Why Should You (Still) Be Blogging in 2019

Introduction

With everybody now into blogging, millions of new blog posts on just about every conceivable topic are being published every month.

For someone running a small business or managing a brand’s digital marketing efforts, the question is: should we still be blogging in 2019 even with so many other blogs out there already?

Yes, you should!

It’s true that Google has once again made adjustments to its search algorithms and that there is a lot of content already out there. But if there’s one thing that people (and search engines) love, it’s high-quality content.

We’re talking about well-written, highly informative pieces that captivate readers and provide answers. Engaging content should also offer even more information about the topic you’re reading up on.

Let’s dive deeper with three good reasons why your business should still be blogging in 2019.

People Love Blogs

When blogs first came out, they were unlike anything the web had seen. Sure, they were websites but also contained articles, discussions, and links to all sorts of useful information. Blogs were also topical, coming in all kinds of flavors.

In other words, blogs were different. The blog format stood out among all the other static websites at the time.

Today, however, with millions of blogs from best SEO London already up and running, you have to make an effort to set yourself apart from everybody else. Be that one outstanding blog among hundreds of mediocre sites.

These days, if the goal is to stand out, you should adopt a content strategy that emphasizes quality over quantity.

In order to have a blog that people absolutely love, try these simple tips to improve your readers’ overall user experience:

  • Create a compelling headline. Use power words to convey emotion, and try to hook your audience in just six to 13 words. In essence, you’re convincing them to pick your article over everybody else’s with just your headline.
  • Start off with a killer intro. Right away, within a couple of sentences, you’ll want to state your problem, answer it quickly, and give your readers a reason to stick around.
  • Create thorough content. The average Google first page result contains 1,890 words.
  • Break up your article into sections by using subheaders so it’s easier to skim through.
  • Use media like graphics, video, photos, and downloadables to make your content easier to understand.
  • Don’t link to just your own pages, link out to other reputable sources as well.
  • Come up with a conclusion that summarizes your article.
  • Have a call-to-action: whether it’s getting the discussion going, getting readers to share your article, or encouraging them to download a free resource, you’ll want to a clear call-to-action at the end of your post.

Remember: when it comes to blogs, Google loves the originality, but it loves quality even more. Gone are the days when churning out 300- to 400-word blog posts on a daily basis was the norm. Instead, publish better quality pieces once a week or even twice a month.

Blogs are Awesome Marketing Tools

Blogs are an essential part of any brand’s online marketing strategy. And highly successful business blogs have a couple of things in place:

  • Clearly defined business goals. All your content is designed to serve a purpose and ultimately works with other parts of your digital marketing machinery to achieve a particular goal.
  • A content marketing strategy. What are the specific steps you need to take to achieve your business goals? By far, blogs are highly versatile, effective platforms for showcasing all sorts of great market-relevant content.

A blog with well-crafted content will definitely help you stand out. With good SEO, your blog also has the added benefit of ranking better on search engines, bringing you much-needed traffic.

Blogs Help Educate Your Readers

There’s no better place to showcase your products and services than on your own blog. Use it to talk about the benefits (more than the features), highlight some testimonials from recent clients, and provide as many details as you want.

But also take this opportunity to showcase your expertise and publish other industry-related articles of great value to your audience.

In fact, you can use free tools like BuzzSumo, Ahrefs, Moz’s Link Explorer, or Answer The Public. These tools allow you to discover suitable questions topics your audience is already actively looking for online.

  • Moz: https://moz.com/
  • BuzzSumo: https://buzzsumo.com/
  • Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com/
  • AnswerThePublic: https://answerthepublic.com/

It’s an Opportunity to Start a Conversation

When you have a blog, you want to come across as genuine as possible. People greatly value sincerity and honesty, especially at a time when there’s so much fake news going around.

Welcoming a chance at a conversation through your blog greatly adds to your trustworthiness. Acknowledge every single comment that comes in — both good and bad ones. Find ways to engage your audience. And take the time to answer questions directed at you.

Collect Emails

Adding a simple tool like HelloBar lets you collect emails so you can grow your subscriber list. Remember that you must offer something of value to your audience such as a free resource or a monthly newsletter.

These emails represent a segment of your market that is already interested in what you have to offer. So you can use these emails in your lead nurturing efforts later on and push some of your products and services through a specially crafted email campaign.

Blogging Helps Build your Brand

As a brand-building effort, your business blog not only sets the tone on how you educate visitors on your products and services, but it can also showcase your work culture, core values, philosophy, and causes you actively support.

An important aspect of having a blog is that it serves to establish your level of authority and trustworthiness in the industry.

As a blog gives your business a voice and a personality, a lot can already be done online to help further your brand: integrating social media into your digital marketing mix, collaborating with others in your own space, and investing in some online ads and online PR.

Building your brand continues offline as well, so make an effort to also show how you participate in industry events and community activities.

Conclusion

Don’t dismiss blogging just yet. For businesses, blogging serves several objectives:

  • to help your brand not only get noticed, but to also stand out through awesome, market-relevant content,
  • to bring in more high-quality leads (for conversion and sales), and
  • to build the brand over time.

Businesses that blog more often tend to draw in more leads, which can ultimately convert to sales. These days, Google emphasizes quality over quantity, so more comprehensive, high-quality posts are best for optimizing to bring in a steady stream of traffic.

With today’s crowded online space, a well-optimized and well-crafted blog helps cut through the clutter, allowing you to both grab your market’s attention in a genuine way and generate real interest in your products and services.

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digital marketing trends

Sources

  1. Content Marketing: Building On The Blog: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/12/13/content-marketing-building-on-the-blog/#34a1714643e4
  2. 5 Essential Tips for a Successful Content Marketing Strategy: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/2018-01-15-5-essential-tips-for-a-successful-content-marketing-strategy
  3. Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to Blogging: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media/blogging
  4. Why blog for business? | lynda.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sn7eCs6nEQ
  5. 5 Tips For Writing An Awesome Blog Post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygiAqYJq8No
  6. 6 Tips to Writing an Amazing Blog Post That Drives a TON of Traffic to Your Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8wWBZc978E
  7. 5 Key Strategies To Build Your Brand Online: https://searchengineland.com/5-key-strategies-to-build-your-brand-online-39420

What is Influencer Marketing Service & Why You Should Use It?

You may have heard of influencer marketing service, but if you are not sure what it really is or how helpful it can be for your business, then we are here to help you understand what all the hype is really about. We have written a complete guide with key facts and figures that can help you fine influencer marketing service in London decide whether it is the right strategy for your brand.

Who is an Influencer?

The term influencer cannot be defined as there is no perfect mould that fits all influencers.

In general terms influencer is a person who has followers in a specific niche and can affect purchase decisions of his/her followers due to his/her knowledge, position, authority or relationship with the audience.

It is worth mentioning that an influencer may not necessarily have a huge number of followers or might not be from an SEO agency London but still be extremely valuable to brands as relationship assets which help achieve their marketing objectives. Brands love influencer marketing because they encourage their followers to try a new trend or product that the company wants to promote. However, companies need to be careful as every influencer is unique and may or may not work for your brand.

An influencer uses more than one social media platform like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube to express his/her opinion about specific brands or products; thus influencing their followers.

To understand more about who influencers are and how you can become one, have a look here. But for now, let’s focus on what influencer marketing service is and how you can create a powerful online campaign for your brand using it.

Influencer Marketing Service London

It is the art of combining traditional and new marketing tools to create a content-driven marketing campaign that is endorsed by celebrities or influencers.

Businesses have been selling their products through traditional marketing by paying famous celebrities for decades. However, companies now use “influencers” instead of celebrities to run campaigns that are a collaboration between the brand and these influencers.

There is a general misconception about influencers that they have a huge social media following. However, this is not true as 61% of Instagram influencers have less than 15,000 followers.

The act of influencing results in a change in thinking or behaviour. It is used to encourage people to think about a product or service and nudge them towards making a purchase decision. In conclusion, an influencer is someone who has the power to change people’s perception and get them to do something different.

Most companies struggle to curate and create content that resonates with their customers. Their social media marketing campaigns usually yield erratic results, trying to blindly grab followers and posting content on various platforms in the hopes that something will stick. Influencer marketing solves this issue by directing our efforts towards influential people whose likes and dislikes are well aligned with your brand. These efforts include engaging with influencers across different social platforms by liking, commenting, sharing and by creating content that sticks in their minds. Even though the ultimate prize is the influencer’s audience, the target market for brands or companies is the influencer themselves.

With the rise of social media usage, consumers are bombarded with advertisements and promotional messages every day. They see ads on billboards, shops, train stations, television, laptops and on their phones. Brands are competing fiercely to get customer’s attention at any time they are connected to the internet. Companies keep track of our online activity through cookies and use this information to send us regular email reminders and push notifications to tempt you into buying their product.

Have you ever visited a website to read a review about a product or saw a demo on YouTube and found yourself looking at advertisements for the product again and again? Well you are not alone, most businesses are using smart technology (social media tools) to keep track of their consumer’s online activity, and as soon as they show an interest in their product, they try their best to nudge you to click the “buy” button.

With so much competition, attracting the attention of potential consumers has become extremely challenging for brands and companies. You cannot expect to grow your brand organically with the efforts of your marketing department; it is imperative to seek expert help. A dedicated SEO company can quickly increase your followers organically and take all the hassle away from you.

Why Is Influencer Marketing Service Important for Your Brand?

Influencer marketing services have become complex to understand and navigate in the last five years. We have put together a few statistics from Mediakix for you to have a look and decide for yourself if influencer marketing is right for your brand or company.

  • In 2018, companies spent more than $5 billion on influencer marketing services on Instagram alone, while 65% of marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2019.
  • There are more than 5 million active influencers meaning that you have a tremendous opportunity to reach millions by collaborating with as many influencers as you like. According to InlfuencerDB, 39% of Instagram accounts have more than 15,000 followers.

Source (eMarketer.com)

  • 89% of the companies reported that ROI from influencer marketing is similar to or even better than other marketing channels. Furthermore, influencer marketing delivers 11times more ROI than paid media.

Source (Mediakix.com)

  • In terms of KPI’s, influencer marketing services can help a brand achieve social reach, engagement, sales, sign up, downloads, brand lift and click through rate.
  • 80% of the companies believe influencer marketing is effective, while 71% of the marketers agreed that the traffic and quality of customers are better than other paid media.

Different Types of Influencer Marketing Service Campaigns

There are two main kinds of influencer marketing campaigns a) sponsored content b) product placement, which have further subcategories:

Sponsored Content

  1. Integrated content
  2. Hashtag or theme campaign
  3. Brought to you by
  4. Giveaway & Contests
  5. Shoutout
  6. Discount codes

Product Placement

  1. Pre-release
  2. Unboxing

We will briefly explain the above influencer marketing campaigns, and you may use either one or a combination of a few types for your brand.

Integrated Content

This kind of influencer marketing service campaign does not promote your product directly; instead, the influencer tries to subtly hint at it or weave it into a story so their followers can understand why it is important for them.

Hashtag/Theme

This kind of campaign tries to promote a brand across different social media channels by making the hashtag go viral. Many influencers are involved in this campaign where they all mention the brand in their post and tag each other, so it reaches the maximum number of people. Below is an example of an influencer trying to promote a specific kind of protein shake and by asking everyone to shareashake. This kind of influencer marketing campaign works best on Instagram and Twitter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsqoAU4g-b2/

Brought to you by

This is a type of sponsored content that the influencer announces during the video and is more popular on Youtube. For example, Remington sponsored how to shave video by Robin James an influencer may be trying a new hair. James pauses in the first few minutes of the video to announce that “this video has been sponsored by Remington, thank you, Remington”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKbPmRVE_lw   at 1:39

Giveaway & Contest          

Giveaway or contests is a popular tactic for drumming up excitement about a brand. Influencers are contacted by brands to give their product away as a prize for entering into a contest. Over here, Skin Elements is asking its followers to tag their friends and follow their brand for a chance to win their face sheet masks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByCp7gsBjmY/

Shoutout

A shoutout is a way influencer try to thank a brand for helping them with their project or achieving a goal. Companies usually choose influencers who resonate with their brand and then sponsor them financially or through other means to help them achieve their dreams. In return, the influencer mentions the brand in their post or video, which creates a positive image of the brand in the minds of the followers.

Discount Codes

When mentioning a product or service on their social media channel, influencers provide a discount code for their followers. These discount codes are customized to the influencer and usually contain a part of their account name in them. It helps companies keep track of their conversion rates and ROI of their sponsored posts.

Denitslava is a famous makeup influencer with over a million followers on Instagram. In her recent post, she mentions not one but two discount codes for two different brands she is using to create her makeup look.  She mentions a 30% discount on @ofracosmetics and 10% discount on @sigmabeauty to her followers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByAzA7xlKB9/

Pre-release

This product placement marketing approach is typical for highly anticipated technology products like mobile phones or laptops. Sakitech talks about the Samsung Galaxy Fold, where he talks about the price, its features, and whether people should buy one. His video has received over 22 million views to date and generated a huge amount of interest in the product. He received more than 3000 comments on this video alone where people are asking him more questions about the Samsung Galaxy Fold phone.  Some people are having a debate among themselves and sharing more information.

This kind of influencer marketing service can be extremely beneficial for a brand as it leads to electronic word of mouth. People start hearing about the product online, become curious, and it creates hype. Once a brand has generated enough hype, it automatically goes viral on the internet, and that is where your brand really takes off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFcXSdyNty8

Unboxing

This is probably the most popular influencer marketing service; an influencer unpacks a product to his/her viewers and talks about their first impressions. Zollotech opens up the 2018 Surface Pro 6 and shares his views on its design and features. He starts the laptop and takes his viewers through the configuration process. He gives his opinions throughout the video on how this product compares with other laptops he has used in the past. He mentions his likes and dislikes about the Surface Pro 6, mentions its price and connects it with a Surface Pen to show how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh2UNe6MoKg

Which Influencer Service Campaign to Choose for your Brand?

Before deciding which influencer campaign you can use for your marketing strategy; assess which kind of content your target market responds to and test out multiple options. Bear in mind that none of the above campaign categories is set in stone. You can combine different approaches to find what works for your company. As social media continues to evolve, so will the influencer tactics to keep their audiences engaged. The key is to keep your content fresh and continually find creative ways to build excitement and provide good value to the audience.

We understand that as a brand, it can be hard to focus on your social media marketing campaign when you have a ton of other things that need your attention on a daily basis. That is why we sit down with our clients and provide them with customised solutions based on your requirements and budget. Ineedsocial has a dedicated team of experts working for us at our office in Central London who strives to go above and beyond your expectations. So, give us a call or book us for a free consultation today, and we will take the hassle of managing your influencer marketing campaign away!

Check Out Our Posts On:

Why should you still be blogging in 2019

Sources

  1. State of industry influencer marketing in 2019:
     https://blog.influencerdb.com/state-of-the-industry-influencer-marketing-2019/
  1. Is everyone on Instagram an influencer? :
    https://www.emarketer.com/content/is-everyone-on-instagram-an-influencer
  1. An expert’s guide to influencer marketing:
    https://sproutsocial.com/insights/influencer-marketing/
  1. Influencer marketing campaign guides:
    http://mediakix.com/2018/11/influencer-marketing-campaign-types/#gs.fbv07b
  1. Is influencer marketing actually effective?:
    http://mediakix.com/2019/02/influencer-marketing-effectiveness/#gs.fbuizq
  1. What is a social media influencer, and how do I become one?
    https://appinstitute.com/social-media-influencer/
  1. Five essential tips for a successful content marketing strategy: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/2018-01-15-5-essential-tips-for-a-successful-content-marketing-strategy

Affiliate Marketing & What It’s All About

At INeedSocial, we work on affiliate marketing on an everyday basis, which makes it easy for us to forget that in general people have no clue what affiliate marketing is. For many, affiliate marketing is associated with selling teeth whitening, weight loss pills and other controversial products. Although this dark side to performance-based marketing is still prevalent, affiliate programs have moved to the mainstream with high street retailers and major publishing houses using them. It has become a popular tactic for driving sales to generate online revenue.

For most of the people, their life is restricted to the 9-5 routine, where you wake up at ungodly hour to make your way through half-asleep commuters and work on report after report until 5 pm when you can finally leave. As horrible as it sounds, it is pretty much how our lives are spent. Most of us are so engrossed in the rat race that we don’t even try to raise our heads and look around for other opportunities.

What if I tell you that instead of dealing with the monotonous 9-5 rut, you can make money sitting at home even while you sleep? Sounds too good to be true, but that’s the concept behind affiliate marketing without being involved in any web SEO agency London. Let us break down the basics for you

What is Affiliate Marketing?

It is a marketing tactic which allows a person to earn a commission for promoting somebody else’s product or service. The idea is based on revenue sharing, and it works both ways. For example, if you have a product and want to increase its sales, you can offer promoters financial incentives by asking them to join your affiliate program. On the other hand, if you have no product but want to earn money passively, then you can promote a product that holds value to you by becoming an affiliate marketer.

Affiliate programs can be implemented across different social media channels. Bloggers add affiliate links to products reviews that they have posted on their blog. Similarly, YouTubers include affiliate links in their videos of the clothes they are wearing or products they are reviewing. The rise of affiliate marketing strategies has been phenomenal as consumers demonstrate a preference for online shopping and brands look for new ways to generate revenue.

How is it done?

The process of affiliate marketing involves four parties, including the advertiser, affiliate, buyer and affiliate network.

The advertiser is anyone who sells a product or service like Amazon, Waitrose, John Lewis, an estate agent or your local hairdresser if it has an online store.

The buyer is your end customer who purchases by clicking on the link the affiliate has provided on his social media accounts.

An affiliate is a person who promotes the advertiser’s products; he may use a dedicated website or his social media accounts for this purpose.

The affiliate network forms the crucial link between the affiliate, buyer and advertiser. It drops a tracking cookie into the buyer’s browser when he purchases on the advertiser’s website as a result of clicking on an affiliate link. The affiliate network is the binding force that makes affiliate marketing possible.

Advantages for Advertisers

Many advertisers are unaware of the benefits of affiliate marketing program; in fact, most of the small business owners in the UK have never heard of it. If you are a business owner, then imagine marketing your product for no upfront fee and paying only when you get results. It is a risk-free method of advertising your products or services which requires no financial commitment to get started with. This is an ideal marketing strategy for any new business that does not have funding or budget for advertising their new brand.

And what could be better than having tons of websites promoting your brand or services? It is the quickest way to get people talking about your product and creating hype to get people’s attention.

Advantages for Affiliates

The advantages for affiliates are many, especially when working with a high paying network; the profit potential is enormous. As an affiliate, you can sell products without bearing any costs of manufacturing, distributing or storing them. If done the right way, affiliate marketing can become a consistent source of passive income.

While it’s recommended that you keep an eye on the ball; if you start bringing in a substantial income, you can delegate routine tasks to freelancers and enjoy other things. However, a word of caution, being successful in affiliate marketing requires many hours of learning, commitment and willingness to go the extra mile.

The obvious perks of running your own business are having the freedom to work from anywhere at any time and choosing your own working hours. Aside from these, affiliates with a considerable number of followers (aka influencers) often receive freebies in the form of PR packages from advertisers. These may be worth hundreds of pounds, and you get to keep them!

If you are a blogger with a generic website such as on health and beauty, the possibilities are endless; from high-end makeup products to hair straighteners, companies will be requesting you to trial their products for free.

How Much Can You Earn?

As a beginner affiliate, your income will depend on a number of factors;

  1. How exclusive is the niche of the products you are promoting?
  2. How efficient is the affiliate network you work with?
  3. How dedicated are you to promote the products?
  4. What is your level of knowledge about your niche and products?

Affiliate networks vary widely in terms of the percentage of commission they give the affiliates on each sale. New affiliates sometimes take more than a year to make their first sale, but with proper training and persistence, you can earn between £5 to £500 per sale. It’s simple to understand how this can add up to pretty impressive earnings if done correctly.

Instagram influencer Jason Stone earned $7 million in sales in one year by using affiliate marketing in 2017. Let’s have a look at some interesting statistics to understand how big the potential for earnings is in affiliate marketing.

Statistics for Affiliate Marketing

Retailers in the US spent $4.7billion on affiliate marketing in 2016. This is expected to rise at a rate of 10.1% annually meaning that by 2020, it will reach $6.8 billion.

Affiliate marketing is becoming increasingly popular among advertisers, and 81% of brands were reported to have used this marketing strategy to generate incomes. While 84% of all publishers also leveraged the power of affiliate marketing to compensate for falling print sales.

A study conducted by AM Navigator analysed 550 affiliate marketing programs and found that fashion (18.7%) is the most popular category followed by sports/outdoor products (14.6%) and beauty products (11.1%).

Last year, content marketing costs were found to form 62% of marketing schemes that brought in three times more leads than traditional methods. In fact, it was reported that 16% of all online orders were attributed to affiliate marketing strategies. In comparison, paid search drives 20% while organic search accounts for 21% of all orders placed online.

Influencers on Amazon can receive up to 10% in commission sales after the company changes its affiliate rates. Previously they could only earn a maximum of 5% by selling a product through affiliate marketing. From 2017, affiliates can earn up to 10% commission for promoting luxury items on Amazon.

4 Steps to Becoming an Affiliate Marketer

There are 4 steps that can help you start your journey as an affiliate marketer. We will briefly discuss these below:

Step One: Review Products

You can start by thinking about all the products that you like and reviewing them on your blog or YouTube channel or by live streaming. You may choose any products that you already use and start talking about them publically. If you like reading books, you can review books or talk about video games, whatever you fancy works!

Comparison reviews usually get a lot of attention from audiences on social media. If you do your research well, your review will rank higher in search engines and people will start noticing you as a credible source of information.

If your reviews aren’t well researched, people will figure out that you are trying to make a quick buck. Be genuine and cover as much information as you can. Remember to add your affiliate link and ask people to check it out if they like.

Step Two: Create an Email List

Collecting email addresses is essential to online marketing, and this can be done rather quickly. Whenever someone visits your website, you can offer them a review book or information about your next review video in exchange for their email address.

Since you will be making an email list of people interested in a specific niche of products, you don’t need a lot of email addresses to make it worth your time. You can make considerable sales even with lists of 500 email addresses or less.

Step Three: Educate your Audience

Once you have your email lists, the next step is to keep your audiences engaged via live webinars. If your audience wants to buy a product in your niche, it will make them want to buy it more if they see a live webinar about it rather than just reading about it.

You can use simple tools like Leadpages to create a page where people can sign up for your webinar. Then you may choose to live stream your webinar on Instagram, Google Hangouts or Skype.

Talk about the product’s benefits and drawbacks with your audience. Remember to keep your review as honest and impartial as you can and don’t forget to share your affiliate link at the end of the webinar.

Step Four: Grow your Business with PPC Advertising

The last step is to start thinking about using paid advertising once your affiliate marketing business starts to pick up. You should only do this if you have reached a substantial number of followers and know a way of making back your money.

The margin you may have to spend on ads won’t be very big as you only make a few pounds or pennies per sale; depending on the product price. So, it is best to promote sign-ups on your email lists so you can contact them at any time.

CONCLUSION

Affiliate marketing is not a fad; it is a highly successful marketing strategy that is adopted by 81% of the brands. Companies are spending billions of dollars and allocating a considerable amount of their advertising budget to affiliate marketing. It has become a popular method to earn passive income even while you are sleeping.

It is cost effective as you do not have to worry about any affiliate marketing fees and its ideal for new start-ups because it does not require any budget; you pay when sales are generated.

Affiliate marketing is purely performance-based, so unlike your regular job where you earn the same salary every week; it gives you the opportunity to earn more when you put in more effort. Finally, it can prove to be an effective way to increase your monthly income by becoming a profitable second job; until you make enough to hand in your notice, that is!

Sources

  1. Analysis of 550 best affiliate programs reveals the top 20 niches:
    https://www.amnavigator.com/blog/2015/09/25/analysis-of-best-affiliate-programs-top-20-niches/
  1. 8 affiliate marketing statistics every marketer should know:
    https://mediakix.com/blog/affiliate-marketing-statistics/#gs.lDcPsUI
  1. Affiliate marketing made simple, a step by step guide:
    https://neilpatel.com/what-is-affiliate-marketing/
  1. Affiliate marketing in 2019: What it is and how you can get started:
    https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk/blog/affiliate-marketing/
  1. The affiliate marketing report: How mainstream publishers are turning ‘performance based’ marketing into a ‘fine art’:
    https://www.businessinsider.com/the-affiliate-marketing-report-how-mainstream-publishers-are-turning-performance-based-marketing-into-a-fine-art-2015-11?r=US&IR=T
  1. What is affiliate marketing? A guide for beginners:
    https://moreniche.com/blog/beginners-guide-affiliate-marketing/
  1. Can you really make money with affiliate marketing?
    https://www.thebalancesmb.com/can-you-really-make-money-with-affiliate-marketing-1794168
  1. Affiliate marketing for beginners: Go from $0 to $1000 in passive income :
    https://smartblogger.com/affiliate-marketing/

The High Performance Content Keep Your Audience Engaged

Marketing your business and marketing it effectively are two different things. You might be putting lot of efforts while creating and promoting content, but you are not getting enough inbound leads that you expected at the onset of your content marketing campaign. Content plays a dominant role in driving relevant traffic and increasing sales. Posting content on regular basis that displays your expertise makes it clear to your audience that you have authority in your field. If you want people to know more about your business, you have to create brand awareness. Content marketing makes it easier to create brand awareness. This way you get an opportunity to showcase your proficiency in front of your potential buyers. Useful content wins the game. If your audiences share your content on various social media channels, then you have accomplished your content marketing goal.

As a leading a leading London based digital agency we can help you with top notch content creation that keeps your audience engaged, keep you front of mind in your consumers eyes, positions you as a thought leader and of course the most important bit of generating you boat loads of inbound leads to top up your sales funnel.

Content marketing is the most robust form of marketing strategy which is adopted by businesses of all sizes. We our selves improve our SEO agency in London and around the world through effective Content marketing.  Content marketing enables entrepreneurs to attract audience, win leads and boost sales. It is a highly cost-effective form of promoting a brand/product/service. You need your audience’s attention and maximum conversions, so choosing the most effective and high-performance content for your business becomes an overwhelming task.

From the Founder and CEO of iNeedSocial.co.uk Here’s is the list of high-performance content formats that will surely help your business to flourish.

  1. Blogs

This is the most common and effective form of content marketing practice that is widely used by small businesses. It’s inexpensive and is highly successful in driving organic traffic to your website. It is a direct method of reaching your target audience. Blogs are highly informative and can be updated regularly according to latest trends this way not only your routine audience keep coming back to your sites but also new audience is attracted. With blogs you can easily prove that you are an expert in your field by availing your audience with helpful tips and information. This way you can gain credibility and trust in market. Businesses that have blogs have more inbound links which improves SEO. It is a great medium to establish relationship with customers. Creating and publishing value content will compel your target audience to buy your services. It is recommended to compose blogs revolving around the keywords that consumers or audience feed in the search engines to look for the brand that you and your competitors sell. Choose trending blog topics and the ones that define your brand. Always respond to the comments of readers and make sure to delete spam posts.

  1. Videos

Having your target audience’s attention is the key to dominating the digital industry. Video Production is one of the most essential components of content marketing strategies. When the information is visual and appealing it draws people’s attention automatically.  Video content plays an important role in engrossment of your target audience. Video can deliver a dynamic message about your brand. The success of your promotional campaign can relies on the video content that you are promoting. It has to be simple, transparent and engaging. Small businesses can benefit greatly by adopting video content promotion strategy. You must choose the topics for video wisely, keeping in mind your target audience. Videos should be short, intriguing and highly informative. Posting engaging and informative videos on your website increases the traffic on your website. As your audience will spend more time on your website and are more likely to make a purchase. You can create explanatory videos where you can explain your services that you are promoting, tutorials about how to use your products or videos based on some popular cultural or social norms.No matter which industry you are coming from, you can create video for your brand and increase your ROI.

  1. Infographics

With infographics it is easier to convey a clear message to the audience. Visually appealing content is always preferred by consumers and also is helpful for SEO. Infographics are not only descriptive but are also catchy. Many people, who do not enjoy reading pages full of thousands of words, prefer visual content. Infographics present useful information that is beautifully designed and on point. It is a great way to educate your audiences about your varied services or products concisely. There are so many ways businesses can play around with infographics to explain the most complicated topics or statistics. Infographic created using striking visuals most relevant to the subject makes it easier for the audience to understand. Infograph is a great way to chunk down the tons of information into a short, relevant, attractive and valuable piece of data. You can use infographics as a way of answering questions related to your brand. This way you will be saved from answering your clients individually. If you are launching a new product or a service, you can create a compelling and attractive infographic, so that your customers will be able to interpret the information and make decisions quickly. Your business can reach out to maximum audience with the help of a well-designed and distinct infographics.

  1. Newsletters

Newsletters are a cost-effective form of content marketing that works as a strong medium of communication between you and your clients. All you have to do is simply prepare an informational letter and send it via an email to your subscribers. Publishing newsletter on a regular basis helps businesses in creating awareness about their services. Newsletter is among the most widely used form of content marketing strategy as it promotes complete information about your brand to your audience. This helps in building trust and credibility as you are making your audience aware about your services. You can demonstrate your expertise via newsletter and turn your subscribers into buyers. Newsletters can also be used to promote a product where marketers can include all the valuable and positive elements of their product.Posting weekly, monthly or quarterly newsletters is a great way to stay in touch with your customers.Newsletters give a unique personality to your brand. It should be 90% informational and 10% sales. If there is more of educational material it will lead to more sales.

  1. Press Releases

PR is yet another effective and important content marketing strategy that helps in publicizing your business. Press releases are written toshare news or something that is newsworthy about your business. With press release you can hook your audience in no time.It is free of cost and can be a part of your email marketing campaign. All industries can benefit from press release. By publishing a press release that inspires readers and carriesyour industry keywords, enables you to reach targeted audience. Press release can be published to promote your content, i.e. you can post it in the form of a blog post and you can include backlinks so that the readers are redirected to your website. This way reader will have the opportunity to know more about your services. You can incorporate a promotion into your press release. This way you can influence your readers to gather more information about your business. PRs should revolve around promotionally-driven events, for example you can publish a press release based on “The latest fashion trends” and ass a link to a shopping list on your website.Useful information based on your products must be provided to your readers in a Press release. PRs are an integral part of content marketing campaign and are sure to help your business grow.

  1. Case Studies

Case studies are client stories where you demonstrate how you assisted the particular client to become successful. By showcasing your clients via case studies yourclients tell you the application of your products and services. Case studies are helpful for your customers as they get a clear idea about your services and products and how they can be helpful for them in gaining success. Since case studies are more detailed and specific than other type of content formats, they are evergreen. You can describe various problems faced by a client and the solutions that you implemented. Case studies are a means to show off your client work in an informative and engaging manner. It can definitely increase your ROI, as your clients will get a clearer picture of the implementation of your services. Case studies require extensive research, lot of time and effort to take shape, but in the end they prove to be very fruitful for your business. You can publish case studies on your website so that your audience can easily access and understand the value of your business.

By taking help of these popular and powerful content formats, that will surely attract your audience and draw their interest towards your services.

Are you doing content marketing right?

Content is rightly called the king in SEO, as it plays an imperative role in driving relevant traffic. All you need is immaculately curated content for your website to get leads and boost sales. If content is relevant to the products and services that the business is offering, it will definitely appeal and reach to the potential customers. The highest quality content succeeds in making a buzz around major search engines and other social media channels.

iNeedSocial.co.uk is an SEO Agency in London helping clients curate the perfect SEO Content.

In SEO Services, content marketing includes blogs, articles, press releases, social media posts, info graphics and videos. Many companies begin their content marketing practices with a boom but with the passage of time they start to lose the momentum.

Learn how i Need Social, can help you by calling 0203 8116 605 we are a London based SEO Company.

With the ever evolving social media channels, it has become de rigueur for businesses to implement content marketing in all of the marketing channels. Since these social media platforms are great and provide a direct way to communicate with the audience, content plays a crucial role in establishing and promoting a brand. Content marketing, the best practice to establish a direct connection with consumers, leads to three times more conversions than any other digital marketing practice. It establishes a relationship between the brand and consumer. It is something that cannot be overlooked in today’s social media age.

Good content delimitates your brand

If your content is deviating by any means than expected, you can potentially lose your audience right there. Content is meant to keep your business alive and thriving at all times. If you are simply posting videos, blogs, and infographics and not getting any revenue, then it’s time you assess your content marketing strategies. Well curated content improves your SEO in London or the rest of the world, builds trust and credibility as well as generates traffic. If your content is outstanding, your audience will be able to relate to the brand you are promoting. It will build a positive reputation about your business across the industry.

If you are really up for building a brand, you must avoid irrational content marketing techniques. Producing content is very simple and may or may not be cheap.  Videos can cost you a lot of money, but posting blogs, articles, social posts on these platforms is easier as creating an account on social channels is free of charge.  iNeedSocial, London based marketing agency can give you free advice.

Even the heritage brand Burberry had to go through a total revival, since it faced years of downturn in sales. The rebranding of Burberry over social media comprised of content that was minimalistic and alluring. By posting short, simple captions that emanate the true essence of the brand, Burberry continues with its legacy. The bottom line is content can completely change your marketing game.

Bad quality content can get your sales slumping

High quality content is a rarity, because many companies end up producing low quality content inadvertently.  If your content is not leaving an impact on the audience’s mind, you are doing it wrong! Your sales come crumbling down if the content is ineffective. Over stuffing of keywords and not being consistent in posting content can upset your market value. The more content you have, there is more likelihood of generating links and driving traffic.

Attention to detailing is the key to curating quality content. Bad or invalid content plummets the sales, as customers are unable to connect with the brand and it ultimately hinders your brand promotion. Written content is quite cheap to create as opposed to fancy video productions, so why not produce a superb content that can escalate your sales. By diving deep into the mindsets and demands of your target audience, you can curate content that they find appealing. A thorough research of your competitors can help you in identifying your core competencies.  You can produce a mixture of content so that there is something for everyone. Natural placement of keywords, rational, precise and on point content is what increases your search engine rankings.

Avoid these content marketing mistakes

  1. Overlooking strengths: Focusing on your strengths is the first and foremost strategy one must implement before going ahead with content marketing. It’s easy to create content and publish it, it might also get the attention, but it’s of no use when you are not getting conversions. So there has to be a certain goal in mind, an effective approach and a tremendous execution.
  2. Shaky promotional methods: Social media is the best channel to promote any brand. But many people miss out on promoting quality content. Consistent and effective content that your audience wants to see. Since social media is on everyone’s fingertips, the content posted on these platforms to promote a brand should have a friendly tone. It is very important to make a connection with the audience. You must know that on which social media channels your target audience is most active. This way your promotion methods and campaigns won’t go waste.
  3. Irrelevancy: If you really want conversions, your content must be relevant and valuable. Informative, on point content is what audience looks for on the internet. If someone is looking for a solution to their problem, they expect to get their answers instantly. So providing suitable information that is concise and useful for the audience, will make a win-win situation for you.
  4. Monotonous posts: Content marketing is not only confined to blog posts, there should be variation so as to keep them interested.Many marketers post variety of content every day in the form of videos, infographics, memes, case studies,podcasts, animations, GIFs, etc. this breaks the monotony and audience love to see new, creative posts in their news feed on a regular basis. This increases the popularity of brand and bring you prospect conversions.
  5. Short-lived content: Not able to create evergreen content is the most common mistake made by marketers. A content that is being published should still be useful in 10 years from now on as it is today. If content is timeless it will help the business owners to keep getting audience and conversions. It should be irreplaceable and must be updated at regular intervals to keep up with the times.
  6. Not knowing the audience: Writing just for the sake of writing is not something that will get you an audience base. Posting content about water heaters on a platform that has an audience base coming from fashion world, does not make sense at all. This way you will only waste your time and energy. You must do a thorough research about the target audience. It is advisable to take a deep insight into the audiences’ interests, motivations and challenges. Then curate content that will draw their attention and interest. This will surely increase your sales.
  7. Deviating from core values: The content you will be curating as part of content marketing campaign must have the essence of your core values. This is how you will be able to build trust of your audience. This practice will help you in the long run, as your core values are the building blocks of success.
  8. Not creating enough targeted landing pages: It is important to create optimized landing pages for most applicable keywords. More landing pages mean more conversions, as your targeted audience will have keywords on landing pages of which they are passionate about.
  9. Not focusing on facts: A critical analysis of content that’s posted on the websites must be applied at regular intervals. There is a possibility, something that is true at present may not apply in the years to come. By doing research and experiment from time to time, you can come up with a new concept or fact. There should be regular content upgrade happening at all times and this will surely make your content marketing campaign successful.
  10. Stagnation: For your business to grow constantly, you must stay progressive. Keeping up with the latest trends and ready to evolve accordingly is the key to success. For a successful content marketing campaign, you must be ready to adapt according to the developments taking place in your field.

Content marketing is a slow and a tiring task, which has been in the industry even before the internet. Oh yes! It is all about storytelling. Those who know the art of storytelling takes the attention. In no internet days, movies and brands were promoted through print media that included posters, where they played tactfully with the words. The ones that caught people’s attention made great profit.

Businesses must develop content marketing strategies, missions and goals in order to gain traction. Simply implementing content marketing strategies without a set target and game plan will not prove to be fruitful in the long run. You must avoid content gap, there may be some questions coming from your audience or consumer’s end that are unanswered since a long time. Some content that you have posted long ago can be improved. Some keywords that are related to your niche should be added to your content. These details can really keep your content marketing stratagems in check and in sync with the latest developments in the industry.

6 Questions to Ask a Web Design Company in London before Hiring Them

Planning to create a new website for your business or want to upgrade the existing one? The services of a reputable web design company are all that you need. But, wait! Considering the innumerable options out there, which one should you choose? Worry no more, as here are the six key questions that you must ask to ensure that your business remains in the best hands.

  1. Can you provide a portfolio of the projects you’ve worked on before?

The portfolio of the web development company speaks volumes about the quality of service that you can expect from them. Therefore, have a close look over what they have in store for you, pay attention towards each and every detail and then decide whether their skills would be good enough for your business or not.

  1. What are the different kinds of services that you offer?

Learn everything about the services that web design company features to understand if they are only a design firm or an all-web-solution. Most of the companies include an array of services ranging from hosting, SEO services, social media marketing, logo designing and a lot more; to offer everything that you need in one fine platform. A good practice here would be to prepare a list of the kind of services required and ask how much of it can be provided.

  1. How long will the web design project take?

Do make it a point that you are aware of the time that will be taken for the web development process. Gather optimal information about various steps that are going to be involved, from initial phase to the final launch. Usually, it will have five independent phases and these are:

  • Planning and Research
  • Design
  • Development
  • Testing
  • Launch

Later, ask what approvals or tools would be used for the construction of the site, so that the process never slows down. Moreover, dedicated web development specialists provide regular updates about the development of the site and overall time that will be needed for completion of the project.

 

  1. Are the web design that you provide responsive?

Having a responsive or mobile-friendly website is the need of the hour. Do make sure that the web design is compatible with mobile devices, so that you don’t end up losing a large portion of sales only because your designer is not keeping up with the latest trends.

Dedicated Web Design Company always work according to the industry trends and tailor their services as per the requirement of your business.

  1. Will the services be priced per hour or per web design project?

Pricing is a crucial element that should never be overlooked. You can request for a free quote from the company, compare them and then decide which company offers high-quality service at the best value. A common mistake that should be avoided is don’t prioritize price over quality, rather try to strike a perfect balance between the both.   

  1. How often will changes be made to the website?

Web design companies do realize that changes are important for keeping the website fresh and engaging. This is the reason why you should ask the companies about what kind of changes will be implemented and how often will it take place.

There you have it, identifying the best web development company in London does not have to a troublesome task, just ask the aforementioned questions and you will pave your path to an outstanding company.