The Art of Engaging Your Audience: Ways to Measure Your Content Efforts

Posted on October 16, 2021February 16, 2024 by Summit Ghimire

Let’s say you put out a new piece of content. How do you measure how well the content is doing? We live in a digital world where there are so many distractions. If you want people to read your content, it needs to stand out from the rest of the noise. This article is about 12 ways that you can measure how well your content efforts are doing!

Unique Pageviews

A new page view is counted every time someone visits the same webpage. When measuring something like website views, unique pageviews can be very useful because it tells you how many of your visitors actually read your content and shows that they were engaged with what was written on this particular article. You want to see a high number of unique page views since it means more people liked or shared what was published.

Social Media Shares

Social media shares show how popular the article is among social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc. If there’s an increase in social sharing for articles over months, this indicates consistency, which usually leads to long-term results!

Average time spent on the page

If your goal is to have people read through an article, you would want this number to be high. If someone spends a lot of time on the page, it means they are reading and engaging with what has been written. This can help determine if content needs more images or something else that could potentially increase engagement levels!

Average comments per post

Comments indicate that readers think enough about your posts so much that they take the extra step of commenting (which requires effort). It’s essential not just for SEO but also because it’s honest feedback from actual customers, which can be used as social proof in future marketing campaigns!

Behavior Flow

This is a great way to see how readers are navigating your site. If they are getting lost or not finding what they need, it can lead to frustrating experiences, which could cause them to leave!

Bounce rate

Bounce Rate measures the percentage of visitors who enter a website and only view one page before leaving again without engaging further with any other pages on the site. The lower this number is, the more engaged people were when visiting your blog post since bounce rates indicate if someone was satisfied with what they read.

Inbound links

Inbound links to your blog post indicate that people find it valuable enough to link out and share what has been written with others. This is an essential metric since search engines such as Google also use inbound links for determining the value of a webpage!

Views by Country

If you want to see how well your content is doing worldwide, then views by country can be beneficial because it shows where readers come from. You would want this number to be high in your targeted region since it means you are actively reaching people that you want to reach through your posts.

Session Duration

The amount of time spent on a website is also essential since it shows how much time people invest in engaging with your content. If someone spends more than 30 seconds, then this means that they might be reading and taking the extra step of thinking about what has been written!

Returning vs. New Visitors

Returning visitors means that readers were engaged enough by previous articles so much so that they came back for another one. This can help determine if it’s worth writing similar types of posts or if something different would fare better based on current metrics.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate shows the percentage of interactions that lead to a desired action or goal that you define! For example, if someone signs up for your email list after reading an article, this indicates a high conversion rate since they valued what was written and wanted more. On the other hand, low conversions could mean people don’t find value in your content, so it’s best to make changes based on data from these reports instead of going with feelings.

Referral sources

Referral sources show where readers initially found your site so much that they decided to read posts. If someone is coming from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, then it means the content has been shared so much that people are finding out about it through other existing channels! This can be very useful when deciding what types of content should be written in the future since it shows successful strategies for getting more eyes on articles, which leads to long-term results!

Google search keywords

Google Search Keywords show words or phrases people use when searching online, leading them to click a link and visit your website. You want this number high because it would indicate an apparent demand for information related to specific topics that could be used as inspiration for future posts!

We all want to be more successful in our content marketing efforts, but it can feel like a daunting task. The good news is there are many ways you can measure the success of your content strategy and make adjustments for future campaigns. You may not know what is working or not at this point, but knowing what to keep an eye out for is key in determining if everything is going smoothly.

The ultimate guide to using google scholar to find content ideas

Posted on October 13, 2021February 16, 2024 by Summit Ghimire

Google Scholar is a search engine best used for literary purposes. Revered by academicians, the tool shines when used by academicians to find new research. But what if you could use Google Scholar to find new content ideas? It could potentially open new avenues for writing and permanently change the way people work on content. And while some might put this off, let us be the one to tell you, this works. And this blog post will show you how.

Search by year to find trending topics

Google Scholar allows people to filter their searches by year. Searching by year will give you an idea of what topics are currently trending. You can then use this to your advantage and create content around these subjects, well, in time for them to be the next big thing on Google searches.

Explore additional articles related to a specific topic

Google Scholar has an inbuilt feature that allows its users to explore additional articles related to a particular topic. This means that you can search for a topic, click on the explore additional articles button and get up to five more Google Scholar pages of similar content ideas.

Explore the most popular articles and publications

Google Scholar allows you to explore the most popular articles and publications on any particular topic. This can help you get a feel for what works in content writing so that you do not have to start from scratch every single time when coming up with new content ideas.

Follow citations for additional ideas

Similar to how Google Scholar allows users to view additional articles related to a single topic, it allows them to see which other articles have cited a particular theme. This can give you a wealth of ideas for content to write about. Searching by year will tell you what is trending, and then searching through Google Scholar citations gives you an idea of how that trend has grown over the years.

Narrow your results by field

Like every other search engine, Google Scholar has a filter feature that allows users to narrow down their searches by field. This can help you find content ideas that have been created by experts in a particular field. It also means that the content ideas you find are highly relevant to your field.

Using keywords to research

Most of the articles on Google Scholar have their keywords listed alongside the article. That is how Google Scholar determines if a specific article is usable for you or not. So you can use this to find content ideas. If an article has a particular keyword, then there is a chance that the entire topic of that particular article will contain similar keywords and phrases.

Find Industry-relevant ideas and stay up-to-date with the latest developments

One of the benefits of using Google Scholar regularly is that it helps stay up-to-date with the latest developments in any field. This can be helpful if you are looking to create content around a specific industry. E.g., Someone conducted a study on the latest SEO trends and how they are impacting content creation. The conclusion from the article can be beneficial in creating new SEO policies and strategies.

YouTube videos on the same subject

Google Scholar allows people to search for YouTube videos related to their searches. This means that you can find video content ideas too by searching through Google scholar first and then using the YouTube keyword suggestions feature, which is available in the advanced search section of YouTube.

Using Google Research to expand your customer base

This is extremely helpful for B2B Businesses. If your customer base consists of businesses that are into coffee, then finding out who is writing about coffee is one of the best ways to find new customers. Writing about something is a clear expression of interest. And even if you don’t find new customers or businesses, you can always come off with a deep understanding of the subject and a brief idea about what your competitors are doing.

Explore research from top universities

Google Scholar also allows users to see what kind of articles are being published at the moment and by which institutions and authors. By doing so, they get an idea about where future trends might be coming from. This is useful for marketers who want to stay ahead of the curve and create relevant content marketing campaigns.

Google scholar has a lot more to offer than just these tips. Still, we believe that if used well, even these few points will allow you access to an abundance of quality content ideas that would otherwise take months or years to come upon organically through trial and error. While some people might think this takes away the fun of finding content ideas on your own, we believe that it makes creating new and relevant content much easier.

Tried and Tested Ways to Improve Your Organic Click-Through Rate

Posted on October 10, 2021February 16, 2024 by Summit Ghimire

Most of the time, SEO experts and organizations focus on the discoverability of their websites and push efforts towards increasing discovery. Your content could be on the first page of Google, but if people are not clicking through, it might very well be on the last page. While focusing your SEO efforts on getting your content in the top spots is essential, ensuring that people click through is equally important. And here are a few ways you can do just that.

Include a call to action in your meta description

This is an integral part of the content because this will be what people see on the SERPs. To give them more reasons to click through, include a compelling statement or ask a question that makes them want to read more about it. Or, if you have included keywords and phrases in your post that could stand out (compared with other results), then use those words and phrases here as well. You can even add something like “this blog post” at the end of the sentence so that readers know exactly where they are going while clicking through from Google’s search result page.

Using images

When using images in your content, make sure that they are relevant to the post. Also, if possible, include a photo with a call to action included inside it. You can use arrows or text on top of these pictures, which would point towards where people should be clicking for them to proceed further into your website and read more about what you have mentioned in this blog post.

Using Featured Snippets

Google’s featured snippets provide another quick way by which readers can click through from the SERPs without having to go all the way down below across several results pages just so that they can find something valuable enough for them out there on the web world. Thus, when writing your posts, try including related questions being answered by different sources or try including your content in the form of an answer to a question. This way, people would find it easy to click through and get more information about what you have written here on this blog post.

Use descriptive URLs

Another essential thing to keep in mind is your website’s URL. Keep it short and straightforward so that anyone who sees it on Google would be able to remember the name of your site quickly enough. Also, try including some keywords or phrases which can appear as a part of this link and encourage people to click through by giving them an idea about what they might find once they visit your website.

Make headlines catchy

Bloggers spend hours creating their posts but frequently forget to make their headlines catchy and compelling. This is a critical step in click-through rate because if the headline doesn’t catch your attention, you will never even bother clicking through. Headlines that stand out from others are titles such as “The X ways to Y.” Here, it’s not just about saying ‘ways,’ but instead say ’11 Ways’. You can also add a number in your title so that people know what they’re getting into before they click on the link.

Check readability

There is no doubt in our minds when we say this, but sometimes bloggers fail at making their content readable and engaging for users. The easiest way of doing this is using subheads or bullet points whenever you feel the topic might be challenging to understand. This will help people break down information and make it easier for them.

Include a poll or survey

There is no better way of convincing someone than getting their opinion on something, right? You can use this principle in your content by including an interesting question that you know they’re dying to answer (and click through). If there are any keywords that you want to be included in the post, then ask about those words specifically, such as “are these ways helpful?” or “how many of these do YOU usually follow?”.

Optimize images with Alt Tags & Filenames

Most bloggers forget about optimizing images when creating posts, but it’s essential since search engines cannot read text within image files. This is where you can include essential keywords in the filename of your image so that people get to know more about it. You should also have an alt text for each photo that briefly describes what’s going on within the picture itself while also including keyword-rich content whenever possible.

Using long-tail keywords

People are naturally drawn to clicking on the top results. So try using long-tail keywords that will help you stay in the game longer. For example, if someone is searching for “SEO tools,” they might not want to click through websites that have used similar keywords like “best SEO tool” or “seo software review.” However, if your website has used phrases like “Top SEO Tools,” it might be more likely to catch their attention and get them interested enough to click through.

In the end, you have to keep in mind that your content should be engaging and must answer a question. If people read it and find it interesting, they will click through no matter what, while others might not bother unless there is something special about your site or post that can get their attention quickly enough.

How to find a reputable enterprise SEO agency?

Posted on October 7, 2021February 16, 2024 by Summit Ghimire

As it is, SEO has developed to a point where if you aren’t keeping tabs on the latest developments, you will be left behind. When search engines evolve, SEO keeps pace. And when you add in the complexity of an enterprise to SEO, things get slightly more complicated. Since not keeping up with enterprise SEO just because it’s difficult is not an option, you need an SEO agency that can help you get the rankings you want. But in a sea of SEO agencies, where each one claims to be the best, how do you go about finding the best SEO agency? Here are a few tips:

1. Recommendations

What’s the first thing you do when you need to buy something? Probably ask around with your friends and family for recommendations. So that’s what you do. Good enterprise SEO agencies are numbered, and the best ones have a way of making themselves known around town. Talk to people you know, check online reviews, and ask for customer references from companies you want to work with; the end goal is to get an idea of the company’s real-world performance and whether it delivers on its promises.

2. Knowledge

While it can be hard to gauge the knowledge of an enterprise SEO agency based on a few interactions, keep an eye out for case studies, podcasts, or online properties that reflect the expertise of the people involved with the company. Prestigious enterprise SEO agencies keep up with the latest trends in the industry and are constantly trying to figure out changes that might arrive in the future.

3. Transparency

Just because someone else is handling your enterprise SEO strategy doesn’t mean you should be kept in the dark. Good enterprise SEO agencies will bring you in on the loop from day one. They try to understand your goals, objectives, and your current position. They are also good at communicating what they want to do and how they will achieve these goals in a way that you and your team can understand. You probably don’t want to work with a company that comes up with a bunch of technical jargon every time you ask them about SEO. While knowledge is essential in enterprise SEO, ensuring that you understand everything going on is equally crucial.

4. Realistic

Any SEO company that promises you results from day one or a quick fix for all your SEO problems is probably lying. SEO is a long process, and enterprise SEO takes even more time. It might be months before you start seeing any tangible results. So, instead of looking for agencies that promise unachievable goals, you want an SEO agency that understands where you are and lays out a detailed plan to get you where you want to be. The first thing any good enterprise SEO agency will do is an SEO audit. This allows both parties to understand your current status. From there on, it’s all about implementing strategies and tracking and interpreting analytics to get you that number-one ranking.

5. Scalability

Enterprise SEO is too big of a task to fit in a couple of sessions. You need dedication, patience, and, above all, an agency that knows how to scale things. Failure to scale things properly leads to improper indexing, legacy, and crawlability problems. In short, you can end up worse off than when you started. Experienced enterprise SEO firms use automation to implement new changes and ensure efficiency.

But for all the tips to find a reputable enterprise SEO agency, one tops all. That is to ask questions. Ask questions about the agency, its working procedures, its strategies, and about every single thing that you don’t understand. And any reputable SEO agency will find a way to answer all of them. So, ask away all your enterprise SEO woes.

SEO Budgeting Best Practices: Mapping Out an SEO Spending Plan

Posted on September 29, 2021October 13, 2023 by Summit Ghimire

When it comes to SEO spending, there are a lot of options to choose from. This can be overwhelming for business owners who are not in the know about what an SEO budget should look like. This blog post will help you map out your SEO budget by outlining some best practices when finalizing your plan.

Perform an SEO audit:

You need to know what you’re dealing with before finalizing an SEO budget. A full-scale audit can unearth a treasure trove of information that will later help your SEO strategy and execution. This will also help you understand your website’s current state and help you understand your goals.

Build a strategy:

There is no point in spending money on SEO if you don’t have a solid and actionable plan. Before finalizing your budget, figure out what it would take to achieve those goals and how much you want to spend on each campaign. As with any marketing strategy, this should be tested before actual implementation so that the results are positive for all stakeholders involved.

Create content assets:

Content plays an integral role in building links that will help drive organic traffic back to your website or blog posts via search engine result pages (SERPs). This not only helps increase brand awareness but also establishes your company as a thought leader within its industry by delivering quality information through blogs, videos, etc. Investing a part of the SEO budget in creating content assets is always a good idea.

Do not limit your SEO budget:

A common mistake that many business owners make is to allocate a fixed percentage of the marketing budget toward SEO spending. This will not be an effective strategy since different channels require varying levels of investment, and these investments might change over time. For instance, in the beginning, when you are trying to build your base with social media or content marketing, it would make sense for you to invest more heavily in these channels as opposed to later down the line. Since your SEO efforts compile over time, your organic search later down the line should become relatively more robust from increased brand awareness.

Have clearly defined goals:

SEO does not exist in a vacuum; it needs support from other areas such as sales and product development if there has got to be any real ROI on your efforts spent on this channel. This is why it’s essential to have clearly defined goals that you want to achieve by the end of your campaign so everyone in the team knows what they are working towards.

Ensure all areas are covered:

Keywords, links, and content need to be given due importance when mapping out an SEO budget. Similar to how no single channel can do everything for you, there also cannot exist a single strategy or tactic that helps you cover all three aspects mentioned above. For instance, creating great quality content takes time. This means that if your plan involves producing new blog posts every week, then perhaps investing more heavily on link-building might not make much sense since there would barely be any time left for outreach campaigns! As such, it is essential that different strategies complement each other to achieve a successful SEO campaign.

Keep an eye on the competition:

This point is significant for businesses that are not established or have limited traction in their respective markets. It would be difficult to gain any organic rankings without having at least some degree of brand awareness and authority when you’re just starting. In such cases, identifying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses could help you plan your attack better to avoid spending too much time going up against a tough competitor with no chance of success. For instance, if you notice that your competitor’s content marketing strategy looks stronger than yours, investing more heavily in link building might make sense. Trying to take them head-on from day one might prove futile since you would be fighting an uphill battle.

Consider your marketing objectives:

The role of SEO changes in different stages of the sales funnel. This is why it’s essential to identify your goals at each stage so you can allocate resources accordingly. For instance, if improving brand awareness and driving traffic to your site was more important than conversions for an early-stage startup, investing heavily in social media could be a better option than optimizing pages.

Analyze your data:

There is a lot of information available on the web about how to go about mapping out an SEO budget, but none of it will be helpful if you are unable to analyze the results correctly after all this hard work! Make sure that each channel has its own set goals for success and does not overlap with another channel’s objectives which might lead to confusion later down the line.

Review regularly:

Finally, make sure that you review your progress regularly to ensure that everything is going according to plan or needs improving somehow. Perhaps one tactic isn’t working as well as expected; in such cases, it makes sense to either reallocate funds towards other channels or try something different from the same group.

Creating a budget for your company’s SEO strategy is one of the most important steps to ensure that you invest enough time and money to see results. The point of an SEO plan is to create visibility for your website, but this can’t happen without proper planning.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization and what goes into it?

Posted on July 31, 2021February 16, 2024 by Summit Ghimire

When it comes to websites, the first impression is often the last. Given the brief attention span of today’s internet users, second chances are rare. After a brief interaction, a user is either captured by the website or is not interested and ends up moving on to the next site. If users like what they see, you can bet they will convert or return to your website later to learn more. On the other hand, an unsatisfied user is a lost business opportunity. Businesses need to target the brief window of opportunity from a user’s first discovery of a website until the point they form an opinion. Confused? Let us explain.

What is conversion rate optimization?

Conversion rate optimization is the act of enhancing a website’s content to the maximum number of conversions. Conversions are desired actions a user takes while on a webpage. A conversion rate is the percentage of users that take the desired action. Depending on the kind of business, conversions can be different. But all conversions have one thing in common – they are directly related to profit. A conversion could include a phone call, form fill, purchasing a product, or any other business goal you’re trying to achieve on your website.

What goes into conversion rate optimization?

In its most basic form, conversion rate optimization reduces the barriers to conversion. You can do it by developing a better landing page, adding engaging content, or reducing your page speed. But figuring out where you need to improve can be a challenging task. Here are some of the most commonly optimized aspects of a website.

Landing Page

Your landing page is the first thing a user sees when they visit a website. If it is not note-worthy, a user will instantly exit the website. Optimizing a landing page goes beyond having just an aesthetically pleasing page. Ease of access is an essential feature on any website. The most critical question businesses need to ask themselves is, Can users access the pages they wish to access from the landing page? If the answer is no, it might be better to get back to the drawing board.

Content

Content is what makes or breaks a website. Well-written content can hook users and keep them engaged to learn more about what you have to offer. The more engaged a user is, the lower the barriers are to convert.

Call-to-action

Website visitors need a guide. When left alone, users are less likely to convert. A call to action (CTA) button places a definitive goal in front of the user. While the difference between having and not having a CTA button is enormous, so is the difference between having a CTA button that works and a CTA button that does not. When it comes to CTA messages, the more engaging they are, the better.

Site architecture

A website is built of many pages. Navigating across web pages needs to be fluid and easy for users. The easier it is to navigate between web pages, the lower the barrier for conversion. A site architecture that is tough to navigate can be frustrating for the user lead them to quit. A hard-to-navigate site structure overrides the advantages of a good landing page, quality content, and a crisp CTA button.

Platform optimization

The advancements of technology have made it possible for users to view content from different devices. A user can access a website from a personal computer, a mobile device, a tablet, or even a smartwatch. No user will log on to your website from a PC if it takes too long to load on a mobile device. When you optimize a website to run on all platforms, you make sure that a user can access the website at all times.

Page speed

A crucial but often overlooked part of conversion rate optimization is page speed. A website that loads faster has a positive impact on a customer’s opinion and vice versa. Changes in page speed have a direct effect on ROI and user retention. No user wants to be waiting for more than a few seconds on any given page.

Implementing conversion rate optimization

When you hire a firm like Outpace to work on conversion rate optimization, we follow a fixed set of procedures to find the best conversion strategies for your website. This means conducting a detailed analysis of the website, and evaluating user interaction and behavior, while on the website. As the information from the initial research filters through, you can effectively figure out the problem areas. Once you know where the problem is, it becomes easier to create a roadmap to solve it. From here on, it’s the job of the pros. SEO experts develop a detailed technical plan to implement the proposed solution. The plan is put into effect, and the results are thoroughly evaluated. Should the plan work, you will be able to generate more conversions and more ROI. But this is an ongoing process, and if a plan does not work, everybody goes back to the drawing board to figure out an even better solution.