воскресенье, 31 декабря 2017 г.

PR: Alibaba and eBay's Representatives Support Global Marketplace Storiqa

Transparent affiliate marketing helps in attracting to the platform traffic owners which are able to monetize their reviews when viewers purchase goods following the referral links. Smart review system provides online shoppers with honest reviews which means that a user drops the review only after …

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суббота, 30 декабря 2017 г.

PR: Alibaba and eBay's Representatives Support Global Marketplace Storiqa

It also helps to make purchasing processes simplest in the world that every SME can start selling goods globally in one hour. With the help of blockchain, Storiqa solves frequent and pressing issues in online trading. Transparent affiliate marketing helps in attracting to the platform traffic owners which are …

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EPS for FS Bancorp, Inc. (FSBW) Expected At $0.92; Pfsweb (PFSW)'s Sentiment Is 0.83

… such as LiveArea, digital strategy, design, user experience, interactive development, SEO and paid search, affiliate marketing, conversion optimization, storefront management, email marketing, and digital analytics. Analysts expect FS Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSBW) to report $0.92 EPS on January, 25 …

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пятница, 29 декабря 2017 г.

Difference between affiliate and aggregator

May 25, 2009 In recent blog post entitled “The Future of Affiliate Marketing” Frank Watson made an interesting proposal, which essentially means automatizing the optimization of both affiliate ads, and merchant’s landing pages. It allows website publishers to more easily find and participate in affiliate …

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4 Marketing Strategies Every Startup Can Afford

Aside from your fantastic product, you’ll also need a stellar marketing strategy to grow your startup. … Instead, consider a few of these cost-effective marketing strategies that can help generate early successes. … I believe all businesses – regardless of size – should adopt referral, or affiliate, marketing.

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Here's Everything You Need to Cop for Hiking This Winter

Winter vacation may be coming to an end, but there’s still time to go hiking and explore nature — while burning off all that extra candy you managed to eat over the break. Obviously, you can’t just set out wearing your regular sneakers. Not only would you ruin your kicks, but you’d be extremely …

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Get a Taste of the Mogul Lifestyle with These Cazal Shades

… his identity, or I will unleash a fury upon Gotham the likes of which this city has never seen.” Our designated shopping section features products that we love and want to share with you. Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase.

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Nike US Is Now Offering an Extra 25 Percent Discount on Select Sale Items

If you slept on Nike’s initial winter sale, then good news, the Swoosh is now offering even further discounts on clearance items until January 4. An extra 25 percent discount will automatically be applied to sale items at the checkout. Men and women’s styles are available, with shoes, sweatshirts and …

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How To Use Facebook Messenger Bots To Grow Your Email List

How To Use Facebook Messenger Bots To Grow Your Email List

Come on, admit it.

You’re just a little bit curious about all the hype surrounding Messenger bots.

Even if you haven’t looked into using them in any more detail than reading the odd blog post, like this one, you probably have an interest in learning what they’re all about.

But my question to you is, what’s stopped you from trying them?

Let me guess: you’re unsure how to get started, how to use them to grow your business, or you just don’t want to get distracted by another ‘new’ strategy.

I get it. I felt the same. Notice the past tense.

Because here’s the thing – Facebook bots don’t have to be complicated. In fact, you could set up your first bot in minutes to start increasing subscribers and building your audience.

In this post, I’ll share three killer ways to use Facebook Messenger bots to boost your subscribers and build your email list.

But first, a little context

Why Messenger?

Well, as of April 2017, Facebook Messenger hit 1.2 billion users. Running behind only Facebook (2 billion users) and YouTube (1.5 billion users), it currently sits at joint third place with Whatsapp.

Combined messaging apps are now bigger than social networks themselves with the four biggest messaging apps surpassing the four biggest social networks across the total number of users.

People are now using messaging apps to do much more than just chat with family and friends. Such as, purchase goods, enquire about products, order pizza, connect with brands, post ‘stories’ and watch content.

The most exciting prospect of using Messenger for marketing purposes is the results people are getting.

Can you remember back to the days when you could achieve 70%+ open rates and 30%+ click rates using email marketing?

Neither can I.

But that’s what you can expect using messenger bots in your marketing.

Everyone from Neil Patel to Joe Soto and Andrew Warner are gaining 100% inbox deliverability rates, 80% open rates and 50% click rates using messenger bots.

How brands are winning with chatbots

Before I first started looking seriously into messenger bots, I can’t say for sure whether I’d encountered any firsthand.

But how could I know?

I mean, a chatbot by definition is a piece of software used to simulate conversation, so if executed correctly, how would you know whether you were talking to a bot or a person?

Since I’ve been messing about with messenger bots, I’ve seen them being used to fulfil all manner of sales and support tasks. They can be pretty flawless – almost indistinguishable from talking to a real human.

Dominoes have developed a messenger bot that allows you to order pizza. You can also transfer money through TransferWise through a messenger bot and British Airways have developed a bot named BOTler to offer London-bound customers a ‘best of the best’ guide to the capital.

Even gourmet supermarket Whole Foods Market has a messenger bot which functions like a virtual chef, and allows you to use emojis or keywords to search for recipes.

Now that’s my kind of bot!

But I know you’re probably thinking: These are big brands with even bigger budgets, how can I use Messenger bots in my business on my small budget?

Luckily for you, there are now a heap of very accessible apps enabling even the least tech-savvy entrepreneur to build their own chatbot empire.

I’ve opted into communications with dozens of messenger chatbots in recent weeks to understand how other bloggers and entrepreneurs are using them. I’ve seen them used in live launches to send broadcast messages, deliver interactive quizzes and build an email list.

And it’s the latter that proved the most interesting to me.

Because despite all the fanfare around open rates and click rates, messenger subscribers remain just that, and they remain in the messenger app until you can encourage them elsewhere, i.e., in your email list

In the same way that you don’t own your Facebook fans, you don’t own your messenger subscribers either. Plus Facebook has some very specific T&C’s in their developer’s policy regarding the use of Facebook Messenger. Meaning you can’t send certain types of content whenever you feel like it.

Different types of messenger bot platforms

I found nearly 20 Messenger bot platforms in my research for this post. I’m going to share three solid options with you. They are ManyChat, Credi Response, and Chatfuel.

  • ManyChat certainly appears to be one of the most popular platforms, and for good reason, too. I chose to use ManyChat to build my first bot. And I was incredibly impressed with the level of training, support (email and Facebook group), UI and impressive features which boasted a number of ‘growth tools’ to help users grow their messenger subscribers. Check out ManyChat and get started on their free plan!
  • Credi Response‘s offer is very different – it promises to turn every Facebook comment into cash by sending a personal message to everyone who comments on your Facebook page or a Facebook post. It starts from $9.95 a month. The main difference between Credi Response and ManyChat is that Credi Response is a response bot and ManyChat has different options such as the ability to send broadcast messages and send sequences – think autoresponders within Messenger.
  • Chatfuel is used by leading publications including TechCrunch, Y Combinator, Forbes and VentureBeat. Chatfuel is similar in many ways to ManyChat, but doesn’t have any of the growth tools that ManyChat offers. Where Chatfuel shines though is in its AI engine which automatically detects user phrases similar to phrases that you predefine and then shows relevant messages to your subscribers – pretty neat! It also has a starting price point of FREE which makes it pretty hard to argue with.

Using messenger bots to build your email list

For reasons we’ve discussed above, you’re going to want to combine messenger marketing with email marketing and slowly find more ways to move subscribers onto your email list.

I’ve seen more than half a dozen strategies used to build your email list from your messenger subscribers. I’m going to outline three of my favourites and show you how to use them on your site.

Before we get into the fine details, we need to take a step back to look at the bigger picture: before you can convert a messenger subscriber into an email subscriber, you’ve got to grow your messenger subscribers. D’uh!

Here are two effective ways you can do that:

  • Messenger landing page or button. Create a Messenger landing page, optin modal or embed a Messenger button on your website. Incentivise people to click on it in the same way you would any other opt-in, except this time they don’t have to submit their details.

Each user will then be asked if they want to open the message in Messenger. A message will be seen in Messenger inbox and your user is now subscribed.

  • Comment on page or post. You can trigger a bot once someone comments on a page or post by leaving a comment or by using a specific word or phrase. Note that in this case, a user will only become a subscriber once they reply to the first message.

How to turn a messenger subscriber into a lead

For the purposes of this article, I’ll be describing the process using the first of the three platforms I described earlier, ManyChat.

First, sign up using your Facebook profile and connect your page. Now you’re ready to create your first bot. Yay!

You might be thinking, why not just send out a link to a landing page in your first message?

And you could.

But it might be counterintuitive and lead to poor user experience. My recommendation would be to send out a sequence of automated messages to educate followers and build trust. And on the final message, to incentivise them to join your email list with a new offer.

Using ManyChat sequences, you can easily set up automated messages.

If you choose not to send an initial sequence, you can send frequent broadcast messages (just like with email) and infrequently send out a link to a new ebook or the lead magnet you’re promoting.

Note that you can also add an RSS feed, which will deliver new blog announcements to your subscribers every time you publish a new post.

Other quirky tactics that can help you

Because they’re highly engaging and encourage two-way communication, quizzes are a great and quirky tool to use on a messenger platform.

I’ve taken three quizzes in messenger. All have been quite fun to take part in and fairly educational in focus. All have ended with the messenger bot sending me to a landing page to opt-in to something.

It’s effective because it’s fun. The person is already engaging even before you make your opt-in offer, which lowers their defences.

You can also use a user input block to capture email address inside of messenger.

By using a user input block you can offer something of value (your lead magnet) in return for their email address.

For example, Nick Julia of Mind Heros asks a multiple choice question. When you submit an answer, it prompts you to enter your email address.

Note that in the screenshot of Hubspot above, I have just (as in today) subscribed to their ‘Four Days of Facebook’ virtual summit. To opt-in, I had to enter my details via user input blocks.

Want more tools?

I’ve personally sourced nearly 20 different Messenger chatbot apps to help get you started with messenger marketing. To get instant access to them, click the link in my author bio below to access these free resources.

If you’re considering using messenger in your marketing, always consider the bigger picture. Don’t jump in feet first and assume you can build your email list right away.

It’s a total package kind of thing, and you need to integrate both email and messenger together. Bots are an extremely effective communication channel and it can enable you to interact with your audience in ways email can’t. But first you need to plan and be patient.

What other ways have you used messenger bots to grow your audience? Let me know in the comments.

Guest Author: Steven Mayall is the founder of stevemayall.com, a blog which helps online entrepreneurs and professional bloggers grow their business with technology. Click here to get instant access to his exhaustive list of resources for entrepreneurs, which is designed to help you avoid aimlessly searching Google or asking for recommendations on Facebook.

The post How To Use Facebook Messenger Bots To Grow Your Email List appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.



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How to Best Turn Your Blog Into Generating Revenue

Like Adsense, affiliate marketing relies on creating strong blog content that drives traffic. The focus isn’t merely looking for visitors, though. It’s finding a target audience who is more likely to click the advertisement and make a purchase. The amount a blogger makes through these systems depends on the …

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49 Ways to Make More Money Online (or Offline) This Year

If you don’t want the hassle of building out your own products or services, you could always opt to doing affiliate marketing. Use websites like Rakuten Marketing, CJ.com, ClickBank and JVZoo to source opportunities for affiliate marketing. If you’re good, you could earn a significant income doing just this.

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FTC Alleges Get-Rich-Quick Scheme Bilked Consumers with Deceptive Claims

The complaint alleges that the defendants primarily contacted consumers with spam emails sent by affiliate marketers. For example, some emails cited in the complaint claimed that the products were a “secret method folks are using to make thousands of dollars per day (seriously!)” or that users can start …

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How to Rank in 2018: The SEO Checklist - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by randfish

It’s hard enough as it is to explain to non-SEOs how to rank a webpage. In an increasingly complicated field, to do well you’ve got to have a good handle on a wide variety of detailed subjects. This edition of Whiteboard Friday covers a nine-point checklist of the major items you’ve got to cross off to rank in the new year — and maybe get some hints on how to explain it to others, too.

How to Rank in 2018: An SEO Checklist

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to a special New Year’s edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we’re going to run through how to rank in 2018 in a brief checklist format.

So I know that many of you sometimes wonder, “Gosh, it feels overwhelming to try and explain to someone outside the SEO profession how to get a web page ranked.” Well, you know what? Let’s explore that a little bit this week on Whiteboard Friday. I sent out a tweet asking folks, “Send me a brief checklist in 280 characters or less,” and I got back some amazing responses. I have credited some folks here when they’ve contributed. There is a ton of detail to ranking in the SEO world, to try and rank in Google’s results. But when we pull out, when we go broad, I think that just a few items, in fact just the nine we’ve got here can basically take you through the majority of what’s required to rank in the year ahead. So let’s dive into that.

I. Crawlable, accessible URL whose content Google can easily crawl and parse.

So we want Googlebot’s spiders to be able to come to this page, to understand the content that’s on there in a text readable format, to understand images and visuals or video or embeds or anything else that you’ve got on the page in a way that they are going to be able to put into their web index. That is crucial. Without it, none of the rest of this stuff even matters.

II. Keyword research

We need to know and to uncover the words and phrases that searchers are actually using to solve or to get answers to the problem that they are having in your world. Those should be problems that your organization, your website is actually working to solve, that your content will help them to solve.

What you want here is a primary keyword and hopefully a set of related secondary keywords that share the searcher’s intent. So the intent behind of all of these terms and phrases should be the same so that the same content can serve it. When you do that, we now have a primary and a secondary set of keywords that we can target in our optimization efforts.

III. Investigate the SERP to find what Google believes to be relevant to the keywords’s searches

I want you to do some SERP investigation, meaning perform a search query in Google, see what comes back to you, and then figure out from there what Google believes to be relevant to the keywords searches. What does Google think is the content that will answer this searcher’s query? You’re trying to figure out intent, the type of content that’s required, and whatever missing pieces might be there. If you can find holes where, hey, no one is serving this, but I know that people want the answer to it, you might be able to fill that gap and take over that ranking position. Thanks to Gaetano, @gaetano_nyc, for the great suggestion on this one.

IV. Have the most credible, amplifiable person or team available create content that’s going to serve the searcher’s goal and solve their task better than anyone else on page one.

There are three elements here. First, we want an actually credible, worthy of amplification person or persons to create the content. Why is that? Well, because if we do that, we make amplification, we make link building, we make social sharing way more likely to happen, and our content becomes more credible, both in the eyes of searchers and visitors as well as in Google’s eyes too. So to the degree that that is possible, I would certainly urge you to do it.

Next, we’re trying to serve the searcher’s goal and solve their task, and we want to do that better than anyone else does it on page one, because if we don’t, even if we’ve optimized a lot of these other things, over time Google will realize, you know what? Searchers are frustrated with your result compared to other results, and they’re going to rank those other people higher. Huge credit to Dan Kern, @kernmedia on Twitter, for the great suggestion on this one.

V. Craft a compelling title, meta description.

Yes, Google still does use the meta description quite frequently. I know it seems like sometimes they don’t. But, in fact, there’s a high percent of the time when the actual meta description from the page is used. There’s an even higher percentage where the title is used. The URL, while Google sometimes truncates those, also used in the snippet as well as other elements. We’ll talk about schema and other kinds of markup later on. But the snippet is something that is crucial to your SEO efforts, because that determines how it displays in the search result. How Google displays your result determines whether people want to click on your listing or someone else’s. The snippet is your opportunity to say, “Come click me instead of those other guys.” If you can optimize this, both from a keyword perspective using the words and phrases that people want, as well as from a relevancy and a pure drawing the click perspective, you can really win.

VI. Intelligently employ those primary, secondary, and related keywords

Related keywords meaning those that are semantically connected that Google is going to view as critical to proving to them that your content is relevant to the searcher’s query — in the page’s text content. Why am I saying text content here? Because if you put it purely in visuals or in video or some other embeddable format that Google can’t necessarily easily parse out, eeh, they might not count it. They might not treat it as that’s actually content on the page, and you need to prove to Google that you have the relevant keywords on the page.

VII. Where relevant and possible, use rich snippets and schema markup to enhance the potential visibility that you’re going to get.

This is not possible for everyone. But in some cases, in the case that you’re getting into Google news, or in the case that you’re in the recipe world and you can get visuals and images, or in the case where you have a featured snippet opportunity and you can get the visual for that featured snippet along with that credit, or in the case where you can get rich snippets around travel or around flights, other verticals that schema is supporting right now, well, that’s great. You should take advantage of those opportunities.

VIII. Optimize the page to load fast, as fast as possible and look great.

I mean look great from a visual, UI perspective and look great from a user experience perspective, letting someone go all the way through and accomplish their task in an easy, fulfilling way on every device, at every speed, and make it secure too. Security critically important. HTTPS is not the only thing, but it is a big part of what Google cares about right now, and HTTPS was a big focus in 2016 and 2017. It will certainly continue to be a focus for Google in 2018.

IX. You need to have a great answer to the question: Who will help amplify this and why?

When you have that great answer, I mean a specific list of people and publications who are going to help you amplify it, you’ve got to execute to earn solid links and mentions and word of mouth across the web and across social media so that your content can be seen by Google’s crawlers and by human beings, by people as highly relevant and high quality.

You do all this stuff, you’re going to rank very well in 2018. Look forward to your comments, your additions, your contributions, and feel free to look through the tweet thread as well.

Thanks to all of you who contributed via Twitter and to all of you who followed us here at Moz and Whiteboard Friday in 2017. We hope you have a great year ahead. Thanks for watching. Take care.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com


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четверг, 28 декабря 2017 г.

Who in the World is Coming to Affiliate Summit West 2018?

I was just looking at the countries where people are coming from for Affiliate Summit West 2018, and it’s neat to see marketers converging on Las Vegas from all around the world. Affiliate Summit - the international affiliate marketing conference and tradeshow. Outside of the United States, the country …

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Steps to make Money Right from Affiliate Marketing

Steps to make Money Right from Affiliate Marketing. Associates or even “affiliates” when more affectionately recognised, are responsible just for lots of typically the information that comes with the internet; these types of affiliates present solutions to help problems; these people provide basics to people …

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Director, Affiliate Marketing

We’re looking for an expert Director of Affiliate Marketing to join our client’s team in sunny San Diego, CA. This is a chance to work with a group of talented creatives building the largest eCommerce partner company in the world while helping to grow and lead an affiliate team. They relentlessly pursue …

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Vitol, Hilcorp Affiliate Planning South Texas Terminal for Permian Oil Exports

Vitol’s Mark Couling, who heads crude oil for the marketing giant, said crude oil demand, “particularly in emerging markets, continues to grow, and U.S. shale has an important role to play in satisfying this demand. Our new pipeline and terminal will facilitate the efficient delivery of U.S. crude to global …

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What's Next in Line for Affiliate Marketing Attribution?

CMOs & marketers who remember & learn from affiliate marketing’s attribution history will reap the most rewards in coming years.

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Energy Partners' Norbert Varga assesses his firm's affiliate impact

Of course, we will also be targeting new markets and aiming to release even more localised marketing materials, to help our partners continue to build their success. At the SBC Awards 2017, held at the HAC Artillery Garden in London, Energy Partners won the award for Best Affiliate Partner Scheme, …

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Experiencias Xcaret Gets International Award for Successful Marketing Program

The International Performance Marketing Awards recognized Experiencias Xcaret as the Best Managed Affiliate Program in Latin America. Michel Cervantes, a business-to-business manager at Experiencias Xcaret, accepted the award at the 2017 meeting in London, England. Xcaret’s affiliate program …

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The Very Best of the Moz Blog 2017: Our Top 50 Posts

Posted by FeliciaCrawford

Now, I know we technically have a few days left in 2017, but I’m ready to dive head-first into a fond, full-blown retrospective. Each year we look back on what we’ve published, compiling and sharing the pieces you liked best. Normally we divvy it up via various metrics: traffic, 1Metric score, total thumbs up, total comments, the best of YouMoz, and so on and so forth. This year, however, we’re doing things just a little differently.

A lot has changed in the past year…

The way we run the blog has changed in a few significant ways from the days of yesteryear. YouMoz, our user-generated content blog, was retired in the autumn of 2016 (though we hope to resurrect it in another form someday). We reduced our publishing frequency a bit, and refocused our content on core SEO topics after spending 2015 and 2016 branching out into other marketing subjects (like social media and content marketing). We also made some big changes with regards to commenting: we closed comments on posts older than 30 days (they became veritable spam factories), and implemented stricter moderation filters to better catch spammy comments fishing for either a link or easy MozPoints.

And if I’m being completely honest, I don’t think the “Best of” posts from years past have offered you, our beloved readers, as much value as they should’ve. The most excited comments on those posts occur when someone discovers a gem they’d missed, when a post reaches out to you from the masses of online content clamoring for your attention and speaks to you. The way we formerly ranked “the best” resulted in a lot of overlap; the same few posts with lots of thumbs up, a busy comments section, and high traffic overwhelmed the leaderboard.

What criteria now determines “best”?

At the end of 2017, we’re starting fresh. First, I’ve taken our ten most popular blog post categories by traffic — these represent the topics readers are actively seeking information on. Next, I thought about which metric matters most to me when I consider the success of a blog post. Traffic, thumbs, social shares… Nice to see, yes, but they don’t paint a very clear picture of a post’s impact. I found myself returning to my favorite blog post metric again and again: the comments.

A post with a lively comments section can be many things. Perhaps it sparked questions or debate; perhaps the findings were controversial; perhaps it was simply inspiring. Whatever the reason, a heavily commented-on post represents something that struck a chord, that convinced a person to peek out from behind their keyboard shield and contribute a thought, something that coaxed a little extra effort and commitment from our community. As a silent lurker myself, I am consistently blown away by the humility, genius, and generosity you all display in the blog comments section every day.

So there we have it: this year’s Best of the Moz Blog 2017 is a list of the top five most-commented posts in the top ten blog categories. That’s fifty unique blog posts throughout the year on a variety of topics, some of which you may have missed. Most blog posts fall into several of our categories, but every post will only be listed once; if it’s hit the top five in a more popular category, I’ve taken it out of the running for the rest. It’s my sincere hope that this list uncovers something useful for you, something that helps make your job and day just a little easier.

Without further ado, let’s get this party started!

(If you’re curious, check out the Best of 2016 and the Best of 2015, too.)


The top 5 Whiteboard Fridays

Whiteboard Friday is far and away our most popular blog category, earning three times as much traffic as the rest. Because it always overlaps with at least one other category, you’re bound to get a tidy grab bag of SEO takeaways with this list!

10 Things that DO NOT (Directly) Affect Your Google Rankings

Rand Fishkin, September 22nd

Thumbs: 85
Comments: 180

What do the age of your site, your headline H1/H2 preference, bounce rate, and shared hosting all have in common? You might’ve gotten a hint from the title: not a single one of them directly affects your Google rankings. In this rather comforting Whiteboard Friday, Rand lists out ten factors commonly thought to influence your rankings that Google simply doesn’t care about.

What Do Google’s New, Longer Snippets Mean for SEO?

Rand Fishkin, December 8th

Thumbs: 100
Comments: 136

Featured snippets and meta descriptions have brand-new character limits, and it’s a huge change for Google and SEOs alike. Learn about what’s new, when it changed, and what it all means for SEO in this episode of Whiteboard Friday. (And this is cheating, but for good measure, you might follow up with Dr. Pete’s official recommendation for meta description lengths in 2018.)

What Links Can You Get that Comply with Google’s Guidelines?

Marie Haynes, January 20th

Thumbs: 68
Comments: 112

If you’ve ever been the victim of a Google penalty, you know how painful it can be to identify the problem and recover from the hit. Even if you’ve been penalty-free thus far, the threat of getting penalized is a source of worry. But how can you avoid it, when it seems like unnatural links lurk around every corner?

In this Whiteboard Friday, we warmly welcome Google penalty and unnatural link expert Marie Haynes as she shares how to earn links that do comply with Google’s guidelines, that will keep your site out of trouble, and that can make a real impact.

7 ‹Title Tag› Hacks for Increased Rankings + Traffic - Whiteboard Friday

Cyrus Shepard, May 5th

Thumbs: 185
Comments: 103

You may find yourself wondering whether the humble title tag still matters in modern SEO. When it comes to your click-through rate, the answer is a resounding yes! In this Whiteboard Friday, we welcome back our good friend Cyrus Shepard to talk about 7 ways you can revamp your title tags to increase your site traffic and rankings.

Comment Marketing: How to Earn Benefits from Community Participation

Rand Fishkin, January 13th

Thumbs: 53
Comments: 97

It’s been a few years since we’ve covered the topic of comment marketing, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of date. There are clever, intentional ways to market yourself and your brand in the comments sections of sites, and there’s less competition now than ever before. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand details what you can do to get noticed in the comments and the benefits you’ll reap from high-quality contributions.


The top 5 posts in On-Page SEO

The results of our recent Moz Blog Reader Survey highlighted on-page SEO as the topic you’d most like to learn about, so it’s not surprising to see that this category sits right under Whiteboard Friday for popularity. There’s an interesting theme that emerges from these top posts: it seems we’re still working on many of the same things, but how we treat them has necessarily changed over time.

How Links in Headers, Footers, Content, and Navigation Can Impact SEO - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, October 20th

Thumbs: 68
Comments: 92

Which link is more valuable: the one in your nav, or the one in the content of your page? Now, how about if one of those in-content links is an image, and one is text? Not all links are created equal, and getting familiar with the details will help you build a stronger linking structure. This Whiteboard Friday covers links in headers and footers, in navigation versus content, and how that can affect internal and external links, link equity, and link value between your site and others.

It’s Time to Stop Doing On-Page SEO Like It’s 2012

Rand Fishkin, February 6th

Thumbs: 84
Comments: 91

On-page SEO has evolved in the past five years. Rand outlines the changes in five succinct tactics: move beyond keyword repetition rules; searcher intent matters more than raw keywords; related topics are essential; links don’t always beat on-page; and topical authority is more important than ever.

The Wonderful World of SEO Meta Tags [Refreshed for 2017]

Kate Morris, April 13th

Thumbs: 46
Comments: 67

Which meta tags are absolutely necessary, which are dependent on your situation, and which should you absolutely ignore or remove? Kate Morris refreshes her original 2010 post on the subject of meta tags, sharing a few new tips and reiterating what’s remained the same over the past 7 years.

Designing a Page’s Content Flow to Maximize SEO Opportunity - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, December 1st

Thumbs: 54
Comments: 48

Controlling and improving the flow of your on-site content can actually help your SEO. What’s the best way to capitalize on the opportunity present in your page design? Rand covers the questions you need to ask (and answer) and the goals you should strive for in this edition of Whiteboard Friday.

How to Do a Content Audit [Updated for 2017]

Everett Sizemore, March 22nd

Thumbs: 49
Comments: 31

Learn how to do content audits for SEO in this comprehensive, updated guide by Everett Sizemore, including tips for crawling large websites, rendering JavaScript content, and auditing dynamic mobile content.


The top 5 posts in Local SEO

Local SEO overlaps with what we think of as traditional SEO in many ways, so it’s not surprising at all to see this category near the top. There’s still a lot of doubt and apprehension, it seems, when it comes to local SEO best practices and what really works, and the top posts in this category reflect that.

Local SEO Spam Tactics Are Working: How You Can Fight Back

Casey Meraz, March 28th

Thumbs: 48
Comments: 75

It’s very clear that spam tactics in Google’s local results are earning higher rankings. In this post, Casey Meraz identifies exactly what spammers are doing to get ahead, what they can get away with, and what you can do to fight back against the problem plaguing local results.

Not-Actually-the-Best Local SEO Practices

Miriam Ellis, December 11th

Thumbs: 47
Comments: 72

Not all common practices in local SEO are the best practices. In fact, some of them can be pretty darn harmful. Check out Miriam’s list of what-not-to-dos (and what-you-should-actually-dos) in this comprehensive blog post.

The 2017 Local SEO Forecast: 10 Predictions According to Mozzers

Miriam Ellis, February 14th

Thumbs: 35
Comments: 67

From Google providing intimate details about businesses to Amazon expanding even further into the local scene, local SEO stood to see a lot of change this year. Check out what the SEOs at Moz had to say about what to prepare for in 2017.

Proximity to Searcher is the New #1 Local Search Ranking Factor

Darren Shaw, February 22nd

Thumbs: 58
Comments: 65

Forget everything you thought you knew about the most impactful local ranking factors — searcher proximity just may be the number-one thing influencing where a local business shows on the SERPs.

How to Perform a Basic Local Business Competitive Audit

Miriam Ellis, August 22nd

Thumbs: 32
Comments: 65

Are you outranked in Google’s Local Pack? Then it’s high time to perform a competitive business audit. Use this example analysis and downloadable spreadsheet to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of multiple businesses and devise a plan to win.


The top 5 posts in Basic SEO

Basic SEO is another category that enjoys a lot of overlap with other topics; perhaps that’s one reason why it’s so popular. This year’s top posts in this category cover a range of subjects, and all are pretty useful for someone learning (or leveling up in) SEO.

Aren’t 301s, 302s, and Canonicals All Basically the Same? - Whiteboard Friday

Dr. Pete, March 3rd

Thumbs: 62
Comments: 69

They say history repeats itself. In the case of the great 301 vs 302 vs rel=canonical debate, it repeats itself about every three months. In this Whiteboard Friday, Dr. Pete explains how bots and humans experience pages differently depending on which solution you use, why it matters, and how each choice may be treated by Google.

How to Prioritize SEO Tasks [+Worksheet]

Britney Muller, September 21st

Thumbs: 41
Comments: 64

An absolute essential if you want to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed, Moz’s own SEO Britney Muller offers five tips for prioritizing your SEO work: setting specific goals, identifying important pages for conversions, uncovering technical opportunities via a site crawl, time management, and providing consistent benchmarks and reporting.

5 Tactics to Earn Links Without Having to Directly Ask - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, July 28th

Thumbs: 71
Comments: 63

Typical link outreach is a tired sport, and we’ve all but alienated most content creators with our constant link requests. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand outlines five smart ways to earn links to your site without having to beg.

“SEO Is Always Changing”… Or Is It?: Debunking the Myth and Getting Back to Basics

Bridget Randolph, July 19th

Thumbs: 56
Comments: 60

We’re so fond of the idea that SEO is hard because it’s always changing. But is that really true? Bridget Randolph challenges a common industry refrain and brings us back to the basics of what’s really important in our work.

How to Target Multiple Keywords with One Page - Next Level

Brian Childs, June 15th

Thumbs: 45
Comments: 56

In this edition of our educational Next Level series, you’ll learn an easy workflow for researching and targeting multiple keywords with a single page.


The top five posts in Link Building

A thousand years from now, when the Space Needle has toppled into Puget Sound and our great-great-great-great-etc. grandchildren are living on Mars, link building will still prove to be one of the most popular subjects on the Moz Blog. And you get a double-whammy of goodness this year, because they just so happen to all be Whiteboard Fridays!

Should SEOs Care About Internal Links? - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, May 26th

Thumbs: 85
Comments: 87

Internal links are one of those essential SEO items you have to get right to avoid getting them really wrong. Rand shares 18 tips to help inform your strategy, going into detail about their attributes, internal vs. external links, ideal link structures, and much, much more in this edition of Whiteboard Friday.

How to Prioritize Your Link Building Efforts & Opportunities - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, February 17th

Thumbs: 73
Comments: 81

We all know how effective link building efforts can be, but it can be an intimidating, frustrating process — and sometimes even a chore. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand builds out a framework you can start using today to streamline and simplify the link building process for you, your teammates, and yes, even your interns.

The 3 Easiest Link Building Tactics Any Website Can Use to Acquire Their First 50 Links - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, September 8th

Thumbs: 81
Comments: 77

Without a solid base of links, your site won’t be competitive in the SERPs — even if you do everything else right. But building your first few links can be difficult and discouraging, especially for new websites. Never fear — Rand is here to share three relatively quick, easy, and tool-free (read: actually free) methods to build that solid base and earn yourself links.

When and How to Use Domain Authority, Page Authority, and Link Count Metrics - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, June 16th

Thumbs: 50
Comments: 71

How can you effectively apply link metrics like Domain Authority and Page Authority alongside your other SEO metrics? Where and when does it make sense to take them into account, and what exactly do they mean? In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand answers these questions and more, arming you with the knowledge you need to better understand and execute your SEO work.

Image Link Building - Whiteboard Friday

Britney Muller, December 15th

Thumbs: 48
Comments: 63

Image link building is a delicate art. There are some distinct considerations from traditional link building, and doing it successfully requires a balance of creativity, curiosity, and having the right tools on hand. In this Whiteboard Friday, Moz’s own SEO and link building aficionado Britney Muller offers up concrete advice for successfully building links via images.


The top 5 posts in Advanced SEO

2017’s top posts in the advanced SEO category cover just about every post type we like to publish (and that you like to read): in-depth case studies, Whiteboard Fridays, best practice advice, and solid how-tos.

[Case Study] How We Ranked #1 for a High-Volume Keyword in Under 3 Months

Dmitry Dragilev, April 19th

Thumbs: 73
Comments: 140

If you’ve been struggling to take the number-one spot in the SERPs for a competitive keyword, take a cue from this case study. Dmitry Dragilev shares his team’s 8-step methodology for ranking first in a popular niche.

How Google AdWords (PPC) Does and Doesn’t Affect Organic Results - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, November 17th

Thumbs: 68
Comments: 89

It’s common industry knowledge that PPC can have an effect on our organic results. But what effect is that, exactly, and how does it work? In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers the ways paid ads influence organic results — and one very important way they don’t.

SEO Best Practices for Canonical URLs + the Rel=Canonical Tag - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, July 14th

Thumbs: 62
Comments: 87

If you’ve ever had any questions about the canonical tag, well, have we got the Whiteboard Friday for you. In this episode, Rand defines what rel=canonical means and its intended purpose, when it’s recommended you use it, how to use it, and sticky situations to avoid.

How to Uncover Hidden Keyword-Level Data Using Google Sheets

Sarah Lively, February 13th

Thumbs: 42
Comments: 83

Which keywords are driving your organic traffic? Keyword-level data doesn’t have to be (not provided). Sarah Lively shares a smart solution using two free add-ons for Google Sheets.

How Long Should Your Meta Description Be? (2018 Edition)

Dr. Pete, December 19th

Thumbs: 49
Comments: 76

The end of November saw a spike in the average length of SERP snippets. Across 90K results, we found a definite increase but many oddities, such as video snippets. Our data suggests that many snippets are exceeding 300 characters, and we recommend a new meta description limit of 300 characters.


The top 5 posts in Technical SEO

Technical SEO posts are some of my favorite categories to publish (which is perhaps a strange sentiment coming from a poetry major). The debate that recently raged — about whether it’s necessary or unnecessary for SEO — will always stick with many of us, as will Rand’s excellent Whiteboard Friday rebuttal on the topic.

XML Sitemaps: The Most Misunderstood Tool in the SEO’s Toolbox

Michael Cottam, April 11th

Thumbs: 43
Comments: 83

XML sitemaps are a powerful tool for SEOs, but are often misunderstood and misused. Michael Cottam explains how to leverage XML sitemaps to identify and resolve indexation problems.

JavaScript & SEO: Making Your Bot Experience As Good As Your User Experience

Alexis Sanders, June 20th

Thumbs: 56
Comments: 79

More and more, we’re realizing it’s incredibly important for us as SEOs to understand JavaScript’s impact on search experience. Can search engines see your content and experience your site the way a user does? If not, what solutions can you use to fix it?

Pros and Cons of HTTPS Services: Traditional vs Let’s Encrypt vs Cloudflare

JR Ridley, September 13th

Thumbs: 38
Comments: 78

Thinking about going secure? It’s more important than ever, with Google issuing security warnings for many non-secure sites in Chrome. This comparison of three popular HTTPS services will help you determine the best option for implementing an SSL certification on your site.

Mastering Google Search Operators in 67 Easy Steps

Dr. Pete, March 1st

Thumbs: 82
Comments: 76

Google search operators are like chess – knowing how the pieces move doesn’t make you a master. Dive into 67 examples, from content research to site audits, and level up your search operator game.

Unlocking Hidden Gems Within Schema.org

Alexis Sanders, October 18th

Thumbs: 45
Comments: 69

Schema.org can be a confusing resource if you’re trying to learn how to use and implement structured data. This mini-guide arms you with the right kind of thinking to tackle your next structured data project.


The top 5 posts in Keyword Research

The posts generating the most buzz in our keyword research category seem to revolve around quick yet effective wins and tactical advice. And with time constraints being one of the biggest challenges reported in our Reader’s Survey, it’s really no surprise.

The Lazy Writer’s Guide to 30-Minute Keyword Research

Britney Muller, July 26th

Thumbs: 52
Comments: 54

Keyword research doesn’t have to be a marathon bender. A brisk 30-minute walk can provide incredible insights — insights that connect you with a wider audience on a deeper level. Britney Muller shares several ways to get your keyword research tasks done efficiently and well.

The Keyword + Year Content/Rankings Hack - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, February 10th

Thumbs: 63
Comments: 49

What’s the secret to earning site traffic from competitive keywords with decent search volume? The answer could be as easy as 1, 2, 3 — or more precisely, 2, 0, 1, 7. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand lets you in on a relatively straightforward tactic that can help you compete in a tough space using very fresh content.

3 Tactics for Hyperlocal Keywords - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, February 24th

Thumbs: 63
Comments: 47

Trying to target a small, specific region with your keywords can prove frustrating. While reaching a high-intent local audience is incredibly valuable, without volume data to inform your keyword research, you’ll find yourself hitting a wall. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand shares how to uncover powerful, laser-focused keywords that will reach exactly the right people.

Which of My Competitor’s Keywords Should (& Shouldn’t ) I Target? - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, November 24th

Thumbs: 45
Comments: 44

You don’t want to try to rank for every one of your competitors’ keywords. Like most things with SEO, it’s important to be strategic and intentional with your decisions. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand shares his recommended process for understanding your funnel, identifying the right competitors to track, and prioritizing which of their keywords you ought to target.

NEW in Keyword Explorer: See Who Ranks & How Much with Keywords by Site

Rand Fishkin, October 23rd

Thumbs: 41
Comments: 43

It’s not often that a product-focused post makes our blog’s Best of the Year list, so this is both interesting and heartening to see. We worked really hard to bring better data and more usefulness to Keyword Explorer this year, and y'all left some really kind sentiments in the comments. Thanks for always being here for us, folks! :)


The top 5 posts in Content

I won’t say it, I promise. ;) But content is just as important as ever, and the rather vague advice of “create great content and the rest will come” has certainly gotten a bit exhausting over the years. We’ve made an effort to publish more actionable ways to think about and use content, and it seems like that’s been resonating with you so far!

Refurbishing Top Content - Whiteboard Friday

Britney Muller, February 3rd

Thumbs: 66
Comments: 82

You’ve got top-performing content on your site that does really well. Maybe it’s highly converting, maybe it garners the most qualified traffic — but it’s just sitting there gathering dust. Isn’t there something else you can do with content that’s clearly proven its worth?

As it turns out, there is! In this Whiteboard Friday, Britney Muller shares three easy steps for identifying, repurposing, and republishing your top content to juice every drop of goodness out of it.

What We Learned From Analyzing 1.4 Million Featured Snippets

A.J. Ghergich, January 17th

Thumbs: 48
Comments: 78

From optimal snippet length, to practical application tips, to which queries prefer tables, lists, or paragraphs, learn everything you need to know to supercharge your snippet wins.

The Perfect Blog Post Length and Publishing Frequency is B?!!$#÷x - Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, August 18th

Thumbs: 76
Comments: 65

The perfect blog post length or publishing frequency doesn’t actually exist. “Perfect” isn’t universal — your content’s success depends on tons of personalized factors. In this Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains why the idea of “perfect” is baloney when it comes to your blog, and lists what you should actually be looking for in a successful publishing strategy.

Learning to Re-Share: 4 Strategies to Renew, Refresh, and Recycle Content for Bigger Reach

Jen Carney, August 2nd

Thumbs: 31
Comments: 51

You’ve spend too much time and effort on content creation to share it only once. Check out four smart strategies you can implement today to improve the reach of your existing content.

How to Build the Right Content Marketing Strategy for SEO Growth

Alli Berry, November 15th

Thumbs: 30
Comments: 51

Keywords are important for innumerable SEO tasks, but driving your content marketing strategy isn’t one of them. Your strategy should be based on the audience you’re trying to reach if you want your organic traffic to convert.


Paid Search Marketing

While it perhaps seems a little strange for an SEO blog to cover, paid search plays an important part in our digital marketing world, and as reported in our Reader’s Survey, plenty of us wear more than one hat. Here are the top posts from 2017 that generated the most commentary about all things paid:

Do iPhone Users Spend More Online Than Android Users?

Martin Meany, October 11th

Thumbs: 27
Comments: 71

iPhone users tend to spend 3x as much as Android users, according to an analysis of 31 million mobile e-commerce sessions. Digital marketers can capitalize on this revelation via Facebook and AdWords.

Branding Success: How to Use PPC to Amplify Your Brand

Purna Virji, February 21st

Thumbs: 34
Comments: 44

You might be surprised to learn that branding and PPC go hand-in-hand. Find out how to leverage your PPC campaigns to strengthen your brand and win conversions and loyalty from your customers.

No, Paid Search Audiences Won’t Replace Keywords

Kirk Williams, May 30th

Thumbs: 33
Comments: 29

Keywords or audience targeting? Kirk Williams sets out to argue that far from being dead, keywords are still the most useful tool in the paid search marketer’s toolbox.

Paid Social for Content Marketing Launches - Whiteboard Friday

Kane Jamison, September 29th

Thumbs: 31
Comments: 29

Stuck in a content marketing rut? Relying on your existing newsletter, social followers, or email outreach won’t do your launches justice. Boosting your signal with paid social both introduces your brand to new audiences and improves your launch’s traffic and results. In this Whiteboard Friday, we’re welcoming back our good friend Kane Jamison to highlight four straightforward, actionable tactics you can start using ASAP.

The Step-By-Step Guide to Testing Voice Search Via PPC

Purna Virji, March 21st

Thumbs: 30
Comments: 24

Conversational interfaces are becoming more and more popular, but it’s hard to know where to start when it comes to voice search. A $50 PPC budget is enough to jumpstart your voice search keyword list and strategy — learn how in this step-by-step guide.


Top comments by thumbs up

Comments are my favorite blog post success metric, and it simply wouldn’t do if we didn’t honor the folks who contributed the most popular comments in 2017. Thank you, all of you, for sharing your thoughts with the greater Moz and SEO community, and for taking precious time out of your day to make the blog a more interesting and better place. And for all the comment lurkers out there like me, I offer you solemn solidarity and zero judgment (but I’d be delighted to see y'all venture out from behind the screen now and again ;).

1. Praveen Sharma on “10 Things that DO NOT (Directly) Affect Your Google Rankings - Whiteboard Friday” – 58 thumbs up

Short, sweet, accurate, relevant advice is the name of the game. :) We’ve had feedback before that some readers come to the blog for the comments as much as the post itself, and this example shows why. Thanks for sharing your insight, Praveen!

2. SEOMG on “7 ‹Title Tag› Hacks for Increased Rankings + Traffic - Whiteboard Friday” – 42 thumbs up

Much like the above, this comment exemplifies clear, useful examples related to the post topic. You rock, SEOMG!

3. Praveen Sharma on “The 3 Easiest Link Building Tactics Any Website Can Use to Acquire Their First 50 Links - Whiteboard Friday” – 39 thumbs up

Swooping in again with another helpful tidbit to add to the blog post at hand, Praveen’s made it on the Top 10 list twice. We really appreciate your contributions, Praveen!

4. Trevor Klein on “Moz Transitions: Rand to Step Away from Operations and into Advisory Role in Early 2018” – 38 thumbs up

A bittersweet comment that clearly struck a chord with many in our community. Rand, I hope you know how much we all love and appreciate you! And Trevor, thank you so much for your candid and genuine thoughts; you truly spoke for all of us there.

5. Gianluca Fiorelli on “SEO Best Practices for Canonical URLs + the Rel=Canonical Tag - Whiteboard Friday” – 30 thumbs up

Gianluca’s comments on the Moz Blog are legendary; each one is a treasure, a miniature blog post in and of itself. Thank you for sharing your smarts with us, Gianluca!

6. Rand Fishkin on “What Do Google’s New, Longer Snippets Mean for SEO? - Whiteboard Friday” – 28 thumbs up

By using the comments section to clarify a few points about his Whiteboard Friday video and highlight his advice, Rand adds extra value and oomph to the post as a whole… and the community responded. :) Thank you for always leaving 10X comments, Rand!

7. Eric Hahn on “10 Things that DO NOT (Directly) Affect Your Google Rankings - Whiteboard Friday” – 26 thumbs up

The discussion in the thread spurred by this helpful, on-topic comment is the kind of lively, educational back-and-forth we love to witness. Thank you for inspiring folks to ask questions and learn, Eric!

8. Igor Gorbenko on “What Do Google’s New, Longer Snippets Mean for SEO? - Whiteboard Friday” – 25 thumbs up

It makes me really happy that our community has — and rewards — such awesome personality. Igor, thank you for your wit and your insights! ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬

9. Tim Soulo on “Moz Transitions: Rand to Step Away from Operations and into Advisory Role in Early 2018” – 22 thumbs up

The blog community definitely resonated with all the heartfelt, personal stories shared on this post. Tim, thank you for sharing!

10. Gianluca Fiorelli on “Comment Marketing: How to Earn Benefits from Community Participation - Whiteboard Friday” – 21 thumbs up

In an incredibly meta turn of events, Gianluca’s comment on our Comment Marketing Whiteboard Friday rounds out the list of 2017’s top comments on the Moz Blog. I don’t think there’s a person on this Internet that’s done a better job of personal comment marketing than Gianluca! :)


Here’s to you!

Thank you all, each and every one of you, for helping to keep our little community a thriving, nurturing place to learn SEO, share ideas, and hey, even make mistakes now and again. It’s an honor to have a hand in providing content to such a TAGFEE and brilliant group of people, and I can’t describe how excited I am for all that 2018 will bring.

Let me know in the comments how you liked the change-up this year, what other “Best of” formats or lists you might find helpful, and any other ponderings or thoughts you might have — and thank you again for reading!


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Why Working 9-To-5 Hours Doesn’t Work For Everyone

Why Working 9-To-5 Hours Doesn’t Work For Everyone

On average, Americans work 8.8 hours a day. This is undeniably the norm across most of the Western world. Most employers expect a 9-to-5 work schedule.

However, you might be surprised to learn the traditional 9-to-5 workday doesn’t always work, and has actually been shown to be more inefficient than a less structured schedule. Despite its popularity, there is nothing about the eight-hours a day, 9-to-5 work schedule that creates a more effective work environment.

You’re probably wondering, if the 9-to-5 schedule doesn’t always work, why it’s so mainstream. The answer lies in the history of the workday. The eight-hour workday wasn’t always the norm, and it was actually unheard of until the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800’s. During the Industrial Revolution, companies were laser-focused on increasing labor as much as possible, which often led to incredibly long workdays of up to 16 hours a day.

Unsurprisingly, it turned out that 16-hour workdays were not sustainable, and people began to protest these conditions. A man called Robert Owen started a campaign to have people work no more than eight hours a day. He determined this number by the reasoning that people should have eight hours of labor, eight hours of recreation, and eight hours of rest.

This formula, at the time, was thought to produce the best workers. The Ford Motor Company was the first to implement the eight-hour workday in 1914, and it has been accepted as standard ever since.

While Owen’s formula for the perfect worker sounds reasonable, there are actually many reasons why the 9-to-5 work schedule doesn’t always work, particularly in today’s digital world. In recent years, the workforce has changed at a breakneck pace as more and more people, particularly millennials, walk away from the standard workday.

In this post, I’ll look at the five main reasons why the 9-to-5 workday doesn’t always work and shouldn’t be accepted blindly – as represented in this infographic:

[info] 9 to 5 working hours

1. Energy and time are not the same thing

Human beings are not machines. We are unable to focus on a single task for prolonged periods of time without succumbing to distractions. This doesn’t mean we can’t be skilled, successful workers, but we do need to recognize our natural rhythms.

Research shows that humans are unable to focus on things for more than 90-120 minutes without needing a 20-30 minute break. These breaks allow valuable time for recharging mental energy. In fact, without these breaks, performance lowers.

The 9-to-5 workday does not allow for these breaks every hour and a half, and people often find themselves distracted because of it.

2. Not all tasks are created equal

It goes without saying that some tasks are simply completed more quickly than others, regardless of what industry you work in. For some employees, they need an extended amount of time to work on a particular task. For others, they can complete it in under two hours. Does that mean one employee is more efficient than the other? Not necessarily, or not across all tasks.

The 9-to-5 workday does not accommodate for differences in task duration. Many employees complain of excessive downtime at work – or they struggle to understand why they must stay in the office until 5pm if they’ve already completed the day’s tasks. This is proof that the 9-to-5 schedule is increasingly becoming inefficient and obsolete.

3. The rise of freelancers has changed everything

By 2020, this study estimates that more than 40% of the American workforce will be independent employees working on a freelance, contract or temporary basis. More and more seasoned experts and millennial workers are choosing to work in this way and quit the corporate cycle.

An increase in technology is likely responsible for this rise in independent workers, as more and more networks are available to make freelance work accessible. There are a number of benefits to remote working for employers as well – such as cutting costs and maintaining higher levels of happiness and productivity amongst employees.

4. A lack of flexibility does not make for happy workers

The traditional 9-to-5 workday leaves little to no room for flexibility. Americans struggle to find time for vacations, personal time, parental leave, or even sick days. Sticking to such an inflexible schedule simply does not make sense to a lot of people.

For instance, while the majority of workers are confined to the 9-to-5 workday schedule, most doctors offices are only open during the same hours. This is similar to a number of other resources such as post offices, dentists, and even retail establishments. How are people expected to find time to go to the doctor if it’s always closed by the time they leave work?

You can see in this simple example how the 9-to-5 schedule is incredibly inflexible and simply does not work in many instances.

5. Co-working is what promotes collaboration

Collaborative workspaces or co-working spaces are starting to become more and more popular in cities across America. A coworking space is a type of space that involves a shared working environment to encourage connectedness and interactivity. While the typical office usually is a collection of closed spaces and cubicles, co-working spaces feature long, connected tables and open spaces.

Co-working spaces can boost people’s productivity and happiness. These spaces also allow people from different industries and of different skill levels to interact and network. People who work in co-working spaces report feeling more productive and have a more positive experience at work.

These co-working spaces are the way of the future, and more companies and freelancers will be using them soon as the 9-to-5 workday continues to fall out of practice.

Wrapping up

The 9-to-5 schedule simply isn’t for everyone, and in today’s digital world, many people are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with traditional corporate environments. They are seeking new, innovative ways to be more productive at work while still maintaining flexibility.

Indeed, the 9-to-5 work schedule might have been a solution to end the 16-hour workdays that reigned during the Industrial Revolution, but there is no question that they are growing more out of place in the modern world. As the number of freelancers and creative careers continues to rise, so too will the level of dissatisfaction with a rigid eight-hour workday.

More and more forward-thinking companies are turning to shared office spaces and freelance employees to battle the changing sentiment about work schedule flexibility. Human beings cannot function in the linear way machines can. We require breaks and flexibility in order to work effectively.

As the 9-to-5 schedule is structured with machines in mind, without taking into account people’s need for time to recharge their mental energy, hopefully it is soon to be a thing of the past.

Guest Author: Riya is a digital writer who is passionate about traveling, lifestyle and building startups. She is always finding new ways to improve her work productivity. Connect with Riya on Twitter using the following handle: @sanderriya.

The post Why Working 9-To-5 Hours Doesn’t Work For Everyone appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.



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Job Description for the post of Ad Network Marketing Analyst/affiliate Marketing Executive in Rtbdemand - Startup in Bengaluru/Bangalore for 0 to 2 years of experience. Apply Now!

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6 Great Examples of Facebook Quiz Marketing

среда, 27 декабря 2017 г.

Eagle Boston Investment Management Has Lowered Its World Wrestling Entertain (WWE) Position ...

affiliate marketing, conversion optimization, storefront management, email marketing, and digital analytics. Eagle Boston Investment Management Inc decreased World Wrestling Entertain (WWE) stake by 48.52% reported in 2017Q3 SEC filing. Eagle Boston Investment Management Inc sold 444,782 …

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4 Ways to Steal Your Competitor's Social Media Followers

Affiliate marketing is another way to leverage your social media followers. Tell them about your affiliate programs but make sure that you do it in a way that won’t make them feel pressured. Try to convince your followers that this is a win-win situation; they get incentives when they refer someone and you …

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Alice Stirrat Affiliate Marketing Manager

Alice Stirrat is a leading affiliate marketing manager expert for web retailers and publishers at Chengbao Limited.

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Catena Media Acquires BayBets Ltd

Catena Media Acquires BayBets Ltd Malta-based performance marketing enterprise, Catena Media has acquired all affiliate related assets in iGaming comparison website developer, BayBets LTD. With an upfront payment of €26.5m ($31.4m), this is Catena Media’s largest acquisition to date.

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6 SEO Secrets Your Small Business Can Learn From Review and Comparison Websites

6 SEO Secrets Your Small Business Can Learn From Review and Comparison Websites

Small businesses face numerous challenges trying to break the mold in this increasingly crowded online world. A notion that is especially true when it comes to ranking in search engines.

How do you possibly compete with much bigger brands who have sizeable SEO budgets?

Not only is it competitive, but everyone’s using the same tricks. So standing out is harder than ever.

However, there are certain platforms and established websites that seem to hold the secrets to SEO success. They always rank at the top of search engine results and dominate their niche.

I’m talking, of course, about review and comparison websites.

Consider TripAdvisor for a moment. It’s the world’s most comprehensive traveling website and the go-to source that can help you find the perfect destination for your vacation. It features extensive user reviews, and it offers you the chance to compare destinations before you make a decision.

What is it about TripAdvisor that makes it the top ranking website for a long list of competitive keywords in the travel industry?

Let’s take a look at the SEO secrets behind review and comparison websites like TripAdvisor, and see how you can apply similar tactics to your own efforts.

Secret #1: Create landing pages for different locations

Location plays a vital role in customizing your website content and SEO efforts. People are becoming increasingly smart about how they search the web and expect to receive the most relevant results for their local area.

Local landing pages can help you attract more of the right customers to your business, because by targeting specific locations, you are narrowing down the pool of people you are likely to attract to your website.

To make the most of this tactic, create a list of relevant local keywords, and develop a range of standalone landing pages on your website that fulfill the needs of these keywords.

Google’s algorithm prioritizes local results, so follow best practice of local SEO as well as targeting these relevant keywords, and your website could shoot to the top of the rankings.

You will find that almost all review and comparison websites have locally relevant landing pages to categorize their content – especially if their industry is location-based, such as travel or food.

For example, see below the different pages popular restaurant comparison site Zomato has for New York City and Sydney:

SEO Secrets 1 - Zomato

Secret #2: Use customer reviews in search results

The numbers paint an accurate picture: 90% of consumers will read online reviews before deciding if they want to do business with you or not. They trust a stranger’s input more than they trust your marketing message. As such, the more positive reviews your business has, the higher the chance they’ll perceive you as trustworthy.

Now, you may be asking yourself what the connection between reviews and SEO is? Well, in simple terms, reviews can be the decisive factor in the “should I click or not” debate. Plus, Google has understood the role reviews play in the decision-making process, so they added the possibility to filter local search results based on reviews from different users. That way, when you use Google maps, the platform will feature the businesses that have positive ratings.

These Google customer reviews also show up in search results if you have your Business Page appropriately set up. For example, huge Australian comparison website iSelect shows off their 1,300+ customer reviews in a Google search for “best car insurance”:

SEO Secrets 2 - car insurance

If you want to gain an advantage over your competitors, then make a habit of asking for reviews from your customers.

Secret #3: Build definitive resource pages to attract links

Content, as we all know, can attract links. And quality links, are a huge factor in where your website ranks in search results. That’s what makes resource pages such a valuable strategy for your website’s SEO performance. They feature informative articles or in-depth guides that can generate traffic and links.

Make sure that the content is relevant to your business and has the potential to rank for a worthwhile search term. Use Google Trends, or the AdWords keyword planner to find popular topics related to your industry and provide useful, shareable content on your platform to attract links.

For example, Australia’s largest comparison website Finder, is well known for this tactic. Below is a snapshot of one of their resource pages for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, a relevant resource guide considering they provide comparisons on mobile phone plans:

SEO Secrets 3 - finder

Secret #4: Offer an embeddable widget to other sites for links

Another way you can build links to your site is to provide an embeddable widget to other websites. Something of value that these websites would naturally want to use on their site. These widgets will act as a small gate to your site that people can spot and then navigate to reach your platform, or even if they don’t, you acquire a link for your efforts.

A great example of this in action is with Dimmi’s restaurant reservation widget. Dimmi is a restaurant reservation and comparison website that provides restaurants with an easy-to-install widget for their website so that customers can make restaurant reservations in a few simple clicks. The widget is then synced to an internal reporting system where the restaurant owner or manager can keep up to date with table bookings.

Here is the widget in action on the website for a restaurant called Ester:

SEO Secrets 4 - widget

Secret #5: Leverage user-generated content

Creating high-quality content on a regular basis can feel like a daunting task.

So, why not let your audience take some of the pressure off your shoulders?

Here’s the thing: every piece of content your audience creates, from reviews to comments to guest articles, can help you advance your SEO efforts.

Not only does user-generated content help you understand your customers better, but it can also boost your image and trustworthiness.

TripAdvisor is without a doubt the best example of this when it comes to comparison websites. Not only do they have an in-depth customer review system, but they also have a question and answer platform for every restaurant, location, or holiday rental on their website. This produces an enormous amount of valuable, and searchable content for Google to take notice of:

SEO Secrets 5 - tripadvisor

Secret #6: Use a site-wide footer to give link prominence to key pages

The footer on your website is like a second menu bar people will use to navigate your content. So, if you have something you want them to see, be sure to link to it in this section.

The beauty of the footer bar is that it shows up on every page but it is non-intrusive. So if you have key pages on your website you want to rank for, giving them this kind of prominence from an internal linking perspective, without crowding the top half of the screen and ruining user experience, is gold.

Make sure that the footer has a friendly design and is easy to read. The last thing you want is to cram hundreds of links into a small section that is impossible to read. Choose your footer links wisely, but don’t forget about them!

An example of this can be seen on popular insurance comparison website Compare the Market, where they link to their “Financial Services Guide” and “Financial Services Guide – Life Insurance Products” in their footer:

SEO Secrets 6 - compare the market

Wrapping up

If you’re unsure about where to start when it comes to SEO, why not draw inspiration from the big websites already doing it so well.

These six tips, and the examples of great SEO tactics from comparison and review websites, are the perfect starting point for your new and improved SEO strategy.

Keep in mind that at the end of the day each of these tactics revolve around one simple principle: it’s all about user experience.

Guest Author: Nital Shah is the CEO and Founder of Octos Digital Marketing Agency. He is an expert in search strategies, planning and management with ten years under his belt and is serving top corporate brands in Australia. Nital can be connected on Email and LinkedIn.

The post 6 SEO Secrets Your Small Business Can Learn From Review and Comparison Websites appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.



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Exclusive: Bfab co-founder's new affiliate marketing startup Indoleads raises angel funding

Started in May last year, Kuala Lumpur-based Indoleads is a cost per action (CPA) marketing platform. Advertisers can use the platform as an additional traffic source as well as for affiliate marketing, where they are able to manage publishers, analyse traffic, detect fraudulent activity, and integrate with …

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