In the ever-evolving realm of content creation, bloggers face a perpetual dilemma: the battle between long-form and short-form content. Both have their merits, but determining which works best depends on various factors. Let’s delve into this blogging conundrum and explore the dynamics of long vs. short blogs.
Long-form content tends to perform well in search engine rankings. Search engines often favor in-depth, comprehensive articles that provide value to readers.
Lengthier content allows bloggers to showcase their expertise and delve into a topic extensively. It establishes authority in the field and fosters trust among readers.
Lengthier articles have the potential to captivate readers for an extended period. Increased dwell time signals to search engines that the content is engaging and valuable.
Complex topics often require more words to be thoroughly explored. Long-form blogs enable bloggers to provide a comprehensive understanding of intricate subjects.
In an age of information overload, shorter content caters to the diminishing attention spans of online readers. It delivers information concisely, making it more digestible.
Short blogs are easily consumable, especially on mobile devices. Readers can quickly grasp the main points without a significant time investment.
Bloggers can maintain a consistent publishing schedule with shorter content. It allows for more frequent updates and keeps the audience engaged.
Short-form content is highly shareable on social media platforms. Bite-sized information is more likely to be shared, increasing the blog’s reach.
The nature of the topic should guide the decision between long and short content. Complex subjects might demand a more extensive exploration, while simple updates or news can be conveyed succinctly.
Knowing the audience is crucial. Understanding their preferences, behavior, and the platforms they use can help tailor content length for maximum impact.
A well-rounded content strategy may involve a mix of long and short blogs. This diversity caters to different audience segments and aligns with varied content consumption preferences.
Conclusion:
The debate between long and short blogs isn’t a one-size-fits-all scenario. Each has its place in the content ecosystem, and the effectiveness depends on the context, audience, and the goals of the blogger. Whether opting for the depth of long-form or the brevity of short-form, what matters most is delivering value to the audience.
In essence, bloggers should focus on creating content that resonates with their readers, aligns with their objectives, and ultimately stands the test of quality in the dynamic landscape of digital content creation.
Content is king. This is an adage you’ve likely encountered in the realm of digital marketing. It’s more than a cliché; it’s a fundamental truth. In today’s fast-paced, digitally driven world, content marketing is your ticket to success. It’s the means by which you engage your audience, build trust, and drive your business forward.
To navigate this ever-evolving landscape, we’ve assembled the ultimate guide to content marketing strategies. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting, there’s something here for you.
1. Know Your Audience Like the Back of Your Hand
Your content won’t resonate if you don’t understand who you’re talking to. This goes beyond basic demographics. You should know their pain points, desires, and behaviors. Build buyer personas to guide your strategy. For example, if you’re selling fitness equipment, your audience might include fitness enthusiasts, busy parents looking to stay in shape, and seniors wanting to maintain their health. Tailor your content to address the specific needs of each group.
2. Start with a Solid Content Plan
Success in content marketing is often a matter of planning. Develop an editorial calendar. Decide what types of content you’ll create, when you’ll publish, and what goals you want to achieve. A solid plan is your roadmap to success. You can plan a series of blog posts about a topic related to your industry, with each post building upon the last. This creates anticipation and keeps your audience engaged.
3. Quality Over Quantity
It’s not about churning out content like a factory. It’s about creating content that matters. Invest in well-researched, high-quality pieces that provide real value. A single great article can outperform a dozen mediocre ones. Suppose you’re in the travel industry. Instead of publishing daily articles with shallow insights, create comprehensive destination guides with in-depth information, stunning visuals, and local tips.
4. SEO is Your Best Friend
Optimizing your content for search engines is crucial. Proper keyword research, on-page SEO, and an understanding of the latest search engine algorithms can propel your content to the top.
If you run an e-commerce store for organic skincare products, conduct keyword research to discover which terms potential customers use when searching for these products. Optimize your product descriptions and blog posts accordingly.
5. Engage, Don’t Just Publish
Your content should initiate conversations. Encourage comments, ask questions, and be responsive. Engaging content is often shared more and can go viral. For example, after posting a blog about the latest smartphone, ask your readers which feature they find most appealing and why. Respond to their comments, keeping the conversation going.
6. Diversify Your Content
Don’t stick to a single format. Mix things up with blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, and more. Different people prefer different mediums. Imagine you’re a culinary brand. Alongside your traditional recipes, consider creating short, engaging cooking videos for busy home cooks.
7. Tell a Story
Storytelling isn’t just for bedtime. We’re wired to respond to stories, so weave narratives into your content. This could be the story of your brand, your customers, or a fictional tale that illustrates your point. For example, if you’re a craft brewery, share the story of how your brewery was founded. Include anecdotes, struggles, and successes to humanize your brand.
8. Leverage User-Generated Content
Your audience is a goldmine of content ideas. Encourage user-generated content like reviews, testimonials, and social media shoutouts. It’s authentic and persuasive. For instance, if you’re a fashion brand, encourage customers to share photos on social media wearing your products. Feature these images on your website to showcase real people enjoying your clothing.
9. Measure and Adapt
Track your content’s performance using analytics. See what works and what doesn’t. Be ready to adapt your strategy based on data. In particular, if you’re running a blog, analyze which topics generate the most engagement and traffic. If posts about healthy eating outperform, consider creating more content around this theme.
10. Promote Your Content
Don’t expect people to magically find your content. Promote it via social media, email, and other channels. A great piece of content is wasted if no one sees it. Suppose you offer productivity tools. Share your latest blog post about time management on LinkedIn, where professionals actively seek such advice.
11. Be Consistent
Consistency builds trust. Whether it’s your publishing schedule or your brand voice, stay consistent. It helps create a reliable image in the eyes of your audience. Such as if your brand has a playful and humorous tone, ensure all content, from blog posts to social media updates, reflects this style. Consistency in tone builds a recognizable brand image.
12. Monitor Trends
The digital world evolves quickly. Stay updated on the latest trends, both in your industry and content marketing. Adapt to what’s new and relevant. for instance, If you operate a tech-related blog, stay up-to-date with emerging technologies like AI or blockchain. Write articles that explore how these trends affect your industry.
Content marketing isn’t just about creating content; it’s about creating value. Your content should inform, entertain, and inspire. It should meet your audience’s needs and help them solve problems. When you focus on these principles, content marketing becomes a formidable tool for achieving business success.
At Van West Media, we’re passionate about helping our clients thrive in the digital realm. When we were given the opportunity to collaborate once again with Golden Door, the world’s premier luxury destination spa, we knew we were in for a remarkable project. Our goal was clear: to transform their website into a seamless, user-friendly experience befitting the #1 destination spa in the world.
Golden Door has long been synonymous with indulgence, relaxation, and rejuvenation. We believed that navigating their website should mirror the tranquil and seamless experience guests enjoy at the spa. So, we set out to re-engineer the site’s underlying architecture, and the results have been truly transformational.
Crafting User-Centric Excellence
Leveraging our expertise in user experience (UX) design, front-end development, and back-end content management, we embarked on a complete overhaul of the website. The project began with meticulous development specifications to ensure that the website looked stunning across all devices and screen sizes. Page-specific content was crafted and published to enhance search visibility, ensuring that anyone seeking the unparalleled luxury of Golden Door could effortlessly find it.
Elevating E-Commerce with Shopify Integration
Golden Door’s reach extends beyond their spa services; they also offer a range of products through their Boutique and Country Store. To make these offerings more accessible to their clientele, we seamlessly integrated Shopify stores. This transformation has made it effortless for Golden Door to reach their customers and showcase their extensive product catalog. Guests can now easily explore and purchase hundreds of offerings, enhancing their overall experience.
Aesthetic Refinement and Immersive Experience
Golden Door’s brand is a symbol of both luxury and well-being. To align with their brand identity, we carefully adjusted the site’s color palette, infusing it with the sense of healthful opulence that defines Golden Door. The navigation was revamped to provide an immersive experience, allowing guests to lose themselves in the world of rejuvenation that the spa offers.
Results that Speak Volumes
Since the launch of the new site, Golden Door’s staff has been delighted with the improvements, and the results are equally impressive. Web traffic has seen a significant increase, reflecting the enhanced user experience and accessibility of their products and services.
At Van West Media, we take immense pride in delivering transformative experiences to our clients. The Golden Door project is a shining example of how effective digital marketing strategies and a user-focused approach can drive business growth and customer engagement. It’s a testament to the positive impact of aligning a digital presence with the luxurious experience that Golden Door provides to its cherished guests.
Are you eager to skyrocket your website’s conversion rates and transform casual visitors into loyal customers? Your website functions as your online storefront, and, just like a physical store, it must captivate, guide effectively, and provide an outstanding customer experience. To help you achieve this, let’s delve into five crucial elements for creating a high-converting website, complete with practical examples:
1. Captivating Visuals 📸
Think of your website’s visuals as the storefront’s window display. They should be eye-catching and enticing. This includes high-quality images, videos, and graphics that align with your brand and its values. For example, if you’re running an e-commerce fashion site, your product images should showcase the items from multiple angles, allowing visitors to scrutinize every detail. Implement zoom features and, if possible, offer 360-degree views. These visuals will provide the closest experience to holding the product in a physical store.
2. Intuitive Navigation 🔍
Consider your website’s navigation as the layout of a physical store. It needs to make sense and offer clear directions. Your menu structure should logically categorize your content. For instance, if you’re managing a news website, create categories like “Politics,” “Technology,” and “Entertainment.” Implement a search bar that allows users to find specific articles easily. A stellar example is news giant CNN’s website. Its clear menu categories and search functionality help users quickly access the news they want.
3. Compelling Content 💡
Your website’s content serves as your in-store sales team, providing valuable information and guiding customers. If you’re running a travel blog, your content should offer detailed insights into travel destinations. Consider providing sample itineraries, restaurant recommendations, and local insights. In essence, your content should be so compelling that readers are inspired to pack their bags and head to the airport. Take a cue from travel blogger Nomadic Matt, whose engaging content and travel tips turn website visitors into globetrotters.
4. Conversion-Focused Landing Pages 💥
Landing pages are akin to your store’s sales counter, where visitors make decisions. If you’re operating a software company, a landing page for a free trial should be clear, concise, and compelling. Highlight the software’s benefits and guide visitors towards the sign-up button. Salesforce’s free trial landing page is a prime example. It emphasizes the free trial’s value, provides a simple sign-up process, and instills confidence with trust signals like customer logos.
5. Mobile Responsiveness 📱
In today’s mobile-centric world, your website must provide a seamless experience on smartphones and tablets. A fantastic example of mobile responsiveness is Airbnb’s website. On mobile devices, Airbnb’s site retains its user-friendly interface, ensuring that users can effortlessly browse listings, view high-resolution images, and book accommodations. Load times are minimal, and navigation remains intuitive, regardless of the device.
By incorporating these five essential elements, you’ll significantly enhance your website’s conversion rates. Remember that your website should be a dynamic entity, continually adapting to your audience’s evolving needs and expectations. Regularly analyze user feedback and site analytics to refine your website for optimal conversions. Your website is your 24/7 digital ambassador, so ensure it’s always ready to provide an exceptional user experience!
Google Analytics 4 is designed to help businesses measure multiple data types while meeting the increasing demand for user privacy. It enables website owners to see user journeys across their sites and apps. Additionally, GA4 helps you predict new insights with machine learning technology.
5 New Features in Google Analytics 4
GA4 utilizes a user-based model and collects data in the form of events. Each event has a unique name that identifies it. It also has additional parameters to describe the event. There events may include page views, transactions, social interactions, and more. You should be able to get incredibly metrics without infringing on privacy.
This comes with new AI-Powered insights that can highlight trends such as growing interest in a particular product. This can also predict outcomes, including churn rates and potential conversions and sales.
Reports are now organized around the customer journey.
For example, you can see which channels are driving customers to your website (Acquisition), the actions they take (Engagement), and if they remain on the page after converting (Retention). This way, you’ll get a more comprehensive view of how users engage with your website across different devices and channels.
Google is phasing out third-party cookies, analytics tools now emphasize first-party data. Google Analytics 4 comes with granular data controls. These are designed to help advertisers comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data regulations, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
For instance, a new consent mode helps website owners obtain consent for both analytics and ads. Additionally, GA4 makes it easier to handle user data removal requests.
Before, spammers could send fake data to Google Analytics accounts using the Measurement Protocol. Now, only hits with a secret key can send data to a GA4 property. You can access this key from your GA4 data stream settings, and it’s not available publicly.
How are GA3 and GA4 Different?
Event tracking is the key difference between GA3 (Universal Analytics) and GA4.
For example, in GA3, events refer to clicks. In GA4, an event can be a page view, social interaction, or other types of user behavior. Additionally, you can create multiple parameters for each event to obtain more information, such as where it was logged.
GA4 prioritizes user privacy and comes with granular data collection and usage controls. Also, it doesn’t store IP addresses. Therefore, upgrading to GA4 can help you comply with international data protection regulations.
GA4 can be added to the existing account, it will collect data alongside the current account until it becomes obsolete in 2023.
GA3 and GA4 also differ when it comes to recording sessions. In GA3, a session is a group of hits performed by a user within a period. Meanwhile, GA4 tracks sessions as a group of events performed by a user. These events may include making a purchase, clicking on a button, etc.
When should you switch to Google Analytics 4?
Universal Analytics will stop processing data on July 1, 2023. Therefore, to continue tracking your performance, you’ll need to upgrade to GA4.
It is recommended to do this as soon as possible, to have plenty of time to get used to the interface and familiarize with the features.
Standing on the sidelines during this pandemic isn’t a strategy that pulls a business through tough times. Is your company courageous enough to try some fast and cost-effective Internet marketing tactics that you might not have considered before? Email campaigns with a dedicated landing page or geographically limited PPC ad campaigns might help you find business when others can’t.
B2B or B2C landing pages can be an effective and fast way to keep the gears of your business turning while other companies seize up. Combining landing pages with an ad or email marketing campaign is even better. This adds a one-two punch that will always result in driving more leads.
A landing page is not the same thing as a website.
Websites –
These typically have multiple interlinked pages of varied content with a range of menu or navigation options. The idea of most websites is to attract a wide spectrum of viewers from various sources. Once a viewer has arrived, the website should facilitate the visitor journey or experience with as little friction or confusion as possible. Successful websites allow visitors to easily discover, browse, or access the type of information they are looking quickly and without confusion.
Landing Pages –
A landing page is a single page designed with a specific objective in mind. Most landing pages have only one goal they want the visitor to achieve. This goal could be completing a form, downloading a brochure or clicking on a specific link etc. All elements of the landing page should be designed with this single goal in mind.
Landing Page are like Pass/Fail classes. Each visitor either takes the one specific action you want them to and you pass or they don’t and you fail. Little else matters for these visitors.
Example of Webpages vs Landing Pages:
A Law Firm website might have a website with page for each practice area (Real Estate, Litigation, Construction). Visitors seeking any of these services might come to the home page, then navigate deeper into the website to eventually find what they need.
A Law Firm landing page might be one single page focused on only one aspect of Real Estate Law. The content and design of this page is different than the rest of the website. The goal might be for all visitors to fill out a contact form for that specific department only.
59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI. Hubspot.com
Most landing pages are created to be used with targeted marketing campaign. Email or advertising campaigns are the most common. These campaigns are used to increase views, visits and clicks to your landing page.
Visitors with more specific needs can be segmented or targeted with geographically or behaviorally specific Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or emails in the hope they click thru and ‘land’ on your landing page. A marketing campaign that targets a more specific group of your customers and drives them to a specific landing page is more effective.
Landing pages can be a quick way to create a new resource for your company that generates leads. These pages attract customers to the services you offer. Your sales team can leverage them to help target clients with new collateral. They can serve as a compliment to your existing website or act as a standalone asset. They can be created without needing access to your website/server to avoid any security or delays, and still live under your domain name.
Simplicity and instant connection is key. Within a second or two, the visitor landing on this page should know they are in the right place. A crystal-clear headline, simple messaging or imagery that immediately communicates to the visitor what the page offers. The visitor should feel a subconscious comfort or ease in navigation the page. The copy should be valuable and any forms or buttons should be easy to complete or stand out. Any distractions or obstacles that might prevent the user from completing the goal should be removed. Usually there are no menus, no links to outside content. Ideally the visitor should only have one path available as they interact with your page – and it should be the one you want them to take.
Think about the products or services your company sells, and what you might want to improve/expand/grow etc. If you have a sales team, ask them what type of page might help them or what their leads ask questions about. Next, take 10 minutes to look at your website with fresh eyes and pretend you’ve never seen it before. Do this on your phone and your desktop! Then do it to one or two competitors. Most of the time people forget to review their own website or are too caught up in their own offering to see the confusion it might create for customers.
Once you have some ideas about what you want your landing age to focus on, then you can decide how best to design and build it. Our team at Van West Media can answer any questions related to creating your next landing page. We already work with a leading landing page platform and help companies to create, publish and measure new pages from a variety of industries. These are often a quick alternative to a more lengthy or costly website redesign or update. They can be deployed outside of your existing website framework.
VWM can help you design landing pages, optimize your website or take advantage of this time to better position your website.
Here are some other resources we recommend related to landing pages and marketing campaigns:
Why would anybody invest in their website at a time like this! We hear that a lot and our response is the same: Now is the perfect time to re-focus on your website.
Make the moves others are pausing on and use this downtime to get your web presence in order. Start with what has the highest impact and refocus on the core objectives of your business.
Sales pages are the high stakes pages that turn viewers in to leads. Review them, prioritize them and identify what needs to be updated or cleaned up. Is the language still current? Are there links to collatoral or reference docs? Do the headlines or talking points read as good as they should?
Start to update the pages that are most important or impactful to your business. Maybe consider a brand new landing page or start from scratch if things are really bad.
Almost everyone has more time then they like on their hands right now, including your best customers. Take the time to reach out to them and get an updated testimonial. They’ll appreciate you’re thinking of them and should have the time to get back to you fast. If you don’t have testimonials on your site then now is the time to add them.
You finally have time to take better photos. Do it now and get rid of that old stuff you rushed on your website. It will look fresh and you won’t have to worry about it when things get busy again.
Start pruning and be merciless. Of course you’ll want to check your traffic or GA to make sure you don’t lose any valuable pages first. Let’s be real – nobody cares about that 2015 post you wrote about tech trends, old product pages that are still published even if you removed them from the menu and other clunky content. It will feel good to get rid of this stuff and might even motivate you to update or replace some of it. You won’t get the time to do this for awhile so do it now.
Don’t let bad times stall a good move. Now might be the best time to dust the cobwebs of your website, prune your old content or get the housekeeping done while things are slow. Business and commerce will continue, like it always has, and it will favor those that are ready when the doors bust back open.
It’s easy to hit the pause button, freeze up or panic right now. Resist that urge, take deep breath and seize this opportunity. Somebody is going to take advantage of the situation we find ourselves in right now and for a lot of businesses everything has changed. The real question is how your business will come out the other side of this.
VWM can help you redesign pages, improve your website or take advantage of this time to better position your website.
About the Author:
Travis Melvin is a digital marketing professional. He currently works for VWM and lives in New York City.
It’s finally here! Not the end of the world, the other thing – full freedom to work from home. This might seem like a dream come true but once the honeymoon is over it’s still just work. Try your best to stay productive, avoid going stir-crazy and brag to your friends that still commute.
We organized these working from home tips into three categories:
Typing away at home all day might sound dreamy, but after a few days the isolation will sink in. Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, it is critical to stay connected to your team, office or coworkers. Regular communication helps keep you connected to the tasks and work that need to get done. It might also keep you sane. More care needs to be taken when a team is not interacting in person every day – even if it’s purely social or not work related.
If you data/cell plan sucks get a free Google Voice Number. Free voicemail and US long distance, use your new number on your cell, have calls forwarded etc. Another good option we use at the office is Dialpad, which is a full featured VOIP type solution. It has a good app and runs on desktop as well.
One of our favorites is Zoom which will give you unlimited 1 on 1 meetings and free group meetings up to 40 minutes. It also seems a bit more friendly across international groups. Of course there’s Skype, Google, Uberconference (related to dialpad) and a million others you can search for on your own.
WhatsApp is surprisingly effective for group calls/chats/messaging. The data is encrypted, but it is owned by Facebook. Data will use wifi not your cell and there is phone and desktop apps. If you’re over 40 like me this might be a good chance to learn how to use this. Special bonus is how widely used it is outside the US if you ever get a vacation.
I can not give Slack enough praise. Regardless of the size of your team, this app can allow messaging, file sharing, calls and more. If you or your team have been thinking about using this and you’re stuck remote – take the time to integrate this into your organization. It will probably stick with you once the whole virus scare is over too. Free and paid versions.
The WeChat app gets criticized a bit for being foreign owned, but it really does it all. Worth considering if you’re already familiar or have people spread out across the globe – especially in China.
We’ve all been meaning to do it for ever. Change up the same password we use across multiple accounts, back up our computer, protect our data etc. Now that you might be working from home, it’s time to do what you always knew you should – secure your digital sh*t. Here are some things to do instead of watch netflix or go to the bar:
Ever get paranoid entering passwords or logging into sites on the free coffee shop or airport wifi? Using VPN software can help protect all the data you send back and forth with encryption. If you’re not sure what a VPN is or kinda familiar but not sure – now might be the time to figure it out. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and in a nutshell helps make your internet connection more secure. There are some free ones and some low cost ones available. If you’re working at home on that wifi you share with all your roomates and neighbors it’s probably a good idea. Here’s a great Wirecutter article on top VPN’s
I have over 200 passwords (don’t ask) and counting. Two years ago I finally got irritated enough to commit to a password manager. It took awhile to get them all in there, but I wish I did it sooner. Now logging in on desktop or mobile to any site is literally as easy as clicking a button. Not to mention the joy of using super long ugly passwords that I never have to remember. There’s a few options out there but personally I’m down with LastPass which has a free option but the $3 monthly is totally worth it.
We all have more passwords than we can remember. Using the same one or similar ones is inevitably going to result in being compromised. You know this. A password manager makes it easy to assign and use unique secure passwords across devices. This way if one gets hacked or stolen, everything else is safe. It’s also way more convenient to use these when logging in on your phone or PC. The convenience is as nice as the security.
While this might seem annoying, you should consider it for your important stuff – especially banking or email. You’re probably familar with this from sites that ask to send you an email or text code in addition to your normal login but there are a number of others. If you really want to get secure with it, consider a things like Authenticator Apps (many for both PC and Mac) or a Yubikey.
This sounds obvious but if someone steals your laptop your screwed. Not only because you need to buy a new one, but because people will take your data. Basic login passwords are not the same as encryption FYI. I was surprised to see that my Windows 10 laptop had it on by default, and Mac’s have something called FileVault that sounds like it’s built in (not a mac user). Aside from these there are other ways and services out there. Check them out and sleep better at night.
Seriously, if you’re not using onedrive, Google drive, Dropbox or another cloud type storage solution you should. The whole idea that your laptop could explode, get stolen or both and you wouldn’t miss a beat is amazing. Start holding yourself accountable to saving everything in the cloud or syncing a folder with your desktop now and rest easy.
It’s not all sitting around in your pajamas and snacking. There are some very real negatives to working at home that need to be addressed. After the honeymoon with working remotely is over (or before) make sure you don’t get bogged down mentally or professionally. Some more tips on that below.
I get that current hipster fashion makes is hard to tell bedtime, from the 80’s to professional attire, but getting dressed is important. Follow the same morning routine you normally would and think about staying productive for the long term. This will help make it feel like you are working (and prepare you for that surprise conference call).
We talked about some of the tools for working remotely in this post but not the physical space. If you’re situation is like mine (2 toddlers, a dog, a cat, 4th floor walk-up apartment), this seams near impossible. Working from the bed, couch or beanbag might seem great for a few days or a week, but it’s gonna get old. Try to setup and organize a dedicated space as if you were going to work there for the long term. And absolutely no television.
Take breaks or get outside
Even when I’m in the office I get up and move around our go outside throughout the day. This helps break up the day, get your eyes of the monitor and just generally keeps your body somewhat active. Don’t consider this as optional and try to make it a habit. Also, science says so.
No Television, Weed or Alcohol
Seriously, this will distract you. Try listening to video game music (somehow this increases productivity) or music without words if you can. Resist the urge to go co-work from your favorite bar or light up at 4pm. This gets real easy to do around 3-4pm but you will continually lose productive hours from your week.
Turn your phone off or keep it upside down
This might not be possible for all jobs, but it works really well at home or in the office. The amount of interruptions and lost time from that text or social alert will chip away at your day. Try to go phone free for a few hours at a time and you’ll get more done. The same with email if you can swing it.
If you can’t be bothered to read the steps above, the main thing is thinking long term. Treat this working from home thing seriously, take the time to get your station setup, focus on getting things done and take care of yourself along the way.
Landing pages and first dates have a lot in common. In both cases, poor performance will get you ghosted. This Valentines day we’re including 3 quick landing page tips, followed by some examples and useful links. Over the years our agency has designing a number of landing pages and, like dates, not all of them worked out the way we expected.
If you told a date you were 6’2 and showed up being 5’5 your date might be a little confused. The same principle applies to a landing page. If I hint at something in a paid add, banner or social media post, but send users to a unrelated landing page – they’re going to bounce. And they should. If you stay consistent with your messaging there’s a better chance your date and your visitor will stick around.
Almost all landing pages should be created with a specific goal in mind you want the visitor to achieve. If you were dating – it might be going home together. So keep it simple. For landing pages, remove any unnecesary content, navigation or links and move the important messaging toward the top of the page. For dating, don’t talk about your Mom or college bro stories from Freshman year
When your walk through the door the first thing your date is going to do is a good once over and check you out. Did you comb your hair, are your shoes tied, is your shirt ironed, do you seem well put together etc. The same goes for a landing page. People browse landing pages like magazines at the checkout line, not books at the library. Create short content chunks with lists, images or other elements that are easily scanned if a user scrolls to the bottom of the page quickly.
Landing Page Examples and Resources:
Unbounce
A few years ago we started working with the Unbounce landing page platform and highly recommend it. They also put on a great conference each year in Vancouver with all kinds of good speakers and resources if you can make it. We went to the Unbouce CTA Conference a few times and always found it valuable (read our conference recap post here if you want to learn about our experience). Here’s few high converting landing page examples from their site as well.
CopyBlogger
This site (and their podcast) has been on my radar for a couple years now and has a tremendous amount of resources and info on content marketing, writing and of course landing pages.
