Google Shopping now free in the UK
From mid October you can list your products in the Google Shopping tab for free.
‘Today we announced that we’re bringing free listings to the Shopping tab in countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Just as we don’t charge sites to be part of the Google Search index, listings for participating retailers are eligible to appear in these results at no cost to them. Paid listings will continue to appear in ad slots and will operate in the same way as Shopping ads do today.’
I’m glad they’ve made this change. This used to be the norm for the product feed until they made it ad supported only.
IMC11: Understanding your customer
Learn how to better understand your customer and fulfil your customers needs with more targeted products
Notes
Two ways to address a customer need
- Solve a problem
- Support the life goal
Solve a problem
- Hungry – Need food
- Back pain – Take medication
- 10mm hole – Need a drill / laser cutter / punch
- More social engagement – Need interesting posts / followers / video
Support a life goal
Move someone from where they are to where they want to be
Jobs To Be Done
‘…your efforts should focus on helping them make that change. Ideally the consumers wouldn’t have to do any work.’
- Not to be hungry – Food
- Be fit and health – Medication / Diet / Exercise / Physio
- Sell more widgets with holes Tools / Contractor / Automation
- More leads – Focused sales strategy / Sales team / Outsource
‘When we buy a product, we essentially “hire” it to help us do a job. If it does the job well, the next time we’re confronted with the same job, we tend to hire that product again. And if it does a crummy job, we “fire” it and look for an alternative.’
Question: Why do customers hire you?
Why do people hire the IMC?
Build a customer profile
Start simply, add detail as you learn more
Describe your customer in five words Good place to start
Here’s Ben’s: Passionate Professional, Mac user, 40
Download Persona sheet blank.pdf to help build you customer profile
Customer / product fit
What are your customers goals?
How your product helps achieve these goals?
Customer Goal / Product Aim
- Lose weight / Simple diet
- Feel healthier / Exercise plan
- Meet new friends / Group meet-ups
Other considerations
Awareness
- How do customers describe the product?
- Where do they look for recommendation?
- How can we reach them?
- What’s your backstory?
- Why should they care?
Consideration
- What do they know already?
- How will they compare us?
- How long will this process take?
- What questions can you help answer?
Decision
- What do they need to know to make a decision? Price, delivery, returns…
- Who will make the decision?
- How do they buy from us?
- And how can we make this easy?
Paradox of choice
We’re addicted to choice
Broadly seen as a good thing
Taken to extremes
Search waitrose.com for “cheese”
564 results found
136 Cheddar products (was 108!)
Choose from Mild, Medium, Farmhouse, Mature, Extra Mature & Vintage (10 products)
Most expensive, No.1 Rollright £29.50/kg
What if I made the wrong choice
Missed a better option
Able to research options endlessly, the internet makes things harder
How do we cope with choice?
Dozens of sizes, prices and features
Opinions from friends, magazines, podcasts
Mental energy to make informed decision
Decision overload
End up differentiating on price
Why we think choice is a good but actually it paralyses us
Restaurants are the worst
Large menu plus specials board
First 10 minutes not deciding
After meal – unlimited coffee choices!
Decisions left un-made by the designer (chef)
We need to make decisions for our customers
Reduce choice and anxiety Increase the throughput
Thali Restaurant
Vegetarian curry house – Bristol
2 set meal times, 2 set menus, one fixed price
Make it easy for me, keep it simple
Use choice to your advantage
Experiment with 2 beers, 80% chose most expensive, 20% least expensive
Add 3rd option, 80% chose middle, 20% choose expensive
No one bought the cheapest – Have 3 options
“seeking the perfect choice is not only a recipe for misery but more than likely does not actually exist.” – Barry Schwartz from book “Paradox of choice”
There is no perfect choice. Don’t beat yourself up about it
No decision is the worst decision
Why we think choice is a good thing but actually it paralyses us
Getting feedback
Helps to understand the customer better and deepens customer relationship
Learn to talk you customers language
Use testimonial text in your copy
Reflect language back in conversation
Use to improve customer persona
Bring your customers closer
A positive review reinforces your opinion of a company
More likely to refer to others
Sign up for a free SayHola account https://sayhola.co
Resources
- What is Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) https://jtbd.info/2-what-is-jobs-to-be-done-jtbd-796b82081cca
- Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done” https://hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-customers-jobs-to-be– done
- The Critical Path EP156, A JTBD interview http://5by5.tv/criticalpath/146
Nicky Ayers, Ecl-ips – Club Member Profile
IMC Club Member Nicky Ayers from Ecl-ips shares her thoughts and feedback on how the Inventive Marketing Club has impacted and helped improve their business marketing.
👋 If you found this testimonial inspiring join my Marketing Club to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web. Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here https://ratherinventive.com/club/
(more…)
Shut up and listen
Jason Fried’s forward to Bob Mesta’s new book ‘Demand Side Sales 101‘ has a few great sales tips. I cannot wait to read the Bob’s book as I’m an avid follower of JOTB.
‘It wasn’t until my manager encouraged me to shut up, watch, and listen. Give people space, observe what they’re interested in, keep an eye on their behavior, and be genuinely curious about what they wanted for themselves, not what I wanted for them. Essentially, stop selling and start listening.’
This can work in any relationship or negotiation. It’s something we all find hard, me included. Here’s another nugget
‘They didn’t care about the precise weight, or that this brand shaved 0.5oz off the model this year compared to last. They didn’t care what the color was called, only that they liked it (or didn’t). The tech- nical qualities weren’t important – in fact, they were irrelevant.’
Don’t focus on the features, focus on the benefit to your customer. It the case of shoes it could be how they make them feel not what they can do.
Listening is a crucial attribute of a successful sales person. If you listen well, your potential customer will always tell you what they want and how you can sell it to them.
[Growth Hub] How to review your website and improve your SEO, 10am 4th November 2020 – Free Webinar
Do you want to see your website appear first on Google whenever you search for the key words relevant to your business? Do you often wonder why your competitors appear higher than you on Google when you think you are doing everything you should be?
In this workshop I will show you how to improve the ranking of your website on Google along with SEO tips, tools and techniques.
This workshop has finished.
(more…)IMC Podcast #9 Working with the WordPress block editor
Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.
This episode features a walkthrough of creating a content page using the WordPress Block editor along with some tips on how to layout content.
This is just a short clip taken from my Pro Club Webinar IMC #10 WordPress walkthrough which was recorded at the end of last year. The WordPress editor has changed a little since then but fundamentally it works in the same way.
👋 If you found this podcast interesting you might like my Marketing Club. Join to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web and Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here https://ratherinventive.com/club/
Episode Notes
(more…)IMC10: WordPress walkthrough
In this episode Ben walks your through how to use WordPress, from logging in to posting your first blog article.
Notes
Why WordPress?
Can get started for free on WordPress.com
Completely flexible when self managed
Lots of plugins such as woocommerce.com for commerce stores
Best control over SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Powers over 30% of the worlds websites
Used by the biggest companies in the world: TechCrunch, Bloomberg, BBC America, Sony, Disney, Playstation, Facebook
Has active community and developers
Screen-share and demo of self hosted WordPress
Log in
1. Go to /wp-admin
2. Use forgotten password
Dashboard
1. Quick tour of key features
2. Check time location
Add pages
1. Create Home page
2. Add dummy content
3. Make sub title H2
4. Add an image. Name image ‘John Doe accountant profile’
5. Link up CTA (Call To Action)
6. Publish
3. Add other pages About, Blog and Contact
4. Show page permalink
Customise
1. Change Title ‘Yellow Jumper Accountants’ and Strapline ‘Xero and Quickbooks specialists’
2. Select logo
3. Add Main menu and add Home, About, Blog and Contact
4. Remove widgets Comments, Archives, Meta, Categories
Add video
1. Add some media to the About page
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9809TALDE
Add blog
1. Add a new blog post with image
2. Rename uncategorised as ‘News’
3. Create new category ‘Tax’
Other stuff
Media library
Adding a new user
Changing your password
Adding a contact form contact page
Search optimisation of a page with Yoast SEO
Infectious Marketing: Mailchimp and email strategy, 1pm 28th October 2020 – Free Webinar
In this webinar, Heidi and I will share tips Mailchimp and putting together an email strategy.
When: October 28th 2020 @ 1:00PM BST
Where: Online Webinar
Cost: Free
This event has finished but you can watch the webinar video recording.
IMC Podcast #8 Choosing a website CMS
Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.
There are so many different and varied ways to build a website from coding your own in HTML to using a Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Weebly, Squarespace or WordPress.
In this extract from club webinar #18 I talk through the pros, cons and costs of the top website builders out there.
👋 If you found this podcast interesting you might like my Marketing Club. Join to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web and Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here https://ratherinventive.com/club/
(more…)Infectious Marketing: Instagram and auto posting, 1pm 17th September 2020 – Free Webinar
In this webinar, Heidi and I will share tips for posting on Instagram as well as ideas to automate your social media.
- The benefits of using Instagram
- Inspiration for the different tourism sectors
- Tips on saving time when posting content
This event has finished but you can watch the webinar video recording.
IMC9: Blogging & Content Strategy
Developing a blog content strategy to get found online.
Notes
What is a blog?
- A page on your website that is updated regularly Company News
- Helpful information
- “Your business diary”
What is a blog for?
Insight into your business Passive helpdesk Credibility / Influence Search optimisation
Why should we write one?
- Get more leads
- Educate our customers
- Improve SEO to key product pages
- Support sales / tech support
Who will read it?
- Who you are writing for?
- Think of your best customers
- Pay well, friendly, good referrers
- Understand what they like
Three types of content
- Helpful – long lasting and specific
- Topical – relevant but short lived
- Product (or service) – sales content
Content type examples
- Helpful (about them)
- How to file VAT return
- How to plan your business cashflow
- How should I price my services?
Topical (about them)
What does Auto Enrolment mean for me?
What is IR35 and how will I know if it affects me?
Product (about you)
Do I need an accountant?
Benefits of cloud accounting with Xero
Topic ideas
- Questions that clients ask Hints and tips
- How to
- Clever ideas
- Insider info / secrets
- What makes you different?
- Something you want to learn or be better at
Use answerthepublic.com to get topic ideas
Content checklist
- Is it based around a relevant topic?
- Am I adding value?
- Do people desire to see it?
- Will they share it?
Focus keywords and SEO
Build a keyword list
Use Google Trends for simple comparison or Google Keyword Planner for detail
Add keywords to the blog title and copy
- (most important areas of on page SEO)
- Title
- URL
- Heading 1
- Keyword research
- Use Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin in WordPress to edit on page SEO
Blog styles
Example style and formats
daringfireball.net (simple design, linear format)
loudandclearaccounting.co.uk/blog (linear format with images)
ratherinventive.com/blog/ (blogs in two columns)
hellopippin.co.uk/copywriting-blog/ (main/popular blogs high-lighted)
communionarchitects.com/articles/ (broken into categories with popular blogs)
Writing tips
Allocate time
Create a regular event in your diary
Find a place that removes distractions
Make a routine, start small
Keep it focused
Write for your audience
Write the snippet first
Read around the subject
Ask for action
Email signup
Find out more
Buy related product
Get in contact for help
Images and video
Increases page views
Helps people scan content
More visible in a social feeds
People more likely to read
(Make sure you check the image license, can you use it for business?)
pexels.com / pixabay.com (free image library)
giphy.com (animated images, mainly silly)
selmach.com/news/going-the-extra…tooling/ (example of video in post)
A journey to creating customer-focused content
When Alex Coppock from Communion Architects first approached us in 2012, he was keen to explore ways to improve search engine rankings and bring more visitors to his website. Since then, his website has remained in top two organic keyword positions and website traffic has grown 10x.
Alex has always taken a very thoughtful approach to his website and I invited him to write an article reflecting on his journey with his website. What follows are his thoughts on how he has changed the way projects are featured on his website over the years from a simple way to showcase the buildings Communion has worked on to something that has a much wider purpose. To my mind, the shift beautifully reflects Communion’s generous, people-focused spirit and its mission statement – working closely with people to deliver exceptional projects that transform spaces and change lives.
I’ll let Alex tell the story from here…
(more…)IMC Podcast #7 How to plan your new website
Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.
This episode features an extract from a recent club webinar #18 where I share my entire process from planning to go live.
I talk about how best to plan your website, how to do a competitor review and tips on mapping out your site.
👋 If you found this podcast interesting you might like my Marketing Club. Join to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web and Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here https://ratherinventive.com/club/
(more…)Who are you competing with?
If you are writing content for the web and you want it to rank highly, you need to think about your competition. Not only does it help focus your SEO efforts but it can often give you ideas on what you need to include on your page.
‘A SERP competitor could have only one page that competes with you, but if that page is ranking above you on an important SERP, they are your competition and you need to understand why they are beating you.’
https://searchengineland.com/search-competition-who-are-you-really-competing-with-338403
If you’re a Marketing Club member then you can find my competitor research process in the SEO Strategy webinar but I’d also check out this article from Andrew Dennis at Search Engine Land that goes through a simple process you can use.
Doom scrolling
Related to my post from earlier today. Seth on Doom scrolling
Getting hooked on an endless scroll of media inputs is not the same as being informed. There’s long been a business model of urgent news (“man bites dog!”), but now it’s been leveraged, amplified and optimized to suck people in for hours at a time.
https://seths.blog/2020/07/doom-scrolling/
I limit my news intake to a handpicked set of websites via Feedly and aim to check in once or twice a day, I don’t rarely listen to the news and try to use Twitter as a last resort. I don’t want or need to know everything that happens as it rarely brings me joys but I simply don’t have time.
IMC8: Image Editing
Best practices, how to prepare an image for the web or social media, handy tools and live demos.
Notes
File formats
Formats (JPEG, PNG, EPS SVG) Compression
Best pixel size
Vector/icons
(respective sizes of example artwork)
JPEG PNG SVG EPS
147KB 12KB 2KB 324KB
Raster/photos
5760 x 3840 (resolution of example photo)
(respective sizes of example artwork)
JPEG 20% JPEG 40%. JPEG 80% JPEG 100%
471KB 628KB 1.4MB 9.7MB
Image dimensions
At least 1500px on the smallest edge
Recommend 3000px
Start with the biggest image possible
Always keep the original
Naming images
Describing an image to someone over the phone
Describe the content of the image in text
Add keywords if you can, may show up in Google image search
Name before you upload
A tabby cat in a wicker basket.jpg (example file name)
Live demos
Cutting out an image – Colour correction
Social profile icon
Social post
YouTube thumbnail – Podcast cover art
Finding legal images online
Free and paid image libraries
Free – www.pexels.com
Free – pixabay.com
Free – https://www.flickr.com
Free – giphy.com
(make sure you check license is for commercial use)
£14/mo – elements.envato.com/photos/
Other paid options (Adobe Stock, 123RF, Getty images)
Media Selection tips
Show don’t tell – Product in action
Evoke emotion – Include people
Draw up a shortlist, use light boxes
Test out with previews before committing
Useful image processing apps
Free – https://pixlr.com/x/ (image editor, browser based)
Free – https://www.canva.com (image editor and layout, browser based)
£22 – https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/ (image editor, macOS only)
Free – https://imageoptim.com/mac (image compressor, macOS only)
Free + paid – https://imagify.io/optimizer/v (image compressor, browser and WordPress)
£49 – https://flyingmeat.com/retrobatch/ (multi image processor)
Free – Digital Colour Meter (colour picker, macOS only)
Hanlon’s Razor and its effect in social media
I’ve often heard the term ‘Hanlon’s Razor’ – usually on tech podcasts – in relation companies doing the wrong thing and where people assume the worst and jump to conclusions. so decided to look it up.
‘Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity’
Robert J. Hanlon
An example of this can be seen when Apple was accused of slowing down old iPhones to force people to upgrade, where in fact an update was made to improve the performance of phones with older batteries by slowing them down a little to prevent a high peak power drawn causing the phone to crash.
The same effect can be seen on social media when people jump on the back of a scandalous story.
Modern media treats outrage as a profitable commodity. This often takes the form of articles which attribute malice to that which could be explained by incompetence or ignorance. We see examples of this play out in the media multiple times a day. People rush to take offense (sic) at anything which contradicts their worldview or which they imagine to do so. Media outlets are becoming increasingly skilled at generating assumptions of malicious intent. When looking at newspapers, websites, and social media, it can be beneficial to apply Hanlon’s razor to what we see.
https://fs.blog/2017/04/mental-model-hanlons-razor/
The lesson I take is not to see the worst in peoples mistakes but to assume they are busy, forgetful or hassled like the rest of us and to give them the benefit of the doubt. At least the first time. Not only will it help you to stay calm but it will also moderate your response and prevent a situation from escalating.
The quoted article from FS above, dives into detail as well as explaining other popular terms like Occam’s Razer. Well worth a read.
Recovery Workshop: How to connect with customers online [video]
Part of the business recovery workshop series by Start And Grow Enterprise
The pandemic has moved us to new ways of doing things. We’re having to adapt and change to meet the needs of our customers, which now include meeting the social distancing requirements. So how can you make the most of the online tools that are available to both market and sell your business virtually?
In this webinar, I will share some great ideas on using online tools such as Social Media, Video and Augmented Reality (AR) to connect with your customers so you come out of this stronger together.
IMC Podcast #6 Content planning for your website
Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.
Back in July last year I spoke with Tess Coughlan-Allen about planning the content for your website, along with tips for getting started and a helpful tool to map out your content.
I firmly believe that websites should be built around the content first and is actually a key part of the design process.
If you are starting a new web project or revising your current site you’ll find real value in this conversation.
👋 If you found this podcast interesting you might like my Marketing Club. Join to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web and Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here https://ratherinventive.com/club/
Episode Notes
(more…)Order matters
A study of behavior (sic) at breakfast buffets showed that the first item in the buffet was taken by 75% of the diners (even when the order of the items was reversed) and that two-thirds of all the food taken came from the first three items, regardless of how long the buffet is.
The study Seth mentions is an interesting read but only cites one small experiment. However I have noticed similar behaviour on our client websites, such as; the first menu items often get the most visits, the first few at the top are clicked on most but, unlike the study, I have no science to support this.
IMC6: SEO Strategy
How to improve your website content and structure with an aim of getting to page one in Google.
Notes
What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
Making changes to your website that you know (or believe) will gain a higher position in search engine results for a given keyword search
There are many search engines We’ll focus on Google:
Why people search
- Do something e.g. ’camping france’
- Know something e.g. ’how to fix washing machine’
- Go somewhere e.g. ’facebook’
First five results get 68% of clicks
Desktop & mobile ranking position CTR 2014 data from Moz.com
Terms you should know
- SERP – Search Engine Ranking Position
- Snippet – Information on a Google search result
- Impression – How often your snippet shown
- CTR – Click Through Rate. Number of clicks compared to impressions
- Keyword – A phrase used to find something online
- Long tail – A long and specific keyword phrase
- Keywords and how to find them
- What keywords do people use to find services like yours online?
- Keyword examples: “accountant” “cirencester accountants” “accountants in cirencester” “how to prepare end of year accounts”
Google Trends for simple comparison
- Broad, simple keywords
- Keyword Research
- Google Keyword planner for advanced searches
- Related searches on Google
Create content that search engines will love and people will share
- Find the best keywords to rank for
- Find out who else is ranking for them
- Create content that’s better than those pages
- Meta Descriptions: Writing a snippet is a great way to start writing content
- Blog Content
- Help Content
- Content Checklist
- Must have keyword on the page
- Keyword order and spelling often matter
- Content of page must be relevant to keyword
- Avoid ‘thin’ content. Write enough to answer the question
- Write for people not search engines
- Page structure development
- Link to main pages Adding keywords to images Simple URLs
- Link to page on your site <a href=“/bookkeeping/”>Bookkeeping</a>
- Link to a page not on your site <a href=“http://website.com/”
- rel=“nofollow”> A link to another site
- Add no follow if you don’t want to pass any Google SEO credit
“If you create a page on a keyword that is 10x better than the pages being shown in search results (for that keyword), Google will reward you for it, and better yet, you’ll naturally get people linking to it!”
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/on-page-seo
Images
- Describe the content of the image in text <img src=“tabby-cat-in-wicker-basket.jpg” alt=“A tabby cat in a wicker basket”/>
- Add keywords in if you can. Can then show up on image search
- Short and human readable i.e. /blog/how-to-fix-washing-machine’
- Use hyphens ‘-‘ not spaces
- Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin
Getting linked
- Links from other websites (often called backlinks) can be most beneficial
- Self created
- Links by you to other sites e.g. directories
- Natural: Referenced by another website because your content is awesome
- Manual outreach: Asked for the link or guest blog post
Do Measure Repeat
Use Google Search Console to track performance Tweak site slowly to look for improvements
- GSC performance
- SERP listings
- Page errors and indexing issues
Other Important factors
- Site speed. Less than one second
- Mobile friendly
- Engagement / Long click
- Reviews and ratings (structured data)
IMC7: Google Analytics
How people find your site, tracking sales and setting up a dashboard.
Notes
Social Media Round Table
What is Google Analytics?
Free tool to track people who visit your website Like a security camera in a shop but not as creepy
How do I install Google Analytics? Don’t have GA installed?
I’ll help you
Book free half hour session
Questions to ponder on
Who uses Google Analytics?
How do you need your site to improve? What information do you need to track?
- What are you trying to measure? Sales, Downloads, Form fills?
- Social engagement? Best marketing channels?
- Overview of Google Analytics (GA)
- Key sections
- Real-time, Audience, Acquisition, Behaviour, Conversion
- IMC7 – Google Analytics – 29 October 2019
- Select account – Five key sections
- Change date range – Export
Terms you should know
- Users: Unique visitors
- Sessions: A block of time spent on your site
- Bounce rate: A single page visit
- Pages/session: Average pages viewed in one session
How people find your site
- Best sources
- For new traffic
- For new visitors
- For people who spend time on your site • Where you money is coming from !
- Connect Google Search Console
What keywords drive traffic and SERP
- GSC performance
- What people do on your site?
- Popular pages? Where do they click next?
- Tracking conversions
- Which sources generated sales? Does Instagram deliver email sign ups?
Segmenting data
- View only data from people who buy Or people who who visit key pages
- View just the sources where traffic converted
- See which landing pages they saw
- Campaign URL generator
- Get more clarity from inbound links
- https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign– url-builder/
- Setting up a dashboard report
- Stay informed with regular updates
- Custom dashboard
- datastudio.google.com “
IMC Podcast #5 Why a website is valuable
Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.
Does your business need a website any more? Can’t we just publish our details on Facebook and even use it to sell products directly?
With so much communication already happening on social platforms it makes sense to move over your brand presence as well. Or does it?
Here’s an extract from a conversation with Ben Wheeler in which we discuss the role of websites in marketing and ask in are they diminishing in favour of social business pages
👋 If you found this podcast interesting you might like my Marketing Club. Join to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web and Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here https://ratherinventive.com/club/
Episode Notes
(more…)Better lighting and other effects in Zoom
I’ve been waiting for a feature to compensate for poor lighting for a while. This and many more features now available in Zoom.
Feel even more video-ready with granular control over the intensity of your touch-ups and lighting adjustment, so you’re well-lit in any lighting. Change the brightness of your panel and amount of skin smoothing to put your best video frame forward!
These controls will never make up for having good lighting In the first place. I made a little image grid to show what a difference a simple light makes.
I wish the Mac had better built-in camera controls to adjust exposure, brightness and other factors that can affect the quality of the video. I currently use the app iGlasses to make these adjustments for my webinars but for security reasons this never worked in Zoom. I’m so pleased they added these extra features.
IMC5: How to get Five Star Reviews
And why they are good for SEO
Notes
Review examples
What do I mean by reviews?
- LinkedIn – Shame they are tucked down the bottom
- Google Ads – With seller ratings – 150 reviews and 3.5 average ratings https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375474?hl=en-GB
- Local search – Google My Business location reviews https://support.google.com/business/answer/3474050?hl=en-GB
- Added manually on your website – Via 3rd party such as Trust Pilot https://uk.trustpilot.com
- Embed directly on your website – Collected on 3rd party SayHola https://sayhola.co
- On Facebook – Show upfront before any updates. Moved to a thumbs up/down rating rather than five star
- Twitter review – Recommendations
- Podcast reviews
- Helps bubble up popular shows
Why are reviews useful?
- Find local contacts
- Multiple keywords
Support SEO
- Get shown in Google map pack
- People more likely to click on your entry
- May also help improve organic rankings
Learn to talk you customers language
- Use testimonials text in your copy
- Helps target SEO
- Reflect language back in a conversation
- Use to improve customer persona
Bring your customers closer
- A positive review reinforces your opinion of a company
- More likely to refer to others
How to collect reviews
- Ask after a positive engagement – ‘If you were to recommend us to a friend what would you say’
- Asking after a few successful deliveries. Want testimonials from long term customers
- End of your support emails
- Ask for review directly on your Google My Business profile . Send people to the review page directly https://support.google.com/business/answer/7035772
- Thank people for their review. A free coffee, discount or other small gift No bribes, keep it under £20
Structured Data (don’t be scared)
- A standard format to identify types of content
- Recommended to add by Google/Bing
Example schema for a company. Provides context to the data Ties together other online identities Added directly to HTML
<script type=“application/ld+json">{ "@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "Corporation",
"name": "Selmach Metalworking Machinery",
"alternateName": "Selmach",
"url": "https://selmach.com",
"logo": "https://selmach.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/medium_selmach-
logog.jpg",
"contactPoint": {
</script>
"@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+44(0)1432346580", "contactType": “sales"},
"sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/SelmachLtd", "https://twitter.com/SelmachLtd", "https://plus.google.com/117812825186653408748", "https://www.youtube.com/user/SelmachLtd"
], "aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating", "ratingValue": "5",
}"reviewCount": "1" }
Interview with Duane Forrester who helped to develop schema.org
Well worth a listen.
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F559389345&show_artwork=true





