How to Fact-Check Your Latest Blog Post in 20 Minutes or Less

Nobody’s correct all the time. Your blog posts, on the other hand, should be correct all the time.

Why? Because if your blog gets the facts wrong, your readers won’t take you seriously. Instead of being an authoritative resource, your blog will become a joke.

It’s harsh but true. Assuming you’re not a satire site like the Onion, you need to get your information right.

Truth be told, blogs should have similar standards for their posts as colleges have for students’ papers. Colleges require students to cite their sources in detail, and the sources have to be credible.

While I don’t think blogs should be required to quote only academic journals, I do think most blogs could benefit from higher standards of quality.

That means no poorly researched facts, no half-baked ideas, and no generalizations or assumptions.

It means thoroughly researched points, credible sources, and specific examples and anecdotes.

That’s the standard I keep for all my blogs, and I encourage my friends and colleagues to do the same.

Best of all, it doesn’t take hours to make your blog posts bulletproof.

Here’s how to fact-check your latest blog post in 20 minutes or less. Let’s get started.

Determine which facts to check

You don’t need to be super paranoid to have a perfectly correct blog post. Not every fact needs to be double-checked.

That’s why your first objective should be to comb through your post and determine which facts need checking.

An easy way of doing this is to consider whether or not the fact is common knowledge.

According to Harvard University, “Common knowledge is information generally known to an educated reader, such as widely known facts and dates, and, more rarely, ideas or language.”

For example, the fact that Barack Obama won the 2012 election is common knowledge. But the fact that Obama likes basketball is not common knowledge.

How can you tell whether a fact is common knowledge?

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab says that, as a rule of thumb, if you can find the fact undocumented in at least five credible sources, chances are it’s common knowledge.

If your fact is common knowledge, you don’t need any source to back it up.

However, I recommend doing a quick yet thorough Google search to make sure your fact isn’t a common misconception. If all looks good, move on to the next step.

Consult credible sources

There’s a huge difference between an authoritative source and a credible source. Unfortunately, most people think they’re one and the same.

For example, most schools don’t allow students to cite Wikipedia because anyone can edit it. Even though Wikipedia is mostly well-maintained, it can’t be used academically.

Wikipedia is a perfect example of a site that is an authoritative—but not credible—source. It’s authoritative because it’s used by millions of people, but it’s not credible.

The Wall Street Journal is an example of an authoritative source that is also a credible source. Most major news publications (e.g., The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post) count as credible sources.

Besides national newspapers, some examples of sources that are credible include:

• Personal websites (e.g., NeilPatel.com)
• Studies in peer-reviewed journals with citations
• Academic sites (i.e., sites ending in .edu)
• Government sites (i.e., sites ending in .gov)
• Trustworthy institutions (e.g., Mayo Clinic, Department of Justice)

Keep in mind that while some of these sources would be considered off-limits in an academic setting, they’re perfectly fine in our case. For example, using a personal site for a grad paper might be frowned upon, but it works fine for blog posts.

Some examples of sources that aren’t credible include:

• Forums
• Social media posts/updates
• Studies without citations

Ultimately, you have to use your judgment here. If you’re using well-known, widely trusted sources, you’re good to go.

Get help from the watchdogs

There are also plenty of sites and resources dedicated to fact checking.

Usually, these types of watchdog sites cover either politics or urban myths. For example, FactCheck.org and Politifact.com are two sites that help you determine the validity of political statements.

One of the most popular checking sites is Snopes. It has entries on all kinds of urban legends and controversial facts.

The team of researchers at Snopes always show their research, making it easy to fact-check Snopes itself.

While Snopes has gotten some criticism for its seemingly biased political articles, it’s a good resource for many other topics.

Last but not least, Google recently announced its new Fact Check tag for Google News. In a nutshell, readers will be able to check the validity of an article by clicking on the Fact Check tag.

If you’re already using Google News, this will be super convenient for you. And if you’re not using Google news, it’s a great time to start.

Create a strategy

I’ve shared a lot of information so far, but don’t be intimidated. As I promised, you’ll be able to use this info to fact-check a blog post in 20 minutes or less.

Let me take you through the strategy, step by step.

Step 1: Create a fact checking spreadsheet (1 minute)

Open Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, and create a new spreadsheet.

Don’t worry, you’re not going to make anything complicated. You’ll need only three columns.

Name the first column “Fact,” and enter all the facts from your blog post that need checking. (Refer back to the “Determine which facts to check” section of this article for this step.)

Name the second column “Sources.” We’ll use this in the next step.

Name the third column “Use.” You’ll use this column to determine the validity of your facts.

Step 2: Head to Google (8 minutes)

If your facts don’t fall into any political, social, or mythological categories, Google will be your first step in the fact-checking process.

For example, if you wanted to write about the successful use of Facebook video ads, you’d want to find a reputable source with examples.

Head to Google, and search “Facebook video ads.” One of the top results is this blog post from Social Media Examiner:

The article has lots of outbound links to support its claims, which is a great sign. There’s also a lot of media to help the user follow the strategy.

This is an excellent example of a good resource. This article would definitely back up your claims about Facebook video ads being successful.

Try to find at least two quality articles, studies, or videos to back up each statement. This way, you can go through them at the end and decide which resources will be best for your article.

When you find your sources, paste the links in the “Sources” column of your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Consult other sites (optional, 5 minutes)

If you’re writing about anything political, you’ll most likely need to use FactCheck.org, Politifact, or Snopes. And if you need to check any facts related to society, Snopes is a good place to go.

You won’t need to use these sites for every article you write, so this is an optional step. If you do need to use these sites, just run your topic keywords through the search bars.

At this point, you might be thinking, “But what if there’s nothing out there to support my fact?”

A lack of support means one of two things: You either need to support the fact yourself or eliminate it from your article.

Since these are polar opposites, you’ll have to use your judgment here.

For example, if you’re arguing that studying the Renaissance can improve your marketing, you probably won’t find much out there that connects the two. But you can probably make a strong case for why it’s true.

On the other hand, if you’re arguing that the Loch Ness monster’s favorite color is blue, you won’t find anything to support that. And you probably can’t create a convincing case that backs up your statement.

Overall, if you have a hard time backing up a fact, you should leave it out. You are better off being safe than sorry when it comes to fact checking.

Step 4: Weed out the bad facts (2 minutes)

Take a final look at your spreadsheet. If you found at least one credible source for a fact, you can use that fact. Enter “Yes” in the “Use” column.

If there are any facts without sources, you’re better off not including those facts in your article. As I mentioned above, if you can make a compelling case for a fact, go for it, but be careful.

You’ll come across a few duds every now and then, and that’s okay. When it comes to facts, always choose quality over quantity.

Conclusion

There you have it—a complete strategy for fact-checking your newest blog post that only takes about 17 minutes. (And in many cases, even less.)

While this is a quick-start guide, don’t be afraid to spend a little more time on this process. Getting your facts straight can mean the difference between a success and a flop.

And keep in mind that the longer the blog post, the more research you’ll have.

To give you an idea, my posts run anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000+ words, and I typically spend about an hour or so on research per post.

Of course, the most important part about writing a blog post is making sure the content is awesome. Write to solve your readers’ problems, and be passionate about it.

Thanks to the Internet, fact-checking has never been easier. Take a few minutes to double-check everything, and you’ll never have to worry about misleading your readers.

What’s your favorite fact-checking tip?

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How to Crack Google Search Optimization for Your Unique Niche

Search engine optimization sounds great on paper, but when put into practice, it’s a bit tougher. Marketing in your specific niche can be slow and painful, especially if you’re just starting from scratch with a new website.

Although it may feel like every keyword already has hundreds of thousands of competitive results, you can still push through the crowd and rise to the top if you understand how to apply SEO fundamentals to your unique niche.

Search is all about supply and demand, and as long as you meet a user’s needs (especially in local marketing), you’ll gain the search traffic.

Local and niche searches make up the large majority of Internet searches (which I’ll cover in more detail later), and you can make a killing if you set up your niche site correctly.

Here’s what you need to know to get started in pushing your website up the search engine ranking pages for your specific niche.

1. Research your niche

According to recent research, 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine, and 75% of users never scroll to page 2.

This is a huge user base that leads to 1.2 trillion (and rising) Google searches every year. Grabbing a piece of that market is going to take some in-depth research.

Researching your niche is a step toward improving your domain and page authority. The more you understand a topic, the more likely you are to be seen as a trusted resource, which helps your SEO efforts.

You should always be keeping an eye on industry trends to know what people are buzzing about these days and cater to those searches. The longer you blog, the more important this will become as eventually you’ll run out of ideas.

When you know your industry inside and out, you have a leg up on the competition because you understand the context within which people are typically searching.

You’ll also understand that while not every search and click lead to a sale, the value you bring as an authoritative voice is a branding opportunity you can’t afford to miss.

2. Broaden your keywords

As mentioned previously on Quick Sprout, long-tail keywords are the key to succeeding with a niche website. While you may not be able to rank well with your new vaping website for the keyword “vaping,” you can rank well for “mango flavored vape juice” or “what oils can be used in vape pens,” or even “what’s the best temperature to vape vegetable glycerin.”

While people looking for general vape information or products may not see you, people specifically looking for the best mango VG-based ejuice will see you.

Long-tail keywords have much smaller search volumes than generic ones, but ranking well on them builds your overall web profile and search rankings for other related terms. It’s also important to know that long-tail keywords make up about 70% of all searches anyway.

Using long-tail keywords lets you really shine in areas where people are actually searching.

For example, if you have a black 10-speed beach cruiser, you may draw interest from people looking for bicycles, but you’ll draw much higher interest from people looking specifically for beach cruisers, black bicycles, and a black 10-speed beach cruiser.

Targeting long-tail keywords makes your site visible in the “minor league” search terms that can make all the difference in your site’s brand recognition, traffic, and ultimate ROI.

3. Place strategic links

Quality backlinks with descriptive anchor text placed on authoritative sites is the easiest and most efficient way to raise your website’s search engine rankings.

Here’s a breakdown of the top search signals so you can see how links fit into the equation:

The more links you can get placed in a non-spammy way on popular sites in your industry (or the mainstream media, academic, and government web pages), the higher your page will rank on search engines.

It’s a two-fold benefit: these links drive search traffic as well as direct referral traffic from those who click the links.

Blogging on your website and guest-posting on others are the best ways to get these backlinks, although commenting on forums and blog articles, doing social media promotion, and simply creating great material with sourced statistics and images helps as well.

Some businesses find success hiring an external PR agency to help promote their brand and business on external sites. These agencies often work with social media influencers, bloggers, journalists, and industry professionals to get your business in front of the right people and build a buzz.

Don’t be afraid to contact local outlets, organizations, and businesses in your surrounding area to have your business featured with a possible link on their web properties.

4. Get listed on local sites

Search engines aren’t the only places driving traffic online, especially in today’s age of mobile devices.

Mapping sites such as Mapquest and Google/Apple Maps, business rating sites such as Yelp, Citysearch, and Angie’s List, and social media platforms such as Foursquare and Facebook are all important places to list your business on.

Registering on these sites gives your business credibility and presents you to users who may prefer using niche searching techniques over search engines, which is especially true of travelers.

If you have a business with a web presence, these sites help you show off great reviews, great products, and information about your business and its offerings. It also allows you to be visible in searches even if your search ranking is low otherwise.

Your domain authority on a new site is probably non-existent, but Yelp is an authoritative site, so your Yelp profile may outrank your website for certain keywords. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you have links to your website on all your business listings.

Here’s how to claim your business on Google.

Here’s how to claim your business on Yahoo.

Here’s how to claim your business on Yelp.

Here’s how to claim your business on Foursquare.

Here’s how to claim your business on Bing.

5. Start a blog

Once you have everything set up on your account, you’ll still need a separate landing page for each long-tail keyword you researched. The same page is unlikely to rank highly for every keyword, so you’ll need to have a blog to have pages with a variety of keywords.

I say it constantly, but I’m a huge advocate of blogging, and I’m not the only one. Sixty-four percent of PR and marketing pros are looking for ways to increase content marketing and blogging efforts this year alone.

With a 1500- to 2000-word blog posts on each specific search term, you are creating a relevant landing page for that term. In the vaping example above, “how to make your own mango ejuice,” “vape juice ingredients,” and “the optimal vape voltage and temperature settings” would make excellent blog posts to capture the long-tail keywords.

These blog posts are much more likely to rank well on Google for nearly every permutation of the searches than an e-commerce page would unless, of course, you’re searching for “cheap ejuice for sale.”

Yoast SEO is a great WordPress plugin that can scan your pages and posts for readability, keyword richness, and other SEO signals to determine how optimized each page is.

6. Research the competition

Competition is the driving force for entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed in our society. You can’t know how well you’re doing unless you understand how well the competition is doing. Here’s a quick breakdown of a basic competitive analysis tool.

With online tools, such as SEMRush, you can also check a competitor’s page ranking for various keywords and learn which domains they got backlinks on. What you learn may either surprise you or provide data to back up what you already assumed.

That type of data lets you know where you need backlinks and which terms you may be able to undercut the competition on.

This graphic illustration of Porter’s 5 Forces model demonstrates how competition influences every industry and market. Search engine rankings are no different.

The more competition, the more an industry grows, so it’s overall a good thing. In fact, it’s inevitable. No matter what you create, there will be competition.

Knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating it, according to Sun Tzu’s Art of War. For the same reason, wireless providers always reference the size of each other’s LTE networks and coverage areas in their ads.

Conclusion

Successfully reaching the top of search engine results for your particular niche may seem like an impossible dream in this day and age. The Internet has been around for several decades, and you’d be hard pressed to find a search term with only one result (try Googlewhacking if you don’t believe me).

However, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a newcomer to dominate a niche. In fact, it happens all the time.

By properly registering your business with all online platforms, optimizing your website’s design, and creating detailed content focused on specific, long-tail keywords, you can rank high on Google search as well.

What search engine optimization tactics do you use to rank your page for specific keywords?

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The Beginner’s Guide to Optimizing for Bing Search

On the surface, it doesn’t appear Bing gets much search traffic, but when you consider it also powers Yahoo, you start realizing that perhaps optimizing for Bing isn’t such a bad idea.

Here’s what Bing and Yahoo’s search traffic looks like compared to Google’s:

Although even combined, they still represent a fraction of Google’s search traffic, that’s still a large audience that should be catered to.

Optimizing for Bing differs a little bit from optimizing for Google. The companies use different proprietary algorithms to produce results, and each weighs various factors differently.

Because Google is the largest search engine on the planet, most SEO guides focus specifically on how to rank for Google. This guide is meant to get you started with the competition, both Bing and Yahoo, which are powered by Bing’s search engine.

1. Claim your business

Just like on Google, you need to claim your business on both Bing and Yahoo to maximize local search results.

To do this, you need to visit Bing Places for Business and create or claim ownership over your business listing.

Yahoo’s local business search results utilize Bing’s business listings instead of its own, which show up as local business listings on a site called Yext. Eric Shanfelt does a great job explaining the complicated business structure Yahoo employs to deliver local business listings here—if you’re interested.

Still, you can register on Yext, instructions for which are included in Shanfelt’s blog.

Once you’ve registered your business with Bing, you’ll need to register your website the same way you did when registering it with Google, by indexing your site.

2. Get your site indexed

Since Bing is now in the driver’s seat, Bing’s Webmaster Tools replaced Yahoo Webmaster Tools, so you have to submit your site to only one place for both search engines.

Here’s what it looks like:

First, you need to create a Bing login. You can use your Outlook (Hotmail if you’re grandfathered in from those days) or Microsoft login to do that.

Then, you can visit the Bing Website Submission page and fill out the forms as shown above to submit your website.

You’ll also need the URL address for the XML sitemap of your site.

Then, you need to verify ownership by copying and pasting the provided code into the proper section of WordPress.

Like anything Microsoft, Bing has an extensive set of instructions on how to do this on the Bing website.

Once you have everything registered, you should be indexed within a few minutes and start noticing traffic trickling in by the end of the year.

3. Tag and categorize your site

Like with any other search engine, tags and categories help make your content discoverable to the right audiences for the right searches.

WordPress makes adding tags and categories easy for each post and page created. These vital labels tell both robotic algorithms and human readers what to expect from the post, much like a title or header would.

Here’s what WordPress’s Tags and Categories look like:

Both the slug and description of a tag help further explain the content’s purpose. These are signals used in sitemaps to identify sections. It’s helpful for search engines to identify content in order to deliver appropriate ad experiences through their platforms.

Of all the SEO tips and tricks, tags and categories are the most important as they give the overall picture of what your website is really about. Without them, bounce rates go up and organic search traffic goes down.

4. Use SEO keywords in proper context

The usage of relevant keywords has proven an important search ranking factor in search engines across the board, and Bing is no different. Here’s a chart of how Bing and Google compare to each other when it comes to keywords:

While factors such as internal links are less important in Bing than Google, relevant, contextual keywords are still vital. This is why blogging is one of the most widely used forms of content marketing in the business world today.

Hire a professional ghostwriter or copywriter to ensure each page of your website is fully optimized with marketing slogans and other ad copy that gives descriptive information around the keywords you want to focus on.

For example, in the vaping industry, you’d want to describe features of your mechanical mod boxes so search engines understand what traffic to send your way.

Bing’s algorithms, like Google’s, take the surrounding 5-7 words for each keyword along with its density within the content into account when determining search rankings. You can’t just spam “Vape vape vape vape” to rank for vape products.

You need to offer “ejuice, mods, wicks, tanks, and other accessories” to really make an impact.

5. Connect to social networks

Another method you should be using to help drive Bing search results is integrating social media into your SEO strategy. This merging of social media and SEO is practiced successfully by 74 percent of marketing departments already.

To link social media accounts to WordPress, you need the Jetpack plugin, which is typically installed by default in managed WordPress sites hosted by providers such as GoDaddy. But it can also be installed manually. Search for it in WordPress plugins or find it on the WordPress website.

With Jetpack installed, you can link your social media accounts—Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, and more—to your blog to ensure every post is automatically promoted on those sites with backlinks.

Here’s what it looks like:

Marketers often debate the importance of social signals in search engine rankings, despite the fact that several studies showed they do affect search results.

In Bing specifically, results viewed by your Facebook friends will often be featured in SERPs.

Whether or not it specifically helps Bing search results doesn’t matter. Why? Because social networks have large audiences you need to be in front of anyway.

Here’s a breakdown of the number of active social media users on each social platform:

Whether you use social media marketing for improving your search results or not, understanding that these two aspects of your online presence go hand-in-hand is the most important takeaway.

6. Avoid black-hat techniques

As you well know, there are black-hat and white-hat SEO techniques. Black-hat techniques are tactics that, while may work, violate the search engine’s terms of usage and can get your website banned. White-hat techniques both work and follow the rules.

Don’t use black-hat SEO techniques on Bing as it’s not worth the risk.

These include keyword spamming, creating fake sites, and more. Here’s a chart of black-hat SEO tactics to avoid:

These black-hat SEO techniques may sound like a good idea on paper, but they’re not sustainable. JC Penney was infamously removed from Google temporarily after being found using black-hat techniques by the NY Times.

Bing is no different. If your site is found to be using black-hat SEO, there’s a good chance you’ll be removed from the index and lose all the time and effort you put into building your rankings.

On Bing, this removal is especially problematic as the age of a website is a ranking factor that isn’t weighed heavily on Google. Sites that stay up longer are more likely to have results presented at the top of Bing SERPs, so a ban can be detrimental to Bing searches.

7. Feature great content

According to Search Engine Land, using a search engine is the most popular first action a customer takes before making a web-based purchase.

If you want to be featured in those results, you’ll need great content to draw organic search traffic.

Bing especially looks at content quality, which is defined as authority, utility, and presentation. All web content needs to satisfy this trifecta to have a fighting chance to be the top Bing search result.

Content is king online, and to reign supreme on Bing, you need quality content to satisfy its strict requirements.

As laid out by Buffer, the ideal blog length is 1,600 words, which takes the average person about 7 minutes to digest and move on.

Each blog post you create for your website needs to be approximately 1,600 words of quality content to maximize your chances on Bing and Yahoo. This means it has to be well-researched, well-sourced, and well-cited, and it needs to include lots of great images.

If the quality of your content isn’t up to this standard, you’re basically wasting your time as you’re unlikely to rank well on Bing.

Conclusion

Although they may not draw the online traffic of Google, Bing and Yahoo combined are still a powerful search option used by people around the world.

Reaching this demographic requires focusing on contextual keywords and proper formatting. Users of Yahoo and Bing have been found to be more educated and make more money, so it’s the perfect place for businesses to reach their audiences.

Unlike Google, Bing traffic is more heavily influenced by Facebook, contextual keywords, and ad-free experiences. Site age is another important factor, so it can take time to build traffic on the search engine.

Have you had success ranking websites on Bing? What advanced strategies did you use to accomplish it?

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What a Cognitive Bias Is, And How to Use It for Digital Marketing Mastery

As humans, we like to think of ourselves as objective, logical, and unbiased when it comes to our thinking and decision-making abilities.

As if nothing could cloud our thoughts or persuade us to think illogically.

But that’s not how things are.

In fact, at times, we’re quite irrational and heavily influenced by people as well as a host of other variables.

Many of our choices and actions are ultimately controlled by what’s known as cognitive biases.

What’s a cognitive bias?

Chegg Study nailed it pretty well with their definition:

“A cognitive bias is a mistake in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or other cognitive process, often occurring as a result of holding onto one’s preferences and beliefs regardless of contrary information.”

They also point out that “psychologists study cognitive biases as they relate to memory, reasoning and decision making.”

I also like Wikipedia’s statements that “individuals create their own ‘subjective social reality’ and that cognitive biases may sometimes lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality.”

In other words, a cognitive bias is our tendency to think in an irrational way.

The interesting thing is that it has nothing to do with intelligence. Even the most brilliant person in the world is susceptible to it.

It ultimately boils down to the way our brains are wired.

Understanding this concept can be quite beneficial from a marketing standpoint.

Here are some specific cognitive biases I have used in my marketing that can work for you too.

The bandwagon effect

Let’s start with one of the most basic cognitive biases: the bandwagon effect.

I am sure you’ve heard the term “jumping on the bandwagon” before.

When a large number of people give a collective thumbs up to a product/service, it validates it in the eyes of others.

After all, if everyone else agrees that it’s good, it must be good.

In turn, this makes us more likely to “jump on the bandwagon” and buy the product/service.

We may also be more inclined to be brand advocates and willingly promote it.

I often find myself being a little skeptical before making a purchase. But when I see positive confirmation from others, I’m much more likely to buy.

Using this type of cognitive bias for your benefit as a marketer is quite easy and can be done in several ways.

Here are some ideas:

• Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews
• Insert social proof (e.g., testimonials) at “points of friction” such as CTAs and checkout pages
• Include logos of companies/people you’ve worked with

The anchoring effect

This is a technique that countless companies use to make us feel we’re getting a good deal.

According to Harvard Law School, the anchoring effect “is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the ‘anchor’) when making decisions.”

Here’s how it works.

You present your prospects with an initial price on a product (the anchor).

Let’s say it’s $1,000.

Then, after discussing the features, benefits, etc., you state that the product actually costs only $250.

Presto! Instantly, your prospects feel that the product is a great value.

Had you started at $250, they’d probably feel only so-so about the product and may think that it’s expensive.

By setting an anchor, you help your prospects feel they’re getting a good deal.

Steve Jobs even used the anchoring effect to get people excited about the iPad.

Here’s a transcription of what he said during its release.

“What should we price it at?” asked Jobs.

“If you listen to the pundits, we’re going to price it at under $1000, which is code for $999.”

He put a giant “$999” up on the screen and left it there for ages before finally going on.

“I am thrilled to announce to you that the iPad pricing starts not at $999,” said Jobs, “but at just $499.” On-screen, the $999 price was crushed by a falling “$499.”

While $499 might have seemed steep initially, setting the anchor at $999 made it seem quite fair or even inexpensive.

You too can use the anchoring effect to your advantage and get a higher conversion rate by starting high with your pricing and then lowering it.

The halo effect

The halo effect happens when we look at one quality in a person in a positive light and extend that positive regard to the rest of their qualities.

For instance, if we think of a person as being trustworthy, we’re more likely to believe they’re also smart, responsible, ethical, and so on.

The halo effect originated in a paper written by psychologist Edward Thorndike back in 1920.

“In a study, he asked two commanding officers to evaluate their soldiers in terms of their physical qualities (like neatness, energy and physique) and their mental, emotional and social qualities (like intellect, leadership and responsibility).

Thorndike found that, if one of the soldier’s qualities was rated highly, the other qualities tended to be rated highly, and vice versa.”

It’s basically a “cognitive shortcut” that allows us to form judgments and connect the dots with greater ease in an extremely complicated world.

But how does the halo effect relate to marketing?

It’s simple. If you can impress your audience in one area and make them view you in a favorable light, they’re more likely to have an overall positive opinion of you.

ConversionXL points out some specific ways companies capitalize on the halo effect:

• Celebrity endorsements
• The use of beautiful people
• Beautiful design
• Corporate big names

It’s because of this cognitive bias that it’s so insanely important to have a professional, aesthetically pleasing, and functional website.

Because a brand’s website is often the first thing visitors see, it can make or break you.

If it looks great, you’re likely to give the perception of quality and value.

Take Squarespace, for example. Their website looks great:

But if it looks terrible, like some late 1990s Angelfire monstrosity (sorry, Angelfire), it can immediately kill your credibility.

The belief bias

This term is defined as “the tendency to judge the strength of arguments based on the plausibility of their conclusion rather than how strongly they support that conclusion.”

There are two ways the belief bias can be applied to marketing.

One is when people become skeptical of your product/service because it sounds too good to be true.

Say your landing page makes such outlandish claims that prospects doubt their validity. Even if you provide proof in the form of facts, data, graphs, etc. to support your claims, your website visitors will still be less likely to buy from you.

But you can overcome this problem by ensuring your claims aren’t too far fetched. For example, a men’s cologne company wouldn’t want to make the claim that simply wearing the cologne will instantly make every man irresistible to women.

You can also use the belief bias to your advantage by showing potential customers how your product/service is going to help them rather than merely explaining why it’s good.

At the end of the day, each prospect is concerned with one important thing: how it will improve their life or solve their pain point.

Here’s a good example from the team collaboration tool Slack:

In the graph above, we can see just how much more productive Slack makes teams.

And in this graph (above), we can see that finding information with the tool is much easier for its users and that it has a positive impact on company culture.

Notice how these claims aren’t over the top or make the product seem too good to be true. They simply state some key benefits that users have experienced.

Keeping it ethical

Keep in mind that using a cognitive bias for marketing gain shouldn’t be done as a form of nefarious manipulation.

That’s obviously no way to run a business or build your brand.

Although you may get an initial sale, you’re unlikely to get repeat business, and it’s going to damage your brand reputation in the long run.

It’s also going to make it extremely difficult to establish a sustainable, long-term business.

You want to be ethical when using these techniques.

I recommend viewing cognitive biases simply as a means of connecting with your audience more quickly—as a way to gain their attention, move them through the sales funnel more efficiently, and increase your odds of converting them into customers.

Conclusion

I find it fascinating how psychology and marketing are becoming more and more intertwined.

It’s interesting to see how applying some basic psychological principles to a marketing campaign can make it more effective and deliver better results.

I have personally experimented with all of these cognitive biases in some form and can definitely vouch for their validity.

It’s simply a matter of understanding how the human mind works and hitting the right buttons from a psychological standpoint.

If you haven’t already done so, I suggest implementing at least a couple of these strategies into your marketing campaign and observing the results.

They are all proven ways to improve your conversion optimization, expedite brand growth, and boost profitability.

Can you think of any other types of cognitive biases that could be useful for marketing?

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How to Rapidly Build Brand Signals for SEO

In SEO’s never-ending evolution, algorithms are continually assessing different elements to determine where brands rank.

I remember the time, “back in the day,” when you could often get ahead with only rudimentary SEO tactics like keywords stuffing, e-zine posting, and even article spinning.

Oh, but how things have changed…

Search engines have never been more sophisticated, and Google is relentless in its pursuits of providing users with the best experience possible.

One element of SEO in particular that’s garnered a lot of attention recently is brand signals.

What are brand signals?

In a 2011 post on Moz, Rand Fishkin explained that

Google wanted to separate the ‘brands’ that produce happy searchers and customers from the ‘generics’ – sites they’ve often classified as ‘thin affiliate’ or poor user experiences.

Long story short, brand signals are cues that show:

1. Your brand exists
2. You’re a credible brand
3. You’re a trustworthy brand

In other words, brand signals prove to Google that you’re legit—you’re not merely a “generic” charlatan.

The way I see it, building brand signals is fast becoming an important way to establish trust with Google and increase your exposure in search engines.

On top of this, effectively building brand signals should also have a positive impact on your overall brand equity.

I also predict that the companies who skimp in this area will be at a major disadvantage in the very near future.

How does Google decide whether you’re a brand?

I think the best way to answer this question is to look at this chart Moz created:

On the left hand side, you can see which factors cause Google to view your business, website, blog, etc. as a “brand.”

On the right hand side, you can see which factors will result in it being viewed as “generic.”

Needless to say, you want Google to consider you as a “brand” and not “generic.”

Even though this chart is a little outdated (it’s from early 2011), it definitely offers some valuable criteria to guide our efforts in building brand signals.

In one of my posts on The Content Marketing Institute website, I also pointed out some of the main categories that comprise brand signals:

• Mentions on the web (e.g., references to your brand on big-name publications)
• Verifiable identity (e.g., business incorporation listings and comprehensive contact information)
• Activity on social accounts
• User queries (e.g., a high volume of people searching for your brand on Google)

How can you build brand signals for SEO?

Now that we know how Google determines whether or not you’re a brand, let’s discuss how to build brand signals for SEO value.

More specifically, I’d like to explain how to do it in a hurry.

Here are some techniques that have worked for me and should work for you as well.

Create a comprehensive About page

As Moz clearly indicates, Google wants to know your brand actually exists.

Therefore, it’s important you beef up your About page and include plenty of details.

You’ll notice on the About page of Quick Sprout that I’m pretty comprehensive in explaining my background. I leave no stone unturned.

While you don’t have to go to this length, this should serve as a good template to guide you.

What’s another thing that Google is looking for? Whether or not you have a physical address.

Let’s be honest. It’s easy for any snake oil salesman to create a website and claim that they’re an authority in their industry.

But Google wants to know that you’re a legitimate brand and genuinely adding value. That’s why it typically gives preferential treatment to businesses with an actual office address and a physical presence.

So, be sure to include this information as well.

Be active on top social networks

Do I really need to even say that having a social media presence is important?

I’m sure you already know this.

But if you needed yet another reason to be active on social media, building brand signals is it.

Besides the direct traffic it brings and the SEO juice that comes from its signals, social media also plays a direct role in whether or not Google deems your business as a brand.

I would say the networks you’ll most definitely want to be active on are:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter (ideally, as a verified account)
• Instagram
• Pinterest

Google+ is optional, considering it’s pretty much a digital graveyard these days. But if you’re feeling frisky, creating a Google+ account should be beneficial as well. After all, it is Google’s social network.

If you’ve got the time, I also recommend creating an account on YouTube.

Besides the fact that it’s owned by Google, it can really be advantageous from a branding standpoint.

It’s also incredibly popular and should help you penetrate your market more effectively.

Here’s proof:

And there’s one other trick I think will help you build brand signals through social media even quicker.

That’s to have your employees create profiles on these networks and link back to your company’s profile.

For LinkedIn, make sure that they explicitly state they work for your company.

Doing so shows Google that you DO have employees working for you, which makes it more likely that it’ll identify you as an actual brand.

Be active on relevant niche platforms

Another strategy for quickly gaining traction is to sign up on “niche platforms,” which are basically sites geared toward a specific industry.

For instance, a lawyer would want to be on Avvo, and a real estate agent would want to be on Zillow.

You get the idea.

This should send the right message to Google and get it to take notice.

Sign up for review sites

I also suggest taking advantage of sites such as:

• Google Places
• Yelp!
• Angie’s List
• Bing Places
• Yellow Pages

Google Places in particular should serve as a great brand signal.

Consistently create high-quality visual content

Okay, so this probably sounds like a no-brainer. And it is.

I’m not going to drone on about the impact a well-run content marketing campaign can have, but consistently distributing high quality content throughout the right mediums will help your SEO on many levels, including building brand signals.

But for maximum impact, visual content is the way to go.

Why visual?

As I mentioned before,

…brand signals aren’t just about mentions. They are about mentions that people see, recognize and identify. Brand signals are for users, not algorithms.

Visuals not only help you connect with your audience in a memorable way but also expedite your brand signal building efforts considerably.

That’s because visual content tends to receive a lot of shares and has the potential to go viral.

In fact, “content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.”

Infographics in particular are a great medium to utilize.

Just look at how popular they have become in recent years:

This graph illustrates the spike in searches for the term “infographics” over the past decade.

Guest-post on authority sites

I mentioned before in another post that

as other websites mention your own, your brand gains credibility through cocitation.

That’s why my final suggestion for building brand signals for SEO is to guest-post on relevant highly respected and authoritative sites within your industry.

For example, I make it a point to contribute to sites such as:

• Forbes
• Inc.com
• Entrepreneur
• The Content Marketing Institute

They all have to do with business, marketing, and entrepreneurship and have helped me create tremendous leverage.

Of course, the specific sites you target will depend upon your unique industry/niche.

Just go after the big boys that receive a high volume of traffic and are well-respected.

You can learn more on the process I use for guest-posting in this guide.

To maximize your impact even more, use branded anchor text (where your brand name is included in the hyperlink) when linking back to your site.

Just make sure it looks natural—not like you’re deliberately trying to stuff your brand name into your hyperlinks(s).

Conclusion

Although the concept of brand signals is a fairly new one, it’s something you’ll definitely want to have on your radar moving forward.

If you haven’t already made a concerted effort to ensure that Google views your business as “a brand,” it’s definitely time to get on board.

Fortunately, building brand signals for SEO isn’t rocket science. And it actually revolves around several techniques most brands are already implementing in some capacity.

It’s just a matter of understanding what Google is looking for and structuring your branding strategy accordingly.

By following this formula, you can kill two birds with one stone.

First, you can appease search engines so that your brand’s content ranks consistently higher.

Second, you can establish a tighter relationship with your audience and boost your overall brand equity.

What kinds of things is your business doing to build brand signals?

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