New Start: April 2016

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Beware of Unsafe User-Generated Content [Infographic]

Most marketers get very excited about user-generated content (UGC) because it can boost brand awareness and business. But beware: Some UGC can actually damage your brand. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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Beware of Unsafe User-Generated Content [Infographic]

The Devil’s Data Dictionary – Book Interview

In this modern homage to Ambrose Bierce, Sterne tucks his tongue firmly in cheek and lets loose on an industry only Dilbert could love.

With a mix of wry humor and outlandish sarcasm Sterne hits the datarati upside the head with a well-worn humerus bone and puts the pun in pundit.

Lavishly illustrated by award-winning illustrator, Yevgenia Nayberg.

The post The Devil’s Data Dictionary – Book Interview appeared first on Heidi Cohen.

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Friday, April 29, 2016

Texas man proves why we don't need bathroom police

As if anti-LGBTQ laws aren't restrictive enough, some people are now taking bathroom-policing into their own hands.

This was the experience of Jessica Rush, a Texas woman who attempted to use a woman's restroom at the Baylor Medical Center in Frisco this week, only to be followed into the bathroom by a man.

Rush said the man, who she estimated was 6'4" compared to her 5'3", followed her all the way inside the bathroom, and she said it never occurred to her that he wanted to make sure she was a woman until he said so.

More about Jessica Rush, Texas, Lgbt, and Social Media

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Social Media News You Can Use: Messenger Chatbots & Screen Sharing On Blab

What Your Clients Should Know About Keywords in 2016

You depend on your clients for success, and they depend on you for results, but sometimes, simple misunderstandings or inefficiencies can get in the way of an otherwise perfectly functional relationship. Of particular note are “best practices” in SEO that … Continue reading →

The post What Your Clients Should Know About Keywords in 2016 appeared first on AudienceBloom.

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Virtual Reality Is Changing Mobile Marketing Forever; You'd Best Keep Pace

Major companies are pushing to make virtual reality a part of everyday life. Marketers need to start accommodating for it on smartphones--or risk being left behind. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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#SocialSkim: What Facebook's Algorithm Change Means, Plus 12 More Stories in This Week's Roundup

This week's all about optimization and user experience--from the social network and brand perspectives. Facebook grabbed headlines with a big algorithm change that aims to reward high-quality content, and social media industry leaders united to stress the gravity of live video. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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Email Deliverability Rates Dragging You Down? Try These 10 Do's and 7 Don'ts

Though most email marketers focus on optimizing click-through rates and open rates--and for good reason--those popular metrics won't add up to success if your emails don't land in your contacts' inboxes in the first place. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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How Accurate Is B2B Prospect Data Sold by Vendors?

Is B2B company data provided by major vendors correct? How likely is it that marketers and salespeople will be able to connect with the prospects they're trying to reach? Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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10 Snapchat features we wish existed

We here at Mashable are obsessed with Snapchat — the filters, the live stories, and of course, the Discover channels.

But of course, it's not perfect. In addition to a confusing, non-intuitive interface — Snapchat makes you work just to find that black drawing tool — there's a lot we wish it had. Plus, there are older, now-removed features, we want back too, like the "best friends" feature which highlighted who you snapped with the most.

While the app is always improving and adding new features, we've rounded up our wish list of Snapchat features, from an eraser tool to different fonts. Let's take a look. Read more...

More about Snapchat, Apps, Social Media, and Tech

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#SocialSkim: What Facebook's Algorithm Change Means, Plus 12 More Stories in This Week's Roundup

8 UX Design Mistakes Too Many Bloggers Are Making

If you’re a dedicated blogger, you probably have a lot on your plate. You have to generate content, grow your followers and email list, form valuable partnerships, promote your blog, and so much more – all before breakfast. There’s no rest for the weary when it comes to blogging, so crucial components of your blog can easily fall by the wayside. One of these crucial components, perhaps the most crucial of them all, is design. Sure, you probably know that your blog should look good, but have you thought beyond simple aesthetics? Design is an important aspect of so many

The post 8 UX Design Mistakes Too Many Bloggers Are Making appeared first on Blogging Tips.

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Announcing the Results of the “What Works in Online Marketing” Survey (2016 Edition)

As a marketer, have you ever wondered: What other marketers are spending their money on? What strategies other marketers are using? What results other marketers are seeing? Where the marketing community thinks trends are heading? Of course you have. We … Continue reading →

The post Announcing the Results of the “What Works in Online Marketing” Survey (2016 Edition) appeared first on AudienceBloom.

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The $100,000 Challenge: March Update

march update

We finally finished the last month of the $100,000 challenge. March was an awesome month for Nutrition Secrets. Not only did the traffic grow to 218,811 visitors, but revenue did too—it went up to $121,492.65.

It wasn’t hard to hit the revenue goals as we had enough fish oil in stock, plus we started to generate money from affiliate sales.

So let’s dive right in…

Traffic

Compared to February, the traffic went up to 218,811 visitors and 269,814 pageviews. The increase was only 18,102, which isn’t much.

But considering that the popularity of nutrition and fitness sites is cyclical (January and February are most popular) and that Mike didn’t blog much on NutritionSecrets.com in March, it wasn’t too bad.

Overall, Mike has slowed down on the blogging front. Over the next few months, he wants to try a few fun content formats such as infographics and wants to see what happens if we were to dump a few hundred grand into the blog. It won’t be much of an experiment at that point, but we are just curious to see if we can get the blog to a million visitors a month.

traffic sources

Nonetheless, the traffic isn’t performing too badly. Even in April, the traffic has been on an upward trend while little to no effort has been put into the blog since the challenge has been over.

Revenue

The revenue is a bit more complicated to breakdown as it is coming from two sources now: Amazon and affiliates.

In March, revenue from Amazon hit $112,573.30.

amazon revenue

There are a few key elements to growing Amazon sales:

Reviews – the more people you can get to leave a review, the better off you are. Most people don’t even read the reviews, but if they are high in ratings and you have tons in quantity, you are in good shape. If you have a blog that’s driving sales, a great way to get more reviews is through marketing automation. You can promote the product to your email list, and then after a few weeks of promoting your product to those people, you would send an automated email asking them to leave a review. You won’t really know who bought the product, but you would still put the review email—applicable to a portion of your list—in your sequence.
Keywords – with Amazon, you can add keywords. Most people add basic ones like “fish oil,” but as you know, it is all about the long tail. Amazon opened it up so you can stuff hundreds of keywords now, and with the use of Google Keyword Planner, you can come up with popular variations. You’ll then start ranking for tons of keywords on Amazon.
Combating negative Amazon reviews – similarly to what happens when people employ negative SEO, competitors sabotage your Amazon listing by taking up your front page with terrible reviews. They do this to tank your sales so they can generate more income. You fight this by building up your email list on your blog and continually blasting out to your list when you have bad reviews, asking your readers to up-vote the positive ones.
Ads – Amazon allows ads on its platform. Whether it is profitable or not, ads help you generate more sales. And if you can increase your sales velocity, you’ll find that your listing climbs up higher and starts to stick—it stays up there even after your ads stop showing. Sure, other people can do the same thing, but most don’t.

As for affiliate income, we started to push stuff by the Truth About Abs guys. We started doing email blasts to our list in order to generate the sales, and it has been working out well. The copy isn’t too bad, but there are two reasons it’s working out well.

aweber

We collect a lot more emails – we are generating 300 to 400 email sign-ups a day. It’s much larger than our previous numbers for one reason: we turned off double opt-in. Aweber usually requires double opt-in when you use third-party software to collect emails, but Mike called Aweber and got them to disable double opt-ins.
Good copy – our copy converts well. You can see an example email below. And we have many more emails like this in the sequence. So, we continually send you affiliate offers over time, which helps.

Here is the email copy we have been testing:

Email – This plant food HARMS your metabolism & heart

Hi {!firstname_fix}

Sometimes it’s not the enemy you know that’s the problem, but the friend you think you know.

In this case, I’m talking about nutrition in foods. It’s common knowledge that stuff like sugary drinks are just plain bad for you. The best you can say is that your body can absorb the bad effects if you only have them occasionally.

But what about foods you thought weren’t bad, and you heard were actually good for you?

I have some bad news, and some good news. The bad: some so-called “healthy” foods may be the cause of why you work so hard to eat healthy and haven’t seen the results you expected. The good news: There’s a solution I read about from best selling author Mike Geary. Read on… (removed affiliate link)

Email – 2 Simple steps to REMOVE visceral belly fat (the DEADLIEST type)

Hi {!firstname_fix}

People often refer to past times as “the good old days” with a nostalgic tone. At least when it comes to many nutritional and health practices, I think of them more like the “bad old days.”

For example, people thought the wonders of science had delivered new, healthy products called “trans fats” that were featured in margarine, to replace that nasty butter. We now know that trans fats are about the worst thing you can coat your innards with.

People also thought they could do “spot reducing” of unattractive belly fat by using those jiggling-belt machines, or some other gimmick.

Well, belly fat certainly is still unattractive, and research says it’s also a danger sign. But research has also identified more-effective ways of getting rid of that spare tire. Here’s how. (removed affiliate link)

Email – 7 “fatty” foods for a flat stomach

Hi {!firstname_fix}

I spend full time on nutrition- and health-related activities. That’s the business I’m in.

I’m also an improvement junkie, always looking for the latest, best information. So you can imagine that I’ve pretty much seen it all: Every product, every supplement, every type of exercise.

Most of them are underwhelming. Yawn.

I’m writing you today because I recently came across something that made me sit up and pay attention. It’s a short-term blueprint for eating the right foods to burn substantial fat, and it’s all explained here… (removed affiliate link)

You can find high converting offers on sites such as Clickbank. They even sort the offers by popularity. I need to get a screenshot of our Clickbank revenue and our other affiliate income sources from Mike as he created the accounts and has the logins. Once I do, I will update the post with a screenshot (we use three networks).

The total affiliate revenue was $8,919.35.

Profit

As for monthly profit, it was high…but for a different reason than you might think. When you sell tangible products, you buy tons of inventory and then sell it over the following few months. We didn’t want to be out for our last month, so we spent a good chunk of money in the previous month, and, of course, we bought more in March.

Here is a breakdown of the expenses:

Fish oil – $68,492.52 (including Amazon fees, shipping to Amazon for Prime, coupon-related expenses, and producing more inventory)
Aweber – $149
Designer – $375 (continually tweaking the site)
Hosting – $249
Mike – free (Mike doesn’t get paid, but he owns a percentage of the blog)
Accounting – $290 (we are now paying a bookkeeper to help out with the books)

Total expenses came out to $69,555.52.

That brings the total profit to $51,937.13.

Of course, to maintain the growth, we would have to keep buying fish oil, but after awhile, we would cap out on sales, and our margins should be a healthy 30% plus. As for March, I didn’t spend much on buying tons more inventory as I wanted to show that selling supplements can be profitable.

Conclusion

Overall, the $100,000 challenge was fun, but I wouldn’t do it again. It’s just too much work with everything I have going on.

It was still a good learning experience. One thing I realized is how much harder it is to rank on Google today compared to 5 years ago. Almost all of my sites are old, so it is much easier for them to rank.

And although NutritionSecrets.com generated good traffic, if it were 5 years ago, the blog would have been at a million visitors a month with the same amount of effort.

So, what do you think of the $100,000 challenge?

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The Weekly Measure: Proving PPC ROI, How to Calculate Internal PageRank & Maintaining the Efficiency of a Content Marketing Operation

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The Weekly Measure: Proving PPC ROI, How to Calculate Internal PageRank & Maintaining the Efficiency of a Content Marketing Operation

The Weekly Measure provides a rundown of the latest content marketing, paid search, social media, search engine optimization and link building news brought together from various news sources across the web. Also highlighted each week are upcoming internet marketing conferences featuring industry experts, including those from Vertical Measures, for those interested in taking further steps in continuing their internet marketing education. Keep with the Weekly Measure each week as continue to regale you with the latest news and trends in the internet marketing world.

Content Marketing

10 Ways to Create an Efficient Content Marketing Operation

Dana Kajtezovic posted on the Vertical Measures blog about how to create and maintain an efficient content marketing operation. Kajtezovic’s ten tips are intended to help marketers find balance between efficiency, and staff/customer satisfaction. At the end of her post is a link to information on Vertical Measures’ Content Coaching program as well as a download for a free sample coaching plan.

How to Write Subheads that Hook (and Re-hook) Your Readers

Pamela Wilson wrote about writing enticing content subheads on Copyblogger. She explains the three main functions of subheads and how to make them work towards capturing the attention of readers.

Paid Search

The BIG List: PPC Image Ad Sizes [INFOGRAPHIC]

Andrea Taylor made a post containing an infographic about the sizes for PPC image ads on the Clix Marketing blog. The infographic pins down the ideal sizes for images on channels such as Facebook, Gmail and Instagram.

How to Prove the ROI of Your PPC Ad Campaigns in 7 Metrics

Jen Carpenter of Vertical Measures wrote an article about how to prove the ROI of PPC Ad Campaigns. She outlines seven metrics that will help show the value of paid campaigns. In addition, she provides a link to Vertical Measures’ newest free guide titled “How to Track Your Revenue from PPC Leads to Offline Sales” at the end of her post.

Social Media

How Facebook’s Messenger Bots Work (and Why it Matters to You)

Andrew Hutchinson gave an overview of Facebook’s Bots for Messenger platform recently introduced at their F8 conference on Social Media Today. Hutchinson details the process and functions behind the bots and other changes coming to the Messenger app to help brands connect with customers.

What the 2016 Presidential Election Can Teach Us About Content Management Strategy

Sarah Voightman posted on Content Equals Money about lessons in content strategy that can be taken from the 2016 presidential election. She explores the importance of knowing one’s target audience and using social media to selectively and deliberately reach them.

SEO

What are Featured Snippets and How do I get Them?

Tereza Litsa wrote about Google featured snippets on Search Engine Watch. Litsa’s post acts as a summary of STAT CEO Rob Bucci’s talk at BrightonSEO on the subject of the importance of featured snippets and how to increase chances of obtaining them.

Improve internal linking for SEO: Calculate Internal PageRank

Paul Shapiro’s article on Search Engine Land covered how to determine internal PageRank. He shares his process and provides examples of using it on real websites to show the important role it plays in site management.

Link Building

How To Use Google’s Top Two Search Ranking Factors To Inject Your Site With SEO Juice

Amanda Strouse made a post about how to properly utilize Google’s top two factors for search rankings on Bloominari. Strouse goes into the different tactics one can use to best optimize content development and link building efforts to make the most out of one’s SEO strategy.

Metrics blindness: Why it’s Harming Your Link Dev Efforts

Julie Joyce proposed the idea that site metrics should only be a starting point for determining if a site is a good place for a link. She argues that the idea of “metric blindness” can remove the human element from marketing efforts.

Upcoming Events

May 3: Pubcon – Austin, Texas

Be sure to check out Arnie Kuenn’s presentation on “How to Map Your Content to Your Sales Funnel”

May 4 – May 5: Digital Summit – Charlotte, North Carolina

Don’t miss Arnie Kuenn’s pre-conference workshop on “The Proven 8-Step Formula to Content Marketing” as well as his “Forget Keywords – Here’s How To Produce Content to Grow Your Business” speaker session

May 5: Digital Media Summit – Toronto, Canada

Quinn Whissen will be hosting a short workshop on the “8 Steps to Win at Search, Social & Content Marketing”