This week we’re taking a journey through time and uncovering some of the greatest, yet most unexpected marketing lessons from some of history’s most influential thinkers, philosophers, and leaders. You may not realize it now, but there is so much we can learn from leaders like Socrates and Oprah and Cleopatra. Much of what they would consider their mantra has a ton of implications on marketing today. In episode 141 of the Science of Social Media, Brian and Hailley break down concepts like the Socratic Method, transparency, rhetoric, and lots more. 8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential LeadersWhat follows is a detailed summary of the episode transcript. Feel free to jump around and explore each of these top marketing lessons from history’s most influential leaders in this week’s Science of Social Media:
1. AristotleOne of the most well-known philosophies of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle (born in 384 BC), is his idea of persuasion, otherwise known as rhetoric. He breaks down persuasion into the three categories: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. These three concepts can be valuable for content marketers, writers, and bloggers. After all, isn’t persuasion one of the most important parts in marketing?
You must establish your credibility and reputation as a writer. This is done through personal branding and your ability to build a following. Ideally this would results in brand building and thought leadership. 2. SocratesNext up on our list of marketing lessons from historical leaders, born 90 years before Aristotle, is Socrates. Those that took a middle school science class learned about the Socratic Method. The Socratic Method is used in asking questions and posing theories to investigate and to stimulate the foundation of new ideas. The Socratic Method applies to the interactive aspect of marketing. Get your readers involved by asking them questions or looking for their ideas on certain issues and engage them with interactive content. Invite your audience to engage in a lively debate. Actively involve them in your marketing process so that your team can generate new product ideas, marketing campaigns, and content topics based on the feedback you’ve received directly from the people that matter most. Most of all, don’t forget that the Socratic Method applies internally as well. Your team should be debating and questioning trends, norms, traditions, and ideas at all times. 3. Oprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey has built much of the rapport she has with fans by being honest throughout her career. Oprah stayed true to herself and was honest to her audience through ups and downs. She also held her guests to this standard as well – ensuring that honesty was always the number one priority. The benefit of this honesty and transparency in marketing is that it helps to build trust with your customers. Think of all of the brands that create a memorable customer experience by being genuine, human and transparent. A modern social media strategy demands authenticity and being transparent is something you can’t ignore. That is one of the most important marketing lessons Oprah has taught us from her success. 4. Abraham LincolnAs the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln became famous primarily because of his contributions to the abolition of slavery and the American Civil War. But aside from his political and human rights achievements, Lincoln is also known for his oratory skills. He has articulated some of the most memorable lines throughout his political career. In fact, his Gettysburg Address in 1863 became the most quoted speech in US history. His words live on as we apply them in the perspective of marketing, particularly when it comes to planning and preparation. Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” Marketers should understand that the more time spent on preparation, the less work they have to do in executing. In addition, Lincoln taught us that it’s not about the amount of hours you work or the number of projects you launch, it’s about the quality of those hours and projects. Focusing on fewer, but more impactful projects and campaigns will improve your brand’s results and most likely make you more successful in your career as well. 5. Catherine the GreatOne of the most influential political leaders of the Eighteenth Century, Catherine the Great was said to have played an important role in improving the welfare of Russian serfs. She placed emphasis on the arts and helped to cement Russia as one of the dominant countries in Europe. Catherine the Great is a shining example to modern marketers that it often takes incredible courage to make your vision come true. In Catherine the Great’s time, smallpox was a terrible problem throughout what is now the united kingdom and Russia. Catherine heard of the new inoculation treatments in England and risked the entire dynasty to travel and get her and her son inoculated. We know that creativity requires original thinking and transcending traditional ideas, yet we’re so inundated with incoming information, that it becomes harder and harder to truly think for ourselves. 6. Martin Luther King Jr.Very few people in American history are as celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and social activist who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. When examining King from a marketing perspective, he teaches us that not only carefully crafting, but truly believing in and embodying your brand message is critical for people to buy into what you’re saying. As marketers, it’s only when we truly believe in our message and stand behind it 100% that can it be successful. Carefully crafting your message is time well spent and pays ten-fold in the long run. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech is world-famous still today. We might compare that world-famous effect with going viral. Messages that are particularly well-crafted spread like wildfire throughout the Internet. The marketing lessons bestowed from MLK Jr. include saying what you want to say as quickly and clearly as you can. Use words everyone understands. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech isn’t an hour long or even 30 minutes. It’s 17-minutes in total and something that changed the course of history forever. 7. CleopatraOne of the more interesting, yet fairly unknown historical leaders on our list is Cleopatra. C Cleopatra ruled ancient Egypt for almost three decades. Well-educated and clever, Cleopatra could speak 6 different languages and was known as a strong and charismatic ruler. During her reign, she forged political alliances with Roman military leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony – which helped to hold many regions together over decades. In terms of marketing lessons, Cleopatra had an incredible knack for seeing the bigger picture. As marketers it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day: writing articles, posting to social media, analyzing our efforts, and everything that comes with the role. Sometimes we forget to look up and ask: “why”? Why are we doing this? How does what we’re doing at this moment contribute to the greater goal? We need to understand how our tactics relate to the strategy and matching our behavior to that understanding. 8. Eleanor Roosevelt“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt is a perfect example of a leader that practiced creative innovation – including helping redefine and shape the role of the First Lady. She not only participated in radio broadcasts, she also authored a daily syndicated column, held press conferences to discuss women’s issues, and was an active supporter of civil rights policies and New Deal social-welfare programs. Her ability to redefine expectations is a reminder that great marketers always look for opportunities to break the mold. To get to the next level in marketing, we must think outside the box to what seems unimaginable. Make space to think. Make space to challenge assumptions. Make space to break things. So what is it that you hope to accomplish? Does it seem too big or too scary to do? We hope you challenge that notion and set your goals as high as they can go. How to say hello to usWe would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!
Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast. Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!-- About The Science of Social Media podcastThe Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 27,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result! The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback. via Blogger 8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders By now, marketing teams all over the world are familiar with the concept of SEO. You know all about keywords and search engines and using high-quality links. But are you prepared to market toward voice search? A GlobalWebIndex search report revealed that 27 percent of consumers already use voice search on their mobile devices, and 34 percent confirmed that they are interested in having voice-based smart assistants in their homes. That’s on top of the nearly 53 million U.S. adult consumers who already use a voice-activated smart device at home. These numbers will only grow, so any business hoping to stay on top of consumer trends needs to be implementing an Alexa marketing strategy. And the best way to get started is by turning to the maker of Alexa itself -- Amazon. In 2014, Amazon introduced the Echo, which was the first standalone device devoted to a smart voice assistant. Competitors like Google soon followed with devices like Google Home, and consumers responded enthusiastically. A study by eMarketer predicted that about 35 million people in the U.S. would use voice-activated devices at least once a month in 2017, up 128 percent from 2016. If you think you might be interested in using voice-activated smart devices to supplement your marketing strategy in 2019, consider using Alexa Skills, which allows brands to provide customers with the ability to interact with their products or services in a conversational way. To learn more, keep reading. Why You Should Have an Alexa Skill for Your BusinessIf you're reading this, there's a good chance you're in the same place as many marketers these days -- you might be on the fence about Alexa for business, wondering how to decide whether creating and operating an Alexa Skill is right for your team. To answer this question, it's critical you figure out whether Alexa Skill will allow you to reach your target audience. For example, is your brand positioned toward consumers, or other businesses? While Alexa is becoming increasingly integrated with business tools, it is still primarily a household feature, so it makes the most sense for B2C businesses. Additionally, there are two main purposes for using Alexa Skills -- building brand loyalty, or creating direct revenue. Building an Alexa Skill for your brand can improve the convenience of your product or service, without necessarily driving revenue. Even without a direct tie to sales, improving convenience can nonetheless help you enhance your user experience, and make consumers more likely to interact with your brand without interrupting your daily routine. Alternatively, you might use Alexa Skills to create direct revenue for your business. How You Can Use Alexa for BusinessLet’s say you're a marketer for a regional bank. You create a Skill for a user to check his balance, direct a payment, or transfer funds using voice command. By making it more convenient for customers to manage their finances, your brand obtains a reputation for being innovative and helpful. This, indirectly, creates revenue by driving conversions. Making money directly from your Alexa Skill is possible, as well. E-commerce businesses have more tools than ever to make online shopping easy for customers, and more profitable for brands. For instance, Purina is a well-known leader in the pet food market. Despite its success, Purina chose to use Alexa Skills to improve its customer experience. The skill it created, Ask Purina, uses Amazon AI to answer customers' questions about products. Additionally, it serves as an authority on dogs in general. Users can "Ask Purina" about current or future products, and get answers to queries like, "What breeds are best with children?" or "Find me dogs that don’t shed." With this Skill, customers can find the information they need, as well as a new reason to stay loyal to the company. Tide has also created its own Alexa Skill. The company’s Tide Stain Remover Skill offers its users step-by-step instructions via voice on how to eliminate about 200 forms of stains so users can implement the steps in real time. Consumers already recognize Tide as an expert in caring for stains -- this Alexa Skill is merely an extension of that, building on the company's reputation and improving goodwill with consumers. Where You Can Implement Your Own Alexa Skills StrategyNow that you know why you should have an Alexa Skill for your business, as well as how it can benefit you, there are a few different ways to strategize for your company’s custom Alexa Skill. Here’s how to get started. 1. Establish a content marketing plan.The Purina example above demonstrates an actionable way to build a positive brand reputation without selling a product. Content marketing is an excellent way to build and nurture relationships with both current and prospective customers -- an Alexa Skill simply provides a convenient way to achieve that goal. Identify the content your team already has and how it can be modified to fit a voice-specific strategy. Alexa Skills are activated when users ask specific questions or use particular "utterances" that you set, so make sure your best pieces of content include those phrases so your Skill will pull them up to deliver via voice. Purina is a great example here -- the company has created content about dog breeds to showcase its expertise, and when customers ask, “Which dog breed is best for an apartment?” the company’s Alexa Skill can deliver that content. Content marketing campaigns are known to create more than three times the number of leads than outbound marketing does -- and they cost 62 percent less. Your Alexa Skills plan should complement your company's existing content strategy and should be a natural extension to the queries your customers are conducting in other formats. 2. Leverage Alexa for e-commerce.Amazon has made voice technology easy for e-commerce businesses to roll out because it benefits Amazon, too. There are now several ways to make money with Alexa Skills. When people buy things online, chances are they're using Amazon to do so. If you sell products online, it might not be ideal to sell through Amazon, but it can be worth it if an integrated Skill can boost your sales by a large enough margin. In 2018 alone, Amazon e-commerce sales totaled about $258.2 billion, an almost 30 percent increase from 2017. With Amazon taking up nearly half of the e-commerce market, it stands to reason that if you're operating within Amazon’s platform, you'll be able to snag a piece of that pie. And with an Alexa Skill related to your product, users who use voice search and shop on Amazon will have an easier time ordering your products. Take Tide, for example -- customers who use that company's Skill to find stain removal tips can also use their voice to order Tide products. That takes a step out of the purchasing process, allowing consumers to buy those products without pulling up the Amazon app or website and clicking through all the available options. 3. Unveil a voice-activated loyalty program.Some brands are driving a higher level of loyalty with programs that offer credits or points to users who make purchases using Alexa Skill. With a voice-enabled loyalty program, your brand is more likely to stay top of mind among Alexa users when they need to stock up on a product like yours. Bridge2 Solutions debuted its Points Pal offering in 2017 and is reportedly the first voice-activated reward experience. With Points Pal, brands can make interacting with their existing rewards programs possible with voice commands such as "Tell me my points balance", "Put this item in my favorites list", or "Let’s pay for this using my points and credit card". Considering that customers who are part of a loyalty or rewards program tend to spend more than customers who are not, setting up a loyalty program and making it accessible via voice can add a bonus benefit when you're setting up your Alexa Skill. Additionally, it's important you ensure the program can be launched across different smart assistants, so that even if your customers are away from their Echos, they can still keep track of their points using other voice-based services. Not using an Alexa Skill for your business doesn't automatically mean you'll be left behind. But depending on your brand and the market in which you're operating, you might be -- especially considering the increasing number of consumers who own smart speakers and use them regularly. Optimize your Alexa marketing strategy now to avoid falling behind your competitors. via Blogger The Ultimate Guide to Alexa Skills Marketing Growing up, there was only one thing my mom knew how to do on the internet that I could never figure out -- creating an email group. What’s even more surprising is that I sent email blasts to my friends all the time, but I never asked my mom how to make an email group. I would just manually enter my friends’ email addresses into the recipients box. Gosh, I was such a rebel. If you’ve gotten over your teen angst and don’t want to manually enter your family’s, friends’, or coworkers’ email addresses every time you want to send an email blast to them, we’ve got you covered. Check out our five-step guide on creating a group in Gmail. How to Create a Group in Gmail
1. Visit Google Contacts.You can find Google Contacts in the middle of the bottom row of your Google Apps tab. 2. Click “Contacts”, “Frequently contacted”, or “Directory”.It’s likely you won’t have contacts saved in Google Contacts, but you can still access the email addresses of people you frequently interact with by clicking “Frequently contacted” or everyone who currently works at your company by clicking “Directory" in the left side bar. 3. Select the contacts you want to include in your group.4. Choose the “Label” icon and press “Create Label”.5. Name your label and type your group’s name in the recipients box to send an email to your group.via Blogger How to Create a Group in Gmail We all like to think we're good people. We do our best at work. We donate to charity. We're loyal to our friends. We're kind to our parents. And, particularly in times of doubt, we pull these examples to the very forefront of our minds to remind ourselves we're doing good. Typically, our idea of "good" and "bad" is relatively black and white -- in movies like The Lion King, for instance, you're either evil like Scar, or good like Simba. You can't be both. But what if our desire to cling tightly to the idea of being "good" actually gets in the way of us being better? According to Dolly Chugh, when it comes to being a good person, our either/or mentality does just that. Chugh -- who is a psychologist, a management professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, and the author of The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias -- says it's critical we let go of our rigid view of what it means to be good. If we don't, we risk being unable to own and grow from our mistakes. I sat down with Chugh to learn how our narrow view of "good" versus "bad" can actually impede us -- from becoming better leaders, employees, and people. Why Our "I Am Good" Identity Means So MuchImagine an identity you feel is incredibly important to you -- maybe you value being an intelligent student, a powerful leader, or a helpful friend. Let's say you value being a strong leader, but you're not sure if your colleagues would attribute this trait to you. As Chugh writes, "When we are unsure whether an important identity has been granted by others, our craving for affirmation becomes more intense and urgent ... i.e., if I value being seen as a loving mom, then I feel self-threat when other mothers judge me for working full-time." If you value being a leader, but don't feel properly acknowledged by others, you might feel self-threat when someone makes a comment like, "I've always thought you were too quiet to be a leader." Someone else, who doesn't care about being a good leader, might not feel such a threat. But here's the catch-22: When faced with self-threat (e.g., a threat to your identity), many of us become frenzied as we try to gain affirmation for that specific identity. And in our pursuit of that affirmation, we become less focused on being a good person, or any of our other identities that matter -- like being a good ally, or friend. As Chugh writes, "The affirmation [we desperately seek] relieves the self-threat, but ironically, we end up acting less like -- not more like -- the people we mean to be." Chugh and her colleagues have conducted research regarding people's morality in times of self-threat. For instance, Chugh asked participants to do a word scramble task, and measured whether each participant saw the task as a challenge or a threat. Ultimately, Chugh and colleagues found that when participants felt faced with a threat, they were more likely to morally disengage, or turn off their conscience. There have been other studies that have explored the correlation between self-threat and identity. One study asked 300 adults in England to indicate their intentions to change their travel behaviors. Half of the participants were shown short transport-related descriptions that were designed to threaten the participant's target identity (being a parent); the other half were shown neutral descriptions. As you might've guessed, participants who experienced self-threat were far more resistant to change than those who weren't. All of which is to say: If being "good" is an important identity to you (which, to most of us, it is), then you're more likely to morally disengage, and resist change, when you're experiencing self-threat -- even if that self-threat is meant to be helpful feedback. Ultimately, our narrow definition of "good" is too often constricting, and doesn't allow room for growth. Chugh told me, "We paint ourselves into a tight corner when we view being a good person as either/or. It makes it hard for us to see the times in which we might be contributing to a dynamic that discourages people of color from staying at the firm, or women from applying." "Sometimes," Chugh stresses, "We are good people with good intentions who are having bad impact." This only becomes worse when faced with self-threat.
To further emphasize how hard people work to protect their "good person" identities, Chugh mentions Taylor Phillips and colleagues' research on the 'hard-knock-life' effect. "We want to see ourselves as deserving and free from unfair advantage. Phillips shows that we literally remember our childhoods as more difficult when we are told of disadvantages people from other groups face,” Chugh explains. “That is how powerfully our unconscious mind fights to protect our good person identity." But … is that such a bad thing? The Problem With Wanting To Be GoodThere's nothing wrong with wanting to be good. Unfortunately, the problem arises when you believe you're either inherently good or inherently bad, with no room for mistakes or growth. For instance, consider the last time you behaved in a way that felt less than ideal -- maybe you made an offensive joke in the office kitchen. Perhaps someone at work called you privileged, so you felt judged for your lack of charity work. When these instances arise, we typically become defensive -- when we'd benefit more greatly from remaining open and receptive. In her TED Talk, Chugh explains how flawed our mentality towards morality truly is. "If you needed to learn accounting, you would take an accounting class, or if you become a parent, we pick up a book and we read about it. We talk to experts, we learn from our mistakes, we update our knowledge, we just keep getting better," Chugh says.
Chugh urges us to change our thinking -- what if, instead of needing to be good all the time (or not at all), we just tried our best to be "good-ish"? Chugh told me how important it is to "let go of being a good person and embrace being a good-ish person. Good-ish people actively look for their blind spots and mistakes. So, if someone helps us notice a blind spot, it is actually doing us a favor." To further understand her research, let's consider an example. Say you're a team leader, and a coworker from HR mentions that your team lacks diversity. More than likely, you'll jump to your own defense: "We actually have three women on the team!", you'll say, not noticing that you're still lacking other types of diversity. Your comment makes you feel reassured that you're a good person, but ultimately, it doesn't help you grow, or recognize the blind spot you might've missed. In other aspects of our lives, we're very capable of receiving feedback -- and yet, where it matters most, we too often fall short. Instead, let's say you've embraced the idea that you're "good-ish", like Chugh suggests. Maybe you pause when you hear your coworker's comment, and think, "Huh. That's a good point -- I should adjust my recruitment strategy. Too many of my employees are extroverted, which leaves little room for talent diversity. Additionally, while I do have three women on my team, I don't have any women of color, which isn't okay." By operating under the belief that morality is nuanced and dynamic, and not at all black-and-white, you're more capable of owning your mistakes -- which is ultimately critical to becoming a better leader, and person. If you're in a leadership position, Chugh suggests adopting a growth mindset. She told me, "I think senior leaders owe it to themselves to work one-on-one with an executive coach to wrestle with their blind spots privately. This is hard work and it is difficult to do in the limelight." In her TED Talk, Chugh acknowledges the difficulty of becoming vulnerable and receptive to feedback regarding our own integrity. It certainly isn't easy. But, as Chugh points out, "As a good-ish person ... I become better at noticing my own mistakes. I don't wait for people to point them out. I practice finding them, and as a result ... Sure, sometimes it can be embarrassing, it can be uncomfortable. We put ourselves in a vulnerable place, sometimes. But through all that vulnerability, just like in everything else we've tried to ever get better at, we see progress. We see growth. We allow ourselves to get better." Ultimately, dropping the pressure you feel to be "good" -- and allowing yourself to admit you're "good-ish" -- could be the difference between being a good leader and a great one, or a good ally and a great one. And who wouldn't want that? via Blogger How Being 'Good-ish' Can Make You A Better Leader Every time you surf the web, a whole bunch of technical stuff happens behind the scenes to deliver content to your screen. Engineers are usually the ones managing these activities. Marketers, even those with technical chops, tend to shy away from it. One of these activities is an HTTP request, and it's actually not as complicated as you might think. In fact, marketers need to have at least a general understanding of the actions their own website performs each time a person visits it. The metrics marketers tend to be responsible for can depend heavily on how the backend of a website is developed. For example, a high number of HTTP requests by your webpage can slow down the page's load time, which ultimately damages the user experience. This can cause your visitors to leave the page more quickly if it doesn't load fast enough (which increases your HTTP requests can affect numerous key metrics that determine how engaged your audience is with your business. So, what exactly is an HTTP request? How does it affect the user experience? And what can a marketer do to reduce their website's HTTP requests? Let's go through each of these questions one by one. By the end, you'll have a better grasp on why these response protocols matter, and what you can do to give your website visitors a better, faster experience. What are HTTP Requests?HTTP requests happen when a web browser sends a "request" to your website's server for information on a webpage. When a user visits a page on your website, your server heeds this request and returns the files contained on that page to the user's browser. The fewer HTTP requests a website has to make, the faster the site can load. Each time someone visits a page on your website, here's what typically happens:
The above steps describe a single HTTP request, from ask to answer. HTTP stands for "Hypertext Transfer Protocol," which is just a fancy name for a web browser sending a request for a file, and the server sending (or "transferring") that file to the browser. Why HTTP Requests Affect the User ExperienceThere are two reasons HTTP requests can affect your website's user experience: the number of files being requested and the size of the files being transferred. More Files = More HTTP RequestsA web browser needs to make a separate HTTP request for every single file on your website. If your website doesn't have many files, it won't take very long to request and download the content on your site. But most good websites do have a lot of files. The more files on your website, the more HTTP requests your user's browser will need to make. The more HTTP requests a browser makes, the longer your site takes to load. Bigger Files = Longer HTTP RequestsThe size of the file being transferred is also a factor in how long a page may take to load on a user's screen. And just as the files on your computer have various file sizes -- measured in bytes (B), kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), and so on -- so too do the files embedded on your webpage. Big, high-definition images are a common culprit of large file sizes. In other words, the larger or higher definition the content is on your website, the larger its file size is. The larger the file size, the longer it will take to transfer it from your server to a user's browser. The longer this file is it transit, the longer a user's browser has to wait before it renders this content on his/her screen. How HTTP Requests Affect the User ExperienceA long load time can be a disruptive and frustrating experience for your users. Mobile users will have a particularly bad experience, as most of them will have to wait until every asset on a webpage is downloaded before the page even begins to appear in their mobile browser. And research shows load time matters when it comes to website performance. According to data from Pingdom, a website performance monitor, a page's bounce rate can soar from 9% to a whopping 38% if its page load time increases from just 2 seconds to 5 seconds. This is because lots more people "bounce" from your website during that three-second delay. So, what's the magic number of HTTP requests a website should aim for? The answer is not "one." Some people think they can solve the problem by only using one JavaScript file to control their entire website. But remember: File size affects load time, too. For complex websites, that one file can be an incredibly long trip from your server to your audience's browser. Although there isn't necessarily an optimal number of files your webpage should be reduced to, HubSpot's principal product marketing manager Jeffrey Vocell suggests aiming for between 10–30 files. For most top-performing websites, getting there is difficult and generally requires dedicated engineering resources. As of March 2019, the median number of HTTP page requests to load a webpage on mobile or desktop was between 69 and 75 requests. How to Make Fewer HTTP Requests to Your Website1. Grade your website's performance to find the root problem.If you're starting from scratch, with no idea how your website is performing, you'll first want a detailed report of your website's overall health. To get this report, check out HubSpot's Website Grader. Using Website Grader, simply enter your email address and the URL of the webpage you want to audit. You'll receive a free, personalized report that grades your site on key metrics including mobile readiness, SEO, your page's total file size, and of course, how many HTTP requests the page is receiving. This grader can help you diagnose the precise issue you suspect your website is having. For example, if you have a low number of page requests, but a high page size, your goal should be to reduce the size of the media on your website -- not necessarily to reduce the amount of HTTP requests you're requiring browsers to make. 2. Check how many HTTP requests your site currently makes.Once you have an idea of how "big" your webpage is, and how many page requests it's requiring, use Google Chrome's Network panel to drill down into these numbers. This tool makes it easy for anyone to check what's on your page, how many HTTP requests the page makes, and what file is taking the longest to load. To Find a Request's Length ...First, this tool shows you all the files a browser had to request and transfer in order to download the page -- and it also shows a timeline of when this happened. For example, Google Chrome's API can tell you precisely when the HTTP request for an image started, and when the image's final byte was received. It's a really helpful way of seeing what's on your page and what's taking a long time to load. To see the Network panel for a given webpage, open the webpage in Google Chrome. In the main Chrome menu at the top of your screen, go to View > Developer > Developer Tools. The Network panel will open in your browser. Since it records all network activity while DevTools is open, the panel may be empty when you first open it. Reload the page to start recording, or just wait for network activity to occur in your application. Here's an overview of what everything in the Network panel means: Image Credit: Google To Count HTTP Requests ...Curious how many requests your website requires? The Network panel will tell you that, too. Take a look at the very bottom left of the screenshot above and you'll see the total number of requests; in this case, it's 25 requests. To learn how to read the panel and evaluate your network performance in more detail, read through this Google Chrome resource. 3. Remove unnecessary images.At this point, you should have an idea of which files are taking longest to load, including image files. The easiest way to reduce the number of requested files? Eliminate unnecessary images. Images are a valuable webpage asset because they make for a strong visual experience on your webpages. However, if you have images on your page that aren't contributing much value, it's best to just cut them out altogether -- especially the ones that are really large. 4. Reduce the file size for the remaining images.For the images you do keep, use high-quality photos that have a compressed file size. This will help reduce the time it takes to make a HTTP request, thereby reducing load time. If you're a HubSpot user, you don't have to worry too much about resizing and compressing images -- the HubSpot COS will automatically resize and compress your images when you upload them into your HubSpot file manager. To resize an image further, once you've uploaded it into your file manager, click "Clone and edit," as shown below: Keep in mind you can always reduce the file size of your images further before uploading them into your website. If you have a webpage with many separate images on it, for instance, it'll behoove you to reduce their file sizes as much as you can before publishing the page. If possible, we recommend reducing each image's file size to less than 100 KB. Depending on the image, you might need to compromise on this minimum, and that's alright. Just try your best to keep your individual files from entering megabytes ("MB") territory. To compress your images to their minimum, use a tool like Squoosh, a tool developed by Google to shrink image file sizes at the slight expense of image quality. The more you shrink the file size, the lower the image quality can get -- use Squoosh's sliding compressor meter to strike a balance between quality and size that suits you. Your time is precious, though, and compressing images one by one can be a tedious task. To compress many images at once, consider using TinyPNG. 5. Set your website to load page files asynchronously.By default, many websites load the content they receive from top to bottom on a webpage. So, even if a user's web browser performs more than one HTTP request at a time, the content it receives loads piece by piece. This is also known as "render blocking," and it can make your entire webpage load more slowly because each file is waiting its turn to load in a user's web browser. Setting your website to load content "asynchronously" can override this rule. Asynchronous loading allows website content to render multiple page elements at the same time, no matter where they sit on the page. On WordPress, there are numerous plugins that can help you do this. HubSpot also allows you to change where a popular JavaScript element known as "jQuery" renders on a webpage so you're not stuck waiting for it to load. See the screenshot below to see this option, and read more about it here. 6. Evaluate other parts of your page that are contributing to page load time.Cutting and compressing images are a great first step to reducing HTTP requests and page load time. But what else did you see on the Network panel that's adding requests? For example, you might find that a video or Twitter integration adds an entire second or two to your load time. That's good to know. From there, you and your team can decide whether those assets are worth keeping. 5) Make JavaScript asynchronous.If you have JavaScript on your page that's not asynchronous then you'll want to take it to your developer to make it asynchronous -- or remove it from the webpage altogether, if possible. Why? It all comes down to user experience. When a person's browser loads a webpage, it loads the page's assets from top to bottom. When it hits a JavaScript file and wants to load it, if that JavaScript is not asynchronous, then the browser will stop loading everything else on the page until it loads that JavaScript file in its entirely. If that JavaScript is asynchronous, then the browser will load it at the same time as it continues loading other elements on the page. Asynchronous JavaScript files make for a better user experience. To learn more about making JavaScript code asynchronous, I recommend checking out this presentation by Steve Souders and this blog post by Visual Website Optimizer. 7. Combine CSS files together.Every CSS file you use for your website adds to the number of HTTP requests your website requires, thereby adding time to your page load speed. While this is sometimes unavoidable, in most cases, you can actually combine two or more CSS files together. (You may have to get help from a developer for this.) What does this mean? Every time you identify multiple CSS files that look similar, listed in your website's HTML code, you have the opportunity to combine these files into one file so a user's browser doesn't have to make more than one HTTP request to produce these files. Here's an example of a group of separate CSS files before combining them: Now, take a look at how you can combine all of these files into one line, or file: Image credit: Apache Incubator If you use HubSpot, you can combine many CSS files automatically. CSS code can be anywhere on your site or in any number of files, and it'll still works just as well. In fact, often the only reason a site has multiple CSS files in the first place is because the site's designer found it easier to work with separate files. To learn more about combining CSS files, take a look at this front-end website performance guide. via Blogger How to Reduce Your Website's HTTP Requests When most businesses forecast their revenue goals, they first calculate their total addressable market, which is the total market demand for their industry’s products or services. Put simply, it’s the maximum amount of revenue a business could generate if they captured their entire market. However, unless you're a monopoly, you most likely can’t capture the total addressable market for your products or services. Even if you only have one competitor, it would still be extremely difficult to convince an entire market to only buy your products or services. That’s why it’s crucial to calculate the maximum amount of revenue you can possibly generate by selling your products or services to the customers who would realistically benefit from buying your solutions. This amount of potential revenue is called your market size or serviceable addressable market, and you can use it to accurately measure your business’ potential for growth. Market SizeYour market size, or serviceable addressable market, is the maximum amount of revenue you can possibly generate by selling your products or services to the potential customers who would realistically benefit from buying your solutions. This metric helps you accurately measure your business’ potential for growth. How to Calculate Market Size
via Blogger The Simple 2-Step Process for Calculating Your Market Size Nowadays, almost every brand has a YouTube channel. However, almost no brands can boast a flourishing one. Building a thriving YouTube channel is one of the most ambitious achievements a marketer can pursue. Not only do you have to spend time scripting, producing, and editing videos, but you also have to make sure your content actually resonates with your target audience. To help inspire you, we’ve put together a list of video ideas that HubSpot has experienced success with on our own YouTube channel. Read on to get the creative juices flowing. YouTube Video Ideas
1. About UsYour “About Us” video’s main job is to introduce your brand to future customers and make a good first impression with them. Before you put pen to paper, though, you must remember that people don’t just want to know what your company does and how you do it. They also want to know why you do it. Put simply, your brand’s purpose is what actually resonates with your audience and inspires them to follow you. So when you’re scripting your video, make sure you spotlight why your organization exists, the values you truly believe in, and, ultimately, the reason people should care about your brand. Only then should you cover what your product or service is and how you build or develop it. 2. CultureAs I approach my one-year anniversary as a college graduate, reality has officially sunk into my bones. As adults, we spend the majority of our lives working -- and not hanging out with our friends like we did during the glory days. However, I’ve also realized that if you love your job and company, work isn’t some dreadful chore that you check off your to-do list everyday. It’s actually a blessing and something you can’t imagine living your life without. In order to build a company that your employees love working for, cultivating an authentic, people-first culture is a crucial first step. Once you do this, consider creating a video that highlights your culture and your employees’ genuine praises about your company. Not only will it persuade elite talent to apply to your open roles, but it’ll make potential customers think more highly of your brand. 3. Ask Me AnythingSince your executives’ public perception directly impacts people’s sentiment toward your brand, like Elon Musk and Tesla, they’re essentially the face of your company. And with all the status, attention, and aura surrounding them, your knee-jerk reaction might be to polish their interactions with the public as much as possible. However, most people can spot a walking press releases faster than they can exit out of pop-up ad. So it’s actually better to set your executives free and allow them to genuinely interact with the public. Breaking down the barriers between your executives and audience also makes your fans feel like they actually know your leaders on a personal level -- and this’ll develop a more intimate and loyal relationship between your company and your potential customers. One of the best ways to connect your executives with your audience is by setting up Ask Me Anything or Q&A sessions, where people can ask your executives any question they want and your executives agree to honestly answer as many of their questions as they can. 4. ComedyEven in 2019, most companies still stuff their YouTube channels with formulaic corporate videos that are scripted in jargonese. Trying to capture people’s attention with these boilerplate videos is nearly impossible. That said, what’s the best strategy for standing out from the crowd? Well, according to Psychology Today, humans associate the same personality traits to brands as they do with people, so, just like how we choose the people we spend our lives with, we engage with the brands that can evoke warm feelings in us, especially feelings of humor. So before you green-light another talking head video, think about spicing it up and adding some humor. You’ll inject more color and personality into your brand, which consumers desperately crave when they interact with businesses. 5. ShowsIn the neuroscience field, researchers have proven that storytelling is the best way to capture people’s attention, bake information into their memories, and resonate emotionally with them. The human brain is programmed to crave, seek out, and respond to well-crafted narrative -- that’ll never change. So just like your favorite Netflix show, creating shows can entire your viewers to watch entire seasons of your series, subscribe to your channel, and get more excited for your show’s newest season than they currently are for the final season of Game of Thrones. Most brands also produce their content disparately, severing them from any thematic anchor, so tying your stories to a unique angle and telling them in an episodic fashion can help separate your videos from the rest of the pack. 6. ExplainersWhether it’s an exciting new trend or difficult-to-grasp technology, your audience wants to learn about your industry’s innovations to stay ahead of the curve. In order to fill their curiosity gaps, consider creating explainer videos about your industry’s latest trends and technology. However, don’t just make a talking head video of someone droning on about the topic of discussion. People crave a variety of stimulus when they consume content, so get creative and complement your video’s narration and text with a diverse mix of dynamic graphics, popular movie scenes, and footage of real people. Visual storytelling also helps people grasp concepts and data easily, so each time your narrator expands on a concept or some data, your viewers can listen to the information and watch a visual representation of it, helping them form a concrete understanding of your video’s central idea. 7. TutorialsIt doesn’t matter if they’re guitar lessons, beauty lessons, or how-to videos about making a fire with a lemon, people love learning how to improve their lives. So if you can cover topics that people are passionate about and teach them how to get better at them, they’ll be able to live better lives, which will help grow your channel’s brand loyalty and sentiment, retain your viewers’ attention, and attract their friends’ attention by way of word-of-mouth marketing. Just like your explainers, make sure you diversify your tutorials’ visual stimuli. Because, contrary to the rest of the types of videos on this list, the best tutorials are actually talking head videos, but they also have engaging visuals that make them more distinct and gripping. 8. Customer Case StudiesSocial proof and word-of-mouth are some of the most potent tactics at your disposal. Humans evolved to follow the crowd and assume the majority is always right, so the more testimonials you have, the more credible and trustworthy your brand will seem. Your case studies are also some of the most persuasive types of sales enablement content, so make sure your sales reps and potential customers can easily find them on your YouTube channel. When scripting your case studies, you want to place your potential customers’ in your current customers’ shoes, so focus on how your customer faced a specific problem, what they initially did to try and solve it, how they discovered your solution, the experience of using your solution to solve their problem, and the results they produced with your solution. 9. Product PromosTailored for potential customers who are further along the buyer’s journey, product promos are videos that spotlight your product’s top features and tangible benefits. This type of video is powerful because it can convince potential customers to move on to the final stage of the buyer’s journey and seriously consider purchasing your product or service. If you want to learn how to create compelling product videos, check out one of Meghan Keaney Anderson’s blog posts about 7 of the Best Promotional Product Videos Ever Made. In her post, the VP of Marketing at HubSpot says remarkable product videos all share four elements: engaging dialogue and narration, a comprehensive yet concise explanation of the product and its benefits, professionalism, and empathy and relatability. To see one of these videos in action, check out this product promo about HubSpot’s Growth Stack. via Blogger 9 YouTube Video Ideas to Inspire Your Brand’s YouTube Channel [+ Examples] Last week, this appeared in my inbox: I hadn't even planned on online shopping that night -- and, while I'd been in the market for a new wallet, I wasn't considering Kate Spade as an option until I received this email. But those two words -- last chance -- compelled me to click, and subsequently purchase, from Kate Spade's website. I mean … I didn't want to miss out now, did I? Limited time offers are rooted in the psychological phenomenon known as loss aversion, which is the idea that people prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains. Simply put, someone would feel more upset losing $10 than they would feel happy winning $10. When I received Kate Spade's limited time offer, I immediately felt an impending sense of loss -- if I didn't act immediately, I'd lose the bargain. This spurred me into action. This is why limited time offers could be a good tactic to drive sales for your business. Here, we're going to take a look at impressive limited time offer ad examples, as well as compelling limited time offer wording, to ensure you're able to create your own highly engaging limited time offer ad. Limited Time Offer Ad Examples1. Bath & Body Works Semi-Annual SaleBath & Body Works Semi-Annual Sale impressively has its own landing page, and uses cute cartoon rubber ducks in a 42-second video to convey their deal. Plus, the limited time offer is incredibly compelling, using phrases like "up to 75% off storewide" and "the biggest sale of the year" to urge hesitant shoppers to stock up on their favorite soaps and candles. When creating your own offer, you might consider going all-out with a landing page and video to signify the importance of the deal. Image courtesy of Bath & Body Works. 2. Dunkin' Donuts' Pumpkin Spiced LatteEvery fall, Dunkin' Donuts' customers can get excited for new flavors for a limited time, including Dunkin's Pumpkin Crème Brulee Latte. Their "Pumpkin's Back, Get Pumped" messaging is funny and clever. This ad likely encourages returning customers to drive to a Dunkin to try something new -- additionally, it could appeal to a new demographic particularly intrigued by the pumpkin flavor. For your own limited offer, consider a seasonal product you might offer to incentivize both new and returning customers to purchase. Image courtesy of Theimpulsivebuy.com. 3. Target's Video Game OfferTarget often offers limited time two-for-one deals on their products -- in fact, they have a "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" landing page for their video games. Additionally, they temporarily offered a $10 gift card to incentivize customers to pre-order Borderlands 3 before April 9. For your own offer, you might try offering added value, like a gift card, on a product to encourage initial interest. Image courtesy of Target. 4. Tobi's 60% Off Denim DealTobi, an e-commerce clothing store, does an impressive job regularly attracting visitors to its site through deals and limited offers. For instance, take a look at this "60% Off Denim Sitewide" email from Tobi. The use of emojis helps the offer stand out in the user's inbox, and could even help a user more easily spot the email again after she opened it. Similar to Tobi, you might also consider offering an all-encompassing sale on a specific product category, like 'Denim'. Whether a user is interested in shopping for denim or not, the offer will likely peak users interest enough to attract more traffic to your site. 5. Macy's Lowest Prices of the Season SaleNot going to lie -- the ticking clock at the top of their web page even incentivized me to peruse some of Macy's temporarily on-sale products. Additionally, the "lowest of the season" messaging could urge hesitant shoppers to purchase products today from Macy's, rather than waiting to compare competitor's prices. Perhaps you offer your own "Lowest Prices" deal, which could motivate shoppers to purchase your products immediately. Image courtesy of Macy's. To sum up, there are plenty of strategies you can employ to find success with your own limited offer deal. Here are a few suggestions, inspired by the deals listed above:
Next, let's consider what type of wording you'll want to use in your limited time offer to truly motivate users to purchase immediately. Limited Time Offer WordingHurry. Last chance. Don't wait! These are the types of phrases you'll see accompanying limited time offers, and for good reason -- all of these phrases convey a sense of urgency, and even inspire a sense of anxiety in viewers. When you see "Don't wait!" in your inbox, for instance, you're more likely to pause and consider your options right away, since the messaging is clear -- you don't have the luxury to consider your options tomorrow. Of course, you want to be cautious with your limited time offer wording. If you're too aggressive or pushy, you risk frustrating viewers into deleting the message completely. When wording your limited time offer, you'll want to consider why this deal is special, and how long the deal lasts. Additionally, it's critical you include an exciting and compelling CTA. Remember how Bath & Body Works mentioned "The biggest sale of the year"? It's necessary to tell viewers why your deal in particular is special. If it isn't the biggest sale of the year, maybe it's the first deal you've ever offered on a specific product, or a new seasonal product only offered for a limited time. Ultimately, users need to know why they should care about this deal over all the other deals flooding their inbox. Additionally, it's vital you clarify the time period of the deal. "Hurry, deal ends tonight!" is helpful, as is, "Offer valid through April 31" or "Today only". You'll need to let your viewers know how long they have to act on your offer. Finally, you'll want to include a compelling CTA. For instance, when I click on Tobi's "60% Off Denim" link, the CTA says, "Get 60% Off Now". Who wouldn't want that? Alternatively, you might try "Sign Up for Savings", "Claim Your Free Wallet", or "Send Me The Coupon". Take a look at "31 Call-to-Action Examples You Can't Help But Click" for more CTA inspiration. via Blogger How to Use Limited Time Offers to Drive Sales It’s Friday afternoon, and your team is jonesing for Happy Hour. For the last few weeks, you’ve been going to the same ol’ bar by your office, so you decide it’s time to try something new. What do you do? Step outside and walk around until you find a new spot? No, you hop on Google and let it conduct the search for you. Your ideal post-work pub is nearby, open right after work, and offers a few gluten-free options so your entire team can partake. You plug these criteria into Google, and you’ve got three viable options at your fingertips — in a handy map format to boot. Pause. Have you ever wondered how Google can whip up such accurate, precise answers in so little time … and present them in such an easy-to-read way? Moreover, what are those restaurants doing do get featured so dominantly on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs)? Heck, I’d love my business to pop up when consumers search for criteria relevant to me … wouldn’t you? No one knows exactly how Google’s algorithm works, but there are a few ways to organize and optimize your website content so Google knows what content to feature on the SERPs for the various searches people conduct to find you. This is where structured data comes in. Not sure what structured data is? That’s OK. By the end of this guide, you’ll be a structured data wizard — and your website will reap the benefits. We know that what searchers see online is much different than what search engines see. While searchers see this … … search engines see this. View the source code for any website by going to View > Developer > View Source. This behind-the-scenes code tells browsers how information should be organized on the website (as part of its website development) and tells web crawlers what’s on the page. Structured data is also at play here. Embedded tags of code (a.k.a. “markup”) throughout the HTML of a webpage tell Google and other search engines what information to display in the SERPs and what this information represents. It also helps social media platforms synthesize your social media posts into snippets that preview the content using Open Graph Protocol (which we touch on later). This markup is important. It educates search engines on what specific content is on the page, thus creating more relevant, informed searches and making the site a candidate for enhanced results like featured snippets, rich snippets, image and video carousels, knowledge boxes, and more. (We touch on this later, too.) Structured vs. Unstructured DataStructured data is organized based on a specific formula, arrangement, or language. In the case of SEO, that language is a specific HTML markup called schema. Unstructured data is data that isn’t sorted any particular way or marked up in a specific coding language. Unstructured data also refers to those elements that can't easily be structured, like photos, graphics, videos, PowerPoint presentations, wikis, and word processing documents. Here’s a simple example: In college, I used to take class notes very haphazardly. I’d literally scribble information down as my professors lectured … with little to no regard about its organization or legibility. (Well, I could read it, but no one else probably could.) Me, in class When it came time to study for an exam, I’d pull out those chaotic notes and type them up to create organized, structured study guides, sorted by the various questions and subject matters I knew I’d be tested on. Therefore, I turned my unstructured data into structured data per my specific study system. In the case of SEO, embedding markup and coded tags that characterize each written element would be how to structure that data — much like I did with my class notes. How does structured data work?At this point, you might be asking: How can there exist a language (markup) that is consistently recognized by search engines and people alike? In order for this markup to be accurately and universally understood, there are standardized formats and vocabularies that should be used. Let’s go back to basics for a minute. When conveying information, whether you’re communicating with a human or a computer, you need two main things: vocabulary (a set of words with known meanings) and grammar (a set of rules on how to use those words to convey meaning). Most terminology surrounding structured data markup can be organized into these two concepts: vocabularies and grammars, and webmasters can combine whichever two they need to structure their data (with the exception of Microformats).
Okay … that’s enough of the fancy developer speak. What should you be using for your structured data? Schema.org is the accepted universal vocabulary standard for structured data. It was founded by and is currently sponsored by Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex. It’s flexible, open-sourced, and constantly updated and improved. Note: Schema is called such because it features markup for a wide variety of schemas — or data models — for different types of content. Here’s an example of Schema Markup language (which is good for SEO) pulled from my latest article on branding. "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "Article", "name" : "The Ultimate Guide to Branding in 2019" "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Allie Decker" }, "datePublished" : "2019-04-02", "image" : "https://blog.hubspot.com/hubfs/branding-2.jpg", "url" : "https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/branding", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "name" : "HubSpot" As for grammar, there’s no correct answer. Google recommends JSON-LD (and defaults to that grammar when using its Structured Data Markup Helper — as you see above), but it also recognizes Microdata and RDFa. It comes down to what your developers and webmasters are most comfortable with. Structured data affects mobile a little differently — through Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Accelerated Mobile Pages is a Google-backed, open source project to help all mobile pages load quickly regardless of device. Pages with AMP markup appear within Google’s special SERP features, such as Top Stories and News Carousels. ??Here’s how to create an AMP HTML page. Structured data markup works a little differently for social platforms. This requires Open Graph Protocol and similar languages that ensure your website and blog content appear in an easy-to-read way when you promote this content on a social network. Two common social media features that use Open Graph Protocol are Pinterest Rich Pins and Twitter cards. We talk more about how to do this below. Here’s an example of Open Graph Protocol language (which is good for social media) using the same source. <meta property=”og:title” content=”The Ultimate Guide to Branding in 2019”/> <meta property=”og:type” content=”article”/> <meta property=”og:URL” content=”https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/branding” <meta property=”og:image” content=”https://blog.hubspot.com/hubfs/branding-2.jpg” <meta property=”og:admins” content=”Allie Decker” <meta property=”og:site_name” content=”HubSpot” <meta property=”og:description” content=”Discover how to create and manage a brand that helps your business become known, loved, and preferred” Why is structured data important for SEO?Structured data is important for SEO because it helps search engines find and understand your content and website. It’s also an important way to prepare for the future of search, as Google and other engines continue to personalize the user experience and answer questions directly on their SERPs. Additionally, structured data can make your organization more visible to potential customers and increase your click-through rate by up to 30%. Google’s SERPs weren’t always as easy on the eye as they are today. Don’t remember? Check out this Google result for “pool tables” from 2008. Let’s compare. Here’s the same result from today in 2019.
Wow. That’s a world of difference. Not only are these results easier to read, but the extra features make for a much more informative, intelligent searching — and shopping — experience. Between the sponsored content and live map (plus the product carousel, question snippets, and related searches not shown in the screenshot), Google shows me pretty much all I need to know about pool tables. Heck, sometimes I search for something and find the answer right on the SERP — I don’t even have to click on a result. Does that ever happen to you? If it has, you can thank structured data. Note: Unfortunately, structured data doesn’t impact your organic search ranking (besides helping you grab a spot in a knowledge panel or Featured Snippet at the top of the list). It also doesn’t change how your content looks or behaves on your website — it only affects how and where it might appear on SERPs. Examples of Structured DataTo the average internet user, structured data can’t be seen. It’s hidden among the code that makes up our favorite websites and online platforms. So, how does structured data affect what we (and our customers) see? What does it look like to the “naked” eye? When webmasters adhere to structured data standards, search engines like Google and Bing reward their websites and organizations by featuring their content in a variety of SERP features (another reason to use structured data). Let’s talk about those features — specifically on Google. Google SERPs display a wide variety of information, but the ones we talk about below are specifically influenced by structured data. There are also a couple of ways that structured data can benefit your non-SERP marketing efforts on social media and email marketing. First, it’s important to note that structured data can manifest on SERPs in two main ways: through content features (which appear as separate search results) and enriched result features (which enhance the search results themselves). Content FeaturesCarouselsCarousels show up as images with captions related to a search, such as movie actors, cars, or news articles. Searchers can click through these images to access a separate SERP for that search. ??Here’s how to use structured data to show up on Carousels. Featured SnippetsFeatured Snippets display information relevant to a query — and link to a third-party website (which sets them apart from Answer Boxes and Knowledge Panels, which draw from public domain databases). They don’t count as one of the ten organic results on a SERP, so if you “win” the snippet, your website shows up twice. Featured Snippets can also be displayed as quotes, tables, jobs, rich cards (for movies and recipes), or the question section titled “People may ask”. ??Here’s how to optimize your content for Google’s featured snippet box. Knowledge Panels (a.k.a. Knowledge Graph Cards)Knowledge Panels pull together the most relevant information from a search and display it as a separate panel on the right side of a SERP. They typically include images, dates, and category-specific information, such as stock prices for companies or birthdays for celebrities. You can use a structured data markup like Schema to tag your content with all of these categories, but there’s no guarantee that Google will reward you with your own knowledge panel. In fact, structured data doesn't promise anything, it only makes it easier for search engines and social networks to interpret your content. Also, Knowledge Panels aim to answer queries without requiring a click-through … good news for searchers, and bad news for businesses. Enriched Search Features (a.k.a. Rich Search Results or Rich Snippets)BreadcrumbsBreadcrumbs “indicate a page's position in the site hierarchy,” according to Google. Breadcrumbs only appear on mobile devices, in place of a URL, and help searchers understand a page’s relationship to the rest of a website. ??Here’s how to use structured data to display Breadcrumbs in your results. Sitelinks and Sitelinks SearchboxSitelinks are additional links displayed beneath a search result that navigate to different parts of a website. Google pulls them into a SERP when it thinks additional results would benefit a searcher. Websites with intelligent anchor text and alt text that’s informative, compact, and avoids repetition have a good chance of displaying a result with Sitelinks. Sitelinks Searchbox is like Sitelinks with a search bar directly featured in the result. That search box uses Google — not the featured website — which creates a brand new SERP. Sitelinks Searchboxes only show up in branded searches. ??Here’s how to get a Sitelinks Searchbox for your website. Non-SERP FeaturesSocial CardsSocial-specific markup doesn’t have a big impact on SEO, but it’s still important for marketers to understand. Not only does this markup enhance your social posts and ad efforts, but it can also be read by search engines — which could contribute to any SEO changes in the future. Social cards display images and rich text when links are shared on social media. Any organization who uses social media to share content should be using proper social markup, such as Open Graph Protocol. ??Here’s how you ensure your social content displays social cards:
Email MarketingHave you recently booked a flight or ordered something online? If you have Gmail, you might’ve seen your reservation or order details summarized at the top of the confirmation email. This is due to email markup. If you send emails for orders, reservations, confirmations, or bookings, consider using email markup to make your email recipients’ lives easier. ??Here’s how to get started with email markup in Gmail. How to Implement Structured Data by Using Google's Structured Data Markup Helper Tool
The concept of structured data might seem confusing, but its implementation isn’t nearly as complicated. In fact, there are a number of structured data tools that can help you along the way, namely Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper and Testing tools. Sure, you can implement structured data by hand, but Google’s tool ensures accuracy — and makes your life easier. It’s important to note that adding structured data markup on your website doesn’t guarantee a Featured Snippet or Sitelinks Sitebox. Google can take weeks to crawl your new HTML markup, and sometimes, the information doesn’t show up at all. However, taking the steps to implement structured data is critical. Google might be smart, but it can’t (yet) understand everything on its own. It might seem like a lot of extra work, but using the correct structured data markup will ensure Google can make sense of your content and can help you potentially increase your click-through rates and visibility. Here’s how to implement structured data by using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper tool. 1. Open Google’s Structured Data Markup HelperOpen up Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper tool. 2. Select your data type and enter the URLMake sure the Website tab is open. Choose the type of data to which you’d like to add the HTML markup. Plug the web page URL (or the HTML code) at the bottom , and click Start Tagging.
3. Highlight page elements and assign data tagsWhen the tool loads, you should see your web page on the left side and data items on the right. Highlight different components of your web page to assign data tags such as name, author, and date published. (The tool will suggest different data tags for different types of data, i.e. Events or Book Reviews.) As you select and assign data tags, you’ll see the information pop up under My Data Tags on the right panel. You can also add any missing tags that might not be visible on the web page; just click Add missing tags. 4. Create the HTMLWhen you’re finished tagging and assigning data items, click Create HTML in the upper right-hand corner. 5. Add the schema markup to your pageOn the next screen, you should see your structured data markup on the right side. The tool automatically produces the script as JSON-LD markup, but you can change it to Microdata by clicking the JSON-LD drop-down menu in the top menu. Click Download to download the script as an HTML file. To read more about adding structured data to your article (or any other data type), click Articles in the right corner above the markup. To “publish” your markup, copy and paste the new HTML markup into your CMS or source code of your web page. Lastly, click Finish in the top right corner to check out Google’s recommended Next Steps … one of which will bring you to this next one. 6. Test your markup with Google’s Structured Data Testing ToolOpen up Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. You can enter any URL of a web page you’d like to test, or you can enter HTML code. (In the example below, I’m analyzing the code previously produced by Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper Tool.) Click Run Test to begin. 7. Diagnose and fix any detected issuesThe tool will show you your HTML markup on the left side and the markup analysis on the right. Note any red errors or warnings. Click on any data row to highlight the corresponding markup on the left. If necessary, you can edit any errors in the HTML directly in the tool panel before “publishing” your tested HTML markup. 8. Be patientThis last step is simple but arguably the hardest — to sit back and wait. Google can take weeks to re-crawl new HTML, and even then, your content isn’t guaranteed to show up in rich snippets or other SERP features. As long as you follow the correct structured data standards and markup, give Google all the information it needs to know, and be patient, your website and business can benefit greatly from structured data and enhanced SEO. ConclusionGoogle and other search engines continuously improve how they aggregate and present information. They offer enhanced, intelligent search experiences with the customer in mind. It’s up to you as a business to keep up, and you can do so through structured data. Structured data benefits businesses — through increased visibility — and consumers — through better usability. Use this guide, tools, and resources to optimize and organize your website and make your customers' lives easier. via Blogger The Beginner's Guide to Structured Data for Organizing & Optimizing Your Website |