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  • Blending Social Media Marketing With Your Traditional Marketing This Holiday Season

    Blending Social Media Marketing With Your Traditional Marketing This Holiday Season

    It’s November, which means it’s time to get into holiday marketing mode if you have not started already.

    In a former life, I worked in print advertising. This time of year was our busiest (still is) and most profitable for the newspapers I worked at.

    Businesses crammed to get as many ads as possible into the paper and spent more money than they did the rest of the year. It seemed they saved all their marketing dollars for the last 2 months of the year.

    Enter social media marketing and the whole holiday marketing game has changed.

    Newspaper advertising (and pretty much all print advertising) is on the decline due to advances in technology, aka social media.

    Do I think you should completely scrap your traditional marketing plan and advertising?

    No, for this one reason: not all of your market is online. I know I typically recommend not advertising via traditional methods, however, during the holiday season, more people will look at newspapers and such to find the best deal.

    This is the one time of year it’s okay to use some marketing dollars on traditional advertising.

    There are some great and creative ways to blend your traditional marketing with your social media marketing.

    Doing this will give you the best coverage this holiday season.

    Here are some ways to mix it up…

    1. Cross-promote

    Are you having a social media contest? Promote in your print/radio/television ads.

    Hang signs up in your storefront (if you have one).

    Encourage people to follow you on social media when they come into your store.

    2. Leave breadcrumbs

    Put forth an advertising campaign that leads your social media community to your print ads and vice versa.

    For example, if you are having a contest, encourage people via social media to visit the store to enter or look for a special code in a print ad to enter.

    Give them just enough info to know what to do, but they either have to visit you in-person or follow you on social media to participate.

    3. Make sure your social media links are everywhere – on print ads, television ads, flyers, brochures, etc

    The more places you can tell them and the more places they will see it, the better.

    Something I learned in advertising a long time ago is that it takes someone, on average, to see something 3 times before they act on it.

    4. Make information exclusive to your social media community

    For example, in print ads, say “Like us on Facebook for exclusive discounts.” Tease them in print ads and give them a reason to follow/like/circle you online.

    Encourage your customers to sign up for email newsletters.

    There are many more ways to mix and blend the two. Social media, in some form, is here to stay.

    Traditional Marketing and Social Media will continue to evolve and blend as digital marketing grows and evolves.

    Since not everyone will be online, traditional marketing will always be around in some form. It’s important to not forget about your offline community.

    That’s why every business should have a well-balanced marketing plan mixing the two together.

    How do you blend traditional and social media marketing together?

  • How to Transform Your Brand in 30 Days on Social

    How to Transform Your Brand in 30 Days on Social

    What if you could transform your brand in 30 days, using the resources and skills you have as a social media marketer today?

    Thirty-day transformation isn’t just for bikini bods, folks–your brand can have its epiphanic moment sooner than you think. Here’s what to do.

    Day 1

    Conduct an audit. Run analysis on where your brand stands this year vs. last year on social:

    • By engagement level, sentiment level, and business value contribution
    • Broken down by active social channel

    Conducting this audit will give you a clear overhead picture of where you are today and what your trajectory looks like.

    Day 2

    Use the analysis from Day 1, and drill down on the spikes in engagement, positive sentiment, and business value you’ve seen.

    Create a “one source of truth” list of your greatest moments of success, whether intentional or unintentional and deepest moments of failure to meet expectations, too.

    Day 3

    Using the data you’ve gathered as guideposts showing you what to do and what to avoid, start planning a new campaign that will span at least a six-month period, to give your messaging a chance to really saturate the market and your target audience.

    This campaign should tie into your brand’s larger marketing messaging and should have strong visual and video components. Think about it this way: this campaign should become what your brand is known for in the year to come.

    Day 4

    Look at your earned social media content–how people mention your brand and target topics on social in conversations with their nearest and dearest. This is great fodder for your campaign.

    What you find out about how people think of your brand and industry should be your campaign’s bedrock and inspirational force.

    Day 5

    Once you’ve put together your campaign, it’s time to get buy-in from key stakeholders.

    Outline the following for your key stakeholders:

    • The resources you will need
    • The benefit this campaign will have on your company at large (I recommend going beyond “generating awareness” here)
    • The KPIs (Key Performance Indicators–how you will know you are succeeding or not, i.e., metrics)
    • The timeline

    Then ask for feedback.

    Day 6

    Take this day to incorporate feedback into your plan, and send a revised version to key stakeholders.

    Day 7

    While you’re busy planning your big, game-changing campaign, don’t forget to conduct your weekly review of the social media metrics that matter to your business.

    Knowing what your goals are and which KPIs are significant will give you a wonderful foundational benchmark to work from when you do launch your campaign.

    Day 8

    Don’t forget experimentation: make sure that your plan includes at least one “emerging” social network or platform feature, like Snapchat or Instagram Stories.

    This will challenge you to keep innovating and freshening your brand identity. It can also drive web traffic from people who already love your brand.

    Day 9

    Put together a detailed social media editorial calendar to share with other departments/personnel you will need resources from during your campaign. This will also keep you sane during the busier moments of your campaign.

    Day 10

    Schedule as much of your content as you possibly can before you launch. This will free you up to run analysis as you go along and make the optimizations and pivots you need to make.

    Day 11

    It’s launch day! Time to put all your plans into motion.

    Day 12

    As your campaign unfolds, take some time to look at your competitors’ social performance.

    What are your competitors doing well? What does their social performance look like? How does it compare to yours?

    What can you learn from their competitive social data, and how can you weave these lessons learned into your campaign?

    Remember that your campaign isn’t stagnant, like a statue you build and leave alone. It’s more like wet clay, which you can keep changing and creating better and better shapes from as you go along.

    Day 13

    Are you leveraging influencers as a part of your campaign and brand transformation? If you are, it’s time to check in with your influencers and see if they’re on track with their deliverables and/or need any help.

    If you are not leveraging influencers, you should be, no matter what you sell. Well-chosen influencers help you reach a broader audience that is likely to be interested in and buy your product. They also give your brand more clout and authenticity in front of these audiences.

    Day 14

    Expand your perspective. Do some research on social media trends. Pew is a great places to start.

    Day 15

    Make sure you’re clear on who your target social audience is for this campaign, and for your brand generally. You can do this by:

    • Finding out who your most engaged users are
    • Searching your top hashtags, both owned and general
    • Discovering who follows your competitors

    Day 16

    Get conversational. As mentioned in my overdone statue metaphor above, social media marketing isn’t a “set it and forget it” business. Make sure you’re responding to folks who are mentioning your brand and campaign content as quickly as possible, to keep that conversation going and keep your brand top-of-mind.

    Day 17

    It’s time to check your visual consistency across all your brand’s web and social properties.

    Do your graphics on the social networks you have accounts with–even the ones you don’t use that often–mirror one another? Is the experience that a social follower has coming from Twitter to your website seamless, or will he or she be startled by the difference in messaging and visual approach?

    Work with your web/content team to make sure your social followers have a consistent experience–and, ultimately, convert to customers.

    Day 18

    At the end of day 18, your campaign has been alive for seven days–a full week! Go, you! Now it’s time to see whether you’re on track to hit the goals you’ve set for the campaign.

    If you’re right on track: Yay! Keep doing what you’re doing.

    If you’re behind: Don’t worry. Take a deep breath. Look at the most well-received posts in your campaign right now. Double down on posts of that nature, or promote those very posts more aggressively. Remove low-performing posts from your queue. Learn from what’s happened this first week, and tweak future planned content in the campaign accordingly.

    Day 19

    Run your brand through the “Big Four” checklist of successful digital brands:

    1. Do you know your buyer? What does he or she care about (beyond your industry/product type)? What do these demographics look like? What keeps your buyer up at night?
    2. Do you have a unified strategy? Is every part of your organization up to speed on your campaign, how it’s going, and what your projected results are?
    3. Are you a full-funnel player? Do you know how your social media content is affecting buyer movement in the funnel?
    4. Are you setting goals and measuring results? Have you fallen behind on keeping tabs on progress?

    Day 20

    It’s time for continued education. Watch a webinar targeted at marketers in your industry or field.

    Come prepared with questions you want to be answered, and ask them during the Q&A section of the webinar. Integrate what you learn into your campaign.

    Day 21

    Time for a check-in with your boss. Make sure you’ve refreshed your reporting system, and are including these elements when you inform him/her on transformation progress:

    • Trends, not tactics and endless metrics: Your boss wants to eat the food, not go in the kitchen and make it him or herself. Be prepared to answer specific follow-up questions, but no need to include every little tactic and metric in your report.
    • Conversion rates FTW: Your peers serve up conversion rates to indicate success or failure.
    • Own your losses: Are things not going according to plan? Explain why, and do it using the data.
    • Leave ’em with an action plan: Not your setbacks. Analysis is only as useful as it is action-oriented.

    Day 22

    Bring an unexpected guest onto your Facebook Live, Snapchat, or Instagram Stories.

    Day 23

    Send out an email soliciting UGC via your strongest social channel (so as not to dilute the power of the responses), and offering a chance to win a prize.

    Day 24

    Get to know your digital neighbourhood through social.

    Day 25

    Your second weekly review has arrived! Follow the same recipe as Day 18!

    Day 26

    Solicit internal UGC. Ask your employees to submit campaign– and brand-relevant content for social, and offer a prize for published submissions.

    Day 27

    This is your boost day. Check your progress towards your 30-day goal. Are you just a tad behind? This is your day to pull out all the stops: post more frequently, host a giveaway or impromptu Twitter Chat, get a surprise influencer/partner on your Facebook Live.

    Challenge yourself to blow past that finish line on day 27–this will force you to get more creative than ever before.

    Day 28

    Take a marketer you know and admire out to lunch, or approach him or her on social and ask for a quick chat. Come prepared with a set of questions, as specific as possible.

    We recommend choosing a particular campaign you were floored by and digging deep to find out what you can learn for your own brand.

    This information will help you on day 30 when you take a look at how far you’ve come and where you need to make major modifications.

    Day 29

    Round up your influencers for a group chat to discover how they’ve perceived your campaign, and what kind of feedback they’ve received from their respective audiences. This information will help inform your 30-day review.

    Day 30

    It’s time for your 30-day review. You’ve built a campaign that will keep going, but what have these 30 days taught you? You’ve gotten agile.

    You’ve learned a lot about which content your audience will consume, and which they decline or ignore. You have a good idea about whether or not your messaging is on the right track.

  • When Does Leasing A Car Make Sense?

    When Does Leasing A Car Make Sense?

    Owning a car is one of the most significant decisions you can make. Even for ‘budget’ models, the costs involved can dent your budget. Despite the costs involved, having access to a car improves the overall quality of life you enjoy. It is easier to commute to work, run errands, and meet social commitments when you don’t have to depend on public transportation.

    There are two ways to have your own car; you can either buy it or lease it. Buying a car means purchasing it from its previous owner and taking ownership of the vehicle. This usually involves making a cash deposit and making monthly repayments. You can also apply for car finance.

    Alternatively, you can lease a vehicle in which case you get to ‘rent’ it for a specified period of time. With a lease, you don’t own the car.

    In what circumstances is leasing a better option than buying a car?

    If you will be using the car for business purposes

    In the UK, the US and the EU; the monthly leasing fee is tax-deductible if the vehicle is being used primarily for business purposes. In most of these jurisdictions, the same does not apply for the monthly instalment payments that you make when you are purchasing a car.

    Assuming that the monthly leasing charge is similar to the monthly car payments when purchasing, you will save money when you choose to lease. Also, make sure to check ULEZ.

    If you change cars often

    Some people form long-term bonds with their cars that can span decades while some of us prefer to drive the latest model. If you are easily distracted by newer models, then leasing is the right option for you.

    Buying and selling cars within short periods of time is not financially sustainable; simply lease a car for a while and get a new car when your lease expires.

    If you require the vehicle on a temporary basis

    Purchasing a vehicle is a long-term commitment. You need to ensure that the vehicle will meet your needs for years to come. If your needs are more temporary, then it makes more sense to lease a vehicle rather than purchasing it.

    Most lease agreements cover periods ranging from one month to two years. If you require a vehicle for less than two years, it is much cheaper to lease it rather than buying it.

    You should always lease with an established, well-reviewed company that offers coverage throughout the UK if you want to have a pleasant experience.

    If you are working with a tight budget

    When leasing a car, you are not taking ownership of the vehicle, just paying for the depreciation it experiences while under your usage.

    This means that the monthly cost of leasing a car will be much lower than the cost of monthly instalment payments when purchasing. In some instances, the monthly purchase payment might even double the leasing charge.

    If a car leasing service is offering attractive sales promotions

    The car leasing industry has become very competitive, and different leasing agencies usually have offers in place to entice clients.

    The most popular of these is the leasing give-away deal where older models are available for lease at highly discounted prices. Take advantage of these offers as they appear.

  • Top Strategies for Generating More Traffic to Your Website with Pinterest

    Top Strategies for Generating More Traffic to Your Website with Pinterest

    It’s the fastest-growing social media channel by overall member growth. Its popularity is totally surpassing Twitter and it brings in 3X the traffic of Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit combined.

    So, what is this marketing wizard?

    It’s Pinterest, of course!

    It used to be that the only way to pull in traffic to your website was through paid ads. Not only are those days long gone, but often you’ll now find that PPC ads are a big turn-off to your potential readers.

    Nowadays, it’s all about the power of social media referrals.

    Believe me: I am the biggest advocate for the use of Pinterest as a marketing tool.

    In fact, I’ve been generating 30K unique visits per month from Pinterest alone, and it’s time for you to do the same.

    The Pinterest 411

    Before we get started, it’s important we set out the basics. There are a few things you ought to know about Pinterest before diving in.

    • Understand your target audience. That way you’ll reach more of the right people. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes: what would they be searching? Design your title and captions accordingly.
    • Don’t focus on followers. Pinterest is the only social network where followers really don’t matter. It’s all about re-pins, likes, and comments: basically, it’s about the engagement.
    • Pinterest is a powerful search engine. Especially with new updates such as Smart Feed, Pinterest tailors the way pins are viewed on a user’s feed to help provide more relevant content based on their Likes, Interests, and Boards they follow.

    Got it? Awesome. Now let’s get your Pinterest pumping!

    #1 – Amp Up Your Pinterest Profile

    It’s simple, really: the better designed your Pinterest profile, the higher your number of referrals. By optimizing your profile in every way possible for your visitors, you’ll receive more engagement on your posts and, consequently, more jumps over to your website.

    Sounds good, right?

    So let’s start at the beginning. Some of these are going to sound simple. Yet, you’d be surprised at how often they are overlooked.

    And as Pinterest continues to expand, these starter steps will become more and more crucial.

    • If you have a personal account, convert it to a business one. It’s free and easy to do, makes you look more professional, and opens you up to many more services than you’d receive on a personal account (just like Pinterest Analytics, where you can track your performance).
    • Add keywords beside your name. For example, instead of writing your name, add a keyword you’re known for. Take a look at how I did mine: Pauline Cabrera – Web Designer. Whenever people search for the word “Web Designer” my profile shows up in the “Pinners” list.
    • Look Savvy. Build trust by completing your profile. Make sure to include links to social networks, verify your website URL, create a custom URL, and upload a profile picture relevant to your industry.
    • Add important keywords to your bio. This can help boost you up in Google search rankings for people searching for those keywords, as well as pinners using the Pinterest search engine. Every little bit helps!
    • Add your location. This will help you boost local traffic, if that is a priority for your brand.
    • Turn off your “Search Privacy” settings. You want your boards and profile to appear in search engine results, right? Then you need to make sure you turn off this setting within your Account Settings.
    • Don’t abuse keywords. You’ll just look spammy. Make sure your keywords flow naturally through your profile.
    • Put your best boards in the top row. As a general rule, you should always keep your most attractive or important content “above the fold” on your website (the part of the screen that is first visible to visitors). That way, visitors are more likely to stay on the page and scroll down to see more. These could be your most popular or updated boards, or those relevant to current events.

    #2 – Create and Optimize Your Boards

    Next, it’s time to get creative and boost your visibility. Having a visually appealing and powerfully communicative set of boards will grab your visitor’s attention, hold it, and drive visitors towards your website. You’ll need to optimize your boards to make sure you reach your target audience.

    Now we’re getting to the fun part.

    • Prettify your boards. Clear, organized boards with gorgeous cover photos make for a Pinterest account that is irresistible to follow.
    • Use descriptive titles with keywords. Your Pinterest board could show up in the first pages of Google’s search result if it’s optimized for the search. So, make your boards as descriptive as possible. The more specific, the better.

    When you search for “30th Birthday Ideas,” a Pinterest board shows up in the first page of the search results. Amazing, right? So when people click that, the owner would send traffic to the pins added in it.

    • Create more relevant boards using targeted keywords. For example, I’ve created a general board called “Social Media Marketing,” but will also create targeted ones such as “Pinterest Marketing for Bloggers” and “Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses.”

    Create a spreadsheet where you can brainstorm keywords that are relevant to each other and refer back to it for inspiration. You can even use the Pinterest search suggestions to find the keywords that regularly crop up together! (For an even more advanced approach, give these tools a try: http://keywordtool.io/ or https://ads.google.com/intl/en_uk/home/tools/keyword-planner/

    #3 – Pin Like a PRO

    Building on this, you’re now ready to get pinning. And remember: it isn’t as easy as just pinning images here, there, and everywhere. You need to be on your A-game if you truly want to harness the marketing potential of Pinterest.

    • Use large, tall, eye-catching images. All your images should be 735 pixels wide by 1102 pixels long: if your images are smaller than this, they’ll be overlooked by a Pinner’s home feed. I use Photoshop to resize, or Canva if I’m in a hurry (a great resource for non-graphic designers!).
    • Write a detailed and thoughtful description with your main keywords.Avoid stuffy descriptions. Use keywords that make sense alongside genuinely interesting content.
    • Add the correct URL’s. Always use the actual URL rather than the main one. Pinterest doesn’t allow URL shorteners like bit.ly, so avoid using those.
    • Use search-friendly file names for images. Google can’t read images. What it can read is your image file names. When you’re saving the images you want to upload, use file names with one or two keywords. Basically, don’t save with the default numbering from your camera: change it to something like “chocolate-wedding-cake.jpg,” or whatever it is your image features.
    • Implement rich pins. Rich pins are gold for businesses: these “super” pins allow you to include additional information (such as price, availability, and location) about the image, pulled directly from your website. So they automatically update as your site does, standing out and make shopping and finding information far easier. Find out how to add your own here.
    • Use a catchy title. Pins that feature “How-To’s,” checklists, and infographics always work well for me. The key is to not give all the information away in the image, to help you get more click-throughs.
    • Avoid hashtags in the pin description. Pinterest has officially announced that if you use too many hashtags in your pin description, it could demote your pin’s search ranking. Why? Because they see it as spammy. So, avoid it like the plague.
    • Use different images and titles. It’s important to find out which works best. For me, I like to experiment with various visuals to see if one outperforms the other. It’s paramount for your own market research to find out what your audience finds most attractive. Here are some examples. Based on Pinterest Analytics, the left one sends me more traffic than the right one. 

    #4 – Pin Strategically

    You wouldn’t implement a business plan without a strategy, so why should your Pinterest marketing be any different? A strong strategy for your Pinterest activity will enable you to maximize your return by attracting a higher percentage of viewers and, as a result, more traffic to your website.

    But how do you do that?

    • Pin regularly. As with all social media, an active and consistent presence will increase your chance of generating traffic and make you a trustworthy source. Courtney from Bufferapp found that between 5 and 30 pins per day is optimal. The best times to post are 2:00 – 4:00am and evening hours every day, as well as 5:00pm on a Friday and 8:00 – 11:00pm on Saturdays. It’s also worth making use of Pinterest scheduling tools such as Tailwind or Viraltag. They’ll help you figure out the best times to post throughout the day.
    • Schedule your pins. It helps you avoid flooding your followers’ feeds, spacing out your content and keeping it fresh and continuously updated. Again, use Tailwind or ViralTag to schedule your pins.
    • Pin multiple types of content. I’m talking infographics, GIFs, and videos, as well as straight-up images. Show variety and keep your page exciting and dynamic.
    • Re-pin your best pins to different boards or group boards. Maybe some new pinners haven’t seen your best content yet? This is a great way to bring it to their attention. You may use the Pinterest Analytics or Tailwind analytics (if you have one) to find out your top pins.
    • Track your performance. Use Pinterest Analytics to see how people are describing your pins and what they are pinning alongside your content. This can be useful in knowing how to arrange your boards. You can also track the demographic of your audience and that can be useful in planning the type of content to post in the future.
    • Avoid self promotion. Pinterest has said that it is “…designed to share content you love, so don’t use it purely for self promotion.” And that means no selfies.
    • Don’t just pin the same content on two boards at the same time. At least give a few hours’ delay between the two.
    • Fix broken or dead links. Pinterest focuses on the quality of user experience, so if you’re not managing dead links or expired pages, expect consequences. You can use tools like Board Booster or Pin4Ever for help with this.
    • Share pins related to current trends and events. It’s been reported that pins based on trending topics receive a 94% click-through rate… so it’s worth staying current.  

    Still not sure what’s the best content to be pinning? Check out these interesting stats on how to determine what to pin:

    • Over 80% of pins are re-pins. Be that extra 20% that gets re-pinned daily. Pin as much directly from your website as possible, or upload images on their own.
    • Different days of the week have varied “most popular” topics. Mondays are best for fitness, Tuesdays for tech, Wednesdays for quotes, Thursdays for fashion, Fridays for humor, Saturdays for travel, and Sundays for food and DIY crafts.
    • Tutorials, guides, DIY, and recipe pins receive a 42% higher click-through rate than other pins.
    • Medium-light images receive 20 times more re-pins than those that are dark.
    • Images without faces get re-pinned 23% more than those that contain faces.

    #5 – Delete or Optimize Underperforming Pins

    This is a tricky one. While it’s important to only hold onto boards and pins with high engagement (as this helps your profile scores–and hence your website traffic–shoot up), it can be difficult to know when to cut the ties. Why? Because there’s always the risk that you’ll delete a pin too soon and lose out on sudden traffic.

    It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It can take time for your pin to make its way around, due to Smart Feed.

    So how do you get around this?

    For me, I always try to optimize my pins with low engagement (think those with 1 – 2 pins or comments). Then, get promoting.

    One way to do this is by joining some “pinning” trains on social media (Facebook and Google+ groups) where admins post threads encouraging members to pin other people’s pins. Give it a few weeks and see if you gain any response.

    If your pins are very old and outdated with really low engagement, delete them. And if they look spammy, get rid of them!

    Here’s another handy method for you to quickly get rid of your low level content using Board Booster:

    • Create a temporary public board in your Pinterest account. This will be the new home of your low-engagement pins.
    • Using Board Booster’s Pin Mover, set the query to move all pins with less than 2 re-pins to the temporary board. Set tool to search multiple boards and duplicates (this could take any anything up to a few hours!)
    • Run the search. Keep in mind that Board Booster will charge 1 cent for each moved pin.
    • You’ll now see that all the pins in your temporary board have less than 2 re-pins. Delete the board and the pins in them.

    #6 – Make Your Website Pinterest-Friendly

    What’s the use in making your Pinterest the most superbly optimized network ever for your brand if your website isn’t doing its bit?

    You need to make sure that your site is perfectly geared-up to complement your Pinterest. The two need to work hand-in-hand.

    • Use Pin It hover buttons on your content. Remember: the higher engagement on your pins, the more visible you are to Pinterest. This is down to Pinterest Smart Feed, which shows the “higher quality” pins (AKA, those with larger levels of engagement) at the start of a search. Drive engagement on every platform. Take a look at the featured image on this blog post; see how I have the “pin” button? That shows up when people hover over my images. I’m using SumoMe for this.
    • Add a follow button. The more followers, the more chance you’ll receive new re-pins.
    • Include “pinnable” images in every blog post. You know the drill: visually enticing, tall, and with text.
    • Fill out the ALT tag on your images. This is the information that Pinterest pulls in for the Pin description. It needs to be short, interesting, and keyword-rich. Don’t bother repeating the post name. Instead, give an engaging introduction or ask a question to your viewers. Here’s a tutorial on how you can do this. See the ALT text part?

    #7 – Get Social

    As with all digital marketing, community management is vital in raising engagement and boosting traffic. You need to keep it as social as possible and really put the time in to spread the word about your brand.

    • Be responsive. Reply to your comments and like pins of people who have re-pinned your content. Remember to tag their names when responding to comments. Just dedicate about 10 minutes to this per day. It’s totally worth it.
    • Follow people in your niche. In particular, influencers and those who post quality pins.

    #8 – Link Up with Established Pinners

    It’s a foolproof Pinterest tactic. By collaborating, you’ll find it easier to not only curate boards, but also grow your own followers.

    You can do this by:

    • Creating your own collaborative boards and getting others to join you.
    • Joining high-value group boards. Check out pingroupie.com to find some cool ones!

    #9 – Use Promoted Pins

    Promoted pins bring attention to your most important content and helps you to create traffic and engagement campaigns. But if you’re investing money in those pins, you need to make sure you are amplifying their effectiveness.

    Ready for the good news? It’s easy as pie!

    • Use your most compelling images with a text overlay.
    • Include detailed descriptions with a call to action.
    • Promote images with the vertical aspect ratio – the bigger and more dominant, the more noticeable they will be on pinner feeds. The result? More click-throughs. 

    #10 – Keep Up With Changes

    We all know that the Internet is constantly changing, and nowhere moreso than in the world of social media. Now you’ve put in all the leg work, it’s important that you keep on top of it. Be sure to track any changes in Pinterest by monitoring the Pinterest blog. That way, you’ll always be able to react and keep your content fresh and relevant.

    And, hey, presto! You’re now ready to truly harness the power of Pinterest in bringing traffic to your website. With these simple tools, you can now maximize the benefits of this up-and-coming social channel.

    And don’t forget to let me know how you get on in the comments below!

  • 7 Reasons Why Duplicate Content is Bad for SEO

    7 Reasons Why Duplicate Content is Bad for SEO

    In the SEO world, duplicate content has become one of the top concerns. Publishing the same content on different URLs may dilute the quality and the ranking of a website.

    Having the same content on multiple websites causes difficulties for search engines to select the most relevant content for a given query.

    Duplicate content can negatively affect SEO in many ways.

    It Dilutes The Value And The Popularity Of Your Original Content

    Links pointing to your content are critical for SEO. Having identical content on the internet in several URLs reduces the number of links pointing your site.

    For example, let’s think URL-X and URL-Y contain identical content. URL-X has 20 links pointing to it. And URL-Y has 20 pointing to it. If there was no duplicate content, the original URL-x might have a total of 40 links pointing to it.

    Since the quantity of links directing to your URL is very important for SEO, duplicate content could cripple your SEO.

    Top tip: Check out this post for a few content development tips.

    Difficulties For Direct Link Metrics

    Page rankings, trust authority, anchor texts are considered as link metrics. When you have duplicate content search engines find difficulties to direct your link.

    By going through an optimisation process and publishing fresh contents, you can avoid this situation.

    Then you will have new visitors to your site and that will signal the search engines about your content’s uniqueness.

    These signals will also increase your domain strength.

    Negative User Experience

    Sometimes, for a given query when the user is directed to the same content multiple times, it causes negative user experience.

    For a user who seeks for fresh content, it will be a waste of time.

    It Decreases Traffic

    Site owners sometimes suffer lower traffic and rankings because of duplicate content.

    Risk Of Your Content Not Getting Crawled

    Even search engine bots don’t like to read the same content over and over again.

    Sooner or later they will decide not to crawl to your content because it has read the same earlier.

    Even if your content is original there is a risk of it not getting crawled.

    Risk Of Getting Banned From Search Engines

    Every search engine tries to avoid duplicate content.

    If a search engine identifies your content as duplicate, your site might get removed from search engine index.

    And it will be no longer available in search results.

    It Will Affect Categorisation

    For a given query sometimes the results come under multiple categories and different URLs.

    It happens because the same content is posted under various categories. This could harm categorisation processes.

    How to avoid duplicate content?

    The best way to avoid duplicate content is by writing original content.

    However, if you must use duplicate content on your site, it is highly recommended using a canonical tag.

    A canonical tag is a simple code that you can insert into the page which has duplicate content.

    As soon as search engine bots identify the canonical tag, they skip the content on that page.

  • How To Write a B-side Business Plan

    How To Write a B-side Business Plan

    If you’re old enough to have ever bought a vinyl record single, you may remember that they were usually cut with A-side and B-side versions of the same song.

    The A-side contained the version most likely to be a hit with radio stations and the general audience, while the B-side would play an alternate, more obscure but perhaps more artistic interpretation. Creating a business plan is not much different.

    The A-side is the polished, fluffy draft we’ve been trained to present to lenders and investors – the hit. The B-side business plan, however, should be a more detailed, realistic version of the company – a reference guide and roadmap that helps business owners stay focused and complete tasks toward stability and growth.

    I adopted this philosophy last summer while reading parts of Jim Smith’s How to Start a Home-Based Web Design Business, which recommends a second, navigational version to help entrepreneurs stay on track. To Smith’s recommendations, I added major elements from a business plan continuing education (CE) course I took at a local community college, a couple of section headers from my Integrated Marketing Communications capstone project, and some insights that I’m still digesting and adding in from The Marketing Agency Blueprint by Paul Roetzer.

    The result – at least to date – is this B-side outline of my revised business plan. The amount of detail is deliberate as my goal is to now have an overall reference guide and a resource for when the question arises – what the heck are we doing? Which it frequently does.

    Business Description

    This section should begin with the simplest statement of what your business is about. Whereas the mission and vision statement will be more official and eloquent, be sure, begin with a sentence or two in layman’s terms. I also added some general facts including the NAICS and SIC codes and other miscellaneous founding details.

    • Mission and Vision Statement. There are endless examples of how to write a mission and a vision statement for your company, some of which can add to the confusion as to what is the difference between the two. Just remember that your mission is an outward-facing purpose for your business, usually focused on some target group. The vision statement, however, offers a visual – some ideal state that you see your company achieving.
    • Legal Structure. Include details such as the contact information for all city, county, state, and federal offices, expiration/renewal dates, a list of founders/partners, and consider adding links to photocopies of official documents in the plan Appendix.
    • Principals/Management. Detail your company’s organizational structure and include the qualifications and responsibilities of the founders and any key management personnel. If you have an advisory board – an unpaid group of experts who can offer you valuable information on various aspects of your business – list their names and qualifications in a separate subsection. Roetzer suggests that the advisory board include contacts from “core business areas such as finance, technology, human resources, legal, and accounting.”
    • Operational/Infrastructure Details. Here’s where some of that B-side type of information gets added. Everything up until this point is pretty standard for a regular business plan, but adding details like operating hours, online listings, and a catalogue of third-party solution providers not only turns the plan into a valuable reference tool but makes you stop and consider the operational details that affect how you do business. Think web host, phone system, time tracking, print vendors, financial management tools, etc.

    Business Goals

    My business plan lists short-term goals followed by a set of corresponding objectives. These objectives should not only be measurable but include set dates so that, when achieved, you will have accomplished your short-term goals within the year. List long-term goals separately and revisit them during an annual plan revision.

    Market Analysis

    The market analysis is probably the most time-consuming section of the business plan. This should include information about your industry and its competitive outlook; your target market and, if you’ve carved out a B2B niche, that market’s industry; and any other information about the external environment. This step will also help you develop a SWOT analysis plus discover how you can differentiate your company and perhaps refine your business idea. Some sources to help compile this information include:

    • The U.S. Census Bureau
    • Industry Trade Associations
    • Annual Reports of companies within a particular industry (sometimes posted on the websites of publicly traded companies.)
    • Nielsen Claritas
    • GfK MRI (register to be notified about webinars and other news)

    There are also a number of databases requiring paid subscriptions. Your local or school libraries may provide access to additional sources of market information.

    Know of any others? Please note them in the comments.

    Products and Services

    Write a detailed list of the products and/or services you offer, including any value-added features or benefits. Will you offer any cost-savings bundles? Are there any high-demand items that you can use for product marketing (as opposed to just promoting your company)?

    Depending on the type of business you’re in, this may also be a great time to think about (and maybe write down) what you DON’T do or need to grow into. Now go back to your business description and mission. Do your products/services reflect who you say you are? Do they meet some need that was uncovered in your market research?

    Financials

    The financial section (particularly pricing) needs its own separate article. Keeping in the spirit of the B-side business plan, I would recommend placing the pricing system directly into the plan.

    Not just profitability estimates or projections but detailed calculations that consider sales tax (if applicable), federal taxes, cost of goods (if it’s a service, think about those third-party solution providers), and anything else that reduces your net earnings.

    I’m working through my pricing guidelines using some concepts from an older version of The Designer’s Guide to Marketing and Pricing, some updated thinking from Roetzer’s book, and current trends in the market.

    This piece may be the greatest detour from the regular business plan. Whereas the usual intent of the financial section is to convince lenders or investors that you have a sound business idea, the goal of the B-side version is to convince yourself. Include an operating budget and format your Accounting methods. This might be a good time to call a CPA.

    Branding

    Yes, I’m adding my branding guidelines to my business plan. This used to be a separate document, but now I feel that it’s connected to my business purpose, mission, and vision statement and is essential to the idea of staying on track. Branding should not only include visual guidelines but your company’s brand personality and positioning statement.

    Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

    Establish a separate set of goals and objectives when developing an IMC strategy for your business plan. While your marketing activities will help you reach your business goals, the marketing piece needs to function almost like a separate addendum.

    Conclusion

    When your business plan is complete, go back to the beginning and dress it with a cover page, Table of Contents, and an Executive Summary. Write some concluding thoughts and add an Appendix to include any important documents, resumes, etc. Establish a plan to evaluate your activities at set periods throughout the year and update your business plan annually.

    If you ever need to present your business plan for financing, remember to flip it to an A-side version by removing most of the operational/infrastructure details, streamlining the products and services section, fluffing up the financial section, and deleting the branding guidelines.

  • Maximising The Value Of Star Performers And Dealing With Bad Apples

    Maximising The Value Of Star Performers And Dealing With Bad Apples

    As managers, our focus is invariably on keeping the team on track, aligned with one another and the mission. But overall performance can be strongly affected by certain individuals; either by outstanding individuals or by ‘bad apples’. These outliers are key to building the dream team and reducing risk.

    So, how can these two extremes be managed to maximise success while eradicating pain points?

    I don’t believe there are many real ‘bad apples’ – intrinsically most people want to do well. Traction, by Gino Wickman, approaches the problem in a more useful way. There are three types of underperformers: the wrong person in the right seat; the right person in the wrong seat; and the wrong person in the wrong seat.

    Wrong person, right seat

    These people might look great on paper, but in practice are a cultural mismatch. To avoid this, keep an eye out for warning signs, for example, staff taking other people outside for ‘chats’ or being negative. You need to confront the individual before it escalates. Negative behaviour can be toxic – your culture risks losing credibility with the rest of the team.

    To tackle it, outline behaviours in reviews, providing examples and evidence. Most people will try and overcome this, or leave of their own will if they’re really not a good fit.

    Right person, wrong seat

    If someone fits the business, but not the role, there are three areas that might be holding them back; self-motivation, self-management, and skills. Often people can be promoted above their capabilities because they show talent in a different role – it’s known as the Peter Principle, that people tend to get promoted to the level of their incompetence. If they have the right motivation and attitude try to up-skill them with training.

    If that doesn’t work look at other roles within the company that would suit them better.

    It can be tempting to leave your star employees to their own devices. But it’s just as important to help them develop and keep them motivated.

    If self-management is the issue, try putting a work-in-progress board above each team member’s desk with all the things they’re working on plus updates. They’re forced to take responsibility for their tasks, and review them regularly!

    Wrong person, wrong seat

    If someone is wrong for the company and the role, and that doesn’t change, you might need to let them go. In these cases, the most important thing is to do things by the book and be generous to your leaver (with notice periods and so forth), for an easier exit in the long term.

    It’s not just about the legal side of things either. Being decent to leavers and keeping them onside (as far as possible) is important for your brand. Disgruntled leavers can cause untold brand damage in the worst cases. When HMV announced mass redundancies to their employees, marketing staff took out their anger publicly on HMV’s own Twitter account.

    Right person, right seat…

    It can be tempting to leave your star employees to their own devices. But it’s just as important to help them develop and keep them motivated. You will need to invest time to understand the different individuals. I used to manage two guys, one of whom a good ‘talking to’ would always push them to prove themselves, whereas for the other it would cause the other to panic and break down!

    Developing goals for high-achievers is important for their development. SMART goals are one option or Traction uses the idea of Rocks with three to seven goals that must be achieved within three months (for companies, teams or individuals).

    Continually monitoring progress is an essential part of that goal-setting process. We use Monthly Business Reviews, one-on-ones looking at highlights and issues from last month and defining objectives for the next, and Crucials, weekly actions crucial to the business.

    Finally, great staff will need rewards to keep them keen and motivated. Feedback and praise are a huge part of that, but pay, bonuses and, perhaps most importantly, promotion, should also be considered. This is especially important for junior staff – if there’s no progression available, you will get leavers.

    Develop a clear promotion framework with bands of salary – once an individual is at the top of their band, progress them to another responsibility. If someone has progressed as far as they can go in the framework, how about letting them manage key areas like a new product launch, giving them real independence and responsibility?

    Where some underperformers can be ‘culture terrorists’, your star performers can fulfil the opposite role, illustrating what success looks like and inspiring others in the team.

    Depending on your business culture, perhaps think about creating some friendly competition, for example, have screens showing people’s achievements against their targets.

    In the end it’s all about culture and values, ensuring that your culture enables success, validates achievement, but also challenges underperformance. Both underperformers and high-achievers play a vital role in realising the culture that emerges in practice – as a manager it’s your job to make sure everyone’s moving in the right direction.

  • How to Create a Custom WordPress Login URL

    How to Create a Custom WordPress Login URL

    During the installation process, WordPress creates two default login URLs. I’m sure you’re already familiar with at least one of these, but the two are:

    • wp-admin.php
    • wp-login.php

    This happens during every WordPress installation. Given that these repetitive login URLs are a potential security risk (more on this later!), it’s somewhat surprising that WordPress doesn’t give users the option to create a custom login URL, don’t you think?

    Well, even if WordPress doesn’t allow you to customize the login URL by default, it is perfectly possible to do so. If you’ve ever wondered how to change the default URLs, read on, as I’m about to show you!

    Why Should I Change the WordPress Login URL?

    Before we begin, though, let’s take a look at three reasons why you might want to create a custom login URL.

    1. Protect Against Brute Force Attacks

    Security is undoubtedly the main reason for webmasters to change their login page – changing login URL protects against the most common type of website security breach, a brute force attack.

    Now, brute force attacks involve exhaustive “guessing” of login credentials until the correct combination is found. This means a brute force attack needs to crack three variables to succeed:

    • Username – don’t choose something obvious, like “admin.”
    • Password – again, avoid the obvious and go for a complex password.
    • Your login URL – the gateway to the WordPress dashboard.

    In other words, when you continue to use the default login URLs, wp-admin and wp-login, you leave yourself more vulnerable – a hacker only needs your username and password to access your site. When you change your login URL, you are making the bad guys work significantly harder.

    It’s also worth pointing out that, even if an attacker can’t correctly crack your login credentials, they can still use a lot of bandwidth in their attempts. Moving your login page combats this problem.

    2. Hides WordPress Vulnerabilities

    Despite powering one-third of the internet, the WordPress platform isn’t perfect. Like any software, WordPress is never 100% immune from bugs and vulnerabilities.

    On one hand, the size of the WordPress community means we have lots of good people working hard to fix any problems. On the other, and largely because of the number of websites covering WordPress news, any security vulnerability gets a lot of press. When news of a known vulnerability breaks, the malicious hackers instantly know where your defences are potentially weak.

    By changing your login URL, you’re protecting yourself against a tell-tale sign that your site uses WordPress, thus distancing yourself from any known problems. This alone won’t keep you safe, of course, but it’s an easy place to start.

    3. Rebrand the Entire Login Screen

    If you run a WordPress-powered membership website, your visitors/customers probably access your content via the login screen. When they’ve paid good money for access, the default login screen is, well, somewhat underwhelming, right?

    The same applies to the login URL – non-WordPress users might also be confused why you’ve gone for wp-admin or wp-login in your URL. It’s not a huge problem, but the devil is in the details, right?

    To solve this problem, many webmasters prefer to switch the default login screen for something more aesthetically pleasing. Hence, they design a custom WordPress login page, complete with a brand new URL.

    How to Change the WordPress Login URL

    With the motivations covered, now it’s time for the practical stuff: In this section, I’m going to walk you through the necessary steps required to customize the WordPress login URL.

    As you’ve probably guessed, this can be achieved with the help of a plugin. There are a number of plugins up to the task, including:

    Today, I’ll be demonstrating how to use the latter: WPS Hide Login. The plugin is super-lightweight, so it won’t slow your website down.

    The plugin doesn’t delete the default URLs; it simply makes them inaccessible. Instead, users will access the WordPress admin via your newly created URLs. This is advantageous as, should you wish to delete the plugin, your website will return to its former state with the default URLs.

    Let’s start by installing the plugin. From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New > search for ‘WPS Hide Login.’

    It should be the first plugin returned. When you’ve found it, click Install Now > Activate Plugin.

    A quick word of warning: as soon as you hit Activate, the plugin will block access to the default login URLs – wp-admin and wp-login. The plugin will change the login URL by default to www.example.com/login. Remember this in case you get locked out. And, as soon as you’ve changed the login to your preferred URL, make sure you take note of it. You will not be able to access your website the standard way.

    That warning might sound scary, but it’s just precautionary. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting locked out of their website! Fortunately, the plugin is really easy to use.

    The next (and final) step is to navigate to Settings > General. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and you should see a WPS Hide Login section. In the blank field, write your desired WordPress login URL. Then, hit Save Changes.

    Hey, presto! Now, when I attempt to access the default login URLs, my access is denied. Instead, I see this:

    But when I try to visit my chosen login URL, I see the familiar old login screen. And that took, how long to configure? All of 30 seconds?

    It’s also worth pointing out that your new login URL can cause problems if you’re using a caching plugin. To solve this problem, the plugin developer states that you should “add the slug of the new login URL to the list of pages not to cache.” This isn’t necessary for WP Rocket users, as the two plugins are already fully compatible.

    Want More Security?

    It’s worth noting that simply changing your login URL won’t improve your website’s security. It just makes your site harder for the bad guys to detect.

    If you want a plugin with lots of impressive security-enhancing features and functionalities up its sleeve – as well as the ability to customize the WordPress login URL – look no further than iThemes Security Lite.

    A dedicated security plugin like this offers comprehensive all-round protection, which gives you some much-needed peace of mind. And, as one of the best all-in-one security plugins around, I can recommend downloading iThemes Security for a multitude of reasons – you can also consider upgrading to the premium version if you want even more features.

    If you wish to change the WordPress login URL using iThemes Security, here is a quick tutorial. (Because of all the extra security features, this plugin is “heavier” than our first plugin, meaning speed-conscious webmasters might prefer to use the WPS Hide Login plugin. As such, I have presented it as an alternative, rather than the only option.)

    As with before, let’s start by installing and activating the plugin.

    iThemes Security is a far more advanced plugin than WPS Hide Login. Changing the URL is just as easy, but it requires you to sift through a lot more settings to get there. Navigate to the newly created menu item, Security > Settings. Next scroll down to the Hide Login Area section, around two-thirds of the way down the screen. To speed things up, the drop-down go to menu on the right of the screen allows you to quick-jump there.

    Check the Enable the hide backend feature box to expand the section. In the Login Slug field, write your new custom login URL. You should also leave the Enable Theme Compatibility box checked – it does exactly as the name implies! Finally, click the blue Save All Changes button.

    Again, remember to note down your new login URL, as you will no longer be able to use the old ones.

    Final Thoughts

    That concludes today’s tutorial. If you’ve ever wondered how to customize the login URL, well, now you know! Best of all, using the plugins featured in today’s post, you’ll find the process to be quick, easy, and painless. If you have any questions, ask away in the comments section below, and we’ll do our best to help!

  • 15 Pinterest Ideas for Great Social Media Posts

    15 Pinterest Ideas for Great Social Media Posts

    For small business owners, Pinterest is commonly one of the most valuable social platforms online. With upwards of 291 million active users, Pinterest stands out as a popular, high-traffic, and high-converting site for small business owners and marketers in various industries.

    What’s more, since 55% of U.S. shoppers call Pinterest their favorite social media platform, it’s a great place to make sales and earn more clients.

    The only tough part of using the platform is coming up with Pinterest ideas to drive that engagement.

    Fortunately, we’ve got 15 fool-proof formats that will make it easier to come up with Pinterest ideas and use them to your brand’s advantage. Read on.

    15 Pinterest Ideas to Help Your Brand Stand Out Online

    Whether you’re new to the platform or you’re just looking for some simple ways to improve your presence on Pinterest, these 15 Pinterest ideas are a great place to start:

    1. Develop and share how-to posts

    How-to posts make up a large percentage of Pinterest’s total posts.

    Ranging from information on how to cook a whole chicken to video tutorials that demonstrate the construction of pallet chairs, these how-to posts feature a winning formula: they’re engaging, in-demand, and informative.

    As such, how-to posts, guides, and tutorials have a 42% higher click-through rate than any other type of pin on the platform. How’s that for success?

    2. Create various boards relevant to your brand

    Pinterest is a highly visual platform, and it looks best when it’s fleshed out with multiple boards, options, and images. As such, it’s smart to create multiple boards for your company’s Pinterest presence.

    In addition to giving you more chances and places to grab a reader’s attention, these boards also make your profile feel cohesive and professional.

    For best results, keep your boards related to your brand or product, but have fun with them. For an excellent example of a company that does this, check out General Electric.

    The company’s “Hey Girl” board is filled with science-centric “Hey, Girl” memes that are enough to make anyone fall in love.

    3. Interact with other accounts by repinning

    Pinterest can’t exist as a one-way street, and one of the most critical things you can do on the platform is to interact and engage with other brands. When you come across a company you relate to on Pinterest, re-pin their content onto one of your boards.

    In addition to shaking up your content and giving your visitors something fresh to interact with, this also helps build relationships with other brands and strengthen your Pinterest web, so to speak.

    Plus, since 80% of all the Pins on Pinterest are re-pins, you know there’s a high likelihood of your re-pin promoting another re-pin. For best results, use the search bar on the Pinterest home page to search for other content by keyword.

    4. Create custom cover photos for each board

    If you don’t set the cover photos for your various boards, Pinterest chooses them for you. In many cases, these auto-populated photos are poorly cropped or irrelevant to the board itself. As such, it’s critical to put in the effort to choose the images yourself.

    Editorial calendar company CoSchedule does this by creating custom images for each of their boards. Ideal for creating a cohesive Pinterest presence and making your boards visually appealing, custom graphics are a must-have for anyone who wants to grow online with Pinterest.

    5. Play with the shapes of images on your boards

    When it comes to your Pinterest boards, don’t feel like every image you create or re-pin must fall into a cookie-cutter shape. Again, Pinterest is a highly visual platform and adding square, rectangular, and elongated images to your collection is a great way to keep people interested.

    For best results, include a mixture of traditional, square images, and tall images (which research has proven are more eye-catching than wide images).

    6. Make your images more colorful

    Today, images that feature more than one dominant color earn 3.25 times as many repins per image than visuals featuring a single dominant color. This means that, if you’re going to create Pinterest graphics, it’s in your best interests to develop a brand color scheme and stick to it.

    Remember, however, that while color can be an exciting touch, too much of it can easily get overwhelming.

    7. Collaborate with other users and collect Pinterest ideas on group boards

    What’s the point of a social platform if you’re not going to get social with it? One of the biggest benefits of Pinterest is that it allows users to create group boards.

    Once created, these group boards can be used to collect pins, share Pinterest ideas, and create a more dynamic content environment that appeals to readers more closely.

    For best results, only partner with other pinners or brands who complement your company and can add something without making your marketing message seem muddled or confusing.

    8. Use a posting app to schedule your Pins

    While Pinterest might seem like it’s all fun and games, there’s some science involved in the platform, as well. To get the most traction possible from your pins, consider using a post planner or a posting app to post them at the most rewarding times.

    CoSchedule reports that the best times to Pin on Pinterest are Saturdays between 8-11 p.m. and Fridays at 3 in the afternoon. Beyond that, you can also pin between 1-3 p.m. on weekdays, 8-11 p.m., or 2-4 a.m., all of which should promote a spike in your engagement rates.

    9. Use Rich Pins to make interacting with content easier

    Easily one of the biggest things to hit the world of Pinterest in the last few years is the Rich Pin. Unlike traditional pins, which only comprise an image and a snippet of text underneath, Rich Pins feature additional information within the pin itself. To date, there are six different types of rich pins:

    • Place: Place-focused Rich Pins feature the name, address, map, and phone number of a particular place.
    • Product: Product Rich Pins feature availability and “where to buy” information, as well as real-time price.
    • Article: Article pins feature a description of the story, a headline, the author’s name, and an option to save the story for future reference.
    • Recipe: Recipe pins include cooking time, ingredient lists, and serving information so people can decide what to make and when.
    • Movie: Movie Rich Pins contain information like reviews, cast members, and ratings right in the pin.
    • App: App pins allow pinners to download an app without navigating away from the Pinterest app. They are compatible with iOS apps only.

    Bear in mind that, to access Rich Pins, you’ll need to get started by prepping your website. You’ll also need to test your Rich Pins on Pinterest before they go live. It’s a simple process, though, and Pinterest offers support if you get stuck.

    10. Run Pinterest ads to boost engagement

    While few marketers think of advertising on Pinterest, the platform can be a valuable place to do it. Pinterest ads have tremendous potential to increase engagement and draw people to your website or products. To develop your Pinterest ad, you’ll need to follow these steps:

    • Choose one of your best and highest-performing pins. This pin will be seen by a wide selection of people, so it’s critical to choose wisely.
    • Target your pin. When you launch a Pinterest ad, you’ll be able to decide who sees it by setting up targeting, so the right people see it at the right time.
    • Set your budget. Next comes the time when you get to choose whether you’ll pay based on visits to your site or engagement.
    • Track your results. Once you’ve set up your ad, track it to find out what’s working and what’s not.

    11. Put the “Pin it” button on your website and blog

    The best way to make use of social media is to connect your social platforms to the places where your other content “lives,” like your website and blog. To do this, you’ll need to add the “Pin it” button to these places.

    Simple to install and easy for users to interact with, the “Pin it” button allows you to widen the reach of your content by enabling users to share content from your blog or website to Pinterest. This, in turn, makes your audience larger and helps leverage all your content, not just the material you’re physically posting on Pinterest.

    12. Include CTAs in your pins

    To create a pin that gets lots of shares, repins, and engagement, include a CTA within the pin itself. One great place to see examples of this is with financial pins. Check out this example to get a feel for what an in-pin CTA looks like.

    By telling people what to do right inside the pin, it’s easier to promote engagement and spike curiosity.

    13. Create list posts

    List posts are incredibly relevant, valuable, and engaging – wherever they appear. To make the most of your Pinterest content, be sure to create a fair number of list posts. The beautiful thing about these posts is, in addition to the fact that they immediately create reader interest, they’re also relevant for companies in virtually all industries.

    For best results, focus on list topics that showcase the benefits or drawbacks of something. These create emotional responses in your readers and help create an exciting reading experience.

    14. Keep your pins cohesive

    While it’s a bit tougher to adhere to a color theme or design trajectory on Pinterest than it is on another platform, like Instagram, where you have more control, it is possible. Except for the content you re-pin, aim to ensure that the content you share and create adheres to a certain design standard or features a particular color scheme.

    These small considerations, when observed faithfully, create a cohesive and beautiful presence that helps your customers recognize your brand anywhere it appears on the web.

    15. Pin frequently

    There’s no way to rise to the top with Pinterest if you’re not pinning frequently. Experts in the Pinterest engagement industry typically recommend pinning ten times a day.

    While this may seem like an overwhelming number, it can go a long way toward improving your overall presence and giving your followers something to look forward to.

    Plus, the more you pin, the more relevant you’ll be in the fast-changing Pinterest universe!

    Bonus: Create Pins Around Trending Topics

    Once you’ve absorbed the above 15 tips, remember this final thing: trending topics are critical on Pinterest.

    Research shows that creating pins related to trending topics can boost click-through-rate by 94%. Keep your eye on Pinterest’s “popular” section and pin similar content to help your Pinterest presence grow.

    Pinterest Ideas to Help You Grow

    For companies that want to build their online strategy, Pinterest is a great place to start. Simple to use, highly visual, and made for the mobile era, Pinterest represents the new face of marketing, and it will only become more important in the coming years.

    While it can be tough to come up with fresh, new Pinterest ideas that will help your company grow, these 15 are a great place to start.

    From developing pins that focus on trending topics to creating custom board covers, collaborating with other Pinterest users, making your images more colorful, and publishing informative, how-to posts, there are dozens of fantastic ways to stand out on the Pinterest platform and help your brand get noticed.

  • 5 Easy Steps to Revamp Your Small Business Website

    5 Easy Steps to Revamp Your Small Business Website

    Off the top, let me say that easy doesn’t necessarily mean quick.

    Constructing a multi-page website is still very time-consuming, but the good news for entrepreneurs is that creating and managing a professional-looking website no longer takes a 2-year learning curve or side degrees in coding and programming.

    Use the web development supply chain to accomplish the first three technical tasks, and then tap into your own creative side to put the finishing touches on your newly designed small business website.

    1. Choose a Web Hosting Service.

    The web hosting provider stores your website on their servers and makes it accessible over the Internet.

    While this simple statement describes the basic function of a web host, one of the primary benefits of using a hosting service is that most come with email accounts.

    This means that instead of running your business from a Gmail account, you can boost your professional image with email addresses from your business domain. If you don’t have a registered domain, you can purchase and manage your business domain from within the host dashboard.

    Additional benefits of using a web host include increased security, technical support, traffic reports, additional cloud storage, and more. I personally use iPage, but other top-rated web hosts include BlueHost, HostGator, JustHost, InMotion, and others.

    Many web hosts offer a one-year teaser rate, but be prepared for that cost to jump after your introductory offer expires.

    Depending on the add-ons you choose, that cost can range from $115-$200 or more.

    Expected billing should be straightforward and easily viewed from within your host account.

    2. Install a CMS onto the Web Hosting

    WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS), and while you may be under the impression that it’s just for blogging, guess again.

    Businesses can create static pages to display products and services, tell about their company, integrate contact forms, and easily add campaign landing pages.

    And since we all need to improve our content marketing strategies, the blogging functionality of a CMS platform is a bonus (if not the reason to use a CMS in the first place).

    Joomla, Drupal, and MODX are other popular content management systems. If you already have a preference, be sure to choose a web host that offers the best support for your CMS platform.

    The host will do the heavy lifting of installing the CMS – just follow their step-by-step instructions.

    3. Buy a Theme

    Yes, buy. Since small business websites no longer cost thousands of dollars (as they did it seems not that long ago), it’s more than reasonable to cough up $40-$100 for a web template.

    Not only will you be supporting the community of developers/programmers who devote their time to building WordPress, Joomla, or other CMS-specific themes, you will save yourself from wasted time and unnecessary frustration.

    Themes-for-purchase is more customizable, may include detailed documentation, offer support forums, and work well with 3rd party plug-ins.

    Many templates widen the scope of customization even further with fields to add HTML and/or CSS edits.

    The result is your own branded business website that is easily updateable and does what you need it to do.

    Your web host may provide access to a theme marketplace.

    Also, browse these popular theme providers (pay-per-theme or annual memberships):

    4. Customize Your Website

    Resist the urge to just stick with the default layout that comes with your template. Take a step back and think about your business purpose, your audience, and the message you want to convey in your website.

    This step will likely be the most time-consuming unless you have already planned out your site details or are using most of the elements from your existing website.

    Using the CMS dashboard, structure your site by building your static pages; deciding what will go into your columns, sidebars, navigation, header, and footer; which plug-ins you need to use; how to integrate your logo and visual brand (colors, graphics, fonts); and any other customization options that come with the template.

    Use lorem ipsum and image placeholders for content while you customize your structure.

    5. Finish with Great Content

    Once you have completed the technical steps and structured your new website, switch creative hats and begin to develop content that will tell your story, benefit your audience, and improve your chances of being found on the web.