SEO efforts. Having multiple content pieces that use the same keywords or focus on the same subject can drive more traffic, rank higher in the search engine results, and generate more backlinks. Also, if you use the same content, but optimize it for different mediums, you can reach entirely new audiences. From a standpoint of your branding, it also will help to reinforce your position as an expert on the subject and reinforce your desired message.

What Is Recycle-Worthy?

It may seem daunting to select the best of the best material for content recycling. It is true, not all content is recycle-worthy. However, finding opportunities to do it is not as difficult as it may seem. Your blog archive is the perfect place to begin your search. Simply start by reviewing your past content, or search for content related to the topic you wish to revisit. There are four primary aspects that you should be considering as you do this. First, the content should be high-quality. If the original content was choppy and full of holes, it is likely not a great candidate unless you plan to start from scratch. Also, the subject matter should remain relevant. This type of content is commonly known as “evergreen”. The message should be just as valuable today as the day it was first presented. Analytics can be of help as well. Look at the posts that were most popular. There is a recycle-worthy reason for that. Finally, think about whether or not there is room to expand on what was said. If you feel the information can be improved upon, added to, or has changed, it is probably an excellent candidate.

How Can I Recycle It?

There are many great ways to recycle your past content. Some are basic while others require some creativity. Use the selected content to create new posts. Simply expand on selected portions of the original content by adding detail, providing examples, or relating it to new developments in your field. The recycled material also does not necessarily need to be in the same format as the original. You could use the content as a basis to create an online slideshow, and infographic, or a video. If the content is truly exceptional and highly valuable, you may not need to do anything more than to repost it on your social media pages or highlight it on your front page. Another favorite tactic is to transform the article into an email series to send to your list or to create an eBook. These are just a few of the many valuable ways to recycle content. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box and come up with some of your own.

Content can be expensive from a standpoint of both time and money. Moreover, while there is no way of getting around the fact that new content needs to be continually generated, there is still great value in squeezing every last drop of usefulness out of content you’ve already used. Recycled content can even be strategically placed in your overall marketing plan to boost traffic when you need it most. Just as a professional SEO company can help provide you with quality new original content, they can help you maximize the effectiveness of content you already have.

Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. We are also glad to answer any questions you may have and provide Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your company’s needs.

Person making website mockup on whiteboardPhoto by Kaleidico on Unsplash

How To Pick Your Blog Topics – A Few Top Tips

/in ,

Having a blog for your business is an invaluable addition to your overall SEO strategy. However, to generate the results you need to bolster a competitive online presence requires consistency, quality, and relevance. Consistency can be achieved relatively easily by creating a plan. Quality and relevance are not always as simple. If you are adept at writing, have someone on your team who is, or have hired a professional writer or SEO company, it will make your life a bit easier. However, it can often be challenging to come up with a topic to write about. Furthermore, if a writer or SEO firm is providing your blog content, how can you be sure that they are relevant to your target audience? Fortunately, there are some ways you can employ to help come up with topics on your own, or check on the usefulness of topics provided for you.

Does the Blog Topic Make Sense?

One of the primary purposes of a blog is to generate traffic to your site, to demonstrate your expertise in your field, and to increase conversions. Because of this, it is crucial that the topics you choose be relevant to your audience. If you are a construction company, posting blogs about the latest fashion trends will not likely do much for your traffic (or your image). Put yourself in the place of your ideal customer, consider the topic, and ask yourself if it would be relevant to your business focus.

Is It Helpful?

There is certainly a place for blog topics that are general interest pieces. For example, providing a history of your market or how your product was invented may drive traffic simply because it is interesting to read. However, most blogs really gain traction when the topic solves a problem for your reader. If you sell high-performance engine parts, perhaps a blog about how to improve gas mileage may be a wise choice. The blog post does not have to be strictly dependent on your product or service alone, but may provide a solution to a general problem that can be tied back to your product or service at the end.

Is It Fresh?

There is perhaps nothing more damaging to your blog traffic than posting topics that have been over-covered, or that provide no fresh information. Again, there is a place for recycling content and finding ideas from other blogs on the web. However, the blog should either provide the information in a better way than has been done before or should have fresh information not found on every other similar blog or website. Keep it fresh, look for ways to improve on what’s already been written, and consider ways to say it in a way that is easier or more beneficial.

Can It Lead To A Clear Call To Action?

If you were writing purely for your own enjoyment, or as a personal outlet for your creativity, you could write anything you wanted without having to consider if your audience takes action on it. For your business, however, your blog topic should provide you with the opportunity to pull it all together for your reader and prompt them with a call to action. If you cannot easily relate the content to such a call, whether it be to contact you for a consultation or purchase your product, it may prove to be a waste of effort.

Writing a successful blog for your business should be done carefully and intentionally. Following these steps and doing your research can help you leverage your blog in ways you never imagined possible. The time it takes to choose the right blog topics and craft blogs that make that sort of difference may not be a possibility. If that is the case, look for time to block out blog work in your schedule, or seek out an SEO firm or content writer that can do it for you. The investment will be well worth it and an excellent way to an exceptional ROI.

“Cohlaboration” With Cohlab

At Cohlab, we have worked closely with many businesses to help them achieve great success in their SEO efforts. Our team can help you with your blog topics, as well as provide you with comprehensive SEO and web design services that ensure you become a force in the search engine results. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. We are also glad to answer any questions you may have and provide Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your company’s needs.

Dark screen showing four graphs with data trending upPhoto by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

Measuring your Marketing Automation ROI: Digital Marketing ROI Series

/in ,

As part of our digital marketing ROI series, we are going to learn how to measure your return on investment (ROI) for marketing automation. Marketing automation refers to software that automates your marketing processes for you. Automation is specially designed to help you prioritize and execute all of your marketing tasks in a more efficient manner. The goal is to help free up your time and streamline your tasks without compromising the quality of the content your website produces. Automation also has the added benefit of allowing marketers to reach their goals faster.

To generate more revenue, you need to drive traffic to your website, convert it into leads, and convert those leads into paying customers. You can also use it to define quality leads you can move through your funnel. Marketing automation helps you do all this and more, but how can you measure your ROI?

Calculate Traffic Generated to Your Landing Page

A common marketing automation technique involves sending out emails and newsletters with information that will attract potential clients to your website. Calculate the number of visitors brought to your landing page. Use tools like Google Analytics for this task. Google also offers a variety of webmaster tools that are useful for tracking traffic and length of each visit to your page.

Monitor Contact Interactions

Monitoring traffic is the first step, but you also need to monitor all interactions with your contacts. Which links do they click on, and what content are they downloading? All these actions can be used to calculate the number of potential leads. The data also gives you an idea of what kind of content your clients want. Create content to reflect the demand.

Learn How Many Leads Turn to Sales

Bringing in new contacts using automation won’t do any good unless they generate sales. Determine how many of your leads convert to sales. Use the data to calculate your closing ratio. The closing ratio formula is calculated by dividing total sales with total proposals or inquiries generated by the automation marketing.

Prioritize Contacts that Generate Sales

Use the data you collect to build lists of potential return clients. Develop and send these contacts specially tailored emails promoting your content. Your primary goal is to create new leads, but you can use this method to capture additional information about your established customers, and create special offers that can lead to more sales.

Schedule Social Media Posts and Track Responses

You can use marketing automation tools to schedule your company’s social media updates and promote your content directly to your clients. Track their responses and respond to any queries viewers have. Positive responses mean your automation campaign is working.

Setup Automated Reports

Automation tools can provide you with reports on how your campaign is doing. Set up automated reporting and stay informed. You can also set up automation alerts based on how your leads behave. If your campaign isn’t effective, find out why and work to reinvent the problem.

At Cohlab, we fully understand the importance of knowing your marketing automation ROI. That is why we do take the time to ensure you understand both the tangible and intangible results of your digital marketing efforts. We “cohlaborate” with you on proving out your marketing ROI, and our strategy has been greatly successful for digital marketing clients. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. Our team would love to speak with you and answer any questions you may have. Our mission is to provide you with Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

Measuring your Marketing Automation ROI: Digital Marketing ROI Series

/in ,

As part of our digital marketing ROI series, we are going to learn how to measure your return on investment (ROI) for marketing automation. Marketing automation refers to software that automates your marketing processes for you. Automation is specially designed to help you prioritize and execute all of your marketing tasks in a more efficient manner. The goal is to help free up your time and streamline your tasks without compromising the quality of the content your website produces. Automation also has the added benefit of allowing marketers to reach their goals faster.

To generate more revenue, you need to drive traffic to your website, convert it into leads, and convert those leads into paying customers. You can also use it to define quality leads you can move through your funnel. Marketing automation helps you do all this and more, but how can you measure your ROI?

Calculate Traffic Generated to Your Landing Page

A common marketing automation technique involves sending out emails and newsletters with information that will attract potential clients to your website. Calculate the number of visitors brought to your landing page. Use tools like Google Analytics for this task. Google also offers a variety of webmaster tools that are useful for tracking traffic and length of each visit to your page.

Monitor Contact Interactions

Monitoring traffic is the first step, but you also need to monitor all interactions with your contacts. Which links do they click on, and what content are they downloading? All these actions can be used to calculate the number of potential leads. The data also gives you an idea of what kind of content your clients want. Create content to reflect the demand.

Learn How Many Leads Turn to Sales

Bringing in new contacts using automation won’t do any good unless they generate sales. Determine how many of your leads convert to sales. Use the data to calculate your closing ratio. The closing ratio formula is calculated by dividing total sales with total proposals or inquiries generated by the automation marketing.

Prioritize Contacts that Generate Sales

Use the data you collect to build lists of potential return clients. Develop and send these contacts specially tailored emails promoting your content. Your primary goal is to create new leads, but you can use this method to capture additional information about your established customers, and create special offers that can lead to more sales.

Schedule Social Media Posts and Track Responses

You can use marketing automation tools to schedule your company’s social media updates and promote your content directly to your clients. Track their responses and respond to any queries viewers have. Positive responses mean your automation campaign is working.

Setup Automated Reports

Automation tools can provide you with reports on how your campaign is doing. Set up automated reporting and stay informed. You can also set up automation alerts based on how your leads behave. If your campaign isn’t effective, find out why and work to reinvent the problem.

At Cohlab, we fully understand the importance of knowing your marketing automation ROI. That is why we do take the time to ensure you understand both the tangible and intangible results of your digital marketing efforts. We “cohlaborate” with you on proving out your marketing ROI, and our strategy has been greatly successful for digital marketing clients. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. Our team would love to speak with you and answer any questions you may have. Our mission is to provide you with Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

Graph paper with plotted data moving upwardsPhoto by Isaac Smith on Unsplash

Measuring Your Website Design ROI: Digital Marketing ROI Series

/in , ,

In this edition of our digital marketing ROI series, we are going to discuss techniques for measuring your website design return on investment (ROI). It is a well-known fact that a good website design is necessary for bringing in real profits for your online business. However, how do you measure returns for a website, especially if you are not running an e-commerce website? It is hard to measure the gains of a great website design into finite measurements such as profit margins, but it can be done.

Track Website Traffic and Length of Stay

Use Google Webmaster Tools to track website traffic. This data can easily be accessed using your Google Analytics account. Calculate your monthly average visitors. An excellent website with useful information is almost guaranteed to bring in many visitors, and this is a great sign of positive returns. In addition to tracking the number of visitors to your website, you should track how long they stay on your website. If a visitor comes and leaves quickly, then something may be wrong. Perhaps your website is not providing the information they are looking for, or maybe your design is too complicated for the average user. Whatever it may be, look into it and try to correct it.

Tally Conversion Rates

How many of your monthly visitors are converted into leads? How many of them act on your website’s calls to action? Calls to action can be anything that encourages your visitors to interact with you, including newsletter signups, contact form submissions, eBook downloads, phone calls, and others. The higher your conversion rates, the more successful your design and its translation to positive returns.

Calculate Lead Closing Ratios

Depending on your business, high conversion rates is likely not the only thing you hope for from your website. How many of your website leads actually turn into sales? What is the closing ratio? It is one of the greatest measures of website design ROI. Divide your total sales with your complete proposals or inquiries to get a closing ratio. Take the closing rate and multiply it to your leads to get a total of your website generated events for that month. The higher the number of events, the better your returns.

Find Out Your Average Sales

With the total number of events, you can now calculate your average revenue. Take the total number of sales on your website and divide it by the total number of website events to get your average sales.

Deduct Total Average Revenue per Month with Expenses

Websites are an investment, and like any business investment they have expenses. Apart from hosting fees, you may also need to pay for ads, SEO campaigns, social media marketing, paid searches, and more, to attract visitors. These digital marketing campaigns cost time and money. It is essential to deduct your revenue from your expenses to learn what your real returns are. If your returns are too low, then you probably need to reconsider your website presence, beginning with your website design.

At Cohlab, we fully understand the importance of knowing your website design ROI. That is why we do take the time to ensure you understand both the tangible and intangible results of your digital marketing efforts. We “cohlaborate” with you on proving out your marketing ROI, and our strategy has been greatly successful for digital marketing clients. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. Our team would love to speak with you and answer any questions you may have. Our mission is to provide you with Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

Computer screen showing various webpage scoresPhoto by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash

Measuring Your SEO ROI: Digital Marketing ROI Series

/in ,

In the previous article of our digital marketing ROI series, we talked about how you can measure your email marketing return on investment (ROI). We also discussed why it is a critical component in your overall digital marketing strategy for many reasons. Today, we are going to discuss the benefits of SEO, how to analyze SEO ROI in an SEO campaign, and why SEO is the key to a successful digital marketing campaign.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing solution aimed at bringing organic visibility to websites through search engine results. It is not just about creating a search engine friendly website; it is about making sites that draw an audience by having high quality, relevant, and well-presented content.  SEO is a critical marketing discipline that can bring in much traffic to your online business, but only if it is used properly.

Why Measure Your SEO ROI?

Traffic is the lifeblood of any online business success. A good SEO strategy is necessary for driving that traffic to your company’s website. The majority of this traffic will come from search engines such as Google, and Bing. However, social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are also great for increasing traffic from your target audience. Measuring the success of an SEO campaign is important for determining whether the time, money, and resources allocated for a campaign is bringing in any significant returns. Calculating ROI is one of the many facets of SEO, but how is it measured?

Watch For a Rise in Organic Traffic

An increase of traffic is one of the easiest ways of measuring SEO. Google Analytics is a phenomenal tool you can use to view the changes in traffic over the course of your campaign. By looking at specific data inside of analytics you can understand what you need to watch to validate the rise in Organic Traffic.

Inside of Google Analytics, using the menu on the left, Acquisition -> Overview to see how much traffic is coming from Organic Search.  As you track more data over time, you can watch your efforts payoff as the numbers increase.

Measuring Your SEO ROI: Digital Marketing ROI Series

Monitor Inbound Links

Inbound links are important for SEO. The more your website is linked in different places on the Internet, the more visibility you’ll gain in search engines. That increased visibility will lead to better rankings and more organic traffic.

You can track your links through Google Webmaster, using the menu on the left, Search Traffic -> Links to Your Site.

Review Your Organic Rankings

The primary purpose of SEO is to increase your ranking on the major search engines for particular keywords and phrases. You want your website to be among the top results when users perform searches using keywords relevant to your service. It is a known fact that digital marketers agree; users typically only look at the first three search engine results. The further down your website is on the page, the fewer clicks you’ll get.

To get a rough understanding for your rankings, you can do the following:

  1. Inside of Google Chrome (or your favorite browser) do a private or incognito search.
  2. Do a search for a specific set of Keywords, for example “Digital Marketing St Cloud MN”.
    1. If you want to change your current location when doing a search you can click on the “Search Tools” to change your current location to another state or country.
  3. Scroll down past the ads and the local results to see where you are listed in the search results.
  4. Now, change the Keywords to various scenarios to get a rough estimation of how you are ranking*

Organic Local Search on Google

*This is only a rough estimation, many factors come into play for rankings.

Increased Revenue

Whether your website brings in revenue through ads, affiliate links or the sale of products and services, an increase in revenue is a clear indicator of the success of an SEO campaign. Monitor the revenues closely once you begin a campaign. This is the most obvious way of measuring your ROI.

Monitoring all these activities should give you a fairly confident idea of how well an SEO campaign is doing. However, it is important to remember that there is no magical formula for SEO that will work ideally for each specific company. Consistency and patience are also necessary. When working through organic SEO campaigns we have seen it take up to 9 months for terms to start ranking.

At Cohlab, we fully understand the importance of knowing your digital marketing ROI. That is why we do take the time to ensure you understand both the tangible and intangible results of your digital marketing efforts. We “cohlaborate” with you on proving out your marketing ROI, and our strategy has been greatly successful for digital marketing clients. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. Our team would love to speak with you and answer any questions you may have. Our mission is to provide you with Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

Cellphone showing a rising line graph on a red backgroundPhoto by YTCount on Unsplash

Measuring Your Digital Marketing ROI: A Brief Introduction

/in ,

As a business owner, you understand the concept that to make a profit, you need to make more money than what you spend. When you choose to invest money in a product or service, you hope to see a return on investment (ROI). While some things are easy to measure, such as the cost to produce an item versus the selling price, other investments may not be so straightforward. We realize that the money you spend on your digital marketing may be difficult to part with, primarily because understanding the return on investment is not so clearly defined. Over the next several weeks, we will be presenting a series of articles covering the different aspects of digital marketing, and how to better measure those aspects in terms of your ROI.

For this first installment, we will be discussing the measurement of your digital marketing ROI overall. Future posts will cover topics including social marketing, email marketing, website design, and several others. Our hope is that these articles will be helpful to better understand the value of digital marketing, and how you can easily measure the impact your efforts are having.

Measuring Your Digital Marketing ROI

There is a terrific quote by department store merchant John Wanamaker stating. “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Though this quote is from the late 1800’s, it can still ring true today in our digital age. Fortunately, measuring digital marketing ROI is becoming increasingly easier, making it possible for business owners to better understand their investment and ensure that they are getting their money’s worth. However, there are differing schools of thought on the way in which measuring digital marketing ROI is done most efficiently. Each type of measurement comes with its own advantages and levels of accuracy. We will look at some of the most commonly used methods, and give an overview of what information they are or are not able to provide.

Challenges of Measurement

In theory, measuring your ROI for digital marketing should be relatively straightforward. Just consider the amount invested in a campaign, examine the sales numbers and profit margins, and divide it by the investment amount. In reality, there are certain aspects that make this difficult. The first is time, and the second is unpredicted events that influence the profit numbers. The first method to help overcome these challenges used test campaigns. In this process, you run two marketing campaigns using the same medium with slightly different content, messages, and other marketing strategies. By examining the numbers for both, it is easier to determine which method was more successful for future marketing investments. However, this A/B testing process can be costly and time consuming. While tests may be an excellent option, it is not likely a method that you will often use. It can be very helpful when beginning you digital marketing strategy, or when you notice a slump in its effectiveness.

An Alternate Method

Time adds another challenge because long-term marketing campaigns can be difficult to measure. The reason is that if a campaign gains you a customer, subsequent purchases may be a result of the marketing. However, these additional sales are not easily measured. The cumulative nature of long term digital marketing creates probabilities that are prohibitive to accurate measurement. That is why the method of measuring program to program cost savings is often used. This method looks at the number of impressions against the expense of a particular method of digital marketing over another. By examining these cost per view numbers, one can detect where their digital marketing dollar is best spent. The negative aspect of this is that it does not take into account how many of those impressions led to sales. The real value of each impression is lost.

Consider the Intangibles

There are other excellent options for measuring digital marketing ROI being developed and released. For example, Google has tools for this process which will be covered more in-depth in a future article. These new methods of measurement allow a more robust understanding of how one’s money is working for them. The possibility of measuring conversions and sales, instead of only impressions makes the calculation of ROI much easier. However, there are always the intangible benefits that must be considered which you cannot adequately measure. This would include things such as an improved brand image or the customer’s perceived notion of your expertise in your field. These intangible digital marketing benefits are certainly felt as your strategy continues over time. What is problematic is that though you will experience these sorts of benefits, they are not so easy to place a value on for calculation.

It is critical that as a company you are aware of your digital marketing ROI. Working closely with a digital marketing firm, who will take the time to educate you, and will provide the information needed to successfully determine ROI in the best possible manner is an excellent option. Moreover, though you can find that information about what your campaign is doing in terms of tangible numbers, you must also consider the benefits that come which cannot be.

At Cohlab, we fully understand the importance of knowing your digital marketing ROI. That is why we do take the time to ensure you understand both the tangible and intangible results of your digital marketing efforts. We “cohlaborate” with you on proving out your marketing ROI, and our strategy has been greatly successful for digital marketing clients. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. Our team would love to speak with you and answer any questions you may have. Our mission is to provide you with Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

Measuring Your Digital Marketing ROI: A Brief Introduction

/in ,

As a business owner, you understand the concept that to make a profit, you need to make more money than what you spend. When you choose to invest money in a product or service, you hope to see a return on investment (ROI). While some things are easy to measure, such as the cost to produce an item versus the selling price, other investments may not be so straightforward. We realize that the money you spend on your digital marketing may be difficult to part with, primarily because understanding the return on investment is not so clearly defined. Over the next several weeks, we will be presenting a series of articles covering the different aspects of digital marketing, and how to better measure those aspects in terms of your ROI.

For this first installment, we will be discussing the measurement of your digital marketing ROI overall. Future posts will cover topics including social marketing, email marketing, website design, and several others. Our hope is that these articles will be helpful to better understand the value of digital marketing, and how you can easily measure the impact your efforts are having.

Measuring Your Digital Marketing ROI

There is a terrific quote by department store merchant John Wanamaker stating. “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Though this quote is from the late 1800’s, it can still ring true today in our digital age. Fortunately, measuring digital marketing ROI is becoming increasingly easier, making it possible for business owners to better understand their investment and ensure that they are getting their money’s worth. However, there are differing schools of thought on the way in which measuring digital marketing ROI is done most efficiently. Each type of measurement comes with its own advantages and levels of accuracy. We will look at some of the most commonly used methods, and give an overview of what information they are or are not able to provide.

Challenges of Measurement

In theory, measuring your ROI for digital marketing should be relatively straightforward. Just consider the amount invested in a campaign, examine the sales numbers and profit margins, and divide it by the investment amount. In reality, there are certain aspects that make this difficult. The first is time, and the second is unpredicted events that influence the profit numbers. The first method to help overcome these challenges used test campaigns. In this process, you run two marketing campaigns using the same medium with slightly different content, messages, and other marketing strategies. By examining the numbers for both, it is easier to determine which method was more successful for future marketing investments. However, this A/B testing process can be costly and time consuming. While tests may be an excellent option, it is not likely a method that you will often use. It can be very helpful when beginning you digital marketing strategy, or when you notice a slump in its effectiveness.

An Alternate Method

Time adds another challenge because long-term marketing campaigns can be difficult to measure. The reason is that if a campaign gains you a customer, subsequent purchases may be a result of the marketing. However, these additional sales are not easily measured. The cumulative nature of long term digital marketing creates probabilities that are prohibitive to accurate measurement. That is why the method of measuring program to program cost savings is often used. This method looks at the number of impressions against the expense of a particular method of digital marketing over another. By examining these cost per view numbers, one can detect where their digital marketing dollar is best spent. The negative aspect of this is that it does not take into account how many of those impressions led to sales. The real value of each impression is lost.

Consider the Intangibles

There are other excellent options for measuring digital marketing ROI being developed and released. For example, Google has tools for this process which will be covered more in-depth in a future article. These new methods of measurement allow a more robust understanding of how one’s money is working for them. The possibility of measuring conversions and sales, instead of only impressions makes the calculation of ROI much easier. However, there are always the intangible benefits that must be considered which you cannot adequately measure. This would include things such as an improved brand image or the customer’s perceived notion of your expertise in your field. These intangible digital marketing benefits are certainly felt as your strategy continues over time. What is problematic is that though you will experience these sorts of benefits, they are not so easy to place a value on for calculation.

It is critical that as a company you are aware of your digital marketing ROI. Working closely with a digital marketing firm, who will take the time to educate you, and will provide the information needed to successfully determine ROI in the best possible manner is an excellent option. Moreover, though you can find that information about what your campaign is doing in terms of tangible numbers, you must also consider the benefits that come which cannot be.

At Cohlab, we fully understand the importance of knowing your digital marketing ROI. That is why we do take the time to ensure you understand both the tangible and intangible results of your digital marketing efforts. We “cohlaborate” with you on proving out your marketing ROI, and our strategy has been greatly successful for digital marketing clients. Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. Our team would love to speak with you and answer any questions you may have. Our mission is to provide you with Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your organization’s needs.

Brown and gold doorway set in brick buildingPhoto by cetteup on Unsplash

Closing the Door! Why Is Google Cracking Down on Doorway Pages?

/in

Last month, Google released an update regarding their position on the use of doorway pages. A doorway page is simply a website or page that is specifically designed to obtain a high rank when certain search terms are used. In short, they are created to fill the search engine ranking results with similar pages that all lead visitors to the same end point. The reason this is a problem is because, as Google explains, “doorway pages that are created solely for search engines can harm the quality of the user’s search experience.” This is because a visitor can click on a site link from their search reach a page that isn’t what they were seeking. When they go back and click a different site link, a doorway page may cause them to end up on that same unhelpful page. So, now that we know what doorway pages are, it is important to understand what specifically Google is doing and which pages or sites they are targeting.

What Google Is Doing About Doorway Pages

Google stands on its mission to provide the best and most relevant search listings to their users. Since doorway pages can jeopardize the effectiveness of this, Google has decided to take action against them. They are launching a ranking adjustment to sites their algorithm views as a doorway. In other words, doorway sites will be penalized and dropped from the first-page results. While this may not affect small individual websites, it could spell trouble for sites using sophisticated doorway strategies.

What Google Is Targeting As A Doorway Page

As with any change to their algorithm, Google is careful to protect the exact details of the ranking adjustment. However, they have provided some considerations to determine if your website or pages are at risk. First, consider If you have pages, that are specially designed to funnel visitors to your key content, rather than act as a vital contribution to a visitor’s experience. It is likely those pages will be flagged by Google. Also, if the pages focus on directly drawing traffic rather than supplying any relevant information or value, it is probably a doorway. Another way you can help limit your chance of being flagged is to consider how accessible the pages in question are from your primary site. If visiting those pages from your site, instead of just finding your primary site through them, is challenging, you may also experience a sudden drop from the first page.

For Every Door Closed, Another Opens

If doorway traffic was a key driver of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, if you desire continued success you need a new method. Fortunately, page one rankings are possible with the use of organic SEO initiatives that put your website on top naturally, without the use of tactics that Google disapproves. An experienced and professional SEO website design firm can help you overcome these changes.

Wondering how your digital marketing efforts are doing? Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. We are also glad to answer any questions you may have and provide Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your company’s needs.

Woman looking through binoccularsPhoto by Kayla Farmer on Unsplash

Google using schema.org tags to highlight events in search

/in ,

~Recent Google Update

Google has now expanded the use of Schema.org tags and created a tool to check your website to see if there are any errors.  Here are 2 links that Google has created.

Structured Data Testing Tool

Prototype and test your markup

Knowledge Card

In March of 2015, Google made a change in how they display entertainment and events in their search results. Before the change, if someone searched for his or her favorite band, Google would often display a knowledge graph panel that presented a lot of great details about them. Details like the names of group members and upcoming concert dates appeared with clickable links for additional information. For Google, in their ongoing effort to provide the most accurate and relevant information possible, instead of providing information from various sources, they began providing information directly from the band’s website.

Musicians, comedians, and other entertainers could have their events shown to Google users with details about them and information on where and how they can purchase tickets. This great feature provides an exceptional way for entertainers to advertize their events, but also a super way for fans to learn more about them. However, in order to use this feature, it is the responsibility of the entertainer or their webmaster to make sure they have the correct schema.org markup tags on their website. If not, Google will not recognize and display their information.

About Schema.org Tags

You may be familiar with HTML tags that used on web pages that guide the web browser in the best way to display the information in the tag. The problem is that the browser may misinterpret HTML tags. A good example of this related to how browsers interpret HTML tags regarding dates. Because there are many different formats to display a date, the HTML tag may not display it as you’d like. The schema project is a collaboration between the major search engines to standardize the structure of the markup. Schema microdata helps to define what something is and how it to handle it. The use of schema microdata can help your SEO strategy because it has the likelihood of increasing visibility, including event information for entertainers.

How to Add Your Information with Schema.org

Schema is considered a best practice for SEO and a requirement under the new Google rules for their knowledge graph panels. That does not imply there is not some level work needed to do so. Fortunately, Google has provided comprehensive information that will assist webmasters and entertainers to appear in the feature. If you are promoting your event and would like Google to highlight information from your website, adding the schema microdata can provide a tremendous boost to your potential audience. After all, isn’t it more fun to entertain a full-house?

Wondering how your digital marketing efforts are doing? Use our complimentary Digital Marketing Scorecard to gain valuable insight on how your website rank compares to others. We are also glad to answer any questions you may have and provide Cohlaborative digital marketing solutions to meet your company’s needs.