Ben Davis says, “As an identical twin, duplication is a topic close to my heart.Content duplication is more and more prevalent and can lead to serious search losses, irrespective of who created the original.Resellers should be particularly vigilant given that they have product listings that will have inherent similarities with other reseller and brand websites.In this post I’ll look at how ecommerce sites are being penalised in Google SERPs for having duplicate content…1. Sports Direct and the Ralph Lauren jumperLet’s look at one example. Below you’ll see remarkably... [...]

Gary Lipkowitz says, “Are you considering allocatingbudget to video? Whether it’s a one-time production in the tens of thousands or a long-term capital investment that may reach hundreds of thousands, video investments are often hard to evaluate and approve because they rarely generate a direct response.Your video project is likely top or middle of the funnel activity, meaning ROI is hard to prove. No matter how enthusiastic your team is about video or how much you hear in digital media circles that video is the next great tactic, you need some plain talk about what type of videos to... [...]

Baer says, “As a storyteller and an improviser, I get asked about humor a lot. I was invited to speak to a company a few weeks back on this exact topic.“Kathy, how can we inject more humor into our social media and marketing videos? We’re fun. We want people to see that! We try to do video, and it’s like our un-fun clones show up. Help!”That happens to all of us sometimes. The short answer? If you have great writers and improvisers at your disposal, go for jokes,  parodies, even satire. Beware that satire, unlike parody, is aimed at social commentary, and that’s a bit heavier than... [...]

Stefanie Flaxman says, “As writers, we don’t really take breaks.Even when we aren’t working, the creative lens through which we view the worldkeeps our minds active with possibilities.And then you have to ask yourself: Should I be the one to bring a new idea to life?To help you pursue smart content ideas, this week’s Copyblogger Collection is a series of three handpicked articles that will show you:How to write content that attracts customers and clientsHow to stand out with content that makes an impactHow to hook your audience through the magnetic force of fascination”.3... [...]

Michele Linn says, “Call me a nerd (you wouldn’t be the first), but I am fascinated by metadata.For years, I have been thinking about the importance of organizing our content on the CMI website so people can find what’s most important to them instead of what’s most recent, and I know metadata is the key to this. (In fact, I often think about this post from Doug Kessler on what he referred to as library marketing waaaay back in 2010.)Of course, content strategists have been organizing content for decades (it’s just one of the things content marketers can learn from content strategists),... [...]

Jimmy Rodela says, “Just like in most things, there is the “right way” of doing content marketing, and there is the wrong way that will have you spending thousands of dollars, while getting you very little to no results at all.Of course, we want to make sure that you don’t experience the latter, right?Allow me to share with you some of the most critical points that  you need to consider when using content marketing in order to get it right.Publish and Pray?Content marketers that are worth their salt know that creating quality content is just the beginning. Taking the time and... [...]

Joe Pulizzi says, “It’s that time of year again when we release the findings of our annual content marketing survey. Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about effectiveness. But this year, while our team was discussing new questions for the survey, we stepped back and wondered – how many companies even know what effectiveness looks like?The answer may (or may not) surprise you. Get this: 55% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers said that it is unclear within their organization what an effective or successful content marketing program looks like.Regardless, what’s great about... [...]

James Parsons says, “Ever think about Google Panda? It feels a little “old hat” to talk about it, since it’s now nearly five years old. But this service, which ruthlesssly searches the Internet for pages that don’t meet its quality standards — and penalizes sites with substandard content, is still worth addressing. The reason: It’s still hurting sites. Panda was rolled into the main Google algorithm, but semi-regular Panda updates still occur semi-regularly.One opinion out there says that content of a certain age doesn’t matter, that Google (and... [...]

Baer says, “Traffic is nice and all, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to measuring your content marketing success.Metrics are what businesses and digital marketers around the world use to determine how effective their marketing strategy is. Breaking down that data and developing a better marketing strategy is one of the keys to consistent growth.While most analytics services offer plenty of data, they don’t exactly offer much guidance when it comes to figuring out what matters. Measuring metrics can actually become intimidatingly complex, especially for the inexperienced... [...]

Brian Hughes says, “Are slow load times putting the brakes on your business’s website?Sure, no one has the time or patience to wait around all day for a slow site to load, but slow load speeds are more than just an inconvenience; they could be having a very real impact on your website’s bottom line.Load speed is a major contributing factor to page abandonment, says Sean Work on the Kissmetrics blog. With nearly half (47%) of all consumer expected a web page to load in two seconds or less, every second counts. Time can be a real killer for eCommerce and conversion rates: 40 percent... [...]