Unlike other marketing strategies, the digital marketing sphere continuously evolves. This implies that previously effective strategies have turned obsolete or non-functional. Therefore, digital marketers should find ways of keeping up with the trends. Fortunately, those looking to stay ahead in their niche can take advantage of thousands of digital marketing blogs available online. The guide below highlights top lessons drawn from leading digital marketing blogs.
1. Using a Content Calendar is a Must – Social Pilot
As a digital marketer, you know websites that publish 16 or more posts monthly generate more than 3.5 times traffic than those who publish fewer posts. However, it takes a significant amount of time to produce such valuable content, and virtually impossible, especially if you don’t have a strategy. Unfortunately, up to 63 percent of companies with websites don’t use a documented content calendar.
Using a content calendar helps organize upcoming content as it details specific content to be posted and when to be uploaded. With a calendar, you avoid the hassle of having to come up with correct topics just before writing down your next blog. Content calendars are also good for brainstorming, make it easy to maintain consistency, and provide visibility on various departments.
2. Backlinks Still Matter – Backlinko
The use of backlinks to improve content search engine rankings and enhance credibility isn’t new. Nonetheless, digital marketers should not ignore the importance of backlinks on their content. Google and other search engines consider backlinks, which are links from one website to another, as votes for specific pages. Webpages with a high number of effective backlinks perform better on organic search engine rankings.
As mentioned, backlinks are votes for your website, which informs search engines if the content is valuable, useful, or credible. The more votes your website has, the higher it ranks on search engines.
3. Provide In-Depth Content – ConversionXL
Some years ago, detailed and in-depth content had little meaning on search engine rankings. However, with evolving digital practices, in-depth content is currently very important. Even as your content’s length is important, uploading content of high quality and good length should be your priority. This is what ConversionXL succeeds in. That said, your content strategy should revolve around the production of top-notch quality content, which can be achieved through appropriate content texture.
4. Focus on the Marketing Process Rather than the Solution – Appcues
One of the digital marketing lessons to learn from Appcues experience is the importance of marketing experiments and tests from blog posts and web pages. According to digital marketers from the website, it is surprising that most marketing experiments fail. Be it an A/B test or nurturing a new drop, most experiments can go wrong. Based on this, consider focusing on specific marketing processes to ensure success more than solutions expected.
5. Picking a Niche in Saturated Markets – Pat Flynn
Some years back, picking a niche was an easy task for aspiring digital marketers. You could simply choose one of the top niches, including finance, health, dating, and fitness, among others. Regardless of what you pick, ranking fairly was easy, provided you had some little SEO knowledge. Currently, every conceivable niche is saturated with a lot of content from thousands of blogs.
For this, Pat Flynn demonstrates his expertise by encouraging content marketers to consider small markets. For instance, instead of choosing a general topic about weight loss, specialize in weight loss during the postpartum period. It would be best if you then focused on becoming an authority in such a sub-niche.
6. Use Images Correctly – Convince & Convert
Visuals have increasingly become an important part of successful digital marketing. Using images and videos is currently among the key contributors to high organic search engine rankings, especially if used appropriately. Your images should accurately complement the content and not just for filling space. Convince & Convert does an excellent job on this, with perfect tips on when to add, avoid, or check on image overload.
7. Engage with Audience – Neil Patel
Creating and uploading high-quality blog posts is completely different from interacting with your visitors. The primary reason for posting new content on your website is to provide insights to your audience. Content marketing, on the other hand, should be focused on engaging with your audience and customers. If you successfully provide quality insights, expect more comments on your blog. Try your best to respond to all comments, as it adds value to your content and more trust from your audience.
8. Work on Influencer Marketing Campaigns – Jeff Bullas
Currently, most influencer marketing strategies do not provide effective results compared to the hype experienced before. This is because, according to Jeff Bullas, the current influencer marketing world is twofold. For starters, the popularity of influencer marketing over time led to stiff competition. Secondly, prospects and consumers have slowly become blind to the surge in promotional content and not paying attention.
This is why taking influencer marketing seriously is essential. This involves emphasizing more on hard data, such as using multiple influencers, tracking campaign metrics, comparing performance between different influencers, and testing several optimization methods. Your influencers should match your brand message, be authentic and trustworthy.
9. Use of Updated SEO Techniques – Moz
One of the reasons why your digital marketing strategy doesn’t perform is because you might be using outdated SEO techniques. According to Moz, while most digital marketers may not admit it, the majority still practice outdated optimization tactics believing that they still have a significant positive influence. Even as some blogs still recommend several obsolete practices, the list below outlines some techniques you could still be using that are currently ineffective.
- Using Google Adwords for keyword research – digital marketers should avoid this as this tool is specifically designed for PPC research and not SEO. It doesn’t provide performing keyword suggestions.
- Using new domains and subdomains for keyword ranking – this is not affected as they are currently treated separately by Google.
- Focusing on the number one search engine position – you can get more traffic and clicks without being on the number one spot. For instance, you can use search snippets and performing long-tail keywords.
- Focusing solely on link building – concentrate more on other essential aspects, such as quality content and improving user experience.
- Being obsessed with keyword positions – keywords are truly essential. However, creating quality content is more important.
10. Target Personas – Marketing Land
Most digital marketers think about their audience’s demographics, which is a blanket approach to marketing. Experts from Marketing Land suggest that content marketers should recognize the audience as individuals since the demographic groups consist of individuals. Therefore, if you want to succeed in digital marketing, learn how to communicate with individuals.
A key takeaway from this lesson is that you should establish the specific individuals who make up your audience demographics. Through this, you can create content that fits and caters to every individual.
Bottom Line
As a digital marketer, you should brace for several challenges and potential mistakes that affect your digital marketing campaigns’ performance. For instance, your niche may seem oversaturated, challenging a limited budget, ineffective influencers, and more. However, digital marketers should continuously learn and build upon existing knowledge. Checking out the best practices of successful digital marketers is the best place to learn new marketing tactics. The lessons mentioned above are the best to begin your learning experience.
