Josh Ritchie says, “Successful content marketing is about creating a connection between your audience and your brand. This doesn’t mean just throwing content at them. It means creating content that they truly value — content that serves their needs and addresses their biggest pain points. And this type of content is much easier to create when it’s informed and driven by empathy. As Dr. Brené Brown notes, “Empathy is feeling with people.” When you put yourself in your audience’s shoes, it becomes easier to acknowledge their struggles and think critically about the best... [...]

Matt McGee says, “Remember that thing earlier this year when a Facebook executive predicted that the News Feed will be “probably all video” in five years? That’s still a long way from happening, but the company most certainly wants its users posting more video — particularly using Facebook Live. To that end, Facebook is launching an ad campaign this weekend in both the US and UK to promote Facebook Live. It’s a two-phase effort beginning with ads focusing on increasing awareness of the Live video platform, followed by a second phase focused on showing users how to use Facebook... [...]

Stoney deGeyter says, “Ever since Google rolled out Hummingbird in 2013, there has been some question about the value of keyword research. Moving from a keyword-focused process to a topic-focused process has led some to devalue the long, arduous process of keyword research. Many wonder if it’s even worth the time. After all, if Google no longer looks at keywords (Hummingbird), and people no longer search with keywords (voice search), we don’t need to research keywords, right? Wrong! As with most predictions of the death of anything related to web marketing — how’s that fork in guest... [...]

David Groom says, “Regardless of the niche or industry you operate in, it’s possible to avoid wasted time and effort by heeding the following five tips to practically guarantee that your website’s inbound link strategy will start moving forward immediately: 1. Create shareworthy content Publishing fresh content that readers will be inclined to share is perhaps the fastest way to see an influx of inbound links [literally] overnight. When a reader encounters a piece of content that they’re tempted to share, they’re not going to put it off until the next day – they... [...]

Alfred Lua says, “What should you do if you want to become the best at what you do? There’s probably a long list, with lots of options. One thing we’re particularly fond of at Buffer when it comes to improving ourselves is listening to podcasts relevant to our niche and industry. In our case, that means social media podcasts! What we love about podcasts is that they make it easy to hear from industry leaders and talented folks about their experiences and advice (which we might not be able to read about anywhere else). There are so many of these voices in the marketing space that have... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Google’s search engine is displaying fewer organic results on it first page this year than it was last year, and it’s increasingly presenting different experiences for desktop and smartphone users, according to recent research from Searchmetrics. The report was based on 2016 data from 500,000 general, frequently searched keywords. The researchers examined the first Google search results page for each term and analyzed how 11 features (text results, product listing ads, images, news, maps, etc.) were integrated. Whereas Google used to almost always display 10... [...]

Maybe you are like most small online marketers. You spend time and money building a list. You get all excited about every new lead who opts in. Then you send an email out and nothing happens. No clicks and no sales. When you check your email analytics, you discover that your open rates and click rates are very low, maybe even none. Even if you have a big list, you may get only a few sales But your Return on Investment of time and ad money and all the effort you put into your list building efforts, have been largely wasted. You aren’t getting the payback you were hoping for. For many marketers,... [...]

Greg Finn says, “A new report from social ad automation company Nanigans shows substantial growth in both YoY Facebook ad spend and on the overall Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). In Q3 2016, the average increase in ad spend was +249 percent YoY, while the average ROAS was also up 26 percent from 2015. One of the main drivers of this increase was Facebook’s expanded Audience Network. In Q2 2016, that allowed brands to reach out to non-Facebook users, and Facebook added video ads to the Audience Network in May, opening it up up to even more ad types. From Q2 to Q3 2016, the off-Facebook audience... [...]

Anthony Iannarino says, “Many salespeople fail to create or win new opportunities because they don’t know enough about business. They mistakenly believe it’s enough to know their product or service to have just a tiny bit of sales acumen — mostly a rehearsed script for overcoming objections. Product knowledge alone might have been enough in the past, but today your dream clients aren’t interested in hiring just a salesperson. They want someone who can help them solve their business challenges. They are looking for a partner who will help them visualize a better future and guide... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “If you needed any more evidence that mobile has taken over the world, you got it last week when news broke that Google is going to be creating a dedicated mobile index. Here’s what you need to know about it. It’s coming in a few months According to Google’s Gary Illyes, the new mobile index will be launched within “months.” So it’s right around the corner. It will be made the primary index Perhaps the most important aspect of Google’s announcement is that the new mobile index will be made the primary index. The decision isn’t... [...]