A great guide to keyword research and page strategy from Whitespark.

‘Now that you have created your ultimate keyword list, use this data to make an informed decision on what pages should target which terms. One of the most common errors we see when it comes to title tag optimization or rather lack there of, is businesses not removing the default – home – page title. This is both a missed opportunity and a sad sight to witness in search results.’

They recommend optimising the site in this order: Title tags, Homepage content, Product and service landing page content and finally Site speed.

• Advice on finding your ‘strategic alliances’ and collaborators
• Tips on running a compliant Facebook competition and advice on using Hashtags
• Steps to review your Google My Business Profile including tips on how to get more reviews.
• Inspiration to bring people back to you with confidence

I take lots of notes from client meetings, conference, podcasts and blogs and while I am reasonably comfortable with my process I do feel I should have a more consistent approach to collecting and recalling them. I know I could build a better resource to drawn from.

Once of Drew’s ideas is to not worry about what you should be collecting but to collect the ideas that occur to you as you let information flow over you. This idea is very freeing when I have long list of podcasts to consume but get caught up in where to start rather than just starting, listening and making notes as an idea occurs to me.

Drew also mentioned about how the act of writing notes, leaves brain free to better connect ideas. This reminds me of how effective the Getting Things Done task system can be for exactly the same reason.

Seth on his blog

If we decided to simply reduce our waiting and worrying allocation by 50%, just imagine how much we could discover, how many skills we could learn, how dramatically attitudes could shift.

If you have time on your hands, don’t wait until COVID or the Lockdown is over. Use the time now to learn something new.

Article from Smashing magazine on logo design

‘Why did you start your company? If you can get to the heart of why they went into business, you’ll be able to create a logo that feels more genuine to that original mission.’

The post focuses on designing a logo (from a web developers point of view) but has some good questions to ask yourself when planning your website and marketing too.

Also worth checking out Branded in Memory, a site that looks at how people remember 10 of the strongest logos around.

Paul Boag writing for Smashing magazine on How To Convince Others Not To Use Dark Patterns

‘Brands always used to be able to get away with manipulation because consumers were mostly unaware of being manipulated. Even if they did realize(sic), the choice was limited, and so there was very little they could do. That is no longer true. The web has changed that.

We need to help management realize the fact that consumers have changed. That in every consumer’s pocket is instant access to every other company on the planet that offers the same thing as you. It is so easy to find your competitors and so simple to swap that one small annoyance is enough to make people switch.’

Dark patterns are tricks to make people do things they don’t mean to do. You’ve probably come across them on an airline website when booking seats or paying extra for insurance. Find out more about what they look like here.

While these tricks seem like a clever way to up-sell, here’s an example Paul cites as a reason why dark patterns are not as profitable as they might seem.

‘Sure enough, the sales of filters skyrocketed, and the e-commerce team was pleased because they were one step closer to meeting their targets.

Unfortunately what they were not aware of was what was happening elsewhere in the company.

The marketing team who ran the companies social media channels found themselves having to spend time addressing complaints on Twitter and Facebook.

The customer support team received an increase in calls asking for refunds or complaining. Each call was costing the company £3.21, more than the profit margin on the filters.’

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The Something Inventive podcast is changing tack and will be coming back with a new format for the next episode. Watch this space!

Advice from home workers on from British Red Cross training, including one from me – I’ll let you find it.

One of the tips was from friend and colleague Catherine Every. It’s actually a great idea and would work well for some but I like to work solo and woe betide any who disturb me.

‘In terms of staying in touch, I sometimes have all-day Zoom sessions with fellow freelancers, both one-to-one and in groups. There are two ways I’ve done it: the first is having a new call at set times, and the second is where we’re on the call the whole time but on mute with the video off for most of it. Either way, the idea is you check in every hour or so to say “hello” and talk about progress. It helps me stay focused if I need to get something done because there’s some accountability – it’s also just nice to know someone’s out there working ‘with’ you.’

There’s also a tip from Sarah Townsend (who I interviewed recently), on setting work/home boundaries.

From Wired

‘“My main gripe is that you’re selling a course for $6,000 to a person from middle America who’s put all their funds into this, and you’re teaching them to sell avocado slicers online with 40 other people who are also selling avocado slicers,” he says.’

Get rich quick schemes almost never work out except for the people who start them or sell the courses. Much like MLM schemes and too-good-to-be-true share offers.

It’s a dirty area and best avoided.

More on the uncomfortable endings to most video meetings on Distractify

• Tips to keep customers engaged and even get some new ones, ready for when the lockdown lifts.
• Easy but effective marketing updates to do while you’re not changing the beds.
• Inspiration to bring people back to you with confidence.

Every podcaster who does interview shows struggles in booking, interviewing, and following up on their guests to some degree. Building rapport is an added hurdle at times too.

On this episode, we continue last week’s conversation with Rob & Kennedy of The Email Marketing Show and dig into the process of preparing, emailing, scheduling, & interviewing guests, and reconnecting with them after the podcast goes live.

If you have a podcast, this episode is worth a listen.

Even though we’re changing tack on the podcast and reducing the number of guests, the idea of using automated emails to get guests excited for when their interview is published is a great idea and something I should have done years ago.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But on Google Maps, it is anything but flattering to find out your Google My Business listing has a doppelgänger. A duplicate GMB listing can hurt your rankings and put your business listing at risk of suspension. Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon to see your competitors spamming Google Maps by creating multiple listings for one business.

Read more about how to remove duplicates on Whitespark

For businesses who don’t have resources to create videos from scratch, Video Builder can help. It’s a free beta tool that animates static assets—images, text and logos—with music from our library. You can choose from a variety of layouts based on your message and goals, customize colors and font and quickly generate a short YouTube video (6 seconds or 15 seconds). 

Sign up for beta access

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Genevieve shares her journey into crowdfunding her business and the strategy she implemented to make it a success.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

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Ben speaks with Nikki Elbaz, a copywriter specialising in email marketing for SaaS/tech companies.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

In this post I’ll look at how to know what visitors are doing on your site in a whistlestop tour of Google Analytics.

First things first, if you haven’t already got it installed, go to http://www.google.com/analytics/ to get it up and running. Google Analytics can provide you with more information than you thought possible and also be a bit  overwhelming. But unless you’re a marketing wizard, the basics are probably enough for most people, so don’t worry!

Been in my drafts for a couple of months but it’s still worth sharing.

The Information Commissioner’s Office published an Age Appropriate Design Code, it’s a set of standards that online services should meet to protect children’s privacy.

That means privacy settings should be set to high by default and nudge techniques should not be used to encourage children to weaken their settings. Location settings that allow the world to see where a child is, should also be switched off by default. Data collection and sharing should be minimised and profiling that can allow children to be served up targeted content should be switched off by default too.

This design code should apply to all users, not just children. But it’s a good start.

When it comes to children (and vulnerable adults), I’m less concerned about tracking and personal data retention but find it more egregious that they are taken advantage through psychological manipulation to spend more money or time in a game or service which has an overall objective to keep people hooked by giving them just enough of something they like to keep there endorphins flowing.

Via cybertech.digital

– Unplug your smartphone, turn it off and remove the case.

– Dampen a microfibre cloth with water and household hand soap e.g. the soap dispensing bottle type.

– Gently rub the surfaces of the phone with the damp cloth. Try not to get moisture in any of the openings.

– Dry the phone with a clean microfibre cloth.

– Washing your hands regularly and thoroughly can reduce the number of germs that you put on your phone after you’ve washed it.

Considering we touch our phones hundreds if not thousands of times a day this is good advice

I hope everyone is well and staying safe.

Many of us at Rather Inventive work remotely so for us it’s (mostly) business as usual. But for some it’s going to be a period of hardship and this will be especially true for charities.

I don’t have much to offer so I’m going to make our Inventive Marketing club free to all charities for now and into the foreseeable future. I hope this small gesture will equip them with the tools to find more people willing to give and support their good work.

If you know of a charity who would benefit, send them over to my club page. Or ask them to contact me and I’ll get them setup.

I wish you all the best and if I can be of any help (in any way) do let me know – Take care

Ben

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Ben speaks with Rod Hande, an up and coming magician on what marketing methods he uses to promote his business. Rod also does his first video conference magic trick!

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben visits Sarah in her home office to talk about why she wrote an Environmental policy as a solo worker and freelancer and her forthcoming book ‘Survival Skills for Freelancers (or how to go solo without going loco).’

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Mobile phones have come a long way from the huge, basic bricks that they once were – and today we’re using our smartphones for more and more. With the majority of people using at least one email app on their smartphone to check their mail on the go, email marketers need to make sure that they are optimising the content they send for mobile – otherwise, it’s going to be difficult for any recipients using mobile to read them.

Smartphones have made it easier for people to check their emails more often, which is good news for businesses looking to use email marketing, but on the other hand, an email that’s designed solely to be read on a desktop or laptop could look horrible on a mobile. Here’s what you need to do. 

Use the right email marketing tool

Good email marketing software will not only make it easy for you to get your emails sent out to all your mailing list at once, like this free email blast service, but also provide you with the tools that you need to create interesting, eye-catching marketing email designs. When choosing the right email marketing software for your brand, make sure that you prioritize mobile optimisation. 

Keep the images minimal

Too many images in a marketing email could quickly start to look cluttered on a smartphone screen, so keep it clean and simple when adding photographs, stock photos or graphics. Don’t overdo it with too many images and keep image sizes small; large images could lead to frustration as they could take a while to load on a smartphone using a Wi-Fi connection. 

Break up the text

A large block of text is always going to be more challenging to read than smaller chunks, and this is even truer when reading on a smartphone screen. When writing your email content, you should avoid using large paragraphs and don’t crowd multiple links together at once. Bear in mind that recipients using mobile might be on the go, so try and get straight to the point as soon as possible and use plenty of white space to break up the text. 

Grab attention

Being word-wise is crucial when it comes to grabbing attention with your subject line, preheader text, and ‘from’ label. Consider the fact that when your recipients are checking their email on a smartphone, you have a limited amount of real estate to make sure that you grab the attention of the reader. For example, on an iPhone screen in the Mail app, only the first thirty letters of a subject line are displayed, and the ‘from’ label is more prominent. 

Be touchscreen-friendly

When it comes to calls to action, buttons are a better choice than links as they are easier to click on compared to a link when using a touch screen. And, size your buttons well using plenty of space around them to avoid any mishaps. If you use more than one button, don’t place them too close together. 

To get the results that you want from email marketing, optimising for mobile is crucial. 

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Ronald shares his experience of how he got into the world of WordPress and became a brand ambassador for Yith.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Through my Fastershire links, I get to work with many businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry. So when event organiser, Steve Gardner-Collins invited me to come along to the Three Counties and Cotswolds Tourism Forum with a press pass to cover the event, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get to learn more about this sector.

Sponsors for this episode:

• 34SP.com – A Fast, Secure and Managed WordPress host based in the UK. Visit 34sp.com and use the code WPINVENTIVE at checkout to get your first three months of hosting completely free.
• BombBomb.com – A simple way to create and send personal video by email. Visit vid.us/somethinginventive to get 10 video examples from real users.