4 Reasons Why Copywriters and Graphic Designers Should Collaborate

The online world is dynamic and constantly evolving…

The tactics that hold the high ground today, will lose effectiveness tomorrow.

But in spite of this volatile nature, one thing remains the sine qua non of online success – content.

However, the question remains whether there’s a type of web content that is one-size-fits-all?

The answer is NO.

Big brands churn out high-quality content in the form of blog posts, infographics, videos, social messages, and much more, as a tool for lead generation. Doing this, they know that using a one-way approach to content creation in today’s age of big data and visual culture will take them nowhere.

That’s why, for a freelancer or solopreneur, combining the power of designers and copywriters makes so much sense. It’s a pathway to competing with bigger budgets and creating high-quality diverse content.

When graphic designers and copywriters work together, they flourish. Part of the reason is that design connects directly with a side of the brain which is responsible for creative thinking and image recognition. While writing occupies the other side that handles logic and critical thinking.

For any content to hook prospects and compel immediate action, these forces must come together. And that emphasizes why designers and copywriters should not transfer work but handle it hand-in-hand.

Here’s a thumbnail analysis of why designers and copywriters should work together to create all-in-one content, and the benefits of going down that road.

1. All-in-one content offers greater value

Because the Internet is jam-packed, attention is perhaps the most expensive thing online. According to Jakob Nielsen, an average web visitor is only likely to read 20-28% of a blog post. The only way to extend the duration lies in truly compelling content.

What’s that?

Any beautifully crafted article that’s saturated with high-value, attention-grabbing images and visuals.

But if you’ve never tried this before, you might doubt its efficiency. Luckily for you, experts say that articles with images get 94% more total views than text-only posts. And there’s more. Infographics deliver up to 120-180% more engagement, thereby increasing viewers retention, engagement and, ultimately, sales.

Image Source: Ethos3

2. It creates better understanding

What makes the above possible is the extraordinary power of visual content in creating a digestible understanding of text-based messages. Indeed, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Readers are believed to retain 65% of any information three days later when communicated through visuals.

3. It’s brain-friendly

One of the top reasons brands’ create content is to provide the insights that make it easier for prospects to comprehend how their products and services work. Another reason why copywriters and designers need to work in collaboration to make content more digestible. Visual content is the answer.

The reason, as implied in point two, is that the human brain processes visual data 60,000 times quicker than text, according to WebDAM. Brain Rules also notes that “We [human beings] are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.”

Image Source: Ethos3

It’s clear… Web visitors do not struggle to remember details when they’re given all-inclusive memorable content.

4. SEO, SEO, SEO

Going from merely adding glamour to a blog post to creating other essential values, visuals can also boost rankings on search engines when seamlessly integrated into a body of valuable text.

If SEO were key to content marketing success, creating all-inclusive content is a task that you cannot ignore – and that’s easier done through collaborative efforts between designers and copywriters.

Other benefits

There are a plethora of benefits to this match made in heaven, but the following are the key benefits of copywriter-designer collaborations:

• Unlocking new ideas

According to William and Phyllis of Mack Institute for Innovation Management, choosing the right partners is the first step to successful innovation.

The innovation experts argue, “In today’s globalized business environment, firms are no longer developing innovations in a vacuum. Instead, companies often work with partners from all over the world to develop innovative strategies and products.”

Are innovative ideas important to copywriters and designers? There’s no other option than YES, and experience has shown that more ideas emerge when these set of creatives work together.

Even in Science, it’s easier to make new discoveries when scientists share ideas rather than working as a lone genius. “The best ideas don’t come from working in a silo,” says Michele Kamenar.

• Enabling premium services and increased authority

To deliver excellent services and drive bottom-line results for all parties, it’s hard to thrive in isolation as a copywriter or designer. You MUST collaborate!

Sara Duane-Gladden of Specky Boy says:

“The jobs of copywriters and designers are very similar. They are both masters of their crafts. They express complex concepts and ideas in bite-sized bits that convey meaning in a moment. The fact that one does all this with words while the other accomplishes it with images isn’t important: They are kindred, creative spirits that can amplify their abilities when they work together.”

So if you want to improve the quality of your service and build authority, you should collaborate.

• Reducing the burden

As a copywriter with a long list of deadlines, you’re always on the search for an expert designer to turn text into visuals. Even if you find one you’re still not off the hook. You probably keep reviewing their work because only an impeccable job will satisfy your clients and win you more referrals. On the other hand, a designer goes through a similar situation each time there’s a need to come up with a masterpiece that will complement an infographic or other visuals.

The process is time-consuming and difficult. With collaboration, however, it can be streamlined. A teamwork approach will enhance efficiency on both sides.

Going forward

Designers and copywriters are important personalities in the world of digital business. Media and SEO companies, PR organizations, marketing, and advertising agencies, all need them to satisfy their client needs.

If you’re one, not only can you generate new ideas through effective collaboration, you can also increase the quality of your service, minimize hassles, expand your business and even make more income.

Guest Author: Shakir is a writer, content marketer, and the founder of 501 Words. He’s an agenda contributor to the World Economic Forum, focusing on millennials and business. He also writes for Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Forbes Africa, and other sites where he shares insights on startup, marketing, and growth strategy.

The post 4 Reasons Why Copywriters and Graphic Designers Should Collaborate appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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The 5 Elements of Narrative Structure That Brands Use to Inspire Prospects

We all like to hear stories.

The concept of telling and being told them is as old as human civilization itself.

It should be of little surprise then, that this fact hasn’t escaped savvy marketers looking to create powerful and enduring brands.

Of course, there is always another agenda to telling stories in brand marketing, outside of evoking an emotional response in the viewer, and that’s to promote something.

In today’s a la carte content-rich digital environment, consumers don’t want to think they’re being sold something, which is why the emphasis on story has once again taken center stage.

Stories might not directly sell products or services but they do help to sell brands. Research undertaken by Headstream in 2015 revealed that almost 80% of adults in the UK believe that brands telling stories through their marketing efforts is a positive thing, with 55% stating that they are more likely to make a purchase if they enjoy and connect with a brand story.

Undoubtedly video remains the most effective medium for telling memorable brand stories, but creating a compelling film requires a compelling narrative arc. In this article, I want to look at the five essential elements that make up this narrative structure in brand marketing.

We’ll start, as many great takes start, with a quest.

#1. Quest

Narrative brand marketing needn’t be fictional in style. In Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ docu-film, the quest lies firmly in the brand’s aim to help women feel more confident about their looks.

A quest is the driving force of every successful story, although it doesn’t have to be as dramatic as destroying a Death Star and or defeating Voldemort, it should still carry the same level of intrigue and impact. A quest creates a sense of purpose and direction to your narrative, captivating an audience and establishing an emotional connection with your protagonist(s).

Things to consider:

• What does the protagonist want, and why?
• Is the protagonist taking an active role, or are events uncontrollably happening to them?
• Will audiences understand the quest, and will it induce an emotional connection?

#2. Conflict

In their 2016 Christmas commercial, masters of brand storytelling John Lewis introduce conflict with nothing more than a simple glass door, which prevents our four-legged friend from bouncing on the household’s newly constructed garden trampoline.

A source of conflict should sit between the protagonist and the resolution of their quest. Used to induce feelings of suspense and to heighten the audience’s emotional connection to the protagonist, conflicts come in many forms. On the more extreme end lies the Harry Potter and Voldemort duality, with Scrat’s acorn remaining perpetually just out of reach in the Ice Age movies a more light-hearted, yet still highly emotive, example.

Things to consider:

• What is standing between the protagonist and their goal, and why?
• Does the story contain enough suspense, or are things unfolding too simply?
• Is the source of conflict believable?

#3. Stakes

The production values on Budweiser’s epic ‘Born the Hard Way’ TV Commercial may have been high but the brand power of this film is unquestionable, as are the stakes with which our young protagonist faces upon arriving in 1840’s America.

Brand stories don’t work without the effective establishment of an emotional connection. Audiences should be invested and feel compelled to root for the protagonists’ success, because otherwise, they simply aren’t going to care whether the quest is completed successfully, greatly reducing the impact of the narrative’s subsequent climax.

Things to consider:

• Why is the quest important and what are the wider implications?
• Why should audiences care about the protagonist and their quest?
• What happens if the protagonist does not successfully complete their quest?

#4. Climax

It’s rare that brands can marry genuine laugh-out-loud humor with outright tear jerker and pull it off, but Allegro’s ‘English for Beginners’ ad manages it with a final scene that is an absolute masterstroke.

The ending of a story is signified by its climax. This is the point at which the conflict is overcome and the stakes are realized. Ensuring the narrative doesn’t fall flat when it should reach a crescendo is imperative to delivering an effective and memorable brand story.

Things to consider:

• How is the climax reached, and are the events leading up to it relatable and believable?
• Is there a discernible conclusion, or is an ambiguous outcome more beneficial to the narrative?

#5. Emotional Resolution

Although the climax is reached when the airplane lands, in this endearing ad from Turkish Airlines, the emotional resolution only comes when the plane’s captain gives the young protagonists a salute as he walks by.

Although the climax brings the narrative arc to a close in terms of satisfying the quest, a great brand story will only be complete when it delivers a final, satisfying, emotional resolution. Unlike your typical Hollywood blockbuster, successful emotional resolutions within brand marketing are slightly more complex, because they must align the narrative to the brand in a way that is unambiguous but not opportunistic or salesy. This is often done through the idea of shared values (ie the brand shares the values that are implicit in the story itself).

Things to consider:

• Does the narrative successfully build a valuable emotional resolution?
• Are the messages of the story clearly expressed?
• Does the message accurately reflect the brand’s core values?

Conclusion

Brand stories have the power to both humanize a business and form strong emotional associations with your target market.

But the process of convincingly communicating a relatable and compelling narrative, whilst also setting out clear brand values, is not an easy task.

However, by keeping these five principles of narrative structure in mind and maintaining a clear focus on telling a tale your audience wants to hear, you can create marketing films that really resonate for months and even years to come.

Guest Author:  Evelyn Timson is the Managing Director of UK video production agency, Aspect Film & Video. She has years of experience working with some of the world’s most recognisable brands like UNICEF, Nationwide, North Face, TaylorMade adidas, Slimming World and Farrow & Ball. You can connect with Aspect on Facebook or Twitter or see a selection of their award winning work on their YouTube Channel.

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CashKaro.com enters Singapore with ZoBucks.com.sg

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5 easy ways to make money online

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Get started with affiliate marketing in 8 basic steps

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Cashback providing platform CashKaro ventures in Singapore with ZoBucks

According to the founders, online retailers in India have claimed over 15 percent of their complete business from affiliate marketing and that is the most effective ROI channel for them. Adding to that, she said, “As we have seen in mature markets like India, cashback deals have become integral to how …

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CashKaro expands its footprints in Singapore with ZoBucks

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Analysts See $-0.01 EPS for Polar Power, Inc. (POLA); Pfsweb (PFSW) Sentiment Is 0.83

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Google's Walled Garden: Are We Being Pushed Out of Our Own Digital Backyards?

Posted by Dr-Pete

Early search engines were built on an unspoken transaction — a pact between search engines and website owners — you give us your data, and we’ll send you traffic. While Google changed the game of how search engines rank content, they honored the same pact in the beginning. Publishers, who owned their own content and traditionally were fueled by subscription revenue, operated differently. Over time, they built walls around their gardens to keep visitors in and, hopefully, keep them paying.

Over the past six years, Google has crossed this divide, building walls around their content and no longer linking out to the sources that content was originally built on. Is this the inevitable evolution of search, or has Google forgotten their pact with the people’s whose backyards their garden was built on?

I don’t think there’s an easy answer to this question, but the evolution itself is undeniable. I’m going to take you through an exhaustive (yes, you may need a sandwich) journey of the ways that Google is building in-search experiences, from answer boxes to custom portals, and rerouting paths back to their own garden.

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I. The Knowledge Graph

In May of 2012, Google launched the Knowledge Graph. This was Google’s first large-scale attempt at providing direct answers in search results, using structured data from trusted sources. One incarnation of the Knowledge Graph is Knowledge Panels, which return rich information about known entities. Here’s part of one for actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (note: this image is truncated)…

The Knowledge Graph marked two very important shifts. First, Google created deep in-search experiences. As Knowledge Panels have evolved, searchers have access to rich information and answers without ever going to an external site. Second, Google started to aggressively link back to their own resources. It’s easy to overlook those faded blue links, but here’s the full Knowledge Panel with every link back to a Google property marked…

Including links to Google Images, that’s 33 different links back to Google. These two changes — self-contained in-search experiences and aggressive internal linking — represent a radical shift in the nature of search engines, and that shift has continued and expanded over the past six years.

More recently, Google added a sharing icon (on the right, directly below the top images). This provides a custom link that allows people to directly share rich Google search results as content on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and by email. Google no longer views these pages as a path to a destination. Search results are the destination.

The Knowledge Graph also spawned Knowledge Cards, more broadly known as “answer boxes.” Take any fact in the panel above and pose it as a question, and you’re likely to get a Knowledge Card. For example, “How old is Chiwetel Ejiofor?” returns the following…

For many searchers, this will be the end of their journey. Google has answered their question and created a self-contained experience. Note that this example also contains links to additional Google searches.

In 2015, Google launched Medical Knowledge Panels. These gradually evolved into fully customized content experiences created with partners in the medical field. Here’s one for “cardiac arrest” (truncated)…

Note the fully customized design (these images were created specifically for these panels), as well as the multi-tabbed experience. It is now possible to have a complete, customized content experience without ever leaving Google.

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II. Live Results

In some specialized cases, Google uses private data partnerships to create customized answer boxes. Google calls these “Live Results.” You’ve probably seen them many times now on weather, sports and stock market searches. Here’s one for “Seattle weather”…

For the casual information seeker, these are self-contained information experiences with most or all of what we care about. Live Results are somewhat unique in that, unlike the general knowledge in the Knowledge Graph, each partnership represents a disruption to an industry.

These partnerships have branched out over time into even more specialized results. Consider, for example, “Snoqualmie ski conditions”…

Sports results are incredibly disruptive, and Google has expanded and enriched these results quite a bit over the past couple of years. Here’s one for “Super Bowl 2018”…

Note that clicking any portion of this Live Result leads to a customized portal on Google that can no longer be called a “search result” in any traditional sense (more on portals later). Special sporting events, such as the 2018 Winter Olympics, have even more rich features. Here are some custom carousels for “Olympic snowboarding results”…

Note that these are multi-column carousels that ultimately lead to dozens of smaller cards. All of these cards click to more Google search results. This design choice may look strange on desktop and marks another trend — Google’s shift to mobile-first design. Here’s the same set of results on a Google Pixel phone…

Here, the horizontal scrolling feels more intuitive, and the carousel is the full-width of the screen, instead of feeling like a free-floating design element. These features are not only rich experiences on mobile screens, but dominate mobile results much more than they do two-column desktop results.

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III. Carousels

Speaking of carousels, Google has been experimenting with a variety of horizontal result formats, and many of them are built around driving traffic back to Google searches and properties. One of the older styles of carousels is the list format, which runs across the top of desktop searches (above other results). Here’s one for “Seattle Sounders roster”…

Each player links to a new search result with that player in a Knowledge Panel. This carousel expands to the width of the screen (which is unusual, since Google’s core desktop design is fixed-width). On my 1920x1080 screen, you can see 14 players, each linking to a new Google search, and the option to scroll for more…

This type of list carousel covers a wide range of topics, from “cat breeds” to “types of cheese.” Here’s an interesting one for “best movies of 1984.” The image is truncated, but the full result includes drop-downs to select movie genres and other years…

Once again, each result links to a new search with a Knowledge Panel dedicated to that movie. Another style of carousel is the multi-row horizontal scroller, like this one for “songs by Nirvana”…

In this case, not only does each entry click to a new search result, but many of them have prominent featured videos at the top of the left column (more on that later). My screen shows at least partial information for 24 songs, all representing in-Google links above the traditional search results…

A search for “laptops” (a very competitive, commercial term, unlike the informational searches above) has a number of interesting features. At the bottom of the search is this “Refine by brand” carousel…

Clicking on one of these results leads to a new search with the brand name prepended (e.g. “Apple laptops”). The same search shows this “Best of” carousel…

The smaller “Mentioned in:” links go to articles from the listed publishers. The main, product links go to a Google search result with a product panel. Here’s what I see when I click on “Dell XPS 13 9350” (image is truncated)…

This entity live in the right-hand column and looks like a Knowledge Panel, but is commercial in nature (notice the “Sponsored” label in the upper right). Here, Google is driving searchers directly into a paid/advertising channel.

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IV. Answers & Questions

As Google realized that the Knowledge Graph would never scale at the pace of the wider web, they started to extract answers directly from their index (i.e. all of the content in the world, or at least most of it). This led to what they call “Featured Snippets”, a special kind of answer box. Here’s one for “Can hamsters eat cheese?” (yes, I have a lot of cheese-related questions)…

Featured Snippets are an interesting hybrid. On the one hand, they’re an in-search experience (in this case, my basic question has been answered before I’ve even left Google). On the other hand, they do link out to the source site and are a form of organic search result.

Featured Snippets also power answers on Google Assistant and Google Home. If I ask Google Home the same question about hamsters, I hear the following:

On the website TheHamsterHouse.com, they say “Yes, hamsters can eat cheese! Cheese should not be a significant part of your hamster’s diet and you should not feed cheese to your hamster too often. However, feeding cheese to your hamster as a treat, perhaps once per week in small quantities, should be fine.”

You’ll see the answer is identical to the Featured Snippet shown above. Note the attribution (which I’ve bolded) — a voice search can’t link back to the source, posing unique challenges. Google does attempt to provide attribution on Google Home, but as they use answers extracted from the web more broadly, we may see the way original sources are credited change depending on the use case and device.

This broader answer engine powers another type of result, called “Related Questions” or the “People Also Ask” box. Here’s one on that same search…

These questions are at least partially machine-generated, which is why the grammar can read a little oddly — that’s a fascinating topic for another time. If you click on “What can hamsters eat list?” you get what looks a lot like a Featured Snippet (and links to an outside source)…

Notice two other things that are going on here. First, Google has included a link to search results for the question you clicked on (see the purple arrow). Second, the list has expanded. The two questions at the end are new. Let’s click “What do hamsters like to do for fun?” (because how can I resist?)…

This opens up a second answer, a second link to a new Google search, and two more answers. You can continue this to your heart’s content. What’s especially interesting is that this isn’t just some static list that expands as you click on it. The new questions are generated based on your interactions, as Google tries to understand your intent and shape your journey around it.

My colleague, Britney Muller, has done some excellent research on the subject and has taken to calling these infinite PAAs. They’re probably not quite infinite — eventually, the sun will explode and consume the Earth. Until then, they do represent a massively recursive in-Google experience.

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V. Videos & Movies

One particularly interesting type of Featured Snippet is the Featured Video result. Search for “umbrella” and you should see a panel like this in the top-left column (truncated):

This is a unique hybrid — it has Knowledge Panel features (that link back to Google results), but it also has an organic-style link and large video thumbnail. While it appears organic, all of the Featured Videos we’ve seen in the wild have come from YouTube (Vevo is a YouTube partner), which essentially means this is an in-Google experience. These Featured Videos consume a lot of screen real-estate and appear even on commercial terms, like Rihanna’s “umbrella” (shown here) or Kendrick Lamar’s “swimming pools”.

Movie searches yield a rich array of features, from Live Results for local showtimes to rich Knowledge Panels. Last year, Google completely redesigned their mobile experience for movie results, creating a deep in-search experience. Here’s a mobile panel for “Black Panther”…

Notice the tabs below the title. You can navigate within this panel to a wealth of information, including cast members and photos. Clicking on any cast member goes to a new search about that actor/actress.

Although the search results eventually continue below this panel, the experience is rich, self-contained, and incredibly disruptive to high-ranking powerhouses in this space, including IMDB. You can even view trailers from the panel…

On my phone, Google displayed 10 videos (at roughly two per screen), and nine of those were links to YouTube. Given YouTube’s dominance, it’s difficult to say if Google is purposely favoring their own properties, but the end result is the same — even seemingly “external” clicks are often still Google-owned clicks.

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VI. Local Results

A similar evolution has been happening in local results. Take the local 3-pack — here’s one on a search for “Seattle movie theaters”…

Originally, the individual business links went directly to each of those business’s websites. As of the past year or two, these instead go to local panels on Google Maps, like this one…

On mobile, these local panels stand out even more, with prominent photos, tabbed navigation and easy access to click-to-call and directions.

In certain industries, local packs have additional options to run a search within a search. Here’s a pack for Chicago taco restaurants, where you can filter results (from the broader set of Google Maps results) by rating, price, or hours…

Once again, we have a fully embedded search experience. I don’t usually vouch for any of the businesses in my screenshots, but I just had the pork belly al pastor at Broken English Taco Pub and it was amazing (this is my personal opinion and in no way reflects the taco preferences of Moz, its employees, or its lawyers).

The hospitality industry has been similarly affected. Search for an individual hotel, like “Kimpton Alexis Seattle” (one of my usual haunts when visiting the home office), and you’ll get a local panel like the one below. Pardon the long image, but I wanted you to have the full effect…

This is an incredible blend of local business result, informational panel, and commercial result, allowing you direct access to booking information. It’s not just organic local results that have changed, though. Recently, Google started offering ads in local packs, primarily on mobile results. Here’s one for “tax attorneys”…

Unlike traditional AdWords ads, these results don’t go directly to the advertiser’s website. Instead, like standard pack results, they go to a Google local panel. Here’s what the mobile version looks like…

In addition, Google has launched specialized ads for local service providers, such as plumbers and electricians. These appear carousel-style on desktop, such as this one for “plumbers in Seattle”…

Unlike AdWords advertisers, local service providers buy into a specialized program and these local service ads click to a fully customized Google sub-site, which brings us to the next topic — portals.

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VII. Custom Portals

Some Google experiences have become so customized that they operate as stand-alone portals. If you click on a local service ad, you get a Google-owned portal that allows you to view the provider, check to see if they can handle your particular problem in your zip code, and (if not) view other, relevant providers…

You’ve completely left the search result at this point, and can continue your experience fully within this Google property. These local service ads have now expanded to more than 30 US cities.

In 2016, Google launched their own travel guides. Run a search like “things to do in Seattle” and you’ll see a carousel-style result like this one…

Click on “Seattle travel guide” and you’ll be taken to a customized travel portal for the city of Seattle. The screen below is a desktop result — note the increasing similarity to rich mobile experiences.

Once again, you’ve been taken to a complete Google experience outside of search results.

Last year, Google jumped into the job-hunting game, launching a 3-pack of job listings covering all major players in this space, like this one for “marketing jobs in Seattle”…

Click on any job listing, and you’ll be taken to a separate Google jobs portal. Let’s try Facebook…

From here, you can view other listings, refine your search, and even save jobs and set up alerts. Once again, you’ve jumped from a specialized Google result to a completely Google-controlled experience.

Like hotels, Google has dabbled in flight data and search for years. If I search for “flights to Seattle,” Google will automatically note my current location and offer me a search interface and a few choices…

Click on one of these choices and you’re taken to a completely redesigned Google Flights portal…

Once again, you can continue your journey completely within this Google-owned portal, never returning back to your original search. This is a trend we can expect to continue for the foreseeable future.

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VIII. Hard Questions

If I’ve bludgeoned you with examples, then I apologize, but I want to make it perfectly clear that this is not a case of one or two isolated incidents. Google is systematically driving more clicks from search to new searches, in-search experiences, and other Google owned properties. This leads to a few hard questions…

Why is Google doing this?

Right about now, you’re rushing to the comments section to type “For the money!” along with a bunch of other words that may include variations of my name, “sheeple,” and “dumb-ass.” Yes, Google is a for-profit company that is motivated in part by making money. Moz is a for-profit company that is motivated in part by making money. Stating the obvious isn’t insight.

In some cases, the revenue motivation is clear. Suggesting the best laptops to searchers and linking those to shopping opportunities drives direct dollars. In traditional walled gardens, publishers are trying to produce more page-views, driving more ad impressions. Is Google driving us to more searches, in-search experiences, and portals to drive more ad clicks?

The answer isn’t entirely clear. Knowledge Graph links, for example, usually go to informational searches with few or no ads. Rich experiences like Medical Knowledge Panels and movie results on mobile have no ads at all. Some portals have direct revenues (local service providers have to pay for inclusion), but others, like travel guides, have no apparent revenue model (at least for now).

Google is competing directly with Facebook for hours in our day — while Google has massive traffic and ad revenue, people on average spend much more time on Facebook. Could Google be trying to drive up their time-on-site metrics? Possibly, but it’s unclear what this accomplishes beyond being a vanity metric to make investors feel good.

Looking to the long game, keeping us on Google and within Google properties does open up the opportunity for additional advertising and new revenue streams. Maybe Google simply realizes that letting us go so easily off to other destinations is leaving future money on the table.

Is this good for users?

I think the most objective answer I can give is — it depends. As a daily search user, I’ve found many of these developments useful, especially on mobile. If I can get an answer at a glance or in an in-search entity, such as a Live Result for weather or sports, or the phone number and address of a local restaurant, it saves me time and the trouble of being familiar with the user interface of thousands of different websites. On the other hand, if I feel that I’m being run in circles through search after search or am being given fewer and fewer choices, that can feel manipulative and frustrating.

Is this fair to marketers?

Let’s be brutally honest — it doesn’t matter. Google has no obligation to us as marketers. Sites don’t deserve to rank and get traffic simply because we’ve spent time and effort or think we know all the tricks. I believe our relationship with Google can be symbiotic, but that’s a delicate balance and always in flux.

In some cases, I do think we have to take a deep breath and think about what’s good for our customers. As a marketer, local packs linking directly to in-Google properties is alarming — we measure our success based on traffic. However, these local panels are well-designed, consistent, and have easy access to vital information like business addresses, phone numbers, and hours. If these properties drive phone calls and foot traffic, should we discount their value simply because it’s harder to measure?

Is this fair to businesses?

This is a more interesting question. I believe that, like other search engines before it, Google made an unwritten pact with website owners — in exchange for our information and the privilege to monetize that information, Google would send us traffic. This is not altruism on Google’s part. The vast majority of Google’s $95B in 2017 advertising revenue came from search advertising, and that advertising would have no audience without organic search results. Those results come from the collective content of the web.

As Google replaces that content and sends more clicks back to themselves, I do believe that the fundamental pact that Google’s success was built on is gradually being broken. Google’s garden was built on our collective property, and it does feel like we’re slowly being herded out of our own backyards.

We also have to consider the deeper question of content ownership. If Google chooses to pursue private data partnerships — such as with Live Results or the original Knowledge Graph — then they own that data, or at least are leasing it fairly. It may seem unfair that they’re displacing us, but they have the right to do so.

Much of the Knowledge Graph is built on human-curated sources such as Wikidata (i.e. Wikipedia). While Google undoubtedly has an ironclad agreement with Wikipedia, what about the people who originally contributed and edited that content? Would they have done so knowing their content could ultimately displace other content creators (including possibly their own websites) in Google results? Are those contributors willing participants in this experiment? The question of ownership isn’t as easy as it seems.

If Google extracts the data we provide as part of the pact, such as with Featured Snippets and People Also Ask results, and begins to wall off those portions of the garden, then we have every right to protest. Even the concept of a partnership isn’t always black-and-white. Some job listing providers I’ve spoken with privately felt pressured to enter Google’s new jobs portal (out of fear of cutting off the paths to their own gardens), but they weren’t happy to see the new walls built.

Google is also trying to survive. Search has to evolve, and it has to answer questions and fit a rapidly changing world of device formats, from desktop to mobile to voice. I think the time has come, though, for Google to stop and think about the pact that built their nearly hundred-billion-dollar ad empire.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

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MozCon 2018: Making the Case for the Conference (& All the Snacks!)

Posted by Danielle_Launders

You’ve got that conference looming on the horizon. You want to go — you’ve spent the past few years desperately following hashtags on Twitter, memorizing catchy quotes, zooming in on grainy snapshots of a deck, and furiously downloading anything and everything you can scour from Slideshare.

But there’s a problem: conferences cost money, and your boss won’t even approve a Keurig in the communal kitchen, much less a ticket to a three-day-long learning sesh complete with its own travel and lodging expenses.

What’s an education-hungry digital marketer to do?

How do you convince your boss to send you to the conference of your dreams?

First of all, you gather evidence to make your case.

There are a plethora of excellent reasons why attending conferences is good for your career (and your bottom line). In digital marketing, we exist in the ever-changing tech space, hurtling toward the future at breakneck speed and often missing the details of the scenery along the way.

A good SEO conference will keep you both on the edge of your seat and on the cutting-edge of what’s new and noteworthy in our industry, highlighting some of the most important and impactful things your work depends on.

A good SEO conference will flip a switch for you, will trigger that lightbulb moment that empowers you and levels you up as both a marketer and a critical thinker.

If that doesn’t paint a beautiful enough picture to convince the folks that hold the credit card, though, there are also some great statistics and resources available:

• HubSpot’s statistics showing the value of meeting face-to-face and networking
• Rand’s excellent deep-dive into the reasons for and against attending marketing conferences
• The ROI of investing in employee education

Specifically, we’re talking about MozCon

Yes, that MozCon!

Let’s just take a moment to address the elephant in the room here: you all know why we wrote this post. We want to see your smiling face in the audience at MozCon this July (the 9th–11th, if you were wondering). There are a few specific benefits worth mentioning:

• Speakers and content: Our speakers bring their A-game each year. We work with them to bring the best content and latest trends to the stage to help set you up for a year of success.
• Videos to share with your team: About a month or so after the conference, we’ll send you a link to professionally edited videos of every presentation at the conference. Your colleagues won’t get to partake in the morning Top Pot doughnuts or Starbucks coffee, but they will get a chance to learn everything you did, for free.
• Great food onsite: We understand that conference food isn’t typically worth mentioning, but at MozCon you can expect snacks from local Seattle vendors - in the past this includes Trophy cupcakes, KuKuRuZa popcorn, Starbucks’ Seattle Reserve cold brew, and did we mention bacon at breakfast? Let’s not forget the bacon.
• Swag: Expect to go home with a one-of-a-kind Roger Mozbot, a super-soft t-shirt from American Apparel, and swag worth keeping. We’ve given away Roger Legos, Moleskine notebooks, phone chargers, and have even had vending machines with additional swag in case you didn’t get enough.
• Networking: You work hard taking notes, learning new insights, and digesting all of that knowledge — that’s why we think you deserve a little fun in the evenings to chat with fellow attendees. Each night after the conference, we’ll offer a different networking event that adds to the value you’ll get from your day of education.
• A supportive network after the fact: Our MozCon Facebook group is incredibly active, and it’s grown to have a life of its own — marketers ask one another SEO questions, post jobs, look for and offer advice and empathy, and more. It’s a great place to find TAGFEE support and camaraderie long after the conference itself has ended.
• Discounts for subscribers and groups: Moz Pro subscribers get a whopping $500 off their ticket cost (even if you’re on a free 30-day trial!) and there are discounts for groups as well, so make sure to take advantage of savings where you can!
• Ticket cost: At MozCon our goal is to break even, which means we invest all of your ticket price back into you. Check out the full breakdown below:

Can you tell we’re serious about the snacks?

You can check out videos from years past to get a taste for the caliber of our speakers. We’ll also be putting out a call for community speaker pitches in April, so if you’ve been thinking about breaking into the speaking circuit, it could be an amazing opportunity — keep an eye on the blog for your chance to submit a pitch.

If you’ve ever seriously considered attending an SEO conference like MozCon, now’s the time to do it. You’ll save actual hundreds of dollars by grabbing subscriber or group pricing while you can (think of all the Keurigs you could get for that communal kitchen!), and you’ll be bound for an unforgettable experience that lives and grows with you beyond just the three days you spend in Seattle.

Grab your ticket to MozCon!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

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EPS for PFSweb, Inc. (PFSW) Expected At $0.13; Scientific Games Has 1.37 Sentiment

Analysts expect PFSweb, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFSW) to report $0.13 EPS on March, 15 after the close.They anticipate $0.05 EPS change or 62.50% from last quarter’s $0.08 EPS. PFSW’s profit would be $2.47M giving it 14.42 P/E if the $0.13 EPS is correct. After having $0.05 EPS previously, PFSweb, Inc.‘s …

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10 side-hustles you can try to generate extra income in Nigeria

Affiliate marketing has enabled many people to quit their day jobs and earn full-time income online. It’s unbelievable the amount of money people make on the internet. You can invest some money out of your salary to start a blog and grow your affiliate marketing business. With the right touches and a …

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3 friends get the 4X4 show on the road with overland adventure-tech startup XTLO

LD Sharma is an entrepreneur and a pioneer in the space of affiliate marketing in India and the Asia Pacific region; he set up the Shoogloo Group and Optimise Group. An automotive enthusiast, he has participated in the Raid De Himalaya and got a taste for off-road adventure through that event a …

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The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing & Blogging - 2018

Start a profitable online business by mastering affiliate marketing, content creation, social media, paid search & more.

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The 10 Most Annoying Types of People on Facebook

Social media amplifies humanity.

Have you ever been to a barbecue and had to listen to someone prattle on about themselves for hours? Attended a cocktail party and had the most intriguing conversation with a tall dark stranger? Been invited to a friends place and viewed so many baby photos that you felt compelled to have a vasectomy!

Facebook, Twitter and social media take those conversations and multiply it via the crowd. Facebook is insights, conversations and news on steroids.

It  is a reflection of what makes us human, except that it is visible to billions of people. We are different, fun and sometimes boring. It is a kaleidoscope of emotions, events and the bizarre. That’s why we tune into Facebook. Its a voyeur’s paradise. Never dull and often entertaining.

So what entices us to reveal our lives online? Is it narcissism, vanity or just wanting to get something off our chest. Annoyance is noticed and often shared.

Here are the results of a fun survey to find the 10 most annoying types of people on Facebook.

Infographic source: Lovemyvouchers.co.uk 

Who and what annoys you on Facebook?

Is it the loved up couple? The shameless self promoter? Or is it the update addict?

Look forward to hearing your views and experiences in the comments below.

 

Want to learn how to make your blog a success with social media marketing?

My book – “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.

It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.

I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 195,000.

Download and read it now.

The post The 10 Most Annoying Types of People on Facebook appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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Thinking About a Meet Market Table at Affiliate Summit East 2018?

Affiliate Summit is the premier affiliate marketing conference and tradeshow with 15 years of bringing affiliate marketers together. When you book a Meet Market table, you not only get the exhibiting space, but also two passes for your staff. You can register additional passes at a discounted price.

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The 10 Best SS18 Chunky Sneakers to Cop Right Now

Don’t let the cold weather fool you: Spring is just around the corner which means summer is not much further behind. In anticipation of the changing seasons, we’ve rounded up the best SS18 chunky sneakers to elevate your rotation. Featuring sneakers for all types of budgets from brands like Acne …

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Lsv Asset Management Has Decreased Portland General Electric Company (POR) Holding ...

… 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. Investors sentiment increased to 0.83 in 2017 Q3. Its up 0.12, from 0.71 in 2017Q2.

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THEMBU ROYALS MAGAZINE: "10 DAYS IN PUBLIC SPACE & THE WAY FORWARD””

We have also partnered with various recruitment agencies to help us fight against unemployment. c)Affiliate Marketing Scheme: In March 2018 we are starting an Affiliate Marketing Scheme mainly targeting unemployed graduates, and other young adults. These Affiliate Marketers will get an opportunity …

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5 Things to Expect in the World of Digital Marketing in 2018-2019

Plenty of vendors and publishers are currently a little disillusioned with the affiliate concept for reasons ranging from poor conversion rates to having unrealistic expectations to begin with. Affiliate marketing is by no means magic: if done well, it tends to succeed, but failing to ride the learning curve and …

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Affiliate Marketing Coordinator

The purpose of this position will be to implement and continuously refine the affiliate marketing strategy for our Travel business and provide support to other business verticals as required. The position will sit in the Performance Marketing team, but will also be a valued member of the Travel Commerce …

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Digital experts join Affiliate Insider Bootcamp lineup

Held at Stamford Bridge in just four weeks’ time (21 March), the first edition bootcamp event, designed to help affiliates in the sports betting industry growth hack and gain expert knowledge around digital growth, has attracted sponsorship from key affiliate marketing brands like Paysafe’s Income Access, …

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Q4 Figures Reveal Strong Close in Spain for 2017

Other budgetary impacts for the quarter included bonus offers to customers increasing 13.1% year-on-year to €21m; affiliate marketing expenses … horizon is horizon is the comeback of cash game contributions on the heels of the launch of shared liquidity between Spain with France’s regulated market.

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Affiliate Manager (Polish speaking)

Creation and Management of the affiliate marketing budget and maximizing the ROI on the affiliate program. Leading Affiliate Program Ensuring that existing deals are efficiently structured and commercially viable. Identifying, recruiting and activating new affiliates to maximise exposure opportunities

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Analysts See $0.13 EPS for PFSweb, Inc. (PFSW); Tesla Motors (TSLA) Has 1.3 Sentiment

The company has market cap of $58.46 billion. … The rating was maintained by RBC Capital Markets with “Sector Perform” on Thursday, October 27. … interactive development, SEO and paid search, affiliate marketing, conversion optimization, storefront management, email marketing, and digital …

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Online Business Trends to Expect in 2018-2019

Going forward, we can expect the bar to be raised on affiliate marketing, with high-quality efforts driving out bad. Additionally, smart operators will shift their attention from trying to promote mass-market products, where margins are low and competition fierce, to selling in specialized markets where …

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GQ Buys Into Commerce Content

Condé works with Skimlinks, Amazon and a few other companies to power an affiliate marketing program across most of its titles. Even if publishers offer shoppable content, though, they often sit high in the funnel, driving aspiration rather than DR sales. But they still deserve a revenue bump for that, said …

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Can Your Blog Make Money? Here's How to Predict Your Chances for Income.

Can Your Blog Make Money? Here’s How to Predict Your Chances for Income. In a nutshell, you need to address the three areas of profitability: direct sales, advertising and affiliate marketing. Jayson DeMers …

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DFW-Based Sunet Group LLC Affiliates With Century 21 Real Estate Franchise System

“The learning, marketing, resources and cutting-edge technology that the Century 21 brand offers will enable us to better serve mainstream markets … Century 21 Sunet Group is an independently owned and operated franchise affiliate of Century 21 Real Estate LLC (century21.com), franchisor of the …

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Native Media Announces High-Performance NativeFeed That Easily Connects ToAffiliate Networks

February 23, 2018 – Today, the e-commerce market has emerged so much with the increasing demands of consumers that making a progressive turn towards the Affiliate Marketing Network is the best they could do. Seeing this as the primary concern, we started to help the publishers/affiliatesby offering …

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How (and Whether) to Invest in and Structure Online Communities - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by randfish

Building an online community sounds like an attractive idea on paper. A group of enthusiastic, engaged users working on their own to boost your brand? What’s the hitch?

Well, building a thriving online community takes a great deal of effort, often with little return for a very long time. And there are other considerations: do you build your own platform, participate in an existing community, or a little of both? What are the benefits from a brand, SEO, and content marketing perspective? In this edition of Whiteboard Friday, Rand answers all your questions about building yourself an online community, including whether it’s an investment worth your time.

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

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Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week, we’re chatting about how and whether to invest in and structure online communities.

I want to say a thank you to @DaveCraige on Twitter. Dave, thank you very much for the question, an excellent one. I think this is something that a lot of content marketers, web marketers, community builders think about is, “Should I be making an investment in building my own community? Should I leverage someone’s existing community? How can I do that and benefit from an SEO perspective and a content marketing and a brand awareness perspective?” So we’ll try and tackle some of those questions today on Whiteboard Friday.

Strategy first!

First off, before you go and invest anywhere or build anything, I urge you to think strategy first, meaning your business has goals. You have things that you want to accomplish. Maybe those are revenue growth or conversions. Maybe they have to do with entering a new sphere of influence or pursuing a new topic. Maybe you’re trying to launch a new product. Maybe you’re trying to pivot the business or disrupt yourself, change with technology.

Whatever those business goals are, they should lead you to marketing goals, the things that marketing can help to accomplish in those business goals. From that should fall out a bunch of tactics and initiatives. It’s only down here, in your marketing goals and tactical initiatives, that if online communities match up with those and serve your broader business goals, that you should actually make the investment. If not or if they fall below the line of, “Well, we can do three things that we think this year and do them well and this is thing number 4 or number 5 or number 10,” it doesn’t make the cut.

Online communities fit here if…

1. A passionate group of investment-worthy size exists in your topic.

So if, for example, you are targeting a new niche. I think Dave himself is in cryptocurrency. There’s definitely a passionate group of people in that sphere, and it is probably of investment-worthy size. More recently, that investment has been a little rocky, but certainly a large size group, and if you are targeting that group, a community could be worthwhile. So we have passion. We have a group. They are of sizable investment.

2. You/your brand/your platform can provide unique value via a community that’s superior to what’s available elsewhere.

Second, you or your brand or your platform can provide not just value but unique value, unique value different from what other people are offering via a community superior to what’s available elsewhere. Dave might himself say, “Well, there’s a bunch of communities around crypto, but I believe that I can create X, which will be unique in ways Y and Z and will be preferable for these types of participants in this way.” Maybe that’s because it enables sharing in certain ways. Maybe it enables transparency of certain kinds. Maybe it’s because it has no vested interest or ties to particular currencies or particular companies, whatever the case may be.

3. You’re willing to invest for years with little return to build something of great long-term value.

And last but not least, you’re willing to invest potentially for years, literally years without return or with very little return to build something of great long-term value. I think this is the toughest one. But communities are most similar in attribute to content marketing, where you’re going to put in a ton of upfront effort and a lot of ongoing effort before you’re going to see that return. Most of the time, most communities fail because the people behind them were not willing to make the investments to build them up, or they made other types of mistakes. We’ll talk about that in a second.

Two options: Build your own platform, or participate in an existing community

You have two options here. First, you can build your own platform. Second, you can participate in an existing community. My advice on this is never do number one without first spending a bunch of time in number two.

So if you are unfamiliar with the community platforms that already exist in interior decorating or in furniture design or in cryptocurrency or in machining tools or in men’s fashion, first participate in the communities that already exist in the space you’re targeting so that you are very familiar with the players, the platforms, the options, and opportunities. Otherwise, you will never know whether it’s an investment-worthy size, a passionate group. You’ll never know how or whether you can provide unique value. It’s just going to be too tough to get those things down. So always invest in the existing communities before you do the other one.

1. Build your own platform

Potential structures

Let’s talk quickly about building your own platform, and then we’ll talk about investing in others. If you’re deciding that what matches your goals best and your strategy best is to build your own platform, there are numerous opportunities. You can do it sort of halfway, where you build on someone else’s existing platform, for example creating your own subreddit or your own Facebook or LinkedIn group, which essentially uses another community’s platform, but you’re the owner and administrator of that community.

Or you can actually build your own forum or discussion board, your own blog and comments section, your own Q&A board, your own content leaderboard, like Hacker News or like Dharmesh and I did with Inbound.org, where we essentially built a Reddit or Hacker News-like clone for marketers.

Those investments are going to be much more severe than a Facebook group or a Twitter hashtag, a Twitter chat or a LinkedIn group, or those kinds of things, but you want to compare the benefits and drawbacks. In each, there are some of each.

Benefits & drawbacks

So forums and discussions, those are going to have user-generated content, which is a beautiful thing because it scales non-linearly with your investment. So if you build up a community of people who are on an ongoing basis creating topics and answering those topics and talking about those things in either a Q&A board or a forum discussion or a content leaderboard, what’s great is you get that benefit, that SEO benefit of having a bunch of longtail, hopefully high-quality content and discussion you’re going to need to do.

Mostly, what you’re going to worry about is drawbacks like the graveyard effect, where the community appears empty and so no one participates and maybe it drags down Google’s perception of your site because you have a bunch of low quality or thin pages, or people leave a bunch of spam in there or they become communities filled with hate groups, and the internet can devolve very quickly, as you can see from a lot of online communities.

Whatever you’re doing, blog and comments, you get SEO benefits, you get thought leadership benefits, but it requires regular content investments. You don’t get the UGC benefit quite like you would with a forum or a discussion. With Facebook groups or LinkedIn groups, Twitter hashtags, it’s easy to build, but there’s no SEO benefit, usually very little to none.

With a Q&A board, you do get UGC and SEO. You still have those same moderation and graveyard risks.

With content leaderboards, they’re very difficult to maintain, Inbound.org being a good example, where Dharmesh and I figured, “Hey, we can get this thing up and rolling,” and then it turns out no, we need to hire people and maintain it and put in a bunch of effort and energy. But it can become a bookmarkable destination, which means you get repeat traffic over and over.

Whatever you’re choosing, make sure you list out these benefits and then align these with the strategy, the marketing goal, the tactics and initiatives that flow from those. That’s going to help determine how you should structure, whether you should structure your own community.

2. Participate in existing communities

Size/reach

The other option is participating in existing ones, places like Quora, subreddits, Twitter, LinkedIn groups, existing forums. Same thing, you’re going to take these. Well, we can participate on an existing forum, and we can see that the size and reach is on average about nine responses per thread, about three threads per day, three new threads per day.

Benefits & drawbacks

The benefit is that it can build up our thought leadership and our recognition among this group of influential people in our field. The drawback is it builds our competitor’s content, because this forum is going to be ranking for all those things. They own the platform. It’s not our owned platform. Then we align that with our goals and initiatives.

Four bits of advice

1. If you build, build for SEO + owned channels. Don’t create on someone else’s platform.

So I’m not going to dive through all of these, but I do want to end on some bits of advice. So I mentioned already make sure you invest in other people’s communities before you build your own. I would also add to that if you’re going to build something, if you’re going to build your own, I would generally rule these things out — LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, Twitter hashtag groups. Why? Because those other platforms control them, and then they can change them at any time and your reach can change on those platforms. I would urge you to build for SEO and for an owned media channel.

2. Start with a platform that doesn’t lose credibility when empty (e.g. blog > forum).

Second, I’d start with a platform that doesn’t lose credibility when it’s empty. That is to say if you know you want to build a forum or a content leaderboard or a Q&A board, make it something where you know that you and your existing team can do all the work to create a non-graveyard-like environment initially. That could mean limiting it to only a few sections in a forum, or all the Q&A goes in one place as opposed to there are many subforums that have zero threads and zero comments and zero replies, or every single thing that’s posted, we know that at least two of us internally will respond to them, that type of stuff.

3. Don’t use a subdomain or separate domain.

Third, if you can, avoid using a subdomain and definitely don’t use a separate domain. Subdomains inherit some of the ranking ability and benefits of the primary domain they’re on. Separate domains tend to inherit almost none.

4. Before you build, gather a willing, excited crew via an email group who will be your first active members.

Last, but not least, before you build, gather a willing, excited group of people, your crew, hopefully via an email group — this has served me extremely well — who will be those first active members.

So if you’re building something in the crypto space, as maybe Dave is considering, I might say to him, hey, find those 10 or 15 or 20 people who are in your world, who you talk to online already, create an email group, all be chatting with each other and contributing. Then start your Q&A board, or then start your blog and your comments section, or then start your forum, what have you. If you can seed it with that initial passionate group, you will get over a lot of the big hurdles around building or rolling your own community system.

All right, everyone. Hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Whiteboard Friday, and we’ll see you again next week. Take care.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

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