It’s strange how much time has passed and since we started this weekly endeavor. The New Year came around and is already old news. Google made lots of noise and we were there to tell you about all its shenanigans.
This week’s Friday Catch-Up brings with it news from Google and Facebook. (These two just can’t seem to let go of the limelight.) Facebook updates its algorithm yet again while Google makes updates to its crawl error reports.
align=”center”>NEWS
Facebook Makes Changes to the Algorithm
Facebook has always been notorious for making less than popular updates and this time is not very different. After observing that people prefer to interact with statuses from friends rather than companies they reduced the rankings received by corporate text statuses. Other types of status updates such as those with Meta data and link-shares will have to become the main course of action for marketers as the update rolls out. Read more at Hubspot.
Google Improves Crawl Error Diagnosis
In a surprising move in the favor of website owners, Google changed the manner in which they report crawl errors. Rather than detecting the error at the destination URL, the crawl error will be shown at the redirecting URL. This will make things easier for webmasters who can easily diagnose crawl errors on redirects. Read more at SEO Round Table.
Guest Blogging is Dead
Guest Blogging is dead. The Ministry has fallen.
Matt Cutts just took a swipe at the internet’s favorite link building and SEO tool; guest blogging. According to him while guest blogging was once a sacred and effective tool for link building it has become “too spammy” today. He suggested that sites only allow guest blogs if they can personally vouch for the blogger and know them well. Read more at SEO Round Table.
align=”center”>TIPS & TRICKS
The Holy Grail of Tweets
Saying all you have to say within a 140 character limit is an art. Not all of us; however, have been able to master that skill. Luckily, Belle Beth Cooper knows a trick or two and is willing to share. According to her, there are 5 types of tweets that you just can’t go wrong with. The five main types are Links, Images, Quotes, Retweets, and original questions. When used in a manner that offers value to the reader, tweeting can become a very powerful marketing tool. Read more at The Next Web.
The Social Media Bible
Sometimes the solidarity we see on the web makes us proud to be a part of it and this time MOZ just released a little something for the young’uns; a Beginners guide for social media. Not only are the chapters interactive and beautifully illustrated, they contain all you need to know about social media. Even some social media oldies can pick up something new from this guide. Go ahead and read the entire thing at Moz.
Setting up a pre-launch landing page
Before you officially unveil your site, you need to build up anticipation among your readers. Brian Casel of Six Revisions brings us some much needed tips on the best way to build a pre-launch page. According to him it’s never too early to get into it and to provide as much detail about the product or at least how the product will benefit users. Read more at Six Revisions.
The Flesch Test and readability
Readability is important for any kind of content that you put up on the internet. The Flesch test lets you know just how easy your content is to read and gives you a ranking. While simplicity is key when it comes to writing, the Flesch test takes into consideration much more than that. Readability is extremely important when it comes to SEO since it’s a ranking factor. There is a very fine line between readability for a robot and readability for a human. Read more at Search Engine Journal.
Editorial link building
Social linking has increased in importance when you consider the increased credibility that the platform offers. Today, it’s easier than ever to reach out to people and ask them to share your content. Jason Acidre decided to test out this theory and started reaching out to linkers. His first stop was Delicious which he deemed the best platform for link building. After reaching out to users personally he has a 30% response rate with 6 shares on Twitter. Read more at Kaiser the Sage.
Selling an Expensive Digital Product
Selling a product which isn’t tangible can be tricky. Add to that a high cost and you have a challenge ahead of you. Such a situation demands an analysis of the buying behavior of customers. What value will customers receive from the product, focus on marketing and look at positive moves made by the customer before purchase. Another good way is to retarget potential buyers. Read more at Kiss metrics.
Time is of the Essence
To tweet or not to tweet? That is the question. When it comes to tweeting, timing is everything. Belle Beth Cooper tells us the 5 best methods of finding the right tweeting time for you. She suggests starting off with four tweet times and testing them for effectiveness. She suggests using tools such as Tweriod and focusing on what the professionals do. Read more at Search Engine Journal.
Productivity Secrets of the Successful
Max Nisen brings us the secrets of the rich and famous asking them how they increase their productivity. Some of the top guns included Richard Branson of the Virgin group who suggested relaxing our eyes and to keep away from devices and Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker who said that it was important to delegate effectively. Read more at Business Insider.
Increasing Ecommerce Engagement
Who doesn’t love a great deal? Visual Website Optimizer just ran a test to see just how deep this love actually goes. They found that by displaying a banner of the latest deals on the home page of an Ecommerce site, marketers could increase engagement by 105%. Read more at Visual Website Optimizer.
Customer Service Tools
The importance of customer service is amplified when it comes to ecommerce. However, the influx and volume of customers can make it a little difficult to keep track. In order to make a perfect transition from online sales to offline, Ricardo Bilton shares some excellent cloud based help desk tools. His list includes Awesomatic, Deskero and Desk.com. Read more at Venture Beat.
align=”center”>INFOGRAPHICS
The Magic Words behind Content Sharing
In the internet sphere there are a few magic words that can help you unlock the secrets to online sharing and Short Stack reveals them all in this intriguing new infographic. They found that words work differently according to content. The most shared words in blog posts included ‘surprising, critical, and science’. On the other hand, Twitter followers were more likely to share if you nicely asked with words such as ‘Follow, Top and Please’. ‘Amazes, Inspires and Advises’ were the favorites when it came to Facebook. Read more at Eric T Tung.
What is Great Customer Service?
Customer service is absolutely essential in this day and age. Understanding what the customer requires can be a little tricky. This infographic sheds some much needed light on what constitutes a great customer experience from the view of customers themselves. Statistics showed that Quick issue resolution was at the top of the list with 82% followed by issue resolution in one interaction (56%) and Friendly staff (45%). Read more at All Top.
B2Bs focus on Content Marketing in 2014
Content Marketing is going to be front and center this year with B2Bs focusing more and more on the strategy. About ¾ of the B2Bs in the industry have decided to increase their spending on content marketing with focus on online video (63.7%) and email marketing (64%). Social media was also a point of focus with 58.2%. Read more at E Marketer.
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