Vital Keys To

Improve Your

DIGITAL
MARKETING
STRATEGY
IN 2018
Index
Introduction 03

The Importance of Page Speed 03

Optimization For Mobile 05

Driving Qualified Traffic to Your Site 06

Managing your Reputation 09

Conversion Rate Optimization 11

Community Building 12
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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 3

Introduction
It’s 2018, and we’ve already written up your business’ New Year’s resolution for you. This year
you’re going to build a digital strategy that makes you a stand-out thought leader in your
industry, with quality content, qualified leads, and impressive conversion rates, that will
surprise even the most optimistic member of your team.

Unlike the January gym-goers, we won’t have you turning in the towel February 1. This year
we have outlined the six key areas to focus your digital efforts this year so that the only
question you’ll be asking by 2019 is, how do we beat this ? Read our comprehensive
breakdown to get started on your strategy.

1 The Importance of Page Speed

In Google’s Site Performance for Webmasters Video , Maile Ohye states that “2 seconds is
the threshold for e-commerce website acceptability. At Google we aim for half a second.” Half
a second, or 0.5 seconds is a blink of an eye. This means that 500 milliseconds to 2 seconds
is not reserved for the exceptional, it’s the 2018 page speed average.

Site speed is vital for search engine optimization (SEO). Authoritative search engines want to
provide relevant and fast answers to enhance user experience. For this reason, site speed
plays a large part in the SEO ranking of landing pages and sites. If you want your digital
content to reach more people, 2018 is the time to improve the load time of your site. This year
you can refine your site details to optimize page speed and make an impact on SEO in five

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 4

simple steps.

Optimize Images
One of the poorest user experiences when entering a site is watching a large image slowly
materialize, dragging the entire page speed in the process. If your page only requires a
1200px by 600px image, do not post a 2400px by 1200px image. Always save the highest
quality version of the image on a drive or on the back-end of the site but post the exact
pixel size required. This will significantly increase the speed of your page, especially if it
features a multitude of images.

Streamline CSS code

Keep the CSS and HTML stylesheets to a minimum. Unnecessary coding may not be
immediately apparent on the front end of your site as a text based post, however, repetitive
CSS is often unneeded and contributes to a slow-moving web page. Have your IT team or
Digital Marketing team review landing page coding to clean up the codes and stick to only
what’s necessary.

Try Google Page Insights

The Google Page Insights tool combs through your website and flags important areas to
adjust for optimizing speed. The tool scores each page and let’s you know if your web
pages are compliant with each device it’s viewed on. You can judge where you rank in
relation to the scoring system and make changes accordingly.

Beware of Intensive JavaScripts

Using creative JavaScript on your site can immediately engage users and provoke interest.
However, if you’re more focused on the bells and whistles of the design, you may get lost
in the SEO archives due to a slow moving site. Get creative with your site but try using a
tool like the Firefox web-developer toolbar that allows you to break down file sizes to see
what’s eating up your bandwidth.

Serve Static Resources From a Cookieless Domain

This is a standard best practice that you should make sure your site has in place. Serve
static content from a subdomain or a seperate domain that does not employ cookies.

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 5

Although cookies are typically small, they can add up and bloat request headers with
useless coding.

2 Optimization For Mobile

More users than ever before are finding, browsing, and shopping for information, products,
and services on their mobile device. Google has taken notice. Google is officially testing a
mobile-first index and if you’re not all aboard the mobile-friendly train, then you and your site
are being left at the station.

The mobile-first index scans through sites and registers mobile-friendly sites before
searching for desktop versions of the same information. Even with a strong desktop-friendly
site with exceptional SEO-driven content, you will end up the second-stringer if you flop on
mobile. These are a few steps you can take to ensure your site is armed with mobile-ready
requirements.

Of Course, Speed
As previously mentioned, speed is essential for enhancing user-experience and meeting
the online viewer’s 2018 demand for faster-than-the-blink-of-an-eye loading capability.
Use the suggested adjustments outlined above to cut down on unnecessary coding,
leverage browser caching, optimizing images, and reducing redirects.

Stop Blocking Images

It’s not uncommon for web designers to block images, CSS, or JavaScript for mobile

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 6

rendering in order to comply with phone capabilities. It’s 2018, and smartphones are
powerful enough to display complex elements like these. Hitting your user with a blocked
image could be more detrimental than a slower-to-load slide.

Ditch Flash
Flash no longer works well on mobile. Many viewers can’t view any Flash content on their
phone and show a higher bounce rate when they become frustrated with the obstacle.
Swap Flash for a mobile-friendly format.

Make CTAs Larger

People are browsing sites with the tip of a finger. Desktop-friendly sites may be easy to
navigate with the precision of a mouse, but sites in 2018 should have large CTAs and
toolbars that cater to the index finger.

Short and Sweet SERPS

Mobile screens clearly have less surface area than a desktop, which means shorter
headlines and meta descriptions. Adjust your search engine result page content to feature
SEO-specific headline thats are to-the-point.

3 Driving Qualified Traffic to Your Site

Here’s one important question to ask yourself in 2018: how are you driving traffic to your
website? Do you produce quality content with the hopes that it will fall into the hands of a

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 7

suitable lead? Or do you have a concise marketing strategy and you’re unsure why it isn’t
working properly? Bottom line is, you should have a plan to direct qualified visitors to your site
and it should include a variety of avenues.

Don’t put your eggs in one basket. You should always have a variety of channels directing
traffic to your site so that you can reach a variety of audiences. The following are a few basic
avenues you should tighten up in 2018 to stay relevant in the digital space. Diversify traffic
with the following strategies.

Drive Organic Traffic

Search engines are smart and they can detect the high-quality content from the
low-quality content. Authoritative search engines don’t want to disappoint internet users
by driving them to irrelevant or unhelpful resources. The first step to driving organic traffic
is producing good content that creates a positive first impression of your site.

Another key tip is to try to rank for SEO terms that are specific and attainable. Vague terms
with high search volumes can often be too competitive to tackle. Try to rank for long-tail
keywords that your customer would search for.

Write regularly, perhaps once a week, to ensure there is a constant stream of content
coming from your site. If you have a robust content team, use one article a week as your
absolute minimum.

Promote With Paid Traffic

Attracting users to your website is a worthy investment. If you’re looking for immediate
traffic and need to find a route, take this exit; paid traffic. Paid traffic not only guarantees
a certain quantity of visitors, it can also determine the quality of the lead and their potential
customer value.

The largest consumer database available to you is through Facebook advertising.

Introduce your brand to more than 1 billion users and choose from multiple targeting
options such as; geographical regions, user interests, age, gender, and more.

Another popular paid method is AOL sponsored listings. These allow advertisers to target

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 8

specific websites and adjust bids. The links clicks are affordable and the placement quality
is high. This gives you control over where your ads appear.

Google AdWords is another great tool that can provide massive amounts of traffic to your
site. You can hit top ad positions if you’re willing to outbid your competition but it can take
some time to grasp how AdWords works and avoid paying an above average cost per click.

Take Advantage of Social Traffic

How do you increase social traffic and get people on your site? There are a variety of ways
to capture attention, engage people, and convert leads into customers. The first important
way is with impactful visuals. The image is the first impression. Accompany text posts
with an image to maximize the real-estate you have on the page.

Ensure that your content is easily shareable so that people can pass on the post and
influence more users. Every blog post on your site should have a social media plugin or
button that allows viewers to easily share it on their platforms.

Engage your audience consistently on social. Many successful companies have a variety
of social posts being shared in any given day. Use your social media management team
to your advantage and create a content calendar that posts at the right time of the day on
relevant subjects.

Choose the right social channel for your type of content. Sharing a video on Twitter may
not be as advantageous as posting it to Facebook. Some pieces of content are suitable
for every social channel, but others can fall flat in certain formats.

Collect and Keep Email Traffic

Email marketing is a great way to keep leads engaged with your brand and bring them
back to your website time and time again. The first step to establishing a valuable email
subscriber is collecting them as a contact.

Create a piece of gated content, a lead form, a resources landing page, or a pop-up with
an offer, that all require the person’s first name, last name, and email address. Once you
have built up your email list you can customize content and send subscribers to specific

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 9

landing pages.

Email programs are a great way to track a lead on their buyer’s journey into a potential
customer (and long afterward). Create an email strategy that delivers relevant and
valuable content to subscribers.

4 Managing your Reputation

As a business in the digital era, having a solid reputation is fundamental to ensure people
trust your brand and feel confident using your products or services. If you Google a restaurant
in the area and the first thing that comes up is a 2.5 star rating and a slew of disappointed
reviews, you’re probably going to choose someplace else to eat.

Reputation can be seen and heard online and offline. In 2018 focus on improving the things
that you can control. There are a variety of measures you can take online to encourage a
positive reputation for your business. This will help you stand out and bring more customers
in.

Refine Google My Business

A business listing appears when people search for your business on Google Search or
Maps. It’s important to keep this information updated so people can find you. Always
adjust hours accordingly for holidays, ensure phone numbers are accurate, and have a
clear and concise description.

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 10

One of the first clicks people make is to the gallery. Draw in customers by adding appealing
photos of your business location, products, or services so that people can immediately see
what is unique about your offerings.

Build loyalty by responding to reviews. You can be prompt answering questions or helpful
in addressing conflict by starting a two-way conversation with reviewers.

Keep Up With Review Solicitation

As mentioned above, keeping track of reviews is one of the most important elements to
maintaining a positive reputation online. Reviews shape the first impression people have
of your business and influence consumer decisions.

Learn how to manage negative reviews by being responsive and helpful. Ask for more
information from the reviewer about their poor experience and go above and beyond to
rectify a negative experience. Sometimes a positive response to a bad experience can
reshape the customer’s impression of your business.

Encourage people to review your company so you can collect a sizeable amount of
feedback. Having hundreds of reviews on Facebook, or Google My Business can enhance
the credibility of your business.

Prioritize Customer Service

You can offer an incredible product or service and maintain a lousy reputation due to a
poor customer service experience. In many cases reviews are written about a product
shipping issue rather than the quality of the product itself.

Spend resources in 2018 to review and improve your customer service. Ensure that the
people in charge of customer service know how to be responsive, accommodating, and
pleasant in addressing questions and conflict.

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 11

5 Conversion Rate Optimization

Now that you’ve learned how to attract quality leads and traffic to your site, it’s important to
learn how to turn those leads into customers and drive conversions. It’s beyond frustrating to
put a lot of work into your product and marketing strategy and be met with poor conversion
results. Tick off every box by optimizing conversion rates.

Pay Attention to Data

Use data analysis to find out where you’re going wrong. Find out where people are entering
your site, which features they engage in, what devices they browse with, the customer
demographics and interests, and where the users are abandoning your conversion funnel.

Test, Test, and Test Again

If customers are shown to drop off consistently at checkout, test small tweaks to optimize
the checkout process. An example would be reducing the amount of forms the user must
complete to successfully check out. Small tweaks allow you to isolate effective changes.

Make Your Entire Site Conversion-Friendly

There are a variety of design changes you can make to ensure your site is conversion-
friendly. A few of these include: custom CTAs that are large and colourful, make sure
every CTA is clickable on mobile, place CTAs above the fold, create urgency, add real
testimonials, and clearly display your value proposition.

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 12

Implement Abandoned Cart Emails

A great way to follow up on lost conversions is to send an abandoned cart email to a user
that was inches away from making a purchase and left the site. Once a lead begins to
enter their email information, you can use this to send them a check-in. Use an engaging
subject line like: “Oops, you forgot something.”

6 Community Building

COMMUNITY
BUILDING
One of the largest missed opportunities businesses fail to recognize is the importance of
community building in digital strategy. Thought leadership, outreach, and offline events are
still important ways to build your brand and business. Make an active effort in 2018 to ensure
your brand is recognized and seens as a trusted source of information in your field, here’s
how.

Become a Thought Leader

Being a thought leader means being a provider of high-quality information for your
audience. Audiences want accurate and credible information that is presented to them in
a concise way. A great way to become a thought leader is by keeping your information
straightforward and your design unique. People don’t want business jargon, they want the
best answers in a clear way. Get creative by adding unique visuals, steer clear of cheesy
stock imagery, and incorporate appealing JavaScript or video content to set you apart.

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6 VITAL KEYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY IN 2018 13

Do Some Outreach
You’re not marketing to numbers, you’re marketing to people. Outreach is a great way to
take your marketing back to its roots and connect with leads in a human-way. Outreach is
about reaching out to the right people at the right time to tell your brand’s story.

Reach out to trusted bloggers who are authentic and have positive relationships with their
readers. Take notice when other pages give your brand a shout out and email your brand’s
biggest fans to ask for their opinions and maintain contact. Using a third party to market
your brand is a great way to reach relevant audiences.

Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is when you offer to write content for similar blogs in the industry and in
exchange, feature a link to your own blog. This is a great opportunity to promote your own
name and blog in your industry. Allocate a part of your content team to seek out guest
blogging opportunities. This is another way to be seen and heard in your business’
community.

Create Facebook Groups

Facebook offers a huge 1 billion user community in the online space. You may already
have a company business page, but creating niche Facebook groups can allow people to
invite, share, and join to stay up to date on events, products, and other updates. Facebook
groups have a great social feel that bring community building straight to the leads and
customers.

Invest in Offline Events

Did you say offline? Yes, surprisingly a non-digital event is a great component to a digital
marketing strategy. Creative guerilla marketing, pop-up shops, sponsorships, trade shows,
and networking events are only a few examples of offline events that drive brand
awareness and build community. Other details like perfecting business cards or enhancing
the packaging of your product are key elements to refining your business.

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Thank You!