TWP Publisher, Author at TotalWeb Partners • Page 7 of 31

September 12, 2022

What Digital Marketers Should Know About Direct Mail

E-Marketing, Marketing Digital Marketers

Since I founded Gunderson Direct roughly 20 years ago, I’ve had a number of conversations where I’ve defended direct mail to digital marketers. It seems that our channel is just not as well understood as most others, so I’ve done my share of explaining.

Here is just some of what I say to help them understand how direct mail can help them.

• It has unique targeting capabilities: Cookie concerns? IP identification issues? A physical address is the most reliable contact information for prospecting. Direct mail datasets are appended with thousands of attributes—both demographic and behavioral—that are available for targeting. And you can apply AI and machine learning to model builds across numerous databases to constantly improve direct mail’s look-alike targeting capabilities.

• You can go bigger and cheaper (per impression): Scaling in digital typically means upping your bids to compete for a relatively fixed ad inventory. There is no bidding war to get into your prospect’s physical mailbox. In fact, the direct mail industry is set up to reward companies that scale, offering ever-improving manufacturing and data efficiencies as quantities increase. Scale a DM program, and your cost per impression typically drops.

• Omnichannel DM strategies can boost your response: The same data used to target a prospect’s mailbox can be used to target them digitally. Automated display (no cookies needed) and email touches, combined with the USPS’ free Informed Delivery program, can strategically surround the physical delivery of printed mailing withs additional impressions. We’ve found that these “digital surrounds” can improve overall campaign response by as much as 40%.

• Direct mail stands out: It’s often said that the average consumer encounters as many as 10,000 ads a day. Compare that to how many pieces of mail are delivered to your home each day. Importantly, ads in digital and traditional channels often interrupt your entertainment or information consumption, so they are often missed and easily dismissed. But direct mail consumption takes place away from a screen and can be reviewed at a prospect’s leisure.

• It makes an impression: People depend on physical mail to receive information from government and business institutions, making it a trusted source of communications. Furthermore, research shows that physical ads are remembered more quickly and elicit a stronger emotional response than digital ads.

August 3, 2022

by TWP Publisher

Which Is Better For Ecommerce: On-Page SEO Or Link Building?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO

Today’s Ask an SEO question comes from Taha in Chicago, who asks:

My question is on ecommerce SEO. Currently, I am working as an SEO Executive for an ecommerce brand. They have zero content on the site and their total backlink profile is around 1,000 links (which is nothing compared to competitors).

Which area should I focus on first in order to rank category pages? Should I go for the content and on-page optimizations or create backlinks to compete with my competitors’ profiles?

Taha, great question.

The short answer is: you should start with content and on-page optimization.

Now, let me give you the long answer, which applies to more than just the category pages you mentioned.

Start With On-Page SEO
Backlinks are important and we know they are part of the ranking algorithm.

However, you must have optimized content on the website so the search engines know what to rank your website for.

Below is a brief checklist on what to focus on in terms of on-page optimization before you start investing time in link building.

Determine Your Keywords & Themes
If you haven’t already, spend some time identifying your keywords.

Go from broad to narrow as you create your list, but keep in mind that relevancy is the most important consideration.

Even as you identify broad terms, though, they should still be targeted and relevant to your categories and products.

August 1, 2022

by TWP Publisher

Why Having A User-First Approach To SEO Is Important

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Search Engine Optimization

In the search engine optimization business, we spend so much time thinking about Google algorithms, sitemaps, and backlinks that we sometimes lose sight of the primary goal: providing useful information to human visitors.

In the past, it was easy to understand why. You could cram your page with keywords, slap on a few meta tags, and voila! Your page was on the first page of search engine results.

Google rightfully recognized this wasn’t the best way to provide top-quality answers to search queries, so it adapted its algorithms. Evidence of Google’s interest in improving user experience (UX) is found with updates like Panda in February 2011, Core Web Vitals, and other core updates that happen regularly.

That’s not to say you can completely forgo aspects of traditional SEO and that keywords no longer matter. Search engines still take foundational SEO attributes into account.

But organic search now also depends on implementing a user-first approach.

So how do you do that? Here is a list of five steps you can take to make your site more user-friendly, and hopefully climb further up the search engine results page rankings.

July 27, 2022

by TWP Publisher

Web hosting for SEO: Why it’s important

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Content, Website Design Practices Web hosting

Want to know an easy way to speed up and improve the overall performance of your website?

Invest in good hosting.

Ignorance is no longer an excuse for any company to use a cheap web host.

Website performance is a critical element that can help improve your rankings, traffic and conversions.

This guide will cover everything you need to understand about why web hosting is important for SEO.

What is website hosting
A website hosting service provider, or web host, is a service that offers the technology required for a website to be viewed online.

Think of a web host as the home base of your website. Websites or webpages are stored on special computers called servers, and through the server your webpages get connected and delivered to internet browsers.

So, when users want to view your website, all they have to do is type your website address or domain into their browser.

When building a website, companies typically invest a lot of time and resources on design, development, digital marketing and SEO.

But web hosting is one area that tends to be an afterthought.

If you are willing to invest in making sure the website looks good and driving traffic to it, why not also ensure that the actual website is fast, functional and flexible?

Using a high-quality web host can maximize your conversion rates, along with other helpful benefits.

How web hosting benefits businesses
If you want a website for your business, then you will need a web host. Although web hosting is usually left at the back of a business’ mindset, it is crucial for your online presence.

A reliable web host can give your company a variety of benefits, such as:

Improved site performance.
Effective data management.
Enhanced security.
High uptime.

In short, investing in a reliable web host is wise – and should help grow your business.

July 25, 2022

by TWP Publisher

Web design trends for creative portfolio websites

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design

As artists, we all have something in common: We need an online portfolio to showcase our (design) skills, talent and creativity. A portfolio website also helps clients or employers to imagine what they can expect when they hire you. But how can you make your portfolio stand out?

Before you start designing your website, make sure to complete these three things:

Step 1: Think about what goals you want to achieve with your portfolio website.
Step 2: Pick your best work.
Step 3: Tell a story.

In other words, decide what information your portfolio must include to speak to potential clients or employers. Then, wrap it into a story about yourself and your work.

Once you got that lined up, let’s start with the actual design of the portfolio website. The following UX design trends will make your website glow up in no time!

Choose a simple and minimal design
Too many visual elements can be overwhelming. A clear and minimal design, on the other hand, improves your website’s navigation. Uncluttered pages make your work shine, as they guide visitors to focus on the elements you want them to focus on. If your portfolio is rather cluttered, consider giving it a simpler design. In some cases, this can improve user experience, which also has a positive effect on search engine optimization and your search engine rankings.

Add interactivity
Today’s websites are more than static pages. Everything is getting faster and more dynamic, and so are websites. Adding interactive elements to your portfolio gives it a unique design and makes it stand out. If you’re rather inexperienced in web design, start out by experimenting with interactive elements such as color shifts or animated fonts.

Create a prominent “About Me” page
The first thing a visitor of your portfolio wants to see is your profile. They want to get to know you and your story. By prominently placing your “About Me” section at the start of your website, you can draw visitors in. They might spend more time on your website, which is also one of the factors that improve your website’s search engine visibility.

Add a headshot
To pep up your profile, you can add a large headshot. This helps your visitors to connect with you and your character upon opening your website. It also signals your visitors that they are looking at a portfolio. Next to your headshot photo, you can place interesting information about yourself and your work.

Whitespace
When it comes to designing the portfolio layout, make sure to add a lot of whitespace between the elements. The current trend of minimalistic design goes hand in hand with a clear layout. By adding lots of whitespace to your portfolio, you can highlight certain works and improve readability.

November 29, 2021

by TWP Publisher

4 Reasons to Use Dynamic Search Ads

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) search engine optimization (SEO), SEO

Dynamic search ads access your website content and deploy artificial intelligence to generate headlines, bids, and targeted search terms automatically. These easy-to-employ text ads are the Swiss Army knife of digital promotion: They work well in many situations.

Moreover, dynamic search ads (DSAs) are similar in concept to search engine optimization.

Something Like SEO

For SEO, you’ve carefully selected keywords and entities for all of your important pages. You focused on the technical side, ensuring that Google and other search engines can index your pages. You’ve also optimized the pages’ content, making them high converting.

In the end, you trust the search engine to present a specific page to a potential customer when that person submits a related query.

DSAs are similar.

When someone types a term into Google that closely matches the keywords and entities found on one of your pages, Google Ads dynamically creates a relevant ad and presents it.

Advertisers can optimize DSAs for sending traffic to a website or, if you have conversions set up, to generate ecommerce sales.

DSAs are a striking example of marketing AI. There are multiple reasons to use them.

4 Reasons to Use DSAs

No organic rankings. One of the reasons to pay for any search ad is to garner traffic for a term your website does not rank for organically — or at least not rank on the first page.

Unlike SEO, however, DSAs do not need from advertisers a list of keywords. Google Ads or Microsoft Ads do that for you.

Google could use its index of your site or a page feed to target landing pages.

The page feed takes the form of a CSV spreadsheet with a column for the page URL and a column for custom labels. Advertisers can use these labels to build ad groups within a DSA campaign.

Large business. One could argue that a well-organized, keyword-focused search campaign sending visitors to a popular, conversion-optimized landing page will outperform a DSA.

November 28, 2021

by TWP Publisher

What are the Main Web Design Trends of 2021?

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design Trends

The web design industry is evolving rapidly, and if you don’t follow the trends, you’ll get left behind. Try telling today’s generation about flash menus and border ornaments and they’ll stare at you as if you’re some sort of cave person. If you’re thinking of designing a website in 2021, you need to conform to what’s hot and make sure you avoid what’s not. Of course, you can try to get ahead of the curve, but it would be wise to stick closely to mainstream ideas.

Thinking of Creating a Website?

Maybe you’ve just started a business and you want to develop an online presence. Or perhaps you’ve got an established company and you want to modernize or move your pages. Either way, you’ll need to be aware of the design trends in the industry this year.

Anyone can create a free website easily using online tools, with templates that allow you to put everything in the right place and make a professional site that you’re proud of. Experimenting with free designs first could be great for startups, before moving on to paid services to access more advanced features.

Before you begin, it’s wise to do a bit of market research and see what the leaders are doing in your industry. Mirroring the best in the business is a common strategy, and this is how popular trends in web design come about. So, what are the main techniques that seem to be abundant this year?

Horizontal Scrolling

Yes, you read that right. Horizontal scrolling is back in vogue. This was once considered a no-no in web design circles, but the concept is back in style now and proving to be popular. This form of navigating pages wasn’t user-friendly in the past, but it fits perfectly with smartphones and tablets where side swiping is a natural move. It’s also compatible with devices like Apple’s Magic Mouse, which allows users to intuitively move across the page.

Home Societe is one site that has broken the mold in recent times, and its hip layout is one that other designers will want to follow. Instead of navigating down the page, viewers are guided to the right each time. It’s a stunning way to display all the stylish content on the page.

No Set Structure

Square is a perfect example of how web designers are beginning to think outside of the box. This is an incredibly cool page that has introduced a world of new possibilities when it comes to structuring. Instead of clicking on boring tabs, players can navigate around using the cursor and then click on the various links they stumble across on the way. It has gamification feel to it, and it is seriously enjoyable.

November 24, 2021

by TWP Publisher

This Holiday Season Play The Long Game With Email Marketing

E-Marketing, Marketing Email Marketing

As we predicted, promotional email volume has skyrocketed this year as brands worked to retain and reengage customers because of pandemic-related shutdowns. And marketers facing the decline of third-party cookies are now chasing first-party data through — you guessed it — email relationships. Inbox placement and reputation management vendor Validity finds that global inbox volume has increased 94% since Q3 2020. Competition for email attention and email data is tougher than ever.

The stakes around your email program are higher. Because of data deprecation, first-party data is gold. And email addresses unlock user identity and permission — keys to this treasure. So responsibly collecting email registrations, preserving relationships with good sending behavior, and enhancing user profiles through regular email interactions isn’t just about getting more opens and clicks. Improving deliverability now makes or breaks your entire customer data strategy. Here is how to do right with email marketing this holiday season:

Don’t get lured into the temptation of over-messaging. We get the appeal of sending just one more message when you are facing looming Q4 transaction goals. But wearing out your list now sacrifices longer-term revenue, compromises your sender reputation, and potentially deletes forever the identifier you need to stay in touch with a customer. GDPR allows that users can request that their data be permanently erased from a marketing database if requested.
Keep registration customer led. Boxed and Rue La La now require registration just to browse their sites. But we advise not forcing a customer’s hand. Let customers control their opt-in. Rent the Runway’s omnichannel preference center collects explicit proclivities and zero-party data such as user size and style searches for use in product recommendations. And Dollar Tree gives subscribers a chance to change contact information, desired message type, and frequency.
Deliver value to customers. We bet your email strategy over-indexes on accomplishing your Q4 goals — sales volume, revenues, inventory liquidation. This is the case for most emailers. But the best way to win this holiday and still have a database and solid sending reputation is to give customers what they want, rather than forcing them into your path to purchase. As Validity found, Red Letter Days increased inbox placement when it targeted emails to user behavior and preference. And improved inbox placement boosted opens and clicks, which generated more data for better targeting. This virtuous cycle increased revenue attributed to email by 10%. Email marketing vendors like Bluecore and Cordial collect and make usable non-email data (like point-of-service data, supply chain updates, or SKU-level metadata) to improve message relevance.

November 24, 2021

by TWP Publisher

Search Engine Optimization Market Trends and Vendors Analysis 2021-2027

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Search Engine Optimization, search engine optimization (SEO)

The Market Abstract of Search Engine Optimization Market

According to the latest report by MarketStrides, “Search Engine Optimization Market: Global Industry Trends, Market Share, Growth, Opportunity, Size, and Forecast 2021-2027”, the global Search Engine Optimization market size share reached a value in Billion $ in 2020. Looking forward, MarketStrides expects the market to grow at a high CAGR % during 2021-2027.

As per the study sales growth of 5-10% is usually considered good for large-cap companies, while for mid-cap and small-cap companies, sales growth of over 10% is more achievable. The CAGR Ratio shows you which is the better investment by comparing returns over a time period. You may select the investment with the higher CAGR Ratio.

The report also focuses on some key growth of the report seeks to supply actionable insights into global market growth forecasts. Certification data presented within the report supported extensive primary and secondary research results of Search Engine Optimization Market. Insights from the info function a good tool to push a deeper understanding of the many aspects of the worldwide Passivating Agents Consumptions market.

The Search Engine Optimization Market Research Report provides a comprehensive overview including Current scenario and the future growth prospects. This Report gives an insight of the various important research industry data and also a future trend which helps the various industries identify the products and drive revenue growth and profitability.

What is a good 10 year CAGR?

We understand that good compound annual growth rate for sales is very much important for a company. It also assists companies to bring new products and services in the market. On the other hand, 8% to 12% can be considered as a good cagr for sales of a company with more than 10 years of experience into same business.

November 22, 2021

by TWP Publisher

Responsive Web Design Principles

Website Content, Website Design Practices Web Design

Nowadays, it’s common practice to build a website or app that adjusts its user interface depending upon the browser or the device. There are two approaches to achieve this goal. The first involves creating different versions of your website or app for different devices. But it’s inefficient and can lead to unpredictable errors.

In a search for a reliable, future-proof approach, the responsive — or adaptive — design was coined. It focuses on building a single version of your layout that adapts to different browsers or devices automatically.

In this article, we’ll learn about responsive web design and the fundamental principles that will help you make an awesome website.

Responsive Web Design Ingredients

Responsive web design is not as complicated as it sounds. It’s a set of practices that you can use when writing CSS, not a separate technology that you’ll have to learn from scratch. You might already be following several of these principles without realizing it. You can understand responsive web design by exploring its four ingredients: fluid layouts, responsive units, flexible images, and media queries.

Fluid Layouts

With a fluid layout, you can create web pages that adapt to the current viewport width and height. Common practice includes using the max-width property instead of giving a fixed width to an element. Also, using percentage (%), viewport height (vh), or viewport width (vw) helps improve adaptability that is not possible with pixels (px). So, next time you’re building a layout, make sure to introduce these small changes and start benefitting from responsive design techniques.

Responsive Units

As you move to more advanced CSS, you’ll often see the use of rem and em units for length instead of px units. This is because the rem unit makes it super easy to scale the entire layout. By default, 1rem equals 16px because it’s proportional to the <html> element’s font size, typically 16px. However, you can set 1rem equal to 10px (or any other value) for easier calculations, by adjusting the top-level font size.

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