Don’t Kill Your Audience’s Vibe with These Content Marketing Turn-Offs

As of 2017, the overwhelming majority (89%) of B2B marketers use content marketing in some form.

 

As you can imagine, how well marketers execute their campaigns varies quite a bit.

Or, as The Content Marketing Institute would put it, there are differences in “content marketing maturity levels.”

As you can see, a fairly small number (28%) would be considered either mature or sophisticated.

The rest could definitely use some improvement, and there’s a lot of room for growth for many content marketers.

One thing I’ve noticed (especially when it comes to those new to the game) is that many brands engage in tactics that could be considered turn-offs.

This doesn’t necessarily mean being unethical or using black-hat techniques.

It means unknowingly using tactics that annoy site visitors and slowly but surely drive a wedge between the company and its audience.

At best, this results in diminished engagement, a lower follower count, etc.

At worst, it can lead to dwindling traffic numbers, fewer leads, decreased sales, and diluted brand equity.

The bottom line is you don’t want to kill your audience’s vibe with content marketing turn-offs.

Here are some common mistakes I see marketers make and how to avoid them.

Fatiguing your audience

The amount of content on the Internet is mind-boggling.

According to Marketing Profs, roughly two million blog posts are written every single day.

If you really want to get a sense of how much content is being created, check out Every Second on the Internet. It’ll really put this phenomenon into perspective.

Here’s the thing.

Everyone is trying to outdo one another to claim their piece of the pie and get traffic.

What’s the result?

Many content marketers are grinding out content.

They have the mindset that if they slap up enough content, the leads will come.

They end up flooding their blogs with mediocre content and their social media followers’ feeds with sub-par updates.

This all results in one thing. Content fatigue.

They fatigue their audiences as well as themselves in the process.

Don’t get me wrong. Fresh content is great.

Of course, you want to post new content consistently.

But I know I feel overwhelmed when someone I follow is constantly blasting me with new content just for the sake of having new content.

I don’t have the time to consume it all.

What I suggest is to chill out with the frequency of your content creation.

Don’t worry so much about constantly populating your blog and social media with new content.

Instead, focus on creating fewer but higher quality pieces.

Try to find the sweet spot between updating your content regularly and giving your audience time to catch their breath.

The sweet spot will differ depending on the nature of your brand and the platform you’re using. Finding it requires a certain level of experimentation on your end.

I also suggest checking out this post from Buffer for advice on this topic. It will give you a better idea of how much you should be posting and how much is too much.

Being too content-centric

I love this graphic that illustrates the difference between being content-centric and audience-centric:

The difference between the two is to whom your content caters: yourself or your audience.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say your brand is passionate about obscure industry trends, so you frequently write about these topics.

That’s all well and good, but if those topics don’t resonate with your audience, you’re unlikely to gain any real traction.

It’s a fairly widespread issue, considering that creating more engaging content is a top priority for 73% of content creators.

Over time, being too content-centric will minimize the impact of your campaign.

It hinders engagement, lowers readership, and gradually drives your audience away.

Make sure you’re on the audience-centric side of the spectrum— not the content-centric.

How do you accomplish this?

Two words: qualitative research.

If you’re unfamiliar with this term, let’s start with a definition:

Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behavior and the perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues. It uses in-depth studies of small groups of people to guide and support the construction of hypotheses.

Rather than merely observing what’s happening, qualitative research seeks to understand why it’s happening.

This type of research enables you to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and be highly informed when creating your content.

I’m not going to launch into a long-winded discussion of every facet of qualitative research, but let me offer a few key strategies:

• Ask your blog readers what topics they would like you to cover.
• Use analytics to identify content trends. See which posts are getting more traffic and engagement.
• See which keywords your visitors are searching before landing on your blog.
• Pay close attention to readers’ comments. Look for direct feedback. Note the number of comments on a post—it’s usually indicative of interest level.
• Check your social media analytics. See what types of content are getting the biggest response.

I also recommend checking out two specific posts on this topic:

Go Beyond Analytics to Give Customers the Content They Crave from The Content Marketing Institute.

Find Out What Your Audience Wants Using Qualitative Research from Positionly.

Being pretentious

Does your content consist of a steady stream of douchey buzzwords and complicated industry jargon only a handful of individuals will actually understand?

If so, this is guaranteed to turn off your audience.

Don’t get me wrong.

You want to come across as being intelligent, knowledgeable, and generally knowing your stuff.

But I feel there’s a fine line between being smart and being pretentious.

It can be an issue especially for certain industries such as medical, legal, and finance, where complex subjects are routinely discussed.

If you’re not careful, you can easily launch into some needlessly complicated rant and lose the majority of your audience.

It makes you appear insincere, alienates your audience, and makes it much more difficult to get your point across.

To be totally honest, I have been guilty of it myself at certain times.

However, it’s something I seriously strive to avoid these days.

What’s the solution?

First, try to stick with a natural, conversational tone when it comes to your content.

I try to approach it as if I’m sitting down with someone face-to-face and having a conversation.

That seems to work for me.

Also, don’t try to jam-pack your content with big words just for the sake of using big words.

Always look for the most direct way to say something without using needless buzzwords and industry jargon.

I also recommend asking yourself the following questions when proofreading your content:

• Will my average reader understand what I’m saying?
• Am I writing in my own—unique—voice?
• Can I simplify what I’ve written?
• Did I use any overly annoying buzzwords?

Always going for the sale

Ever feel like a sleazy used car salesman when creating content?

It’s not a good path to be on.

In fact, this is perhaps the number one way to turn off would-be readers and lose the readers you’ve currently got.

No one wants to be bombarded with “Buy Now!” messages when they’re trying to kick back and read some content.

It’s distracting and detracts from the overall user experience.

Here’s the thing about content marketing.

It’s one of the more long-term inbound strategies.

It doesn’t typically involve going for an instant sale.

Content marketing is about building relationships, creating rapport with your audience, and establishing trust over time.

The mentality is that if you take the time to create awesome content that’s genuinely useful, you’ll be primed to make a larger volume of sales down the road.

Therefore, it’s important to have the right mindset when approaching your content.

Here are a few techniques that I recommend:

• Avoid using interstitials on your website. Google actually started penalizing certain sites that use them.
• Place your focus on educating rather than selling. Believe me. If you educate your audience and solve a problem for them, the sales will follow.
• Don’t plug your business or include a CTA until the end of your content.
• Work on building rapport and establishing trust before asking your audience to buy anything.

Conclusion

Content marketing has been proven to be less costly and get more leads than outbound marketing.

It also tends to yield higher conversion rates.

But using the wrong tactics and not understanding what your audience does and doesn’t want can marginalize the impact of your campaign.

You don’t want to kill their vibe unwittingly and create a rift between your brand and your audience.

But steering clear of the issues I mentioned above should prevent any missteps on your end and lead to deeper relationships and a more receptive audience.

What’s your number one content marketing turn-off?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2p8lc8M
via IFTTT

If You Give Away Your Best Content, Your Business Will Grow by 290%

If you give it away—offer it free—they will come.

This should perhaps be the quote to encompass the business model of freeconomics.

It’s a model that involves giving away your best content.

Believe it or not, more and more companies are integrating and seeing amazing results with freeconomics today.

At first thought, it may seem ludicrous.

I mean, how can you expect to turn a profit if you’re getting no direct return on your content?

You’re spending loads of time and exerting a ton of energy to earn a big fat $0.00.

It just doesn’t make sense.

But when you look at the big picture, giving away your best content—offering it free—makes total sense.

It’s a catalyst for business growth, and I’ve even had clients who’ve grown their businesses by as much as 290% by going this route.

Allow me to explain.

How content impacts a buyer’s decision

Seldom do today’s consumers whip out their credit cards and blindly make a purchase.

No, most perform a considerable amount of research beforehand.

Besides researching the product itself, many consumers want to know more about the company behind the product.

They want to be sure that the company is legit, knows its stuff, and is trustworthy.

But how do they learn more about a company?

Besides simply reading the About page on the company’s website, consumers look at content.

In fact, Demand Gen Report found

47% of buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.

The report also discovered that

51% of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make B2B purchasing decisions than they did a year ago.

This means that content has become an integral part of the buying process, and it’s now a trend that’s likely to continue growing.

By making your best content easily accessible to your audience, you can pull more leads into your sales funnel, which should eventually increase sales.

To gate, or not to gate?

This is a question posed by Vertical Response in an article discussing the benefits of giving away content.

By gate, they mean putting an obstacle in front of content (e.g., filling out a form to get it).

In this article, they point out two specific instances when not gating your content is a smart business decision.

Point #1

Internationally acclaimed marketing and sales strategist David Meerman Scott says that according to his statistics,

a white paper or eBook will be downloaded 20 times and up to 50 times more without a gate in front of it.

And why wouldn’t it?

By removing the gate and making content accessible to everyone free, you’ll naturally generate more downloads.

Point #2

Joe Pulizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute and one of the most respected names in content marketing.

Here’s a quote from Joe regarding gated and non-gated content:

Let’s say you received 1,000 leads via your white paper download. From David’s numbers, let’s even take a more conservative 10x more downloads if we remove the gate.

This would give us 10,000 downloads with no lead data. Of all those people, let’s say that 1 percent would share this with their audiences (with a VERY conservative audience of 100 people, although most blogs get much more).

With those numbers, the total possible content reach for gated content would be 2,000 people. Non-gated content would be 20,000 people.

When you break it down, you see that gating the content would result in 2,000 people viewing the content, and not gating it would result in 20,000.

By simply giving it away, you’re theoretically getting ten times the leads.

Just think of the impact on your sales figures!

In it for the long haul

Here’s the thing with freeconomics and giving away your content.

There’s no immediate payoff.

It’s intrinsically a long-term strategy that involves making sales and growing your business over the long run.

It’s about building rapport and trust now so that you can make sales at a later date.

You could liken it to growing a crop:

When you plant a seed, you don’t expect to harvest the next day.

It takes time. But when you consider the bounty, it’s well worth it.

I realize this can be an issue for some people, considering the instant gratification culture we live in: we want results, and we want them now.

And I get it. It’s not easy spending an immense amount of time and energy working on something that will not give you visible results for six months or even a year.

But when you follow the right formula, the payoff is huge and makes way more sense than gating your content.

My own experience

Long ago, I realized the power that content marketing can yield.

That’s why I’ve made valuable content the cornerstone of my marketing.

More specifically, I’ve made it a point to give away the bulk of my content.

For instance, on Quick Sprout, I offer a sizable library of free content with Quick Sprout University:

This is where my audience can find in-depth information on everything from SEO and link building to reputation management and conversion optimization.

It also provides content for all knowledge levels (e.g., beginner, intermediate, and advanced).

On NeilPatel.com, I have a free podcast called Marketing School, where listeners can learn everything they need to know about online marketing:

Of course, I maintain blogs on these sites as well.

And you know what? It has completely paid off.

Although I didn’t get massive results right off the bat, giving away content has gotten me an insane number of sales.

Without it, I doubt I would be where I’m at today.

Another example

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk.

He’s an incredibly successful entrepreneur, author, speaker, and a major influencer.

He also swears like a sailor and makes no apologies for it.

Gary basically built an empire from scratch largely by giving away loads of quality content (e.g., YouTube videos, blog posts, infographics, etc.).

He even wrote a post called, Why You Shouldn’t Charge for Your Best Work.

Here’s a screenshot of his opening intro that captures his reasoning behind giving away content:

In other words, this tactic allows you to create real trust and boost your brand equity so that prospects feel comfortable doing business with you.

Even though you’re not earning any money initially, you’re investing in the long-term success of your company.

The full spectrum of benefits

Just so you’re aware of the impact that this tactic can have, I’d like to point out a handful of specific benefits:

• It’s one of the best ways to nurture leads. According to Marketing Sherpa, “73% of all B2B leads are not sales ready.”
• You can position your brand as an authority. “45% of a brand’s image can be attributed to what it says and how it says it.”
• It enables you to tell your brand’s story and convey your philosophy and values.
• It reduces skepticism. “In 1997, consumers indicated that they had a high level of confidence in 52% of brands. By 2008 that percentage dropped to 22%.” This is a great way to slash through any doubts your prospects may have.
• It’s an excellent way to educate consumers on your product’s features and the way it differs from the products of competitors.
• You can address any objections that may arise.

Which types of content most influence buying decisions?

Let’s say you’re on board with the concept of freeconomics and you understand the logic behind giving your best content for free.

This brings us to one important question.

What type of content should you create? Do certain types of content influence buying decisions more than others?

To answer these questions, I’d like to point out some additional statistics from Demand Gen Report.

Take a look at the type of content used in the past 12 months to make B2B purchasing decisions:

• White papers – 82%
• Webinars – 78%
• Case studies – 73%
• E-books – 67%
• Blog posts – 66%
• Infographics – 66%
• Third-party/analyst reports – 62%
• Video/motion graphics – 47%
• Interactive presentations – 36%

This doesn’t necessarily mean this is the order in which your company should prioritize its content, but it should serve as a general guideline.

Conclusion

Although the concept of freeconomics and giving away your best content may go against conventional business wisdom, there’s no denying the impact this approach can have.

The results are convincing.

I can speak from personal experience and say this is absolutely one of the best ways to grow your business. It’s done wonders for me.

But in order to make this strategy work for you, it requires a long-term commitment.

You need to treat it as an endurance race—not a sprint.

If you stay the course with your content marketing, you can grow your business by as much as 290%.

What type of free content has resonated the most with your audience?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2nUuG5N
via IFTTT

How to Do an Online Giveaway That Doesn’t Suck

Who doesn’t want something for free?

It’s a very enticing proposition.

Some of my best business-boosting hacks have taken place when I’ve offered something free.

I’ve given away free tools, free software, free headphones, free trips, free cash, and hundreds of free resources.

Free is amazing.

And hardly anyone will turn down a free gift, discount, etc. when it’s bestowed upon them with no strings attached.

Research from Kontest proves that an online giveaway can have a profound impact on your marketing campaign.

More specifically, they found that one-third of entrants will agree to receive information from brands and partners:

On top of that, they found that new campaigns acquire a 34% audience increase on average:

That’s pretty serious.

But I’ll be honest. There’s a lot that goes into a successful online giveaway.

There’s more to it than throwing something together, slapping up a prize, and expecting people to sign up in droves.

It doesn’t work that way.

The last thing you want to do is create an online giveaway that sucks. This can end up detracting from your brand.

Online giveaways have been around as long as the Internet has existed. And, let’s be honest, people are kind of tired of cheap and scammy giveaways.

In fact, a lot of people think giveaways are dead.

But are they? I’m not convinced. Why? Because I still use giveaways to generate massive traffic and huge amounts of revenue!

What I’d like to do now is walk you through the process of setting up an online giveaway.

I’d also like to offer some tips I’ve learned along the way so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

Determine your specific goal

Before you can figure out the logistics of your campaign, you must first decide what you’re trying to accomplish.

Here are some examples of common campaign goals:

• Get new email subscribers
• Increase social media engagement
• Get more social media followers
• Increase blog engagement
• Get more backlinks

Knowing your specific goal will dictate the specific approach you take later on.

Choose a prize

Coming up with an idea sounds pretty straightforward.

But I feel this is an area where a lot of brands drop the ball.

One of the main mistakes I often see is giving away something irrelevant to the industry.

As I said before in another guide on Quick Sprout, not every contest should consist of an iPad giveaway.

Please. Can we stop with the iPads already?

What you want to do is offer a gift that represents you.

For instance, Airbnb might offer a free stay at an awesome location:

A clothing brand might offer a free t-shirt.

An outdoor gear company might give away a sleeping bag or tent.

You get the idea.

Why is this so important?

If you’re gathering email addresses as part of the online giveaway, you want to ensure you’re getting people who represent your demographic.

Otherwise, you’ll have a junk list of unqualified leads who will probably never convert when you attempt to move them through your sales funnel later on.

Make the prize match the entry

Here’s something else to consider.

Some entry requirements are quick and easy, e.g., liking a post on Facebook.

Others are more long-winded and laborious, e.g., filling out several forms of questions, submitting a photo, and so on.

I suggest choosing a prize that matches the level of effort it requires to enter.

After all, offering a mediocre prize for completing an arduous entry process may result in very few entrants.

In other words, as an article from Wishpond states, “The prize value should always be equal to the effort required to win it.”

Consider bundling items

Wishpond also makes another interesting point.

They say offering a bundle of items can have a bigger impact than offering only one item.

It seems that a bundle is deemed higher value (even if it’s not, necessarily) than one single item. Plus more variety appeals to a wider audience.

This logic makes sense to me.

Most people have a tendency to think more is better.

So, even if you offer three gifts that combined are worth less than a single gift, the perception would still be that the three gifts are of a higher value (even if they’re not).

This isn’t to say that you have to follow this formula, but it’s definitely food for thought and could help you increase your number of entrants.

Consider offering multiple prizes

Let’s be real.

What are the odds of winning a giveaway with only one grand prize?

Pretty microscopic.

And people know this. They won’t jump through a bunch of hoops just to enter a contest where the chances of winning are slim to none.

But when there are prizes for first place, second place, and third place, the odds of winning increase a bit.

I suggest you offer smaller prizes for runner-up entrants in addition to the grand prize.

This makes people feel like they do have a chance, and even if they don’t win the grand prize, they can still get something.

I’ve found this to serve as motivation for people to sign up.

Contest duration

Okay, so you’ve got a goal, and you know what prize you’re going to offer.

The next thing to determine is how long your giveaway will last—its duration.

Now, there can be a huge variation in terms of duration.

But according to Kontest, the best duration for your campaign is either 25 or 60 days:

Research has found that these two lengths of time are the “sweet spots,” allowing you to get the maximum number of applicants.

But if it’s your first campaign and you’re still getting your bearings, I would definitely suggest sticking with 25 days initially.

Go any longer, and you might minimize the impact because some entrants may forget about the giveaway.

There’s a fine line between too short and too long. You’ll be able to pick the right duration based on how much exposure your giveaway has.

Create an epic landing page

Design plays an integral role in just about every element of marketing and branding.

And it’s no exception when it comes to your giveaway’s landing page.

It needs to pop.

But I realize that me telling you to create an epic landing page is a loaded statement.

Here are a few specific traits of a great giveaway landing page:

• It’s simple
• It thoroughly explains what it takes to enter and what the prize is
• It’s easy to understand
• It contains high-quality images
• People can enter quickly and easily

Now, let me provide you with a few examples.

Example #1 from Startup Pirates

Example #2 from Cadence Watch

Example #3 from Cocoon Spa

Gather the right information

Here’s a biggie: choosing which information to ask for from entrants.

You need to proceed with caution here because this can often make or break your campaign.

On the one hand, the more info you ask for, the more effort it takes for someone to enter and the fewer entrants there will be.

On the other hand, you want to ensure you’re getting adequate info so that you can effectively enter giveaway participants into your sales funnel.

How much is too much info to ask for?

Let’s take a look at what Kontest found:

As you can see, no one has an issue providing their email address.

And most are totally fine giving their first and last names.

But once you start getting to age, country, and address, the number of entrants drops off significantly.

The bottom line is that you should ask only for the most important information you’re legitimately going to use.

Otherwise, getting too personal and requiring too many steps can scare off many would-be entrants.

Make a big announcement about the winner(s)

A lot of time and energy goes into creating an online giveaway.

You want to make a big deal about the winner and put the spotlight on them.

I suggest asking them to take a photo with your product and posting it on your social media accounts.

This serves as added brand exposure and lets other entrants know that the giveaway was legit.

Both of which should help you build more buzz if you decide to create another online giveaway in the future.

Choosing a platform

There’s one last and extremely important detail.

Which platform should you use to run your online giveaway?

Although there are several different options to choose from, there are two in particular that I recommend.

The first is Gleam.

It’s fairly easy to use, and it integrates with most major social networks.

It’s also super customizable and makes it simple to incorporate great looking pictures.

I love the fact that Gleam is fully responsive, which is crucial for keeping mobile users happy.

In fact, you can increase your number of entrants 8x by running a mobile contest.

The second platform is Rafflecopter, which, according to its site, is “the world’s easiest way to run a giveaway.”

It’s also user-friendly and customizable.

Even if you have zero experience with online giveaways, you can usually get one up and running quickly.

Conclusion

I love online giveaways and think that when done correctly, they can rev up your marketing.

Just think about it. An online giveaway kills multiple birds with one stone.

You can:

• Get great brand exposure
• Increase social media and blog engagement
• Build your audience
• Establish brand advocates in the people who win your giveaways

And when you think about the money you would spend on other marketing techniques, such as paid advertising, you’re usually getting more bang for your buck with this strategy.

It’s usually a win-win situation.

But quite frankly, the strategy you devise is equally as important as the prize itself.

You need to cover all your bases and ensure you’re offering a prize that people actually want and that will motivate them to enter.

Once you’ve got that covered, the rest should fall into place.

Have you ever experimented with an online giveaway?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2nSMSxr
via IFTTT

18 SEO Tactics That Take Only 30 Minutes Each

I feel SEO has a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking.

And perhaps that’s true to a certain extent.

The initial phases of an SEO campaign can, in fact, be grueling.

There’s on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and—everyone’s favorite—technical SEO.

So, yeah, it can be kind of a pain.

But here’s the thing.

There is a multitude of “quick fix” SEO tactics that take hardly any time.

Many can be completed within 30 minutes.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that any specific technique will bring about massive results on its own.

But when done in conjunction with one another, they can have a significant impact and give your overall SEO campaign a nice boost.

So let’s get right down to it.

Here are 18 SEO tactics that will take you no longer than 30 minutes each.

1. Get set up on Google My Business

Local SEO is important, especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.

If you’ve been skimping on this aspect of SEO, you’ll want to spend a few minutes setting up an account on Google My Business.

This allows you to edit the info on your business, verify contact info, add images, monitor reviews, and more.

This can give you a huge advantage over competitors who fail to capitalize on this powerful resource.

2. Optimize your profile

Already have a profile on Google My Business?

Why not spend some time sprucing it up and making sure that everything is “just right?”

Here are a few specific things you can do:

• Make sure all your business info is up-to-date
• Add additional info such as hours, parking location, menu details, etc.
• Choose specific categories (e.g., “fresh organic grocery store” instead of just “grocery store”)
• Replace any amateurish looking images with newer, more professional ones
• Encourage loyal customers to leave reviews

3. Get set up on Google Search Console

I love Google Search Console!

If you’re not using it, you’re leaving money on the table and not getting the most from your SEO campaign.

Here’s a screenshot explaining exactly what Google Search Console is:

Although there is a wide array of features, here are some specific things you can do to improve your SEO:

• Check who’s linking to your site
• Check index status
• Monitor crawl errors
• Manually submit new content to be crawled

I recommend reading this post from Quick Sprout to learn how to use Google Search Console like a boss.

4. Check your site’s speed

I’m sure you know just how critical site speed is.

Even a one-second delay can have an adverse impact.

If you’re not sure what your website’s speed is, you can check it with Pingdom’s Website Speed Test.

It only takes a few seconds, and it will provide you with details on what you can do to speed it up.

Here’s the info I got when I did a speed test for Quick Sprout:

5. Check your site’s mobile-friendliness

I think it’s safe to say that smartphones aren’t just a fad.

In fact, many experts labeled 2016 as “the tipping point” for mobile search, when it finally eclipsed desktop search.

Research found that the average American spent 87 hours browsing on their smartphone in August 2016.

If you haven’t done so already, take the time to run a mobile-friendly test.

This will let you know what shape your site is in and what steps you need to take (if any) to resolve any issues.

6. Improve URL structure

Here’s the scenario.

You’ve been blogging for awhile, maybe several years.

Back in the day, you didn’t pay all that much attention to the URL structure of your blog posts.

As a result, they look something like this:

http://ift.tt/2nLdHU1

It’s fair to say this isn’t going to do your SEO any favors, and it’s going to make it unnecessarily difficult for search engine robots to decipher the meaning of your content.

To make your site more SEO-friendly, go back and improve these URLs so they look more like this:

http://ift.tt/2oDX7ZX

7. Improve mediocre titles

I’ll be honest.

Coming up with epic titles for blog posts can be a little tricky at times.

Maybe in the past, you ended up settling for less than stellar titles.

A good way to make use of 30 minutes is to look over your posts to identify any titles that could use improvement.

One helpful resource for streamlining this process is Title-Generator.com.

Simply enter your main keywords, and it will generate 700 potential titles with one click.

Here’s what happened when I entered “content marketing:”

8. Study AdWords ads to optimize titles and tags

Here’s a little hack I learned from Brian Dean of Backlinko.

It’s simple but genius.

Enter a keyword in Google, and check out the ads that pop up.

Then look for awesome copy that you could potentially use for titles or tags.

Here’s the example Brian uses.

He searches for “glass water bottles” and comes up with these ads:

From there, he comes up with these phrases:

• BPA-free
• Keep you hydrated
• Durable
• Reusable

So, why is this so smart? Just think about it.

The phrases used in ads like these are the result of extensive A/B testing, so you know they get clicks and conversions.

You can save yourself an immense amount of time and energy by incorporating the phrases you find in ads.

9. Find dead links

Dead or broken links can be a real buzzkill.

Not only can they be disruptive to your website’s visitors, but they also won’t do your SEO any favors.

But you can quickly identify any of these links with the Online Broken Link Checker:

Just type in your site’s URL, and it’ll do the work for you in seconds.

Then go back, and make any necessary repairs.

10. Do some internal linking

In an article on NeilPatel.com, I mention that I wrote a blog post every day for five years and amassed hundreds of posts.

But I made one major mistake. I never linked to any of my relevant articles!

Fortunately, I eventually figured out that I could greatly improve my SEO by simply linking new articles to relevant older ones.

If you made the same mistake with your older content that I did with mine, I highly recommend taking a bit of time to set up some internal links.

Even a 30-minute session should leave your SEO in much better shape than before.

You can learn more about this process by reading this article.

11. Find link opportunities on Alltop

If you’re unfamiliar with Alltop, it’s basically a blog directory where you can find some of the world’s best content in one convenient location.

Here’s what pops up when I enter “content marketing:”

Not bad, huh?

What you want to do is spend some time looking for potential link prospects.

Search for relevant blogs in your industry to see if there are any bloggers with whom you could build relationships.

12. Find link opportunities on BuzzSumo

You can use the same process with BuzzSumo.

Just enter your search phrase, and you’ll get a list of results.

Here’s what I get with “content marketing:”

From there, click on “View Sharers” on any articles that interest you.

You’ll then see a list of people who shared that article.

These can all be potential people with whom you may want to form relationships, which could eventually translate into link-building/guest-blogging opportunities.

13. Give your lower-ranking pages a boost

I’m sure you know that having content ranking below the first page of SERPs is essentially worthless.

Here’s what I mean:

If a post is ranked say #42, it might as well be ranked #20,000,000.

Here is how to improve that.

Identify a few of your posts ranked on the second or third pages of Google.

These have obviously gained some level of traction but need a little boost to get onto page one.

To get that boost, set up some internal links pointing to them.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get them “over the hump” and onto prime search engine real estate.

14. Target two leading industry blogs

This might be an old school tactic, but it can still prove to be quite fruitful.

It involves finding two A+ industry blogs you were previously unaware of.

Once you find them, leave a couple of awesome comments with a link pointing back to your site.

On top of this, I recommend subscribing and following some of their best writers on Twitter with the hopes of eventually building relationships.

15. Claim your Bing listing

I feel a lot of marketers totally discount Bing.

And I get it.

It’s like comparing David to Goliath in terms of search engine market share.

But pump the brakes.

Bing still receives a decent percent of overall searches.

In fact, a 2016 article from Search Engine Journal reported:

Bing’s share of the search market grew more than Google’s this past April. To be exact, Bing’s market share rose by 0.2 percent while Google’s dropped by 0.2 percent.

Google’s total share of the US desktop search market has dipped below its previous 64 percent to 63.8 percent. Microsoft’s share of desktop search is now sitting at 21.6 percent.

Will Bing be overthrowing Google any time soon? Probably not.

But there’s still SEO juice to be had by claiming your Bing listing.

Sign up for Bing Places to claim, complete, and verify your listing.

This can be especially helpful if you’re a local brick-and-mortar business.

16. Write comprehensive descriptions for videos

Do you post any videos on your website?

If so, you may be missing out on a golden opportunity.

What I mean is that you’re probably failing to extract all the SEO potential from your videos.

And this all boils down to descriptions.

Rather than writing a brief description like this:

Brian Dean recommends leaving a 200+ word description like this:

Not only will this help you improve your ranking in YouTube, but it can also improve your ranking in SERPs.

And it really doesn’t take that long.

17. Turn a standard post into a long-form post

I’m not going to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious fact that long-form content ranks better than, say, a typical 500-word post.

You already know that.

But here’s a nice little trick you can do with thin content.

Look for a shorter post, under 1,000 words, that’s pretty good but never lived up to its full potential.

Then spend 30 minutes “beefing it up” by adding more content, charts, graphs, visuals, etc. until it’s bona fide long-form content.

For more on this, check out this post from NeilPatel.com.

18. Spy on competitors

Finally, it’s time to tap into your inner James Bond.

By this, I mean “spying” on a few of your key competitors.

Just go to SEMrush and type in their URL.

Within seconds, you can find info on their:

• Top organic keywords
• Organic position distribution
• Backlinks
• Top anchors
• Indexed pages

This will provide you with valuable intel that can guide your SEO campaign and enable you to be more effective.

Conclusion

SEO doesn’t have to be back-breaking, mind-numbing work.

In fact, there is a plethora of smaller SEO tasks you can easily complete in 30 minutes.

The ones I’ve outlined in this article will help you step up your SEO without an insane amount of effort.

And when you do several (five or more), it can potentially lead to a major breakthrough.

Do you have any other quick and easy SEO tactics up your sleeve?

from Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/2nLbyaX
via IFTTT